We’re here with your annual reminder that the only real rule is “stay out of the street” at Sac Porch Fest, the hyperlocal DIY neighborhood music festival that’s been running strong for more than a decade.
A smattering of free sets from a dozen local acts are on offer throughout the afternoon, performed on a rotation of porches in the heart of midtown near 21st and I streets.
Other rules like “just be cool” and “don’t litter” are hopefully implied — in general, just make life easier for the local organizers who stick their necks out year after year to make this sterling event happen and raise funds for their annual philanthropic partner, the Mustard Seed School.
On the docket this year are electronic-juiced jam troupe Blü Egyptian, breezy indie act Dogpatch, scintillating alternative rockers Aphids as Lovers, punk-leaning rock acts Lewd Jaw and Crash Babes, magnetic soul-seared funk/R&B/hip-hop act Prime Society and several others. (Saturday, Oct. 10; instagram.com/sacporchfest)
Auburn is likewise all in on the porches-and-music revelry — and definitely not messing around — with the second iteration of Auburn Porchfest. The brimming sophomore event sprawls across five “zones” on the south side of I-80, with each hosting multiple porches and performances throughout the afternoon.
Curate your schedules carefully: Following a kickoff set on Maple Street from Terra Bonne Band at noon, more than 50 local and regional acts perform 45-minute sets on porches and front yards throughout the zones. Don’t worry, there are shuttles. Later, the festival abandons the porches and takes to the streets for a parade at 3:45 p.m. and a community singalong at 4:30 p.m. Also, bring a bell. Check the website; it’ll all make sense.
Among the numerous performers are Alaina Rolleri, Bahena, Beach Noise, Brett Shady, esme, Midnight Sun, Richard March & the Air Merchants, Ryan Moody, a Young Talent Showcase and tons more. It’s free, but advance registration is available and helpful for organizers. (Sunday; auburnporchfestca.com/register)
Local artists, message Aaron Davis on Instagram if you have upcoming shows, @adavis_threetosee.
In late August, a horrific but fortunately injury-free blaze at the Folsom Flea Market wreaked havoc on a number of small local businesses operating out of the space. Among them was the vibrant Red Barn artist collective, which had been hosting regular multiband music performances on Sunday afternoons.
Much of the Red Barn’s irreplaceable art and ephemera, meticulously and lovingly curated over the years, was lost — but the music series, powered by the fireproof resiliency of those who oversee the collective, barely skipped a beat. Mere days after the fire, Jalapeños in midtown (yes, really) stepped in to fill the void, with the long-running taqueria suddenly finding itself a hotbed for upstart local artists on its arboreal 21st Street patio.
At Jalapeños in midtown, a sound engineer works the mixing board during a Live Line Sac performance on the restaurant’s 21st Street patio. The music series moved to Jalapeños after an August fire damaged the Red Barn artist collective’s space at the Folsom Flea Market. Courtesy photo
The midafternoon lineups held by the newly dubbed Live Line Sac typically boast around a half-dozen artists representing widely varied genres and are usually announced a couple of days in advance on the Live Line Instagram page. The Oct. 4 slate features lounge jazz singer Jazz and Get Fat, rapper Camillo, pianist Damn, Sire and reggae singer Tony Irie. (instagram.com/liveline.sac; youtube.com/@saclivelineup)
In tribute to Sacramento drummer, music teacher and fixture Tony Dey, who died earlier this year after living with ALS, Dey of Music lands at SacYard on Friday, headlined by Dey’s friend and jazz-tinted blues meanderer Breck Sean Philip. They’re joined by Echo Canyon, Bobby Mariano & Friends and Noize. A number of speakers will also take the mic between sets at the fundraiser for ALS. (4 p.m. Friday; 1725 33rd St.; sacyard.beer)
In these magical times when empty storefronts become Spirit Halloweens, so too must the costume-clad Sugar Pushers slither from the depths of seasonal slumber for a month’s worth of floorboard-creaking, jubilantly macabre surf-and-spook rock.
