Sachen, Smoke and Sacramento

Casey Sachen discusses his Blue Smoke Photography Project

Acclaimed Chicago artist Casey Sachen was in Sacramento this weekend promoting his Blue Smoke Photography Project, with a show at The Scoot Shop (1619-A E Street) in midtown. Several black and white photographs, lining the lime green walls of the shop's entrance and showroom, featured notable scooter rallies such as San Francisco Classic (Black Sheep SC), Scootouring (Burgundy Topz SC) and High Rollers Weekend (Las Vegas). Additionally, the photos included portraits, self-portraits and "still life" images of vintage scooters, all captured with the finesse and inimitable vision for which Sachen is becoming well-known. Overall, show was a versatile assemblage of hand-selected photos from a unique and ever-evolving work of art.

Artist R Black and the Ever-Lovely Jules

Following the gallery opening/social hour with friends and fellow scooterists, a small group rode to the Bonn Lair (3651 J St), A Traditional British Pub with fine beers on draft and UK memorabilia lining the walls. Conversing about life, art and scooters is always a good time, but even better when in good company. In addition to Casey Sachen, tonight's faction included artist R. Black, the ever-lovely Jules, the Bunny Princess, Mrs. Z of Sacramento and Burgundy Topz SC members Alex, Allan and (pledge) Soupcan.

The Impromptu Late Night Taco Run Rally

As the pub announced last call, a small rally headed over to 24-Hour taqueria La Garnacha (2101 16th Street), for quesadillas, burritos and late-night nachos. Finally, around 2:30 am, two stroke engines were revved, farewells were exchanged, and the group parted ways, riding off with visions of fantastic scooter photography leading everyone safely home.

That OPEN sign is always on.

Girl Power (measured in CC's)

I designed the patch and flyer for this event. Thanks, SFSG!

September 12th and 13th marked the San Francisco Scooter Girls' 3rd Anniversary Rally, So Far So Good: Third Time's A Charm. I arrived on Saturday evening to a post-ride crowd at Amsterdam Café in the ever-interesting Tenderloin 'hood. The cozy café was a great-sized space, and friendly greetings were exchanged through a slight haze of two-stroke smoke. DJ's Ping and Dave kept the sounds above ground with record-spinning action into the wee hours.

Hey, what's that Burgundy Topz flyer doing in the donuts?

Sunday morning the girls set up camp in the back parking lot of Dainese D-Store, providing coffee and (GET IL) donuts for a crowd of about 30 bleary-eyed scooterists. The group set off for Poker Run/Scooter Tag/Scavenger Hunt excursions (riders choice) with game programs provided as part of a donation to Scooter Relief. A small crowd stuck around for scooter/portrait photos with Max Ferman, organization of raffle swag, and (kitty) cat naps in the back of Joanne's Art Truck/Harem Den (OK maybe just me...).

Scootin' all day, stayin' up all night. Worth it. Thanks, Joanne! photo by Max

The afternoon commenced with awards for excursionists, a raffle with great prizes and, of course, yummy food and beverages - the kind of spread that SFSG are famous for offering at their events. Members of Secret Society Scooter Club and Vespa Club Los Gatos represented (and won prizes), and kids enjoyed toss-outs of hard plastic license plate holders (just joking). I was elated to receive the prize gift of a pink Corazzo bag from scooter photographer extraordinaire Pistol Pete. Thanks again, il mio amore, il sacchetto è bello!

Pistol Pete and me, with inset Corazzo prize bag. photo by Max

As I journeyed home, sleepy and smiling, I was reminded again by the San Francisco Scooter Girls that girls can do anything and do it well. Thanks, ladies, for another rally weekend well spent.

Flipping for the Central Branch

knowledge. power. library.

Today the Central branch of the Sacramento Library celebrated the National Day of Remembrance and Service with activities for volunteers. Upon arrival, I asked for Lynette, the volunteer coordinator, and headed up to the 4th floor to join my fellow volunteers in "book flipping." As exciting as it sounds, book flipping is the task of flipping through books on the library shelves to find if they are in need of repair: torn pages, wobbly spines, thinning bindery tape, etc.

Sad! It will either be repaired or recycled.

Rachel, a volunteer whose husband works at Central, assigned me to the Antiques section; this was both good and bad. Antiques excite me, as does reading about the value of vintage junk, who collects what and how much my medium green Fiestaware bowl is worth ($368.00 last time I checked). Being assigned to Antiques made the books I flipped more fun to browse, but the idea was to find repair-ables, not read-ables; surprisingly, I made it through a shelf in about 30 minutes.

this book TOTALLY reminded me of Gabriella and Morgan

After my book flipping experience, I was led on a personal "behind the scenes" tour of the Central branch by Linda, a 30-year veteran of library science. Linda graciously took me to a sorting room, where employees filter books for holds, fines, returns to circulation, etc. Next came a delivery/receiving room, where employees gently toss books into large bins to be loaded into trucks for exchange with other branches. I likened this area to an airport, with each library having its own three-letter "code" on the bin (and much gentler tosses than luggage).

what's in your wallet?

A short wood-paneled elevator ride to the basement revealed the books-by-mail office, where a woman named Kathy maintains the database of books mailed to homebound or invalid patrons. Finally, Linda took me into circulation and gifts, where purchased (new) books and gift books are reviewed, processed and sent for circulation or sale. Linda suggested that return to I visit the Sacramento Room, a special room in the Central branch that houses a rare collection of books, films, artwork and manuscripts pertaining to the city and surrounding areas. The paper/museum/art/archive geek within me knows this is a magical place.

Alluring Sacramento Room at the Central branch

My National Day of Remembrance and Service finally came to an end and I felt good volunteering my time and learning about the functions of my local library. As I bid good-bye to my new literary contacts at Central, I made a note to myself - on scratch paper with a little golf pencil - to check out the Sacramento room on a future visit.