Today’s Look: Domonique, 24th Street and Noe
Tell us about your look: “I like to wear clothes that are comfortable and reflects how I feel when I’m dressing in the morning.”
SFBG Blogs
Luis Echegoyen’s old school Mission cool
Back when he was a television star in El Salvador, Luis Echegoyen could have little guessed that fifty year later he’d be performing in his own poetry reading in San Francisco of classic Spanish authors (Sat/8, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts). But it’s not the least probable feat that legendary Spanish language Bay area news anchor Echegoyen has accomplished — after all, poetry is his retirement project.
Echegoyen was famous in El Salvador when he made his first trip to the United States. A television and stage star, he had joined a troupe of artists who were performing in high schools and colleges across the country in a sort of cultural education tour for North American students. But when he arrived in San Francisco in November of 1962, he stayed. His sister lived here, and he heard that San Francisco State had a top-shelf drama program, where he planned on continuing the five years of formal stage education he had received back home.
But “I didn’t have the English,” Echegoyen tells me. He’s now a stately older gent in a turned-out suit, reminiscent of his days as a storied San Franciscan Spanish language news anchor. He shares his memories with me in a room at the Mission Cultural Center, and they’re fascinating, scenes set in the familiar streets of the Mission, but with reality set at a different angle from historical currencies.
With the education system unassailable, he turned to what he knew best; Spanish language show biz. His first major project was a radio show called Escala de Fama, which was being recorded in front of a live audience at the Victoria Theater. Echegoyen was a rookie at KOFY, which broadcasted Escala, but he could tell the hosts of the variety show needed help.
“The audience was very rowdy,” he recalls. “The announcers were afraid of the audience, they would hide behind the curtains!” He grabbed the mic, and drew on his years of experience during El Salvador‘s golden age of show business, cracking jokes and walking through the aisles of the Victoria. The spotlights followed him, and he hosted Escala for the next 13 years. Luis had arrived in San Francisco.
It’s fascinating to hear someone talk, as Luis does, about the way the Mission neighborhood was generations ago. It doesn’t sound so very different — sure, less fixed gear bikes — but the immigrant families packed into subdivided Victorians were already there, without many of the resources they needed to thrive. This was back before the advent of the social organizations that today call the Mission home. “Kids didn’t have anywhere to go; no parks, no gyms, no after school programs. I said, ‘okay, we need a park, we need a gym,’” says Luis.
Avance Luis! The man in magazine covers
And if talking with the man taught me one thing, it was this; what Echegoyen decides to do, Echegoyen does. To fix the issues he saw, he got in deep with a whole laundry list of community organizations; Bay Area Neighborhood Development, Mission Coalition Organization, and the Economic Opportunity Council, to name a few. He started working on seniors’ issues, delinquency issues, economic issues. Most importantly, he parlayed his growing radio and television celebrity into making change.
At one point, the Parks & Recreation department responded to his entreaties to build a park almost sarcastically, saying that if he wanted a park for his adopted neighborhood, they’d build it — if he could find an empty lot in the well-populated Mission neighborhood. On his way to shoot a news story with his camera crew, Echegoyen saw one, a dump site in the outer Mission/Bernal Hieghts.
He broadcasted from the site, sitting amidst the rubble. “I said ‘this is an empty lot, and we can use it to build a park. Let’s go to City Hall, and ask for a park to be built in this place.” Which of course, he did himself, only to find that Parks & Rec themselves were the property’s owners. Today, the park is there, testament to Echegoyen’s ability to use his broadcast skills and community position to effect change.
“You have to use the media to benefit the community. I went out on the streets, I found problems. Some of the problems were solved, some not,” he says, looking back at his activist career.
Today Echegoyen is retired, the first Latino inductee in the silver and gold circles of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a winner of a Lifetime Achievement Special Emmy.
“Luis has always been a leader in the community,” says Cynthia Harris, anchor of Univision KDTV’s En la Bahia, a local Spanish language news show of which Echegoyen was producer and host for many years. During his tenure, Luis brought in neighborhood leaders, as well as local and international Latino artists. Harris says it was projects like these that reflect Echegoyen’s startling impact on San Francisco. “It was an opportunity for the Latino community to have a say — something that previously that hasn’t existed.”
Clearly, this is a man who’s earned his retirement. Although Echegoyen is active in senior education through AARP, two scholarship organizations for low income students, and is currently toying with the idea of organizing an artists’ flea market in the Mission, his pet project of the moment takes the stage at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts this weekend.
He’ll be reading poetry, the Spanish language masters. He’s a connoisseur of the art form, having recently recorded four volumes of poetic anthologies he‘s releasing one at a time on CD. “Poetry is so ample,” he tells me, proudly handing over a copy of volume one. “It’s really painful to be choosing which to include on the CDs.”
Sat/8 7 p.m., $15
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts
2868 Mission, SF
(415) 643-5001
www.missionculturalcenter.org
alt.sex.column: I deserve a buzz
Dear Andrea:
How is it humanly possible that I, a 42 year old man, talented, accomplished, tall, and fit, cannot get laid to save his life? I have gone out on literally hundreds of dates, but nothing ever seems to go my way. I try not to act desperate, but women seem to smell it on me or something.
