Pixel Vision Archives — Page 88 of 133 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Black gold? Oil doc “Crude” opens today

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September 25, 2009

By Laura Swanbeck

If the Amazon is the “lungs of the world,” the exhausted natural resources and indigenous people who have lived there for centuries are in need of some serious oxygen. Crude, a candid, even-keeled documentary by Joe Berlinger (1996’s Paradise Lost; 2004’s Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) examines the class-action lawsuit filed by 30,000 Ecuadorians who charge that Chevron, who bought out Texaco in 2001, is responsible for dumping 18 billion gallons of toxinogens into the Amazon between 1972 to 1990. However, the oil conglomerate counters that state-owned PetroEcuador, which has since taken over, truly ravaged the countryside, polluted streams, and killed off inhabitants and livestock. Although the film’s opening — in which the lead prosecutor, Pablo Fajardo, accepts the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in San Francisco — suggests closure, Berlinger realizes that this battle is far more complicated than your average David vs. Goliath story. A study in perseverance and public perception (Trudie Styler and Sting make cameos to drum up support), Crude delves into political strategy, American entitlement (on both sides), and the frustrating bureaucracy that has plagued this ongoing case.

Crude opens today at the Lumiere and Shattuck.

Expo for Indie Arts gets to work

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September 24, 2009

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By Caitlin Donohue

Burlesque pistol Bunny Pistol gets more comfortable on the Expo for Independent Arts stage on Saturday

In a world where Rupert Murdochs and Borders Books cast their shadows over the city streets, where rent payments and the IRS hovers over upstanding creative citizens — in a world that tries its best to homogenize and monetize its art and artists, the bat signal is permanently alight for cape crusaders like the Independent Arts & Media producers’ co-op. The group was started in 2000 to provide resources and support to autonomous voices in art and media and lucky us, their centerpiece event of the year, the Expo for Independent Arts, is this weekend and it’s gonna kick ass. Dig the scene – whether your bag is selling your indie art, copping some indie art or just checking out what’s going down with Bay creatives.

Four Corners Mural Project South Bay by Expo artist Andy Gouveia

On Friday Berkeley will play host to the Symposium, the learning segment of the massive shindig. There’ll be experts champing at the bit to teach about everything from DIY career planning and low budget marketing techniques to how to self- pitch fast (in an elevator, no less!).

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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September 24, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Chynna, Judson and Forester

Tell us about your look: “I work at Crossroads and these are all secondhand.”

Dive in: What’s in a name?

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September 23, 2009

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Bar reviewer Kristen Haney seeks to separate hipster wannabes from real-life dives in this weekly column.

Ha-ra ra, sis boom … nevermind. Don’t get too cute at this Tenderloin dive, or bartender Carl might get more surly than usual.

The term “dive bar” is difficult to define. The label tends to be subjective, used to conveniently describe myriads of diverse drinking establishments. According to the ever-so-accurate encyclopedic knowledge of Wikipedia, a dive bar is a “down market drinking establishment frequented by a poor or working class clientele.” A slightly more trustworthy source, the Oxford English Dictionary, simply considers a dive to be a “disreputable nightclub or bar.” And just in case I haven’t been keeping up with the jive street jargon of today’s young folk, I consulted Urban Dictionary, which says the term can be used to describe anything from a “comfortable-but-basic neighborhood pub” to the “nastiest swill-slinging hole.”

Pretty general, right? In the name of journalism, I’ve taken it upon myself to put on my drinking shoes and sling back beers with regulars at this city’s great (or not so great) dives. I’m willing to cause irrevocable damage to my liver in order to bring you a weekly review of places that fit my dive bar criteria, so you don’t have to waste your precious brain cells on places populated by neckerchiefs and skinny jeans. Here’s what I consider important for determining the “divey-ness” of the watering holes that pepper the city like cockroaches refusing to be squashed. You can take ‘em or leave ‘em, but I’m going to take a page from the typical dive bar patron and let you know I could care less what you think. Besides, that which we call a dive bar by any other name would smell just as…questionable.

