SFBG Blogs

Progressive supervisors block mayoral appointments

Sasha Cuttler
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UPDATED: Progressives on the Board of Supervisors have finally started to push back on Mayor Gavin Newsom for his petulant refusal to vacate Room 200 unless his conditions for choosing a successor mayor are met, with the Rules Committee today blocking nine [UPDATE: seven] of 10 of the mayor’s committee and commission appointments.

Led by Sups. David Campos and Eric Mar, the three-member committee has been voting to continue consideration of the appointees to a future date at the discretion of Chairman Campos, even those who they voice support for. But they are trying to force a more equitable approach to governing the city during this transition period. The meeting is ongoing at this writing and can be viewed live here.

The one exception so far has been San Francisco Public Utilities Commission appointee Vince Courtney, with Mar and Campos voicing the urgency of filling the appointment on a body that is now moving forward Clean Power SF and other important initiatives. But they have blocked the appointment of Andrew Wolfram, Richard Johns, and Karl Kasz to the Historic Preservation Commission, Harry Kim and Herb Cohn to the Relocation Appeals Board, Florence Kong to the City Hall Preservation Advisory Board, Leona Bridges to the Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors, and Michael Kim and Leslie Katz to the Port Commission.

Former Sup. Amos Brown lashed out at the move, telling the committee, “I’m appalled to witness what’s happening here.”

But progressives have been equally appalled at Newsom for delaying today’s scheduled swearing in as lieutenant governor, reportedly to Jan. 10 after the new board is sworn in, and for demanding that the supervisors guarantee him that they will only support one of his preferred moderate caretakers for the interim mayor position. Newsom’s office did not return a Guardian call for comment on today’s meeting.

UPDATE 1:25 PM: After hearing more than an hour’s worth of testimony in support of Bridges, the committee unanimously voted to recommend her nomination to the MTA, citing that agency’s urgent need for a nominee from the African-American community who has a strong financial management background. The full board will consider her nomination tomorrow.

UPDATE 2:20 PM: Shortly before adjourning, the committee also unanimously recommended Katz be appointed to the Port Commission, saying that agency urgently needs another good appointee, although Mar indicated he didn’t think Kim was right for the position and that nomination was continued.

All candidates duck; mayoral forum cancelled

Zelda Bronstein
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15

I was all excited about moderating a Harvey Milk Club discussion tonight on the next mayor, and getting a chance to ask the candidates who want to fill out Gavin Newsom’s term a little about what they might do in the next 11 months. It’s kind of important; you’d think the folks who want the job would be willing to give us a little clue about why they think they should have it.


But guess what? Not a single potential candidate was willing to show up. Art Agnos, Mike Hennessey, Ed Harrington … they all either declined or said they couldn’t make it.


That, my friends, is really lame — and not a good sign for San Francisco.


At any rate, the forum would have been open to the public, has been cancelled.

Fear the Beard in 2011

Maria Poblet
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Have a lively New Year’s Eve, a good weekend, and a great next year celebrating San Francisco values. And remember to fear the beard.

Meanwhile, Jean and I will be making our 25th annual New Year’s Eve pilgrimage to Pompei’s Grotto on Fisherman’s Wharf. Pompei’s is a gem of a family-owned Italian fish restaurant with Old World ambiance, red checkered table cloths, table lamps, splendid martinis and fresh-cracked dungeness crab. It’s our favorite spot to start New Year’s Eve. B3

The Performant: Deck this!

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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2

Aggro Yuletide fun with Will Franken and Satan’s finest

It’s a common misperception that the sensory-overload of the holiday season is an even greater irritant to the committed misanthrope than the ennui of the everyday, but I beg to differ. Actually the holidays are when misanthropes tend to shine: while everybody else is getting their longjohns in a bunch because of the line at the post office, the ever-increasing price of java logs, or Christmas carol earworms, misanthropes, accustomed to weathering the seas of perpetual annoyance, seem comparatively serene. Also, because everyone around them is suddenly on edge, their caustic observations and one-liners are more relevant to and therefore more appreciated by their usually more-sanguine acquaintances.


But like it or not, the holidays are still a time when even misanthropes yearn to come togetherin some fashion, and that’s what makes a show like Will Franken’s “Texas Chainsaw Yuletide” ideal for the Christmas curmudgeon. A refuge, if you will, for the defiantly unsentimental. A dazzling mirror-ball of sharp-edged vignettes, Franken’s show began with the unlikely appearance of a rat killer educated at the Sorbonne then morphed into familiar bits involving a pair of long-winded television commentators, that perennial favorite “The Condom Lady,” a pompous priest at Westminster Abbey presiding over the end of Christianity, a champagne-swilling fire chief, and a couple of gangland thugs, Sammy Salt and Petey Pepper.

A typically Frankenian evening of non-sequitur and contrarian observation, “TCY” nonetheless managed to sneak in a couple of twisted takes on home and hearth with a shaggy dog story about impersonating Michael Caine visiting his parents in “Talia Shire” (name that pop culture reference, kids!), and a surrealist homily about his own father taking twenty years to finish falling out a window. “I refuse to set foot on this earth,” is a quote he attributes to his old man, but taken out of context, beautifully encapsulates the essence of Will’s own approach to performance and to the status quo.
 
Pushing the surrealistic envelope even further, Karla LaVey’s 13th annual Black XMass at the Elbo Room featured a whole lineup of alternate-reality-makers, including the hard-to-categorize Los Murderachis and the even-harder-to-categorize Fuxedos, who are frankly the main reason I keep coming back to the Xmass every year now that they’ve stopped providing bacon-wrapped latkes (the devil’s food)!

Local boys Los Murderachis dressed in their Dia de los Muertos-inspired finery and played an eclectic mash-up of pseudo-salsa, mock-metal, and rogue rock, while The Fuxedos, clad in bloody tuxedo rags, played jazzy carnival music tinged with rage—a manic hybrid of Frank Zappa, Zippy the Pinhead, and The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. As frontman Danny Shorago churned through a truly staggering number of masks, props, and outfits, (“we’re prop rock” quipped a member of the band) the spandex-tight ensemble laid a solid musical foundation beneath the mayhem. And as a special treat, they even beat the crap out of Santa Claus onstage, which is really about as much holiday sentimentality as any misanthrope, congenital or seasonal, can bear by December’s end.

DJ Earworm’s top pop mashup

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0

Honestly, we meticulously avoid the TV, the radio, the mall, the Explorer dealer, and Chili’s all year, just so local wiz DJ Earworm‘s annual mashup of Billboard’s top 25 hits will surprise us — with brilliance. It’s the only way we can digest all that auto-syrup in one big candy-colored blast.

March Fourth Marching Band reveals its gypsy secrets

Andrew Lam
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One of these days, I’ll hop a bus outta this town. Pullin’ out of here on the wind, if you want to quote the Boss (sometimes I do). One of the groups I’ve been keeping my eye on as a possible accomplice is March Fourth Marching Band. You can find the million-piece ensemble’s rig parked at nearly every festival, ever – always with a few stilters or trombone players spilling out the door, sprawled on a tarp nearby, or if you’re lucky, tapping out a cheerful marching band symphony by a campfire at around five in the morning (hello, High Sierra!) 