I have spent 12 years in therapy, tried whatever advice is thrown my way, but nothing seems to work. WTF?
Love,
42-Year-Old Etc.
Dear Etc:
Yikes. OK, you have legitimately got a problem. But do try to remember that while it may seem reasonable to feel that the universe owes you a boinking, any individual female owes you nothing of the kind. Forget this at your peril.
I won’t tell you that there is someone out there for you, although there may be. I will tell you, though, that it appears that the problem is not them, it’s you. Really, I am sorry. But a record like yours, well, I suppose it is technically possible that you are suffering the world’s most protracted streak of bad luck, scoring-wise, but it is simply not very likely.
I wonder what it is about all those dates that is “not going your way.” You do know you have to actually do something, right? Just waiting for things to go your way is a good way to end up a 42-year-old virgin.
Still, 42 is way old to still be a virgin, so I suggest quitting that. Seriously. Hire a pro or run a Craig’s List ad, looking not for luv and certainly not for anything as apocryphal as a soul-mate, but for some floozy who thinks the idea of contributing to the delinquency of a major sounds like hot dirty fun. In other words, just do it. Getting past the virginity element will dispel the stink of desperation (along with the fear of having to make an embarrassing confession), which ought to take some of the pressure off the next date.
Also, since I cannot see you or smell you or hear you laugh, you need some data I cannot provide. Do you know any women? Do you have female friends? Could you ask them if you seem, well, doable? Like if she weren’t married or not into men or whatever, could she imagine hooking up with you? If not, why not, and is there anything you can do about it?
At this point I’m assuming that you are stuck in a cycle of defeat and despair and that your dates can, in fact, smell it on you. But on the off chance that there is something else, some mannerism or failure of personal hygiene at work here, you really need to find out more about how people are perceiving you. You may not believe me, but it isn’t too late. Get yourself a nice, expensive escort and at least get some practice. She may even have some pointers — if there’s anyone who knows a helluva lot about what makes a man sexually unappealing, it will be her.
Love,
Andrea
Email your questions to andrea@mail.altsexcolumn.com
The Daily Blurgh: Duck and cover, Radiation Baby
Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items (plus a lot about kitties) from around the Bay and beyond
Oakland residents may be able to Party, Karamu, Fiesta, forever starting this summer.
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Don’t know what to cook for dinner tonight? Why not check out this fucking website?
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Recipes for Terrible Behavior:
5. jerks + alcohol
4. desire for thing – ability to get thing
3. humans ÷ love
2. (untrammeled state power + megalomania) x perceived internal threat
1. guitar-store dudes + sales commissions”
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Among the many creepy details concerning the case of Janis Thompson, a 44-year-old Martinez resident who has been arrested “for lewd and lascivious contact with minors and sexual exploitation of a child,” the fact that she contacted her victims through an Xbox 360 live gaming console is by the creepiest.
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Do you think Paxton Gate will host a traveling version of this rad exhibit of “organic art”?
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Scopitone Week continues! Click here to learn more about Scopitones. Today, we are graced by one-hit-wonder George McKelvey, who sings his satiric 1964 song “My Teenage Fallout Queen” in an outfit that would’ve made Sonny Bono proud.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNHgmofOrrM
Secrecy and criminality in the SFPD
Today’s Chronicle unveils more problems at the scandal-plagued San Francisco Police Department, as well as the District Attorney’s Office, raising new questions about their commitment to public accountability and protecting civil liberties at a time when the SFPD is seeking more authority and asking for the public’s trust.
At issue are police officers with criminal histories and disciplinary records serious enough to warrant disclosure to the criminal defendants that they testify against in court, which the story indicates is more than 80 officers. Such disclosures have been a standard requirement for almost 40 years, but neither police nor prosecutors in San Francisco have been making them, a revelation that could overturn hundreds of felony convictions because of this official misconduct, the Chron reports.
That bombshell comes in the wake the SFPD’s crime lab scandal, in which lab technician Deborah Madden – herself a court witness with a criminal history that should have been disclosed to defense attorneys – is suspected of regularly stealing from the seized narcotics that she tested.
The SFPD and its undercover party-busting cop Larry Bertrand are also accused of harassing nightclub owners and patrons, busting private parties using excessive force and warrantless raids, and illegally seizing computers and other personal items – all while publicly seeking to discredit the Entertainment Commission and seize its power to shut down nightlife in the city, as well as seeking greater authority to roust and threaten vagrants by proposing a law to ban sitting or lying on city sidewalks.
SFPD officials have repeatedly claimed the agency can be trusted not to abuse these new authorities, but the latest revelations about criminal cops highlights how difficult it is for the public or the press to keep tabs on the agency.
The Guardian today sent the SFPD a Sunshine Ordinance request for the names and violations of the officers in question, but if the past is a predicator, it’s likely to be denied with the claim that such records are exempt under the Peace Officers Bill of Rights, a state law with strict privacy protections for cops.
Even defense attorneys who have well-established rights to examine an arresting officer’s criminal and disciplinary histories through what’s known at Pitchess motions are routinely stonewalled by the SFPD, say defense attorneys. For example, attorneys for Arash Ghandan, an alleged victim of Bertrand’s brutality and retaliation, are now having a hard time getting information on the officer’s history. “We are in a battle for Bertrand’s personnel file,” Ghanadan’s attorney, Steve Sommers, told the Guardian. “The city of San Francisco just does not hand over documents without a fight.”