Appetite: Notoberfest, Ollalieberry Sour, barley beer brats, and more

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September 23, 2009

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Every week, Virginia Miller of personalized itinerary service and monthly food, drink, and travel newsletter, www.theperfectspotsf.com, shares foodie news, events, and deals. View the last installment here.

Barrel-aged beer sounds delicious right now. Photo from www.beerandnosh.com

EVENTS
10/10 Beer & Nosh presents Notoberfest
Jesse Friedman, whose popular blog Beer and Nosh is one of the best out there on the sudsy stuff and accompanying foods, throws an event beer and food lovers shouldn’t miss. But be forewarned… the event is already half sold out though weeks away.

With a cap at 150 people, Friedman told me he plans to keep it a comfortable party with various outposts around the room, flowing with food and beer. In the spirit of collaboration, Jesse assembled quite a line-up. None other than Ryan Farr and the 4505 Meats team prepare a feast with details not completely confirmed, though I hear rumors of grass-fed beef roasted over a fire, malt-studded/malt extract-glazed pork belly (yes!), barley beer brats on a stick, fried croquet on barley & sour apple chutney, and hopped rolled face on a fence(!) Dessert promises to be equally stunning with Humphry Slocombe creating six custom beer ice creams and treats just for this event. Wow.

Sampling the goods with Steve Altamari (Valley Brew), Ryan Farr (4505 Meats), and Jake Godby (Humphry Slocombe). Photo from www.beerandnosh.com

And the beer? Valley Brewing Co. serves their suds: Reinheitsgebot-breaking beers, each non-traditional, modern takes on heirloom styles:

* Luna Blanca – Central Valley Golden Ale
* a tart Olallieberry Sour that’s been fermented using wild yeast
* Brandy Barrel-aged “Collaborative Evil” Belgian Strong Golden Ale
* India Pale Ale
* Bourbon Barrel Russian Imperial Stout
* a rich Valley Brew Skullsplitter Root Beer
* the event’s signature beer, “Notoberfest” Bourbon Barrel Maibock Lager

This collaborative night brings together passionate craftspeople serving one-of-a-kind beers, meats and ice cream. If you need any more reasons to attend, I can’t think of them.
October 10, 1-5pm
$50 pre-purchase; $60 at the door (if not sold out): includes beer, food, commemorative glass and poster (shown on Web site)
Mars Bar
798 Brannan Street
415-621-6277
www.beerandnosh.com/notoberfest

This just in: Dinners from Chef Melissa Axelrod
Read about wine or beer pairing dinners around town from Chef Melissa Claire in my current issue of The Perfect Spot.
www.melissaclaire.com

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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September 23, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Virginia, Willard North and McAllister

Tell us about your look: “I need to do my laundry!”

Altered Barbies, or darling prolific rabbits?

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September 22, 2009

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By Caitlin Donohue

“Gene Simmons Begs Barbie” by Lavonne Sallee from the 7th Annual Altered Barbie Exhibit

During the years in which I was easily influenced by colorful plastic and catchy commercial jingles, my parents were good feminists and most certainly did not buy me Barbie dolls. Nonetheless, Barbie dolls multiplied in my toy chest like darling, prolific rabbits. How? The fact of the matter is that The Blonde One is a part of our social milieu. Getting away from Barbie is a proposition akin to avoiding pavement or romaine lettuce; it is simply not done.

SFBG TV at Altered Barbie 2008

This brings us to the San Francisco 7th Annual Altered Barbie Exhibit, wherein local Bay Area artists have appropriated the pink high heels, the taffeta, the Corvette and permanent purple eyeshadow and made this anatomically improbable fact of life their own.

