SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 417 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Labor war widens

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February 5, 2009

By Steven T. Jones

On a day when the labor movement rallied in cities across the country in support of the federal Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for employees to form a union, bitter infighting involving the nation’s largest union, Service Employees International Union, also escalated today.
The California Nurses Association today charged SEIU with launching an illegal, multi-million-dollar campaign to take over their organization using what that they call a phony nurses group called RNs for Change to take over the leadership of CNA and affiliate it with SEIU, which calls the accusations “wild and untrue.”
CNA spokesperson Chuck Idelson called SEIU head Andy Stern corrupt and power hungry, echoing criticisms from Stern-ousted United Healthcare Workers leaders who last week formed the new union National Healthcare Workers Union. NUHW spokesperson John Borsos said the new union has now gathered petitions from about 25,000 workers in 101 facilities who want to leave SEIU and join NUHW.
I’ve been doing interviews and research on these related issues all day, so check back here tomorrow for a more complete report.

My first orgy: A beginner’s guide to group sex

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February 5, 2009

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By Rita Sapunor

Live in San Francisco long enough, and you’re going to get invited to a sex party. Stay longer and it’s only a matter of time before you’re considering throwing one yourself. When this time comes, you’re going to have a lot of questions to ask yourself, questions like: Which friends would be the least awkward to have sex in front of? Should my sex party be more about spiritual connection or hardcore action? What is the range of this whip, and should I tape off a safety boundary for liability purposes? Unfortunately, there’s no Judy Blume novel to get you through this challenging rite of passage. This is where San Francisco’s Center for Sex and Culture comes in.

CSC’s mission is to provide sex-positive education to diverse communities through informational lectures, experiential classes, and cultural events. Curious and not not horny, I trudged through the rain on a recent Friday night to attend CSC’s panel on group sex, lead by psychologist and sex party enthusiast Reid Mihalko.

With five minutes until curtain call, Mihalko is setting up, adjusting mic volumes and straightening the tablecloth. "Does everyone know where the bathrooms are?" he asks, breaking the silence. I can’t remember a time when a host of any sorts addressed bathroom location so immediately, but then Mihalko is no ordinary host. Blond, six feet five inches tall, and with a strong build, Mihalko is a play-party veteran with the penchant for linen to prove it.

Tonight he and his eight-member panel will reveal the ins-and-outs of what can make and break a play party, which is basically lifestyle community-speak for orgy: planned parties wherein the guests, in some manner, get it on — throw pillows optional. All the event’s panelists have not only attended, but have planned and staged play parties, some just for women, some just for men, some for "advanced players" and others for the tantra-inclined. The panelists double as massage therapists, sexologists, writers, teachers, and event planners who fell into the scene and took to it like fish to water.

We, the audience, are just here to watch and listen for tonight, but I get the impression that not everyone’s a novice here, as two long-lost friends recall a wild party from 20 years ago and many others touch and kiss as easily as they speak. One woman leaves her seat just before the show to return with a handful of hard candies. "Who wants something sweet?" she asks, in an Isabella Rossellini–esque accent. She passes them out to the most enthusiastic. "One left!" she announces. "Who wants one?"

"Why not?" postures one older gentleman in a fanny pack.

"Why not??" she asks in mock shock, retracting the cellophane-wrapped candy. "Do you want it or not?"

Share your Valentine’s nightmare — and win

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February 5, 2009

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By Breena Kerr

Send your personal Valentine’s day horror story (300 words or less) to culture@sfbg.com by Wednesday, Feb 11. We’ll print our favorite on the SEX SF blog, and its writer will win two tickets for a five-course meal and a show at Teatro Zinzanni.

Though it’s tempting to write off Valentine’s Day as a Hallmark holiday invented by Corporate America, the truth is that its origins extend back much further than American capitalism. In fact, it’s thought the celebration we know today started with the Christian appropriation of Lupercalia, the mid-February pagan festival ancient Romans celebrated to honor the coming of spring.

Back then, ancient priests (Luperci) sacrificed a goat and a dog for fertility and purification. The goat’s hide would then be sliced into strips and carried into the streets by boys who paraded around, dipping the lengths into bowls of sacrificial blood. Making their way across town, the young men slapped women and crop fields with the bloody strips, marking them with the promise of fertility for the coming year — and getting their girls horny in the process.

