SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 387 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Snap Sounds: Omar S

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May 4, 2009

By Johnny Ray Huston

OMAR S

Fabric 45

(Fabric)

"The music on this CD is fully 100 percent Analog — NO COMPUTER BULLSHIT PROGRAMS." With this liner note proclamation, Detroit’s Omar S makes a strong case that, here in the 21st century, analog is the new acoustic when it comes to authenticity. His contribution to the Fabric mix series is all-original, just like Ricardo Villalobos’. Would it be sacrilege to say that, save for a wack vocal two, it smokes the Villalobos? Motor City techno still rolls.

Omar S, “Psychotic Photosynthesis”

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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May 4, 2009

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

Today’s Look: Elsa, Market and Front

Tell us about your look: “Always look nice.”

How Weird to pay SFPD’s protection money

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May 2, 2009

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By Steven T. Jones

Faced with San Francisco Police Department threats to block their permits to sell beer and to have amplified music, organizers of the How Weird Street Faire have decided to pay the nearly $10,000 that the cops were demanding up front rather than go to court to fight fees that appear to violate caps written into city codes.

How Weird organizer Brad Olsen said vendor fees and other financial support should allow them to come up with the money. That’s good news for those planning to attend the May 10 event, although other outdoor event advocates — such as John Wood, with the Entertainment Commission and Love Fest — had urged How Weird to make a stand against rapidly escalating SFPD fees. As the Guardian reported, city codes cap fees for events this size at $5,494.

Police have said they’re required to recover all costs associated with the event, although it is the SFPD that decides have many cops on overtime are required to staff the event, which has had no major police incidents in its 10-year history. Love Fest is a far larger event covering more territory, and therefore gets a bigger SFPD bill, so this fight is likely to pick up again once its organizers begin the permit process this summer.

Meanwhile, the SFPD has begun an aggressive campaign to crackdown on underground parties, one that has caused the dozens of local Burning Man camps now staging fundraisers to get creative in throwing parties. Many have moved the parties to the East Bay, while others are renting out existing clubs in San Francisco to get around the crackdown (which many suspect is tied to an SFPD power vacuum and struggle as Chief Heather Fong prepares to retire).

Stay tuned to the Guardian for more coverage of the Death of Fun.

Labelmania: Stones Throw and Smalltown Supersound

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May 1, 2009

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What role do labels have in the world of music today? I recently put that question and four others to a number of people, including Chris Manak (aka Peanut Butter Wolf), of the hip-hop mainstay Stones Throw Records, and Joakim Haugland of Norway’s Smalltown Supersound, home to Lindstrøm and to S.F.’s Tussle. The fact that their answers could be so different yet not in opposition or disagreement says something about the versatile love of music that powers smaller labels.

SFBG What meaning do you think a label has today?
CHRIS MANAK, STONES THROW A label definitely means something different now than it did before, but people seem to attach a certain meaning to my label, so we’re still doing OK. There are some artists who have played on big stages at Coachella without having a label, and others who’ve been on the cover of magazines (or cover of MySpace) with no label or not even more than a song or two recorded, so it goes to show that some artists can achieve “success” and get fans on the strength of having a strong image and a catchy song.
JOAKIM HAUGLAND, SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND I think labels today are even more important, as one needs to be more creative these days and a creative label can be very important for a band or an artist. In my opinion, running a label is an artform. I am in general a label fan and have read most books available about the good indie labels like Elektra, Impulse, Creation, Rough Trade, Factory and so on. When you read these books you also understand that it’s all about the music and that there are strong and creative personalities behind these labels. Most of the time they’re crazy music- obsessive people. Amid all the chaos of drugs and madness at Creation Records, they also put out some of the best albums ever.
With digital distribution and illegal downloading, I think it is important for labels to be creative. It is easier and cheaper to reach out to your audience now with the Internet, but one also has to be smart.

