SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 423 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

‘Crazy’ ’bout Alice Russell’s ‘Pot of Gold’

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January 20, 2009

ALICE RUSSELL
Pot of Gold
(Six Degrees)

By Todd Lavoie

At last – an American breakthrough. English soul vocalist Alice Russell has been belting it out for quite some time now: her first solo full-length, after several initial inspired collaborations, was 2004’s Under the Munka Moon (Tru Thoughts) – but somehow, scandalously, she never had an American label. Her trio of releases – the aforementioned Moon, along with 2005’s My Favourite Letters and 2006’s hodgepodge compilation Under the Munka Moon II (also on the British Tru Thoughts label) – weren’t exactly impossible to track down stateside, but they didn’t receive nearly as much attention as they perhaps would have with the support of a company on these shores.

Luckily for all concerned, this is about to change: San Francisco tastemakers Six Degrees Records recently unleashed Russell’s latest, the aptly monikered Pot of Gold. And yep, all of you groove pirates, there are riches aplenty here.

Now it’s our turn

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January 20, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

I was in Washington DC on a cold January day in 1981, when a guy named Ronald Reagan took the oath of office. There was no sense of hope; as many people were marching and shouting to denounce the incoming president as to celebrate him. We marched in the counter-inaugural parade, smoked pot in front of the DEA headquarters, partied in a basement with the Yippies … and it wasn’t until the next day that I actually read Reagan’s speech and saw the words that would change everything for many years to come:

“Government isn’t the solution to our problems; government is the problem.”

That was the official attitude in this country for a long, long time. Even under Clinton, you felt as if everyone in Washington was afraid to be promoting the public sector. Everything was about the indivdual, not the collective; everything was about reducing our dependence on each other.

And now, I think, after that attitude has pretty much wrecked the economy, we may be ready to change.

I listened to Obama’s speech with tremendous exicitement. And in some ways, he hit the right notes:

Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

But the undertone of all of this — the unspoken words in what was a good, but not exceptional speech — went like this:

The era when government was the problem, not the solution, are over.

Now it’s our turn — our turn to prove that it’s okay to believe in the public sector, our turn to prove that it’s fine to think that eveyone has the right to a place to live, the right to a decent income, the right to health care, the right to a minimal standard of living. It’s our turn to show that the United States can be a place where we ask the richest and most successful to contribute their fair share —

not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

Barack Obama isn’t going to do this alone. He may be able to show the way, he may be able to lead us in the right direction, and he’ll certainly support our best intentions. But it’s up to us now. We’ve waited a long time, we’ve worked our asses off and we’re finally in a position to do something. It’s our turn now. Let’s do it right.

Live from DC: E Pluribus Unum

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January 20, 2009

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The Guardian’s Paula Connelly and Becca Frank report from the inauguration. View our list of tonight’s inauguration parties here.

WASHINGTON DC — This inauguration is about being a witness. We’re here with millions of people, from average citizens to movie stars and politicians, a fraction of which have limited access to all the restricted seating.

It’s easy to feel unimportant. Much like the disenchanted voter who feels that his or her singular vote is worthless in relation to the masses, so too does standing in a sea of millions of onlookers. After all, we’re just two tourists from San Francisco here to witness history.

But when Anderson Cooper walked past us in a crowd and only a few people noticed and cheered, we got the feeling that we’re all equally unimportant and therefore we all can claim a certain amount of celebrity.
Earlier that afternoon, two middle-aged women from Houston stopped us to pose for a picture with them. We’re all special because we’re here to witness something much larger than ourselves.

All the locals who have friends in town are planning to attend the inaugural events. They admit it with a level of aloof interest, as though they need an excuse to find the gravity of it all enticing. There are also the locals who had long ago decided that the inaugural festivities were only for tourists and die-hards; complete with overwhelming crowds and extremely cold weather.

But the mood is infectious as momentum fills the streets. Everywhere you look there are giant scaffolding, fences and bleachers being erected. We can’t walk five feet without seeing police officers and Obama swag vendors and the roofs near the mall are all lined with snipers.