In 2006, former SDPD attorney Reno Rapagnani and his wife, former SFPD Sgt. Leanna Dawydiak, raised the issue of SFPD secrecy, its pattern of routinely shielding problem officers from discipline and public scrutiny, and retaliating against whistleblowers – and were then subjected to a witch hunt that forced them out of the department.
More recently, SFPD and its powerful Police Officers Association succeeded in watering down an early warning system for violence-prone officers, removing a number of triggers – such as resisting arrest and assault on a police officer charges that often accompany cases of abusive police conduct – that had been recommended by a police practices expert and which are currently used in San Jose and other cities.
Meanwhile, District Attorney Kamala Harris, a candidate for California Attorney General, is also being criticized for the latest scandal. Under the Penal Code, she bears the responsibility for ensuring that her prosecutors are doing background checks on all witnesses and sharing that information with defense attorneys.
“Ultimately, the district attorney has to answer for this. It is the prosecution’s duty to check the criminal backgrounds of officers called to testify. That never happened, and as a result, people have been denied fair trials,” Public Defender Jeff Adachi said in a press conference on the issue this morning.
The tough-on-crime era of the 1990s — when politicians, police, and prosecutors did all they could to create new laws and enforcement powers – is over, and we have a severely overcrowded prison system to show for its short-sightedness. But that mentality continues to guide the SFPD.
Since the arrival of Police Chief George Gascon from Arizona last August, SFPD has undertaken a series of crackdowns, including hundreds of drug arrests in the Tenderloin, raids on marijuana-growing operations in the Sunset and parties in SoMa, citing Dolores Park-goers for drinking, and, on Friday, giving at least two Critical Mass bicyclists tickets for amplified music. He’s also said he wants more power to discipline problem officers, but he has yet to show that’s anything more than just talk.
Perhaps now it’s time for the pendulum to swing back in favor of restoring damaged civil rights and raising our expectations of the agencies that have such power over our daily lives and freedom. The SFPD should adequately police itself before it looks for new ways to police the rest of us.
Sounds and slides from May 1 immigration rally
Thousands of people spilled out into the streets of San Francisco on Saturday, May 1, to march for federal immigration reform and to denounce Arizona’s SB 1070, an anti-immigration measure widely perceived as a racist, ill-advised approach to addressing illegal U.S. border crossings. The law makes it a state-level crime to be in the U.S. illegally, and criminalizes failure to carry immigration papers at all times.
Sup. David Campos, who introduced a resolution at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting calling for a city boycott of Arizona-based businesses until the law is repealed, delivered remarks in Spanish to a crowd of rally participants, which can be heard in the slideshow below. (Those of you with delicate sensibilities may want a heads up that his remarks are interrupted a couple times by a guy screaming “Fuck Arizona!!!” right into the mic.) Campos’ resolution is on the agenda for the May 4 Board of Supervisors meeting.
Here’s a translation of the Supervisor’s remarks: “Power to immigrants! Power to the workers! Power to the Latino community! Power to America! This is our country, we’re Americans like anyone else. We’re sending a clear message to the president and the Democratic Congress. They’ve been elected by the Latino Community. They were elected to pass immigration reform. It makes me proud that San Francisco was the first to send a message to the whole country. We’re going to boycott Arizona. We’re going to send a message to Arizona that they’re not going to violate our rights, that they’re not going to violate this country’s constitution. Let’s send a message to our brothers and friends in Arizona that you are not alone. We’re with you. Power to the immigrants! Yes we can! Let’s keep fighting onto victory!”
Audio and photos by Rebecca Bowe
For a more detailed story about the day’s events and local responses to the Arizona legislation, pick up this week’s Guardian.
Lydia Pense & Cold Blood shake the Biscuits and roll the Blues
By Lilan Kane
After 41 years together, local blues-funk outfit Cold Blood still sounds exactly like I imagine they would have when they were fresh to the scene back in the Bill Graham days. I never had the chance to see them before, so the evening I finally caught them, on April 23, was a particular treat for me, an avid Lydia lover. Of course I’m talking about lead singer Lydia Pense. It is near unbelievable how such a big a voice comes out of her pint-sized frame. Time has not faded her soulfulness by any means — she still holds it down like a female James Brown.
On this night, Cold Blood served up a bucket of soul at the popular SF live music venue Biscuits & Blues. The band consisted of a multi-faceted trumpet-flugelhorn-congas-percussionist, a keyboardist, guitar, bass, and drums. Opening the night with a cult classic, they performed the popular Willie Dixon tune “I Just Wanna Make Love To You.” This song segued into several cuts from their album, Transfusion, and other hits. The first set also offered a sneak peak into some of the new material that will be released this fall on their first record in years. Fans will not be disappointed from what I heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8WAW-7FAXA
But it was their second set that really got me hummin’. They pulled out several hits off their most popular record, Sisyphus, including “I’m A Good Woman,” “Funky On My Back,” and for the first time in twenty years, “Too Many People.” Their cover of “Kissing My Love” was tasty and would have made Mr. Withers proud. The mélange of macaroni & cheese croquets and original Fillmore soul was the perfect fit for a Friday night in the city. Their horn section is still on point, the guitar is funky, the keyboards are fresh, the bass and drums are locked in the pocket, and Lydia is on fire. If you haven’t heard of them or haven’t seen them live, imagine this: Janis Joplin & Big Brother meets Tower of Power meets James Brown. Be on the lookout for their album set to release this fall.