Thus the Valentine’s Day connection between sex and carnage was born. In our modern times, however, the carnage is often less literal and more emotional: impossible expectations, botched dates, ridiculous gifts, and horrible sex. In honor of this day of Great Disappointments, we invite you to send in your Valentine’s Day horror story.

I’ll get us started with mine, courtesy of V-Day 2008:

PG&E: Blackout at Just For You restaurant

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February 5, 2009

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BREAKING NEWS: PG&E electricity goes out at a restaurant just four blocks or so from the Potrero Hill power plant

By Bruce B. Brugmann

And so about 2 p.m. this afternoon (Thursday, 2/5/09), I walked in to the Just For You restaurant, just four blocks or so from the Potrero Hill power plant in the heart of Dogpatch. I wondered if PG&E had known I was coming in for my regular lunch of fried oysters.

For lights were out, the place was empty, and the proprietor, the normally jolly Arienne Landry, was sitting disconsolately in the corner with some friends and workers.

Arienne said that the electricity was off in the whole area and that PG&E had told someone who called that it would be back on at 3 p.m. “But they always say they can’t guarantee power,” she said, shaking her head at her shortened, expensive lunch hour. I asked if PG&E know I was coming. Arienne laughed.

I asked how much she was out in money. She said about $200 to $300. Arienne, who was reported in the Potrero View as a possible candidate for district supervisor, said she needed the money and would write to PG&E and ask for a reduction in her PG&E bill or other form of compensation. She said she would also copy the California Public Utilities Commission, the SF Board of Supervisors, and the Small Business Commission.
She said she would also ask the CPUC, the board, and the SBC to do a study of PG&E’s treatment of San Francisco restaurants and other small businesses on service, reliability, rates, and collection policies.

It looks to me as if she has a good and timely issue. PG&E is a notorious no or slow pay for damages to small business, but the company is quick and tough as hell on small businesses that are slow pay, which many are these days. We get lots of complaints at the Guardian about PG&E hardball policies on small business and on their customers.

Now more than ever, PG&E should be giving a break to small businesses and not shove them against the wall on compensation for blackouts and slow pay and other increasing small business concerns.

We’ll follow Arienne’s request for compensation for damages. And we urge other small business people and their customers/residents to email us their problems with PG&E service and rates. There’s no reason, except for PG&E resistance, that the CPUC and SF shouldn’t start monitoring how PG&E treats our local small businesses. More: they should provide ombudsperson help during these tough times.

Meanwhile, I must report that the power at Just For You did go back on a few minutes before 3 p.m. And I did get my usual lunch of fried oysters with lots of red cajun sauce. They were better than ever today. B3, who sees from my office window the fumes of the Potrero Hill plant, pumping poisons into the city every minute of every day, courtesy of PG&E and Hearst journalism

Regular protests mark Oscar Grant’s death

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February 5, 2009

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Editor’s Note: Protests over the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day, for which former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle has been charged with murder, have been regular events in Oakland, including one scheduled for tomorrow and another on Valentine’s Day. Here’s an on-the-ground account of last week’s event.
Text and photos by Joe Sciarrillo

On Friday, Jan. 30, a group of up to fifty protesters gathered to denounce the Alameda County Superior Court’s decision to set a $3 million bail for BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle, who was charged with murdering the unarmed Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day. Nine people were arrested, compared to the previous Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 protests, when 105 and 18 were arrested, respectively.

At approximately 3:30pm during Friday’s protest, the group led by activists from CAPE (Coalition Against Police Executions) made its way from the Alameda County Superior Court to the downtown intersection of 14th Street and Broadway in Oakland. A member of CAPE hopped onto an idle AC Transit bus with a megaphone, pleading with protesters to intensify their actions. “The Black Panthers took a stand for something!” he said. “We gotta take a stand!”

Playlist — February

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February 5, 2009

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By Johnny Ray Huston

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Coconot, Cosa Astral (Bcoredisc)

One of the things I like most about Pablo Díaz Reixa is his mode of singing. There’s something really endearing and adorable about it – some of his choruses sound like chants at an athletic event, but not all macho, just enthusiastic.

