Pixel Vision Archives — Page 99 of 133 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Pics: Cherry Blossom Parade brings warmth and beauty

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April 20, 2009

Photos and text by Ariel Soto

Protected from the extreme heat beneath their colorful rice paper umbrellas, Japanese beauty queens (and a few drag queens too) made their way through downtown for the Cherry Blossom Festival Grand Parade this Sunday, April 19th. Although a large highlight of the parade were the Japanese beauties, there was also a posse of anime fans and a boat filled with children waving colorful handkerchiefs while dancing to Abba. And of course the parade included several groups of highly energized taiko drummers who kept the parade going all the way to Japantown.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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April 20, 2009

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

Today’s Look: Tinker Bell, Market and Noe

Tell us about your look: “Wear whatever you want. I like vintage, but I also really love high fashion. I just try to build it all together.”

‘Domestic Vacations’: Artist Julie Blackmon gets trippy

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April 17, 2009

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By Ari Messer

Snow Day, 2008

One of my most uninteresting college professors used to insist that negatives only exist in language, but couldn’t explain what this meant. That’s funny, I thought, because I can physically feel a complete lack of interest in your class. In fact, I think you can feel it too; it’s contagious. Nonetheless, I was never bored as a child, and I’m still never bored. The boring and the uninteresting are different concepts. Julie Blackmon’s lucid, staged photographs of childhood fantasy worlds in the twilight of America are stunning for a ton of reasons, but first and foremost they get their signature bite and sting by recognizing that everyone in each scene is interested in different things. There is no sincere panorama. From the modern intrusions into Blackmon’s protoclassical, Dutch-inspired scenes — a miniature FedEx truck, Netflix mail — to trippy little things such as the almost lurid dog eyes and discarded gloves in Snow Day (2008), every person, place, and thing appears distracted by an otherworldly mission.

Adding to this sense of confused biography, Blackmon, the oldest of nine kids and now a mother of three, uses people and things from her life in her work like a novelist trussing out character relations pictorially. She reminds me of some essays by Orhan Pamuk about his daughter, Rüya. It’s not the stories themselves that are so thrilling, but the palpable feeling of love in their narrative arcs, plus the vectors they send out into Pamuk’s novels, where characters seem to have little aspects or shimmers of Rüya (even if she wasn’t born when the story was written): her young mind, her toys and delusions, the way she gazes out the window and finds it startlingly new every day.

JULIE BLACKMON: DOMESTIC VACATIONS Through May 23. Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. SF Camerawork, 657 Mission, second floor, SF. (415) 512-2020. www.sfcamerawork.org

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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April 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: Tim, Market and Castro

Tell us about your look: “Cowboy drag”

It’s raining cats and dogs

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April 16, 2009

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By Johnny Ray Huston

Call me corny, call me crazy, call me Anne Heche, but it’s true: it’s raining cats and dogs. There’s an influx of cat- and dog-related art and events happening in the Bay Area.

Yesterday brought “Walk the Dog Electric,” a walking event at Heaven’s Dog restaurant with dog portraits by Judy North, who currently has a show of non-canine work up at Electric Works. I like what little I’ve seen of North’s dog portraits, and hope she puts on a show of them sometime.

Judy North, Benni, 60 inches by 40 inches, watercolor

Next week, Visual Aid gets into the act with an April 25 gallery walk that includes “Purrrrseus,” Charles Bierwirth‘s exhibition of feline oil paintings that use vintage studio portraits as source material.

Charles Bierwirth, Purrrrseus #2, 56 inches by 72 inches, oil painting

Lastly (unless someone mentions soemthing I’ve missed), this weekend brings DogFest 2009.

A DogFest 2008 participant makes his/her voice heard. Photo by Kira Stackhouse-Fetch Photo and Aaron Anderson

Do you look like your dog?

