SFBG Blogs

Appetite: 3 hoppin’ Easter meals

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0
Appetite: 3 hoppin’ Easter meals

Then there was Easter…

Beer (and bunnies?) at Magnolia Pub

No, they’re not serving an Easter brunch, but with new chef, Matt Kerley, announced just this week, it’s as good a day as any to visit Magnolia Pub … especially if beer and Scotch duck eggs sound more your speed than a froufrou Easter menu. Kerley keeps the gastropub and farm-to-table approach intact, ever looking for ways to utilize all animal parts in his cooking (from local farms, of course).

His upbringing in both his native Australia, then South Carolina, influence his cooking. New brunch dishes you’ll see rotating through include beignets with roasted apple puree and bacon caramel (can we say “yes!”?), mushroom waffles with golden enoki butter and wildflower honey, or a Ploughman’s Board with Stilton and Montgomery cheddar, boiled duck egg, potted head (you heard right) and accompaniments of marmalade, pickled onions and levian bread. Whether you go for Easter or any time after, looks like there’s some new delights in store. And there’s always Dave McLean‘s awesome beers.

4/4, 10am-2:30pm
1398 Haight, SF.
415-864-7468
www.magnoliapub.com

 

Berkeley feasting at FIVE
Make Easter chic by slipping into downtown Berkeley’s Hotel Shattuck for brunch at FIVE. This gorgeous, historic, airy room is modern in black and white with a splash of red. Exec chef Scott Howard’s menu is a winner and brunch includes his signature mac ‘n cheese with smoked gouda and tomato jam, Belgian waffles, beef brisket, and banana bread pudding. Don’t forget unlimited mimosas.

4/4
$55 per person; $25 for children under 5-12
2086 Allston Way, Berk.
510-225-6055
www.five-berkeley.com

Waterfront views at CHAYA Brasserie
With one of the better deals for Easter feasting in the city ($35 for three courses and unlimited mimosas), not to mention those ever-inspiring Bay views, CHAYA Brasserie (www.thechaya.com) allows a customizable brunch from 18 dishes, like Chaya’s signature sushi (a sampler platter), mushroom spinach omelet with decadent foie gras and black truffle sauce, and shiso lime and strawberry guava sorbets.

4/4, 11am–2pm
$35 per person
132 The Embarcadero
415-777-8688
www.thechaya.com

No Bra makes topless creepy

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0
No Bra makes topless creepy

Exposed breasts usually make my heart beat a little faster in a good, sexy sort of way. But when Susanne Oberbeck, front-woman of post- No Wave- techno band, No Bra, takes off her top, letting her frizzy red hair dangle past her puss and slightly cover her chest, my heart beats faster in a nervous sort of way.

It’s not that the lady is bad looking, it’s the music that inspires and therefore accompanies her shirt removal– industrial, tortured, plunky notes that sulk behind a low, groaning voice. No Bra’s music takes you straight out of your warm desk chair and places you in a dark alley… at 3 a.m…in East Oakland.

No Bra started up in 2003, after Oberbeck moved from her hometown in Germany, to London and then to New York. Her vocals come delivered in a deadpan spoken-word style over cracked-out, murky percussion, electric guitar strums and other combinations of mildew-covered sounds. The old-style German folk slowly churns below Oberbeck, playing the soundtrack to what could be a really rad horror movie from the ’30s. The lyrics about syphilis and anal-sex come off like secrets whispered by elderly, possibly senile men. Oberbeck has called her tracks “romantic.” 

Oberbeck’s intentions for singing minus brasserie seem aimed at disbanding gender norms and besides taking things off, she also puts on a fake mustache every once and awhile. (I’m guessing all of this reflects on her childhood in Germany, where Oberbeck has said she was mistaken for a boy until she was into her late teens). 

Even though No Bra totally creeps me out, I do think there’s something really wonderful and provoking about the music– Oberbeck’s physical nakedness pairs well with the exposed and disturbing musical content. I find its aloofness oddly compelling. 

The latest No Bra single, “Minger/New Hero“, came out in February, with remixes by TV Baby and These New Puritans. Unfortunately, her and her eerie tit show are not touring to San Francisco any time soon…


Learning to talk dirty from Mickey Avalon

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
9
Learning to talk dirty from Mickey Avalon

Dirty rappin’ about splooge, needles, dead friends and having sex with big-breasted inbred women– wow Mickey Avalon is a charmer. The Hollywood glam-rapper– playing Sat/3 at Roe Nightclub– is far from classy, in fact he’s the epitome of trashy and tragic, and yet kind of hot? Wait, wait, wait– hot? Well, kinda. Ew. I know. So if this is sexy, ladies and gentleman, maybe we should take a few notes.

It’s been four years since Avalon’s self-titled debut [MySpace Records, 2006] and to be honest, I kind of forgot that he existed. But he’s back, ready to penetrate crowds of dirty-minded dancers and apparently he’s got a new CD coming out this year, Electric Gigolo [MySpace Records]. As the Guardian has said before, Avalon manages to be simultaneously delightful and disgusting. I thought it was time to reminisce and look through his gritty, pornographic lyrics for a few Avalon gems. Here are five real winners. Mmm…talk dirty to me. 

1. “I sodomized your father in a federal penitentiary. And on the day I got out I went to your mother’s house and slept on the couch.” 

2. “I’ll bust through the shudders, masked in a rubber. Duct tape your mother and butt-rape your brother.” 

3. “Four seconds Avalon will give you what you need. Raw-doggin’ till we bleed. Force feed horse meat to your sweet buttercup.”

4. “I got a monkey on my back with his dick in my ass. Been tryin’ to fuck this monkey since algebra class.” 

5. “I’ll sperm on your perm, leave cigarette burns on your tits.” 

 

OK. Barf. Too dirty….

 

Mickey Avalon

Sat/3, 9pm, $20

Roe Nightclub

651 Howard, SF

www.roe-sf.com

Forget “Clash of the Titans” — it’s time for a Space Tranny

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0

It may be a long way home for local chanteuse Tweaka Turner — watch that asteroid, lady — but she’s rocketed her “Space Tranny” earworm straight to the heart of the Guardian nebula. Just try to blast this out of your head … 

Extreme museum live blogging!

Andrew Lam
-
0
Extreme museum live blogging!

