SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 366 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Suspension for sadists and the Marquis Ball

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July 15, 2009

By Molly Freedenberg

As we working stiffs watch more and more of our peers enjoying their government-funded, sun-filled “funemployment,” (ugh) it’s hard not to feel tied down by the weight of the work week. But remember: not all bondage is bad. Case in point: Mike West’s Partial Suspension for Complete Sadists and the Marquis Fetish Ball, both happening this week to remind us that being told what to do can be a treat. On Thursday, the Japanese rope bondage expert will host a course featuring theories on challenging ties, installation of overhead points at home or on the go, testing a suspension ring, and the advantages of partial suspension. (Couples and singles welcome, but all must participate.) Two days later, sex educator, author, and bondage model Midori will make an appearance at MarquisAmerica.com’s celebration of all things leather, latex, and laced-up. Still not convinced the leash that chains you to your job is sexy? Consider a career change and enter Marquis’ live model casting.

PARTIAL SUSPENSION FOR COMPLETE SADISTS Thurs/16, 7:30pm. $25–$30. Stormy Leather, 1158 Howard, SF. (415) 626-1672, www.stormyleather.com

MARQUIS FETISH BALL Sat/18, 9pm. $35–$65. Supperclub, 657 Harrison, SF. www.marquisamerica.com

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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July 15, 2009

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

Today’s Look: jess, 18th and Valencia

alt.sex.column: The one true way

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July 15, 2009

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By Andrea Nemerson. View more alt.sex columns here. Email your questions to Andrea: andrea@altsexcolumn.com.

andrea@mail.altsexcolumn.com

Dear Readers:

WebMD sent out this slightly goofy "10 Amazing Health Benefits of Sex.", an article virtually identical to dozens of others I’ve dutifully read, but you, perhaps, have been spared. Among the benefits of "healthy loving in a relationship," according to the article (summaries mine) are:

1. Less stress: Volunteers kept sex diaries and were then subjected to stressful situations. "Those who had intercourse had better responses to stress than those who engaged in other sexual behaviors or abstained."

Neat. I’m interested to note that it’s intercourse, rather than other sex acts. Added to the older study that found that feel-good hormone levels spike after intercourse but not masturbation, it’s starting to look like penis-vagina intercourse produces a unique hormonal response and possibly provides unique payoffs in the health-and-well-being department. It would be nice if someone thought to check whether intercourses available to the non-p/v-sex-having population produce similar effects, but I’m not holding my breath.

2. Immunity: "People who have sex once or twice a week produce more immunoglobulin A (IgA). Subjects who reported having less or a whole lot more sex have lower IgA."

Huh. Moderation in all things, right? I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to find it applies to sex. But does it; or were there other factors here? Maybe the high-IgA moderates were in committed relationships, while the nevers were lonely and the horn-dogs were sleeping around? Who knows?

3. Calories: "Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more," claims WebMD. "It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound. Doubling up, you could drop that pound in 21 hour-long sessions."

I’ve seen umpteen versions of the ridiculous sex/calories breakdown and this might be the silliest yet. Forty-two half-hour sessions (of apparently extremely energetic pumping; if you want foreplay or a kissing break, you’ll have to budget extra time) will take most couples months to achieve, and few people rack up anything like 21 hour-long sessions in a lifetime. You’d be better off on a treadmill. Or you could do try one of the following (supplied for your amusement by my exercise-geeking husband), all of which you’re more likely to fit into your daily schedule than a solid half-hour of “vigorous thrusting,” as they used to say:

2 minutes of wrestling
8.5 minutes of running
17 minutes of gardening
60 minutes of sitting and reading
135 minutes of sleeping

I’ll take 60 minutes of sitting and reading, please.

4. Cardiovascular: Researchers found that neither having nor not-having sex was correlated with strokes. More impressive, they "also found that having sex twice or more a week reduced the risk of fatal heart attack by half for the men, compared with those who had sex less than once a month."

Again, there may be other factors here, since the heart-healthy guys presumably had partners, and both loneliness and the death of a spouse are highly correlated with dropping dead. Broken hearts cause broken hearts. Still, nice news for older men who do have partners. Have at it, dudes. As for the ladies?

