SFBG Blogs

The Daily Blurgh: The true price of free food tattoos

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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The Daily Blurgh: The true price of free food tattoos

Curiosities, quirks, oddites, and items from around the Bay and beyond

A. E. Housman (who once deliciously referred to poetry as a “morbid secretion”) said, “Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure. ” And as John McWhorter so ably demonstrates, Sarah Palin’s words — or at least the art of parsing them — can be extremely pleasurable:
 
“This reminds me of toddlers who speak from inside their own experience in a related way: they will come up to you and comment about something said by a neighbor you’ve never met, or recount to you the plot of an episode of a TV show they have no way of knowing you’ve ever heard of. Palin strings her words together as if she were doing it for herself — meanings float by, and she translates them into syntax in whatever way works, regardless of how other people making public statements do it.”

 

She’s no delicate petal-pusher. How pretty are the state’s highway medians at this time of year? Check the Desert Wildflower report for daily updates.

No it’s not clip art. That twilight landscape on your iPad desktop was actually shot by a local. (h/t to Boing Boing)

“A San Francisco eatery has convinced some customers to get tattoos in exchange for free food for life.” Hint: It’s not Michael Mina — but possibly a replay of the great burrito tattoo “disaster” of 1999.

This was supposed to be worth $5.8 million at the time. Like Gezundheit.com

An addendum to yesterday’s esteemed guest columnist: the New York Times’ Bay Area blog (the nerve!) ran a profile yesterday of Glendon Hyde, aka our favorite punk rock dragtavist, Anna Conda. She knows from first hand experience what gets lost – and more importantly, who gets displaced — when a gayborhood becomes just a neighborhood. Granted, Polk Street’s de-gayification has been happening for decades now (the pink flight to the Castro began around the mid-to-late 60s), and is just one part of the long, ongoing story of gentrification in the TL. Still, Anna/Glendon’s efforts to “Take back the Polk,” and now, her current campaign for the District 6 supervisor’s seat, should serve as rebukes to Katz’s patronizing mourning of communities that he was only superficially invested in.

Finally, in honor of Lady Day would have been 95 today I’ll leave you with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

Tricia Taborn, a great San Francisco spirit, died today

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Tricia Taborn, a great San Francisco spirit, died today

I was saddened to hear that my former associate of many years, Tricia Taborn, died today (April 7) of cancer at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland.

She was four days shy of her 62nd birthday.

She entered the hospital on Saturday (April 3).  Her mother Neomi flew out from Dallas,  Texas,  to be with her the last few days. Her sister Ginny, her  two brothers Kenneth and Michael  and her husband Gerald Baron  were with her when she died. 

Tricia worked for me as assistant to the publisher from July of 1993 to April of 2000.

I always marveled  at how she  could jump into things and make them work.  Her friends and family say that she has been doing that throughout her life.  When she came to the Guardian, she had no newspaper or journalism experience, yet she quickly  fit in and

became a valuable employee able to handle most any administrative job that came along.  She kept me organized and she organized an endless series of events at the Guardian that included five annual awards contests and ceremonies (poetry, photography, cartoons, short stories, film treatments) that she structured to reflect the rich cultural diversity and artistic talent in San Francisco.

She also put on major events and dinners for the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the California Freedom of Information Coalition during its early days.  She loved being a hostess and she did so with flair, a rollicking laugh, flamboyant hats and an ability to make the event important and distinctive and  to see that everyone was welcome and having fun. She served for several years as a director and treasurer of SPJ.

Victoria McDonnell, a friend that Tricia talked with almost every day on the phone, agreed that Tricia liked to jump into things.

“I know she joined her high school year book committee in Florida soon after arriving at the school.  In San Francisco, she did this at Major Ponds (a jazz club where she worked as a bartender in the late 1970s and early 1980s), the Bay Guardian, the Industry Standard (the late dot.com magazine),  OneWorld Health, and lastly selling real estate.

“Tricia was the first employee for One World Health,  It started out at (founder) Victoria Hale’s house and grew to be a world-wide multimillion dollar non profit pharmaceutical company.  The first ever non-profit pharmaceutical company in fact. Tricia thrived on ‘start ups.'”

Victoria Hale said that Tricia was “an amazing woman  who accomplished much, despite the obstacles, with humor and passion, while caring for others.  She had an especially good relationship with the Indian physicians who worked on leishmaniasis.  She demonstrated much courage and trust by becoming the first employee of OneWorld Health, while still on the first floor of our house.”

Tricia lived in Florida, Utah, Atlanta, Dallas, and other places because her father Raymond Taborn was an aeronautical engineer and moved about because of his work. She bought a house in Berkeley in 2004 with her husband Gerald Baron. 

For the last two years of her life, Tricia lived her dream: getting her independence by selling real estate and having fun doing it. She worked in the Berkeley office of Coldwell Banker, specializing in low price housing that many real estate people avoided. She was recently recognized as the top sales person in her office.  Her main hobby, according to her friends, was shopping and she was well known at Nordstroms, Macys and Ross department stores, as well as thrift shops and farmer’s markets.

Tricia was diagnosed in November with metastatic colon cancer. Over the last two months she rallied and was able to spend time and phone calls talking to her friends and “wrapping up her relationships in a positive and meaningful way,” as Victoria Hale put it.

Invariably, her friends reported that Tricia remained upbeat until she went into the hospital for the last time.

She leaves her mother Neomi Taborn of Dallas, a sister Ginny of Dallas, two brothers, Kenneth of Arlington, Texas, and Michael of Phoenix, Arizona, her husband Gerald Baron,  and Tommy, her beloved cat.  Services are pending and will be reported on this blog when they are set.

 

 

Appetite: 3 delectable pastrami sandwiches

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Appetite: 3 delectable pastrami sandwiches

Who says you can’t get a proper pastrami sandwich in the Bay Area? Granted, that’s one of the things I miss most from days growing up in Jersey when my Dad would take us to the city for pastrami at Carnegie Deli. You have to hunt here but there are a few gems, besides classic Miller’s East Coast Deli. P.S. I’m wishing Orson would bring back its unparalleled pastrami and kraut pizza.


