Sprouting from the west coast originally, I feel it is my
duty to bridge the cultural divide between the laid-back and the quick-witted,
the burrito and the hot dog, the pedestrian and the car horn, as it were. I
want to promote the sharing of good ideas by informing folks on both sides of
this continental land mass of the small but ingenious regional idiosyncrasies
which may prove beneficial to other locales if adopted.
This time, I’ll share some oddities offered by Sacramento,
CA. Although this city houses a little under half a million residents, quite a
few small-town quirks have slipped through the cracks of the streamlining urban
machinery.
Exhibit A.
Drunk boxing. That’s right, a bunch of tattooed, disgruntled
slobs get together every weekend in someone’s backyard, down a few too many
cans of domestic swill, and have at it. Just like an unpretty, unsynchronized,
lowbrow version of Fight Club.
Exhibit B.
No Kill I.
Why shouldn’t there be a Star Trek tribute punk band? With songs like
“Starfleet Up My Butt,” “Wearin’ Red,” and “Neutral Zone,” even the
nerds-that-be had to include them in the film, Trekkies 2. For your
consumption, experience “Regulan Blood Worm” (MP3). If you are familiar with the ways of the Klingon, the No Kill I site offers up some links that may be of
interest to your tortured soul.
Exhibit C.
Crash-a-rama. When a 50-something, junkyard-owning, ex-stunt
driver is feeling down, he doesn’t just sit in front of the tube cursing
Nascar. He orders up a flatbed truck and a few rock bands, inviting everyone
with a six-pack of Bud and a faded Harley shirt to watch him relive his glory
days. Up until last year, when the Sacramento equivalent of the Village Voice
outed him,
Johnny Crasharama would set up about 5 stunts on a piece of his own property in
the outskirts of town, using old cars from his junkyard.
Exhibit D.
Pin-a-go-go. This pinball convention actually happens just outside of Sacramento, but is
definitely worth a mention. Every year, slurpee-filled dads in dirty t-shirts
cart their sons to an almost-abandoned fairground, where they pay $5 to spend
all afternoon teaching their kin to launch, flip, and tilt.
I now invite my fellow bloggers to share the secrets of a small town near them... I've heard a lot of hype about Maplewood, nudge nudge.