Interview: Author Paul Loeb and Soul of a Citizen
Paul Loeb, author, speaker, thinker and the man behind the surprising best-seller Soul of a Citizen stopped by the Guardian April 30 to chat about the new edition of his book — and about the state of community activism, the Obama administration, and the way people become engaged in politics. You can listen to the interview after the jump.
Paul Loeb by SFBG
PG&E gets spanked
The California Public Utilities Commission, the state agency tasked with regulating investor-owned utilities, seldom holds Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s feet to the fire — even when advocacy groups are in an uproar over company practices. However, this may be changing.
PG&E’s brazen effort to alter the state constitution by placing Proposition 16 on the ballot to secure its own competitive advantage over municipal power programs drew skepticism from Commission President Michael Peevey, a former energy executive, at a hearing in March. And yesterday, the CPUC issued a stern warning to PG&E that it must stop breaking the law, now. In a strongly worded letter, CPUC executive director Paul Clanon ordered the San Francisco-based corporation to halt practices employed in Marin County to urge customers not to join the county’s brand-new Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program, which will launch officially on Friday, May 7. Customers are automatically enrolled into the municipal power program, which offers a greener energy mix than PG&E, unless they take steps to opt out.
Under Public Utilities Commission law, there are only two legal methods of opting out: Customers can notify the Marin Energy Authority, which presides over the CCA, either by phone or online. Nonetheless, PG&E has tried creating new channels for customers to leave the fledgling CCA and go back to PG&E, the CPUC noted in a press release. One tactic is to send out mailers that are designed to look like real opt-out notices, which are “likely to create unnecessary customer confusion,” according to the regulatory agency. Another method is telephoning customers to ask them to opt out, then transferring the call that PG&E initiated to a PG&E customer service representative. Aside from bombarding energy customers with annoying telemarketing pitches and junk mail solicitations, these tactics are a violation of state law. The CPUC not only told PG&E to stop immediately, it did so publicly.
“I expect PG&E to cooperate fully with the directives given today and comply with the community choice aggregation law in California,” said CPUC Executive Director Paul Clanon.
The problem with Willie Brown Jr. Boulevard
Ok, Eve Batey has a fun item on SF Appeal: Even the Chronicle, which pays Brown to write his deeply conflicted newspaper column, doesn’t want to see Third Street renamed for the former mayor. That’s probably because Hearst Corp., which owns property on Third Street, doesn’t want to spend the money to change all of its letterhead, documents, mailing address etc. to reflect a street name change. We saw a lot of the same complaints when Army Street was changed to honor Cesar Chavez; some local businesses got mad because of the (modest) costs involved.
I’ve got a much bigger problem with the name change.
You name a street after someone who deserves a major civic honor. Naming a street in the Mission after Cesar Chavez makes a strong, positive statement about San Francisco’s values. So what would Willie Brown Jr. Boulevard celebrate?
One of the most corrupt mayors in San Francisco history, a guy who sold out the city to developers, stood by and allowed the greatest displacement of low-income San Franciscans in modern history, presided over the economic cleansing of San Francisco, and now flaks for PG&E, the pharmaceutical industry, and who knows what other private clients (despite writing about politics in his column, he hasn’t disclosed the list of which political interest groups are paying his sizable legal fees).
Brown’s a fun guy, and I always read his column, and when he did a radio show, he often had me on as a guest, and we joked about the old days, and I have to admit, he’s the life of the party. But let’s not forget the history here; his record in politics stinks.
Besides, he’s still alive — and although he’s smart enough that he’s never been caught doing anything illegal, you never know what trouble he could get into, and how badly he could embarrass the city, in the years to come.
Why don’t we love you enough, Beyonce?
Editors Note: Before the Bobo defense squad piles tearily on, a surprising many of us here at the Guardian do, indeed, love Beyonce — perhaps a bit too much. We wait on baited tenterhooks for the mashup of her latest with that MIA vid.
I’m sorry, Beyonce. I’m just not buying it. Glycerin tears and and “naughty” Bettie Page-inspired get-ups (in your new video for “Why Don’t You Love Me?”) do not a believable actress make, and we know that this is a ludicrous question for either you — or your bad girl alter-ego Sascha Fierce (who, should you need reminding, you killed off at the beginning of the year) — to ask.
First off, you are in, by all accounts and gossipy speculation, a happily drama-free relationship with J. Second, you are loved and adored by billions of fans the world over (perhaps a more accurate complaint would have been, “Why don’t you love me more?”).
Now, I understand that this is a pop song, and that you are inhabiting a persona in order to telegraph a certain emotional state many of us have experienced, so that when your fans hear you song they can say to themselves, “B knows my pain. She is speaking to my heartache. Etc. Etc.” But for that magical bit of transubstantiation to work — as it does when, say, Etta James, turns plain old “just” into an ugly, gnarled invective in “I’d Rather Go Blind” — we need to be confident in your selling capabilities. There is no doubt that you can sell “sexy” and “drunk-on-the-sweet-nectar-of-love” and “empowered” and even “empowered-when-wronged.” But just plain wronged, hurt, unappreciated? To passably summon that kind of grit takes a bit more finesse and skill, especially from someone who seems as, well, just plain nice as you.