Sacramento surf-and-spook rock band Sugar Pushers returns for a run of Halloween-themed October shows, beginning with Colonial Parkfest on Saturday, Oct. 3. Courtesy photo
Their autumnal bacchanalia begins by headlining one of our favorite events of the year, the cozy Colonial Parkfest, joined by a group of jammy gents tailor-made for lawn-chair gigs in the Dad Material, quirky indie rock mainstay Be Brave Bold Robot, singer-songwriter Chelsea Hawkins and Sawmill Stumblers. (2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3; Colonial Park, 5315 19th Ave.; free; instagram.com/colonialparkfest)
Sugar Pushers fill the rest of the month with Halloweeny gigs at Watermelon Music in Davis (Oct. 23), The Barn (Oct. 28), Golden Bear (Oct. 29), the Pearl in Locke (Oct. 30) and probably a few other places we’re too frightened to ask about — or are just not cool enough to know of. (instagram.com/thesugarpushers)
Unofficially marking the one-year anniversary of the opening of the glistening outdoor Veterans Memorial Amphitheatre, the Fair Oaks Folk Festival is back for its sophomore installment. As with last year’s inaugural event, there’s a bevy of free performances from noon to 7 p.m. on two outdoor stages, including vulnerable duo Misner & Smith, meandering bluegrass troupe Caltucky, standout local cellist and singer-songwriter Natalie Hagwood, madly inventive multi-instrumentalist (very multi) Neil Nayyar, funk-fused Brazilian-influenced troupe Boca do Rio, Lindsay & the Cheeks and Alex & Justina Lucero.
If you’re hankering for more, the ticketed portion begins at 7:30 p.m. with world-rhythm, frenetically soulful folk-rock headliner The Uprooted Trio — the project of Michael Glabicki of fabled roots/rock/jam outfit Rusted Root — joined by gripping Americana singer Raye Zaragoza. (Saturday, Oct. 10; Village Park & Veterans Memorial Amphitheatre, 7997 California Ave., Fair Oaks; fairoaksarts.org)
The Cooperstown of blues music in the City of Trees, the Sacramento Blues Society this year welcomes a quintet to its Hall of Fame: Bob Cosman, Dave Croall, Liz Walker, Peter Philis and Sonny Pasioles. As always, the new inductees are honored with an awards ceremony and entertainment from Aaron King & the Imperials with Kenny Marchese, this year at the Press Club, followed by the traditional afterparty and jam at the nearby Torch Club at 5 p.m. (1-4 p.m. Sunday; sacblues.org/hall-of-fame; pressclubsac.com)
Melancholy though such an event could be, some memorial tribute concerts are just plain good enough to be held more than once — perhaps even annually. “Snock Songs II: A Gold Country Tribute to Michael Hurley” follows last year’s inaugural event honoring “outsider folk” underground music hero Michael Hurley, who died last April.
Grass Valley fixtures and partners Shana Cleveland (head of surf-psych rock peddlers La Luz) and ramshackle troubadour Will Sprott (also of Shannon & the Clams and defunct darlings the Mumlers) remain atop the lineup, alongside Andy Cabic of Vetiver, Meka, Emilie Rose, Moore Brothers, returning acts Anna Hillburg with Bill Rousseau, Luke Sweeney and Awkward Pocket and several others, with “supernatural country” troupe Dessert Boys (featuring many of the aforementioned faces) serving as house band. The tribute gig again doubles as a fundraiser for beloved Nevada City-based radio station KVMR. (7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10; St. Joseph’s Hall, 410 S. Church St., Grass Valley; $15-$30, tickets at the door; kvmr.org)
We’re not sure what’s going on over at Harlow’s, but looking at the Tuesday night gigs this month, we figure the venue is gunning for a Guinness Book entry for the most Wednesday sick days called under false pretenses in recorded history.
Indie rock band Deer Tick performs Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Harlow’s in Sacramento, kicking off a month of Tuesday night shows at the venue. Courtesy photo
A month of Tuesdays gives us indie Americana rock titans Deer Tick (Oct. 6), transcendently effervescent, Southern-seared husband-and-wife folk/rock duo Shovels & Rope (Oct. 13), wistful high-plains powerhouse singer-songwriter John Moreland (Oct. 20) and gothically misted lo-fi indie alternative singer Freak Slug (Oct. 27), touring behind a pitch-black labyrinth of a new record, “Amulet,” that likely signals larger venues in her future.
Lest we be accused of a specific weekday bias, the fully loaded October calendar also lobs up subterranean indie pop duo Hovvdy, whose newest record “Big World” feels like it’s stretching farther heavenward toward the sunbeams than they’ve dared to reach before (Oct. 18); cinematic indie spaghetti-surf instrumental troupe City of the Sun (Oct. 19, upstairs); and ’90s fixture Fastball (Oct. 19, downstairs). (harlows.com)