Peanut Butter Wolf as a wolf

The cover of Lindstrøm’s Where You Go I Go Too, on Smalltown Supersound

SFBG What are your favorite labels for newer artists, and your favorites for reissues?
STONES THROW Stones Throw for both. That label jibes best with my personal taste and if I didn’t believe in myself, how could I expect others to believe in me and spend their money on me? Some other new labels I like are Big Time, Minimal Wave, Gloriette, Human Ear, Now Again, Soul Jazz, Humble Magnificent/Lewis, Paw Tracks, Soul Cal, Peoples Potential Unlimited, and Liger Vision (if they ever get a record out). I’m sure I’m leaving some great ones out.
SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND My favorite labels of today: Sub Pop, Matador, WARP, Domino, DFA, Dischord, Drag City, XL Recordings. Favorite labels of the past: Creation, SST, Factory, ESP, Touch and Go, Impulse, BYG, Rough Trade. When it comes to re-issues I like Soul Jazz, Honest Jon`s and Light In The Attic. I also like SPV`s reissue series of the Brain Records label.

Appetite: Sticky toffee, casual clambake, Mama mia, Jimmy the Greek. and more

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May 1, 2009

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Each 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.

Scottish Eggs, Chips & Pastie at Martins West. Photo by Chris Andre

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NEW RESTAURANT and BAR OPENINGS

Martins West helps you wash down fine eats
Time to trek down South (the Peninsula, that is) to Redwood City for this week’s hot opening, Martins West Pub. The original Martins is in Edinburgh… this locale is an homage to that gastropub (I’ll admit, an overused term) where comfort, hand-crafted beers, and hearty food meet seasonal, gourmet sensibilities. Like the beer, cocktails and scotch selections are extensive so you can wash down Michael Dotson’s (of Tahoe’s Plumpjack Cafe) quality "pub grub" (think Ploughman’s lunch, herb-crusted marrow bones or house-made charcuterie). Pastry Chef, Kelly Fields (of Sens and some of New Orleans best restaurants) stays sweet with sticky toffee pudding, drunken raisin ice cream or hot toddy pot de creme. Inside the 1896 Alhambra building, once a theater and saloon, you’ll feel the spirit of Wyatt Earp, who used to frequent the place while his wife, Josie, sang from the adjoining theater. Belly up to the 25-foot bar, boys!
831 Main Street, Redwood City
650-366-4366
www.martinswestgp.com

Sake bar at Otoro Sushi. Photo by Virgina Miller

Tiny but chic Otoro Sushi makes three in Hayes Valley
Hayes Valley already hasSebo and Domo for impeccable sushi, but why not one more? A couple blocks away from the heart of Hayes, lunch and dinner of the fresher kind can be had at tiny but chic Otoro, just opened a few days ago. I’ve already enjoyed a generously-portioned lunch and look forward to more. There’s a snug, eight-seat sushi bar, sake bar and a handful of tables, with plenty of sashimi, udon, and rolls like the Hip Hop Roll, topped with garlic white tuna.
205 Oak Street
415-553-3986

Fly Bar debuts in Brick space with pizza and video games
Brick morphs into a Fly, or rather, into sister location to ever-popular Fly on Divisadero. Responding to the times with nothing over $12, Fly Bar will surely win some fans. A 4:30-6:30pm Happy Hour offers drink specials and half-price pizzas (like Southwestern or Jimmy the Greek), while the usual menu means apps, pizzas and sandwiches galore. Playful cocktails are only $7-8 at full price, like Island Root Beer (dark rum, Abita root beer and house-made ginger syrup), or Scrum: Boddington’s with a shot of Jameson. Sneak to the back room for a four-player arcade, snazzed up with cup holders and free games! It’s good to reinvent oneself from time to time.
1085 Sutter Street
415-441-4232

Sex sells…coffee?

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May 1, 2009

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By Molly Freedenberg

Wow, this coffee is hot. And I’m not talking about when it’s brewed. SV Holdings, the parent company that operates Stella and Victoria pastry companies, has launched its own line of organic roasts – and the packaging is downright sizzling.

The central theme is vintage pin-up girls whose poses and phrases are meant to embody the characteristics of the coffee inside the bag. A va-va-va-voom hourglass in a Jessica Rabbit dress nearly commands you to drink the bold, intense Espresso Roast by saying, “come taste how strong I am.” A smoky-eyed brunette kneeling on the cover of the Full Body Roast wants you to know “I’m known to be full bodied and rich in flavor” — and also seems to want you to come to bed with her. And your incentive for drinking the Breakfast Blend? The playful, lingerie-clad reminds you to “wake up with me every morning!”