You think you know mammals? You don’t know mammals. Those were the fighting words thrown at me by the Academy of Sciences with their invitation to the media preview of “Extreme Mammals,” a furry, live-birthin’ romp of a good time that opens up to the public Sat/3. The invite also promised a look into the museum’s famed dead thing vault, typically only accessible to swashbuckle biologists and moneybanks VIP tour guests. I saddled up and rode out to Golden Gate Park to investigate the goings-on. Only thing was, the event was structured around “live blogging.” I asked around the Guardian office, but none of us really seemed to know what that was, so I just wrote down what my cell phone clock for each note I took. I find the numbers made everything look more scientific, enjoy.  

2:10 Arrive at museum. Holy hell, there’s more families here than there will be at the Embarcadero when the zipline comes!

2:12 Coffee fixins and pagolin inspired/furry cupcakes! I heart press junkets. The chaps from wired.com and I discuss Life. Mammals now, please.

2:16 Greg Harrington, executive director of Academy, welcomes junketers. “You’re on the edge of extreme. As we know, anything extreme today is totally cool and totally exciting.” Museum folk, though not the hippest songs on the album, are adorably enthusiastic.

2:17 Shout out to the indricotherium, the biggest land animal. He’s 20 tons of love.

2:22 Enter exhibit. Four legged mega-muppet with floppy nose greets us as only a lifelike recreation can. He’s the reproduction of an animal discovered by Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle and looks like a big, brown Gonzo. Carol Tang, director of the mueseum’s public programs, tells us for all we know, he could have been purple in real life. Extreme!

2:26 A fossil with it’s skin and stomach content still intact? Extreme!

2:30 Unicorns! Oh wait, just a narwal’s modified skull tooth. Extreme.

2:31 Per tour guide’s suggestion, I “engage” with a mammoth’s tooth. Very rippley. 

2:32 Kitty skulls galore.

2:33 “People are the most extreme of all!” says Carol, as she stands next to a THUNDER-JAWED, SPOTTED HYENA THAT IS THE RELATED TO WHALES. 

2:34 “Engage” with the glyptodont’s freaky tiled armor. Yeesh.

2:36 Here come the pagolins! Armored anteaters — the 50 Cents of West African savannahs that have large termite populations.

2:40 Tang says this guy, a biological link between whales and land animals was “probably a little awkward on land.” He looks like the dopey sidekick in a Disney movie.

2:41 “Engage” with skunk pelt. Feels like kitty. Extreme?

2:44 Flying squirrels can’t really fly. FAKERS

2:46 Echidna display asks us “is egg laying extreme?”

2:47 Proboscis monkey = penis nose.

2:48 I would give this squirrel peanuts if I saw it in the park. If I wasn’t incapacitated by the acid flashback it would doubtlessly trigger.

2:50 Fanged hippo!

2:51 Live blogging would be better with an actual Internet device in hand.

2:52 Am I the least wired person here? Wait, there’s a British guy with a notepad. Score, I’m not the only analog.

2:52 Was the smilodon the happiest of all dinos?

2:55 Band name spotting: Dire Wolf. They’ve found 3,600 of them in the La Brea tar pits. Such a rockstar way to go.

2:57 Wall of freaky things we’re still discovering (24 new mammals worldwide each year!). Want to squeeze the striped rabbit, found in 1999 near border of Laos and Vietnam.

2:58 Tube lipped nectar bat. Tongue is longer than rest of body. Discovered in 2005. Sick name, massive tongue: ultimate ladies’ man/bat.

3:04 Batodonoides vanhouteni. A nickel sized lemur. Smallest mammal eva!

3:05 Vamos to the vaults! Holler at Claude, the albino croc, en route.

3:06 Museum staff-only area. Woman steps out of elevator carrying what looks to be dead ospreys in Ziploc freezer bags. We also pass signs for the “visualization studios”? What the devil do these scientists have going on back here?

3:08 Answer to question: a five story library of 26 million dead animal samples. “The most tangible and complete collection of biodiversity on earth,” sez Jack Dumbacher, the museum’s curator of birds and mammals. Well then!

3:11 Dumbacher: “Let’s pull open a drawer!”

3:17 Omg. Have you ever seen an otter skeleton? They are sway backed hilarity!

3:20 Galen Rathburn, grey faced scholar of the grey faced sengi, shows us how he gets down. 

3:21 Sengis are related to elephant sea cows. 

3:22 Galen is wearing a studded belt and pocketchain, and is given to holding up obscure mammals while saying things like “that one I collected in Kenya in 1970.” 

3:23 “We’re off to Namibia at the end of this month.” According to Galen, shuttling never before seen dead animals through airport security presents unique challenges. This man embodies adventure.

3:27 I thought it was a dodo, but it was only a wandering albatross. Yawn.

3:43 Type specimens (preserved animal used to define its species)/extinct animal cabinet cracked open. Wonders unfold.

3:47 Within, an egg from the Madagascar elephant bird. It’s fucking massive.

3:49 Field mice, bunnies, boxes tied up with ribbon — it’s a taxonomist’s rendition of a Beatrix Potter book.

3:52 “Does the Academy collect plants?” “We sure do! Our plant collection is… extreme!”

3:53 I love my job.

3:55 I drop my camel (?) cupcake meant for later home consumption. Frosting everywhere. Junket over. Thumbs up on mammals, y’all.

 

“Extreme Mammals: The Biggest, Smallest and Most Amazing Mammals of all Time”

opens Sat/3 (through September 12), $14.95-24.95

Academy of Sciences

55 Music Concourse, SF

(415) 379-8000

www.calacademy.org

 

Caltrain faces deep cuts, perhaps even closure

Sasha Cuttler
-
13

Serious doubt was cast over the future of Caltrain today, with this vital commuter rail link threatened by the same funding cutbacks that are hobbling other regional transit agencies. The joint-powers agency might be forced to cut its service in half this summer – probably by eliminating night and weekend service — or perhaps even shutting the system down.

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is in a fiscal emergency and moving ahead with service cuts and small but controversial revenue enhancements, all approved Tuesday by its Board of Directors, and the nearby San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) are in similarly desperate straits.

Those three agencies run Caltrain, and all have had to scale back their funding commitments in order to preserve bus and light rail services in their core communities. “We’re rapidly approaching a cliff,” Caltrain CEO Mike Scanlon told the Caltrain Board of Directors today, according to the San Mateo Times. “It’s going to be very, very painful. It’s probably going to force people back on congested freeways.”

Caltrain spokesperson Mark Simon told the Guardian that the agency is fully funded through the current fiscal year that ends June 30, but after that, “I don’t know how long we can survive.”

