Swing singer and band leader Peter Petty performs in Sacramento. (Photo courtesy of Peter Petty)
Peter Petty is a Sacramento-based band leader who celebrates swing music with a repertoire that includes jazz, blues, holiday favorites and uproarious big band tunes. His live shows boast a band of about five people when he’s at smaller venues such as Torch Club to a stage full of 20 players when he puts on his annual Christmas blast, traditionally held at The Sofia with a venue change in 2023 to The Crest Theater
Mike Rodriguez is a local underground mural and wall artist, owner of comic distributor DefBird Comics and comic artist whose art has been seen throughout Sacramento and at the Maidu Museum in Roseville. Rodriguez has also shown his work at Crocker Art Museum. He’s collaborated with the Black Panther Party, ACLU and several other organizations who use his art as a means to convey their message.
Before the heat hit Sacramento, these two strangers faced each other at Philz Coffee on R Street to wax on about each other’s art, creative process, struggles, triumphs and trauma.
Petty: So my first question to you is: What did you do for your murals that the city only left them to stay up for a limited time?
Rodriguez: Oh! Joe Serna was still the mayor and I did this pretty big [mural]. It basically was about him.
Petty: It was a little critical.
Rodriguez: Yeah. He was trying to set up a misdemeanor boot camp for juveniles. He was trying to make Hughes Stadium —
Petty: I do remember that.
Rodriguez: Yeah, he was trying to make it a bootcamp for tough love. He closed [cruising] down, which just recently got put back up again. It was funny because [Serna] came on like a Chicano kind of ticket. So to do that shit is just contrary.
Read the full article by Casey Rafter at at Solving Sacramento