Morty’s Deli
Long a sandwich favorite of mine, the Tenderloin’s Morty’s keeps it real, East Coast style, with an array of sandwiches so good, it was no surprise when word eventually got out and the days of a quiet lunch here (I remember them) were long past. Though it’s not open weekends, it’s a worthy lunch destination (or regular stop for the Civic Center set), especially for their rockin’ Reuben ($7.50), with pastrami, of course, sauerkraut, melting, oozy Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing on rye. They even have a Soy Rueben ($6.75) if you can’t do meat. It’s not an unrealistically huge sandwich, and it’s as comforting as it gets.
Mon-Thu, 8am-8pm; Fri 8am-6pm
280 Golden Gate, SF
(415) 567-3354
www.mortysdeli.com

Buttercup Grill
Buttercup Grill takes a non-descript, 70’s-looking diner in downtown Oakland and infuses it with home-cooked love, especially in decadent (and cheap – under $4 for most hefty slices) peanut butter pie or signature upside down apple pie… recipes of owner, Debbie Shahvar. As far as pastrami sandwiches go, they make a traditional version loaded with fragrant meat and the light crisp of toasted rye bread. Accompanying sides of coleslaw and potato salad make it one nostalgic East Coast meal.
229 Broadway, Oakl.
(510) 444-2976
www.buttercupgrillandbar.com

The Kitchen Table’s kosher delight. Photo by Virginia Miller.

The Kitchen Table
I have some serious service and pricing issues with Mountain View’s The Kitchen Table (see my Perfect Spot write-up). That being said, maybe you should order one to go next time you’re down in the South Bay. The kosher, upscale restaurant does a pastrami ($12 plus $1-$6 for add-ons like sauerkraut or Fresno chilis) unlike the other two I listed. The meat is shaved paper-thin and you’re about ready to balk at price vs. size. This is no authentic East Coast pastrami. But as the folds of meat melt in your mouth within house-made sourdough rye bread, you start to rethink the classic sandwich. Who knew pastrami could taste so light, even airy, yet blissfully meaty?
142 Castro Street, Mountain View
650-390-9388
www.thekitchentablerestaurant.com

Visit Virginia’s site: www.theperfectspotsf.com

The shit show’s extended run

Sasha Cuttler
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The shit show’s extended run

By Brady Welch

You really can’t make this shit up, people. Since we last reported on the shit show which had gone cross-bay all the way to Alice Waters’ backyard, further accusations have been lobbed, acid press releases have issued forth, and now there’s even a “legal complaint” against, get this, the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

Francesca Vietor, executive director of the Chez Panisse Foundation and vice president at the center of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the agency at the center of this mess, has filed contested a story in the Guardian,” with that paper including the line “This article is the subject of a legal complaint made by Fransesca Vietor” at the top of its article online. What seems to be at issue is a line that states that the SFPUC’s giveaway “was overseen” by Vietor. While that’s exactly the claim that the Organic Consumers Association has made on its website and in press releases, its probably more accurate to say she was a member of the board that oversees the agency that oversees the program.

In an April 1 statement by the Chez Panisse Foundation (issued the day of the OCA’s original but sparsely attended protest), the organization claimed that, “Ms. Vietor has never promoted the SFPUC program. In fact, as soon as [the OCA] brought the program to her attention, Ms. Vietor asked the staff of the SFPUC to do three things,” which the statement lists as putting the program on hold, conducting additional testing, and issuing a public call for alternative solutions. The first has been put into effect (a fact curiously absent from today’s belated San Francisco Chronicle story on the subject), but as far as we can tell, the last two are still waiting to happen.

Nevertheless, while we’re willing to grant Vietor the benefit of the doubt regarding her initial ignorance about the giveaway program (and then successfully suspending it), what’s still troubling is that it was an outside advocacy group that had to bring the program to her attention in the first place. She’s the vice president of the SFPUC after all, and the compost giveaways were a very public campaign.

It’s one thing if Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet claims he didn’t know Fruit of the Loom, a Berkshire-owned company, was using, say, endangered albino chimpanzee pelts in its trademark tighty-whities (which we’re not saying, so put down that lawsuit, Warren). But it’s quite another when the VP of the SFPUC board of commissioners (and executive director of the Chez Panisse foundation, as well as former director of the SF Department of the Environment) didn’t know about her agency’s program to greenwash sewage sludge and give it to the city’s gardeners. We’re not saying Vietor lied. We’re just suggesting that maybe she should have read her company emails. Or at least picked up the newspaper.

The Chez Panisse Foundation, for their part, has asked for a public apology for what they take to be the slanderous charges of the Organic Consumers Association. But if we know the OCA, and we’ve talked to them many times on the phone, this is unlikely to happen.

As far as we’re concerned, the most important thing in the matter is that the program be suspended—something which the OCA, the Center for Food Safety, and apparently, Vietor herself, all sought, and succeeded in doing. The second most important thing is putting all the issues and stakeholders out in the open, which if nothing else, our continued reporting of the story has attempted to do. And while this shit is beginning to get a little bit old, and perhaps less odorous, the Guardian will continue to keep you posted.

A lyrical “Eatrip” to Japan

Andrew Lam
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A white tent, lit up like a lantern in the midst of a field darkened by night. A gathering of diverse souls; a musician, a hippie, a film director, all seated on the floor about a low, round dinner table. It could be anywhere (well no, not really, that whole tent thing is kind of crazy). But then, an exquisite dish is passed around, to the delight of the bohos gathered. It’s transcendent! It’s fresh! It’s radishes and strawberries. We’re not in Kansas anymore.

But we are in the midst of a beautiful film about Japanese food culture — Eatrip, which has its US premiere at New People’s Viz Cinema Sat/10 through Thur/15.

Here’s why I’m stoked; I know that outside my window the San Franciscan sun is shining down — but fellow Americans, believe you me when I say it’s raining. I’m talking about the deluge of knowledge our well meaning Information Age has hoisted on us regarding the tragedy of food in America. We’re fat, we eat processed shit, our system’s fucked. On and on. Where Eatrip triumphs is not only it’s beautiful, colorful food pornography (mixing grains and water in a big wooden bowl never looked so good), but rather its examination of somebody else’s relationship to what they eat. It’s a chance to look out from underneath our umbrellas to other weather systems. 

Sure, many of the eaters that director Yuri Nomura profiled are perhaps exceptional, most with one foot (at least) in the ethereal. One of her most lyrical sequences follows a woman around her cabin in the mountains, where she lives and prepares food with her children to feel closer to the earth. A Japanese back-to-lander? And why ever not? There’s also a monk featured, whose thoughts on food as one of life’s great pleasures might come as a surprise to folks familiar with the “eschewing worldly delights” view of meditative monkdom.

So how are we to relate this pastoral view of diet to Japanese culture as a whole? Does Eatrip reflect a country’s whose style of eating is more conscious and slow, or are these individuals outliers to the madness, a la Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Food, Inc.? We can ask him ourselves at the movie’s first showing this Saturday, when Nomura will be on hand for the showing and “food and talk party” with Mishima Brackett, former creative director at Chez Panisse.