“I don’t think I need to tell someone at the San Francisco Bay Guardian how bad things are at the SFMTA,” he said, adding that the situation is as bad or worse at the other two agencies, and that Caltrain has no other sources of operating revenue.

“That issue has come to a head and it’s come to a head because the state has zeroed out how much money it gives to public transit,” Simon told us. “What’s really heartbreaking is that this is a time when we should be adding service.”

Indeed, Caltrain has been moving ahead with plans to electrify its track, which would increase train speed and therefore system capacity while polluting less. But while it seeks federal grants for that capital project, the operating funds that have traditionally come from the state via SFMTA, VTA, and SamTrans have dried up (state and federal transportation funds are strictly divided between capital and operating funds).

Unlike Caltrain, SFMTA and many other transit agencies have the authority to put general tax measures on the ballot to fund transit services, but so far in San Francisco, neither Mayor Gavin Newsom nor the seven SFMTA board members he appointed have shown any leadership is doing so.  

Live Shots: Soweto Gospel Choir, Paramount Theatre, 03/27/2010

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0

The Soweto Gospel Choir performed at the Paramount Theatre this past weekend, which meant there was dancing, singing and major amounts of smiling happening all across the stage.

The group was made up of almost thirty extremely talented singers, whose musical repertoire included everything from traditional gospel pieces to funky Bob Marley. Their vocal range soared from deep rich bass to sky-high sopranos. The costumes captured every color of the rainbow and flowed to their swirling voices.

The show itself was quite a dramatic mix. Dance routines featuring stomping and gigantic kicks punctuated the singing. A set change put the singers around a table, where they used forks and spoons to beat out the rhythm. The music was incredible; however, I did find parts of the performance overly choreographed, like I was watching a play. I would have liked to see the performers embrace a little more spontaneity in their voices and interact with the audience. Despite my nagging preference, all in all it was an evening to rejoice, topped off with gospel goodness.

The Daily Blurgh: San Fran pranksters

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0
The Daily Blurgh: San Fran pranksters

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

As Laughing Squid wisely reminds us, today is Internet Annoyance Day. So, rather than annoy you with fake news items that SURPRISE! Link to NSFWLOLfunnytimes, here’s a compedium of some of my favorite moments in which our city has played the fool at the hands of some trickster, egghead-with-a-funny bone, practical joker, anonymous collective, or plain ‘ol sick fuck.


“The Stockton Street Tunnelway, running South below this ‘Tunnel Top,’ is recognized as the first of 200 ‘Oriental labor tunnels’ dug within the state of California. Dating to the year 1894, the Oriental labor force indentured by the Moorlock-Datsun Company worked tirelessly in deep water and suffered many deaths in the pursuit of easy, underground passage for the residents of San Francisco.

This Plaque was erected in July 2002 in memoriam for the 3 men who lost their lives digging here, having succumbed to a sudden and terrible subterranean whirlpool.”

 

“Enter the world of the samurai, where more than seven centuries of martial rule are reduced to a single Disney-like trope of gentleman-warrior myth. Military prowess  meets cultural connoisseurship in an ideal of masculine perfection–selling militarism as beauty in a time of war.”

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFHxn_9aVq8

 

 
“It’s Official…I am Running for Governor of California”

 

“Back in 1998 several San Francisco Bay Area radio stations had April Fool s-themed programming, including commercial station KITS (aka Live 105), which changed to KGAY for a day, airing gay-themed music. That same year college station KUSF read an announcement over the air stating that the university was selling off the station and commercial rock station KFOG devoted their 10 at 10 3 segment to big band music. Another year KFOG spent part of their program day playing the best 15 seconds of songs as their new format.”

(Yeah, yeah. “KGAY” is about as funny as Rudy Giuliani in drag, but props to KFOG’s 15 second rule)

 

For a true education pick up a copy of Re-Search #11: Pranks, as well as the follow-up volume, for interviews and invaluable tips from past and current local funny folks as Jello Biafra, Monte Cazazza, Mal Sharpe, and Bruce Conner, among many others.

Wear your heart on your boob

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0
Wear your heart on your boob

Do your tassels swing low? Do they shimmy to and fro? Spring is here and as anyone taking a casual stroll in the Castro knows, clothing is optional. The guys have been walking around without shirts since forever, so why not put out and paste up, ladies– your rack was born to shine with red sparkles and dangling ribbons.

Walking in the Haight yesterday, a glimmering set of blue hearts poked me in the face and lured me straight into an adorable lingerie shop for closer inspection. Dollhouse Bettie sports a few different pairs from the Oregon designer, Gothfox Designs, but these bridal satin, royal beauties are classically stunning. These pasties even come with a fancy name, “J’amie l’ocean”, alluding to their oceanic inspiration.

Gothfox Designs

Skip the swimsuit and sport a nifty set of pasties for zero tan lines– the matching trim and tassels are guaranteed to pull in a wave of looks and approvals. 

With tit stickers on the brain, I checked into the featured set at Madame S and was more than pleased with these “Heartbreaker Pasties.” This San Francisco store makes these flattering hearts in their very own latex production lab, located just behind the storefront in the SOMA neighborhood. The tight, naughty black latex will hug your nipples and the blood red trim definitely has the power to make hearts (and organs) pound with desire.

Heartbreaker Pasties

The cup-less bra is a perfect accessory for any pair of pasties– keeps things perky. 

Scared to sport ’em under a blazer like Rihanna? Wear them at home for your lover, test ’em out while vacuuming or put on a one-woman show in the mirror while you practice twirling. And if you really want to throw timid over the bridge, take the breast art for a test cruise during the SF World Naked Bike Ride. I bet you’ll have a hard time taking them off…and not because of the glue. 

Newsom wants more authority for party-crashing cops

Sasha Cuttler
-
12
Newsom wants more authority for party-crashing cops

At a time of rising concern about police crackdowns on San Francisco nightlife – including the use of unprovoked brutality, selective harassment, and punitive property seizures – it would seem a strange time to call for abolishing the Entertainment Commission and returning its authority to the San Francisco Police Department. But Mayor Gavin Newsom has now called for doing just that.

