Today’s Look: Tayler, SF State
Tell us about your look: “I bought it at Target.”
- No categories
Pixel Vision
The Daily Blurgh: What shall we do with a Russian sailor?
Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items from around the Bay and beyond
Greasy Russian sailors, unearthed ships, and shanghaied coppers: Chris Carlsson sails through tales of maritime transit from SF’s past.
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Today in sad local business news: Berkeley’s Reel Video to close. People love Ike’s too much. Facebook (hey, don’t they count as local?) navel-gazes about its growing unpopularity.
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Oh, honey don’t forget to stop in at Walgreens on your way home and pick up some shampoo, trash bags, and a DNA test.
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“There is a cynicism to this project that suggests that the producers did not feel much need to do it very well just because they have some terrific character actors in all the leading roles (save maybe for Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer), and even in some minor ones (Samuel L. Jackson, Jr., mails in his one scene as Nick Fury, making me wish they’d gotten Laurence Fishburne). Just fill it out with special effects & heavy metal music & take it to the bank. Getting the director of Elf to helm the project is just one index of how Marvel cut costs wherever it was felt they weren’t necessary. Like direction.” Poet Ron Silliman reviews Iron Man 2.
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People who say, “bleachedcarbsdairyanythingtoxinfilledeverything makes me feel ill,” please stop hyperventilating. You aren’t actually allergic.
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Honor the late, great fantasy painter Frank Frazetta by raising a horn of mead tomorrow at Mission Comics & Art’s “Memorial Drink and Draw.”
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Wake up Gary!
Shine up your trikes: Tour de Castro’s wheelin’ through
Sat/22 — hereforthwith known to the State of California and someday to the US and World as Harvey Milk Day — is going to be a big gay deal. One of the primo partyish events, however, will be the tricycle-team race Tour de Castro, put on by those gloriously roamin’-handed Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Grab two-to-five friends to make your trike-team, and register by Sat/15 for a totally fun-filled way to celebrate Ms. Milk AND raise money for AIDS. Straight people totally accepted! (We’re open like that). Bonus: It’s also a bar crawl. Details after the jump.
FROM UNDER THE DESK OF SISTER VIVA L’AMOUR
The Tour de Castro is a race, bar crawl, costume, raffle, and fundraiser extravaganza benefiting AIDS/LifeCycle 9 bike riders who are still need of donations to reach the minimum $3,000 required to participate in the annual ride. As in previous years, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence want to make sure everyone rides!
Teams of 2 to 5 riders will race to several Upper Market/Castro neighborhood “pit stops”. Participants are asked to find sponsors who pledge a donation to the riders for each stop they successfully complete. A grand prize is awarded to the team raising the most donations. The first three contestants to win the “race” also will win prizes. Other prize categories include best gluts [sic], best costume, most outrageous and best decorated tricycle.
REGISTER ONLINE AT http://www.thesisters.org/tdc
Streets of San Francisco: Miguel Pendás’ Vertigo tour
Last week I was able to go on Miguel Pendás’ Vertigo tour. Creative Director at the San Francisco Film Society, Pendás led a group of ten on a van journey that concluded at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The day was warm and sunny, which didn’t stop some of the film’s — and the city’s — heralded sites from throwing moody shade. You can never learn enough about Vertigo, a fictive story that stems from a tale by Ambrose Bierce but has roots in the Californian dirt and a romantic attraction to the depths of the ocean. Hitchcock’s reflecting pool for the screen taps into history and myth in myriad interwoven ways.
Streets of San Francisco: City talk
On Friday, May 7 at 12 p.m., I stood at the intersection of Van Ness and Market with a pen, notepad, and die in hand. The pen and notepad were used to capture discernable language overheard, while the die served to dictate the initial direction of my walking as well as the decision made at each new intersection. The following is a transcription of one-hour of that journey—eventually the die led me to the ocean—or an attempt to quilt together found language from San Francisco’s streets.
Van Ness: “Bastard! Mother fucking wrinkle-ass… jump on the girl…”
Fell: “…are you serious!?… “ “…I don’t know what happened yesterday…” “…no, the reason it’s an awkward…”
Franklin: “Oops, sorry.”
Hayes: …
Van Ness: “…not at all, not at all…”
Polk: “… get a phone number from this person…” “…that lady got on my nerves…” “Yeah, yeah, uh-huh, yeah…” “Hello sir, how are you? I’m handing out information; it concerns worker’s rights.” “I just wanna be like…” “…uh-huh…” “Hey, Sweetheart: let’s get breakfast…” “…know what I’m sayin’?”