In the meantime… strawberries and radishes… I could get down with that.

Eatrip US premiere & reception

w/ director Yuri Nomura

Sat/10 7 p.m., $50 ($10 for regular screenings)

Viz Cinema @ New People

1746 Post, SF

(415) 525-8600

www.newpeopleworld.com

 

Man who threatened Pelosi sent hate mail to Guardian

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee
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Remember when we told you about that very special piece of fan mail from the guy who didn’t like our cover story about undercover cops targeting San Francisco nightlife?

Well, he appears to be the same person who just got picked up by the FBI for making threatening and harrassing phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“[Federal officials] said he recited her home address and said if she wanted to see it again, she would not support the health care overhaul bill that since has been enacted,” according to the Chron piece about his arrest.

We didn’t publish his name with the post, because we weren’t able to verify his identity. But the name signed at the end of the email sent to the Guardian was Greg Giusti, and the Chronicle names Gregory Lee Giusti, 48, as the man who was arrested in San Francisco this afternoon after threatening Pelosi.

In his email to us, Giusti included the phrase “that ugly witch Nancy Pelosi.”

Some of our readers commenting on his over-the-top letter, which contained racist and homophobic language, wondered if it was some kind of joke. We wondered about that, too.

But as we wrote in our post, “Receiving a letter crammed with hate-filled speech while witnessing pockets of far-right extremists grab headlines, we thought it best not to ignore it, but to call attention to it.”

Hot sex events: April 7-13

Andrew Lam
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Dear Good Vibrations,

Please stop putting on such awesome classes, you’re making me look like I don’t have anything else to write about for sex events.

Thanks,

Caitlin

Just kidding, Good Vibes! But honestly, a quick shout out to our local legendary sex toy company. This place was started in 1977 by sex educator Joani Blank, and since then has made lovers of all kinds of sexual persuasions very, very happy with it’s high quality toys, classes and videos. But you already knew that. Onto this week’s sex events! Not coincidentally, they feature three Good Vibes lessons for very bad girls and boys. But it would appear the rest of the Bay has caught the fever for some bedroom education as well… 

 

Prostate Play and Pleasure

Dr. Charles Glickman knows what it takes to make your little prostate guy happy. In this free hour long class, he’ll run down the toys, tips, and techniques to shed some love on you or your partner’s gland of love.

Wed/7 6:30-7:30 p.m., free

Good Vibrations

2504 San Pablo, Berkeley

(510) 841-0171

www.goodvibes.com


The Sexuality of Pregnancy and Birth

The store continues it’s non stop sex ed blockbusting with this class, which takes away the confusion and uncertainty regarding pregnancy and sexual activity. Sexual pleasure as a labor enhancer? Which positions will show love for that belly of joy? Carrie Flemming, birth advocate/artist/health worker shows the way.

Wed/7 8 p.m.-10 p.m., $25-30

Good Vibrations

603 Valencia 

www.goodvibes.com


Freedom Dreams

Don’t miss the kick off party for Safetyfest, Community United Against Violence’s educational workshop series on avoiding domestic violence in queer/trans relationships. The party will feature queer performance group Mango with Chili, bangin’ DJs, a kissing booth, and of course, lots of learnin’ on how to keep your honey and yourself safe.

Thur/8 7-10 p.m., $5-20 sliding scale

Bench and Bar

510 17th St., Oakland

 www.cuav.org


Booze, Broads and Hotrods

For all those into the smoothness of curves, the rev of the engine, the smell of hot grease… the 12th annual car show/jive dance party/burlesque showcase, Booze, Broad and Hotrods. Get you out to Milbrae for cheap hotel rooms at the Clarion, a pre 1965 classic car show, and front row seats for La Cholita, the infamous burlesqueteer who will be performing throughout the evening.

Sat/10 3 p.m. – 1:30 a.m., $18-20

Clarion Hotel

401 East Milbrae, Millbrae


Secret Desires: Playing with Erotic Edges

On how to bring what you’ve always thought would remain a fantasy in your head to the fore of your lovemaking. Cleo DuBois shows the way to “deeply authentic sex.” And perhaps a little more honesty in the bedroom, to boot.

Tues/13 8-10 p.m., $25-30

Good Vibrations

1620 Polk, SF

www.goodvibes.com


Girl Sex 101

Allison Moon wants to teach you the same lessons on licking, grinding, and girl on girl sexual communication that she dispenses at Burning Man’s Camp Beaverton for Wayward Girls. Won’t you let her?

Tues/13 7-9 p.m.

Center for Sex and Culture

1519 Mission, SF

(310) 694-4895 

www.sexandculture.org


School of Shimmy: Burlesque 101

I’m unclear on whether it’s B.Y.O.P. (Bring Your Own Pasty), but regardless, you should get your shakable ass down to El Rio for Red Hot Burlesque’s crash course on that classiest form of clothes shucking. Important: will there be $1 Pabsts?

Tues/13 7-9 p.m., $30 (reservations recommended)

El Rio 

3158 Mission, SF

(201) 615-9245 

www.redhotsburlesque.com

 

Recology’s Nevada landfill blocked

Mary Magee
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Recology’s Nevada landfill blocked

The Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting that the Planning Commission in Humboldt County, Nevada blocked Recology’s landfill expansion application in Winnemucca, which is halfway between San Francisco and Salt Lake City.

The news comes close on the heels of the Guardian’s report that San Francisco has tentatively selected Recology to dispose of the city’s waste in Yuba County.

The LVRJ articles notes that “Recology wants to haul in 4,000 tons of garbage a day from Northern California communities for the next 95 years and dump it on the desert playa about 28 miles west of Winnemucca.”

Adam Alberti, a spokesman for Recology and the Jungo Land Co., is quoted as saying that the commission’s decision “could cost the region more than $660 million and new jobs.”

And U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is quoted as calling the proposed dump a threat to Nevada’s “sovereignty and dignity.”

“The proposal to dump a mountain of California trash in Nevada is a lose-lose proposition for our state,” Reid said. “The people of Humboldt County have made it clear they don’t want other states dumping trash in their backyards, and I applaud their decision. “

Asked if there was a connection between the proposed Nevada dump and San Francisco’s trash, given that the city is only proposing a ten-year contract with Recology in Yuba County, Alberti said the landfill Recology was pursuing in Nevada is a “speculative effort” and that San Francisco “prohibits its waste from being taken out of state.”

“Recology has no contract in Winnemucca, and you have to have a landfill open before you can enter into a contract,” he said.