Newsom last week refused calls to get involved with mediating a nasty dispute between the SFPD and nightlife workers and advocates, who have filed claims and lawsuits against the city alleging improper police behavior, including a racketeering lawsuit and another lawsuit alleging police retribution against promoter Arash Ghanadan for complaining about mistreatment, for which Police Chief George Gascon is scheduled for a video deposition on April 8 (other depositions involving Gascon and the undercover partners Officer Larry Bertrand and ABC agent Michelle Ott will follow in coming weeks).

The police crackdown, the subject of recent cover stories in both the Guardian and the SF Weekly, has been underway for more than a year and nightlife advocates say it is reminiscent of the arbitrary police enforcement against disfavored clubs and parties in the late 1990s that led to the creation of the Entertainment Commission in the first place.

Making Newsom’s new stance even more puzzling, the commission has been responsive to the overhyped criticism of the commission by nightlife critics, some politicians, and the San Francisco Chronicle and Examimer. The commission voted last night to suspend Suede for shooting out front, a decision that Board of Supervisors President David Chiu (whose North Beach constituents have put pressure on him to rein in problem clubs) cast as a litmus test for the commission, and one it apparently passed. In addition, Commissioner Terrance Alan, who had been criticized for his conflicts of interest, last week announced that he will be stepping down from the commission when his term expires in June. 

“Isn’t anyone paying attention? It’s really got me baffled,” Alan said of the continuing calls to kill the commission. “I don’t know what this is about.”

He isn’t the only one. Commissioner Jim Meko, who had been critical of the commission’s industry-heavy makeup and reluctance to take aggressive action against problem clubs, told the Chronicle that turning permitting and enforcement over to the cops would be much worse.

Sen. Mark Leno, who as a supervisor created the commission back in 2002, agrees. He told us that he opposes the change proposed by Newsom.

“I strongly believe the original reasons for the creation of the commission, an inherent conflict in having the same body that enforces licensing to also issue those licenses, remains,” Leno told us.

Leno also noted that it was only in November that the Board of Supervisors voted to give the commission more authority to suspend the licenses of problem clubs, which they used with Suede, delivering the maximum penalty possible: a 30-day suspension.  

“If they just gave them additional authority, let’s give it a little time to work out before we talk about disbanding them,” Leno said. He also noted that it’s strange to see the mayor and supervisors criticizing the industry-heavy makeup of the commission considering that they’re the one who make those appointments: “That’s in the hands of the board and the mayor.”

Neither Chiu nor Newsom have returned our calls seeking comment, but several Guardian sources with long involvement in the conflict between the SFPD and the nightlife community say the cops – particularly hardasses like Commander James Dudley, who has often made comments critical of nightlife and its promoters — have long sought to have more power over nightclub, private parties, and the citizens who attend them.

But until there is a fair airing of and resolution to the trend of overzealous and belligerent enforcement actions by the SFPD, any move to give that agency more authority to kill the fun in San Francisco is likely to be met with heavy opposition.

 

UPDATE: David Chiu just got back to me, saying Newsom hadn’t consulted him before taking his stand and telling us, “I don’t agree that we need to abolish the commission.”

But as the supervisor from a sometimes-rowdy district that includes a couple of clubs where violence has occurred, Chiu does want to make some changes in how nightlife is governed in San Francisco, seeing a conflict between the Entertainment Commission’s role promoting nightlife and regulating it: “The Entertainment Commission has conflicting missions.”

Chiu said he would like to see nightclub permitting turned over to a body like the Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation (ISCOTT), which handles street closure permits and has representatives from several city agencies. It would exist alongside the Entertainment Commission, whose work Chiu said has become “overly politicized” in recent months.

At the same time, Chiu said, “I generally agree with” the Guardian’s coverage of the War of Fun, and said that he’s helped facilitate meetings with SFPD to deal with issues like the inappropriate police seizures of DJ’s laptops: “From my perspective, I want to make sure people’s civil rights aren’t being violated.”

But Chiu said the problem seems to lie more with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control than the SFPD: “It appears the ABC has been inappropriately cracking down on the mainstream venues that are trying to do the right thing.”

Chiu said there isn’t a pressing need to act quickly on the Entertainment Commission issue and said that he would work with Leno on the solution, something Leno confirmed, telling us, “I have had some conversations with David Chiu and I’m going to get more involved.”

Start your “Vinyl Addiction”

Andrew Lam
-
1
Start your “Vinyl Addiction”

“Here’s my Jaguar Warrior.” Jesse Hernandez pulls out his toy, and sets it on our café table with a broad smile. Two women at the next table over are immediately intrigued. “Oh, that’s beautiful! What is that?” they coo. Hernandez seems flattered by the compliments, and patiently explains that it’s a vinyl toy and that he designed the elaborate yellow cat figurine with the sweeping blue plumes and fierce, fanged skull peering out of its face. And yes, it’s pretty cool.

One gets the impression that, as host of MYX TV’s new show “Vinyl Addiction,” (who celebrates its launch party and the release of an exclusive Hernandez toy Sat/3 at New People) Hernandez is used to explaining to people just what these cute/creepy little dolls are. He certainly got me to understand their appeal.

“There’s a multi-faceted quality to [vinyl toys],” Hernandez explains. The toys, which are often designed by well known artists, are manufactured in runs ranging from the mass release to the limited edition, to the one-off “custom,” hand painted by the artist themselves. Springing initially from the heavy character culture in Japan and Hong Kong in the late nineties, their designs can range from precious to unsettling, from manga to menacing. “They’re usually both,” says Hernandez “they’re cute, but really messed up. Or it’s dangerous and cute.” 

It’s easy to see why the seniors at the next table were intrigued by Hernandez’s design. The “jaguar” design is painted onto a bunny doll, the cat ears superimposed on the floppy rabbit ones. Though simplified from many of his custom runs, the artwork on the doll is at once, fierce, tribal and modern. It’s only slightly adorable when taken in with its globular cartoon rabbit form.

Hernandez has dubbed his style “urban Aztec,” and he deploys it in a dizzying array of mediums. He creates beautiful drawings (“everything I do is based on drawing,” he says) and fine art paintings of Aztec warriors and mythological figures, reflecting his Yaqui/Chicano heritage. “You have to push the limits,” he says. “I wanna make something timeless.”

He shows a slightly more city-oriented side in his animated sequences, painting a picture of life in the Bay Area, where he grew up, with “The Nutshack,” his original MYX series that he art directs and co-created. Hernandez says many artists come to vinyl toys as an offshoot of their production of other kinds of art. “Vinyl toys can be a stepping stone, a rite of passage for an artist to have something [mass produced].”