Turk: “…that’s like all the banks…” “…so anyway, they said all you can do is get me the…”
Larkin: …
Eddy: “…what if when I’m really saying, it, it’s really time…” “…donde estas…” “…really spazzy in the car…” “Mami!” “Huh!? Huh?” “…what you talking about?” “Tattoo with color… in five minutes… we be walking down right now…”
Leavenworth: “I double dip! Take two, two, two, and two…” “Wussup, wussup, yo?” “I didn’t forget about… I forgot…”
O’Farrell: “…and it’s Divisadero… hit Taylor and… “I think she said it… Isadora Duncan…” “From my understanding the Isadora building is… uh…” “And sometimes this one…” “Hey, Eddy…” “Hi, I’m here…”
Taylor: …that’s not like… give me a hug!… c’mon!…
Eddy: “…lemme talk…” “I’m gonna help you out: get to the point…” “Bitch-ass nigga…” “Make sure I don’t get up—you better knock me out…” “Did you just fall down? Want me to call someone? Want me to call 911?” “…I think that’s a good idea…” “She fell twice…” “Put all three of our names on the guest list…” “…it’s hopeless…” “…uh, just left…”
Market: “…15 years…” “That’s part of it in, yep…” “…last time, oh yeah…” “Oh my god…” “…then I gotta put the locks in…” “Excuse me, you know where Macy’s is?” “Uh-huh, back that way and…” “…it’s okay… no, I’m excited!“”…she, she…” “Five o’clock? Alright, bye…” “…but I think it’s all…” “So where we going?” “…so you pay like what?” “…yeah, that’s true…” “…very pragmatic person, and then he got this bad rap…
Kearny: “…but I like it…” “I don’t…”
Geary: “I’m sure she has…”
Market: “…oh, you know, we need a crew here and…” “…my congratulations…”
New Montgomery: “…it’s not me…” “Oh, I know…” “…and she just, oh I don’t know…” “Will that fit in there? Yeah, all right…”
Mission: “…which, I don’t know, maybe people just fuck you know?” “…two a month, two a month…” “so this is where this place is…”
3rd: “…it’s at 3rd and Howard… this is 3rd…” “Goddamned people…” “I appreciate your work, when you gonna…” “…he’s from Utah; he’s Mormon—looks just like a city boy… he’s popular: all the girls want him… hard body; hair all tweaked up… I know! That’s what I’m sayin’…”
Live Shots: Fact/SF presents “The Consumption Series,” Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory, 5/6/2010
Intimacy and personal space play a large role in Charles Slender’s new dance-theater production entitled The Consumption Series from dance company Fact/SF. (The show continues through Sat/15.) As my girl date for the night, Suzy Q, put it: “I’ve never been that close to live dancers in my whole life!”
They were so close that you could see individual beads of sweat dripping down their faces and feel their bodies graze your legs as they scooted on their bellies under your seat. That’s pretty close and intimate. Running 75 minutes, this performance is chock-full of emotion, energy, laughter and evokes a little bit of Rihanna’s “disturbia” too. The show takes a penetrating look at the many apects of consumerism.
Sometimes the dancers are sexy, flirting with themselves in a huge floor length mirror. Sometimes they are vicious, devouring whole tangerines and spitting them out. Sometimes they are bizarre, dancing with buckets on their heads and cradling huge headless plastic dolls in their arms. You never know what’s coming next, but you know it’s going to be interesting and beautiful. The show runs ’til May 15th, so go treat yourself to a night of totally consuming entertainment.
THE CONSUMPTION SERIES
continues May 13-15
8pm, $20
Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory
1519 Mission, SF.
www.factsf.org
Street Threads: Look of the Day
Today’s Look: Natalie and Beth, SF State
Tell us about your look:
Natalie: “Causal and cute!”
Beth: “Kinda funky and just putting things together.”
The Daily Blurgh: Follow that bird!
Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items from around the Bay and beyond
Forget the Double Down: Here’s a map of the Bay Area’s best fried chicken spots
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The privacy-scoffing overlords at Facebook have created a nefarious, new metric to measure the country’s emotions: it’s called the Gross National Happiness. Unsurprisingly, Americans seem most happy just before Christmas and very unhappy around Tax Day. Don’t like no privacy? Try this, maybe soon.
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Fry toys: Scientific American picks 169 best illusions
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“It’s not you, it’s me” : An insider explains why your favorite TV show was canceled.
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On-street bicycle parking on Valencia now a reality.
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RIP Doris Eaton Travis, last of the Ziegfeld Girls
Streets of San Francisco: ICP goes for inner city phame
If you live in San Francisco and pay attention to public art, you might already be familiar with the work of longstanding Bay Area graffiti crew Inner City Phame (ICP). Their prolific murals – diverse in style and magnetic in form – grace walls across the city. There’s a tribute to Malcolm X on Third and Kirkwood in Bayview-Hunters Point, featuring intricately crafted aliases free floating among inspired quotes. On a vibrant wall on the corner of 19th and Mission, comic book characters from Ironman to Dr. Evil swing between stylized names forged in cracked stone. An Azteca-themed mural up the street on 25th has a jaguar warrior getting down with the gods. And ICP also curates the street level walls of the Defenestration building on 6th and Howard (that old tenement hotel with furniture flying out of the windows), making a dynamic open-air gallery out of abandoned space. Wait, who said graffiti wasn’t art?
“The first graffiti I saw when I was a kid growing up in the Mission was the Chicano writing on our walls,” says Twick, ICP veteran and original member of the group of close-knit friends, founded by Il Charo (then named Jes 446) back in 1988. “We called it Cholo writing, because that’s what it was. The walls decorated the names of the gang members of the neighborhood.” Surprisingly little of San Francisco’s Cholo writing has been documented, although street art researches have traced the origins of its Los Angeles cousin back to eastside barrios in the 1930s. What we do know is that today’s hip-hop tradition of graffiti didn’t take off in the Bay until ’83, a year that marked the momentous PBS broadcast of Henry Chalfant’s and Tony Silver’s Style Wars. After watching the stunning documentary about New York’s burgeoning youth culture, thousands of kids around the world racked some aerosol cans and took to the streets. A thirteen-year-old Twick, who had already tried to his hand at Cholo graffiti, was one of them.