Here in San Francisco, District 10 candidate Eric Smith said he wants to see a whole lot more light being shone on the debate about what to do with the city’s trash.

“There needs to more transparency and accountability in the debate, which needs to include looking at all aspects of the issue, including where and how we transport our trash,” Smith said. “Should we barge, rail or truck it? What are the economic and environmental consequences? And is this something the citizens and ratepayers of San Francisco can support? Instead, there appear to be three main companies duking it out under cloak of darkness.”

PG&E’s lies: The Prop. 16 ad

Zelda Bronstein
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PG&E’s lies: The Prop. 16 ad

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has its first TV ad out, blitzing the state with a Yes on Prop. 16 message paid for with some 30 million of your ratepayer dollars. And it’s breathtaking in the majesty of its lies and misinformation.


 


 


Street Threads: Look of the Day

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Street Threads: Look of the Day

Today’s Look: Julia, 24th Street and Castro

Tell us about your look: “Post long-weekend work outfit.”

alt.sex.column: Dizzy spell

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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alt.sex.column: Dizzy spell

Dear Andrea:

You’ve written occasionally about infatuation, but is it really such a bad thing? It has driven even logical, structure-loving me to be romantic and loopy. But isn’t it based on genuine attraction? Is it something to be wary of?

The object of my desire lives far away, and infrequent visits keep the natural relationship progression at bay. It’s always exciting to see each other, and many of the normal daily annoyances and issues of relationships don’t arise. Here’s the rub: While I’m convinced I’m in love and confident in his feelings as well, I fear that making huge decisions and life changes (he’s thinking about selling his house, for instance) may be rash and based on infatuation.

Love, Cloud Head

Dear Head:

I have written about infatuation, but never without mentioning the word’s etymology, which never fails to charm me, if not as deeply and enduringly as “Infatuation,” of course, means “to make foolish,” and shares a root with “fatuous.” Aren’t you glad you asked? What? You didn’t ask?

I assume you’re thinking of infatuation as the dizzy, dopey first flush of attraction that has no time for those aspects of love that take time, by which I don’t mean marriage and baby carriage as much as putting the other person’s needs and comfort first, or at least on a level with one’s own, and being made happy by the other’s happiness, plus trust, commitment, and mutual support.

This is not to be confused with limerence, a word that did not exist until the 70s, when psychologist Dorothy Tennov saw fit to coin it. Limerence seems fitting for that transcendent sensation, that sense that since you and your “limerent” object met or connected, the world has been utterly transformed.

Limerence is not love, it’s “being in love” (without infatuation’s connotations of foolishness and brevity): the intrusive thoughts to the point of obsession, the feeling of “walking on air,” the mad longing, the way that every touch, every word, every glance from the beloved is imbued with meaning, and the palpable pain (“heartache”) of separation or lack of reciprocity. Without limerence, all popular music would be either “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” or “Kill You,” nothing in-between.

Limerence does not become love as much as it can leave you and the limerant object ideally positioned to find love together. You ask, is this really love, or merely infatuation? I answer, it’s limerence, and better yet, requited limerence. Enjoy it. You ask, “But isn’t the attraction real?” and I say, of course it’s real. Limerence causes a certain type of temporary insanity but you still know what you feel. Finally, should you throw all caution to the winds and throw in together? Um. This is pretty wishy-washy but … sort of? How about you wait a year? How about traveling together first? Sharing a vacation house? Those situations are not real life but they do involve real stressors. Find out what he’s like when you’re lost and hot and cranky on a road trip. Head in the clouds? Easy. How about shaving scum in the sink?

Love, Andrea

Got a question? E-mail Andrea at andrea@altsexcolumn.com

Dolores Park Movie Night starts a fresh season of flicks

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Dolores Park Movie Night starts a fresh season of flicks

Blanket. Booze in a paper sack. Treats. Those are probably the ingredients to any adventure at Dolores Park, but wouldn’t it be better if Michael J Fox was there, too? Maybe not the real guy, but the cute ’80s version in Back to the Future [Universal Pictures, 1985] could be cool, or at least it will be when Dolores Park Movie Night starts up this Thursday. 

Come spring, some nice guys who live near Dolores Park put on a free movie the second Thursday each week, with a promise of zero affiliations, no causes, no politics and minimal organization. Just a community movie in the great outdoors. They pay their permits and costs with the help of donations and popcorn sales– eat up, hipsters!

The event is meant to be local, meaning the crew in charge urges you to bring your family and friends, neighbors, behaved children and happy dogs. I think East Bay inhabitants are still OK, but I wouldn’t invite that blondie and her pack visiting from the Midwest. And for this specific showing, people from the future are OK, too. 

 

Back to the Future 

Thurs/8, 7:30pm, Free

Dolores Park

Dolores & Church and 18th & 21st, SF

www.doloresparkmovie.org


 

Snap Sounds: New Young Pony Club

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Snap Sounds: New Young Pony Club

NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB

The Optimist

(The Numbers)

New Young Pony Club really got me revved when they released their debut album Fantastic Playroom [Modular, 2007] and packed it with a whole ranch full of songs for hot gallops and rapid romping. Now that it’s been a good chunk of years, the London five-piece claims they’ve grown up and grown out of their label contracts– they’ve become totally self-produced, self-funded and their new album The Optimist (fresh on the shelves this week) is self-released. Is it self-improved? Neigh (as in a horse noise and symbolizing my uncertainty).

The Optimist is electronically endowed as expected and it’s creative synth melodies have definitely got the juice to make you whinny. Unfortunately a percentage of the new album seems a bit predictable and similar to NYPC songs of the past. Thankfully there are still a handful of Ladytron-esque tracks to chomp on, including hot dance numbers: “We Want To,” “Stone,” “Chaos,” and “Lost a Girl.” I always dig vocalist Tahita Bulmer’s stone-cold fox approach to singing sexy; she borders mono-tone during some songs and other times orgasms into some higher, less inhibited ranges. Not to mention, her horse-mane is totally hot: half buzzed, half long and blonde with ratty crimps.

 

Duncan Sheik to sing with the San Francisco Symphony

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Duncan Sheik to sing with the San Francisco Symphony

Duncan Sheik’s “Barely Breathing” was ranked #88 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s, but in the past decade, the singer and composer has been winning even fancier gold awards for his musical theater scores. This week Sheik’s singing with the San Francisco Symphony— Wed/7- Sat/10 at Davies Symphony Hall– and performing the world premiere of the orchestral arrangement of songs from The Whisper House.