Rockstars and “indipires” at Seattle Fashion Week

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May 1, 2009

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Laura Peach reports from last month’s Seattle Fashion Week

Design by Blayne Walsh. All photos by NW Action Shots

Although Seattle is a city even further off the fashion map than San Francisco, where Keens and Birkenstocks swamp the sidewalks and most outfits, often comprised of hooded windbreakers and kakis, seem a little more fit for a hike in the mountains than a day in the city.

Design by Blayne Walsh

Thankfully, there is a part of Seattle’s population who does not consider Eddie Bauer the height of fashion. And they showed up strong and stylish at Seattle Fashion Week to scope out and support their talented local designers.

Design by Blayne Walsh

Project Runway star Blayne Walsh pranced his sweet self onstage and said, “If a Native American and a vampire had offspring, my line would be their children.”

Design by Blayne Walsh

I was so preoccupied with trying to figure out what that would be called, exactly, that I barely saw the beaded vests, feathered hair, and black party dresses parading past me. Until a fabulous open-necked red sweater forced my jaw to drop. It struck me as so perfect for San Francisco. Oh, and I decided that Walsh’s prodigy would have to be “Indipires.”

Snap Sounds: Red Fang

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May 1, 2009

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By Cheryl Eddy

RED FANG

Red Fang

(Sargent House)

The debut full-length from the Portland, Ore., ear-splitters is at least 80 percent familiar to ‘Fang fiends who own the band’s EPs. No matter: tracks like “Bird on Fire” and “Prehistoric Dog” are blistering rock ‘n’ metal jams that never get old.

Red Fang, “Prehistoric Dog”

Design on a Dime: Free art for wall wonders

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May 1, 2009

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By Laura Peach

Feed Your Soul image by Tara Hogan

Since everyone seems to be keeping a tight clamp on their cash these days, projects considered less necessary are being cast aside. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of going above and beyond spring cleaning and in favor of a full spring interior redecoration. It’s wonderful when your interior mirrors the sunny, blossomy exterior world (even if it’s raining right now). Also, getting out of bed on Monday morning is a little easier when your home feels happy and new.

Feed Your Soul image by Michelle Cavigliano

Stop feeling stuck in your domestic space.

Don’t shoot the shipyard messengers

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May 1, 2009

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Rev. Amos’ Brown’s recent op-ed in the Examiner is the latest in a string of attacks on anyone who suggests that anything about Lennar’s redevelopment plan could be improved.

These types of attacks are called “shooting the messenger.” And while they can be effective in silencing critics, they don’t address the problems contained in the message that the (now smeared) messenger was delivering.

In this latest instance of shooting the messenger, Amos’ target is the outspoken Minister Christopher Muhammad, who leads the Nation of Islam mosque on Third Street in Bayview Hunter’s Point and represents the Muslim school that sits adjacent to the shipyard.

Muhammad, who is good at firing up his followers with feisty soul-shaking speeches, has taken to comparing Florida-based developer Lennar to an invasive Burmese python, ever since Lennar failed to control toxic asbestos at the shipyard.

Muhammad also has taken to saying that if Lennar had screwed up in Pacific Heights and the kids at the school had been white, the response from Mayor Gavin Newsom and corporation would have been very different—and Lennar would likely have been fined more than $500,000, which is equal to the cost of one of the 10,500 condos that they are planning to build on the shipyard and Candlestick Point in the next decade.

Muhammad, who has been making these comments at just about every commission, hearing, and meeting citywide, recently took his show on the road to embarrass Newsom at the townhalls in Napa and San Jose, where the man who wants to be California’s next governor was hoping to seduce supporters with speeches and a sunny smile, not be shouted down by a black minister shouting about asbestos and poor innocent children.