On the subject of DogFest, here’s what Guardian contributor Michelle Broder Van Dyke has to say in this week’s issue:

“There should be a lot of ass-sniffing at DogFest 2009. Other things to expect: dogs howling or singing, a giant bouncy castle shaped like a doggie, dogs dressed up to look like carrots and batteries, people dressed as dogs, and of course, people who simply look like their dogs (or vice-versa). All of you who’ve spent hours patrolling the Internet studying dog and owner look-alike photos — I recommend doyoulooklikeyourdog.com — will be relieved to know that a recent study from Bath Spa University has confirmed that the lady in heels is more likely to have a poodle and the big burly man does in fact own a pit bull. Instead of checking them out on the online, encounter them in real life at this benefit for SFUSD McKinley Elementary School.”

DOGFEST 2009
Sat/19, 11 a.m.–3 p.m., free ($20 for contestants)
Duboce Park
Duboce and Noe, SF
(415) 241-6300
www.mckinleyschool.org/dogfest

‘Small Dances about Big Ideas’ with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

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April 16, 2009

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By Rita Felciano

Liz Lerman is one gutsy woman. Early in her career she decided that there is more to dance than working with highly trained performers for an audience that wants to be entertained. "There was a time when people danced and the crops grew," she told a conference of arts presenters 15 years ago. "They danced, and that’s how they healed their children." For Lerman, the primary function of dance is to heal and create communities. Not only has she taken her Dance Exchange company to parks, schools, and nursing homes, she has included so-called non-dancers in her performances.

Today such efforts have become fairly commonplace, except they are usually considered ancillary outreach activities. For Lerman, making "dance of, by, and for the people" — as it has been called — is the foundation of her work. She often weaves spontaneous audience suggestions into her pieces. Older dancers (i.e., over 60) and dancers with disabilities are part of her company. And she doesn’t shrink away from big topics. In 2006 she brought Ferocious Beauty: Genome to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A hugely ambitious collaboration between artists, scholars, and scientists, this multimedia work explored the forces that had been unleashed with the mapping of the human genome. This weekend she is returning with an equally far-reaching project. Small Dances About Big Ideas was commissioned by Harvard Law School for the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials. It looks at atrocities, the law’s ability to address genocide, and our capacity to be either "bystanders" or "up-standers."

LIZ LERMAN DANCE EXCHANGE Sat/18-Sun/19, 8 p.m., $28-$36. Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California, SF. (415) 292-1233, www.jccsf.org/arts

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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April 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: Liz, 18th Street and Noe

Tell us about your look: “My style is independent. There are certain colors and shapes I really like, so then I use them and dress accordingly.”

Dot dash — Norman McLaren and Junior Boys

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April 15, 2009

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By Johnny Ray Huston

In this week’s Guardian I make reference to the influence of animator Norman McLaren on Junior Boys’ new album Begone Dull Care (Domino). The song collection takes its name from a 1949 film by McLaren, but his influence saturates the album, from its lyrical references to “Parallel Lines” to more overt aspects such as the simply handsome color chart qualities of the CD’s booklet, on through to a song titled “The Animator.” “I could draw a line without it falling off the page,” singer-lyricist Jeremy Greenspan intones wishfully there, before glowing instrumental elements build up to a swoon. Canadian pride and gay affinity live within singer-songwriter Greenspan’s tribute to the late McLaren, who drew directly onto film to create many of his best works. But could the Junior Boys’ version of Begone Dull Care use a little of McLaren’s splashy energy and humor? Though he also dipped into jazz, the music for many of his shorts has a Perrey and Kingsley quality. Here’s a sample to enjoy:

Norman McLaren, Dots

Norman McLaren, Begone Dull Care

After the jump — more McLaren films:

Film review: “The Black Balloon”

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April 15, 2009

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By Natalie Gregory

Elissa Down’s The Black Balloon is an impressive little film. The Australian import follows the Mollisons, a family centered on their autistic son Charlie (an awards-worthy performance by Luke Ford). It is told mainly through the eyes of Thomas (Rhys Wakefield), Charlie’s younger brother. We see Thomas struggle with the perception of his brother by his peers and his constant regret that Charlie is not normal. His mother Maggie (played with maternal strength by Toni Collette) and father Simon (Erik Thomson) love Charlie unconditionally and take excellent care of him. And there are certainly incidents to be taken care of. Maggie and Thomas argue just after Charlie has just defecated on his bedroom floor. The reason? Thomas locked him in his room when Thomas’ love interest drops by. It is a quest for Thomas to accept his brother’s fate, and to learn by example what it means to be compassionate. A moving film.

