this is The Beat, in midtown Sacramento, a great record store I love to go to. But going there means going to Sacramento, and braving the spare-change-askers that roam up and down J St in place of real shoppers, who don't exist (because they're all at the mall). I went for another sketching trip there yesterday, and started to get quite irritated at the interruptions, people stopping and giving their mental schpiel before the inevitable request for a buck or two; I must get a sign that says 'leave me alone'. Further downtown, near the capitol, it was worse, but with added bus-loads of sweet old lady tourists with name-tags so they don't get lost, all looking for their bus, "it's on 10th and m and i don't know where that is" (it's a grid system, surely), but again, no normals, no shoppers, no reason to be there, everyone's at the mall, at target, at old navy, meanwhile the centre of california's capital city is a place you don't want to spend your time. Getting on for saturday evening, you would think it would be buzzing, yet it started to feel more like a ghost town (except the ghosts might say 'any spare chains?' instead). Not a comfy saturday. I did the ones below also - the first, a cafe downtown opposite one of the big hotels, in wine coloured copic with badly-chosen watercolour tints, and the second one is of the smiling statue of bishop gallegos. I may be mistaken, but he looks like he's doing the 'gun' mime. Well it is sacramento.
the beat
1.10.07 06:40
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