Last month, Newsom responded to Muhammad’s crashing of his gubernatorial run in what seemed like sour grapes manner: according to columnists Matier and Ross, Newsom saw that a letter was fired off to Muhammad’s school, with the help of Brown, demanding that $24,000 (of unpaid back rent totaling $168,000) be settled in 30 days, or the school—and with it the kids—will face eviction.

Gay marriage? In Iowa?

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May 1, 2009

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What happens when Iowans discover that gay marriage is legal? Jess Brownell provides some clues in the classic Iowa movie “State Fair”

By Jess Brownell

Iowa is in the news just now, and for a reason I must confess I would never have anticipated: Gay marriage turns out to be legal there. Who’d have thought it.? Not many Iowans, I’d venture.

I know a little about the state. I was born in Iowa, and grew up a few miles to the west in Nebraska. I had cousins living on Iowa farms whom I visited. (My host on this blog was born and raised in Iowa, and I imagine has his opinions on what’s happening in the Hawkeye State.) Frankly, I have no idea what to expect now.

Generally, Iowa hits the public eye only when the caucuses gather every fourth year, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t weird all the time. Iowans seem to be of two minds about almost everything, this tension being best represented by the two senators they have chosen to send to Washington. One, Tom Harkin, the Democrat, is a stalwart liberal (except where agricultural subsidies to factory farmers are concerned); the other, Charles Grassley, the Republican, is a fierce fiscal conservative (except of course where agricultural subsidies are concerned) who is still remembered for his objection to an eternal flame at JFK’s grave because of the unfair burden keeping it lit would place on the American taxpayer. I suppose you could say that like all of us Iowans have a lively sense of self-interest, but they do seem to have a hard time making up their minds about anything else.

Muni flunks Econ 101

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May 1, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

There are lots of problems with the Muni fare hikes, and Paul Hogarth points out some of them. But there’s a larger issue here: Is this really going to bring in more revenue?

Every time Muni raises fares, some people stop riding the bus. That’s basic economics — you hike the price of a product, and you sell less of it. And if your raise the price too high, and enough people stop buying your product, you actually lose money.

That’s called the price elasticity of demand, and it’s a central part of any economics course. It’s hard to run a business without some basic understanding of the concept.

If your product isn’t necessary for people’s lives (and there are available alternatives), the drop-off is faster and sharper — raise airline tickets high enough and people quickly drop discretionary travel and vacation closer to home. When the product is something everyone absolutely needs, like housing, and there’s no substitute, you can raise prices a lot more without losing customers (see: San Francisco rents).

Muni is somewhere in between. For some people, typically poor and working-class people, it’s essential — they don’t own cars and need the bus or train to get to work. For others — those of us who are physically able to ride bikes, or to walk to work or the store, or economically able to afford private cars — the price elasticity of Muni is much higher.

There are all sorts of studies on this (here, for example, but trust me, unless you’re really into economic theory and lots of strange numbers, don’t even think about it.)

Suffice to say that in San Francisco, a small city with typically good weather, a fairly wealthy population and a lot of people who enjoy walking and biking, the price elasticity of demand for Muni is relatively high — that is, when prices go up, people who can will seek other alternatives. Nobody knows exactlyat what the price point Muni starts to lose money — when fare hikes become counterproductive — but I suspect we’re approaching it. The largest rate hike in half a century is not only regressive, counter to the city’s transit-first policy and environmentally stupid — it may be a financial mistake.

Now contrast that with raising parking prices. For starters, most drivers who park downtown can well afford to pay a couple bucks more for parking. Second, check out the streets — parking is so hard to find that it seems very likely that demand exceeds supply by enough of a factor that raising prices won’t impact use and will bring in more revenue.

And what if some people decide that parking costs too much and stop driving? Isn’t that what the city wants to accomplish anyway?

This decision to raise fares more than parking is nuts, on every level.