With all these projects, it baffles the mind that Hernandez could take on another job. But it’s clear that “Vinyl Addiction” sprang from his respect for the vinyl toy movement- and a desire that an artist be the one to tell their story. 

Most episode shoots, it’s just him and the cameraman. Though he now holds the titles of the show’s host/producer/creater/director/editor/animator, Hernandez was loathe, at first, to become the oncamera host of “Vinyl Addiction.” But now that two years after shooting the pilot with co-field producer Roland Posadas, he sees his involvement as key to part of the show’s effectiveness. “I think it brings out that level of authenticity,” he says. “This is my culture. Everyone knows I’m a part of it, and I want everyone to be shown in the best light possible.” 

His expertise of the topic is evident in the preview reels of the program, which will air nationwide through On Demand and in MYX’s three urban markets of the Bay, Orange County and Northern Virginia. Hernandez goes to his colleagues’ gallery and custom shows, profiling artists and companies involved in making the toys. 

“The hardest challenge,” he says, was to figure out a way to cover the topic in a way that made sense to people who didn’t know much about vinyl toys, to educate them on the art form. He resoved the issue with “Vinyl Vocab” segments, which take a moment to teach viewers the definition of one of the scene’s specialty terms. Hernandez’s voiceovers during the lessons are done in a faux British accent, which seems to poke fun at the concept of codifying a scene that, up to now, has been pretty esoteric.

But Hernandez is sure that the popularity of vinyl toy art is on the rise in America. He says mainstream companies are picking up on the toys’ aesthetic to appeal to consumers. “So many people are into the look [of vinyl toys], even if they don’t understand it. It’s an unknown art form.” Two years ago, he told MYX that they had to produce “Vinyl Addiction” to be in on the first wave of the toys’ growing US popularity.

I’m going to have to agree with him that it’s hard not to love the vinyl doll. Even I, with whom the verb “collect” and the concept of the “collectible” sit poorly due to my inveterate nomadism, couldn’t help but paw at some of the more striking pieces. Hernandez met me at Kidrobot, a store on Haight street that’s been selling it’s own line of vinyl toy figurines and T-shirts since 2002. He tells me he always used to love coming here to see the new releases. 

Inside, the stark white walls are lined with glass cases full of nicely displayed vinyl friends. Here, a couple of blasé kids sumple, only their shaggy heads and limbs protruding from cans labeled “Boring Juice,” there, an adorable rhino brandishing a revolver. Not to mention all the spikey, snarling things that are just… so cute. 

Suddenly, I can understand the motivation of all the friends I have with vast toy collections. They’re witty. They’re creative. They’re art. I like them. And, judging from the drive of Hernandez and “Vinyl Addiction,” I don’t think I’ll be the only one.

 

“Vinyl Addiction” launch party

Sat/3 7-10 p.m., free

New People

1740 Post, SF

www.vinyladdiction.tv

 

Judicial candidates: Dan Dean

Zelda Bronstein
-
0
Judicial candidates: Dan Dean

Dan Dean is one of two candidates challenging Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer in the June primary election. You can listen to our editorial board interview with him here.

 

Dan Dean by endorsements2010

The pope’s supporters are truly horrible

Zelda Bronstein
-
12
The pope’s supporters are truly horrible

I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed the astonishing ad that ran in The New York Times defending the pope. Maureen Dowd picked it up in a nicely savage column that suggests the holy father undergo an inquisition. I agree that medieval practices are about what’s needed for the Vicar of Christ — but his supporters are even worse. Here’s Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, who bought space on the Times oped page to spill a screed of mind-boggling ignorance and hate:


The Times continues to editorialize about the “pedophilia crisis,” when all along it’s been a homosexual crisis. Eighty percent of the victims of priestly sexual abuse are male and most of them are post-pubescent. While homosexuality does not cause predatory behavior, and most gay priests are not molesters, most of the molesters have been gay.


Yes, this guy, who leads a major Catholic organization, is really arguing in public that the problem isn’t that abusive priests were protected by the church; it’s that there are (gasp) homosexuals in the priesthood.


This isn’t an April Fool’s joke. The guy really wrote that. It really ran in a major American newspaper in 2010. And unless I missed something, not one leading voice in the Catholic Church — not one bishop, or cardinal, or Vatican official, or even an intellectual leader in the Church — has stepped forward to publicly criticize Donohue.


Let’s bring back the Spanish Inquisition.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0
Street Threads: Look of the Day

Today’s Look: Shannon, Van Ness and Jackson

Tell us about your look: “I wore this shirt as my pj shirt last night.”

 

Judicial candidates: Rod McLeod

Zelda Bronstein
-
0
Judicial candidates: Rod McLeod

Six candidates are running for two judicial seats in San Francisco, and over the next few weeks, we’ll be interviewing all of them (and at the end of April, we’ll be publishing our endorsements). The interviews make for interesting listening, so we’re posting the sound files on the web. Here’s Rod McLeod, who is one of four candidates seeking to replace retiring judge Wallace Douglass.

 

 

Rod McLeod by endorsements2010

Sit-lie: A city planning issue?

Zelda Bronstein
-
4
Sit-lie: A city planning issue?

The City Planning Commission will be taking up the proposed sit-lie law April 1. No, that’s not an April Fool’s joke — city planners are going to take testimony and weigh in on the proposal to ban sitting on the sidewalks. Why is this a planning issue? Well, Commissioner Michael Antonini asked for a hearing to see what other cities do (and he’ll probably push the commission to endorse the law) — and Commissioner Christina Olague wanted to see what impact the law would have on the city’s Pavement to Parks program.

It’s a serious question: A Planning Department staff report (PDF) discusses the issue in some depth, noting that the General Plan suggests that “parts of wide sidewalks can be turned into children’s play areas and sitting areas for adults.” General Plan policy 26.1 calls on the city to “consider the sidewalk as an important element in the citywide open-space system.” After all, streets and sidewalks take up 25 percent of all the land in San Francisco — far more than the parks.

And the Planning Department has been moving actively in the past year to turn more bits of pavement into temporary urban parks, places that used to be streets or sidewalks where people are now encouraged to …. sit. “It is unclear if the ordinance would apply to the temporary plazas and informal seating crated by Pavement to Parks,” the report concludes.

So expect some sparks to fly here, and for a heated debate if the commission tries to take action supporting or opposing the law.