The Whisper House is the story of a small boy, Christopher, who looses his father during World War II and must move into a lighthouse with his aunt in New England. The creepy coastal home is haunted and Christopher begins to build a rapport with the spirits. The ghosts sing all the songs during the show, exposing the subconscious secrets of the boy’s frightened mind.

Sheik, along with Kyle Jarrow, wrote the songs for the stage production of The Whisper House and the show premiered at The Old Globe in San Diego in January 2010. The SF Symphony commissioned new orchestration of the Whisper House songs, excited by Sheiks wild success with his score for the Broadway hit Spring Awakening, which won him two Tony Awards in 2007 and a Grammy in 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqRu6TvosPY

Songs like “It’s Better To Be Dead” and “We’re Here To Tell You” are great examples of this new collection’s gentle nature; organic, slightly chilling and yet comforting. The songs are indeed perfect for The Whisper House’s stage setting, the soft guitar strums, purring clarinet, and padded drums inspire contrasting thoughts of cozy down blankets and cold, salty winds. The song lyrics inform young Christopher that there are in fact things in the lighthouse, and in the world, that are scary, contrary to what his aunt tells him. Fluid and serene, it’s easy to picture a bunch of ghosts whispering Sheik’s words high above the angry ocean waves, stirring around the lighthouse and taunting the child.

Sheik will be singing along with the Symphony during his string of performances in San Francisco, and although the story will not be told visually, the stage full of instruments will guide your mind in the right direction. Along with Sheik, the evening will also feature other music intended for the stage, including Poulenc’s Suite from Les Biches and Claude Vivier’s Zipangu.

 

Duncan Sheik w/ the San Francisco Symphony

Wed/7, 8pm

Thur/8, 8pm

Fri/9, 6:30pm

Sat/10, 8pm

$15 to $130

Davies Symphony Hall

201 Van Ness, SF

www.sfsymphony.org

 

The Daily Blurgh: Howdy, gaybor!

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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The Daily Blurgh: Howdy, gaybor!

Tuesdays will occasionally be given over to a guest columnist. This week, please welcome a bitter queen.

Have you heard? Gayboorhoods are becoming extinct. So sayeth Matt Katz tosday in Obit mag, a self identified straight man who has spent enough time among that mythic fairy land, “where gay people lived and hung out, somehow fulfilling stereotypes while simultaneously stimulating social justice” (via hand jobs?) to tell us of the local color that once flourished there and to lament their passing.

Thank God we have intrepid Margaret Meads like Katz  — who even once let a gay squeeze his bicep at the gym (no homo!) — to wax nostalgic about the good old days of double dutch jumping trannies on the corner. You see, children, the gayborhood was a wonderful, rainbow-hued place of escape “where cleverness, artistry and merriment is applauded.” Huzzah! You know, I still can’t go out in the Castro without some Oscar Wide wannabe vomiting bon mots onto my chinchilla gilette to the applause of onlookers.

But seriously, even though Katz’s commentary on the changing face of urban gay life has as much nuance as a college freshman’s five paragraph essay (to wit: “The demise of the gayborhood indicates that America is more mixed – ethnically, economically, sexually — than ever before.”), his overall thesis is true, to some degree. Yes, there is greater social acceptance of homosexuality and thus less need for the self preservation of a ghetto. Yes, the Internet is a factor, at least in the demise of bar culture — even though bars continue to be perhaps the only reason anyone still frequent gayborhoods (see the Katz’s final ‘graph). And yes, the Castro is a Pottery Barn-upholstered shell of its former hedonistic self blah blah blah.

But to applaud gayborhoods as the superficial pleasure domes of memory where “people don’t pretend that the real world is anything all that important” is to wholly ignore their historical importance as sites of political organizing and resistance (that’s “stimulating social justice”). Oh, and speaking of queer political activism, there’s that other factor that shook up the gayborhood. You know, AIDS. But don’t go looking for any mention of it in Katz’s obit. Why would he want to talk about an unattractive thing like that? Get Lil Miss Ally another Long Island Iced Tea. I’m going back to dusting my Erte lamps.

Editorial: Avoiding a taxicab meltdown

David Talbot
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300 medallion holders who are now more than 70 years old will be allowed to sell their permits and pocket the money

The pilot program to privatize taxicab permits is a done deal. It’s a mistake, and its going to cause serious problems, but at this point, short of a new charter amendment, there’s not a lot anyone can do about it. Under the 2007 measure Proposition A, the Municipal Transportation Agency has the authority to revamp the rules for how cabs are regulated, and the MTA board, appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, has approved the privatization plan.

But the implementation rules can still be written to prevent some of the worst possible results.

Under the proposal, as many as 300 medallion holders who are now more than 70 years old will be allowed to sell their permits and pocket the money. The city will get 15 percent of the sale price. The idea is to encourage older drivers to retire. Since medallion holders must by law be active drivers – and the medallions are issued to drivers until they retire or die and the medallions are highly lucrative – the city’s taxi fleet includes a significant number of people who should no longer be behind the wheel.

But since 1978, the medallions have been issued to drivers for only a token fee – so in essence, the city just handed the older drivers a massive windfall. The permits – public property – are expected to sell for around $200,000, with holders pocketing 85 percent of that cash.

Newsom had much more ambitious plans – he initially wanted to put all the permits on the market and raise as much money for the city as possible. To her credit, Christine Hayashi, MTA’s taxi director, has held her ground and stuck to a plan she thinks will slowly address the problems in the current system (too many older drivers, too long a waiting list for permits).

But if this is going to be anything other than an utter disaster for cab drivers and the city, Hayashi needs to make sure that the permits don’t become speculative commodities – and that cab companies don’t use the new rules as a way to turn medallion buyers into indentured servants.

The rules still require that medallions be held by (and thus sold to) working drivers. But let’s face it: not many drivers have $200,000 cash on hand, so the system’s only going to work if the city can line up financing. Hayashi says she has several banks interested in making medallion loans (in fact, the banks will be the big winners here – medallions don’t depreciate and almost certainly won’t lose value over time). But the drivers will have to come up with a downpayment, probably 10 percent – and a lot of prospective buyers won’t have that much cash, either. One likely outcome: Cab companies will offer to front the downpayment for drivers who agree to associate their medallions with that company. Hayashi needs to press and enforce a rule that bans any cab company from lending money for permits. If this is going to benefit the average driver, the city ought to mandate low downpayments from participating banks or work with nonprofit microlenders to make those loans. (In fact, the city ought to be reaching out to the nonprofit finance community for advice on how to implement the entire program.)