Coconot is the band he plays with when isn’t being El Guincho. To be honest, I kind of like Cosa Astral even more than El Guincho’s Alegranza, because Diaz-Reixa leaves more space in the overall sound, and things aren’t so exhaustively manic. (Though the manic tendencies can also be endearing.) Amongst the nine tracks, I’m already entranced by at least three: “Te tenía en cinta,” which is like a carnival winding down; the joyous and loose Afrobeat shimmer of “Tao”; and “Miles de ojos,” a Surrealist-influenced sonic vision with a chorus that is impossible to stop singing once you’ve heard it.

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Nite Jewel, My CD (Human Ear) and Good Evening (Gloriette)

One shorthand interpretation of Ramona Gonzalez’s recording project Nite Jewel is that it’s a bit like Glass Candy or Chromatics on Quaaludes. I don’t know if I like Nite Jewel quite as much as Glass Candy’s underrated B/E/A/T/B/O/X (c’mon, they made “Computer Love” melancholic, what’s not to love?) – or if I like it more.

Gonzalez’s singing is both high-pitched and kinda dazed. On “Weak 4 Me,” she reminds me of Mr. Bill, which can never be a bad thing. “What Did He Say” might be the best Nite Jewel song so far – it sounds like a radio playing “I Can’t Wait” by Nu Shooz slowly sinking to the bottom of a pool. I’d like to see Nite Jewel live. SF isn’t that far from LA.

Blog Love: Hot dads online now!

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February 5, 2009

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Juliette Tang shouts out to local bloggers. Read her last installment here.

There is a particular breed of San Franciscan male who is sensitive, nurturing, and never gets tired of communicating. I know what you’re thinking. What’s his phone number and why haven’t you met him yet? You haven’t met him because he’s at home, sitting in front of the computer, and taking care of the kids. He is the elusive San Franciscan stay-at-home dad blogger. And one thing’s for sure: Stay-at-home dads update their blogs frequently!

SFDad says his “main reason for existence is to provide you with news and information about the most important (at least to us) baby in the world, SFBaby.” Before you balk, jaded Guardian readers, first check out his blog. You’ll realize that his gushing dad syndrome is actually really heartwarming, even for us. I totally got hooked on the three-part-series of SFDad and SFBaby going to visit SFGrandparents without SFMom. And this story about how SFDad bought mittens for SFBaby at an import store in the Mission because he was on a budget and didn’t want to get them at Baby Gap.

Doodaddy is the kind of father who wants “dump a gallon of pond slime on a 7-year old girl” because she wouldn’t let your daughter play with her (ostensibly because the 7-year old was raised by “sociopathic coyotes in a cave somewhere”). He chronicles the lives of Blueberry, his 9-month old, and Boo, his 3-year old, and states “part of my very existence orbits around ways to pawn my children off on other people”. Now this is the kind of parenting blog we can all relate to! Though he claims he’s “just not much of a parent,” his blog reveals that he cares deeply about his children (I mean, his life literally revolves around them, attempted pawning notwithstanding), and he is dealing with it the way any young San Franciscan urbanite would: with a lot of befuddlement, some apprehensions, and a whole lot of love and patience.

Feld avoids the spotlight during Ringling trial

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February 5, 2009

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Editor’s Note: Former KTVU anchor Leslie Griffith, who has covered Ringling Bros for years and was profiled in the Guardian for her work, is covering the elephant abuse trial in Washington DC.
By Leslie Griffith

Kenneth Feld, the sole owner of Feld Entertainment and Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus did not appear in U.S Federal Court yesterday. Buying his way out of trouble is a way of life for Ken Feld, but this time, he just may be trapped.
These animal rights people are not clowning around. Many of us in the courtroom craned our curious necks to get a glimpse of him, but he ditched us, just like my big brother used to ditch me when a pretty-willing date was waiting. Yep, Feld stayed true to his reclusive reputation and played the role he always plays, the illusive circus master who calls the moves behind the scenes.