 

Alice Waters protested for supporting using human waste as compost

Sasha Cuttler
-
8
Alice Waters protested for supporting using human waste as compost

By Brady Welch

In a story that continues to amuse and fascinate, it appears that the human biosolids compost shit show we wrote about last week has left town… and ended up in, of all places, Alice Waters’ own backyard garden. That’s right: the seasonal, local, and cage-free proprietor of Berkeley’s fabled Chez Panisse has emerged as a staunch and unlikely defender of fertilizing your garden with sewage sludge compost, which San Francisco officials have recently discontinued giving away because of environmental concerns.

It all started when the Organic Consumers Association found out that Francesca Vietor, executive director of Chez Panisse’s non-profit arm promoting safe and healthy food for kids, was the same Francesca Vietor who is vice president of the SFPUC Board of Commissioners, which had until very recently been pawning off toxic compost made from human waste contaminated with industrial chemicals and heavy metals.

The news was like finding Mom (Chez Panisse) in bed with a Hells Angel (the SFPUC).

But we understand organizational slip-ups happen, and we trusted Waters to do the right thing, issue an apology, and figure out what to do with Vietor. But it turns out that the Bay Area’s advocate for a slow food economy that is “good, clean, and fair,” has decided instead to stand in defense of a system that is, frankly speaking, fast, cheap, and out of control.

On March 23, OCA National Director Ronnie Cummins wrote a letter to Waters asking how this could be. The letter reads, in part:

“Considering that the sludge was given to several local schools for use on their educational gardens, your work with the Edible Schoolyard should especially elicit your concern. This is certainly in direct opposition to the standards that Chez Panisse Foundation and the Edible Schoolyard encourage and uphold. It seems to us a clear conflict of interest that Francesca Vietor should serve as both the Executive Director of the Chez Panisse Foundation and the Vice President of the PUC.”

Waters wrote back March 30:

“I have been involved with the organic garden movement for 40 years. I believe in the transparency of public institutions and count on the government to offer the highest standards outlined by the Organic Consumers Association and other reliable advocates. I look forward to reviewing the science and working with the SFPUC to ensure the safety of composting methods.”

Well, the science is already in, and as we reported, it isn’t pretty; and more, our public institutions aren’t that transparent either, especially when it comes to sewage sludge compost. So on April 1, the OCA plans to hold a protest at noon to commemorate Chez Panisse Café’s 30th anniversary and perhaps remind the East Bay bastion of sustainability why diners have patronized them for so long.

ICE’s one step forward, two steps (ass) backwards

Mary Magee
-
2
ICE’s one step forward, two steps (ass) backwards

It’s hard to find the logic in ICE’s announcement that it is going to use quotas, again, coming relatively so soon after that other announcement that it was ending quotas.

Especially in the wake of a spate of crazy stories about folks who were threatened with deportation even though they were hardly seasoned criminals.

No wonder that the ACLU is calling for transparency, due process and detention reform.

The whole sorry saga brings us back to the central question of who profits from our federal immigration policy?

Sexy events: March 31-April 6

Andrew Lam
-
0

You know it’s sexy time when the comic conventioneers come to town… check out what else is on the menu for sex events this week, besides just endless Lara Crofts and Rouges.

Boost Your Sexual Self Confidence

Figure out what gets you off and runnin’ at this women-only class. Relationship coach/sex educator Marcia Baczynski will go over finding your erotic “story” and the steps you need to take to get that baby written… carnally speaking.

Thur/1 7-9 p.m., $12-15

Center for Sex & Culture

1519 Mission, SF

www.sexandculture.org

 

Bare Chest Calendar 2011 Semi Finals

A slew of stripped down, beefed up burlies parade about for the honor of gracing your wall calendar. Definitely get a copy of the Bare Chest Calendar- proceeds go to the AIDS Emergency Fund and Positive Resource Center, added impetus to cheer on the randy proceedings onstage tonight.

Thur/1 9:30 p.m.

Powerhouse

1347 Folsom, SF

www.barechest.org


Free Lunch

“Hungry? Why go anywhere else?” proclaims the website of Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club. Why indeed, when you can belly up to a free buffet line while platform stilettos and G-strings pique your appetite for debauchery.

Every Fri 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., $5

Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club

1031 Kearny, SF

(415) 434-1305

www.hustlerclubsf.com


Bent “South Seas”

Stefano and Chey’s endlessly popular youth fetish party, Bent, returns for another round in the dungeon- only this time there’s pirates. Pack your eye patch, there’ll be hundreds of like minded 30 and unders to shiver your timbers.

Fri/2 9 p.m.- 2 a.m., $20

SF Citadel

1277 Mission, SF

www.sfcitadel.org


WonderCon Masquerade

If vinyl suits and kinky language (“My, what a nice light saber you have,”) gets you going, motor down to the sixth annual WonderCon Masquerade, where the best get ups will be rewarded handsomely. Tip: a motivated nerd is hard to beat in the sack.

Sat/3 8:30-11:30 p.m., free with conference attendance

Moscone Center

747 Howard, SF

(619) 491-2475

www.wondercon.org


K’vetch Queer Open Mic Night

One of the longest running queer mic nights in the city, this is the place to check out verbal and visual kink at our 2009 Best of the Bay Best Sex Club winner.

Sun/4 7:30-10:30 p.m., free

Eros Lounge

2501 Market, SF

www.erossf.com

The Daily Blurgh: Bee warned, Purple Sylvester

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0
The Daily Blurgh: Bee warned, Purple Sylvester

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

I’m all for local businesses and delicious honey and getting to use the word “apiarist” in a sentence, but if any kind of this shit goes down you’ll know which type of urban farmer to give the stink eye. You say 15 beehives hidden in “‘borrowed spaces’ around SF,” NY Times — I say bio-terrorist cells. Hell, if you can train bees to detect bombs, who’s to say they also couldn’t be trained to detonate them?

Meanwhile in Science: “While dominant hyenas have a steady, confident-sounding giggle, subordinate ones produce a more variable call, allowing the animals to keep track of their social hierarchy, according to a new University of California, Berkeley, study.” Who’s laughing now, bitch?


Remember in Basquiat when David Bowie’s Andy Warhol crows, “you always get the good stuff,” to dealer Bruno Bischofberger (Dennis Hopper, in an equally meta bit of casting) over their power lunch? Well, that’s how I felt when I read the news on Fecal Face that uber-cool-for-Mission-School gallery Jack Hanley is closing shop in SF to focus on its New York space. If you want to pour out some beer on the corner of 15th and Valencia, the SF institution’s final show opens this Saturday. It’s a family affair, including work by old and new Hanley favorites such as Tauba Auerbach, Chris Johanson, Alicia Mccarthy, Shaun O’Dell, and Leslie Shows.