And onstage! They’re like a big, loud circus onstage – until all of a sudden they’re off the stage and you’re engulfed in 360 degrees of marching band madness, now having a dance party with its frenzied audience. In anticipation of the band’s upcoming pre-NYE show at The Independent (Thurs/30), March Fourth’s bandleader John Averill sat down at his email portal to tell us all his secrets about where he found the mail order balls needed to make touring with so many moving parts possible.

 

San Francisco Bay Guardian: When March Fourth got together, was touring part of the original concept? How’d you get the balls to take such a massive group on the road?

John Averill: Well, the band was put together for a Fat Tuesday party, so at that time the main concern was learning seven songs to play. Touring was never part of the original concept.  After our first road trip, though, it was pretty evident to me that one, traveling as a group was fun, and two, our project had potential to reach audiences outside of our hometown. We purchased the actual balls to take this massive group on the road by fund-raising and applying to www.theballsyouneed.com. I think we spent like $172 or something. Most balls are less expensive, but M4 is a large group and therefore required extra large balls. But, to anyone out there looking for balls: it’s definitely worth it to spend the money for big balls, if you really need them. I think this year we’re going to purchase an extra set of back-up balls just in case.

 

SFBG: How many musicians do you typically have touring? What’s the toughest part of rolling so deep on tour?

JA: About 13 musicians, five dancers, and two bus drivers is what we’ve been touring with lately. The toughest part is making payroll, which is why we’ve been traveling with a “smaller” group (we used to travel with upwards of 30 people). When we go on tours that are longer than three weeks, there are also issues with accruing very little sleep and not having much personal space. We’re lucky that we get along so well or this thing would be a disaster after a couple of weeks. 

The whole gang. Photo by Andy Batt

SFBG: I’m really into the bus — I’ve seen your rig all over the place, camped out at festivals, etc. What do you keep on there? Does everyone sleep on it? Where’d you get the bus and what’s it’s make and model?

JA: Our bus is a 40-foot MCI coach. It was built in 1984 in Roswell, New Mexico, presumably by aliens. We bought it on eBay 3 years ago and converted it to suit our needs. It can sleep 10 people comfortably, or 20 semi-comfortably. It has become our home on wheels and is probably the single wisest investment we have ever made. It’s where we cook, get dressed, etc. Most promoters can’t pay for lodging for 20 people when we’re on tour so we sleep in, on top of, and around the bus. We keep our camping gear on top and set up tents when we can, and when it’s not miserable outside. Our bus doesn’t doesn’t have an official name, although it is called “Razzle Dazzle” by many. I personally refer to it as “The Shire,” although the idea to have round doors installed was not practical.

 

SFBG: Where do the costumes come from?

JA: The costumes are designed by the people who wear them, for the most part. Most of us are pretty good at finding cool vintage stuff and thrift-store items and then augmenting them to fit us. All of our dancers have mad costume skills — some are bona-fide full-time designers and they help out the musicians who don’t know how to sew.  

 

SFBG: What genre does March Fourth classify as? Are there groups out there that you see as your peers?

JA: I don’t know what our genre is. Is there a genre for rockin’ crazy fun global groove tribal symphony with stilts?  Actually, one of my favorite things about this project is that we don’t have a genre, and we’re not easy to pigeonhole. Yet, at the same time we’ve developed a “sound.”  There are some groups, like Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box, Ozomatli, Yard Dogs Road Show, and Mucca Pazza who I see as energetic peers and/or kindred spirits, even though we don’t sound like any of them.

 

SFBG: Who are the group’s role models?

JA: You’d probably have to poll everyone in the band to get an accurate answer. Part of the original inspiration for putting the group together was after seeing Extra Action Marching Band and The Infernal Noise Brigade at Burning Man in 2002. Myself and a few others, were thinking “hey let’s try doing something like this in Portland,” but we never sought to emulate those groups in terms of the style of music we performed or how we presented ourselves. Now there’s an alternative marching band in just about every major city in the US and there are a couple of festivals like HONK! in Boston and HONK! Fest West in Seattle that have become a sort of mecca for large brass and drum-heavy bands to converge and play together. On a personal level, I’ve been inspired by the model created by the Grateful Dead, big bands of the 1930s, large contemporary ensembles such as Polyphonic Spree, and some of the stuff coming out of Brooklyn, Dap Tone Records in particular. I’m inspired by anyone who can actually make ends meet doing this.

 

March Fourth Marching Band

Thurs/30 9 p.m. $15-17

The Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

(415) 771-1421

www.theindependentsf.com

 

Hot sexy events: December 29-January 4

Andrew Lam
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Hot sexy events: December 29-January 4

“Scott and I wanted to create an adult playground that wasn’t just some hedonistic, narcissistic freefall into the apocalypse.” Co-founder Polly Superstar is ready to celebrate a decade of Mission Control‘s swingin’ good times at the play space (which she founded with hubby Baron Scott Levkoff)’s NYE party-ten year anniversary soiree Fri/31. 

But first, a look back. “We wanted a place where people could feel safe exploring their sexuality without the rigidity of the BDSM scene, and without the expectation and pressure of the swinger scene.” And so MC’s been throughout the aughts: a land where art, sex, and hell yeah, theme parties, have been coming together to the greater glory of SF’s freaky, funky pansexual scene.

Superstar’s pumped about her brand’s expansion into Austin and her hometown of London – and between her, me, and you, there’s more to come. Try club openings in New York, Copenhagen, and Krakow, a how-to book on throwing your own sex party – and at the SF location kinksters have grown to bone and love, a 2011 event that will focus on ritual and sexuality and be hosted by Francesca Gentile (who has led similar rituals at MC events in the past). So pop them bottles, SF – spend your midnight with the Mission Control freaks, or sample some of the other tasty sex events on the NYE buffet line. 

 

 

NYE at Mission Control 

This new year marks a decade of ooo’s and ah’s done pansexual style at Mission Control – so what better way to show your thanks for their sexy play space than by attending their NYE bash? Onstage lineup includes spoken word artists Baraka and We Are The Unreal, as well as burlesque (and boylesque) artists, DJs, and an appearance by the dreaded, orgasm-stealing Coq Blok! Party in the front, sexy time in the back (rooms).  

Fri/31 10 p.m.-3 a.m., $35-40 members only

Mission Control 

2519 Mission, SF

www.missioncontrolsf.org


Lusty New Year

Watch them balls drop! Your favorite unionized strip club is open for business as 2011 comes a’knockin’. And, unlike the rest of the NYE heap, they’re not charging a cover! Amazing, isn’t it – ladies who are respected on the job ready and waiting to show you their naughty bits, dance on your lap – they’re even down for a bit of foot worship. Wanna break (or make) some early resolutions?