“We had fun,” W sums up W

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January 19, 2009

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By Bruce B. Brugmann

And so George W. Bush, after two wars, Katrina, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, the Israeli mess, and a deepening recession, after trashing the New Deal, the middle class, the poor, the environment, education, and the constitution for eight years, summed up his presidency at his final press conference.

“We had fun,” he said.

The rest of us inside and outside the U.S. didn’t have much fun during the Bush years. Bush ended up with a 22 per cent approval rating. Obama comes in with an 80 per cent approval rating.

Calvin Trillin, deadine poet, made the point eloquently in an epitaph for Bush in the Jan. 26 edition of The Nation. It was titled “The Way People Feel About the End of the Bush Administration And the Future of George W. Bush.”

Trillin buried Bush in two lines:

“So when he leaves we won’t be keeping track of him.

We’re just relieved as hell to see the back of him.”

Bush ended up with a 22 per cent approval rating. Obama comes in with an 80 per cent approval rating. The way people feel about Obama and the beginning of the Obama administration is one of the most dramatic and exciting things to happen in the history of the United States of America. The dreams of our founding fathers, and the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr., are being realized in Washington, D.C., in a massive, historic three day Inauguration celebration and flashed round the country and the world.

Let us savor the moment. And then let us get to work and keep the pressure on to see that Obama and his administration continue working to realize the dreams. The process will never end.

Ammiano corrects President Bush for the last time

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January 18, 2009

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Today’s Ammianoliner:

No, Mr. Bush. It’s Martin Luther King, not Rodney King. Can you learn anything?

(From the home telephone answering machine of Assemblyman Tom Ammiano on Jan. 29, 2008, the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.)

Kudos to “A Burning Opera”

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January 17, 2009

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By Steven T. Jones, aka Scribe

A couple months ago, when I heard first about “A Burning Opera: How to Survive the Apocalypse,” I rolled my eyes. Burning Man has inspired some very good and very bad art and for some reason I assumed that a musical telling the story of the event would hew toward the latter category.

Boy, was I wrong! I attended opening night and was struck by how this play – created by Mark Nichols, Erik Davis and Christopher Fulling-McCall – is both engrossing musical theater in its own right and a piece of art that truly captures the feel of the event and the Zeitgeist of its attendees.

The play’s central conflicts – humans vs. nature, ravers vs. punks, chaos vs. control, Larry Harvey vs. John Law (who sat in front of me and said he enjoyed the play about an event he helped create but left in frustration in 1996) – are deftly woven into a storyline that traces the journey of a trio of newbies and an event that has grown from a small gathering on Baker Beach to the most profound and enduring countercultural phenomenon of our time.

But this play would never use that last phrase. Yes, this musical is certainly an ode to something its creators love, but its strength comes for its clear-eyed, warts and all view of the event and its attendees. It skillfully walks the line between the Law and Harvey views and balances the event’s spiritual, silly and bacchanalian aspects in a way that, well, got me really excited to return to the playa this year.

And now, dear readers, the bad news: Its two-weekend run at Stagewerx Theatre is sold out. But executive producer Dana Harrison (dana@burningopera.com) says she’s looking for ways to extend the run somewhere here in town, so stay tuned.

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January 16, 2009

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Guardian team leaves to cover the inauguration

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January 16, 2009

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The Guardian’s reporter/photographer team of Paula Connelly and Rebecca Frank prepare to leave on Friday to cover the Inauguration. Being from Brooklyn (Paula) and Pittsburgh (Rebecca), they will have no trouble with the weather. See their dispatches and photos in the Guardian, the politics blog, and the Bruce blog. B3

It’s hard to be a man

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January 16, 2009

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By Jesse Hawthorne Ficks

Midnites for Maniacs programmer Ficks is in Utah checking out the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Here’s what’s gotten his attention so far…