5. Self-esteem: "Boosting self-esteem was one of 237 reasons people have sex."

Hahaha! 237 is a mighty big number. You could fit anything in there. Reason # 6: Getting partner to leave you alone so you can go to sleep. Reason # 33: bored. Reason #235: free rent.

6. Intimacy: "Sex and orgasms raise levels of oxytocin, the famous bonding, trust, and generosity hormone." The article goes on to cite a study showing that women’s levels of oxytocin rise after "warm contact" and hugs with their husbands, but you don’t need sex to get that.

7. Pain: "In a study published in the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, 48 volunteers who inhaled oxytocin vapor and then had their fingers pricked lowered their pain threshold by more than half."

Coolness.

8. Prostate cancer: "Men who had five or more ejaculations weekly while in their 20s reduced their risk of getting prostate cancer later by a third."

There are a lot of similar studies supporting this. And finally, a clear benefit not dependent on male/female intercourse! Any old ejaculation will do it.

9. Sleep: Oxytocin and exercise promote sleep, and lack of same is correlated with every bad thing from divorce to weight gain.

That’s … nine. I lost one somewhere.

Of course, few of us need a specific reason to have sex, nor are we likely to be sufficiently motivated by any of the above to go get some, if not already inclined. As for the slightly worrisome implication that emerges from these articles that there is one true (straight, vanilla, monogamous) sex-style that is good for us, well. If we want research into the cardiovascular effects of polyamory or immune responses to S&M, we’re just going to have to do it ourselves.

Love,

Andrea

Collision Fest, Convergence Fest, and ‘Faux Real’

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July 15, 2009

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By Johnny Ray Huston

Dynasty Handbag: she’s real

Children, go where I send you. Seek out the wild women of the Mission Creek Music Festival Collision Fest.

Sure there are some sweet boys — any pleasure-seeker with eyes and ears should enjoy Mike Mantle of the Mantles (headlining July 22 at Hotel Utah), or Myles Cooper’s solo journey outside the Passionistas (opening a June 24 El Rio bill). But this year’s MCMF says here’s to the ladies who launch — the women who make new musical rules in order to break them.

Ryder Cooley reps recent Bay Area ingenuity on Thursday at the LAB. But the double bill bonanza crazier than any acid trip involving Tony Danza goes down same place, same time the next night, when Dynasty Handbag and Ann Magnuson take the stage. Dynasty girl Jibz Cameron is a treasure as classy as your mom’s favorite perfume — not even Lypsinka sinks her teeth into the art of lipsyncing with such ferocity. Try not pee yourself as she puts the p in performance and prepares you for the musical dramatics of Ms. Magnuson. What can be said about the queen of Bongwater, besides that on the cover of Power Of Pussy (Shimmy Disc, 1990), she was both outdoing and lampooning Burning Man before it even became a phenomenon?

Since Magnuson rubbed extremely pointy shoulders with Klaus Nomi back at the Mudd Club, it’s safe to assume she would be intrigued by the Nomi-esque stage theatrics of Fauxnique, a.k.a. Monique Jenkinson, who is bringing her recent show Faux Real back for a weekend stint outside of the Mission Creek rubric. Word has it that the show is brilliant — for real.

While Magnuson and Dynasty Handbag exemplify the Collision Fest’s cross-disciplinary antics, the Convergence Fest is a trip into filmdom. And in the case of Ira Cohen’s 1968 cinematic mirror-warp The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (Sun/19 at Artists’ Television Access), I do mean trip. Along with a documentary about Krautrock godheads Faust (Sat/18 at ATA), Cohen’s movie is one of MCMF’s screen gems.

FAUX REAL Thurs/16–Sat/18, 8 p.m. $20. Climate Theater, 285 Ninth St., SF.(415)704-3260, www.climatetheater.com

COLLISION FEST AND CONVERGENCE FEST www.mcmf.org

Weird Wine of the Week: White on ice

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July 14, 2009

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Amy Monroe shares her favorite unusual, overlooked, and underappreciated wines. Check out her previous installment here.