“I fell in love with the art form right away and wanted to duplicate what the writers in New York were doing,” Twick recalls. Along the way Twick found a mentor in Antie 67, who introduced to him the values and elements of hip-hop culture – from the craft of lettering to break dancing and emceeing. It was an apprenticeship. Like many other kids, Twick felt pulled into an exciting and creative underground world, one that for the most part, kept him out of the real trouble. “I didn’t choose my destiny my destiny chose me,” he says.
Soon enough more and more crews popped up, a unique Bay Area style developed and an ever-evolving ICP made a name for itself on the walls across the city. “We dubbed the style we do Phunk,” Twick explains, “meaning, knowing the foundation of a letter and creating from that: stretching it here and there, adding connections – some arrows and a few bends in the right places with a shadow or a 3d.” Funkified calligraphy is readable, unlike widlstyle, which has helped ICP garner a large audience of appreciators and street notoriety.
In recent years San Francisco has taken an active role on trying to eliminate graffiti. City policies have enforced strict regulations on private property owners to buff vandalism and enacted tougher surveillance and punishments on the writers. Graffiti is known as a quality of life crime, but it seems easy enough make just the opposite case. “We don’t destroy neighborhoods and communities – we beautify them,” Twick says. While ICP now paints many legal murals and members sell canvases in galleries, Twick still highlights that the practice is fundamentally rooted in both an unsanctioned approach and the aesthetics of the tag. So, ICP maintains a balance between two worlds. “The most important thing we stand for is our family and our cultures, inspiring young minds through art – not violence – and blessing our community with colorful murals,” says Twick. “And we will continue to be one of the top crews in the Bay Area.”
It’s reigning men!
Thrillpeddlers peddle more Cockettes in Hot Greeks and SF Playhouse gets kinda Guignol with Slasher
On the principle that when you’ve got it you should really flaunt it, San Francisco’s Thrillpeddlers essay their second revival of a musical by the storied Cockettes. Hot Greeks, which premiered in midnight performances at the old Palace Theater in 1972, was the gleefully crazed cross-dressing troupe’s only other fully scripted musical besides, of course, Pearls Over Shanghai, which Thrillpeddlers revived to long-running fame almost a year ago and which will run in repertory with the limited-run Greeks.
While not the Oresteia or anything, Hot Greeks is more than an excuse for a lot of louche, libidinous hilarity. Okay, not much more. But it is a knowing little romp — supported by some infectious songs courtesy of Martin Worman (book and lyrics) and Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn (music and additional lyrics, and musical director-accompanist for the revival) — wedding trashy high school romance with the trashy ancient Greece of Aristophanes and the Peloponnesian War.
As Athens U. prepares for the big game against traditional rival Sparta, pent-up frustrations on and off the field reach new heights when Tri Thigh Sorority’s own buxom-and-then-some head cheerleader, Lysistrata (played to deadpan perfection by Michael Soldier), leads her squad in a revolt against male domination, leaving the boys literally hard up (prostheses and the rest of the wonderful costuming on display by Kara Emry and Morningwood). A little gridiron frisking around (encouraged by the rousing patriotic ditty, “Everybody’s Got a Buddy on the Front,” featuring the always impressive Connie Champagne as dean’s wife Clitoristra) and finally a little sexual affirmative action by Lysistrata make everything all right in the end.
You’d expect Pearls to be a hard act to beat, but director Russell Blackwood’s Greeks is a blast — lovingly detailed, gamely performed, and voiced by a diverse and charmingly pan-sexual cast, and carefully choreographed, it’s a shrewd and sharply executed production that manages to remain always rambunctiously carefree in tone. But there’s more Cockettes mayhem in the second half of the evening, which is devoted to a floorshow menagerie of greatest hits and a chronological musical trip down memory lane with narrator Scrumbly Koldewyn, who begins things in Gertrude Stein drag for a rendition of “Gert’s Postcard” from the 1971–72 New Years Eve show Les Etoiles de Minuit, before taking over at the piano.
Together with Hot Greeks, the brightly executed and equally entertaining pieces on display in the floorshow serve to remind audiences of the perennial zest in much Cockettes material as well as the considerable talent that was there under all that glitter and pubic hair.
Texas cinematic massacre
Male domination gets a feminist comeuppance in Slasher, at SF Playhouse, but the effort seems both more serious and less supple than the joyfully subversive sexual pandemonium in Hot Greeks.
As the only breadwinner for her meds-addled wheelchair-bound mother (Susi Damilano) and kid sister (Melissa Quine), Sheena (Tonya Glanz) suffers run-of-the-mill humiliation and exploitation as a waitress at an Austin eatery frequented by film nerds like shaggy good-natured acquaintance Jody (Cole Alexander Smith). When Jody convinces an aging low-budget horror meister (Robert Parsons) to meet him there, the leering eye of the filmmaker takes in Sheena and convinces her to take the starring role as “the last girl” in his latest project, Blood Bath. Sheena’s big break, if that’s what it is, gets put in jeopardy by her vengeful haute-feminist mother, who plans to disrupt the shoot in no uncertain terms.
Unfortunately, no amount of stage blood can brighten the dreary sense of predictability in Slasher, though capable performances from an impressive cast directed by Jon Tracy go some way toward alleviating the chill lack of chills or the ho-hum aspect of its hardly fresh or revelatory feminist angle on the horror genre. Playwright Allison Moore has a talent for dialogue, though, and this regional premiere still manages to show her off as someone to watch.