RIP Cramps’ Lux Interior

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February 5, 2009

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Wow – it’s truly the end of a goth-punk era… and time to comfort oneself with the memories and dig up mementos like this amazing bit of footage of the Cramps playing “Napa State Mental Hospital” in 1978 around the time of Gravest Hits. Crazeee…

Cramps founder and punk pioneer Lux Interior dies
By ANDREW DALTON Associated Press
Feb. 5, 2009, 11:29AM

LOS ANGELES — Lux Interior, co-founder and lead singer of the pioneering horror-punk band the Cramps, has died, the group’s publicist said. He was 60.

Interior — whose real name was Erick Lee Purkhiser — died Wednesday of a pre-existing heart condition at a hospital in Glendale, Calif., publicist Aleix Martinez said in a statement.

God’s Girls bare their souls (and more)

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February 5, 2009

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Juliette Tang continues her journey into the altporn world. Read her interview with Vivid-Alt’s Eon McKaye here .

God’s Girls is an altporn site that is like SuicideGirls except for the fact that it’s not SuicideGirls – and nor does God’s Girls mention “Suicide” anywhere in the title, which makes me like them more on default. Plus, they have Stoya, and they don’t lock their models into impossible contracts. Based in California, God’s Girls offers user-submitted DIY erotic photos and videos, plus a social networking community with user blogs, discussion boards, original writing, interviews and more. In our current installment of altporn interviews, the SFBG sat down with Annaliese Nielson, founder of God’s Girls, to learn more about the altporn, DIY erotica, and the GG way of things.

SFBG: First, what is the story behind your site?
AN: God’s Girls was an idea that i developed over the course of the summer of 2005. I knew a lot of hot girls who seemed to have no problem with nudity and I knew some amazing photographers, most notably Matthew Cooke, who I met during my own foray into modeling. And I had a generous friend who was willing to loan me the money to get everything going. It was just a very natural thing for me to get involved in. I saw myself surrounded by all of this fun and sexual openness and creativity and I knew it needed to be documented. I felt that I could do a better job than some of the people who have alt-erotica sites. I felt that I could be more fair to models, create better content and put together something that girls are proud to be a part of. It all came together relatively easily and after shooting content for a year (God’s Girls has always been about amazing content and lots of it– even when it was just a concept without a website yet) and the site launched in June of 06. This has truly been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. I have met so many amazing girls and amazing members of my site.

SFBG: Can you describe how you get the content for God’s Girls? It’s all DIY, right?

Chasing Wild Thing’s gritty punk

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February 5, 2009

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You’re gonna miss me: an old Wild Thing poster.

By L.C. Mason

Newly emerged and ready to rip every show to shreds, the San Francisco-stationed Wild Thing are, as described by their MySpace page, “punk, punk, punk.”

The group’s rough-hewn repertoire and unsigned outsider status certainly fit the punk canon like a glove. Gritty guitars and beer-soaked group vocals are found all over tracks like “You’re a Punk” and “I Can’t Stand It.” Disaffected lyrics and clanging cymbals that sound like Animal of the Muppets got himself a legitimate band, complete with humans, mean you can make Wild Thing your excuse for coming home with inexplicably ripped clothes, lost valuables, or a sore neck.

Having just returned from the Dummer Bummer fest in Portland, Ore., with Bay Area rock denizens Apache and Nobunny, the brazen quartet will get stomping this Sunday, Feb. 8, at Thee Parkside – which may be hell on you come Monday, but will be well worth once you watch this combo spread its wings.

WILD THING
With Annihilation Time, A.N.S., Sabertooth Zombie, and Futur Skullz
Sun/8, 6 p.m., $8
Thee Parkside
1600 17th St., SF
(415) 252-1330

All you need is love … and Disney?

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February 5, 2009

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by Laura Peach

Give a little love and get a flamboyant and fabulous evening of cabaret-style entertainment on the night before Valentine’s Day. (Yes, lonely people, I’m especially talking to you — it’s cheer up time.) The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation is holding an all-star benefit performance Monday evening bursting with cabaret, Broadway, and silver screen stars. The proceeds from “All You Need Is Love”, which is hosted by the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation, will go to local non-profits like Sunburst Projects, which provides social and emotional support for families affected by AIDS. Which means your laughter and delight will be totally guilt-free as well.