Fri/31 11 p.m.- 3 a.m., free

Lusty Lady

1033 Kearny, SF

(415) 391-3991

www.lustyladysf.com


Steamworks New Year’s Toast

Bring NYE in with a bang! (How many puns can I wring out of this holiday? Let’s find out!) Yes indeed, Steamworks encourages you to put on your new year’s best, then strip it all off and shoot your (champagne!) spume across the room in celebration. The bath house is calling in the help of DJ Frank Wild, plus they’re showing the Times Square festivities on their mega 60-incher in the lounge. Wait, there’s a TV in the Steamworks lounge? Now you know.

Fri/31 10 p.m.- 1 a.m., 

Steamworks

2107 Fourth St., Berk.

(510) 845-8992

www.steamworksonline.com

 

Fuggedaboutit

Most of the strip clubs in town are investing in oversized martini glasses to stick their girls in, but Centerfolds has a slightly different take on NYE: why don’t get the patrons to dress up in ridiculous costumes this time? To that end, their Sopranos-themed evening, Fuggedaboutit. Discounts for wise guy costumes at the door, hourly giveways of TLC from the ladies onstage, and of course, free Italian all-you-can-eat courtesy of Pizelle Pizza.

Fri/31, $10 with mobster costume

Centerfolds

391 Broadway, SF

(415) 834-0662

www.centerfoldsf.com


Power Exchange New Year’s Eve Ball

A little flogging play with your bubbly, ma’am? ‘Tis the season to hook up with randoms – and lucky you, you’ve got the Power Exchange so that you don’t have to spend a moment with the teases and prudes at most of the city’s bars and clubs. Dust off your leather best, polish up your seduction game, and head to one of SF’s best known BDSM spaces.

Fri/31 8 p.m.-2 a.m., $20 single women and trans, $40 couples, $60 men

Power Exchange 

74 Otis, SF

(800) 916-2513

www.powerexchange.com

 

EDITORIAL: Get out of the way, Mr. Mayor

Maria Poblet
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 Let us begin with the obvious: Mayor Gavin Newsom has absolutely no business deciding who should replace him. His petulant statements suggesting that he will delay taking office as lieutenant governor until the supervisors pick a candidate he likes are an embarrassment to the city. If he actually refuses to take the oath of office Jan. 3, when his term in Sacramento begins, it will damage his reputation and political career.

Newsom knew when he decided to seek higher office that he’d be leaving the city early if he won. He knew that under the City Charter, the Board of Supervisors would choose a new mayor. He knew that a progressive majority on the board was likely to elect someone whose political views differ from his. If he didn’t want that to happen, he should have stayed in town and finished his term.

Instead, his ambition and ego drove him to Sacramento, and he needs to accept that he is now out of the process. He should publicly agree to follow the state Constitution and join Governor-elect Jerry Brown for a timely swearing-in ceremony. Meanwhile, the supervisors need to make it very clear that they won’t accept this sort of political blackmail and will choose the next mayor on their own terms.

There’s only one more regularly scheduled meeting of the current board, on Tuesday, Jan. 4, the day after Newsom’s term as lieutenant governor begins. It’s unfortunate that the progressive majority on the board hasn’t been able to find a consensus candidate, and it’s appearing more and more likely that the next mayor will be a short-termer, a caretaker who agrees to fill out Newsom’s term. We’ve consistently argued that Newsom’s successor ought to be someone who can run for a full term in November, but there’s certainly a case to be made for the right person to take on the job for just 11 months. A progressive caretaker could fire all the failed managers left over (at high salaries) from Newsom’s tenure and make cuts to sacred cows like the police and fire departments without worrying about reelection. We’d still rather see a candidate with the courage and skill to make the tough choices and run in November on that record. But if that’s not possible, it’s important that an interim mayor be chosen carefully.

It’s also important that the progressive supervisors consider the long-term implications of their choice: If the next mayor only serves out Newsom’s remaining time, who’s going to run in November — and what will the interim mayor do to promote the prospects of a progressive candidate?

A number of names are floating around as possible caretakers, and several would do at least an adequate and perhaps an exceptional job. Former Board President Aaron Peskin has brilliant political instincts and knows how to run the city; he’s let us down on a few votes, but would work well with the progressive board majority. Sheriff Mike Hennessey is popular with the voters and has good progressive credentials (other than the move to privatize jail health services, which makes him somewhat unpalatable to labor), but he’s never faced anything resembling the political nightmare of the city’s current fiscal crisis. Sup. Ross Mirkarimi has a great legislative record and has hinted that he’d consider the job, but he still has two years to go as supervisor and would have to give up his seat and put his political career on hold. Former Mayor Art Agnos is the only one on the list who’s actually run the city at a time of crisis and would certainly be willing to make the tough decisions. If he could run an open office and listen to a diverse constituency, he might make up for the mistakes he made his first time in the job.

None of these candidates could do the job alone — and if they want to serve a short term as mayor, they need to start talking openly about it, explaining what their plans would be and give San Franciscans (and not just six supervisors) a reason to support them. 

 

 

The Year in Film: Guardian critics on 2010’s best!

Sue Vaughan
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Dennis Harvey’s Top 20 of 2010

Note: because this was generally such a crap year, a “best” list seemed too much of a stretch. Ergo this is a Top 20 list, in no particular order, of films I enjoyed most one way or the other (The Killer Inside Me, Everyone Else, and I Spit on Your Grave definitely representing the other). No doubt The King’s Speech, The Social Network, and several other currently awards-baiting titles have finer qualities than some here, but they’re not what I’d gladly watch again right now.

Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, UK/Netherlands)
The Tillman Story (Amir Bar-Lev, USA)
The Killer Inside Me (Michael Winterbottom, USA/Sweden/UK/Canada)
The Desert of Forbidden Art (Tchavdar Georgiev and Amanda Pope, Russia/UK/Uzbekistan)
Mother (Bong Joon-ho, South Korea)
City Island (Raymond De Felitta, USA)
OSS 177: Lost in Rio (Michel Hazanavicius, France)
Daddy Longlegs (Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie, USA/France)
The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, USA)
Let It Rain (Agnès Jaoui, France)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G18Y-S8YrQ0

Anton Chekhov’s The Duel (Dover Koshashvili, USA)
Everyone Else (Maren Ade, Germany)
Babies (Thomas Balmès, France)
Prodigal Sons (Kimberly Reed, USA)
I Spit on Your Grave (Steven R. Monroe, USA)
Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz, USA)
Get Him to the Greek (Nicholas Stoller, USA)
MacGruber (Jorma Taccone, USA)
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozer and Peter Raymont, Canada)
[rec] 2 (Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, Spain)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE_X2pDRXyY

Cheryl Eddy’s Top 10 of 2010

(1) Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, USA)
(2) Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, UK/Netherlands)
(3) Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, USA)
(4) The Social Network (David Fincher, USA)
(5) True Grit (Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, USA)
(6) The Two Escobars (Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist, Colombia/USA)
(7) The Tillman Story (Amir Bar-Lev, USA)
(8) The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/UK)
(9) Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, USA/UK/Canada)
(10) Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, USA)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-mfxOiUXI

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks’ top films of 2010

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks teaches Film History at the Academy of Art University and curates-hosts the film series “Midnites for Maniacs,” which emphasizes dismissed, underrated and overlooked films in a neo-sincere way.