The Black Balloon opens Fri/17 in Bay Area theaters.

Dining and dreaming in the new depression

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April 15, 2009

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By Molly Freedenberg

Ah, the economic downturn. I’m sitting at my desk, eating instant noodle soup and dreaming of more luxurious times. Times when I’d find myself somewhere like Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation, a benefit featuring more than 20 of the area’s best restaurants and bartenders — and raising funds to end childhood hunger in San Francisco. If I had $75 to spare, I could be at the tasting reception, hosted by Absinthe’s Jamie Lauren. A bit more pocket change (OK, it’s $175 more) and I’d also enjoy a multicourse dinner with premium wine pairings. A fantasy closer to my actual budget, though, is ViniPortugal’s Wine Tasting. One $35 advance ticket takes my imaginary self to the Westin St. Francis, where I’d taste every one of 250 quality wines from Portuguese vintners while noshing on appetizers and supporting WomenHeart, an organization helping women with heart disease. Or perhaps I’ll take Dream Molly on a date to Campton Place, where I’ll feast on the $45 three-course Stimulus Menu.

But times (and bank accounts) being what they are, my Cup O’ Noodle alternatives are going to be a bit less swank — though no less tasty. Find me Thursday at Paragon, where a brat sandwich, fries, sauerkraut, and a Fat Tire costs a mere $13. And next week? Tuesdays with Morty’s. The deli offers a delicious Reuben sandwich and a PBR for $7, and is now open until 8 p.m.

Taste of the Nation. April 23, 5:30pm, $75–$250. Field Club Lounge at AT&T Park, SF. taste.strength.org

Wine of Portugal Wine Tasting. Thu/16, 5:30-8pm, $35–$50. Westin St. Francis, 335 Powell, SF. www.viniportugal.pt

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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April 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: David, Market and Castro

Tell us about your look: “I like color and offbeat items. Be true to yourself when it comes to fashion.”

Local Artist of the Week: Mike Kuchar

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April 14, 2009

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LOCAL ARTIST Mike Kuchar

TITLE Myth Men

BIO Mike Kuchar, cinematographer, painter, writer, and brother of George Kuchar, was born in New York City. He began making 8 mm movies in the 1950s, switching over to 16 mm film production in 1960, and continues now, producing short motion pictures in the video and digital formats. He has also done illustrations for various erotic publications, including Manscape, Gay Heartthrobs comics, First Hand, and Meatmen.

SHOW "Dark Americana," through May 9. Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, 172 Minna, SF. (415) 777-1366.

WEB www.baerridgway.com

The Blender: What we’ve been eating

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April 14, 2009

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By the ravenous Guardian staff

(1) Dim sum, Ton Kiang
(2) Hunky Beau’s brisket
(3) Pizza d’Asti and Prosecco, Palio d’Asti
(4) Basil Napolean, Chapeau!
(5) Bacon-wrapped, mushroom-stuffed pork roast and Lagunitas pilsner

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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April 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: Bronwyn from Australia, 18th St. and Castro

Tell us about your look: “My outfit is very put together because we are traveling and I’m trying to keep warm with what I have in my suitcase.”

Tom Kennedy – 1960-2009

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April 13, 2009

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By Steven T. Jones

Tom Kennedy — an artist who helped create the art car movement popularized by Burning Man, and an activist who used his creations to push for progressive political change – drowned yesterday at Ocean Beach at the age of 48.