Hot Greeks
Through June 27
Thurs, 8 p.m.; Sun, 7 p.m., $30-69
Hypnodrome Theatre, 575 Tenth St, SF
1-800-838-3006, www.thrillpeddlers.com
Slasher
Through June 5
Tues, 7pm; Wed-Sat, 8 p.m. (also Sat, 3 p.m.), $40
SF Playhouse, 533 Sutter, SF
(415) 677-9596, www.sfplayhouse.org
Whistling in the dark: Noir returns to the Roxie
It’s hard to guess what fictive icons of popular culture will endure and which will evaporate from the collective memory. In the 1940s, probably few would have imagined kiddie heroes Batman or Superman retaining marquee value into the next century. Bigger bets would no doubt have been placed on the Shadow, the Saint, and the Whistler, long-running radio men of mystery with uncanny (but not exactly supernatural, or super-heroic) abilities to witness the moral misdeeds of mortal men, not to mention their inevitable comeuppance.
In fact, the S-men usually doled out that payback themselves. Even more evanescent than his compatriots, the Whistler was less hands-on, more a Greek chorus sardonically telling the tale of each episode’s protagonists, gloating over the impending arrival of their just desserts. He was never a participant — was even a He, or an otherworldly It? He was, simply, a gimmicked-up omniscient narrator, the storyteller’s own voice turned into a character slash-framing device.
As a result the Whistler probably didn’t seem natural movie material — what can you do with a character that isn’t seen and doesn’t interact with others? Yet the 13-year series’ popularity was such that Columbia Pictures took the plunge anyway. The result was eight films made between 1944 and 1948, six showing during the two weeks of “I Still Wake Up Dreaming!,” Elliot Lavine’s latest noir revival extravaganza at the Roxie — in restored 35mm prints struck for the occasion, yet. (The Whistlers will also play Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive May 29-June 5.)
These “B” programmers were economical in budget and length. But on both levels they got a lot out of a little: benefiting fully from Columbia’s production gloss despite their humble status (destined for the lower half of double bills), often packing an almost epic narrative arc and tonal gamut into about 65 minutes. They weren’t great movies, but they were great examples of the solid craft and pulp entertainment value “golden era” Hollywood managed even (or even especially) when just churnin’ them out.
Each opens with a silhouette in trench coat and fedora floating along sidewalks and alley walls, uncredited actor Otto Forrest’s voice intoning “I am the Whistler … I know many strange tales, hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows.” He then guides our attention to this particular case’s subject, who’s either planning something terrible or oblivious to the terrible something about to befall them.
If these central protagonists seemed oddly alike, that was because they were all played by one actor. Richard Dix was a big star of the 1920s and early 30s who was by then in his 50s, and looked it. He could credibly sport a tuxedo, bum’s rags, or murderous glare. Yet by and large he struck a placid, almost disinterested attitude throughout the series, despite his characters’ wildly varied circumstances. These included playing men who lose their identity (an amnesiac in 1945’s Power of the Whistler) or steal the wrong one (1944’s Mark of the Whistler); a terminally ill tycoon who marries a gold digger (1945’s Voice of the Whistler); or a gold digger sniffing inheritance dough (1946’s Secret of the Whistler, 1946’s The Mysterious Intruder).
The basic plot elements were interchangeable. But the particulars (often penned by pulp masters like Cornell Woolrich) were complex — so many hitherto lawful characters turning homicidally venal on a dime — the support casts colorful, and execution snappy or moody as needed. (Directing four entries was William Castle, who’d turn to more garish thrills as the showman behind such gimmick-driven horror potboilers as 1964’s Strait-Jacket and 1965’s I Saw What You Did.)
There are a lot of other rarities in the Roxie fortnight, highlights including the entirely SF-shot 1949 cheapie Treasure of the Monte Cristo and Phil Karlson’s excellent 1953 99 River Street. Particularly fascinating are late entries showing in studio archive prints: 1958’s flop-sweaty NYC-set Cop Hater; 1963’s crazily cast (Mort Sahl! Sammy Davis Jr.! Pre-Bewitched Elizabeth Montgomery!), quite nasty mafioso meller Johnny Cool; and 1959’s The Fearmakers. The latter’s finger-waggling about “packaged politicians,” “well-heeled lobbyists,” and “phony front groups” muddying D.C. democracy played Red-scary then, but sure sound prescient in our post-Cold War now.
“I Still Wake Up Dreaming: Noir is Dead!/Long Live Noir!”
May 14-27, $5-9.75
Roxie, 3117 16th St, SF
(415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com
Quick Lit: May 12-May 18
Literary readings, book tours, and talks this week
Norris Chruch Mailer, Daniel Clowes, real live magic, authors on immigration, the urban farming movement, and more.
Wednesday, May 12
Cakewalk
Hear author Kate Moses disuss her new memoir about being a self-taught baker whose appetite for sugar helped her to survive a tumultuous sixties-era childhood and the friendships she forged with famous authors while working in the editorial department of the North Point Press in Berkeley.
7:30 p.m., free
The Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688
www.booksmith.com
Chronic
Hear D.A. Powell read from his new book of poetry.
6 p.m., free
University Press Books
2430 Bancroft, Berk.
www.universitypressbooks.com
“Urban Farming Movement”
Join leaders of the urban farming movement as they discuss their aspirations to shift our culture away from chain grocery stores in favor of local urban businesses. Featuring Jason Mark, manager of Alemany Farm and editor-in-chief of Earth Island Journal, Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City, and Christopher Burley, founder of Hayes Valley Farm.