Peepshow: Art House Sluts

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May 1, 2009

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Each week Justin Juul highlights a rad upcoming local sexy event

Who: Madison Young is a local porn star who also directs films, makes art, teaches sex classes, and co-owns the coolest “feminist, tranny, queer” art gallery/performance space thing in the whole entire world. It’s called Femina Potens Art Gallery and it’s the best place to visit in SF if you’re looking to balance out your interest in smut with your love of paintings and sculptures and stuff. If you read SEX SF regularly, you probably already know about Femina Potens and you probably go there at least twice a week. But if you’ve somehow missed the boat, go right now. Girls who are boys who want boys to be girls who do boys like they’re girls who do girls like they’re boys flock to FP daily and nightly to stare at sexy paintings, watch dirty movies, and talk about art.

Celebration, cigars, and a bloody nose at Mirkarimi baby bar crawl

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May 1, 2009

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Text by Steven T. Jones, photos by Tim Daw

Friends, colleagues and supporters of Sup. Ross Mirkarimi gathered last night to celebrate the recent birth of his son, Theo Aureliano Mirkarimi, with an event dubbed the Mirkarimi Man-Baby Shower and Bar Crawl that started at Molotov’s in Lower Haight.

Among those taking part in an event centered around drinking, cigar smoking, carousing, congratulatory support, wearing custom trucker’s caps, and general male bonding were Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, his predecessor Aaron Peskin, City Attorney’s Office spokesperson Matt Dorsey, Chiu board aide David Noyola, former mayoral candidate Quintin Mecke, Mirkarimi aide Rick Galbreath, Guardian publisher Bruce Brugmann, former Santa Monica mayor Mike Feinstein, Entertainment Commissioner John Wood and local political activists Julian Davis, Andy Blue, Dan Nguyen-Tan, Amandeep Jawa, and Boris Delepine.

Macanudos and Mecke

Anvil! The live glory of Anvil this Sunday

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May 1, 2009

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By Marke B.

This just in from metal heaven:

Ancient Canadian glam-slam heroes Anvil, the touching Spinal Tap of our times who have a critic-ecstatic doc about them (Anvil! The Story of Anvil) out at the moment, will be PERFORMING LIVE at the Bridge Theater this Sunday after two sure-to-be-raucous screening of said doc. Here’s Cheryl Eddy’s review of the film:

Screw you if you compare Anvil to Spinal Tap. Yeah, there are moments of eerie similarity (and Anvil’s drummer is named Robb Reiner — how’s that for a coincidence?), but this heartfelt doc (first seen locally at last year’s San Francisco Jewish Film Festival) doesn’t mock. Friends and bandmates since the early 1980s — when Bon Jovi-level success seemed nearly possible — Reiner and vocalist-lead guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow have been chasing the rock god dream their entire adult lives, toiling at day jobs and raising families but leaping at every chance to capture glory, be it a poorly planned European tour or an emotional trip back to the recording studio. Even if you scoff at hair bands, it’s hard not to get wrapped up in this tale of success, failure, and power chords. And with no less than Lars Ulrich calling Anvil “the real deal,” there’s no need to, uh, smell the glove.

And here’s what to shredxxpect:

Anvil, “School of Love” live, Japan, 1984

Anvil live with Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Sun/3, 7:10 and 9:45, $10.50
Bridge Theatre
3010 Geary, SF.
(415) 751-3212
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/SanFrancisco/BridgeTheatre.htm

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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May 1, 2009

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

Today’s Look: Stephan of SF Boylesque, 5th Street and Martket

Tell us about your look: “I’m kind of a boot whore. With fashion, if people aren’t shaking their heads at you, you’re not doing it right.”

Labelmania: Slumberland and Omni Recording

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April 30, 2009

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This week’s Guardian features a trio of stories devoted to the state and meaning of music labels today. In compiling my piece, I contacted a number of labels who put out music I love, and asked them five questions. Below, find answers and jokes from Mike Schulman, head of the Bay Area indie pop mainstay Slumberland Records, and David Thrussell of Omni Recording Corporation, a reissue endeavor that sports a handsome pic of silver fox incarnate Lorne Greene on its homepage. I’ve long loved the trend-defying Slumberland and am happy to see it riding high thanks to acclaimed albums by Crystal Stilts and Pains of Being Pure at Heart (whose “Young Adult Friction” is in the running for my favorite song of 2009). As for Omni, it has brought the underrated electronic pioneer Bruce Haack to new generations of listeners, put out a drop dead gorgeous Anita Carter collection, and recently released the compellingly dodgy compilation Plantation Gold.