MTA also needs to set a firm, reasonable cap on prices – at a level that a working driver earning the income possible at today’s fares can afford. Medallions can’t be allowed to sell at whatever the market will bear – or speculators and unscrupulous companies will be working all sorts of scams to cash in, the drivers will never have a chance, and the whole system will collapse.

Benefits: April 7-April 13

David Talbot
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Benefits: April 7-April 13

Ways to have fun while giving back this week

Thursday, April 8

1369 Lights
Be among the first to get a copy of the new Moholy Ground Magazine, the New Photography Journal. Meet Moholy Ground staff and featured artists and enjoy cocktails and music from DJ BoomBostic spinning soul, motown, and funk. The Moholy Ground Project publishes nonprofit art journals and books and provides low cost promotions and marketing to art organizations and individuals involved in the art community.
7 p.m., $5
Blue Six Acoustic Room
3043 24th St., SF
www.moholyground.org

Friday, April 9

FACT/SF
Grab some gloves, hats, or any other costumes you feel like wearing  and head to this fundraiser party for the dance troupe FACT/SF featuring a silent auction, drinks, snacks, performances by Light Fiction, Lily Taylor, Emily Woo Zeller, DJ Nuxx, and more, including a sneak preview of FACT/SF’s new project, The Consumption Series.
8 p.m., $20-100 sliding scale
Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory
1519 Mission, SF
www.factsf.org

Saturday, April 10

Catwalk 2010
Watch as aspiring male to female transgender models from all over the country compete for the Catwalk 2010 crown in categories such as cocktail wear, swimwear, and evening wear. Proceeds from the event go to the AIDS Housing Alliance.
7 p.m., $40
SOMArts Gallery
934 Brannan, SF
catwalkusa.com

Poker Tounament
Attend this poker tournament to benefit Bay Area Women Against Rape (BAWAR), an organization that provides 24 hour services for survivors of sexual assault and their significant others. First, second, and third place winners will receive prizes and there will be raffle drawings throughout the night.
7:30 p.m., $50 buy in
Station Barber Shop
Suite 100
4400 Grand, Oak.
(510) 214-2299
poker@bawar.org, call or email to register

Soiree 8
Celebrate the San Francisco LGBT Community Center’s eighth anniversary with a night of decadent foods from San Francisco restaurants, entertainment from queer artists, and flowing cocktails featuring special guests Theresa Sparks and David Campos. The evening is scheduled to end with a dance party with music by local DJs.
7 p.m., $95
Terra Gallery
511 Harrison, SF
soiree.sfcenter.org

Sunday, April 11

Rose Pistola Cooks for North Beach
Enjoy a bountiful family style dinner, served at long tables, and accompanied by wines by Fancis Coppola Wines to benefit the North Beach Citizens, a neighborhood organization for the homeless. The hosts of the evening will be Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Jeanette Etheredge, so expect poetry  readings, film screenings, dancing, and other suprises.
6 p.m., $125
Basement of Sts. Peter and Paul Church
666 Filbert, SF
www.northbeachcitizens.org

Quick Lit: April 7-April 13

David Talbot
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Quick Lit: April 7-April 13

Literary readings, book tours, and talks this week

Wednesday, April 7

How to Defeat Your Own Clone
Hear authors Terry Johnson and Kyle Kurpinsky deliver educational and entertaining advice on how to survive the not too distant bioengineered future at this reading of their recent book, How to Defeat Your Own Clone And Other Tips for Surviving the Biotech Revolution.
7:30 p.m., free
Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688


The Racial Discourses of Life Philosophy: Négritude, Vitalism, and Modernity
Attend this reading and discussion on this new book by author Donna V. Jones, where she revisits narratives on life produced in the early twentieth century and shows how Bergson, Nietzsche, and the poets Léopold Senghor and Aimé Césaire fashioned the concept of life into a central aesthetic and metaphysical category while also implicating it in discourses on race and nation.
5:30 p.m., free
University Press Books
2430 Bancroft, Berk.
(510) 548-0585

Spiritual Life of Bay Area Tribes
Attend this lecture on the spiritual life of Bay Area native tribes by Richie Richards of Lakota descent, who is a Native American specialist dedicated to bringing Native American studies to elementary schools.
7:30 p.m., free
Northbrae Community Church
941 The Alameda, Berk.
(510) 526-3805

Thursday, April 8

Manwha For Girls
Join authors Trina Robbins, Mike Madrid, and curator Andrew Farago as they discuss the role of girls and women in comics and female comics artists in conjunction with the current exhibit, “Korean Comics: A society through small frames,” in the Jewett Gallery open through June 13.
6 p.m., free
San Francisco Main Library
Lower level, Latino/Hispanic community meeting room
100 Larkin, SF
(415) 557-4400
 
Mystery Panel
Check out this mystery panel featuring Shirley Tallman, author of Scandal on Rincon Hill, and Ronald Tierney, author of Death in Pacific Heights.
7 p.m., free
Books Inc. Laurel Village
3515 California, SF
(415) 221-3666

“Why there are words”
Hear a diverse group of award winning authors read selections from their work that fall under the theme “crazy.” Featured writers to include Ethan Watters, Tom Barbash, Wendy Tokunaga, Allison Landa, Ryan Sloan, and Aggie Zivaljevic.
7 p.m., $5
Studio 333
333A Caledonia, Sausalito
(415) 331-8272

Saturday, April 10

Amy Goodman
Investigative journalist Amy Goodman says, “The role of reporters is to go where the silence is and say something,” and she does exactly that. Goodman is known for her dedication to looking beyond mainstream media news to expose human rights violations and political injustice. Hear her discuss her views and recent book, Breaking the Sound Barrier.
5:30 p.m., $20
Commonwealth Club
595 Market, 2nd floor, SF
(415) 597-6700

Diet for a Hot Planet
Author Anna Lappe believes that if we are serious about addressing climate change, we have to talk about food. Hear more about this theory at a reading of her new book, Diet for a Hot Planet: the climate crisis at the end of your fork and what you can do about it. Sponsored by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUSA).
11 a.m.; $10, proceeds to benefit the Small Planet Fund
Port Commission Hearing Room
Ferry Building
101 Embarcadero, SF
(415) 291-3276 ext. 106

Kings of Poetry
Attend this spoken word poetry event featuring African American poets from throughout the Bay Area. Open mic to follow.
2 p.m., free
San Francisco Main Library
3rd floor, African American Center
100 Larkin, SF
(415) 557-4400