6:30 p.m., $20
Commonwealth Club
595 Market, 2nd floor, SF
www.commonwealthclub.org
Thursday, May 13
Daniel Clowes
Enjoy a visual presentation and conversation with Oscar-nominated screenwriter and award-winning cartoonist, Daniel Clowes, about his new graphic novel, Wilson.
7:30 p.m., free
The Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688
www.booksmith.com
Jamy Ian Swiss
Enjoy some live magic and conversation with slight-of-hand artist Jamy Ian Swiss, author of Shattering Illusions and The Art of Magic. In conversation with Adam Savage.
8 p.m., $20
Herbst Theater
401 Van Ness, SF
www.cityboxoffice.com
Saturday, May 15
Unbound: A true tale of war, love, and survival
Hear author Dean King discuss his new book about 30 women who participated in China’s Long March in 1934.
2:30 p.m., free
San Francisco Public Library
Chinatown Branch
1135 Powell, SF
www.shanghaicelebration.com
West Coast Live
Attend this live radio broadcast with host Sedge Thomson and guests Norris Church Mailer, author of A Ticket to the Circus, Eric Puchner, author of Model Home, Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting Stone, and more.
10 a.m., $18
Freight and Salvage
2020 Addison, Berk.
www.wcl.org
Monday, May 17
Authors on Immigration
Hear Peter Schrag, author of Not Fit for Society, discuss the modern immigration controversy within the context of three centuries of debate and Tyche Hendricks, author of The Wind Doesn’t Need a Passport, talk about her experience in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands and the ordinary Americans and Mexicans who live there.
7:30 p.m., free
The Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688
www.booksmith.com
Counselor: Life at the Edge of History
Hear author Theodore Sorensen recount his experience as former Special Counsel and Advisor to President John F. Kennedy, including his significant input into JFK’s most important speeches.
6 p.m., $20
Commonwealth Club
595 Market, 2nd floor, SF
www.commonwealthclub.org
The Frugal Foodie Cookbook
Learn some tips on “Frugal Beauty” from author Lara Starr like how to make “sugar-free spa candy” and “wake up and smell the coffee scrub” as she discusses her new book, The Frugal Foodie Cokbook: Waste not recipes for the wise cook.
7:30 p.m., free
Pegasus Books Downtown
2349 Shattuck, Berk.
www.pegasusbookstore.com
Norris Church Mailer
Hear Norris Church Mailer discuss her new memoir, A Ticket to the Circus, that depicts the evolution of her marriage to Norman Mailer, as well as her early years in Little Rock Arkansas, where she was a young beauty queen who dated Bill Clinton.
8 p.m., $18-$20
Jewish Community Center of San Francisco
Kanbar Hall, 3200 California, SF
(415) 292-1233
www.jccsf.org/arts
Tuesday, May 18
Point Dume
Hear author Katie Arnoldi talk about her new novel set in Malibu where she takes on the death of surf culture, human trafficking, drug cartels, and the environmental devastation caused by illegal pot farms on public lands.
7:30 p.m., free
The Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688
www.booksmith.com
Wordcatcher
Hear Phil Cousineau discuss his new book, Wordcatcher: An odyssey into the world of weird and wonderful words.
6 p.m., $12
Mechanics’ Institute
Room 406
57 Post, SF
www.milibrary.org
Benefits: May 12-May 18
Ways to have fun while giving back this week
Wednesday, May 12
Eat Drink Change
Enjoy some of the best Peruvian food in the Bay Area while helping to raise money for Small Schools for Equity (SSE), an organizing project that implements innovative education reform policies and programs to help diverse urban youth achieve their full scholastic potential and develop socially just communities. The June Jordan School for Equity, the pilot school for this project, boasts a 75% college acceptance rate for it’s graduates, ninety-nine percent of which are minorities. So raise a glass of sangria for social justice and 25% of the proceeds will benefit SSE and the leaders of tomorrow.
5:30 p.m., free admission
Mochica
937 Harrison, SF
(415) 278-0480
Piqueos
830 Cortland, SF
(415) 282-8812
www.jjse.org
www.smallschoolsforequity.org
Thursday, May 13
The Arc of San Francisco
Celebrate disability, diversity, and pride at this LGBTQQ community fundraiser for the Arc of San Francisco, a non-profit that serves adults with developmental disabilities. Featuring circus performers, cocktails, a drag show, and a special guest San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty.
7 p.m., $100
Cirque de l’Arc
1500 Howard, SF
www.thearcsf.org/cirque
Bubbles and Bivalves
Learn more about native oysters while helping to support the Oysters on the Half Shell program and efforts to restore the critical underwater ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay. Featuring emcee Wendy Tokuda, CBS 5 news anchor, oysters, hors d’oeuvres, champagne, and libations from regional sustainable restaurants.
7 p.m., $50
The Aquarium of the Bay
Pier 39, SF
www.thewatershedproject.org
Rendezvous of Victory
Attend this benefit for the Middle East Children’s alliance featuring historian Norman Finkelstein, author of This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion, and a performance by Iraqi/UK hip hop artist Lowkey.