SFBG What meaning do you think a label has today?
MIKE SCHULMAN, SLUMBERLAND RECORDS Well, it depends on the sector of music. For mainstream music, it’s clear that labels are struggling as artists seek alternate revenue streams, and as sales of music itself continue to dwindle. For non-mainstream music, though, I think labels are as important as ever. With the increasing fragmentation and atomization of genres/scenes/markets, consumers rely on labels as a curatorial enterprise, a shorthand signifier for what they’re into and a useful tool to help sort through the mountain of new music.
DAVID THRUSSELL, OMNI RECORDING Please forgive me, I’m not trying to be contrary, but I just don’t care that much about record labels. They (ourselves included!) are just a means to an end. The end being the music.
At Omni, we are a bit nutty about fine but dramatically under-appreciated music. There is so much great music buried and/or hidden in the past, why bother with the present? It’s more fun to lift forgotten old rocks and see what slithers and slides underneath than bother with this week’s parade of the latest empty-headed posers.The cult of “new” always being best is a dangerous fallacy.

Cover of debut album by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, on Slumberland Records

Cover of The Electric Lucifer by Bruce Haack, reissued by Omni Recording Corporation

SFBG What are your favorite labels for newer artists, and your favorites for reissues?
SLUMBERLAND For new stuff: Mojuba, Siltbreeze, Perlon, Hyperdub, Sound Signature, In The Red. For reissues: Honest Jons, Soundway, Soul Jazz, Pressure Sounds.
OMNI I’ve pretty much given up on contemporary music. I generally find it shallow and uninteresting (with the odd exception). Am I sounding grumpy today? Sorry.
I do have a lot of enthusiasm for quite a few re-issue labels. They include: Digitmovies, an Italian label releasing top-shelf Italian film scores from the 1960s-1970s — generally “exploitation” soundtracks, which as everybody knows, are the best; Avanz, a Japanese label filling a similar niche; Pet Records, which released the essential Soft Sounds For Gentle People series; Trunk Records, purveyor of strange artifacts from the back of Auntie’s closet — that’s how we like it.

Less sex at Dore? SFPD gets hot over crappy muck-monger

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April 30, 2009

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By Marke B.

Hurray, we’re back in the 50s again! Hot on the heels of the SF Weekly’s “alternative” take on the BDSM community comes this report from the Bay Area Reporter that the SFPD plans to get hard and tough on public nudity and consensual sex acts at that hallowed gay Bay tradition, July’s Up Your Alley Fair on Dore Alley, operated by the Folsom Street Fair folks.

Due to the complaints, the police are requiring the fair organizers to develop a more stringent security plan to deal with people who break the law at the event. [SFPD Lieutenant Nicole M.] Greely said simply because someone is attending an enclosed street fair does not mean that laws regarding public nudity and lewd behavior do not apply.

“There is no public sex allowed, that is illegal. Nudity laws still apply and laws against urinating in public still apply,” said Greely. “Sometimes things gradually get out of hand and that is what happened here. Last year it got out of control.”

….

It is the first time that the police have demanded the Up Your Alley Fair organizers to address public sex acts and lewd behavior in their security plan for the event, said Greely.

Ho hum, doesn’t this happen every year around the time the police want to ask for more fair fees? But here’s the kicker:

Police also point to the Web site http://www.zombietime.com that documented numerous photos of men performing oral sex, urinating in public, and masturbating from second floor windows overlooking the fair as another reason for their increased vigilance. The site, created by an anonymous local photographer, also questions why the police took no action against the public nudity and sexual behavior at the fair.

Those frankly beautiful pics caused a shit-storm a couple years ago after the Berkeley-based zombietime published the pics and ones of Folsom. They were used to fan anti-gay flames by such organizations as “Americans for Truth About Homosexuality.” (Yeah, here’s a truth — YOU’RE GAY) .

Alive and kickin’: Tango No. 9 revels in wild exploration

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April 30, 2009

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By Dina Maccabee

Entertain whatever stereotypes you will about tango as a relic of an openly macho era: tango in San Francisco is alive. Okay, and kicking.