(1) Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, USA)
(2) Another Year (Mike Leigh, UK)
(3) Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico)
(4) Sweetgrass (Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, France/UK/USA)
(5) Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, USA) and True Grit (Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, USA)
(6) The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm, USA/France)
(7) Tiny Furniture (Lena Dunham, USA) and The Freebie (Katie Aselton, USA)
(8) Somewhere (Sofia Coppola, USA) and Daddy Longlegs (Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie, USA/France)
(9) Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, USA) and Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, USA)
(10) White Material (Claire Denis, France/Cameroon)
(11) Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz, USA)
(12) Machete (Ethan Maniquis and Robert Rodriguez, USA)
(13) 127 Hours (Danny Boyle, USA/UK) and Buried (Rodrigo Cortés, Spain/USA/France)
(14) Trash Humpers (Harmony Korine, USA/UK/France) and Jackass 3D (Jeff Tremaine, USA)
(15) Cyrus (Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass, USA) and Greenberg (Noah Baumbach, USA)
(16) Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, USA/UK/Canada)
(17) Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul,
Thailand/UK/Germany/France/Spain)

bonus round…

(18) You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen, UK) and Film Socialism (Jean Luc Godard, France)
(19) Please Give (Nicole Holofcener, USA)
(20) Boxing Gym (Frederick Wiseman, USA)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fnojZw54ls

Louis Peitzman’s Top 10 of 2010

(1) The Social Network (David Fincher, USA)
(2) Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, USA)
(3) Inception (Christopher Nolan, tk)
(4) Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell, tk)
(5) Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, USA)
(6) Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, USA)
(7) The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, USA)
(8) Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek, UK/USA)
(9) Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, USA)
(10) The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/UK)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk-EoUb0nvg

Max Goldberg’s Top Films of 2010

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica, Romania)
Boxing Gym (Frederick Wiseman, USA)
Cold Weather (Aaron Katz, USA)
Foreign Parts (Verena Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki, USA)
In the Shadows (Thomas Arslan, Germany)
The Oath (Laura Poitras, USA)
The Social Network (David Fincher, USA)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul,
Thailand/UK/Germany/France/Spain)
You Are All Captains (Olivier Laxe, Spain/France)
Wednesday Morning Two A.M. (Lewis Klahr, USA)/Union (Paul Clipson,
USA)/Pastourelle (Nathaniel Dorsky, USA)

Kimberly Chun’s Top 11 of 2010

True grit, girl style: Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, USA), Easy A (Will Gluck, USA)
True camp, with a heaving side of eye candy: Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, USA), Enter the Void (Gaspar Noe, France/Germany/Italy)
Indie family comedies for adults: Cyrus (Jay and Mark Duplass, USA), The Kids Are All Right, (Lisa Cholodenko, USA), Tiny Furniture (Lena Dunham, USA)
Indie crime family that eats its young: Animal Kingdom (David Michod, Australia)
Indie entrepreneurs run amok: The Social Network (David Fincher, USA)
“Made it, ma! Top o’ the world!” — border-crossing crime stories: A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France/Italy, 2009), Carlos (330-minute version, Olivier Assayas, France/Germany)

Arthur Szyk: beauty in fairy tale… and Stalin

Andrew Lam
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0

Nowadays, being up on the news can actually make us stupider (more stupid, damn!), but when cartoonist Arthur Szyk was sketching his dense, fantastically detailed news caricatures, politics were still in need of explication – and all the more better if it was beautiful to boot. How else can one explain why one of the most whimsical artists of the 1930s and ’40s became best known for his sketches of Hitler and Stalin playing poker?

Szyk’s jewel box of an exhibition is on view through March 2011 at that jewel box of a museum, the Legion of Honor. How lovely is the Legion of Honor? Though its offerings are often obscured by its big box fine art peers like the de Young and the SFMOMA, the Legion itself is a French neo-classic temple compared to the blatant modernism of its more centrally-located brethren. Where else, for pete’s sake, can one find a meticulously transposed Louis-whenever parlor room adjacent to a hall full of Rodin sculptures? 

A multi-media art experience, I reflected, passing under a mudejar ceiling from late 15th century Torrijos region of Spain, on my way to the museum’s corner hideaway gallery no. 1 that housed Szyk. Who was a firecracker, really. Born to a Jewish Polish family, Szyk was one of the first political caricaturist to sketch out against the Führer. His Haggadah series (1932-1938) correlated Hitler’s rise with the traditional story of the Israelites’ biblical flight from Egypt. 

Though his original message was somewhat watered down by the drawings’ group publication in 1940 (the publishers erased all the swastikas from the drawings – que what?), it was still considered one of the most beautiful works of the time. Szyk was also outspoken about his adopted country’s lack of action in the face of evil – the US fell under the wrath of his pencil for its sluggish rise to action during World War II. 

The man’s drawings are pure, extravagant beauts. The drowsy, yet watchful eyes of the Legion security guards (legion guards! Drama!) prevented me from nosing in quite as close as I wanted to them – the sentries probably get sick of wiping off the glass – but even so. Even so, there were his illustrations for a deck of playing cards, his whip-smart rendering of a poker game between Hitler and Stalin — with the Angel of Death looking on intently. His sumptuous creations for the 1955 edition of Arabian Nights Entertainment. His faces are so detailed that they bely the fact that they are portraying fictional characters. His details are so extraordinary its no wonder that a lot of adult children will get a sense of time travel vertigo dipping into his stash of kid’s book illustrations. The flowers with faces Szyk brought into being for the 1945 edition of Andersen’s Fairy Tales — well Walt, you have some explaining to do about Alice’s rose garden buds.

You should be witness to all this, of course. While you’re there, check out the Legion’s marquee showing of Japanese and Californian and French-via-Japan prints in the basement (Japanesque, through Jan. 9). And the Legion cafe, of course, which is always crammed full of old people and is an excellent place to enjoy a cup of coffee or esoteric Asian soda pop. 

 

Arthur Szyk: Miniature Paintings and Modern Illuminations

Through March 2011

Legion of Honor

100 34th Ave., SF

(415) 750-3600

www.famsf.org

 

New Year’s Eve 2011 parties

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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6
New Year’s Eve 2011 parties

As always, we recommend attending several parties on New Year’s Eve — just to spread your personal brand of bubbly around (and change up the scenery a bit.) Below are some recommendations for maximum impact, all of which take place the night of Fri/31. Chin chin! (Check out our Music Listings for even more.)

1984

The long-running (as in almost 20 years!) retro ’80s party is playing host to a free flashback at Mighty, in a ppreciation of, well, everything ’80s. DJs Dangerous Dan and Skip play all the faves and waves.

9 p.m.–2 a.m., free. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

BEARRACUDA

Calling all big, hot gay men — the fur will fly at this hairy annual affair, with DJs Steve Sherwood, dabecy of Electronic Music Bears, and Medic

8 p.m.–4 a.m., $25 advance. Deco, 510 Larkin, SF. www.bearracuda.com/NYE


BLOW UP NYE

Stylish hip-electro madness continues to reign at this monthly party, and the NYE Blow Up blowout should be pretty spectacular (and gorgeously messy). DJs Jeffrey Paradise, Eli Glad, and more help you explode.