Pearl of China
Hear Anchee Min discuss her latest novel about Nobel Prize winning author Pearl S. Buck, a writer that Min was forced to denounce during the Cultural Revolution in China. Part of the Asian Art Museum’s current exhibit celebrating Shanghai, through Sept. 5.
2:30 p.m., free
Chinatown Branch Library
1135 Powell, SF
(415) 355-2888

Sunday, April 11

Phillip Schultz
Hear Pulitzer Prize winning poet Philip Schultz read and discuss selections from his recent book of poetry, The God of Loneliness, at this celebration of the third anniversary of Writers Studio Workshops in San Francisco.
3 p.m., free
Space Gallery
1141 Polk, SF
(415) 377-3325

Judith Tannenbaum
Hear Judith Tannenbaum discuss her new book of poetry, By Heart: Poetry, prison, and two lives, about her relationship with poet Spoon Jackson, an inmate in the California prison system serving life without parole, as she examines injustices in our prison system.
4 p.m., free
Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688

Monday, April 12

Mark Danner
Hear journalist and author Mark Danner discuss his new book, Stripping Bare the Body, written from and about the world’s war zones, with New York Times Op-Ed columnist Frank Rich.
8 p.m., $20
(415) 392-4400
www.cityboxoffice.com

Get Lit!
Bring your own literary contributions or those of your favorite authors to share at this candle lit, wine bar literary salon.
7 p.m., free
1550 Hyde Café and Wine Bar
1550 Hyde, SF
(415) 775-1550

Legend of a Suicide
Hear author David Vann discuss his new collection of five short stories and one novella that center around the story of an Alaskan father’s suicide.
7 p.m., free
Books Inc. Berkeley
1760 4th St., Berk.
(510) 525-7777

No Rich, No Poor!
Join Charles Andrews in this discussion based on his new book about whether capitalism can be repaired or if it needs to be replaced and what a potential new “program of common prosperity” could look like.
7 p.m., free
Modern Times Bookstore
888 Valencia, SF
(415) 282-9246
www.mtbs.com

Wordcatcher
Take a tour into the obscure territory of word origins in Phil Cousineau’s new book, Wordcatcher: An odyssey into the world of weird and wonderful words.
7:30 p.m., free
Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688

Tuesday, April 13

The Collected Poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch
Hear translators Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld discuss the poetry of Israel’s leading female poet Dahlia Ravikovitch and the newly released collection of her verse, Hovering at a Low Altitude: The collected poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch. Ravikovitch’s innovative and political poetry provides an inspiring window into the writer’s tortured life as an activist in Israel.
12:30 p.m., free
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna, SF
(415) 974-1719

“Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews?”
Hear author and performer Josh Kornbluth discuss his process in creating his one-man show, Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews?, in response to Warhol’s 1980 series of paintings of prominent Jewish historical figures.
7:30 p.m., free
Jewish Community Library
1835 Ellis, SF
(415) 567-3327, ext. 704

RJD2’s music is a trip– even for him

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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RJD2’s music is a trip– even for him

Skip the Blockbuster run of predictable action flicks and let an RJD2 album call the shots. The record may spin, but your mind will cartwheel with scenes of drama, horror and thrill of your choosing. Allow the blaring horns to signal a wild chase, the sampled soul to spur images of a powerful protagonist and the hip-hop bass to conjure up a dreary, urban setting: the music of RJD2 –playing Wed/7 at The Independent–  is a mind-driven movie reel.

Ramble John “RJ” Krohn has been making music as RJD2 since 1993, switching up his perfectionist tainted DJ process by not only sampling everything from ’70s disco and movie themes, but by also using his own vocals and live instrumentation. Last year RJ took on the boss role and started his own label, RJ’s Electrical Connections, putting out his fourth and latest record The Colossus in January. 

Colossus begins with “Let There Be Horns“, its hot Latin drum beat, humming strings, tiptoeing chimes and heavy synths immediately filling my mind’s projector with images from an underground business deal. I imagined film flickering with shots of Miami mobsters, blaring brass begetting cash exchanges and the electric guitar solo warming of police presence. I heard the medley of Russian-style strings as an audible indication of a fight between the pastel suited-men and the story’s dirty antagonists. The synth seemed to indicate when life was good in palm-laden city and the sampled clapping at the song’s end wrapped up my vision with high hopes. 

Each song on Colossus has a similar, industrial, urban story for me; I see factory workers, trains, smog filled cities and lover’s quarrels each time RJD2’s beats play. Is this weird? Maybe my over-active imagination should get back in the closet? I was hoping that RJ himself would understand.

Talking over the phone from his Ohio home, RJ was enjoying a small window of free time by repairing a broken synth, which he admitted was “pretty nerdy.” Not as nerdy as my “visions”, I thought. I asked him questions about owning the label and other slightly boring items, flirting around what I really wanted to ask. I felt like a kindergarten student with my hand-up, squirming with a question. And then, I just blurted it out. 

SFBG: So…do you ever think of your music as a story? I tend to think of the sounds, instruments and samples as characters– interacting, meeting, fighting, making love? Antagonists and Protagonists in a movie scene. Do you think of it like that? 

RJ: (Giggle). I think of things in a similar manner, yes. 

SFBG: (Sigh of relief).

RJ: The fun of instrumental music for me is the intention of release. The arrangement of the song is the most important thing– how it progresses. The tension and the release. Building drama. The medium I work in is drama. Two things might be working with each other, or against each other, and thinking of them as characters or playing roles makes sense to me. There’s a relationship between the two parts: between the drums and the groove, the intro and the base of the song. The bridge, the breakdowns, each section– where they fall next to each other and the transitions between them. 

SFBG: So if not in story-writting mode, where does your head go when you put together your songs?

RJ: I like to let things unfold on its own accord. I don’t like to force it. I find it fun and interesting and rewarding to let it take me along for the ride. I’m not the kind of guy who starts with a blueprint, or gets lyrics, chords and melodies in their sleep– I’m in total awe of that. Almost all of the time I’m recording, it’s an exploratory project– I don’t know what I’m looking for, shooting for as I go. I like to get the sensation that the experience is like going along for a ride in someone else’s movie, trip or story. 

No need for a pill, puff or embarrassment– looks like everybody gets a free trip from RJD2’s music.

 

RJD2

Wed/7, 8pm, $20

The Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

www.the independentsf.com

 

Saturday voting — and how to fund it

Zelda Bronstein
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Saturday voting — and how to fund it

Alex Tourk, a local political consultant who was once Gavin Newsom’s campaign manager, came by today to pitch us on his latest project: Saturday voting. He’s generated a fair amount of press on the concept, and it sounds like one of those thing nobody could oppose; why not open the polls an extra day? In fact, why not open the polls from Friday until Monday? Why Tuesday, anyway?