You might envision a wacky, tacky ballroom competition — but not so rapido says Tango No. 9’s founder and violinist Catharine Clune, whose explorations over the last decade have unearthed what she calls "the many faces of tango." With trombonist Greg Stephens, pianist Joshua Raoul Brody, accordionist Isabel Douglass, and newest member Zoltan Lundy singing the Argentine blues, Tango No. 9 revels in tango’s many approaches to music, to dancing, and to life. And it’s not alone. "There’s an underground squadron of tango dancers, ranging from their 20s to their 60s," Clune says. "You can dance tango every night in the Bay Area. It’s in these crazy little back rooms you didn’t know existed, and that’s where we’ve practiced our chops." As social dancing, which she notes hasn’t been a mainstream American cultural movement since the ’50s, tango is "something people seem to want."

Professional dancers will be on hand at Noe Valley Ministry to perform the sultry moves, but if you only ogle los bailarines, you’ll miss half the fun, or half the pain. "If you can lose anything, from a horse race to a heart, they talk about it," Clune says of the moving and theatrical side of tango’s songs — for listening, not just getting down at the local milonga. In a set that traverses the genre, from its roots to the obscure late works of Astor Piazzola, the group performs the first "sentimental" tango, Carlos Gardel’s inspirational rendition of Pascual Contursi and Samuel Castriota’s "Mi Noche Triste," which set fire to an international phenomenon mourning lost love and tragedy. Like, Lundy says, "being left by a woman who was also your prostitute."

TANGO NO. 9 Sat/2, 8:15 p.m., $16-$18. Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez, SF. (415) 282-2317. www.tangonumber9.com

And kielbasa for all: Polish Festival this Sunday

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April 30, 2009

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By Marke B.

Apologies, my veganista friends

I may be the world’s biggest queer Arab disco hip-hop leather muppet, but my last name is Bieschke and I was raised Polish (and French Canadian, but that’s another story for another “post-racial” day). And man, do I love a nice big grilled kielbasa dressed on a bed of tart, moist sauerkraut. I’ll be getting my fill — and taking in some serious polka oompah-pah and traditional polska loveliness at this Sunday’s Polish Festival in Golden Gate Park. Not sure if I’ll be dressing in traditional costume, despite the fact that hipster decolletage sure is trending that way …. somebody hand that fixie-pixie a tuba!

And if the weather clears up, me and Hunky Beau might even take our mustard-stained mugs over to the deYoung entrance to watch the swingin’ participants of Lindy in the Park if they’re out and about … and even join in. Now that’s multicultural.

San Francisco Polish Festival
5/3, 11am-5pm, free
San Francisco County Fair Building
Golden Gate Park
(9th Ave and Lincoln Way)
www.polishfestival.com

Have a little art: Vagaboom! Fun(d)raiser

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April 30, 2009

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By Molly Freedenberg

A high-flyin’ Vagaboom! participant

Some of my favorite memories of elementary school are due to arts programming: watching singing science duo Janet and Judy or a traveling theater troupe act out The Jabberwocky in the round; playing flute in the band and dancing to Broadway hits in our annual musical; studying — and then making my own versions of — pointillist, Impressionist, and landscape artwork. Who would I be if I’d never learned to read music? To appreciate silent theater? To identify Georgia O’Keeffe? And what will the world be like in the future if today’s kids don’t learn to explore their creativity? The artists and activists behind Vagaboom! hope we never have to answer that question. The group of acrobats, musicians, actors, and artists — including Del Arte graduate Martina Oskarsson, Cirque Destino cofounder Marina Karadjieva, and Think13 visionary Dee Kennedy — have pooled their resources and channeled their individual expert training into creating a nonprofit that brings arts programs to kids, particularly those least likely to be exposed to art and music. Lucky for us, we adults will get a taste of what Vagaboom! does at its May 2 fundraiser. The action-packed event features music by Think 13, Cohen, Scattershot Theory, and DJ Centipede; dance performances; acrobatics; and scenes from the experimental theater piece Simple Matters. Sure beats math class …

Vagaboom! Fun(d)raiser Sat/2, 8pm. $10-$20. SomArts, 934 Brannan, SF. www.vagaboom.org

What’s all the fuss about Articles 10 & 11?