10 p.m.–3 a.m., $18 advance, 18+. Kelly’s Mission Rock, 817 Terry Francois Blvd., SF. www.blowupsf.com

 

BOOTIE NYE

The outrageous mashup club teams up with Mezzanine to present this bonkers night, with DJs Adrian and Mysterious D, live band Smash-Up Derby, French rapper Grandpamini, upstairs room by Brass Tax, pirate balloon drop, and much more.

9 p.m.–late, $20–$40. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

COSMIC VOYAGE

Hardworkin’ San Diego techno DJ Donald Glaude is no stranger to SF — he’ll know exactly how to take you higher (and blow up the Funktion One sound system) at Vessel for this intergalactic jam

9 p.m.–6 a.m., $25–$65. Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF. www.vesselsf.com

 

COUNTDOWN

Get down with a rockin’ reggaeton, hip-hop, and reggae new year fiesta at Club Six, with the awesome Los Rakas live (seriously, those guys are dope), Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi, the Coo-Yah Ladeez, Mr. E, and more to fill all three dance floors.

8 p.m.–4 a.m., $10. Club Six, 66 Sixth St., SF. www.clubsix1.com

 

ECLECTIC FEVER

Cumbia, Afro-Latin funk, bhangra, reggae, flamenco, soul, and more styles take over the floor with live performances from Sila, B-Side Players, Locura, Non Stop Bhangra, and more.

8 p.m.–3 a.m., $35 advance. West Bay Center, 1290 Mission, SF. ef2010.eventbrite.com

 

ELECTRIC VARDO

A wonderfully global dance party with a “Palace on Wheels” theme, featuring fat Chance Belly Dance, DJs Amar and lady ra, chef Ranjan Dey’s Indian creations, and music from Bollywood to Andalusia.

9 p.m., $29–$80. New Delhi Restaurant, 160 Ellis, SF. palaceonwheels2010.eventbrite.com

 

“11”

Deep house master Marques Wyatt from L.A. joins our own Mark Farina, Julius Papp, and many more for a dance floor marathon, claiming to be the “longest New Year’s Eve celebration.” Whew!

8 p.m.–6 a.m., $30 advance. The Factory, 525 Harrison, SF. 11-zvents.eventbrite.com

 

15TH ANNUAL COMEDY COUNTDOWN

Yuck up your new year with super-hip (and mostly cute!) comedians Charlyne Yi, the Sklar Brothers, Shane Mauss, Nick Thune, Christina Paszitsky, and a ton more. Hilarious balloon drop!

9:30 p.m., $60–$120. Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon, SF. www.ticketmaster.com

 

G.A.W.K.

The still-spunky, 25-year-old Gay Artists and Writers Kollective is hostings its annual NYE blowout, with live musical performances and readings that attract newcomers and classic artists alike for some kollective fun.

8 p.m.–1 a.m., free and all ages. Tikka Masala, 1668 Haight, SF. 

 

ICEE HOT NYE

Get down and wobbly as the city’s best showcase for grimy-funky new musical styles brings in the new year with London’s Bok Bok and Ramadanman, DJs Disco Shawn, Ghosts on Tape, and Rollie Fingers.

9 p.m., $15–$20. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. www.elbo.com

 

KIM NALLEY

The incredibly gifted and hot-to-trot blues chanteuse will “Let the Good Time Roll” with two smokin’ shows on New Year’s Eve at the wondrous Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko. Just watch Ms. Nalley go!

7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $35. Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF. www.therrazzroom.com

 

LEXINGTON CLUB NYE

Spend the eve getting down with the coolest dykes on the planet (and the ladies who love them). DJs DURT and Pony Boy rock the tables, Aimee and Chandra host. Free glass of champers from 8 p.m.-9 p.m.!

8 p.m., free. Lexington Club, 3464 19th St., SF. www,lexingtonclub.com

 

LOOSE JOINTS NYE

The awesome funky Friday weekly party with DJs Tom Thump, Damon Bell, and Centipede is a top choice for those looking to get down.

9 p.m., $10. Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St., SF. www.makeoutroom.com

 

MANGO NYE

The funky summer jam for a diverse and stylish crowd of lesbians returns to wave bye-bye to ’10. DJs Marcella & Edaj make it happen at El Rio.

7 p.m., $15–$40 advance. El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF. mango2011nye.eventbrite.com

 

POWERHOUSE NYE

Showering go-go boys! Muscular bartenders serving it up stiff! Yep, you’re at the Powerhouse, spraying your man-champagne into 2011, with DJ DAMnation and a $100 wet towel contest. (free towel check!)

10 p.m., $10. Powerhouse, 1347 Folsom, SF. www.powerhouse-sf.com

 

RENDEZ-VOUS IN PARADISE

Normally the phrase “Las Vegas’s best DJ!” sends us running to the barn for pitchforks — but this is scratch turntable legend Tina T, who is amazing. North Beach’s Atmosphere club is pretty swank, but the crowd will get down.

10 p.m., $50–$75. Atmosphere, 447 Broadway, SF. www.a3atmosphere.com

 

SEA OF DREAMS

This incredibly huge, longtime New Year’s Eve tradition is bursting with star power: Balkan Beat Box, Thievery Corporation, Modeselektor, Beats Antique, and tons more. Plus, a “GalaxSea” theme, for all you Neptunefish of 2011.

9 p.m.–5 a.m., $75–$135. Concourse Exhibition Center, SF. www.seaofdreamsnye.com

 

S.O.S. (STANDING ON STARDUST)

The fab rare disco and funky stylings of DJ Bus Station John will be on full display at this incredible-sounding shindig at Burritt Room, put on by handsome duo Bon Vivants. We hear there’ll be yummy food and a giant ice-sculpture unicorn shooting champagne, so ….

9 p.m.-2 a.m., $85. Burritt Room, 417 Stockton, SF. More info here.

 

SOME THING NEW

Some Thing, the weekly Friday night theatrical drag extravaganza (always full of hot altqueers), comes up with something special — drag goddess Juanita More takes the turntables with Sidekick and Stanley Frank to turn you out.

10 p.m., $10. The Stud, 399 Ninth St., SF. www.studsf.com

 

STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO

Infamous DJ Steve Aoki and club photographer Cobrasnake are leaving the electro hipsters behind and appearing at this fancy ball, featuring a scale replica of the city’s beloved monuments.

9 p.m., $12–$200 advance. Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion, Marina Blvd., SF. www. sanfrancisconewyear’seve2011.com

 

SUNSET AND HONEY

Two of the city’s smartest house and techno collectives, Honey Soundsystem and Sunset, join forces at the awesome new Public Works, with special guests Kim Ann Foxman of Hercules and Love Affair and Tim Sweeney of Beats in Space.

9 p.m.–5 a.m., $30. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

TEMPLE OF LIGHT

Temple’s annual luminous extravaganza goes “3-D” to delight the eyes and ears (and a third thing — feet?) with DJ Paul Hemming, Jaswho? live, Ben Tom, Soulspin, and more.