7:30 p.m., $15
Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School
1781 Rose, Berk.
(510) 548-0542
www.mecaforpeace.org
Friday, May 14
Inside/Out #20
Attend this issue release party and fundraiser for Hyphen, a volunteer-run non-profit magazine that focuses on the Asian American community, including cultural trends, art, and politics. Featuring DJs Franchise, Esquire, and Citizen Ten, a food cart appearance by Adobo Hobo, live art, and more.
9 p.m.; $10, $20 with subscription
Som. Bar
2925 16th St., SF
www.hyphenmagazine.com
Marin Services for Women Benefit Dinner
Attend this dinner themed “Celebrating Strong Women,” featuring Emmy Award winning actor Mariette Hartley, Jan Wahl, live music, a delicious meal, live and silent auctions, and more. Marin Services for Women is a non-profit that provides a full continuum of alcohol and drug treatment programs specifically designed for women, their children, and their families.
6:30 p.m., $150
Mill Valley Community Center
180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley
(415) 924-5995, ext. 128
www.marinservicesforwomen.org
Saturday, May 15
Beautiful Dreamers
Help keep art alive in Alameda at this benefit for Autobody Fine Art Inc., a non-profit that helps emerging and mid-career artists from the East Bay and surrounding areas, featuring a silent auction, a raffle of art related gifts, services, and local restaurants, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, and live music.
5 p.m., $15
Autobody Fine Art
1517 Park Street, Alameda
(510) 865-2608
www.autobodyfineart.com
Paul “The Lobster” Wells’ Birthday Bash
Enjoy readings, a silent auction, rare rock n’ roll memorabilia, and live entertainment with David Denny, Barry “the Fish” Melton, Joli Valenti, Mitchell Holman, Carlos Reyes, Mindy Canter, Thrasher, Jamie Clark and the Players, and more. Proceeds to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
8:30 p.m., $30-$50
Broadway Studios
435 Broadway, SF
(415) 291-0333
Petchitecture 15
Attend this auction of dog houses and cat condos, created by San Francisco architects and designers, to benefit Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS), a non-profit that helps people with illnesses keep their pets. Featuring food, drinks, pups, and live and silent auctions of unique pet habitats. Fully licensed and vaccinated pups on leash are welcome.
6:30 p.m., $150
Palace Hotel
2 New Montgomery, SF
www.pawssf.org
Sunday, May 16
Lagunitas Beer Circus
Attend this fundraiser for the Petaluma Music Festival featuring carnival games, aerialists, contortionists, sideshow freaks, great food, beer from ten local breweries, live music, and more.
1 p.m., $35
Lagunitas Brewery
Parking lot and beer sanctuary
1280 N. McDowell, Petaluma
(707) 769-4495
Monday, May 17
Spelling “Bee-In”
Attend this spelling bee to benefit Small Press Distribution (SPD), a non-profit distributor of small press books, featuring local literati attempting to show off their spelling acumen.
7:30 p.m., $75
Crown Point Gallery
20 Hawthorne, SF
www.spdbooks.org/bee
Appetite: Sneak peak at Comstock Saloon
Bartenders extraordinaire, Jeff Hollinger (also author of The Art of the Bar) and Jonny Raglin of Absinthe, debut Comstock Saloon, scheduled for a May 20 opening date.
This long-anticipated bar is in the former SF Brewing Company on Columbus, a 1907 building on the Barbary Coast trail with a Barbary Coast past honored in the restoration of mahogany bar, Victorian furniture, turn-of-the-century saloon look and menu (Beef Shank with Bone Marrow Pot Pie, anyone?) from Chef Carlo Espinas, formerly of Piccino Cafe. Cocktails ($8-12) are the classics, the kind found in pages of The Savoy Cocktail Book or Charles H. Baker’s Gentleman’s Companion, and all-time greats like a Negroni or Sazerac (two of my favorites).
COMSTOCK SALOON
155 Columbus Ave, SF.
(415) 617-0071
Street Threads: Look of the Day
Today’s Look: Kazu, Chris, and Angeline at SF State
Tell us about your look:
Kazu: “This shirt is from my dad.”
Chris: “I like to get my clothes from H&M.”
Angeline: “I got these boots from the store The Stars Shine Bright in Japantown.”
The Daily Blurgh: Is Gaga union?
Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items from around the Bay and beyond
Large, hairy gay men fashionably invaded Berkeley Art Museum on Mother’s Day in honor of large, hairy Belgian fashion designer. Did you go? We’d love to hear your on-the-scene reports. (Alas, we were dining with Mum).
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Welcome to Yuba County, SF’s rural dumping ground.
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Flashmobs: the new unions?
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Pop artists’ estate’s grasp on copyright loosened by artist’s “popular” source material: “Roy Lichetenstein’s estate has seen the light. After threatening copyright litigation against an indie band whose CD cover remixed the same comic book panel that the pop artist made famous, the estate has withdrawn the threat and no longer claims to own the rights to everything that rips off the same stuff that Lichtenstein copied.”
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SFMOMA has announced the shortlist of architects in consideration for its $250 million expansion. The final four are: Foster + Partners, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, David Adjaye Associates, and Snøhetta.
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Forget prostituting yourself for American Apparel. Can you make sexyface while wearing a messenger bag? Then Timbuk2 wants you!
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Sam McPheeters: I saw John Carpenter speak in 2002. He was 54 then, but he looked ten years older, and he talked for a while about his sagging energy levels. You’re the same age now, right?
Glenn Danzig: Give or take.
SM: Well, you look my age and it’s kind of weirding me out. Do you ever have problems with your energy levels?
GD: No.