“We Live in Public” trailer

Paper Heart, directed by Nicholas Jasenovec
Early on in this semi-mock doc, the actor Michael Cera, who plays himself, responds to the overview of Paper Heart by saying, “Just what America needs, another quirky comedy.” Cera, who has reinstated the term “perfect comic timing” since he appeared as George Michael in Arrested Development , is yet again awkward and hilarious in this sweet but fairly clunky trek across America, which asks real couples how they met, reinacts them with paper cutouts a la Science of Sleep (2006), and if ponders the question if love truly exists. The film’s lead actress — Charlyne Yi, the stoner girl who hangs with all the dudes in Knocked Up (2007) — also co-scripted this sure-to-be crowd pleaser. If only certain scenes hadn’t felt so forced.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, directed by John Krasinski
Director Krasinski — better known as Jim on The Office — also adapted the screenplay from David Foster Wallace’s story. The tale follows Sara (Julianne Nicholson), a woman who’s been recently cheated on, as she interviews multiple subjects of the male gender about their honest fears, fantasies, and frustrations. Krasinski’s film pushes through its similarities to Paper Heart (getting to the bottom of love) by taking its “personal interviews” to impressive depths about the male psyche. It delivers some pretty powerful moments.

We Live in Public, directed by Ondi Timoner
Fascinatingly addictive, this follow up to Timoner’s cult classic Dig! (which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2004) follows the bi-polar exploits of Internet pioneer Josh Harris. This man predicted every single step of the internet and the jaw dropping footage of his “experiments” are here to prove it. In 1999 he created a quasi-cult community in the basement of New York, in which people were given pods to sleep in, free food, drugs, and all night raves while every move was being recorded and shared. Even now, the uncompromising footage has the power to warp the viewer into his Orwellian vision of the future. But wait — that’s not all: Harris then goes on to rig 32 motion-sensor cameras in his house, creating the first website to stream his and girlfriend’s every life moment. I can’t express enough how awesome this film is, or how horrifyingly revealing of where our own society has headed. You wanna talk about the film of Sundance ’09? Look no further.

Finally, BART police oversight

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January 16, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

It’s taken three deaths, but the BART Board has finally taken the first step toward creating civilian oversight for its 200-member police force. There’s now an actual committee of the board charged with monitoring the cops, and BART Board member Tom Radulovich told us he thinks that the board may actually be ready to start establishing an oversight agency.

I have to say, I love cell phone videos. Best thing that’s ever happened to the BART police. I’ve been calling for civilian oversight for these guys since 1992, and since both of the prior killings we’ve covered happened with no cameras around, BART was able to duck. And since most of the BART Board members were, and are, pretty damn lazy, nothing ever happened.

But now the evidence is clear and obvious, and I hope that the protesters will continue to be vigilant and pressure the board, not just on this one killing but on the structural reforms we need to keep it from happening again.

Jess Brownell searches for the real middle

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January 16, 2009

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Jess Brownell searches for the real middle of the real middle America where the real Americans live. And he finds wisdom.

By Jess Brownell

Guardian publisher Bruce Brugmann has kindly asked me to produce a blog for these virtual pages. He is an old friend, and a transplanted Midwesterner, and he seems to believe, bless him, that people in the Bay area might benefit from the opinions of a cranky old man in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We’ll see about that.

Milwaukee, for those of you unfamiliar with it, is a place with piles of snow, enough water (for ourselves, mind you), and potholes big enough to engulf a Smart Car, if we had any. As for Wisconsin, it’s a relatively placid state that has never chosen a professional wrestler as governor (that was Minnesota), has never been infested by Romneys (that was Michigan), and is not required by custom to reserve a large number of jail cells for its elected officials (that, of course, is Illinois). People in Wisconsin have harbored a certain resentment towards California for surpassing us in dairy production, but given the current state of the industry, that hardly seems worth mentioning.

Newsom’s flip-flop on taxis

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January 16, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

Mayor Gavin Newsom promised in 2007 not to try to undo the system the city uses for allocating taxi permits. Now, he’s doing exactly the opposite.