9 p.m.–4 a.m., $40–$150. Temple, 540 Howard, SF. www.templesf.com

 

TRANNYSHACK NYE

Good lord — Heklina and her cray-cray drag queens are teaming up with circus-themed party Big Top to wrestle 2010 out the door. Look out, shoulder pads! Tons of performances, Ejector live, DJ Omar, and an appearance by Kembra Pfaler of the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black.

9 p.m.–3 a.m., $20. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF. www.dnalounge.com

Maybe bankruptcy would save California

Zelda Bronstein
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54
Maybe bankruptcy would save California

First of all: ain’t going to happen. The state needs to spend $6.6 billion on bond debt, and has more than $50 million available. No default looming. I’m with Robert Cruickshank at Calitics: The law shouldn’t give bondholders first claim on the state’s money. But it does.


That said, some of the people who commented on my last post on the subject seem almost to be drooling at the prospect of a state or municipal bankruptcy; a judge, they argue, could force big reductions in employee pensions.


But there’s another twist on this that my colleague Johnny Angel Wendell just passed along to me:


In a normal bankruptcy, a judge looks not just at debts and obligations but at assets. A bankrupt corporation has to turn over all it has, including accounts receivable; hiding money isn’t legal. So suppose a bankruptcy judge looked at California and said: This is a rich state with lots of assets, and the only reason it can’t collect on those assets and make good on its debts — the number one responsibility of a bankruptcy judge — is that it’s hamstrung by some ridiculous laws. Bankruptcy judges have sweeping authority to restructure corporations; perhaps by the same standard, a judge could restructure not only California’s accounts payable and obligations but its ability to bring in money.


Imagine a court saying: Prop. 13 interferes with California’s ability to pay its debts. The two-thirds requirement for tax hikes interferes with California’s ability to pay its debts. Sorry, those laws are gone.


A federal judge has already mandated that California spend billions on better prison health care; why not mandate that the state raise taxes to cover its costs?


So all you fiscal conservatives who are looking only at the debts and liabilities side of the balance sheet, think about what you’re asking for. Because there’s an asset side, too — and California’s is pretty big.

Fine (and found) dining with Wild Kitchen

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0

Wild boar, Monterey squid, light-it-yourself flambe — local, wild edibles are foraged and transformed into multi-course gourmet meals, as ForageSF hosts underground restaurant Wild Kitchen. Dig in to this SFBG exclusive.

Year in Music: Pantha du Prince’s Top 10 (+1) of 2010

John Elberling
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0
Year in Music: Pantha du Prince’s Top 10 (+1) of 2010

Phill Niblock, Touch Radio 57
Efdemin, Chicago
Konrad Sprenger, Versprochen
Avey Tare, Down There
Foxtrot Echo Lima Tango fanzine
Autechre, Oversteps
Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Live In New York
Live jams by The Sight Below in New York
Sohrab, A Hidden Place
John Roberts, Glass Eights
Craig Haines, Until the Point of Hushed Support

Pantha du Prince, “Stick to My Side”:

 

Spoiled mayor wants to get his way

Zelda Bronstein
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10
Spoiled mayor wants to get his way

I guess it’s no surprise that Gavin Newsom takes his political cues from the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board. But this spoiled-kid choose-a-mayor-I-like-or-I-won’t-leave attitude isn’t pretty. Newsom has chosen a new office; it’s no longer his business who the folks he left behind want to put in Room 200.


And here’s what’s silly: If he wants a caretaker mayor, he’s not helping things with this approach. I actually think the incoming board is less likely to pick a caretaker. And the overall political leaning of the new board isn’t that different than the current board.


Newsom even seemed to acknowledge that: “I wonder what the big difference is now the more I work through the math.”


So why exactly is he doing this? Just to make the Chron folks feel important? Just to leave us with one last show of petulance? Or has he cut some sort of deal with the incoming supervisors? And which candidate does he want, anyway? because if it’s Ed Harrington, I hope he’s worked through the math — there’s no way Harrington gets six votes on the new board, unless either David Chiu or Jane Kim goes totally south and decides to support a pro-PG&E candidate who will only continue the worst of Newsom’s policies.


Frankly, I don’t see it happening.


Gavin: You’re done. You can’t choose the next mayor; you don’t have the votes. So quit whining and move on.


 




 


 


 


 


 


 

Year in Music: Jesse Kivel of Kisses’ Top 10 Albums of 2010

John Elberling
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0
Year in Music: Jesse Kivel of Kisses’ Top 10 Albums of 2010

Beach House, Teen Dream
CEO, White Magic
Nite Jewel, Am I Real?
El Guincho, Pop Negro
Owen Pallett, Heartland
The National, High Violet
Joanna Newsom, Have One On Me
Ra Ra Riot, The Orchard
Delorean, Subiza
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Before Today

Kisses, “Bermuda”:

Year in Music: Alexis Georgopoulos of Arp’s Top 10 of 2010 (+1)

John Elberling
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0
Year in Music: Alexis Georgopoulos of Arp’s Top 10 of 2010 (+1)

Durutti Column, “Stucki”
CFCF, The River
Oni Ayhun, “Untitled (OAR003–B)”
James Blake, Klavierwerke
Mario Basanov, Caribbean Girl
Sun Araw, Off Duty and Boat Trip
Charanjit Singh, Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat
Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Macho
Tensnake, Coma Cat
Tame Impala, Innerspeaker
The Radio Dept., “Heaven’s On Fire“

Oni Ayhun, “Untitled (OAR003-B)”:

James Blake, “Klavierwerke”:

Tame Impala, “Half Full Glass of Wine”:

 

Hot sexy events December 22-28

Andrew Lam
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0
Hot sexy events December 22-28

Santa was a freak. Think on it: he gets around by whipping those reindeers’ tender flesh (hello, dom), sneaks in your house at night to kiss your mama, and has a bizarre obsession with whether you’ve been naughty or nice. To me, that sounds like… well someone who reads this column, that’s all. And it very much clears up Chaps’ much-heralded holiday hours (on Fri/24 and Sat/25 they’re open from 8 p.m.-late). Would you like to sit on Santa’s lap? Get cruisey, all you ho-ho-hoes — it’s Christmas time for the weekly sex events.

 

Good Vibes customer appreciation nights

So it’s… now, and you still haven’t touched that waiting list of those-to-be-gifted? Worry not, my like-minded friend, for Good Vibrations is encouraging your wacky, irresponsible ways with their last minute shopping events, which will put chocolates and wine into your holiday hands, as well as provide on-staff sex experts to counsel you on just the right vibrator for your sweet, self-lovin’ friends.

Weds/22 and Thurs/23 6-8 p.m., free

Good Vibrations

Various Bay Area locations

www.goodvibes.com


Kinky Knitters

‘Tis the season to knit something sexy! A Rosebud red crocheted teddy perhaps? Or maybe just a beanie large enough to pull over lover boy’s eyes for some sexy blindness play? The options are multitudinous at the weekly stitch and bitch at kinky coffee shop Wicked Grounds. Ideal topics for discussion: Tensile strength of various yarns and the hottest new adjustable harness sewing pattern.