In more encouraging gallery-related news: last Friday, the GLBT Historical Society’s Dom Romesburg sent out an email announcing that the org just signed a lease for, “a new Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Historical Society History Museum in the Castro.” Romesburg continues, “The new exhibit space is on 18th near Castro, in the old laundromat right across from Magnet.” This is indeed exciting news, as the rotating exhibits at the Society’s intimate downtown space, along with Passionate Struggle, last year’s long-running panorama of SF LGBT history in the old Wolf Camera shop on Castro Street, have largely been great, but have also felt like so many amuse-bouches for what must be some pretty fabulous main-course holdings (Sylvester’s Purple People Eater sequined stage costume, one of Passionate Struggle’s highlights, notwithstanding).

A very special piece of fan mail

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee
-
7

The Guardian recently received a hostile letter in response to last week’s cover story, The New War on Fun, which spotlighted the aggressive tactics of two undercover officers at the center of a crackdown on San Francisco nightlife.

Unable to verify the author’s identity, we’ve withheld his name. As champions of free speech, however, we decided to give this writer an opportunity to share his opinion not just with the writers he seeks to attack, but a wider audience of readers, who undoubtedly also hold strong opinions. While this letter might amount to hot air from one individual whose opinion holds about as much sway as any internet troll creeping across the blogosphere, airing it can perhaps shed some light on the mindset of someone who would position progressive values — not to mention fun in San Francisco — squarely in the crosshairs. And it’s kind of funny, too.

The other thing is that the far right has touched off a great deal of discussion as of late, with its bizarro streak on full public display. 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.

Without further ado, here is the colorful opinion of one pissed-off Guardian reader, in mostly raw form. 

Dear MR Jones and MRS Bowe
I am writing to you about your story in the SF Bay Guardian Titled The New War On Fun. I think it is in bad taste the way you are putting down fine
officers like Larry Bertrand from the San Francisco police Dept And officer Michelle Ott from the Alcohol Beverage and Control these two officers are doing what they are paid to do and that is to protect the citizens of the city and County of San Francisco. And if they have to CRACK A FEW SKULLS OPEN TO DO IT SO BE IT. I wish this city had a few dozen more OFFICERS like Bertrand and OTTS. Then this city would be a much safer place to live. I mean if these promoters of theses events obey by the laws then everything would be fine but in my opinion these parties should not be allowed in the first place. For where ever A large Group of people gather and there is Booze present there bound to be trouble. and if these promoters are to STUPID to realize that then i say to bad for them if POLICE OFFICERS LIKE BERTRAND AND OTT HAVE TO BUST UP THE PARTY AND START DOING SOME HEAD BUTTING AND ARRESTING ALL THOSE INVOLVED all I can say to that is OH WELL MORE POWER TO THESE FINE EXAMPLES OF POLICE OFFICERS . Even if it means confiscating every piece of equipment there. And making a few arrest even better.

For I know that a lot of the people that attend these after hour events are MINORS and way under the legal drinking age. I know this for a fact for I have a good friend that use to be a bartender in one of these after hour clubs and he told me he has seen more teenagers in these clubs getting loaded to the gills. he told me that some of the other bartenders never asked to see there id’s they just took there money and gave them there drinks. My friend got reprimanded several times from the promoters of the event as well as his boss for asking for there ID’S. Look these places will let any one in if they just look older. OR they slip the Doorman a few bucks and he looks the other way. And all i can say about the Promoter’S AND THE OWNERS OF THE PLACES WHERE THESE PARTIES TAKE PLACE THEY SHOULD KNOW THAT FINE OUTSTANDING OFFICES LIKE LARRY BERTRAND AND MICHAEL OTT show up knowing there record for doing so is TOO BAD FOR THEM..

But on the other hand what can i expect from a LIBERAL YELLOW JOURNALISTIC RAG LIKE THE SF BAY GUARDIAN TO RUN A ONE SIDED PIECE OF TRASH STORY AND MAKING THE COPS LOOK LIKE THE BAD GUYS. AND MAKING THESE POOR PROMOTERS AND CLUB OWNERS AND PARTY GOER’S INNOCENT VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCES. HELL THESE CLUB OWNERS ARE BREAKING THE LAW BY SELLING BOOZE TO UNDER AGE MINORS THEN THESE GUYS GET DRUNK AND THEN TRY TO DRIVE HOME WHERE SOME OF THESE IDIOTS BLOOD ALCOHOL IS WAY ABOVE THE LEGAL LIMIT. SO THEN THEY EITHER KILL SOME INNOCENT PERSON OR KILL THEM SELVES. AND ITS LIBERAL REPORTERS LIKE YOURSELVES AND THE BOARD OF STUPID-VISORS IN THIS CITY THAT AGREE TO THESE EVENTS.

If I were Mayor of this City I would call a press conference with every major news paper TV And Radio and make EXCELLENT EXAMPLES OF THESE TWO FINE OFFICERS. And to give them each a certificate of Merit and Valor in going beyond there call and line of duty. MR JONES AND MRS BOWE I bet you would be singing a different tune if someone you know and love got hurt or killed by someone who left one of these after hours events loaded with BOOZE and tried to drive home and got in to a wreck and killed themselves or killed or crippled an innocent person and that person could be someone you know. And then again knowing liberals like i do you might say oh-well they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I Emailed a copy of yourarticle To my Uncle who is a retired NY CITY Police OFFICER of 40 years. And he has several awards and medals for Valor and Bravery and for doing things beyond the CALL OF DUTY. He Said if these STUPID PROMOTERS tried that in HIS CITY not only would they be facing jail time and major fines. they might have a little accident on the way to the squad car and to the station-house. He did not say what kind of accident but knowing him it would be one they would not forget. For my uncle is also an ex UNITED STATES NAVY SEAL TRAINER. SO he knows how to inflect excruciating Paine on someone without leaving any signs of what happened. My Uncle hates these SOB’S who throw these types of parties for legal reasons and for personal reasons. and he got infuriated when he read your article. HE called your paper A PIECE of SHIT paper that he would not even let his bird CRAP ON.