Women’s Building turns a spiffy 30

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September 22, 2009

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By Caitlin Donohue

Photos by Erik Anderson

Back in January 2008, before Obamarama had reached its most dizzying heights, before the Beer Summit, even before calling Kanye West a “jackass,” our Barry O.’s campaign trail led him to the Women’s Building. El Presidente-to-be picked the site to publicize his plans to aide working class women and families. He couldn’t have chosen a soapbox with better mojo.

In 1979 the Women’s Building became the first women-run and operated resource center in the country. For the past 30 years, its extravagantly muraled walls have housed a cornucopia of practical tools for some of the most overlooked members of our community: a food pantry for immigrant families, dirt cheap professional legal advice, information on how to obtain a restraining order, even an after-school running program to help build confidence in girls. “This is a safe space for women,” says Corrin Buchanan, Program Director. “Lots of people have come through these doors and left with social services. It’s a place to gather for the community.”

Bike trek ends in SF theft

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September 22, 2009

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By Steven T. Jones

Bike thefts in San Francisco are always bad (and mostly ignored by the local cops), but this one seems particularly tragic. Andrew Marinelli just completed a 6,255-mile, cross-country bike trek to raise money for the UN World Food Program, arriving in San Francisco on Saturday.

And then last night, his bike was stolen from the downtown area, where it was locked at the corner of Montgomery and Sutter streets. The bike is a large frame dark green Windsor road bike with one fender in the back and a broken right pedal. If you have any leads, contact him directly at 803.443.9343 or andrewmarinelli@gmail.com.

Despite the loss, he had a pretty good attitude about it, telling us, “It happens. I’m just glad that I made it here first.”

Canadian cinemania: one critic’s take on TIFF ’09

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September 22, 2009

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By Jesse Hawthorne Ficks

>>Check out critic Dennis Harvey’s TIFF takes here.

There were quite a number of exciting films at the 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival, though attending 21 features and 20 shorts in five days also involved some disappointments. Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Air Doll somehow dropped the ball in every which way, throwing around interesting concepts involving a sex doll who comes to life (a la The Velveteen Rabbit), but it ended up leaving me longing for Michael Gottlieb’s 1987 politically incorrect gem, Mannequin. Or Fridrik Thor Fridriksson‘s The Sunshine Boy, an Icelandic documentary about Autism around the world. Though it used Bjork and Sigur Ros on the soundtrack, it felt like an infomercial for public access. (To be fair, I saw the version with an Icelandic narrator and not the newest version with Kate Winslet reading the cues.)

Some films succeeded in minor ways, including George Romero’s fifth entry in his zombie oeuvre, Survival of the Dead. While enjoyable, this one seems to lack the political immediacy of his previous entries, including his underrated Diary of the Dead (2007). Michael Moore’s (last?) feature Capitalism: A Love Story had some brilliantly ironic moments — as always, interspersed with his typical forehead-slapping activism (do you really have to continue using minimum wage-earning security guards at major corporations as the butt of your wacky antic jokes?). It felt a bit scatterbrained. Still, the film is well worth watching and even won the runner-up audience award for Best Documentary.

The creator of the original British version of The Office had his directorial debut with The Invention of Lying. Ricky Gervais’ cynically hilarious, cameo-packed laugh-fest sadly ran out of steam during its last act, but no matter. What’s most important here is the sucker-punch moment that has Gervais flexing dramatic skills so poignantly that it literally brought tears to the entire audience. (On a side note, why doesn’t Gervais ever end up kissing his leading ladies? Is this a conscious choice to counteract the likes of Woody Allen or Vincent Gallo or is it truly due to a low-self esteem?)

Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime, Bong Joon-ho’s Mother, and Claire Denis’ White Materials all delivered solid entries, proving these directors know their craft and do it quite well — though depending on how much you may have enjoyed their previous films you may be left wanting a little less or a little more.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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September 22, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Ruth, University of San Francisco

Tell us about your look: “This outfit is a secondhand, vintage piece by local designer Karen Rentschler and I got these boots about ten years ago from Nine West.”