Meister: A porter who dared to protest

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February 5, 2009

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How C. L. Dellums of Oakland organized the first union founded by black workers

By Dick Meister

(Dick Meister, a San Francisco-based journalist, has covered labor and political issues for more than half a century.)

Affluent white train passengers snapping out orders. Broadly smiling black porters rushing to carry them out, fetching drinks, shining shoes, making beds, emptying cuspidors, rarely daring to protest.

That’s how it was aboard the Pullman sleeping coaches that were the height of luxurious travel for more than a quarter- century. Nothing better epitomized the huge distance between black and white in this society. And nothing better epitomized the struggle that has finally narrowed the
distance than the long life of C.L. Dellums, a porter who did dare to protest, and who continued to do so as a major labor and civil rights leader for six decades.

Save a kitten: Look goofy for Jesus

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February 4, 2009

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By Juliette Tang

According to the “Passion for Christ Movement,” or P4CM, “We want you to rock it, but you better have confidence. People will be clowning on you. If you walk into a 7-11, people will be joking and snickering, and you almost want to direct it to those people, telling them, ‘You’re all laughing, but probably cuz you’re all still masturbating.”

Is public humiliation really the cure for masturbation? Because we know that after your mom caught you masturbating that one time under the sheets, you completely stopped masturbating cold turkey. Riiiiight. Isn’t it enough that every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten and an angel loses his wings? No, not according to P4CM, the masturbation experts:

More hilarious shirts after the jump:

Aphrodesiacs: Edible sex organs

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February 4, 2009

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Ann Sims continues her list of sensual edibles to get you in the mood, with this little flower menu.

“Flowers are the plants’ sex organs,” writes Diane Ackerman in The Natural History of Love, “and they evoke the sex-drenched, bud-breaking free-for-all of spring and summer.” Bring the garden into your kitchen (and then into your bedroom) with a variety of edible flowers, including nasturtiums, chamomile, orange blossoms, dandelions, fuchsia, hibiscus, and honeysuckle.

For a delectable nectar, try this easy hibiscus cooler:

½ cup dried hibiscus or other edible flowers
2 drops essential oil of orange
¼ cup sugar or honey
orange slices for garnish

Circus battles “animal special interest groups”

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February 4, 2009

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468-cover.elephant.web.jpg
By Steven T. Jones

I’m still waiting for the dispatch from our correspondent at opening day of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephant abuse trial, which I’ll probably post in the morning. But for now, I wanted to offer circus owner Feld Entertainment’s side of the story, which seems to center on the notion that this is all about “animal special interest groups.”
That phrase peppers the press release that was put out by Feld Entertainment, clearly hoping to capitalize on the “special interest” pejorative that has been coined and hammered home by conservative political forces over the last few decades.
“Animal special interest groups are distorting the facts by making false allegations about the treatment of Ringling Bros. elephants as part of a long-running crusade to eliminate animals from circuses, zoos and wildlife parks. Feld Entertainment will show during the trial that its elephants are healthy, alert, and thriving, and it intends to debunk the misinformation that has been spread by those who do not own or know how to care for an elephant,” wrote Michelle Pardo of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., which is representing Feld Entertainment in the case.
It’s certainly true that most animal welfare groups don’t think endangered Asian elephants should be performing in circuses, doing stunts they say can only be coerced with abusive treatment, and many are opposed to them being displayed in zoos. But the opening day testimony reportedly included that of Dr. Joyce Poole, who is an expert in caring for elephants and who, according to a plaintiffs’ press statement, “testified that it’s her expert opinion that Ringling Bros.’ routine practices do in fact harass as well as harm the animals.”
But the defendants don’t agree and say they’re “prepared to refute the meritless allegations of animal special interest groups.”

Sonic Reducer Overage: Social Distortion, SF Bluegrass Festival, Eagles of Death Metal, Chinese NY dance party, and more

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February 4, 2009

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Wanna see my ‘stache: Eagles of Death Metal’s “Solid Gold.”