Thurs/23 7-10 p.m., free

Wicked Grounds 

289 8th St., SF

(415) 503-0405

www.wickedgrounds.com


Center for Sex and Culture XXXmas Eve Film Night

Fun fact: in 2003, Moby made Alien Sex Party, a sex-positive, raunchy comedy starring the cast of a sex store who have got to keep it together through Christmas Eve, despite kooky customers and the occasional K-Y jelly eating alien. CSC shows the film at this time each year – trust, by the time the characters launch into the “You Can Have Sex With Whatever You Want” number, you’ll be singing along in fine Christmas spirit.

Fri/24 9:30-11 p.m., $5-20 sliding scale

Center for Sex and Culture

1519 Mission, SF

(415) 552-7399

www.sexandculture.org


The movie Moby only made so that he could rock that floppy dildo headband

Dee’s Meander

Sure, that frosted sleighbell tastes fine now, but the next time you’re tied to the St. Andrews cross, you might be surprised at how you’re bulging out underneath the lovingly applied rope your partner just lashed all over you. Time to stretch those legs. This regular walk is geared towards giving the BDSM community a chance to get physically fit and have some uplifting convos about sex play while doing so.

Fri/24 4-5 p.m., free

Bestor Art Park

Bestor between 5th and 6th Sts., San Jose

www.erobay.org


Chaps Bar Escape

Like I said, this bar is proudly open through the holidays, so if you’re looking to flee the warmth and wackiness of the fam for a few hours, you could do worse than to don your hottest jock strap and head down to Chaps to lick some candy canes.

Fri/24 and Sat/25 8 p.m.-late, free

Chaps

1225 Folsom, SF

(415) 225-2427

www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com

 

The Performant: Big ideas, small packages

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0

Taking size of the One-Minute Play Festival and Monsters of Accordion

I’m a sucker for miniaturization. Sushi erasers, super-strong magnets, marzipan fruit baskets, teeny-weeny screwdrivers; anything you can pack into a matchbox or stuff into a watch-pocket makes my spirits soar. So I was naturally keen to take in the One-Minute Play Festival at Thick House. Sixty-three 60-second plays performed in a quicksilver stream of actors, action, and scene. A good example of where miniature does not automatically equate “cute” or “precious” but rather “succinct” or “direct,” the one-minute play is an exercise in brevity and restraint.


Without time for lengthy exposition or backstory, the plays had to cut straight to the heart of a single moment of impact. Admittedly, many of the moments chosen by playwrights basically amounted to humorous set-ups with stand-up style punchlines — a PTA meeting of horny housewives (“P Trois A,” by Lauren Gunderson), a vengeful lover ordering a swarm of poisonous jellyfish online (“Irukanji,” by Steve Yockey), a pair of odes to male bonding ritual (“Manly Men,” by Qui Nguyen; “Handshake,” by Erin Bregman). But other plays sought to explore loss (“Kosovo,” by Garret Jon Groenveld), revenge (“Last Chance,” by Elizabeth Gjelten), and betrayal (“Later, a Letter,” by Evelyn Jean Pine).

What became swiftly apparent was that while it’s really difficult to tell an individual playwright from another in just one minute, the individual directors who were each given twelve to thirteen minutes worth of stage time apiece were able to really stamp their own personal signatures onto the proceedings. Paul Cello went for stylized movement and uniform basic black outfits for all his actors, Meridith McDonough and Jonathan Spector used plenty of props, Desdemona Chiang used extra actors and paid extra attention to lighting and sound design. It made me interested to see them take the experiment of the one-minute play festival even further. What if you had one one-minute play… and sixty directors? Would it be an exercise in déjà vu—or something possibly much more intriguing?
 
Meanwhile, at Slim’s, the “Monsters of Accordion” (aka “Jason Webley and friends”) were exploring humor and tragedy in their own way with that most bizarrely beloved all-purpose instrument of all time—the piano accordion. Talk about the wonders of miniaturization! An accordion may not be a small instrument, but the number of instruments it can take the place of can turn a single master wielder into an orchestra unto themselves. And when you get an entire pack of them onstage together, well, “monsters” is a good descriptor! Also passionate geeks and secret saboteurs of the mundane. From the sinuous swing of The Petrojvic Blasting Company, the Cajun stomp of local gal, and lone button accordionist, Renee de la Prade, or the gleefully demented Bacteria song first written by Webley for a roomful of scientists studying fruit-bat fellatio, the stylistic range spanned continents, eras, possibilities. And much like acollection of short-attention-span-style plays, included humor, collaboration, applause.

SFBG Radio: The year in review

Zelda Bronstein
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0
SFBG Radio: The year in review

In today’s episode, Johnny and Tim talk about the crazy year that was 2010. Listen after the jump.

2010 by endorsements2010

Ma seeks to ban raves in latest War on Fun offensive

Sasha Cuttler
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11
Ma seeks to ban raves in latest War on Fun offensive

Someone needs to tell Assembly member Fiona Ma that the ’90s – with its myopic War on Drugs mentality, ascendant rave scene, and chest-beating “tough on crime” political one-upsmanship – are over, even though we’re still paying that era’s bills. Because Ma just introduced AB 74, which seeks to bans raves in California.

Why now? Well, her website says this “historic legislation” was written “on the heels of recent drug-related tragedies in Los Angeles and the Bay Area,” referring to three drug-related deaths at two events last May and June. And even though the same statement claims “attendance at raves can range from 16,000 to 185,000 people,” Ma somehow thinks that a few overdoses justifies a broad ban on dance parties (although she pointedly exempts live concerts, for reasons she doesn’t explain, even though the exact same argument can be made about concerts).

As a representative from the vibrant city of San Francisco, Ma (who did not return our calls for comment) is an embarrassment, taking the already-regressive War on Fun efforts by so-called “moderate” politicians to a new low. But unfortunately, the effort to ban public dance parties has already gained traction at the federal level with provisions of the long-controversial RAVE Act – promoted by top Democrats as well as Republicans — finally sneaking their way onto the books last year.

And now, Ma wants to get into the act, as always seeking to curry favor with the cops in the process (not to mention the alcohol industry, a prime funder of the War on Drugs and the ambitions of its political foot soldiers such as Ma). If they get their way, nothing short of our basic constitutional right of freedom of assembly is at risk, and that should be of concern to people of all ideological stripes.

Does Mayor Newsom represent SF workers or San Mateo politicians?

Mary Magee
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2

“Does Newsom represent local workers or San Mateo politicians?” That’s the question being asked  at City Hall today. And it’s threatening to deliver an unwelcome kick to Mayor Gavin Newsom on his way out of City Hall’s revolving doors, as dozens of unemployed construction workers deliver 1,000 Christmas cards that residents of Bayview Hunters Point, Chinatown, the Mission, the Tenderloin and South of Market have signed. The cards urge Mayor Gavin Newsom to “put the Merry into Christmas and the Happy back into New Year” and sign local hire law that the Board passed a week ago.