Last chance for our LIT123 contest!

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September 21, 2009

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Have you entered yet? Midnight on Tuesday, September 22, is the cutoff for entries so get to scribblin’!

Our 10 favorites will win a gift certificate to Books, Inc. and be published in our October 7 Writers Issue! Just send a story that reflects life in the Bay — fiction, nonfiction, or poetry — to culture@sfbg.com with LIT123 in the subject line. The catch? Each entry MUST BE EXACTLY 123 WORDS! (Not including any title.)

Here’s one from copy chief Diane Sussman to help your creative juices flow:

A few weeks back, shortly after a 57-year-old friend dropped acid (at a concert, surrounded by grinning friends, designated driver assigned, all glowing and good) my husband and I began thinking about the worst places we could think of to drop acid. And then it came to us: the 22 Fillmore. It took us a while to get there. Natural settings were out: there’s always the risk that a stray bug proboscis can wander on the scene and unhinge your worldview. Home was out: a massive dustbunny could lead to hours of horror. I tested it out on a 20-something at a Haight Street head shop. “Whoa,” he said. “Whoa. Yeh, man.” Then he paused for a second. “I dunno. I think the 23.”

See more examples here and here. Hope to hear from you soon!

Found Footage Fest: “Hold the phone, is that from Eddie’s Bar Mitzvah?”

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September 21, 2009

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By Caitlin Donohue

Er ….

Rejoice, ye public access hosts, ye corporate training stooges, ye home movie starlets, for thy hour is nigh. No longer will your tapes be the viewing delight of a happenstance few. Film collagists Nick Pruehler and Joe Pickett have vaulted you into a slightly more middling level of obscurity. The fruit of their labor, The Found Footage Festival, makes its way to the Red Vic Movie House for a two night run starting Friday, October 2, bringing with it the panorama of American G-list treasures that Pruehler and Pickett have been discovering ever since a fateful trip to the back room of a McDonald’s in 1991. Discovering, scavenging, stealing — don’t get bogged down in semantics, people, it’s all part of the creative process. We recently interviewed Pruehler to discuss the profound joy produced by combining the FFF with Bay Area cush, as well as his deep-seated man love for Mr. T.

Found Footage Festival trailer

San Francisco Bay Guardian: How renegade are we talking here in terms of your video collecting techniques– do you ever dumpster dive for the tapes, or is that something you have “people” to do for you these days?
Nick Prueher: We’re not afraid to get our hands dirty and root around through garbage cans and dusty bargain bins at thrift stores in search of VHS gems. We’ll take risks to get videos. A few weeks ago, we were in a FedEx office picking up a package and happened to see a set of three VHS training videos behind the counter. When the clerk went back to grab the package, Joe snuck behind the counter and grabbed the tapes. Unfortunately, they were all pretty boring.

Celluloid scavengers Joe Pickett and Nick Pruehler

SFBG: Has anyone from the home movies ever gotten sassy on you because you put them in a showcase?
NP: Without fail, whenever we’ve met people in the videos we’ve found, they’ve been universally flattered by the fact they’ve become unintentional cult heroes of sorts. This footage that they’ve long since forgotten about is now bringing joy to hundreds of people across the country. The one close call we had was with Jack Rebney, a guy we dubbed “The World’s Angriest R.V. Salesman.” We cut together some outtakes of this guy going nuts during a promotional video for Winnebago R.V.s and it became a big hit from our first show. Then Jack found out about it and, believe it or not, was pretty pissed off. But we somehow convinced him to appear with us at a show at the Red Vic last year. He came out to a standing ovation and regaled the audience with hilarious stories from that disastrous shoot, then signed autographs for a half hour afterward. At the end of the night, we actually hugged the man.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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September 21, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Renee, Arguello and Anza

Tell us about your look: “I’m late and I’ve got to get to class!”