In an Ocotber 3, 2007 letter to Nathanial Ford, executive director of the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency, and Heidi Machen, director of the Taxi Commission, Newsom outlined his support for a charter amendment that would allow the merger of the taxi panel and the MTA.

But in the face of concern from cab drivers that the measure would be the end of Prop. K, the 1978 law that allows drivers, and only drivers, to use city cab medallions, Newsom wrote: “We are not supportivei of an effort to merge the Taxi industry unless propert guarantees are made to protect Proposition K.”

The letter was also signed by Sup. Aaron Peskin.

So why is the mayor now proposing a measure to privatize the cab medalions, in directly contradiction to the 1978 policy? Wade Crowfoot, Newsom’s liason on transportation issues, tells me:

The Mayor has suggested exploring how to reform the taxi medallion system while preserving the foundations of Prop K. Such reform would involve auctioning medallions with proceeds directed toward enhancing taxi oversight and improving Muni. Importantly, the Mayor has suggested continuing to allow only working drivers to hold the medallions. This provision we believe is the heart of Proposition K– avoiding the the ‘corporatization’ of the medallions and ensuring that the working men and women who drive the cabs possess the medallions. Under this view, tthe auctions of these medallions would be limited to drivers.

Good to hear that he wants to keep the medallions in the hands of drivers — although that’s going to be hard to do when the permits sell for more than $100,000. But in my mind, he’s missing what’s really the heart of Prop. K — the idea that the valuable permits belong to the city.

Peskin doesn’t like what the mayor is doing, either. “My name is on a letter that says we won’t do this, and now Newsom is going back on his promise,” Peskin told me. “I mean, if Newsom and Peskin were both long out of office and somebody else came along and said I’m taking a new look at this, that’s one thing. But this was a widely circulated promise not even two years ago. You can’t do stuff like this.”

UPDATE: I just reached Judge Quentin Kopp, who as a supervisor in 1978 wrote Prop. K. His comment on the mayor’s position:

“That is absolutely not the heart of Proposition K. The intent of that measure was to treat [medallions] as a public asset, with a fee based on the cost of preparing an application. It’s preposterous to say that the heart of Prop. K is anything but that.”

Brown (Willie Brown!) for governor?

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January 15, 2009

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By Tim Redmond

I don’t think so, not really. The former Assembly speaker and SF mayor has never seen himself as a candidate for statewide office. But check out this missive from publicist and person-about-town Lee Houskeeper:

Tonight at PJ Corkery’s memorial in a room full of the usual San Francisco suspects Joe O’Donahue announced that Willie Brown will run for governor. I saw a smile come over his face. After the wake politico’s Don Solem, Annemarie Conroy, Ed Moose, and Warren Hinckle were buzzing that at no time during or after Da Mayor’s moving eulogy for his ghost writer did Willie deny O’Donahue’s statement. He left quickly without comment. . .

Okay, that’s not much of an announcement. But here’s what it is: A backhanded slap at Mayor Newsom.

Brown, who appointed Newsom to the Board of Supervisors and endorsed him for mayor, could have said: Nah, Gavin’s my guy. He could have said, If Dianne Feinstein doesn’t run, Gavin’s my guy. But no; he just smiled.

As if to say: Given the cast of characters, I wish.

Bicyclists sound off

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January 15, 2009

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By Steven T. Jones

San Francisco bicyclists have become increasingly pissed off about the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency’s decision last week to try to remove the bike lane at Market and Octavia. They’ve written angry letters, placed irate phone calls, and will tomorrow be holding a rally at the site during the morning commute.
The MTA’s argument that its needs to remove the bike lane in order to save bicyclists from cars making illegal right turns has been pretty much universally rejected by bicyclists, who say it’s akin to the Vietnam War tactic of burning villages in order to save them.
Meanwhile, city officials have definitely felt the sting, and they’ve repeatedly tried to explain the decision to the Guardian and others, so far without being terribly convincing. Will this protest do anything to thwart city plans to seek court approval for the change in a week? We shall see.