The guv runs away from offshore drilling
The fallout from the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has Repulicans scurrying for cover, and the latest on the list is Gov. Schwarzenegger, who just announced he no longer supports the Tranquillon Ridge project. (SacBee, from SFist). But Meg Whitman is still hanging tough; her website still says:
“With advances in drilling technology that reduce environmental risks, we need to re-look at offshore drilling. We have to utilize our resources here at home to reduce dependence. I want to look at new technologies such as slant drilling.”
As recently as May 2, her campaign confirmed that she’s still open to drilling off the California coast, as long as the cool new technology she talks about can minimize risks:
Whitman opposes new offshore drilling unless technological advances can minimize risks. Pompei defined the threshold as “next to a zero chance of an environmental impact.” Whitman has suggested, however, that slant drilling may be safe enough.
Let’s remember: the BP oil rig that blew up off the coast of Louisiana was state-of-the-art technology, the latest in drilling hardware:
BP suggested in a 2009 exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well that an accident leading to a giant crude oil spill — and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals — was unlikely, or virtually impossible.
Oil Spill Meg is going to have a hard time with this one — and the way things look now, the issue isn’t going away for a long, long time.
Street Threads: Look of the Day
Today’s Look: Leia, 24th Street and Noe
Tell us about your look: “I saw this outfit on a mannequin at Wet Seal and thought it was cute.”
The Daily Blurgh: The prenup claws
Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items (plus a lot about kitties) from around the Bay and beyond
Make all the catty jokes you want about Uwe Mitzscherlich, the German man who married his asthmatic cat Cecilia to honor their decade of companionship. Seriously, though, if you’ve ever bonded with a pet, the whole thing is just heartbreaking. In happier animal news, the Bay Area’s baby peregrine falcons got tagged today.
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Totally un-cool headline of the day: “San Francisco may cut funding to transgender job center”
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Totally cool headline of the day: “Looking For Burritos in All the Wrong Places”
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“A group of Second Life users is suing Second Life’s creator over a virtual land dispute. They say their contractual property ownership rights have been changed and that this alteration of the terms of service constitutes fraud and violates California consumer protection laws.”
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1984-meets-Avatar: Berkeley computing professor’s vision of Earth sprinkled with “countless tiny sensors” becoming a reality thanks to tech juggernaut.
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This week is Scopitone week on the Daily Blurgh. “What’s a Scopitone?” you ask. The Scopitone was a type of jukebox popular in the ’60s that synced 16mm short films (also known as “Scopitones”) to magnetic soundtracks, effectively creating music videos long before MTV was around. To learn more, check out Robin Edgerton’s excellent history of the device, as well as the bountiful blog Scopitones.com. To start us off, here is handsome rogue Serge Gainsbourg singing “Le Poinçonneur Des Lilas” in one of the earliest Scopitones made in France (the clip is from 1958 and was shot in the Porte des Lilas Métro station):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7LVx-HeW10
SFBG Radio: Tim and Johnny on sit-lie
ON SFBG radio today, Tim Redmond and Johnny Angel Wendell talk about the foolishness that is San Francisco’s proposed sit-lie law. Listen after the jump
Johnny Angel SFBG Radio Show 5/2 by SFBG
The Chron just wants to cut transit
Interesting that the Sfgate.com poll running along with the Matier and Ross item on transit agency deficits only cites four possible solutions: Cut service, cut employee pay, raise fares or “get in the bailout line.” I realize that the Bay Area’s transit agencies don’t always work well together and duplicate some service, and that some managers are overpaid, and some money is wasted on consulting contracts. But I also know that in a recession, the price elasticity of demand for transit (warning — deadly report) is pretty high. That means when you raise prices, fewer people ride — and at a certain point, you wind up losing money by hiking fares.
And I also know that transit systems are one of those government services that, like schools, almost always get better when you throw more money at them.
We have been systematically underfunding public transit in this state and this country for decades — and now we’re surprised that the agencies are running out of money? Of course, the Sfgate readers all want to cut employee pay — that’s an easy scapegoat — but I wonder what would happen if the poll included “raise gas taxes and parking fees to fund fast, clean, efficient public transit.” I know what I’d vote for.
GOP debate sets up Brown for gov campaign
I don’t know how many people were watching a Sunday afternoon Republican gubernatorial debate, but it hardly matters: All that Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman did was help the Democrats.
This race is over — Poizner can’t win. He’s too far down, with too little money against a candidate who will spend every penny it takes, and has the pennies to do it. All he can do now — and he’s getting really good at it — is create soundbites for the Jerry Brown campaign (or more likely, for the well-funded independent expenditure effort that we all know is coming).
Whitman’s greatest vulnerability is her background as a rich businesswoman with ties to Goldman Sachs and a fortune built and expanded at a time when much of the state is badly hurting. Every time you say the words “Whitman” and “Goldman Sachs” in the same sentence, she loses votes.