Ice, ice, maybe?

On Jack Falstaff’s closing night, I watched a woman order wine at the bar. Dressed in taupe silk organza, hair perfectly coiffed, a bejeweled clutch cupped daintily in her left hand, she asked for a glass of Chardonnay. After wrapping her manicured fingers around the bowl of the glass and tilting back the first sip, she turned to the bartender and asked, “Would you put some ice in this?” I had no choice but to judge her. Harshly. Didn’t she know putting ice in wine (in public, no less!) was the domain of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, not the society mavens of San Francisco?

There are rules in wine. It is, in fact, a minefield of murky, easy-to-violate etiquette. There are many ways to become an offender: by sniffing the cork instead of the wine; by sending back a perfectly good bottle at a restaurant simply because you don’t like it; by pronouncing Syrah as Sheerah. These rules are obvious and well-known to those who have chosen wine as a profession, but not necessarily to those who drink wine for fun. I can accept that, but I cannot condone pouring wine over ice. It is a rule violation of the highest order. Except, of course, when it isn’t. Which brings me to Lillet.

Psy-lick the Israeli Infected Mushroom

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July 14, 2009

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The fiercely invidious sound of psytrance has been popping up again all over, like, well, button mushrooms on the underside of this wet log we call meatspace. The gamma-beta-brainwave-boom-boom sound was an odd choice to headline Pink Saturday (and give more than a few unsuspecting Madonna queens headaches, I bet). Somehow, however, psytrance seems just right when it emanates from, of all Europhile places, Israel — especially if mixed with a grandiose goth sensibility, a little clever world music parody, and a totally inappropriate guitar solo. Behold the quivery somewhat-astral thumps of Infected Mushroom, and tear out your hair a little to the beat.

Infected Mushroom
W/ DJ Taj
Fri/17, 9pm, $30
Regency Ballroom
1300 Van Ness, SF
www.goldenvoice.com

Need a job? Gentlemens clubs to the rescue

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July 14, 2009

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For those currently on the hunt for gainful employment, 11 of San Francisco’s gentlemens clubs — including The Gold Club, Hustler Club, Broadway Showgirls and Centerfolds — are having a job fair next Monday, July 20, at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf (1300 Columbus Ave). The job fair goes from noon to 5PM. One could do worse than to earn between $100 and $400 a night in tips. Like, you could not have a job, or your passion could be blogging.

Pull press release after the jump.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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July 14, 2009

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

Today’s Look: Savannah, 18th and Valencia

Editorial: The Ethics Commission fiasco

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July 14, 2009

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This city desperately needs aggressive enforcement of the political reform laws.

EDITORIAL The San Francisco Ethics Commission is a serious mess, and if Director John St. Croix can’t turn things around — quickly — he needs to resign and make room for someone who can.

Ethics has badly damaged its reputation in recent years by hounding small-time violators from grassroots campaigns and ignoring the major players who cheat and game the system as a matter of practice. A couple of festering examples:

In 2004, then-Ethics Director Ginny Vida and Deputy Director Mabel Ng ordered the staff to destroy public records that pointed to malfeasance on the part of the Newsom for Mayor campaign. The records — which the Newsom campaign sent to the commission by mistake — suggested that the newly-elected mayor was illegally diverting money from his inaugural committee to pay off his campaign debt.

In Mexico, the Dinosaurs return

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July 14, 2009

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By John Ross

MEXICO CITY (July 16th) — Nine years ago, on a sultry July morning, Mexicans woke up and discovered to their great amazement that the Dinosaur that had hunkered down at the foot of their beds for 71 years was gone. This July 6th, when Mexicans rose in the morning, the Dinosaur was back.

In the famous short poem by Augusto Monterroso, the Dinosaur is the PRI — the Institutional Revolutionary Party — once the longest-ruling political dynasty in the known universe that controlled the destiny of Mexicans from the cradle to the grave for seven interminable decades until it was dislodged from power by the right-wing PAN party in the July 2000 presidential elections. In its unslakable thirst for power, the PRI committed unspeakable crimes against the Mexican peoples, stealing elections from the most humble city hall to the presidential palace, jailing and torturing and executing those who stood in its way, and emptying out public treasuries in an unmatched kleptocracy that was a legend throughout Latin America, “the perfect dictatorship” Latin American novelist Mario Vargas Llosa once dubbed it (for which the PRI had him tossed out of the country).

“Have we Mexicans lost our memories and our minds?” asks Sylvia Insulza from behind the counter of her newspaper dispensary in the old quarter of the capital. Tears of frustration crystallize in the corners of her eyes.

The depth and breadth of the PRI victory July 5th is nothing short of stunning. From a distant third-place finish in the 2006 presidential fiasco in which the rightist PAN stole the election from Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and his left-wing PRD party by .57% of the popular vote, the PRI (“proven experience and a new attitude” is its current campaign slogan) took 37% of the total ballots cast, nearly doubling its votes three years back, and taking control of congress for the first time since 1997. The once-upon-a-time ruling party’s alliance with the so-called Mexican Green Environmental Party (PVEM – see sidebar below “The Green PRI”) will give it 259 seats out of 500 in the lower house, an absolute majority. In nine out of 31 states, the PRI won every office up for grabs — federal congressional representatives, local congresses, and municipal officials, a “carro completo” or “full car” in the Institutionals’ curious lexicon.

The Dinosaurs also proved triumphant in five out of six governors’ races, winning two statehouses in which the PAN had resided for 12 years. Only in the northern border state of Sonora, where the PRI governor was seen as complicit in the tragic incineration of 48 babies in a Hermosillo day care center a month before the election, was the PAN able to squeeze out a victory in an election in which the PAN and PRI candidates were cousins.

Moreover, the PRI won cities like Naucalpan, an upper middle class Mexico City suburb the right-wingers have controlled since the 1980s, and the nation’s second city, Guadalajara, which the PAN has owned since 1995. In alliance with the Mexican Green Environmental Party, the PRI won its first elected office in Mexico City since 1994. Although the left PRD maintains control of the nation’s capital, the Party of the Aztec Sun does so by a greatly reduced margin. Whereas the PRD registered 51% of the vote in Mexico City in 2006, three years later it weighs in with just 29%.

But Sylvia’s tears of frustration may soon dry. Whether the Dinosaurs are really back or just staying overnight (in Jurassic time) is not yet clear. Mid-term elections are referendums on the sitting president and his administration’s management of the country and July 5th represented a crushing vote of no confidence in Felipe Calderon on whose watch the economy has tumbled into freefall — “growth” in 2009 will measure a negative 8%, the worst slide since the Great Depression of 1929-32. Calderon, who campaigned as the “President of Employment,” has presided over the loss of 2,000,000 jobs. The president’s ill-advised war on the drug cartels has soaked the country in blood — more than 12,000 lives have been lost — and fueled corruption and human rights abuses on the part of the military and the police. Calderon’s panic-driven handling of this spring’s Swine Flu “PAN-demic” kicked the bricks out from under the tourist industry, the nation’s third-largest source of dollars, and his arrogant imposition of candidates in the July 5th vote-taking angered and turned many in his own party against him.

Arc Ecology’s ballsy “Save Candlestick Park” video

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July 14, 2009

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The folks at Arc Ecology have put together a video appeal, as they say, “on behalf of Candlestick Point State Recreation Area to the California State legislature and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.”

Arc’s executive director Saul Bloom says his group will “certainly catch hell for doing this,” and definitely the content is not designed to kiss ass. But like they say, a picture is worth a thousand (or so) words, so click on the video link above, and take a look.
You could be shocked by what you find out.

Why Sarah Palin resigned

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July 14, 2009

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Text by Sarah Phelan

As Moveon.org is pointing out, Palin’s op-ed in today’s Washington Post is a pretty strong indication of why she resigned: Sarah wants to become the pit bull for Big Coal and Big Oil, and scare folks from supporting a stronger clean energy bill with her misinformation about “energy taxes.”

Palin’s op-ed-is also further evidence that Sarah is not throwing in the towel on politics, didn’t resign because of a mystery lover in her caribou closet, and is instead getting ready to seriously focus on her 2012 presidential bid.

Guess she’ll be finding support from those who don’t believe climate change is connected to human activity, want to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and would like to otherwise accelerate the destruction of the planet, so they can extract natural resources as fast as possible and make lots of money in the process.

Unfortunately, there is plenty of big money happy to accommodate someone like Sarah Palin.

So, give up on the dream that Palin is leaving the scene–and find the best strategy to counter her kind of campaign. And start doing it now.

Prison report: Special edition

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July 14, 2009

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By Just A Guy

Editors note: Just A Guy is an inmate in a California state prison. His blogs typically appear Mondays and Thursdays. However, he sent over a special report today on a recent incident in Solano State Prison.

Let me tell you where your tax dollars are going — something the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation doesn’t tell you about, and its secretary, Matt Cate, and spokesperson Lance Corcoran neglect to tell you about in their disingenuous double-speak about inmates, prison, rehabilitation and spending.

Right now the California state prison in Solano is on modified program because on one of the four yards that prison, an anonymous note was found in the mail by a corrections officer. It said:

“The blacks have a zip gun and three shells.”

Because of this anonymous note, the normal program for the entire institution has been modified so that the inmates get no yard activities because the staff has been redirected to search the building in which this unsubstantiated note was discovered.

Now, in normal investigative law-enforcement practices, would it be standard operating procedure to redirect significant resources and funding based on unsubstantiated information? I highly doubt it.

Bear in mind that this is the third time since April, 2008 that an anonymous note has been discovered indicating that a zip gun was in the possession of an inmate. In April 2008, the entire institution was searched, resulting in lots of overtime for the guards, but a zip gun was never found. In the second instance, a similar note was discovered but no search was performed — but this was likely a function of senior administration in Sacramento not allowing the massive expenditure of resources and loss of revenue (from the Prison Industry Authority) that a search causes. In this most recent instance, CDCR administration is making sure that revenue-generating functions like PIA are still going strong, which is indicative of how seriously the note was taken by the administration.

Think about what the alleged anonymous note said:

“three shells.”

Now, I find it very unlikely than an inmate would us the word “shells.” We would much more likely say “bullets.” It seems to me that a person who would use that terminology has either law-enforcement or military experience, which supports the argument that it was a staff member who planted the anonymous note. I would be curious to know whether or not CDCR will try and lift fingerprints from the note to see whether or not an inmate actually touched the paper — or are they afraid of what the fingerprint results may turn up?

At the end of the day, the CDCR has a long-standing history of only instituting measures detrimental to the inmate population when unsubstantiated and unverified information crosses the staff’s desk. Such information serves their purpose, which is to redirect staff and implement overtime situations that are beneficial to CDCR employees. That information becomes gospel.

Remember the swine flu? CDCR discontinued visiting for fear of spreading the disease — yet continued transfers between institutions and had every other program running, specifically the PIA — which, of course, makes CDCR money.

I would really like to see Sen. Mark Leno or Assemblymember Tom Ammiano or some media outlet call CSP Solano and question their “modified” program. After all, it’s your money that’s being wasted.

Hmm … I wonder if they could have paid the salary of a grade-school teacher for a year with the money that was wasted on this one “modified” program?

Writers’ Block: In Defense of The Tag

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July 14, 2009

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By Michael Krimper

The tag is the essence of graffiti. The craft begins with and grows from the aesthetics of the tag. Without it, there would be no two colored throw-ups or top to bottom burners breathing life into abandoned parking lots. No Goliath productions and finely orchestrated murals ushering thousands into Clarion Alley. And no multi-million dollar industry building upon and capitalizing on graffiti’s provocative aesthetic legacy. The tag is literally the ABC’s of the art practice. But in the eye of the mass public, the tag gets the worst wrap out of all of graffiti’s many articulations.

Photo by Michael Krimper

I have engaged in countless conversations with detesters of the tag who confess more often than not a rapturous appreciation for its more colorful, larger than life offspring. Nonetheless, they cannot stand graffiti’s more ubiquitous and less evolved ancestors. The detesters envision city streets completely devoid of drippy marked signatures but magnificently filled with vibrantly painted walls. An urban landscape thoughtfully curated with the latex polish of expertly trained artists, but missing the gritty, grassroots democracy of the tag. A pleasant but curiously vacuous or ghostly urban picture.

In defense of the tag, it has many upstanding virtues as a serious art form. At rock bottom, the shape of the letters express raw feeling and the organization of the name tells a cohesive narrative. At its most experimental, the tag stretches the conceptual basis of letter forms and the autograph beyond their pragmatic usage into the more abstract territory of geometric notions and relations. At any level of skill whatsoever, the writer demonstrates a grasp on “hand styles”, the calligraphic interpretation of form and personality by way of stylizing a dynamic signature. However, considering that much of today’s (and history’s) broadly venerated visual art and pervasive commercial art employs aesthetic qualities similar or identical to those inherent in the graffiti tag, I have come to doubt that most people’s disgust is fundamentally conditioned by the tag’s surface appearance.

Rev. Billy sings, “It’s up to us.”

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July 14, 2009

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By Steven T. Jones

Photos by Brennan Cavanaugh

As I reported a few months ago, former San Francisco performance artist Bill Talen – better known by his alter ego Rev. Billy, pastor of the Church of Life After Shopping – is running for mayor of New York City. Fighting to topple billionaire incumbent Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rev. Billy is sounding themes that should resonate equally well here in San Francisco.

And next Tuesday, July 21, he’s coming to the DNA Lounge for a campaign fundraiser and sermon, where he’ll be joined on stage by performers that include the Loyd Family Players and DJ Smoove, who Guardian readers last year voted Best DJ.

I interviewed Rev. Billy in his SoHo campaign office, and shortly after we started talking, he began belting out his campaign song, a modified version of New York, New York:
“Start spreading the wealth, I’m hoping to stay
I came to live my life here, New York, New York
Those neighborhood shops, they call out my name
Don’t need no supermall, in old New York
I want a city made of 500 neighborhoods
Where we can pay decent rent, buy a home if we should
Those billionaire blues, they cannot compete
The greatness of this town, it’s on my street
I made it here, ain’t moving anywhere
It’s up to us, New York, New York”

Newsom sides with landlords. Again.

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July 13, 2009

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By C. Nellie Nelson

In the late afternoon on Friday, Mayor Gavin Newsom stood by his earlier threat and vetoed pro-tenant legislation known as the Renter Relief Package. In June, the Guardian reported that the package, introduced by Sup. Chris Daly, had majority support on the Board of Supervisors. But the legislation was one vote short of the eight votes need to override a veto.

Daly told the Guardian that he was disappointed with the lack of any alternative or counter-proposal in the mayor’s veto message. “If you’re a renter in San Francisco in a recession, too bad,” he interprets the mayor’s actions.

SF Indie Fashion: Read local, shop local

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July 13, 2009

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By Mayka Mei

It’s always a gamble meeting people who work in fashion, be it in design or in editorial, because there’s a looming pressure in what your interviewee might think of your clothes. Luckily for me, SF Indie Fashion blogger Lorraine Sanders didn’t seem to be judging me at all for my touristy surf shop tee and discount rack jeans. Instead, Sanders seemed very easygoing, and doesn’t describe herself as the garrulous socialite type one might expect of a self-made fashion editor.

Independents daily.
Pulling in nearly 20,000 hits a month, SF Indie Fashion has become a central news source for all things Bay Area fashion, emphasis on the “news.” While personal style blogs like Lulu and Your Mom are fun to scroll through for personality, SF Indie Fashion is more of a resource aggregate of stylemakers, events, and updates.

Sanders’ lifelong goal has always been to support herself as a freelance writer. Years ago while establishing herself in the Bay Area, Sanders sifted through sources for stories to pitch to potential employers. Eventually, her (actual) drawer of ideas ranneth over, and the need for a repository of all things SF fashion-related was no longer avoidable.

Peskin takes on BART

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July 13, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

BART’s a system close to meltdown, with a strike possibly looming, a police scandal still lingering and now the San Francisco Airport furious about a surcharge that’s forcing SFO employees to take a shuttle bus into work from Millbrae.

It’s also a political opportunity for somebody to run against James Fang, the last remaining Republican in San Francisco elected office, a BART Board member since 1990, an opponent of effective police oversight and reform — and a big supporter of the BART airport surcharge.

Aaron Peskin, chair of the Democratic County Central Committee, has introduced a resolution blasting BART for the surcharge and blaming it in part on Fang:

Whereas; BART Director James Fang, San Francisco’s only elected Republican, proposed and championed the surcharge as a revenue stream for BART. A BART Director, not subject to term limits, has represented San Francisco since 1990, and is the only San Francisco BART Director not to call for the resignation of General Manager, Dorothy Dugger in wake of the mishandling of the Oscar Grant BART Police shooting on January 1, 2009;

It calls for an end to the surcharge for airport employees — and take a bit of a swipe at a certain local elected board member:

San Francisco Democratic Central Committee supports the Airport in demanding BART reverse the inequitable and punitive surcharge at San Francisco International Airport. The SFDCCC asks San Francisco BART Directors, elected to serve, to lead the way in waiving the punitive fee hurting many minimum wage workers and their families and reexamining the financial relationship with SFO, as BART to the Airport continues to grow in ridership and popularity.

And it suggests that the campaign to elect someone other than Fang in 2010 is well underway. Can you say BART Director Aaron Peskin?

Organic love: green speed dating

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July 13, 2009

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By Juliette Tang

It’s an age old story. You meet someone intriguing. The two of you go out, sparks fly, chemistry is so hot and heavy that you end up at your date’s place before the night ends, despite your better judgment. And, once you get there, you realize you were fooled all along. There is not a compact fluorescent light bulb to be seen in the whole apartment, the garbage bags are decidedly not biodegradable, and – horror upon horror – the dish detergent is from Safeway.

If images of landfills, melting ice caps, and being alone for the rest of your life keep you awake with nightmares, maybe it’s time to try Green Speed Dating, a “carbon neutral love” event coming to Temple (540 Howard St) next Monday, July 20. According to the Web site:

Green Speed Dating (or “carbon neutral love”) brings together single people, living in the same area, who care about the environment, believe in sustainability, and would like to meet others who feel the same way.

If you replace “Green Speed Dating” in the above sentence with “San Francisco,” you get quite an accurate description of most people in our city.

Patty Duke interview: What a doll!

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July 13, 2009

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By Louis Peitzman

Patty Duke in an iconic Valley of the Dolls promo shot with Barbara Parkins (left) and Sharon Tate (center).

Hollywood legend Patty Duke got an early start when she played Helen Keller in the play The Miracle Worker and its 1962 film adaptation, the latter for which she earned an Academy Award at the age of 16, a record at the time. Since then, she has kept herself busy with TV, stage, and film roles. But for many of us, Duke will always be Neely O’ Hara, the troubled starlet in 1967’s Valley of the Dolls. July 20, the Castro Theatre will host “Sparkle, Patty, Sparkle!”, a gala honoring Duke, complete with Valley screening, drag reenactments, and an interview conducted with Duke onstage by comic Bruce Vilanch. (That same day, the Castro will also screen The Miracle Worker at noon, for just $5 admission.) I spoke to Duke about Valley of the Dolls, her varied career, and how the industry has changed over time.

Appetite: Pomegranate molasses, pickled radishes, wild boar dogs, and more

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July 13, 2009

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Every week, Virginia Miller of personalized itinerary service and monthly food, drink, and travel newsletter, www.theperfectspotsf.com, shares foodie news, events, and deals. View the last installment here.

Cocktails at Clock Bar. Photo by Virginal Miller

EVENTS

7/13-17 – Clock Bar’s 1st Anniversary Week with guest bartenders and special cocktails every night
Cocktailians, take note! SF Cocktail Week is past, and many of our bartenders are working their way back from New Orleans’ Tales of the Cocktail, but this
week there’s a stellar guest line-up at Michael Mina‘s Clock Bar to commemorate the bar’s first anniversary. Each night, choose from well-crafted beauties, both classic and specialty cocktails featuring different spirit brands. Monday starts with a bang as none other than Scott Beattie and Jacques Bezuidenhout are behind the bar mixing with Partida Tequila. Tuesday’s got the dynamic duo of Brooke Arthur (Range) and Neyah White (Nopa) concocting Domain Canton and Chartreuse-based drinks. The next night, Steven Liles (Boulevard) creates cocktails with Plymouth and Beefeater 24 gins. Thursday, Erik Adkins (Heaven’s Dog) showcases Bols Genever, while Friday features “Mr. Mojito,” Dave Nepove, mixing Flor de Cana cocktails. It’s a unique week to enjoy the stylish (but not
chichi) setting and the handiwork of some of our city’s best. Happy Anniversary, Clock Bar!
7/13-17, 4pm-2am
Westin St. Francis
335 Powell, SF
415-397-9222
www.michaelmina.net

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NEW OPENINGS

Daniel Patterson’s casual eatery, Cane Rosso, debuts
Highly-trafficked Ferry Building is the site of Daniel Patterson’s latest, with chef Lauren Kiino at the helm. Since we can’t afford Coi as often as we’d like, there’s now Patterson’s quick-serve rotisserie and sandwich shop… comforting, convenient, on the other side of experimental. The rotisserie (in former Mistral space) is churning with chickens, pork, and other meats, while a host of sandwiches (such as gorgonzola and roasted peaches with walnut arugula pesto), asti (try marinated anchovies with pickled radishes), and breakfast options (like broken farro with salted butter, raisins and almonds) are available. Welcome to your new lunch (with Bay views) and take-out spot.
One Ferry Building #41
415-391-7599

Live Shots: Fast Love at Sub-Mission, 7/10/09

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July 13, 2009

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Text and photos by Ariel Soto

Fast Love, a punk/pop trio, may be new to the San Francisco music scene but they’re destined to be fast favorites. When they’re on stage they’re into every note, not only for the sake of the music but also because they’re having so much fun. This being my first time seeing them, I decided to chat with their drummer Kimberly and lead vocalist Melinda to learn more about the true punk band experience.

SFBG: What’s the best part of being in a punk band?
Kimberly and Melinda: The free beer!

SFBG: Who are your punk idols?
K: Dee Dee Ramone.
M: Fuzzy rocks the hot hairstyle.

SFBG: What are your goals as a band?
M: To party and have a good time.
K: It’s all about the good times and beer!

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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July 13, 2009

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

Today’s Look: Shelley, 18th Street and Valencia

Prison report: The Machine rolls on ….

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July 13, 2009

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By Just A Guy

Editors note: Just a Guy is a prisoner in a California state prison. His blogs appear Mondays and Thursdays. You can read his last post here.

It’s a travesty that California is willing to remove so much money from the state university system that CSU is not going to accept any new applications for the Spring, 2010 semester. And the governor has ordered that state workers not go to work the first three Fridays of every month and all state court houses will be closed one day a month.

Is it just me, or are the Legislature, the governor and the media all insane? What happened to early releases of nonviolent/nonserious offenders and illegal immigrants being deported? Wasn’t this supposed to be save more than $1 billion? All I have heard is that they are taking away our Friday visits and plan on feeding us only one hot meal a day and two sack lunches. I’m sure that cutting us down to two days of visiting a week is a sure sign of the rehabilitation experts represented by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

On a positive note I read yesterday that 89 technical parole violators with less than 60 days remaining on their sentences were released in an effort to help with the budget. Wahoo! Eighty-nine people. What a dent I’m sure that makes. Maybe they can use the money they just saved to send a few people to college next spring.

I keep saying it over and over – all the people that California is talking about releasing are going to get out anyway. So what difference does it really make if they get out six months early? I’m sure the kids who wanted to go to school this spring (and their parents) won’t mind if some inmates who were going to get out this year go home a little earlier.

So, who is it that really cares? The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, CDCR and the politicians who see it as political suicide to release prisoners. But the real murder is of your children’s educational opportunities.

The machine rolls on …