Sammies season

Hello, nominees: The Sammies awards show takes place Thursday, March 24, at Ace of Spades, but music fans have been catching Sammie-nominated artists at a series of free showcases all week.

Over at SN&R, we wanted to build excitement and celebrate the scene in a much bigger way than what’s normally possible in just one night.

It all started on Saturday night with a block party on R Street, headlined by James Cavern, who will soon get inducted into the Sammies Hall of Fame.

“There’s a lot of talent in Sacramento that people have no idea is just lurking around,” Cavern said in the middle of his tight, polished set. He was preparing to bring on special guest vocalist Shane Q, who sure enough, I had never heard of. But Cavern’s sentiment seemed to be the theme of the whole night.

The audience itself was like a who’s who of the local music scene—Century Got Bars, Sunmonks, Rebecca Peters and many others—all there to support their own. And opening band Cold Eskimo was likely new to a lot of people. The fabulous indie group hasn’t performed live in Sacramento for more than a year—so, ages ago—and certainly reminded me why I insisted on arriving early: Rachelle Martin’s captivating voice and the friggin’ flute. Can we get some new music, and more shows, please?

Anyway, Cold Eskimo segued into Soosh*e!, who now, yes, insists on the exclamation point. The evening marked Soosh*e!’s release of his EP Ganbatte!—yep, another exclamation point. The dude is excited. Soosh*e! has nabbed emcee Sammie nominations a few years in a row now, and they’re all well-earned. As the only solo artist of the night, he commanded the huge stage with spirit.

All the while, the crowd grew and grew. Though, there was also that annoying Ace of Spades effect, with the booze fans forced to stand in the back—in this case, on the Bottle & Barlow and Warehouse Artist Lofts patios—creating a huge gap in front of the stage.

But by the time Cavern began his set, that wasn’t an issue. Apartment windows were open, with parties of folks enjoying the show from above.

Cavern pulled out all the stops for this show, his release party for his EP Lost & Found, which he’s been quietly working on for more than a year.

Joe Kye played violin on one song, while two saxophonists came out for much of the set. Along with Cavern’s usual lineup, the whole band was on point all night. And then, there was that aforementioned special guest, Shane Quidachay. Quidachay’s delicate, beautiful voice played off Cavern’s deep rasp for a cover of Miguel’s “Sure Thing.” Shane Q. Look this guy up.

Oops: All right, so the Sammies showcases didn’t cover everything. The most glaring omission was a night dedicated to metal and punk. Or multiple nights.

Kudos to some punk nominees for calling us out and organizing their own unofficial Sammies showcase, taking place April 16 at Cafe Colonial. For $3, catch the Bar Fly Effect, Rebel Radio, the Enlows, SWIM and the Moans “congratulate each other and thumb [their] snotty noses to competition in the music scene.”

Twist and shout: For fans of indie pop and electronica, Le Twist Tuesdays at LowBrau have been a reliable haven of cool live music and deejay events. Organized by Sam I Jam, Roger Carpio and Adam J, they’ve held a special spot in the weekly music calendar. Always something different, yet distinctly Le Twist.

But the team hosted its last Le Twist Tuesday earlier this week, and it’s changing its moniker to Le Twist Events. After 205 evenings with 160 featured artists, Le Twist will be a once-in-a-while thing, sometimes at LowBrau and sometimes elsewhere.

“We want every show to feel special and to do that, along with other local tastemakers, we don’t think the weekly format is ideal for us anymore,” Le Twist posted on Facebook. Follow along at the same URL, www.facebook.com/LeTwistTuesdays.

—Janelle Bitker