Pride In Peril - Crazy River (river video)
SacTV.com "Video of the Day" review by
Alex Cosper on July 5, 2012
Johnny Pride's follow-up to the Features was Pride In Peril, an energetic indie pop/rock band with powerfully catchy
tunes and picturesque lyrics. This song "Crazy River' actually is about Sacramento, although Pride had
left Sacramento by the time this song was recorded in 1994. The song says he's never going back, but Johnny tells
SacTV in 2012 the song is "my ode to Sacramento and my time there .. you can never truly leave this place, though
you may try." Johnny currently lives in Atlanta but visited Sacramento last summer for an 80s reunion show that
included The Features. The video shows both the North and South sides of the American River east of the Watt Avenue
Bridge.
I caught up with Johnny to ask him about the meaning of the song and he said, "The 'Crazy River' is the life we led in Sacramento,
or the city itself, metaphorically. Or, one can take it as the 'River City' or the two rivers that converge ...
This song is about Sacramento and the wild times we all spent together in the 80s and 90s. People leave the city, say they're gone for good,
but something about it always draws us back - 'the ties that bind'... The irony is the line "and I'm never going back." We all played so
hard in Sac that sometimes it was important to leave, if only to realize what a wonderful place it is. And, of course, we all come back.
We were, metaphorically, riding white water on a crazy river ... We used to play at Beav's, Fat Fonzie's, Bitter Creek, etc.
at night and then play tennis on the lit courts near Sac State or any of the parks. When the sun came up, we'd load up the ice chest
and raft the rivers, sometimes twice in a day. There was a nude beach not far away, too. I remember once when a crazy man came
with a rifle, made us all get dressed and leave. What a curmudgeon! I also used to love just going by the river and watching the
sun set, the light shimmering over the water. Even now, whenever I return, we get Curtis' boat and go up and down the river to the
bars and restaurants and Old Sac. My friend who worked at Virgin Sturgeon back in the 80s is still there! Only Sac has this kind of charm."
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