SM: What’s your secret?
GD: I don’t know. I don’t eat shit food. I don’t do drugs. I don’t know what else to tell you.
SM: I’m 40. I don’t do any of those things. I eat salad for lunch. And I wake up almost every day feeling like a wet bag of sand.
GD: Salad is terrible if you put creamy crap on it.
SM: It’s low-fat creamy crap!
GD: There’s no such thing.
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Speaking of a comic Danzig:
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Today in “no, The Onion didn’t make this shit up” campaign ads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umTITWQuXwY
Lookin’ hot in the bike lane: Two-wheel tips from Meli of ‘Bikes And The City’
Meli Burgueno is the woman pedaling hard behind the killer San Francisco blog, Bikes And The City and after catching a glimpse of her always adorable road-friendly attire, it was time to get behind the chains and cranks to get a few style fashion-dos from the bicycle lover herself. Poking in and out of her favorite stores on Polk Street, Meli shows ladies the rules for hot cruisin’…of which she says there are none.
She rolls up on her companion of choice, “Frenchie” and parks her next to the coffee shop. Meli is sporting her usual cute; a flirty spring dress, black cardigan, gray tights and low black heels; the epitome of fearless femininity on wheels. As a biker myself, Meli and I agreed that looking lady-like in the bike lane often attracts glances from the other riders and drivers alike– there seems to be an assumption that biking requires spandex, jeans or some other bike ‘intended’ fabric. This is not true.
“The key to bike fashion is finding stylishly comfortable pieces, which is basically anything,” says Meli with a shrug. “If you can walk comfortably in that shirt, dress or pants, you can bike comfortably in it, too.”
We step into Tedda Hughes and Meli’s grin goes ear to ear. “I’m a terrible shopper, but I love this store,” she says while flipping through the racks. Meli has been biking since 2003, making cycling her main mode of transportation and a huge part of her life. She encourages other women to hop on wheels and quit fussing over the details.
“You have to get over your questions and just try it. Sometimes my shoes get dirty, but they can always be washed. And yes, sometimes I get sweaty– but isn’t that what bodies are for?”
She picks out a frilly black skirt, made by store owner Tedda Hughes herself. Meli never wears jeans. “I have a pair, yes, but I haven’t worn them for about four years. I can’t believe people bike in jeans…but then again, I don’t think they’re comfortable to walk in.”
We spot this lovely Gentle Fawn jumper, which is perfect for riding around town on a summer day– comfy, sweet and ideal for modest girls won’t have to worry about flashing their panties.
Meli loves bright colors, which not only look stellar, but they’re great for visibility reasons; get attention from sexy bike lane buddies and angry taxi drivers alike. This red, polka dot baby doll adaptation is another Tedda Hughes creation and Meli was drawn to the light, breathable fabric.
“I also really like wool. It’s a great fabric for absorbing sweat and it dries fast.”
These marine blue, suede pumps by Charlotte Ronson may look a bit freaky compared to the average bike sneaks, but Meli assures that heels are totally cool for cycling, as long as you can stand on them at the stoplight. The heel hooks around the pedal and acts like a clip, making them surprisingly ok for riding. The heels on Meli’s toes have rubber soles, which are also complimentary for her pedal style and help with grip.
We walk down the block and browse through another of Meli’s must-visit shops, Picnic, which is filled with fun wares, gifts and chunky accessories. Meli is all about layers and being prepared for the various micro-climates in the city. These Tullette finger-less mitts are an ideal friend for evening rides. And then she spots the basket of tights.
“I’m a tights whore,” she says digging through the pack and making comments about each gem she finds.
A fine day of shopping and it’s time to hit the road. Unlocking her bike, Meli has one final bit of advice to tote before jetting off into the sunset.
“Basically I think you should just wear it– no hesitations, no questions. If you like pants or whatever you feel good in, you should wear it and just ride.”
Catch more of Meli @www.BikesAndTheCity.blogspot.com
Pyramid’s new breakfast in a can
You know it’s a good day when you’re getting cold beer in the mail! Imagine our delight and surprise at opening up a chilly box of Pyramid Brewery’s new Haywire Hefeweizen… in a can! Hello burners, you have a new option for playa fun time.
Pyramid, we all know you have the most extreme beer names in the game. Your seasonal brews include Fling, Curveball, Juggernaut, and Snow Cap — and don’t even mess with the Ignition Series; Barbed Wire and Outburst. But as extreme as you are, how the hell did you get cold beer to me, via snail mail no less?
Your publicity person is too busy to talk about it. But it’s all good. Your light brew (good for summertime pounding, not so flavorless that you might as well be drinking Bud) floated down to my tummy in a sparkly, drinking in the office kind of way. And with offices from Seattle to Walnut Creek, you’re not quite local-local, but at least you’re West Coast-local. And you make lovely brews. So yaya to that!
Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery and Restaurant
901 Gilman, Berkeley
(510) 528-9880
Street Threads: Look of the Day
Today’s Look: Kate, Stonestown
Tell us about your look: “Comfort and I love crop tops for summer. I always gotta wear boots and tights always jazz up an outfit.”
Draw hot ladies on cycles at Dr. Sketchy’s
Get out your crayons, pencils, pens and chalk and pretend like you know how to draw for Dr. Sketchy’s 2nd annual Cute Girls on Bicycles tonight (5/11). Three lovely SF bike ladies will pose on their favorite pair of wheels while the crowd is free to oogle and sketch for 20 minute intervals. Sweeeeet!
Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School is a monthly gig that allows anyone to join in on a night of drinking and drawing. This month’s theme coincides with Bike To Work Day— Thurs/13– and along with the lovely ladies, the stage will feature four hot rides for participants to express their artistic skills, including a sassy orange mixte from PUBLIC bikes.
The lovely models include bike blogger, Meli Burgueno of BikesAndTheCity, Pelican builder Constance Cavallas and Amanda Lanker, leader of the Pushbike Ladies Ride. No they won’t be naked, you dirty fools, but they may sport a sexy helmet, grip gloves, blinkies and a messenger bag, all great objects to test your creative mind. Don’t worry if you’re not an A+ art student, this event is for sketchers of all abilities– sexy stick figures on bikes are welcome, too.
Check out this Chick and Bikes blog for some pre-Sketchy’s inspiration…www.chicksandbikes.blogspot.com/
Dr. Sketchy’s Cute Girls on Bicycles
Tues/11, 7-10pm, $10
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna, SF
The Daily Blurgh: Globish With Attitude
Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items from around the Bay and beyond
Don’t worry, San Franciscans: Your Internet friends don’t hate you and you will be followed once again
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Speaking of friends, whatever happened to N.W.A..’s posse?
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Me talk pretty one day, indeed. Do you speak Globish? You probably have. And so does the rest of the world.
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RIP Ms. Horne
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Newsflash! Oversharing online can come back to bite you in the ass: “While participation in social networks is still strong, a survey released last month by the University of California, Berkeley, found that more than half the young adults questioned had become more concerned about privacy than they were five years ago — mirroring the number of people their parent’s age or older with that worry.”
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This brave, local blogger waited four and a half hours for a bowl of fancy “test ramen” so you wouldn’t have to.
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Today in corporate sponsorships: Wynnona Judd to shill for Cracker Barrel. I want a pair of the sunglasses. “I love the rocking chairs and I feel really good when I go to Cracker Barrel,” she says. Sparkle Winnie! Sparkle!
Live Shots: How Weird Street Faire, 05/09/10
When it comes down to it, we’re all a bit weird. At the back of every person’s drawer there’s at least one pair of sparkle-farkle leggings and a purple wig. (Weird!) After a long winter, the annual, music-filled How Weird Street Faire came at just the right time for everyone to go wacko and let loose for some spring silliness. Check out some of the looks.
Street Threads: Look of the Day
Today’s Look: Cate, SF State
Tell us about your look: “It’s inspired by our Improv Nation club. Today is Crazy Character Day.”
Carville: like Black Rock City, but more history-like
Repurposed streetcars perch haphazardly in dunes not yet cowed by asphalt and the Java Beach coffeeshops. They’re homes to a community of urban escapists and artists. Some of them have front porches, some of them house bicycle clubs. It’s like a Dali painting, it’s like the boxcar children — but it’s also an accurate picture of the first non-indigenous inhabitants of the Sunset, on whom local historian Woody LaBounty has written an awesome book, Carville-by-the-Sea.
The book’s images of 19th century Carville are chicken soup for the boho soul. I want one. My room mate wants one. LaBounty himself says he’d live in one — were the lone streetcars still surviving in the western neighborhoods’ not firmly in the grips of their current owners. There’s even one still-standing house built in 1908 that’s made of three cars; a two street car living room, and a bedroom from one that was horse drawn.
One of Carville-by-the-Sea‘s trippy colorized historical photographs
There used to be hundreds of these things. People moved out to Ocean Beach despite the subpar public transit service that places without sidewalks are often subject to — when the community was first started in 1895 was a steam car that ran out Lincoln Way down to the Cliff House, a service intended mainly for the weekend day trippers. They went to escape the city, to improve their health. There were bars and restaurants in street cars, shoe repair stores, artist studios.
So how did I not know about these things before? LaBounty says he grew up in the Richmond in the ‘60s and 70’s, a few blocks from one of the surviving streetcars, which latched a steampunk-sized hold in his childhood psyche.
More pages from Carville-by-the-Sea. Where’s a Delorean when you need one?
“I loved planes, trains, and automobiles, so living in a street car — it just seemed like the coolest thing in the world,” says LaBounty, who is one of the founders of the Western Neighborhoods Project, proprietor of what is reportedly the most popular SF history website/propagator of history walks, plays, and films by teenagers who interview older residents in their neighborhoods. “I used to watch Wild, Wild West, the ‘60s TV show, and they were living in a train, which I thought was great.”
To research, he began interviewing historians he knew, and motor vehicle enthusiastists, and learning all he could about the old community on the beach. Though he’s privy to all kinds of juicy info on the town’s colorful past, LaBounty found interest in his stories of the bohos and families living on the cars really captured listeners. “We all thought, there needs to be a book on this,” he says. “And then I realized that I should probably write it.”
So here it is, colorized like the postcards of yore for that extra oomph of fantasy creation. Newspaper articles from the 19th century on the streetcars, biographies of the community’s founding members, lots of lovely photos from the dunes.
La Bounty’s doing a series of live talks on his Carville expertise which are open to the public. Just be forewarned: he’s not versed in how to get you a steetcar of your own. Still fun to hear, though.
Carville-by-the-Sea presentation
Wed/19 7 p.m., free
History Guild of Daly City/Colma
Doelger Senior Center
Westlake Park
101 Lake Merced, Daly City
www.carville-book.com