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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September 18, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Michelle and Andrew, University of San Francisco

Tell us about your look:
Michelle — “My pants have holes in them and my shirt is falling apart.”
Andrew — “I stole this jacket from my friend and then I broke the zipper on it, so my friend let me keep it.”

Pics: Mark Morris Dance Group intertwines, rehearses

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September 17, 2009

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Text and photos by Ariel Soto

Smiling dancers spun across the stage wearing neon bright pep-band uniforms. Classical music from a live ensemble kept the dancer’s movements fluid and true. It was the last rehearsal before opening night at Zellerbach Hall (as part of Cal Performances) for the Mark Morris Dance Group, who will be premiering two new pieces on the West Coast, entitled “Visitation” and “Empire Garden” this coming weekend.

DanceWright Project enlivens every turn

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September 17, 2009

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By Rita Felciano

"Jamie Ray Wright came to dance later than most," the choreographer and artistic director of the DanceWright Project says of himself — an understatement if there ever was one. At Stanford, Wright was a pop musician who then embarked on a career in marketing. For 20 years he watched dance from the audience’s perspective but finally "could stand it no longer" and started to study ballet 24/7, three hours a day. No, he didn’t become even a second-rate Barishnikov — but he did become a choreographer whose work has been floating around the Bay Area for the last half dozen years or so, most prominently at the Black Choreographers Festival. Neither are his dancers virtuosi. But what he and they have in common is a sense for craft, a lack of pretense, and a love for ballet that enlivens every turn, every gesture and every encounter. In addition to pieces from the rep, the evening will feature a world premiere, Bella Donna, performed to the live playing by jazz guitarist Chris Tozzi. This is the DanceWright’s first self-produced evening, and it has invited some other "newcomers" to share the program. Enrico Labayen, who used to be very active in the Bay Area a decade ago, is resurrecting his Labayen Dance/SF; Kat Worthington, a dancer with Wright, is introducing her own group; and the locally little-known Dac Pac, a youth company from Santa Clara.

DANCEWRIGHT PROJECT AND SPECIAL GUESTS Fri/18–Sat/19, 8 p.m., $15–$18, Dance Mission, 3316 24th St., SF, (415) 826-4441, www.brownpapertickets.com/event/76954

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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September 17, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Maggie, University of San Francisco

Tell us about your look: “I like a lot of color, but not too much all at the same time. That can be overwhelming!”

PARK(ing) Day finds the plot

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September 16, 2009

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By Molly Freedenberg

Screw the consumerism of Christmas, the war imagery of Independence Day, and the inevitable disappointment of New Year’s Eve. Our favorite holiday of the year is PARK(ing) Day, when individuals and groups around the world turn metered parking spots into the playgrounds of their dreams. Started in 2005 by the SF art and design collective Rebar, the event takes advantage of a legal loophole that allows any (legal) use of parking spots as long as the meter gets paid. (Think of it as miniature, short-term space rental.) Want kiddie pools and pink flamingos on Valencia Street? Sod and benches outside a Haight Street shop? A mobile grassy knoll taking up residence in the mayor’s parking spot? It’s all fair game. Nearly five years in, the idea has become so popular that, on certain city boulevards, a stroll on PARK(ing) Day can feel like a street festival — minus the annoying commerce (if people are playing by Rebar’s rules). One part fun, one part frivolity, and two parts commentary on the way we use urban space, this open source project makes an ordinary workday … ahem … a walk in the park.

PARK(ING) DAY Fri/18. Find information, maps, and instructions on how to construct your own park at www.parkingday.org.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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September 16, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Lordes, 11th St. and Howard

Tell us about your look: “I just put this outfit together. I got my hat at a thrift shop.”

Appetite: Root beer floats, grilled moist melts, shrimp creole, and more

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September 15, 2009

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Every week, Virginia Miller of personalized itinerary service and monthly food, drink, and travel newsletter, www.theperfectspotsf.com, shares foodie news, events, and deals. View the last installment here.