Confucius may not have approved of 1015’s big ole Chinese NY beat-down – but, hey, he never really knew how to par-tay. Here’s more fun schtuff that shoulda, coulda, but didn’t make it to print.

Delta Spirit
Northern soul and indie rock – just the combo for the San Diego unit. With Other Lives and Dawes. Wed/4, 8:30 p.m. doors, $12. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Origami Ghosts
Raul Sanchez hosts the contemplative Seattle indie-rockers at his monthly semi-acoustic Penny Arcade showcase. With Eyes, Il Gato, and Floating Robot Familiar. Wed/4, 8 p.m., $7. Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St., SF. (415) 647-2888.

Up the wall: “Bay Area Graffiti” transcends urban scrawl

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February 4, 2009

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By Juliette Tang

There is some seriously beautiful graffiti in the Bay Area, along with some unbelievably atrocious scribbling as well.

Photographers Steve Rotman and Chris Brennan want you to focus on the beautiful. Their photo book of local street art, Bay Area Graffiti, drops this Friday with a launch party at 111 Minna. The bomb tome offers 208 pages of stunning landscape photos, as well as in-depth artist interviews with major players like JENKS, ABNO, CHUBS, HARSH, NESTA, REYES, CYMES, APEX and more – which “reveal personal stories, insights into inspiration, and harrowing tales of agility, all in the name of getting up.”

From Bay Area Graffiti

(The Online Graffiti Glossary, explains “getting up”: “Originally, “getting up” meant to sucessfully hit a train. Now it means to hit up anything, anywhere, with any form of graffiti, from a tag all the way up to a wildstyle burner — although the term implies the process of tagging repeatedly to spread your name. Tagging something once would be getting up, but would not make you an ‘up’ writer.” Etymology!)

Many of the up graffiti writers featured in the book will be making appearances at the launch bash.

Local Artist of the Week: Josh Hagler

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February 4, 2009

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LOCAL ARTIST Josh Hagler

TITLE Golgotha (72 by 108 inches, oil on canvas)

BIO Josh Hagler has exhibited artwork in galleries in London, Toronto, New York City, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. He is the recipient of the Wildgift Movement Grant. In the spring of 2010, he will have his first European solo exhibition at Galerie Raphael in Frankfurt, Germany.

SHOW "72 Virgins to Die For," Thurs/5 through March 1 (reception Thurs/5, 6–9 p.m.). Frey Norris Gallery, 456 Geary, SF. (415) 346-7182, www.freynorris.com

WEB www.joshuahagler.com, www.joshuahagler.blogspot.com

Never fit in: Cynic mixes it up with extreme metal and avant-garde jazz

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February 4, 2009

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By Ben Richardson

Though nurtured in the humid birthplace of modern death metal, Miami, Florida’s Cynic never really fit in with its more brutal peers. Despite having played on Death’s pivotal album Human (Relativity/Sony, 1991), childhood friends Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert suffused their own material with the swirling melodic experimentation of ’70s prog rock and fusion, creating in Cynic a unique hybrid of extreme metal and avant-garde jazz.

Masvidal’s guitar playing was filled with haunting melody and lithe fretboard runs that drew on scales and modes not traditionally associated with metal, and his vocals, sung through a vocoder, achieved an eerie, otherworldly quality that fit the music impeccably. Reinert’s drumming abandoned the blast-beat bludgeon that defined the extreme metal of the time in favor of a creative, musical approach that fleshed out the band’s experimental sound.

Early demos laid the groundwork for their 1993 album Focus (Roadrunner), which quickly became a cult classic among those interested in metal that was challenging and inventive. Such listeners were few in number, however, and the lack of enthusiasm, coupled with the travails of the music industry and the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Andrew, led to the band’s break-up in 1994.

Masvidal and Reinert continued to collaborate, and in 2006, they announced that Cynic was re-forming. After playing a number of European festival gigs in the summer of 2007, the group entered the studio the record the long-awaited follow-up to Focus. Traced in Air was released in 2008 on the French label Seasons of Mist, and the outfit has recently begun a full U.S. tour as direct support for Swedish tech-metal titans Meshuggah. I reached Masvidal by phone as he waited to take the stage on the tour’s second stop.

