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Last week, I needed a big (week)night out, and the performance of one of my favorite djs, Andy Caldwell, was the perfect impetus.

We started with sushi at Momiji’s. We must have gone on a bad night. Our server was nice and the place seemed decent-looking, but we were the only ones in there. When our food arrived, our server explained that the chef mistook the garlic flakes for sesame seeds, so our Philadelphia rolls would have garlic on them. We accepted the rolls, partially because they came on a plate with the other three we had ordered and we were hungry, but mostly because we’d look like jerks for sending them back. The server should have just asked the chef to make a new roll correctly. The specialty rolls we ordered were tasty, but a few pieces were stuck together because the roll wasn’t cut all the way through. We probably won’t be back.

We were pretty early for the show, so we grabbed drinks at De Vere’s, a nearby Irish pub. I liked the look and feel of the place, but the clientele was a little fratty. It wasn’t terribly great for people watching, since most of the 20-somethings that frequent the place dress the same. The service was prompt despite our not sitting right at the bar, so that was a big plus.

Then we headed over to the Park Ultra Lounge. Before Andy Caldwell played, we heard one of his openers, Vince Lombardi. He sounded good, but it’s gotta suck trying to make a name for yourself when the first 100 google search results for your name unearth a dead football coach.

The most surprising thing about Andy’s set was the lack of deep house, which was characteristic of his work with Naked Music and the genre I “grew up” loving as I better acquainted myself with electronic music in general. He played some harder, electro-sounding tracks, along with a remix of one of his original tracks, Warrior, which I especially liked.

The place itself was okay too. The folks in Sacramento don’t seem to agree, but I don’t know who sets the bar for nightlife here, so I’m trying to stay open minded. The crowd was kind of strange. There were a bunch of people whose jobs seemed to be going out and partying, but there were also a lot of older, convention-attending folks who probably had no idea where they were or what they were listening to. So it goes I suppose. There was a steady stream of dancefloor dwellers, but the place never really picked up, so we headed out around 1 because SOME of us had to work in the morning. (Just some though.)