Second Saturday’s last rites

Second Saturday crackdown fail:
This past weekend, during Second Saturday’s festivities on J and 20th streets, city of Sacramento police interrupted a performance by 25 UC Davis Samba School drummers. Officers explained that the artists weren’t permitted to perform, as per the city’s live-music ordinance, and would have to stop. A big crowd had gathered to enjoy the show.

The city has vowed to ramp up enforcement on Second Saturdays on the heels of Victor Hugo Perez Zavala’s death last fall. But is silencing musicians really the way to go? If anything, the city should be encouraging cool and exciting artistic spectacles—even spontaneous ones—on Second Saturday. Not cracking the whip.

Thursdays at the museum:
Props to the Crocker Art Museum for reinventing itself on Thursdays, opening its doors to the local-music scene and moonlighting as an all-ages venue. You can count the number of such venues in the central city on one hand, so it’s nice to have another option, instead of just giving all-ages the finger.

Crocker coined its weekly happening Thursdays ’Til 9, and each jeudi of the month there’s a different theme: The first Thursday is for filmmakers, the fourth an art free-for-all, and the second and third for musicians.

This past ’Til 9 night, which they call Art Mix, featured locals the New Humans and indie four-piece Sister Crayon, the latter previewing their South by Southwest set before hopping in the van at 7 a.m. on Friday for Austin’s annual music-industry blowout, which kicks off this week.

I’ve been writing about Sister Crayon for some time—first caught them as a duo in an Oak Park living room and, full disclosure, they thanked me for years of coverage in the liner notes of Bellow, their debut full-length that already sold out on Amazon.com. But times have changed. After the band’s Crocker gig, S.C. fans—some 150 strong—lined up for autographs and waited a good half-hour to chat with singer Terra Lopez and the gang. Crazy popular with the kiddos, the band suddenly is.

Anyway, Crocker welcomes the tunes again this Thursday, March 17, when Kate Gaffney sings folk rock. Be sure to have snack in the Mulvaney’s-catered cafe. (216 O Street, 7 p.m., $6-$12, all ages).

Speaking of SXSW:
SN&R music contributor John Phillips will be our official SXSW correspondent at this year’s festival. Keep an eye on his Twitter, @johnvphillips; SN&R is not responsible for any drunken, barbecue-coma-inspired updates, natch.

Rough House, we hardly knew ya:
Friday nights at the TownHouse Lounge will come to an end this month, as DJ Shaun Slaughter and DJ Roger Carpio plan to pull the plug on yet another dance night, Rough House (formerly Fuck Fridays). Still, there’s time for one last night of excessive shot taking and ass shaking—and maybe some more ToHo deejay brawls?—such as this week, when Sleazemore and White Girl Lust step up to the decks and join the residents Slaughter, Carpio, Adam J and Taylor Cho for a pajama party-themed night. Bring your Snuggie. (1517 21st Street, 9 p.m., $5).

Whoa, where’d all those shows come from?:
Quickly, click to the toc page and check out SN&R’s new live-music coverage. I’d call the new calendar swag—but there’s a moratorium on the word in these pages, so I’ll just say kudos to SN&R calendar editor Jonathan Mendick, who’s in charge of making sure we recommend eight shows a week. Have a gig you’d like to see in these pages? E-mail him: <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">{ document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,97,32,104,114,101,102,61,34,109,97,105,108,116,111,58,106,111,110,97,116,104,97,110,109,64,110,101,119,115,114,101,118,105,101,119,46,99,111,109,34,62,106,111,110,97,116,104,97,110,109,64,110,101,119,115,114,101,118,105,101,119,46,99,111,109,60,47,97,62)) } </script> or <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">{ document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,97,32,104,114,101,102,61,34,109,97,105,108,116,111,58,115,97,99,116,111,99,97,108,101,110,100,97,114,64,110,101,119,115,114,101,118,105,101,119,46,99,111,109,34,62,115,97,99,116,111,99,97,108,101,110,100,97,114,64,110,101,119,115,114,101,118,105,101,119,46,99,111,109,60,47,97,62)) } </script>.