This special holiday season delivery has been in the works since Dec. 14, when Bayview-based job advocates Aboriginal Blackmen United (ABU) tried to meet with Newsom and get his signature on legislation that a super-majority on the Board support.

But after Newsom was a no-show and his chief of staff Steve Kawa refused to give ABU any assurances, community advocates Brightline Defense Project printed up a thousand of the cards urging Newsom to “put the Merry into Christmas”. And Brightline, ABU, Chinese for Affirmative Action, PODER, and the A. Philip Randolph Institute then asked unemployed workers, activists, and concerned citizens to sign this unusual set of greeting cards.

The move comes a day after the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to urge Newsom to veto Avalos local hire policy. Local hire advocates suspect this counter-move was orchestrated to give Newsom political cover, should he choose to make the seemingly Scrooge-like move of vetoing, just before the holiday season, legislation that would help San Francisco residents secure work on billions of dollars worth of local tax-payer funded construction projects .

But the San Mateo supervisors claim that San Francisco’s plan, which would mandate that 50 percent of workers on city-funded projects are local residents, threatens to hurt an already sluggish regional economy.

“This is not the time to put isolation around a community,” San Mateo Sup. Carole Groom reportedly said at a hastily convened Dec. 21 special session.
 “If this is rejected, it would be time for all of us to sit down and talk about this,” fellow San Mateo County Sup. Adrienne Tissier reportedly said.

Newsom has until Christmas Eve to either sign or veto the law, though the Board can still override his veto, provided Avalos still has eight votes in the New Year. And if Newsom doesn’t sign or veto the law by week’s end, it will go into effect in 60 days.


San Mateo officials are arguing that the local hire legislation particularly impacts their county, because the law contains a “70-mile” clause that includes the San Francisco Airport, the Hetch Hetchy water system and the San Bruno jail.

Sup. John Avalos previously told the Guardian that project labor agreements protect workers at the airport and working on projects that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission funds. But Tissier reportedly claimed that San Francisco’s local hire policy would kick in, once new contracts are negotiated.

Reached by phone, Avalos said it’s not clear if the San Mateo supervisors have actually read his legislation
‘If they had, they’d see a lot of ways that is supports San Mateo workers,” Avalos said.

San Francisco’s local hire legislation, which is the nation’s strongest, requires that 20 percent of workers within each construction trade be local residents starting in 2011. That number increases 5 percent annually for seven years, as local workers join trades where community representation is lacking, before reaching 50 percent. In other words, 80 percent of the workforce could be non-city residents in 2011, and even at 50 percent local hire, half of the jobs will still be available to workers who don’t live in San Francisco.
 
“That’s hardly an exclusion especially when you consider that San Francisco taxpayers are making the investments on these projects,” Avalos stated.
He believes that the San Mateo County Building Trades Council pressured the San Mateo Board to pass their Dec. 21 resolution urging a veto on his measure. Either way,  Victor Torreano, vice president of the San Mateo County Building Trades Council was quoted in media coverage of the Dec. 21 vote, saying, “the need for housing in San Francisco and the Peninsula make it impossible for many blue collar workers from sinking family roots in the area.”

Avalos acknowledges that San Francisco International Airport is in San Mateo County, and its workers understandably wants jobs there,
“San Mateo County has to put up with the sound of the airport, and its residents deserve to have jobs there, but this is much ado about nothing,” Avalos said. “But it’s the Building Trades that are uncomfortable with changing slightly their practices.”

Mike Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Building Trades Council, acknowledged that his group has never been pleased with Avalos’ legislation.

“But we are resigned to seeing how it plays out,” Theriault told the Guardian. “We think there are better things they could have done to guarantee access of San Francisco residents to careers in our trades.”

Theriault believes that Avalos may not understand the project labor agreement are of limited duration.
“So, they will require an extension of the existing labor agreement,” Theriault said,  noting the legislation states that future extensions would have to comply with the new law.

But Theriault acknowledged that with or without Newsom, Avalos’ legislation still has a chance to move forward.
“If he vetoes it, I understand that the Board will have another crack at it, Jan. 4,” THeriault said, referring to the current Board’s last meeting in January.
 
The Bay Area Council has also announced its opposition to Avalos’ legislation,
 “This troubling trend of intra-county battles being started by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors needs to stop,: Bay Area Council President and CEO Jim Wunderman said in a Dec. 21 statement. “The Bay Area is one regional economy, not nine island states. We need to focus on nurturing the fragile economic recovery in our region, not setting bad policies that pit county against county.  The Bay Area Council urges Mayor Newsom to veto this foolhardy piece of legislation.  Right now, we do not need any more incentives for businesses to leave any county, the Bay Area, or California.”

But advocates for the legislation note that the San Francisco Controller recently estimated that the law will pump $270 million into the local economy over the next 10 years. They hope Newsom will emerge from his warren-like office today and sign the law, delivering a historic Christmas present to the city’s growing ranks of unemployed workers.


But even if he doesn’t, Avalos isn’t sweating it.


“Newsom probably won’t sign it, and he’ll write a letter saying he’s opposed to it,” Avalos predicted. “And even if the new mayor is [SFPUC director] Ed Harrington, he’s been supportive of the measure. So Newsom has to answer his own conscience and ask himself, if he’s going to represent local residents or San Mateo politicians.”


According to Brightline’s Joshua Arce, ABU led about 30 to 40 workers from Bayview, Chinatown, and the Mission up to Room 200 today to drop off 1,000 signed  cards from residents in every neighborhood asking the Mayor to sign the community’s local hiring law by Christmas.
 
“Room 200 was locked, but we kept knocking,” Arce told the Guardian. “Eventually the doors opened and out came [Mayor Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff] Steve Kawa. We showed him all of the Christmas cards that we had for his boss and he thanked us. Ashley Rhodes of ABU explained that since we heard how much the Mayor liked the ABU holiday card last week, we printed up 1,000 more and got them signed by people from every community in San Francisco.”
 
“We asked where the Mayor was in terms of making his decision, he said that the Mayor was still studying all of the issues,” Arce continued. “He brought up the opposition from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, so we asked him to tell the Mayor to support us, the thousands of unemployed and job-hungry San Franciscans, over four San Mateo politicians.”
 
“Steve Kawa said that they will be working around the clock to make sure all concerns are addressed, and we showed Steve a card signed by Sup. Bevan Dufty just moments before we came upstairs,” Arce addded. “Sups. John Avalos and Eric Mar also signed Christmas cards to the Mayor.”

According to Arce, ABU left the two huge Santa bags full of cards with Kawa, who picked them up, commenting “These bags are awfully heavy.” 

“I asked him to make sure to tell his boss that the cards were printed on 100% recycled paper,” Arce concluded. “Let’s hope that Mayor Newsom puts the Merry into Christmas and the Happy back into New Year!”

The unfair attack on public employees

Zelda Bronstein
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Just to be sure my pal(s) Matlock and Lucretia aren’t off on some sort sort of web holiday, thought I’d repost this week’s Editors Notes here. It’s a defense of public employee pensions and pay. At the very least, it’s a perspective you don’t hear much.

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