And Poizner did that wonderfully during the debate:
“Meg Whitman has massive investments in Goldman Sachs, made huge amounts of money from the collapse of the housing market, and then, when it was time for Goldman Sachs to get bailed out by taxpayers, Meg Whitman actively campaigned for a taxpayer funded (bailout). The question is, did she let people know?”
And:
Wow, you really don’t get this Meg…You were the CEO of eBay receiving investment banking services from Goldman Sachs, then you joined the Goldman Sachs board and their compensation committee, then Goldman Sachs started to feed you these sweetheart deals, not one, not two but 100 of them, and you made a fortune, a separate fortune from your eBay fortune and then until you got caught you didn’t think anything was wrong. But the fact is, Congress investigated what you did, they called it corrupt, the SEC investigated what you did and immediately declared what you did illegal, and the eBay shareholders investigated what you did and they sued you. They sued you for a huge conflict of interest and the only reason why you paid back any of this money is because you had to settle the lawsuit.
None of that is going to elect Poizner (who essentially ceded the Latino vote by announcing he supports the Arizona immigration law), but it’s going to make great copy for the attack ads on Whitman this fall.
That’s the problem with primaries that become entirely negative — they come back to get you in the general election.
Monster rock: Gama-Go explodes into its second year
Greg Long stands behind his guitar-shaped spatula. “We want to make things people have joy and humor in, but aren’t embarrassed to have lying around the house,” says the co-founder of Gama-Go, a homegrown clothing and houseware store which, judging by its one year victory lap/anniversary party going down Sat/8, seems to have struck a cord with those looking for a little hip whimsy in their potholders and change purses.
To walk into the SOMA storefront where Gama-Go hawks their wares (the company also has a buzzing online presence, and sells in over 150 stores nationwide) is to enter an adult’s toy shop. It’s a cartoon aesthetic, dominated by big eyes and a bright palette. Gama-Go’s well known characters, Yeti, Deathbot and Tigerlily — a kid in a snug tiger suit known to wield firearms and electric guitars — run wild over solid backgrounds. Inspired designs — a pigeon perched atop a mountain of piled bicycles, an outsized DeathBot playing croquet with the St. Louis arch — are emblazoned on apparel, and tables full of witty things for house and office sit on white tables. One toy we’d heard about before coming; the “potholder”, a marijuana leaf-shaped trivet.
You know you want a Gama-Go Keytar in your world. Photo by Caitlin Donohue
Perhaps it’s no coincidence, then, that Long and co-founder Chris Edmundson were employed at a toy company when the idea for their own t-shirt enterprise came a-knocking in 2001. “I was turning 30, and thought it was time to do something different,” recalls Long. “We gathered together ideas and quit our jobs. Originally, we had thought about making purses, but we did some trade shows, and realized purses weren’t a great idea — but the illustrations we’d done for the purses were pretty great. We started silk screening T-shirts in the basement of my house.”
The pair contacted Tim Biskup, who was the first in a long line of designers they’ve had on staff since — currently they work with four that flesh out the general concepts that Edmundson and Long create.
The punchy scenes they came up with were a hit in t-shirt crazy SF, and soon the line was selling out of boutique stores like Therapy and Wishbone. Long cites Disney concept artist Mary Blair as one influence, in addition to punk concert flyers and LA pop surrealism. Gama-Go has since expanded into kid’s clothes, and the pun-inflected line of kitchenware and lifestyle accessories.
“We’ve never tried to go for an unattainable product,” says Long. “We wanted it to be affordable to normal people. For $10 you can buy something you’re really excited about — it’s not something you have to think a whole lot about and save money for.” Long was stoked about Gama-Go’s upcoming anniversary party, which celebrates a year in a neighborhood that is rapidly changing, restaurants and cafes sprouting up around their 8th Street location with all the alacrity of a pack of ninja kitties on one of their women’s tees.
One gets the sense that Long and company want to show off what they’ve accomplished. Their party Saturday will pack snacks and entertainment into the small storefront, with the first 50 heads that spend over $40 in the store receiving a limited edition print of Yeti entering battle on the back of a dragon.
Mythological beings come together in anniversary bloodshed. Truly celebratory!
Gama-Go One Year Anniversary Party
Sat/8 12-5 p.m., free
Gama-Go flagship store
335 8th St., SF
(415) 626-0213
www.gama-go.com
Street Threads: Look of the Day
Today’s Look: Elyssia, 25th Street and Church
Tell us about your look: “I try to be comfortable and wear things that fit my body.”
SFBG radio: Johnny Angel and Tim Redmond on Whitman and SF’s mayor
Johnny Angel Wendell and Tim Redmond talk about Meg Whitman’s oil-spill and immigration policy problems, why Jerry Brown isn’t getting on the stick and why San Franciscans have trouble electing a progressive mayor.
The Daily Blurgh: But do they eat Meow Macs?
Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items from around the Bay and beyond
The Internet has always been made of cats!
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An 82-year old Indian man has survived for 70 years without food or drink. Meanwhile, a 54 year-old Chinese man claims to have eaten 1,500 light bulbs over 42 years. We’ll just stick to popcorn, thanks (but only with real butter).
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“A witch hunt for men with tanned and muscular bodies on the beach is the last thing anybody wants.” Indeed.
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For African Clawed Frogs, is it easier being green knowing that they share at least 1,700 genes with humans?