Super Ego: Nonprofit drag queens on fire

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January 15, 2009

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Wow, oh wow — not only is San Francisco’s premiere punk-mess drag queen Anna Conda hosting a very-special-guest version of her weekly Charlie Horse party this Friday, BUT she’ll then be retracting her greedy, greedy claws for a really good cause on Saturday afternoon at The Mix bar in the Castro. Sleeplessness!

Anna Conda: doin’ good, whatever it takes

She’ll be hosting a beer bust — featuring a gaggle of too-wild and possibly just-assembled drag performances — to help out Community Housing Partnership, a lovely local nonprofit which houses formerly-homeless people. For ONLY $10, you can mingle with the rock stars of indie drag and refill your little plastic beer cup as much as you like. For a good cause! Plus, a raffle.

Anna Conda’s Sublebrity Beer Bust for CHP
Sat/17, 3-7pm, $10
The Mix
4086 18th St., SF
www.sfmixbar.com

Robert Shiller: The value of recession insurance

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January 15, 2009

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When the 1990’s Internet bubble pushed markets to dizzying heights, one man warned of the dangers of this irrational exuberance, Project Syndicate columnist Robert Shiller. Schiller, a Professor of Economics at Yale and chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC, is the author of The Subprime Solution: How Today’s Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do about It.

Recession Insurance

By Robert J. Shiller

NEW HAVEN – The Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, Olivier Blanchard, and several IMF economists have proposed in a recent paper that governments should offer what they call “recession insurance.” Companies and/or individuals would buy insurance policies, pay a regular premium for them, and receive a benefit if some measure of the economy, such as GDP growth, dropped below a specified level. Such insurance, they argue, would help firms and people deal with the “extreme uncertainty” of the current economic environment.

Obama’s hat trick — The Bad Boy? The Shark Life?

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January 15, 2009

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Well, yeah, it’s that inauguration thingy coming up, and the world is awash in the fabulous commercialization of it. Obama’s lavish coronation has already saved the print industry, caused quite a t-shirt kerfuffle with MLK’s kids, and inspired a host of commemorative coins — just don’t ask where the precious metal’s coming from.

Really, lady?

Hell, you can even send someone an “inaugural toast.” No, not an actual piece of toast, but an real drink from a local bar. (OK, that one’s kind of cool.)

But we’ll happily buy into any inaugural gimmick that’s sharp — and also comes from our favorite SF millinery institution, Goorin Bros in North Beach, which has been around for, like, 300 years or something. The spin? Vote for the snazzy hat that Obama should wear!

Plus, you can get a 10% discount on Goorin mop-toppers if you enter promo code: Inauguration 2009 on the Goorin Bros. Web site. Truly, the audacity of hat.

(We’re not sure what will happen once the winning cap is chosen, but something awesome, we’re sure.)

Frantic fish on a stick: Bangkok pics

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January 15, 2009

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Bay Guardian photog Ariel Soto just got back from Asia — with some fab snaps, of course. We’re presenting her travel essay in three parts throughout the next week. First up: touching down in Bangkok.

Golden Buddhas

Lobster claws at a restaurant

I have major wanderlust. Take-off on an airplane gives me a high. I know I’m going to see new things, taste exotic flavors and smell unfamiliar perfumes or fumes. I never sleep on flights, even if the trip is over fifteen hours. I’m just too excited.

One of many wats

A mangled monk statue

Municipal ID program takes off

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January 15, 2009

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It took more time than it should have, but San Francisco’s long anticipated ID Card program took off today. Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, who authored the ID card legislation, helped debut the program by receiving his own card at City Hall today.

The card is all-in-one photo identification card that streamlines access to City services and offers discounts at local businesses. The card allows folks to establish borrowing privileges at the library and a family account with Recreation and Parks. Nine banks and credit unions have also stated that they will accept the card to open a financial account.

“The card will help a wide breadth of San Franciscans – children that don’t have a school ID, immigrant workers that want to open a bank account, and seniors that no longer have a need for a driver’s license,” Ammiano stated in a press release.”The transgender people will also benefit from an ID that accurately represents their identities.”