As the writer of and commenters to his obituary at Laughing Squid attest, Kennedy had a big influence on the Bay Area’s counterculture. After being arrested protesting at the Republican National Convention in 2004, he was undeterred and went back at the GOP four years later as Dr. Stange McCain and the Missile Dick Chicks in a great bit of political theater.

San Francisco has lost a unique creative force to a turbulent ocean and his influence will be missed.

Appetite: Free pancakes, Lower Haight French, Little Skillet, twice the Woodhouse, and more

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April 13, 2009

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By Virginia Miller

Farmerbrown’s leaps from the frying pan into Little Skillet

As long-time San Francisco resident and writer, I’m passionate about this city and obsessed with exploring its best food-and-drink spots, events and news, in every neighborhood and cuisine type. I have my own personalized itinerary service and monthly food/drink/travel newsletter, The Perfect Spot, and am thrilled to share up-to-the minute news with you from the endless goings-on in our fair city.

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NEW RESTAURANT OPENINGS

Little Skillet: Chicken & Waffles from a walk-up alley window in SoMa
Farmerbrown’s is about to open Little Skillet in a SoMa alley at 330 Ritch. It’s a walk-up window offering morning pleasures like biscuit sandwiches loaded with cheese, egg, housemade sausage or bacon, plus Oyster Po’Boys, and one of my favorites in comfort food: Chicken and waffles (from Petaluma Poultry chickens) for breakfast and lunch. Lucky, those who work nearby! Cento, neighboring alley Blue Bottle coffee-source, also sells box lunches of Little Skillet’s food. Initial hours are supposed to be Monday–Friday, 8am–3pm, open later as baseball season progresses. No strikes here!
330 Ritch
415-777-2777
www.littleskilletsf.com

Woodhouse Fish Co… Part Deux
When I want a Crab Salad (aka mountain of fresh crabmeat) with fresh lemons, Anchor Steam-battered Fish & Chips or a buttery Lobster Roll without waiting in line at the great Swan Oyster or paying Waterbar prices, Woodhouse Fish Co. fits the bill perfectly. Old seafaring movies on the wall, like 1935’s “Mutiny on the Bounty”, pair nicely with hanging squids and tackle. Up till now, it’s been the Castro locale but with a brand new, larger space on Fillmore, there’s more than one way to assuage New England seafood hankerings.
1914 Fillmore Street
415-437-2722
www.woodhousefish.com

Bistro Saint Germain delivers French flair to Lower Haight
Le P’tit Laurent owner, Laurent Legendre, with chef Eliseo Soto Dimos, debuted Parisian bistro fare to Lower Haight this weekend with Bistro Saint Germain. If you want a change of pace from Lower Haight’s curry houses and sandwich shops, here you can dine on French classics like bistro-style mussels, salads, escargots and boeuf bourguignon. Legendre makes quick friends in the ‘hood by offering Le P’tit’s popular steal of a prix-fixe: 3-courses for $19.95, Sunday through Thursday.
518 Haight Street
415-626-6262

Crossroads: Take a shot

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April 13, 2009

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By Juliette Tang

Crossroads Trading Company, the Berkeley-based clothing retailer that deals in used and recycled threads, wants you to submit your fashion photos for a $1,000 prize, plus the inclusion of your photo in an upcoming Crossroads ad campaign. The details: you style your own fashion shoot, snap some pictures, and upload them to the Crossroads website before May 31. Once your snaps are uploaded, judges from Crossroads will pick their favorites on the basis of originality, creativity, composition, and overall quality. “We can’t wait to see this year’s entries,” said Jerry Block, founder of Crossroads Trading Company, “We receive hundreds each year, with some from as far away as Germany and Sweden. The winning photos clearly express our customer and our customer’s love of all things fashion.” So, photogs, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and start snapping away! People have already started submitting. Look at what Crossroads

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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April 13, 2009

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

Today’s Look: Sally, 24th St. and Sanchez

Tell us about your look: “No comment”