June 2 special election gets a green light

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February 4, 2009

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By Rebecca Bowe

On Feb. 3, the Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 to adopt a resolution calling for a municipal special election on June 2, setting the stage for an epic ballot battle over budget choices.

With Supervisors Michela Alioto-Pier, Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd dissenting, the board approved the election, which will ask voters to decide on new tax measures in an effort to raise city revenues.

The election was proposed as a partial solution to the city’s looming $576 million budget deficit for the 2009-10 fiscal year, which Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi described as a “tsunami … that the city is being hit by.” The cuts will deliver painful blows across the board, affecting citywide health and human service programs in particular. At last week’s meeting, hundreds turned out to express concern about how deep cuts will leave some of the city’s most vulnerable populations at risk.

Ken Garcia’s cuts

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February 4, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

Okay, this is the sort of thing that really, really annoys me. Ken Garcia is against a June election, which is fine if he thinks no tax measures will pass and thus it’s a waste of money.

But then he says this:

The City doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. It spends wildly on public health programs and hospitals that most cities long ago curbed, and its health care costs and pension benefits spike around 25 percent each year.

So what the board must do, which it hasn’t to any formidable degree, is start cutting into the bloated bureaucracy our fearless leaders have created during the past 20 years, while the mayor tries to renegotiate labor contracts that always seem to sail through during election years.

And then cut. And then cut some more.

When people bloviate about bureacracy and cuts like this, I think they have a responsibility to tell us all, specifically, what they want to cut. It’s easy to talk about spending “wildly and public health programs,” but it’s another thing to say which programs, serving which people, ought to be eliminated.

I asked Garcia what his proposals were and he said he had no comment but would make some suggestions soon.

Frankly, this is horseshit. Half a billion dollars is a lot of money, and while I agree there’s waste at City Hall, there’s not anywhere near half a billion dollars worth of waste. If you don’t want to raise taxes, fine — tell us what you’ll cut instead. Or shut up.

Ask a Porn Star

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February 4, 2009

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In which super sexy porn people answer questions — each week — from Bay Area locals
By Justin Juul

Lorelei Lee

Fielding your questions this month is local celebrity, Lorelei Lee. Lee specializes in fetish porn (water torture, whips-n-chains, electrocution, etc.) and has a blossoming side-career as a writer. Check out some of her movies/pics here and then stop into The Makeout Room on Valentines Day (Sat/14) to hear her read at Writers With Drinks.

Read our 2008 interview with Lorelei Lee here.

Heather D: Does your vagina/asshole hurt all the time? And if not, what’s your secret?

Lorelei Lee: I do sometimes get sore, but more often it’s my back or thighs that hurt from being, for example, in squatting reverse cowgirl or pressed up against some uncomfortable object – like a desk or a table. I try to do some stretching before my scenes. Actually, it’s pretty much the same thing for my ass and vag muscles – you have to warm yourself up and make sure your muscles are relaxed before you let anyone else penetrate you. I warm up with my own fingers and plenty of lube. Other girls often use their own dildos or butt plugs that they bring to set with them. And we always use a lot of lube – you don’t see that part in the edited movie, but in between shots we are reaching for the lube bottle.

David C: Do female porn stars have fluffers?

In praise of pop poobahs Social Studies

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February 4, 2009

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Peerless pop: Social Studies at Hemlock Tavern. All photos by Jen Snyder.

By Jen Snyder

I used to have this ridiculous tendency to annually denounce everything I was into and hurl myself into a new persona. This resulted in a confusing metamorphosis from punk to hippie to goth to indie rocker to grunge fan to glam kid. It was entirely exhausting – what with all the costume changes and makeovers to my album collection. It takes a bit of growing up – and a touch of laziness – to realize that it’s really those standby good friends and classic tunes that really get your heart pumping. Like Social Studies.

On Saturday, Jan. 31, I found myself praising Social Studies once again for its commitment to just plain excellent pop music. During its set at the Hemlock Tavern, the outfit revitalized my love for its 2006 release, This Is the World’s Biggest Hammer, drumming out the songs perfectly. The show included all your old favorites, including the epic “Sparrow,” which twists and turns for minutes without losing any of its innovation and heat.