but he said what do you expect from a STUPID CITY LIKE SAN FRANCISCO WHERE THE F—– PRACTICALLY RUN THE TOWN. AND WHERE MOST OF THE PEOPLE VOTED FOR THAT N—– OBAMA. AND THAT UGLY WITCH NANCY PELOSI. WELL IKE I SAID I HOPE THAT THESE
PROMOTERS AND CLUB OWNERS GET MORE THEN JUST A SLAP ON THE WRIST AND A FINE I SAY THAT THEY SHOULD BE TOSSED IN JAIL AND OR PRISON FOR WHAT THEY ARE DOING HOLDING THESE EVENTS AND LETTING MINORS IN TO THESE EVENTS AND LETTING THEM GET STONED. BUT THEN IF IT WERE NOT FOR LEFTIST MAGAZINES LIKE THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN THEY WOULD NOT GET ANY PUBLICITY AT ALL. AND IF THESE STUPID PROMOTERS AND CLUB OWNERS DON’T LIKE BEING FORCED TO OBEY THE LAW THEN LET THESE STINKING PROMOTERS AND CLUB OWNERS FACE THE FULL WRATH OF THE LAW . .

SO ALL I CAN SAY ABOUT YOUR ARTICLE IS IT IS A LEFT WINGED PIECE OF YELLOW JOURNALISM. THE SAME TYPE OF LEFT WINGED COMMUNISTIC PROPAGANDA THEY USE TO PUT OUT IN THE 60’S SO TAKE CARE YOU TWO PINKO COMMY AND TO YOUR LEFT WINGED COMMY PAPER YOU WRITE FOR. NO WOUNDER IT’S FREE NO ONE WOULD WANT TO BY IT. AND YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR PAPER BY LETTING SICK PROMOTERS OF PERVERTED PORNOGRAPHY ADVERTISE IN IT AND THESE SO CALLED DOPE DESPNCERIES WHO I THINK SHOULD BE ALL SHUT DONE PERMANENTLY AND THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THEM BE THROWN IN TO A MAXIMUM FEDERAL PRISON FOR AT LEAST 40 YEARS WITH NO CHANCE OF PAROLE.

SINCERELY,

[name withheld]

alt.sex.column: Maresy dotes

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0
alt.sex.column: Maresy dotes

Dear Andrea:

It’s spring! Even though I live in California, it’s exciting when spring comes. I mean literally exciting, as in, it makes me horny. All winter I was like “Eh, dating” and now I’m all like “OMG boys! Lemme at ’em.” This happens every year, whether I have a boyfriend or not.

I know everyone talks about spring fever and it’s hardly just me being weird, but is there something that actually happens to our brains in the spring? Are there spring hormones?

I’m a girl, by the way.

Love,

Spring Fever

Dear Feev:

Indeed there are, at least among the smaller, furrier mammals, and we separate ourselves from our smaller, furrier cousins at our peril.

It doesn’t take a modern laboratory to note that mammals and most other creatures, not to mention the entire plant kingdom respond to the lengthening days and the return of the sun by, depending on physiology, sprouting, producing warm juicy sap, nest-building, and/or taking off their clothes. That’s what spring is for.

We may not like to think of ourselves as programmed to quite the degree of, say, the famous Siberian hamsters who were found to have libidos entirely regulated by the cutely-named neuropeptide kisspeptin, production of which shuts off in the winter. But we kind of are. Obviously we also respond to things like warm sun on our shoulders, longer afternoons in which to build up sleek sexy muscle and vital endurance, and the relative nakedosity of our fellow humans as they shed bulky coats and long wooly trousers in favor of warm, visible, touchable, responsive skin.

If you think about it, springtime isn’t actually mating season for most creatures. Spring is for gamboling little lambsies, conceived in the fall and born once the worst of winter’s privations have passed. What peaks in the spring, it seems, is energy. What we do with all that energy is pretty much up to us.

“We may have more energy in springtime, but it won’t necessarily play itself out in the bedroom,” Michael Smolensky wrote in a WebMD article. “The peak [of sexual activity] is in the fall.”

Here’s what I think: yes, our hormones and neurowhatses respond to the seasons. Increased energy and optimism plus being outside more, where other people are also feeling happier and healthier, makes everyone feel hornier. If you live anywhere with a proper summer, you’ll want to get your oats sown now, though, because researchers have found that we start to feel sluggish again as soon as it gets much over room temperature out there. Maybe we are all meant to live in San Diego, or in shopping malls. But I don’t think so.

Now I have Julie Andrews singing “The Lusty Month of May” stuck in my head (“That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray”.) If there is anything less sexy than Julie Andrews singing Lerner and Loewe, I can’t think of it right now. But I’m quite certain that if you venture out in a cute outfit and kicky new sandals and gambol about like a little lambsy-divey, you will find some takers.

Love,

Andrea

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

Introducing Fossil Fools Day

Mary Magee
-
0
Introducing Fossil Fools Day

“The fossil fools ain’t no joke – but that doesn’t mean we can’t fight them with one,” say activists at www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org as they announce plans to pull pranks April 1.

Citing destabilization of the global climate, and the inconvenient truth that communities from Alaska to Alberta to Appalachia are being destroyed by dirty energy extraction and combustion, super hurricanes, droughts, Rising Tide North America charges that in December 2009, politicians in Copenhagen, “sold us out to the fossil fools, corporate lobbyists and big banks.”

“Now we’re left with ‘green capitalism,’ carbon market shenanigans and continued assaults on our communities and ecosystems,” Rising Tide states. ” If we’re going to stop climate change, the only real solution is to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”

They are promising to convert the usual April Fool’s Day jokery into Fossil Fool’s Day, by “pulling some pranks that pack a punch.”

In the Bay Area, some of these self-described clowns plan to pay a visit to Chevron “to send a message that fooling around with fossil fuels is fooling around with our future.”

Rising Tide North America spokesperson Sarah Hampton told the Guardian that interested parties are invited to meet at 6:45 am, April 1 at Ashby BART station in Berkeley “to make noise and theater and educate the local public about our demands to Chevron and the atrocities that Chevron is responsible for globally.”

“We are not announcing where we will be going,” Hampton clarified. “But if folks want to get involved, they are welcome to meet at Ashby BART station, dressed like clowns and bringing musical instruments, as long as they are not planning to be violent.”

1...300301302...597Page 301 of 597

48hills.org is the official publication of the non-profit San Francisco Progressive Media Center.
Contact us: info@48hills.org