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April 30, 2009

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By Rebecca Bowe

The San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council is planning a “Rally for Jobs” on May 5 at Civic Center Plaza to oppose “a measure on historic preservation that would kill much of our work,” according to an announcement on the council’s Web site. “Work is hard to find now. Don’t let it go away forever,” the announcement declares. At issue is the rewrite of Articles 10 and 11 of the city’s planning code, which deal with historic preservation and are integrally linked with the newly created Historic Preservation Commission.

There’s no question that the effects of an unstable economy and the downward slide of the housing market have led to a shortage in construction jobs, and it’s clear that the workers in this industry are hurting. At the Democratic party luncheon picket last week, I spoke with a number of masons, electricians and others who were struggling to make ends meet while they were out of work. Some 400 workers in the bricklayers union alone have lost their jobs, one union member told me, and times are tough.

But is the Historic Preservation Commission to blame? Would the pending revisions of Articles 10 and 11 really be the last nail in the coffin for development in San Francisco, obliterating the last remaining construction jobs in the city? I called the city Planning Department to find out what this rewrite will mean for the city and was directed to Tara Sullivan, who works in legislative affairs and has been deeply involved in the process. “There’s some speculation that this will halt development around the city,” Sullivan told me. “But it’s not an anti-development tool at all. And it’s not citywide.”

Herrera lobbies for Healthy San Francisco

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April 30, 2009

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By Steven T. Jones

When I arrived back at San Francisco International Airport last night, weary after a long trip from Prague, I was surprised to bump into City Attorney Dennis Herrera. We chatted a moment and he told me that he was taking a red eye flight to DC to lobby the US Labor Department into supporting our Healthy San Francisco program.

As you may remember, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association has been mounting an aggressive (but so far unsuccessful) legal challenge of the city’s universal healthcare program, which is partially funded by employer contributions. GGRA is now trying to get the US Supreme Court to overturn the 9th Circuit’s ruling in the city’s favor.

Bush’s Labor Department filed an amicus brief supporting GGRA’s contention that the program violates the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a stance Herrera hopes the new administration will reverse. “We have higher hopes for the Obama Labor Department, so this is a preliminary discussion that Dennis is having with them,” Herrera spokesperson Matt Dorsey told me today.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, a former restaurateur who belonged to GGRA, claims credit on the gubernatorial campaign trail for Healthy San Francisco (which was actually created by then-Sup. Tom Ammiano), but did little to either get it passed or to defend it against attack from his allies. As with same-sex marriage, the other big feather Newsom tries to wear in his candidate’s cap, it is Herrera who’s doing the heavy lifting while Newsom pretends to Californians that he’s leading San Francisco.

Snap Sounds: BRWN BFLO

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April 30, 2009

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By Marke B.

BRWN BFLO

BRWN BFLO

(self-released)

“Fuck macarena, we sun dance on that ass.” Absolutely digging the breezy flow, witty U-turns, and stellar executive production by Big Dan on the Oakland rap quartet‘s new release (pronounced “brown buffalo” if you didn’t know). The Jay-Z-like undertow brings some lush instrumentation and vibrant, retro-feel samplescapes into the mix, but these Latin lowdowners aren’t afraid to screw around with some electro-wacky nintendo samples (“Big Sir”) and even some Swisher-tips to hyphy. Best of all, though they ride hard on Chicano culture props and a dash of welcome positivity and humor, the exhilaratingly versatile skills of Giant, Jacinto, Somos One, and Big Dan launch this one out of the identity-rap rut into the “that shit’s smokin'” stratosphere. The disc is plainly a labor of love; live they should be something else. The new album officially drops on 5/5 (Cinco de Mayo, natch) — details about this weekend’s big release party below.

BRWN BFLO, “The Reappearance” sampler

BRWN BFLO
Album release party
Sat/2, 9pm, $8/$13
The Uptown
1928 Telegraph Ave
www.uptownnightclub.com

View the previous Snap Sound here