Well, Tuesday voting is a creature of the mid-1800s, when it took a couple of days to get from the farm to the town center, and nobody wanted to start out on a Sunday. Now it’s in the California constitution. But there’s no law that says you can’t vote Saturday AND Tuesday.


What Tourk is proposing is fairly simple: Voting places would be open Saturday, but there would be no voting machines. You’d just go there and fill out an absentee ballot. Which you could also do at home, of course, and a citywide vote-by-mail effort might increase turnout even more. (Or maybe it wouldn’t, given the low rate at which census forms are getting returned.)


Tourk says he wants to build excitement about elections and community interest; that’s why he wants the polls open an extra day — and a day when more people are off work and thus, in theory, would have more time to vote. He’s circulating an initiative that would set up a one-time pilot project, for the 2011 mayor’s race. If it works, maybe the supervisors and the mayor will want to continue it.


Here’s my big concern: Tourk doesn’t want to ask for public money from a city that’s deep in the red, so he’s proposing to raise the $1 million or so it would cost for Saturday voting from private interests.


Of course, the names of the donors would all be public, but still: Managing elections is about the most central democratic function of a government — and I really don’t want to see private interests involved. It seems to me that if this is worth doing, it’s worth paying for with public funds.


Where would that money come from? Here’s an idea: Prop. 15, the California Fair Elections Act, would set up a pilot program for public funding for statewide elections. The money would come from fees on lobbyists. Why can’t we do the same thing in San Francisco? Fund Saturday elections with a lobbyist fee — and a tax on political consultants.


Seriously: Consultants make money by manipulating democracy. They represent, on a deep philosophical level, the privatization of American politics. I’m not saying all consultants are bad or that they should be outlawed or anything like that — but a modest levy on political consultant fees would more than fund a Saturday election pilot program.


Tourk smiled when I suggested this, and would only say it was “an interesting idea.” Now, which supervisor is going to pick up on a tax that will only offend the small number of people who help get all our local officials elected?

Live Shots: Edible Art Contest, Omnivore Books, 04/01/10

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Foodies filled Omnivore Books in Noe Valley on Thursday night, some to compete and some to eat, for the first Edible Art Contest. The competitors were judged on taste and creativity and the mix of entries were quite impressive. 

There were “still-life” cookies, a “swimming pool” of chocolate pudding complete with a paddling pup and orange inner-tube, and “salumi” made with dried fruit and nuts created by local gluten-free cookbook writer Jacqueline Mallorca.

Once everyone had sampled each entry, it was time to vote. The runner-up of the contest was an amazing three tiered princess cake covered in edible cameos and gold icing, but the winner was the “Alabama Lane Cake,” inspired by To Kill A Mockingbird and said to have enough bourbon in it to have actually been the culprit of the poor bird’s demise. All the entries were decadent desserts and after several kinds of cakes, cookies and pudding, I was on a major sugar high and just grateful I could actually hold my camera steady with all that sweetness rushing through my veins.

Omnivore Books, with its incredible collection of awesome new and old food books, hosts all sorts of other cool events (Alice Waters will be there on April 10th) and food contests, making it pretty much a foodie’s idea of heaven.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Street Threads: Look of the Day

Today’s Look: Sue (and Duncan), Broadway and Polk

Tell us about your look:  “My ex-girlfriend got me this shirt in New York. She said ‘I saw this shirt and it reminded me of you because it’s very gay.'”

 

In Roma with Fishtank Ensemble

Andrew Lam
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In the United States, the term “gypsy” has come to signify a certain bohemian nomadry. A silver bangled, many skirted, sultry way of banging a tambourine. But more deeply,“gypsy” refers to a rich cultural Euro-Asian heritage, more correctly termed Roma — a culture that has brought to the world the frenetic riffs and musical arabesques of Roma tunesters Fishtank Ensemble, who will play at the DeYoung Museum Fri/9.


But first, let it be said: the members of Fishtank Ensemble are not themselves Roma. “The history of the group is that we’ve all had experience with Roma people and the music. It seemed like a natural transition to want to play, and though we know so little about the music, we’re always wanting to learn more,” says Ursula Knudson, Fishtank’s lead vocalist.


Fishtank bonded over roads from vastly different climes (members of the group hail from places as disparate as Serbia and Los Angeles) that culminated on a common plane; a love for Roma music. One had spent time volunteering in Roma villages, one learning the “styles and tricks” of their musical genre in Roma caves overlooking the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain.


Violinist Fabrice Martinez, now married to Knudson, traveled Europe in a covered wagon he made himself. “He wanted to travel, but he didn’t want to drive a car… or walk… or hitch hike,” explains Knudson. The two, who met one starstruck evening while Felice strummed his violin in Venice, eventually built a wagon of their own in Europe, and shipped it to California — where it is currently spending time housing a friend in Venice until the day Knudson and Martinez can afford a space to accommodate it.


There’s a reason that Fishtank must be clear about their connection to the upbeat tunes they play.


An autobiographical note: when I was but a young pup, cruising the Spanish calles for a smattering of “cultural experience,” I got robbed. A lot. This was no doubt due to my group’s penchant for public inebriation, and frankly, we probably deserved each pick-pocketing for our sheer opaqueness. Nevertheless, many Spaniards would blame it on the “gitanos,” their slur for “gypsy.” “Those good for nothings,” “Always be careful if you see the gypsies around, hold onto your valuables.” Roma ethnic groups have been historically derided and socio-economically isolated in many of their European home countries. In the States, advocacy groups like Voice of Roma work tirelessly to stop the spread of such prejudicial views of the Roma people.


Knudson gets it. “There’s a delicate balance between making this accessible to American audiences and respecting this rich musical heritage,” she tells me. She says cultural fidelity (in addition to a foot stomping good time) is one of Fishtank’s goals in their performances. “We want to make it as non diluted as possible.”


But Roma ditties, forged in the paradoxically inspiring heat of social marginalization, are too good not to share with the world. “There are somber songs [but] lots of [Roma songs] are about partying and dancing and joy — its real, look on the bright side music,” says Knudson. The group loves to bring their danceable folk beats to San Francisco, where Knudson says they have their best shows.


All the better for us. Fishtank’s klezmer-like whirlwinds of sound are twisting, twirling get downs that do us the distinct favor of reminding us that the ruling classes will never, ever, have the best parties.


Fri/9 6:30 p.m., free


DeYoung Museum


50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, SF


415) 750-3600


www.fishtankensemble.org


www.famsf.org


 

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