DEALS
Just for You’s new happy hour and New Orleans inspired bites
Despite this past weekend’s thunderstorms, our Summer is still in its early stages – Just for You Cafe commemorates an SF Indian Summer (and their nostalgia for New Orleans, which I acutely share) with new menu items and Wednesday through Friday happy hour specials. There’s $4.50 Root Beer Floats made with Nawlins’ own Abita Root Beer and our Mitchell’s Ice Cream. And it wouldn’t be an ode to the South without Red Beans and Rice ($4.50, $2 to add Louisiana hot sausage), Hush Puppies ($4) or a Creole Sampler ($6) of red beans and rice, jambalaya, and shrimp creole. Heineken and Miller beers are $2 and there’s Chicken Empanadas ($2.25) or Crispy Chicken Tacos ($2.95) for a veer off the New Orleans’ path.
Wednesdays-Fridays, 4:30-6:30pm
732 22nd Street
415-647-3033
www.justforyoucafe.com/specials

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NEW OPENING
Fish & Farm launches American Box
Gourmet lunches from top notch chefs continue to proliferate downtown, with Fish & Farm now in the mix, launching American Box. Executive chef, Chad Newton, created a menu that, similar to the flagship restaurant, is farm-fresh, local, sustainable. Eat from changing menu items, like a "Chop" Salad ($9) with Molinari salami, a Double Taco Box ($7), or a Grilled Moist Melt Box ($8, a rye, cheddar, pickle, caramelized onion sandwich), to go or in Fish & Farm’s dining room. Save room for cookies or brownies for dessert.
Monday-Friday, 10:30am-1:30pm
Cash only
339 Taylor Street
415-474-3474
www.americanboxlunch.com

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EVENTS
Test your blind wine tasting skills at Press Club all month
So the Governator himself has dubbed September California Wine Month (isn’t every month?) No matter… I like the sound of Press Club‘s Blind Tasting throughout the month – to test or improve your tasting skills, as the case may be. In Press Club’s roomy underground environs, $17 will get you pours of three wines, each selected from some of Nor Cal’s best wineries. If you’re feeling comfortable, submit your guesses as to each wine in the blind tasting and be entered to win a $50 private tasting for two.
20 Yerba Buena Lane
415-744-5000
www.pressclubsf.com

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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September 15, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Liz, University of San Francisco

Tell us about your look: “My fashion inspiration is Chloe Sevigny.”

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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September 14, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Lilly, University of San Francisco

Tell us about your look: “I thrifted this dress and the bag is from Forever 21. I’m a student, so I mostly buy cheap clothes.”

Ici, here’s your favorite new ice cream joint

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September 12, 2009

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By Kimberly Chun

Revelation time: a woman cannot live by Bi-Rite Creamery alone.

And along comes Ici, the Francophile’s wet, creamy dream over in Rockridge, right off Ashby. I checked out this lovely, tiled, Gallic-flavored spot recently, on a steamy, humid day – the kind that Bay Area types are never prepared for, sending us scurrying in vain for air-conditioning. The line wound out the door and snaked down the street, but it moved surprisingly quickly. Efficiency and beauty – who could ask for anything more?

Inside what is probably the most stylish and attractive ice cream shop in the Bay, were baked alaskas, bombes, ice cream sandwiches, and an ultra-tempting counter of treats and marbled homemade cones. A gold star for the nice, icy pitcher of sparkling water to sip while you wait.

But, man, it was the ice cream – kitted out in unique flavors – that swayed us and slayed us: verbena, sweet corn and chili, Earl Gray, hazelnut praline, raspberry verbena, pluot sorbet. (Pictured, a shot of mint fudge with burnt caramel sauce.) If I were you, I’d get two delectable scoops in a cone that comes with a truly delish little surprise of a chocolate tip. You’ve been warned: incoming deliciousness, Ici.

ICI
2948 College, Berk.
(510) 665-6054