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Bacon has not jumped the shark (at least in San Francisco).
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And on a more serious note, this brief profile of Peter B. Howard, owner of the renowned Serendipity Books in Berkeley, is a sobering must-read. It’s not just Howard’s bracing stoicism in the face of a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, that marks his store’s end as much as it does his, that gets you (“There’s nothing to say,” Howard is quoted as saying. “People die. We all die. Businesses end”). It is also the melancholy realization that the Bibliophile, is to some extent, becoming an endangered species as the dematerialization of the book continues.
Opinion: Immigration policy, in Arizona and at home
Editors note: This is an opinion piece the horrible immigration bill in Arizona — and its connections here in SF.
By Angela Chan
Mayor Gavin Newsom and City Attorney Dennis Herrera have publicly opposed the anti-immigrant bill, SB 1070 in Arizona. A diverse coalition of civil rights organizations – including the Arab Resource & Organizing Center, Asian Law Caucus, Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, Central American Resource Center, Community United Against Violence, Equal Justice Society, La Raza Centro Legal, National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, POWER, and Pride at Work SF — applauds both city officials for taking a strong stand against the Arizona bill. At the same time, we urge Newsom and Herrera to firmly and unequivocally support the implementation of a local policy that protects the due process rights of immigrant youth in San Francisco.
As with SB 1070 in Arizona, the mayor’s policy of requiring juvenile probation officers to report young people to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before they receive due process has opened the door to racial profiling and torn many innocent youth from their families.
Since July 2008, pursuant to Newsom’s draconian reporting policy, more than 160 youth have been reported to ICE right after arrest, before they even have had a chance to be heard in juvenile court. That means that youth who are completely innocent of any crimes and youth who are overcharged have been reported to ICE.
Despite the veto-proof passage of a policy by the Board of Supervisors last fall that moves the point of reporting from the arrest stage to after a youth is found to have committed a felony, Newsom has insisted on ignoring the new city law. Herrera, in turn, has yet to advise implementation of the new law.
Like the Arizona bill, Newsom’s policy requires reporting to ICE when local officials – in this case juvenile probation officers – merely have “reasonable suspicion” that an individual is undocumented. The factors that probation officers are required to use to determine reasonable suspicion have come under fire for codifying racial profiling into law. Such factors as “length of time in the country” and “presence of undocumented persons in the same area where arrested or involved in the same illegal activity” have little to do with accurately determining an individual’s status, and much more to do with targeting the entire immigrant community and those who live in heavily immigrant communities.
In March, a year and a half after the mayor’s policy went into effect, Chief Probation Officer William Siffermann admitted before the Rules Committee of the Board of Supervisors that the latter factor could lead to racial profiling. A few days later, Herrera stated that this factor had been removed from the policy. However, if any changes have been made to the written policy, they have not been made available to the public.
Another similarity with the Arizona bill: probation officers in San Francisco have not been properly trained and do not have the expertise in immigration law to accurately determine which youth are actually undocumented. Rather, these officers rely on race, ethnicity, language ability, surnames, and accent as a basis for assuming immigration status.
Much like the Arizona bill, Mayor Newsom’s policy goes well beyond any obligations under federal law by requiring that probation officers report suspected undocumented youth to ICE. As a cadre of legal scholars, including University of San Francisco Law Professor Bill Ong Hing, have repeatedly made clear, federal law does not require that city officials ask about immigration status or report individuals suspected of being undocumented to ICE.
Finally, as with the Arizona bill, the mayor’s draconian policy only compounds the harm to immigrant families caused by an already flawed federal immigration system, which is in drastic need of comprehensive reform. We need humane reform at the federal level, but in the meantime, Mayor Newsom and City Attorney Herrera need to take swift action to restore due process and protect family unity by ending San Francisco’s draconian policy.
In standing up against racial profiling in Arizona, Mayor Newsom is back on the right track of defending immigrant rights — now is the time to give immigrant youth and families fairness and due process in San Francisco.
Angela Chan is staff attorney with the Juvenile Justice and Education Project at the Asian Law Caucus
Celebrating Queen’s Day with some bitchin’ SF Royalty
Today is Queen’s Day in the Netherlands, meaning millions of people all across that cute little country are partying in the streets, wearing orange, and getting trashed in the name of Royalty. America at large has yet to pick up on the awesomeness of this Dutch holiday, but thank the gay gods San Francisco cherishes her Queens year-round. So while Amsterdam is going wild for Queen Beatrix, now is a good time to honor some of our city’s own brand of prime royalty. It’s time to bow to the Queen…
Pollo Del Mar, a.k.a. “The Notorious P.D.M.” or Glamazon, doesn’t just rock the ‘hot drag queen’ title alone; she’s a performer, personality, emcee, magazine cover girl, journalist and even reigned as the 2007 Miss Trannyshack.
SFBG: What are you the Queen of?
PDM: A little over a year ago, the San Francisco Bay Guardian declared me “The Queen of San Francisco Media.” It’s a title I hold proudly. I know that bitch Perez Hilton calls herself the “queen of all media,” but maybe my next goal should be to become the “DRAG Queen of All Media”?! LOL!!
SFBG: If you ruled as Queen, what would be your first order?