Bettye LaVette to perform at Inauguration, alongside Beyonce, U2, Mary J. Blige, Springsteen, and others

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January 15, 2009

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Let it reign: Bettye LaVette on the Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me.”

This in from Bettye LaVette’s people:

“Bettye LaVette is starting off 2009 with a bang by performing Sam Cooke’s revered anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come” at Barack Obama’s Inaugural Celebration kicking off at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, Jan. 18. A partial list of additional musical performers includes, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Usher Raymond IV, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, U2 and Stevie Wonder. Among those reading historical passages will be Jack Black, Steve Carrell, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx, Tom Hanks, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah, Laura Linney and Denzel Washington.

“At the moment, ‘Bettye is speechless.’

“HBO will televise the event on an open channel (Sunday, Jan. 18 live at 2:30 p.m. ET and 11:30 a.m. PT and later from 7-9 p.m. ET/PT), working with all of its distributors to allow Americans across the country with access to cable, telcos or satellite television to join in the Opening Celebration for free. It will also be streamed live on www.hbo.com. Since the actual event is free and open to the public, more than 800,000 are expected in the audience.

Don’t let the screen door hit ya …

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January 15, 2009

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… where the good lord split ya, as my ma used to say back in Detroit. So I pass on this motherly advice to G.W. on the eve of his “farewell address” (as if we could fare any other way once he’s gone).

Someday, some lucky historian will win the Nobel with her theory of what the hell just happened, and how our society went apeshit — just as we were gaining the scientific knowledge and technological connections to come together and actually fix the world. I’m really hoping this decade saw the last spasm of religious cynicism and entitled hubris, but I think we may have just dodged a Millennial bullet — with, unfortunately, more to come?

In any case, Bush is so radioactively tacky that even typing his name has made half of you roll your eyes and stop reading this. So instead of continuing into tired diatribe — and hey let’s remind ourselves that pretty much the rest of the world went nutso for the past eight years as well — here’s a nice reader-generated vid that may be a bit over the top and overly familiar, but with Willie Nelson on the soundtrack how can you go wrong?

Let’s all “peace out.”

W. Kamau Bell did first Obama joke on Comedy Central, ‘Bell’ keeps on keepin’ on

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January 15, 2009

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Jokes.com

W. Kamau Bell – Obama

Wavves play GAMH, sign to Fat Possum

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January 15, 2009

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wavves sml.jpg

Lots of news on Wavves front; for the Guardian review of Wavves, go here. This in from the Wavves publicity people:

“To avoid any potential confusion (and there is a lot of potential for confusion here) we’ll break this down for you nice and slow:

“* WAVVES has a self-titled debut album out now on the Woodsist label
“* WAVVES’ second album is called WAVVVES (notice the extra “V”)
“* Both albums have very, very similar covers
“* WAVVVES by WAVVES is being released on Fat Possum (not De Stijl, as we originally announced) on March 17, 2009

Super Ego: Holy Bass Camp, lazer lady!

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January 14, 2009

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I knew it. I knew it! This weekend is the first holiday weekend I’m gonna be in town for the past year — and I’m totally gonna blow my wad early and end up watching old episodes of Mad Men in bed, dutifully stoned. Why? Because Thursday night sees the launch of Daly City Records and ArtNowSF‘s ‘ new monthly Bass Camp at 111 Minna. And their bringing in all the big Montreal names in lazer bass, damn. I’m so lazer there.

Freakin’ Megasoid, freakin’ Lunice, freakin’ Hovatron — and a little somethin’ I like to call Lazer Sword.

All that, PLUS Robot Koch and Bass Science — with way-too-cute residents Mochipet, Epcot, Quitter, Salva, and MC Buddy LeRoy. It’ll be the blaps, y’all …

I LOVE LAZER BASS

Bass Camp
Third Thursdays, 9pm, $10 advance
111 Minna, SF.
www.111minnagallery.com