Lit: Erik Drooker takes aim with Slingshot

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April 10, 2009

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By Ben Terrall

I met Eric Drooker when we were both callow teens experiencing the joys of a coed Quaker socialist hippie camp in Vermont. We skinny-dipped, which was part of the camp’s official policy, and smoked pot, which wasn’t. Drooker has lived in the Bay Area since the mid-1990s, but his art is closely associated with New York City. A lanky, laconic man in his late 40s, he was born and raised in Manhattan, and the city still dominates his imagery. This is true of his wordless graphic novel Flood: A Novel in Pictures (Dark Horse), which won an American Book Award in 1993. It also applies to the haunting silent ballad Blood Song (Harvest Books), published in 2002.

Eric Drooker

Yet Drooker is perhaps best known for oil paintings that grace covers of The New Yorker — in early September last year, his 15th cover for the magazine appeared on newsstands. Some of these paintings are also included in 2006’s Illuminated Poems (Running Press), which pairs his art with writing by the late Allen Ginsberg. Most recently Drooker published a book of postcards titled Slingshot (PM Press, 68 pages, $14.05). It consists of 32 images created with razor blade on scratchboard.

The Sisters explode!

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April 10, 2009

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By Cheryl Eddy

It’s Easter time, which means drugstore aisles are bloomin’ with Peeps, bonnets are being bedecked, and aspiring Hunky Jesuses (the Biblical kind, not the Madonna-datin’ kind) are frantically doing ab exercises prior to the annual Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence celebration in Dolores Park. This year, the annual bash is extra-special, marking 30 years of good works (and fabulous accessorizing) by the organization, which has gone global — the theme is "Nun World Order" and some 150 national and international Sisters will be in attendance. Can’t get enough Sisterhood? Make sure you check out "Under a Full Moon: 30 Years of Perpetual Indulgence," on view at the San Francisco Library and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Featured are archival materials chronicling the group’s three decades of colorfully-dressed, white-faced, charity-supporting, queer- and sex-positive, Pope-exorcising, boundary-pushing history.

UNDER A FULL MOON: 30 YEARS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE Opening party Fri/10, 8 p.m., free. Installation on view Tues–Wed and Fri–Sun, noon–5 p.m.; Thurs, noon–8 p.m., $5–$7. Through June 28. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. Also: through May 7. Sun, noon–5 p.m.; Mon and Sat, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Tues–Thurs, 9 a.m.–8 p.m.; Fri, noon–6 p.m., free. San Francisco Main Library, third floor, James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, 100 Larkin, SF; (415) 557-4499.

NUN WORLD ORDER: THE SISTERS’ 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION. Sun/12, 11 a.m., free
Dolores Park, 19th St at Dolores, SF (after-party, 6 p.m., free, Noe at Market, SF); www.thesisters.org

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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April 10, 2009
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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Jenny, 20th Street Station

Tell us about your look: “I’m a big thrift store person. I’ll never pay full price.”

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Pixel Vision

Pics: Cherry Blossom Parade brings warmth and beauty

Street Threads: Look of the Day

‘Domestic Vacations’: Artist Julie Blackmon gets trippy

Street Threads: Look of the Day

It’s raining cats and dogs

‘Small Dances about Big Ideas’ with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

Street Threads: Look of the Day

Dot dash — Norman McLaren and Junior Boys

Film review: “The Black Balloon”

Dining and dreaming in the new depression

Street Threads: Look of the Day

Local Artist of the Week: Mike Kuchar

The Blender: What we’ve been eating

Street Threads: Look of the Day

Tom Kennedy – 1960-2009

Appetite: Free pancakes, Lower Haight French, Little Skillet, twice the Woodhouse, and more

Crossroads: Take a shot

Street Threads: Look of the Day

Happy Easter, ‘jaded hipster owls’ – and cute-backlash blog Fuck You Penguin

Objects of Obsession: Easter joys

What depression? New movie by David Enos

Lit: Erik Drooker takes aim with Slingshot

The Sisters explode!

Street Threads: Look of the Day