PDM: I’d like to order a two piece and a biscuit, please, as long as it’s Tuesday. That’s the 99-cent special at both Popeye’s AND KFC. Seriously, in this economy, that’s just smart meal planning, honey. Oh, yeah, and be good to yourself and others. If you don’t respect yourself, why should anybody else?
SFBG: Who is your ideal King?
PDM: To be honest, Barrack Obama isn’t too far from my ideal King. He’s sexy, powerful, socially conscientious and has a bangin’ body under those business suits. That Michelle is one lucky woman!
SFBG: What song would be your court’s anthem?
PDM: For the past several year’s, I’ve been closely associated with Nelly Furtado’s “Maneater” for obvious reasons. It just seems appropriate to keep that tradition alive. :::giggles:::
SFBG: Of what Queen would your reign most resemble? Elizabeth? The Queen of Hearts? Would you rule naughty or nice?
PDM: Honey, I’m definitely no ‘Virgin Queen,’ so that’s out! I say be beautiful, respectful and conscientious in public and be as nasty as you want to be once those bedroom doors are closed. And anyone who kisses and tells…Off with their heads!
SFBG: Our majesty, what are your most prized possessions?
PDM: To be possibly too serious for a moment, I kicked a daily drug habit six years ago, and the peace of mind, serenity and faith that comes with sobriety is the thing in my life I cherish most — well, that and my little Jack Russell Terrier, Piggy Del Mar! He’s the love of my life and, unlike any other man I’ve met in my life, annoyingly loyal!
SFBG: And your most adored, cherished wardrobe pieces?
PDM: Several years ago, I was given an amazing necklace and earring set as a gift from a friend. It’s something I could never have afforded on my own, and it’s so gorgeous that I feel elegant every time I wear it. For sentimental reasons, I also have a pair of faux fur boot covers I wore the night I won the Miss Trannyshack Pageant in 2007. They get raves every time I put them on — and remind me of a kick-ass night, too.
Cookie Dough is a scorpio and one wild woman who isn’t afraid to wow audiences with her vivacious character. She’s an attention whore with a passion for film, leading her to star in films, documentaries, cabaret shows and all kinds of ridiculously wild acts that push boundries way beyond with her own CookieVision.
SFBG: What are you the Queen of?
Cookie: The Monster Show – The Longest Running Drag Show In The Castro
SFBG: If you ruled as Queen, what would be your first order?
Cookie: Rock And Roll All Night, and Party Everyday
SFBG: Who is your ideal King?
Cookie: My husband, DJ MC2
SFBG: What song would be your court’s anthem?
Cookie: Let Me Entertain You – by Queen
SFBG: Of what Queen would your reign most resemble? Elizabeth? The Queen of Hearts? Would you rule naughty or nice?
Cookie: The Red Queen – Off with their heads
SFBG: Our majesty, what are your most prized possessions?
Cookie: My Husband, & Kitties – Lulu Fishpaw & Wolfgang
SFBG: And your most adored, cherished wardrobe pieces?
Cookie: My Shoes – 8 inch heels with a 4 inch platform
If you’re in the mood to celebrate, hit up one of these San Francisco equivilants– just make sure to wear orange and treat your date like the Queen she/he is…
Queen’s Day at SupperClub
Fri/30, 6:30pm Happy Hour, 7:30pm First Course, 9:30pm Party, $55-$65
SupperClub
657 Harrison, SF
DJ Marcus’ Queen’s Day w/ Eurocircle, NLBorrels and The Dutch Consulate General
Fri/30, 8 p.m., $10/$20.
Apartment 24, 440 Broadway, SF.
Friday electronic triple dip: Lemonade, Active Child and Solid Gold
TGIF, right? Tonight’s (Fri/30) dance-dance lineup at the Rickshaw is hotter than Topanga in a crop top. Ambient synth, sharp electronics, disguised sadness, choral talents and acid-friendly bangers promise to make the evening wet and wild– but only if that’s your drug of choice.Tonight’s PopScene event features three bands with stellar mentalities; uber chill, you can dance if you wanna and spun out bliss is key. Sometimes the grooves make my toes tap or inspire a head nod and sometimes I wanna sway and shake all over the place. Mostly I just feel a sense of amazingness in my veins whenever I hear one of the evening’s bands. Even without actually taking drugs, the music is sure to put your bones at ease and produce a similarly awesome sensation for your senses.
From SF to Brooklyn, the guys of Lemonade have an aggressive coast to coast approach to dance music, connecting polar opposite sounds with beautifully organic bridges. The electronics flirt and grind with bubbling sensations, plenty of chimes, cranks, whistles and drips for a dreamy yacht party on the ocean.
The layers of L.A.-based songwriter Pat Grossi’s keyboards diffuse any sense of body and allow your little head to float far, far away from cluttered, hoarded emotions. It’s a bit creepy and haunting, but oh so necessary, and a few tracks later you find yourself in an echoing cave, critters and characters cooing you with hums and moans.
Minneapolis gods with an impeccable way at making the most depressing lyrics danceable and downright sexy. Video installations back in MPLS always included visions of pouring pills, a rainstorm of delusion and confusion. The laid-back, summer cool melodies make for good accompaniment to any high.
Lemonade, Active Child and Solid Gold
Fri/20, 9pm, $12
The Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF