SFBG Blogs

Free Press: New Policies to Save the News

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New report calls for national strategy to contend with the crisis in journalism

B3: I believe that the alternative and community papers that are firmly embedded in their communities, with a strong print and web presence, doing real reporting and tackling the tough issues and making solid endorsements, will survive during hard times and live to flourish. Yes, of course I mean the Guardian and many other alternative papers. But here is a proposal that I especially like that covers other media.

WASHINGTON — Today, Free Press released Saving the News: Toward a National Journalism Strategy, a new report on how the government should respond to the current crisis in journalism. The report provides an in-depth analysis of ideas and proposals being debated around the future of the news business and advocates for a range of short- and long-term strategies.

“Traditional media have been battered by a perfect storm, as the rise of the Internet and the disappearance of traditional ad dollars collided with the economic downturn,” said Craig Aaron, senior program director of Free Press and co-author of the report. “But many of the media industry’s wounds are self-inflicted, the result of bad business decisions and failed strategy, aided by idle regulators who looked the other way. We need a new approach.”

Read Saving the News.

Board restores some Muni service, but Newsom gets his fare hike

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By Steven T. Jones

After hours of negotiations between the Mayor’s Office (mostly via its representative, Sup. Carmen Chu) and progressive members of the Board of Supervisors, President David Chiu reconvened his colleagues this evening to announce that he had cut a deal on his challenge to Muni’s budget: “I’m happy to say we’ve made good headway.”

Chiu asked MTA chief Nat Ford to announce the terms: the agency would trim $10.3 million from the budget (a $2.8 million reduction in the $66 million it is giving to other city departments, $6.5 million in salary and operations savings and other nips and tucks, and $1 million in increased parking revenue after a 90-day study of extending meter hours) and restore $8.6 million in proposed Muni service cuts, immediately complete MOU negotiations with the SFPD to finally explain why the MTA is giving them millions of dollars every year, and delay by six months increases in what seniors, youth and the disabled will pay for Fast Passes.

Everyone thanked Chiu for taking the lead on challenging the MTA budget and negotiating a settlement to this conflict with Mayor Gavin Newsom, then all the progressive supervisors criticized the package as a bad deal that unduly punishes Muni riders and lets Newsom get away with raiding what is supposed to be an independent agency. “I have to say I’m utterly disappointed with where we are right now,” said Sup. David Campos, the first to react to the freshly inked deal.

The board voted 6-5 to drop its challenge of MTA’s budget, allowing fares to increase to $2 and services to be reduced, with Sups. Campos, Ross Mirkarimi, Chris Daly, John Avalos, and Eric Mar in dissent.

Seeming stung by the criticism of his colleagues, Chiu seemed to lay blame where it belonged when he said, “On Friday, the mayor and I had a conversation about this budget and it was made clear to me that there wouldn’t be any movement….We needed to work this out so we could move forward on the myriad issues before us.”

Nite Trax: Jamie Jones

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By Marke B., who thinks very highly of his ears, if not his latest dance moves. But he’ll keep trying. View the previous Nite Trax here.

There are currently three Jamie Joneses in the music world. Two of them are kind of cute — but I’d never ever listen to them again. As fate would usually have it, the REALLY cute one is the one who’s turning me out lately, and has just produced what may well be the summer 09 jam, if I was lame enough to predict such things. Ladies and gentlemen and ladies, the only Jamie Jones that counts:

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But I’m really only interested in his music.

The song is “You!” — an eight-plus minute slice of loveliness, what I would perhaps call subtle tech-soul, that blends a couple grin-worthy retro effects with some serious mixing-board control (loving the dribble-dabs of tinkling percussion). Everything falls into the right place and climbs above genre-tiredness into a burnished place all its own.

The Blender: What we’ve been eating

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By the ravenous Guardian staff

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Chicken pepita, hell yes

(1) Double-decker tacos and pintos with cheese, pre-Cinco de Mayo Taco Bell run

(2) Tacos, margaritas, and Dos Equis, Tres Agaves Cinco de Mayo fiesta

(3) Salmon with eggplant caviar and chocolate mousse, Bistro St. Germaine

(4) Chicken pepita with dandelion greens-mashed potatoes

(5) Russian tea tray, Samovar

Muni budget deal keeps fare hikes

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The Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 in favor of a Muni budget deal that restores almost $10 million in cuts but leaves the fare hike to $2 and most of the MTA transfers to other departments intact. More details in a couple hours.

Hot sex events this week: May 13-19

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Compiled by Molly Freedenberg

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Learn to lap dance like Natalie Portman in Closer (without the lying, cheating, and heartbreak, of course) at Wednesday’s class with Catherine Rose.

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>> Sizzling Couples Lapdance Class
Catherine Rose of Slinky Productions presents a rare opportunity to learn the art of sensual teasing and erotic fun with a partner or friend of any sex. In just over two hours, you’ll learn about setting the right dynamic, giving a cleavage show, classic cuddle massage gyration, and more. Chocolate and bubbly will be served.

Wed/13, 7:30-9:45pm. $99/couple (10 percent off if it’s your first class).
Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF
www.slinkyproductions.com

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>> Art House Screening
Walk the red carpet at this Warhol-themed premiere party for Femina Potens curator and suspension goddess Madison Young’s newest film release, a work of queer porn inspired by The Factory.

Thurs/14, 7pm. $10-15.
Femina Potens
2199 Market, SF
(415) 864-1558
www.feminapotens.org

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>> Quodoushka Preview
Enjoy a fun, educational, inspirational introduction to this shamanic approach to spiritual sexuality, with Mukee Okan.

Thurs/14, 7:30-10pm. Free.
Call (510) 482-4239 for info and location.

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>> Monogamy? Non Monogamy? What’s For You?
UCSF’s AIDS Health Project presents this workshop for gay and bisexual men regardless of HIV status, during which you’ll explore the joys and challenges of both types of relationships.

Fri/15, 6-9:30pm. Free. Pre-registration required.
AHP Services Center
1930 Market, SF
(415) 476-6448
www.ucsf-ahp.org

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>> Electrify and Deepen Your Sexual Connection for Couples
Ignite the fire of passion, deepen your intimacy, and experience the heights of desire that a deep sexual connection can bring during this seminar with Danielle Harel and Celeste Hirschman.

Tue/19, 8-10pm. $45/pair if pre-registered.
Good Vibrations
1620 Polk, SF
(415) 345-0400
www.goodvibes.com

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Ask a Porn Star: Hormones and the mainstream

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In Which Super Sexy Porn People Answer Questions –each week– From Bay Area Locals. View the last installment here.

By Justin Juul

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Fielding your questions this month is AVN’s current “Transsexual Performer of The Year,” Wendy Williams.

Jason W: Will you have to take hormones the rest of your life?
Williams: Yes, unfortunately, if you don’t keep putting female hormones in your body, you’ll start to produce testosterone and that never goes away. It sucks because it’s extremely expensive and you’re never going to be able to finish. If you’re a transsexual you are “in transition” your entire life. Like…I’ve had many surgeries and there are many more I’d like to have. And I’ll be doing hormone replacement forever. But it’s all upkeep. All women have to pay for that and it’s totally worth it. One shitty thing is that insurance won’t cover any of it, but I’m not complaining. There are many other basic human rights issues in our society that need to be dealt with before we work on transsexual stuff.

SFBG: What advice would you give a young person thinking of transitioning?

The quest to save the Bluepeter Building

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By Rebecca Bowe

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Photo courtesy Janet Carpinelli

The Bluepeter Building, a unique industrial warehouse constructed in 1940 along San Francisco’s central waterfront, has become the focus of a neighborhood campaign for historic preservation. Under the Mission Bay redevelopment plan, it’s slated for demolition — but some community members are hoping an alternative vision can be implemented.

Janet Carpinelli of the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association has a vision for rehabbing the Bluepeter Building and converting it to a fish market, casual food vending business, and community gathering space which she says could also be integrated into a maritime history tour along the city’s Central Waterfront. Owned by the Port of San Francisco, it’s been shuttered for more than a decade and hasn’t been very well maintained. Under the Mission Bay redevelopment plan, the building would be torn down and a park would be constructed on the lot instead.

“Just putting the park there is not as interesting,” Carpinelli says. “We shouldn’t just be knocking down the building.”

News flash: Power Exchange is a SEX CLUB

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By Marke B

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Sorry, you’ll have to go back to church for that … for now

I hate to rise to the usual nauseating bait of Chronicle writer C.W. Nevius almost as much as I’d have hated to wade into the sheer time-waste of that whole Miss California gay marriage debacle-thingy, but a hilarious oopsie in his latest half-hearted diatribe — celebrating how something called the Brady Street Neighborhood Coalition “has stopped the Power Exchange, a sex club, from opening on Gough Street” — popped me a ironic one comparable to those Carrie Prejean pink-panty shots. To whit:

The neighborhood group isn’t just a bunch of prudes. The Power Exchange had been located nearby, after all, and no one had a problem with what was going on inside. It was the unruly behavior outside that was troubling.

And yet, a couple paragraphs later:

When the landlord brought a client to another property, he was picketed with one sign announcing that he “rents to a SEX CLUB.”

Wait — I thought they didn’t have a problem with that? Or was this just one rotten prune among the supposed non-prudes? It’s so hard to tell when sex is involved — which I guess could have been a slogan for the PE all along.

Power Exchange owner Mike Powers has vowed to continue his relocation efforts elsewhere — “I can’t let [the city] win now. I have to reopen … because now it’s become a battle where they’re saying Power Exchange isn’t acceptable,” Powers said to the oddly toned Mission Local blog (I wouldn’t exactly trust that bracketed insertion — the city itself had no beef with the joint.) Let’s hope his SEX CLUB can find a place in the city where people have SEX and know that part of living here means CLUBS. Let’s hope it’s soon — I’ll meet you there with some celebratory non-alcoholic bubbly and tales of my favorite adventures in the old medical room.

PS My absolute favorite part of this whole dust-up is that the main complaint of the Brady Coalition folks about the PE’s threat to the community is that people were dropping condoms out of their car windows. I’m totally anti-litter, but this calls up in my mind the wonderfully surrealistic vision of a rainbow of rubbers being flung out of Honda Civics up and down the street. Plus, I guess it’s a relief from normals going postal about “spreading disease,” at least. Safe sex = the new AIDS!

How the JROTC vote could come down

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By Tim Redmond

Like so much in San Francisco politics, the vote tonight on restoring JROTC isn’t as simple as it might seem.

The resolution by Jill Wynns and Rachel Norton simply directs the superintendent to preserve JROTC at the seven high schools where the program currently exists. It doesn’t say a word about Physical Education credit.

That’s a central issue, because just about everyone agrees that if students don’t get PE credit for JROTC, so few will sign up that the program will die anyway. State law seems to say that anyone teaching PE classes has to have a teaching credential, and the JROTC instructors don’t qualify. The Chron reports that

Last week, the California Board of Education clarified the issue, saying local education officials have the authority to offer PE credits for JROTC. The state Department of Education reiterated that position in a letter to district and county education officials Monday.

JROTC instructors, who have a state and federal credential to teach the military course, would not need a PE credential, said Phil Lafontaine, the department’s director of professional development and curriculum support.

“They’re appropriately credentialed,” he said, even if students are earning PE credit.

But Gentle Blythe, the SFUSD spokesperson, told me that the district “has not seen that letter, so we haven’t been able to analyze it.”

In the meantime, the school board voted last June to end PE credit for this past year, which was supposed to be the final year of JROTC. According to Norton, that resolution doen’t apply going forward — so she’s convinced that if her resolution passes tonight, the PE issue will be moot. “The board policy enacted last year only end PE credit for the 2008-2009 year,” she told me.

Now it gets interesting. The intent of the board last year was almost certainly to end PE credit forever, since JROTC was supposed to be phased out after this year (why deny PE credit in 2009-2010 for a program that wasn’t supposed to exist?) But if the technical interpretation Norton is offering holds up, the board may face another vote –to withold PE credit for next year and into the future.

And since the swing vote on JROTC, Norman Yee, has made it clear ijn the past that he doesn’t support PE credit, he could wind up voting yes tonight to save the program — then no on a future resolution killing PE credit (which would effectively kill JROTC anyway).

“That’s possible,” Norton said. “But I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

It might, though — I don’t see JROTC foes letting this go.

UPDATE: I just spoke with Norman Yee. He says he plans to support the Wynns-Norton resolution “with amendments” — including the right for some high schools to opt out. He says his previous refusal to support PE credit was based on the state’s position that only credentialed teachers could teach PE — but if the state is wiling to accept the SF program, so is he.

Ick, that means this comes down to the district’s legal interpretation of a letter from the state Board of Education. Stay tuned.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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

Today’s look: Laura, Sixth Street and Market

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Tell us about your look: “It’s hot so I’m wearing a skirt to catch the breeze a bit.”

Editorial: Rewrite the Muni budget

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Mayor Newsom needs to quit his political games and direct the Municipal Transportation Agency to draft a new budget, quickly, that trims the money Newsom is using to fund the cops and his call center

Just one day after the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee voted to reject Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Muni budget, the mayor’s press flak, Nathan Ballard, reminded us of how deeply the Mayor’s Office remains in budget denial.

“We are currently operating under the assumption that the supervisors will approve the MTA’s sensible budget,” Ballard told City Editor Steven T. Jones May 8. “If they reject the budget, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

That was a foolish assumption. At press time, seven supervisors had signed on as cosponsors to Board President David Chiu’s bill rejecting the Municipal Transportation Agency budget proposal, and Sup. Bevan Dufty, an eighth vote, was among the Budget Committee members favoring rejection. Only seven votes were needed, so the MTA budget was dead by May 7 — and Newsom’s refusal to recognize that was nothing more than a foolish attempt to play chicken with the supervisors. If the MTA fails to produce a new budget by the end of May, the current funding remains in effect — and that means the city’s budget deficit is much worse. The mayor strategy seems to be aimed at blaming the supervisors instead of addressing the problem.

Sonic Reducer Overage: Dead Meadow, Steve Earle, Fracas, Loney Dear, and more

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By Kimberly Chun

Could it be any prettier, any more delicately dewy, any more enticing, out there in this stone-beauty by the Bay? And when the sun goes down, you must go out to play – or watch others play. More worth-while sights, sighs, and sounds for you, more than could fit in print.

Steve Earle
Far from Nashville and an outlaw and songwriter-activist born a little too late, Steve Earle is rattling the chains of his past and looking back on the music of his late brilliant and damaged mentor Townes Van Zandt with the new Townes (New West). Thurs/14, 6 p.m., free. Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight, SF. (415) 831-1200.

Loney Dear
Dudes, make up your mind – comma or no comma? Ah, hell, none of it matters when the Loneys wash those sad-and-lonelies away with their sweet indie-rock melodicism. With Headlights and Audio Out Send. Fri/15, 10 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Newsom pushes hard for Muni budget cuts

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By Steven T. Jones
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Newsom only rides Muni for photos ops, so he won’t feel the pinch of paying $2 fares for decreased service.

As the Board of Supervisors prepares to vote this afternoon on a Muni budget that would raise fares and cut service in order to subsidize other city departments and protect drivers from increased parking fees, pressure from Mayor Gavin Newsom has reportedly flipped Sup. Bevan Dufty and weakened the resolve of the final swing vote, Sup. Sophie Maxwell.

Streetsblog has an excellent report (including audio from Newsom yesterday) about how Dufty – after voting against the Muni budget in committee just last week — has relented to accusations by the Mayor’s Office that a vote against the MTA budget is a vote to widen the city’s budget deficit.

Yet the reality is that the city charter makes the MTA an independent agency, not a piggybank for the Police Department, Newsom’s cherished 311 call center, or the other city agencies that will siphon off $66 million in Muni funds through work orders for functions that they perform anyway. Work orders have increased by way more than the $26 million per year that Newsom encouraged voters to give Muni by approving Prop. A in 2007.

Newsom tried dismissed arguments that the budget would create a downward spiral for Muni, which is already reeling from state budget cuts, saying of the issue “this is nothing.” He also said, “You have to be responsible for the things you advocate because there’s tradeoffs.” That’s true, and apparently Newsom is willing to trade the MTA’s independence and the quality of public transit in San Francisco for appeasing the cops, subsidizing 311, and justifying his budgetary unilateralism and opposition to new revenue measures.

Has Yee done a flip-flop on JROTC?

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By Tim Redmond

Here’s what Norman Yee told me last fall:

“I will not vote to bring back JROTC to the schools. I have always said that I support JROTC if it meets state requirements. But since it doesn’t, I’m not for bringing it back. People ask these yes-or-no questions, and they don’t understand what my position really is.”

This morning the Chronicle reports that he’s ready to vote to bring the program back.

What’s happening? I haven’t been able to reach Yee today, but if he’s changed his position, that would be a serious disappointment, since many of us endorsed him for re-election in part because he had the courage to vote down JROTC last time around.

The vote is tonight.

Welcome to Jersey: Checking the latest Real Housewives

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By Kimberly Chun

Real Housewives of New Jersey: down-to-earth, grown-up Jersey girls – or The Sopranos with big hair, McMansions, and surgically enhanced “bubbies”? I was dying to know after getting sucked into the show’s sneak-preview special – now being aired nonstop on Bravo – so I took a peek into a conference call arranged by NBC Universal-Bravo. On the line: the tough-talking, red-headed matriarch Caroline Manzo, who comes off as softer and much less malevolent sans dramatic edits, and her dark-eyed, down-low sister-in-law Jacqueline Laurita. The Real Housewives of New Jersey premieres tonight, May 12, with a new episode every Tuesday night on Bravo.

Q: Caroline, my first question’s for you. I was just wondering if you could tell us a little bit about the early years leading up to the life you have now.

Caroline Manzo: Sure. I met my husband actually 28 years ago. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary this July. And when we first started the Brownstone was a very, very young business in its infancy, at least for the Manzo family, and we struggled. My husband, at that time, made less than $200 a week, and we lived in a small apartment above the Brownstone, and we lived there for a couple of years, and then we had our first son, Albie.

Local businesses underrepresented in city contract awards

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By Rebecca Bowe

At Monday’s Land Use and Economic Development Committee hearing, Human Rights Commission Executive Director Chris Iglesias reported on how many locally owned San Francisco businesses benefit from city-issued contracts. The Guardian spotlighted this issue recently.

Across the board, the data showed, most city contracts are awarded to outside firms. (One speaker referred to them as “the Halliburtons of the world.”) The number of prime contracts and subcontracts awarded to non-local businesses was disproportionately higher than those awarded to local businesses, minority-owned businesses, or women-owned businesses, the data showed. Between September of 2006 and December of 2008, Iglesias noted, 35 percent of all city contracts went to certified local business enterprises.

In terms of city departments, Public Works led the way by awarding some 48 percent of its contracts to local firms. The airport issued just 10 percent of its contracts to local businesses, the port contributed 22 percent, and the Public Utilities Commission awarded 34 percent. Citywide, just 9 percent of term-contract awards and 7 percent of blanket-purchase orders were made through local firms.

Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who formerly served on the city’s Small Business Commission, was less than thrilled by the findings.

Key JROTC vote tomorrow

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By Tim Redmond

The future of military recruiting in public schools will come back before the San Francisco School Board tomorrow (Tuesday May 12) as the seven board members take up a resolution by Jill Wynns and Rachel Norton that would undo a previous board decision and bring back JROTC.

This is, of course, a terrible idea.
It’s also going to be a close vote — Wynns, Norton and Hydra Mendoza are expected to support the resolution. Jane Kim, Kim-Shree Maufas and Sandra Fewer are going to oppose it. The swing vote is Norman Yee — and nobody has any idea what he’s going to do.

If the Wynns resolution bringing back JROTC fails, then the program is dead. The board has already voted to phase the recruiting program out, as of next month.

Of course, JROTC will be in trouble anyway as long as the board doesn’t grant phys ed credit to students who take the elective activity. Right now, the JROTC instructors don’t qualify as state-certified phys ed teachers, and the program doesn’t meet state standards. Assembly member Fiona Ma is trying to change that, but here bill doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

It’s a heated and emotional topic that’s generated a lot of organizing and energy at the board — and as the final vote nears, Kim, Fewer and Mendoza have been meeting with JROTC instructors to see if there’s any ground for compromise.

“I told them I would consider approving it as an after-school program,” Kim told me. “If students really want it, then they can do it after school, with no credit.” The response from JROTC: No way, that would kill the program.

“If the program is so popular, I don’t get the issue,” Kim explained.

The other glitch: The JROTC instructors say the Department of Defense, which ultimately calls the shots here, wouldn’t accept an after-school program.

In other words, the military really IS using the hook of P.E. credit to snag potential military recruits in public high schools.

There’s another interesting element to all of this. The San Francisco public high schools are considering changing curriculum anyway to fit more closely to the UC/CSU admission requirements — and there’s no way JROTC would qualify for any course credit under those standards.

Yee has said in the past — and has told me personally — that he doesn’t want JROTC to come back and that he won’t vote for P.E. credit for the program. But the pressure on the board members will be intense. I hope he has the courage to do the right thing.

The military has every right to go after 18-year-olds, and is using every tool at its disposal to convince them to join up. Seducing minors into the war maching just isn’t acceptable in San Francisco.

Appetite: Brazilian piranha ribs, Korean tacos, schnitzel sandwiches, fancy ‘tinis, and more

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Every Monday, 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.

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‘Tini time at SF Cocktail Week

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EVENTS

May 11-18: SF Cocktail Week
SF Cocktail Week is here… In honor of SF’s truly vibrant cocktail culture and supporting the fab Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans (if you’re there, go!), the mission is "to preserve the Cultural Heritage of saloons and their cocktails in San Francisco, while also celebrating California’s Culinary Philosophy and Tradition". Sounds like a great mission to me. The third year in, this just keeps getting bigger. It’s no Tales of the Cocktail but it’s certainly a stellar line-up of parties, classes, competitions and events, taught and presented by a long list of the many of SF’s bartending greats.

A few highlights include opening (at Le Colonial) and closing (at Jardinere) parties, the US Bartenders’ Guild National Competition (all day Tuesday: 11am for SF competitors; 5pm for national finalists), CUESA’s Cane Spirits & Farmer’s Market Cocktails event is Wednesday night (their Winter Cocktails event was a blast – excellent cocktails at every turn!), there’s a historical cocktail and bar crawl with Tablehopper herself on Saturday, a Saturday class with artisanal cocktail genius,Scott Beattie, and monthly Savoy night at the one-and-only Alembic on Sunday. Thursday is Bar School, a day of classes around town, ranging from $25-45, the line-up includes Distillation 101 from Hangar One’s Lance Winters, Erik Atkins’ walk through the Gentleman’s Companion, Jeff Hollinger (Absinthe) and Neyah White (NOPA) teach you how to make your own cocktail ingredients from syrups to bitters, plus more worthy classes for the budding mixologist to take it to the next level.
All around SF; events free to $45
http://sfcocktailweek.com

May 12-16: The Big 4’s Wild Game Week returns
The Big 4 Restaurant (PSF) in Nob Hill’s Huntington Hotel has been around for decades and is just the kind of atmosphere I want when craving old world elegance and cocktails by the fireplace. On the food tip, its bi-annual Wild Game Week offers a menu so unique, it’s one of the only times you’ll see dishes like Himalayan yak or Rocky Mountain wapiti (elk chop, to you). This year a first is added: Brazilian piranha “ribs” with a creamy mustard dressing ($18). That’s right, piranha. Come hungry as the deer and the antelope certainly will play.
Appetizers: $16-19
Entrees: $38-46
1075 California Street
415-771-1140
www.big4restaurant.com

Snap Sounds: Chelonis R. Jones

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By Johnny Ray Huston

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CHELONIS R. JONES

Chatterton

(Systematic)

The U.S. expat Mr. Jones sews up album of the year honors by track one, after jogging barefoot through hell to conclude "Stains are my nationality." As kickoffs go, it’s as dramatic as the The Queen is Dead‘s title track — apt, since he name-checks Morrissey. From there, Chatterton traverses Cure-like goth, Marley Marl-ready rap, contemporary Euro techno … and Fleetwood Mac? "The Cockpit" is a Cabaret Voltaire-meets-Giorgio Moroder minimal epic from the perspective of a plane crash’s ungrateful sole survivor. The final lines of "Pompadour" are genius.

An oldie but goodie from Mr. Jones


View the previous Snap Sound here.

Snap sounds: Groupshow

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By Johnny Ray Huston

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GROUPSHOW

The Martyrdom of Groupshow

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My favorite Jan Jelinek endeavor since 2005’s Kosmischer Pitch (~scape), which inspired this 200 GB "live" collaboration. It all grows wonderfully spooky with "Great Art Where You Least Expect It" and "Anyone Care for a Drink?" Yes, Groupshow has a way with a song title. The overall conceit’s as strong as Jelinek’s discovery of Ursula Bogner, though not as labored.

View the previous Snap Sound here.

Pics: Fake furs, fishnets, flourescence — How Weird!

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Text and photos by Ariel Soto

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An over-abundance of fluorescent fake furs, fishnets and colorful masks dominated the scene at the How Weird Street Faire this past Sunday, May 11. On every corner of the festival a different DJ mixed and bounced the huge crowds into electronic bliss, who danced and hula hooped under makeshift dance halls and spinning disco balls. Artists painted beneath the heat of the sun while others perched on the sidewalk to wolf down hot dogs and a cold beer before heading back for more booty shaking. The assortment of strange and wonderful costumes was astonishing and showed how a few bright wigs can turn us all into the weirdest kid on the block.

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Prison report: No one knows what it’s like ….

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Editors note: Just a guy is an inmate in a California state prison. His dispatches run Mondays and Thursdays. He tries to answer all questions and comments, but it takes a while to get communications out of the state prison system, so be patient.

By Just A Guy

Another day’s gone by, and I’m a little closer to home and struggling for something to write about. It’s easy once I get going, but figuring out what my topic should be can be difficult.

I mentioned I’d talk about how we feel. I can really only write about how I feel, how it is on a daily basis. It’s hard to quantify a lot of these things, but I will try and lay it out. When I say prison and the way we are treated is de-sensitizing, that probably bears explanation, so I will delve into that for a minute.

Imagine, for a moment, being in an environment that is always hostile. Please don’t mistake hostility for violence in this instance, but more of an overall feeling or undertone of unease. If you can, think of a day or time in your life where you were just uncomfortable, just not quite at rest, not able to quite put your finger on why, maybe it was where you were, maybe it was the people or person you were around, maybe you were in a bad neighborhood and were lost. How about this — the first time, as a child you left the boundaries of your home or neighborhood on your own, rode your bike a little further than you’d ever been … you weren’t scared really, you were sure you knew how to get home, but you were just a little ambivalent, or not at rest … that’s sort of how it feels to be in prison. Vulnerable. Not able to relax.

Also, imagine what it’s like to really trust no one around you. Imagine if you always felt like someone was trying to get something from you, that the smiles were false, that you were being watched all the time, that your world was really a tight rope over a bed of rusty, broken nails. Imagine a state of mind where every decision you make, every meal you eat, and every “friendship” you have is behind the fence on of the wrong side of justice and pining for a moment of solace.

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