SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 441 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

PG&E’s blank check to exceed $10 million

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October 24, 2008

By Steven T. Jones

Pacific Gas & Electric has shattered previous campaign spending records by giving more than $9.7 million in cash and services to defeat Prop. H, the Clean Energy Act, as of Oct. 18, according to the latest campaign finance reporting. Is anyone else appreciating the irony of PG&E funneling its seemingly unlimited spending through the front group Committee to Stop the Blank Check? It would really be funny if it weren’t such a seriously duplicitous effort to subvert honest political debate and prevent the switch to renewable energy sources, leaving us with a PG&E portfolio that relies on fossil fuels and nuclear power.

The money is going largely to Mayor Gavin Newsom’s political team, mostly to Eric Jaye, who is spreading it around to various community groups, aggressive advertising, and paid campaign workers going door-to-door. They’re also spending tens of thousands of dollars on polling, and considering that the pace of the PG&E spending has increased since the last reporting period, perhaps they’re getting a little worried that people see through their lies and actually want a future of clean power and local control. The committee still has $1.7 million in the bank and unlimited reserves from PG&E, so watch for things to get even uglier in coming weeks.

But if you’re interested in deciding this measure for yourself, read your ballot handbook about what it will actually do and/or check out a new, fairly even-handed story on the measure from the Associated Press.

Heavy praise: Oakland band the Mass

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October 24, 2008

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THE MASS
Holocene 6
(self-released)

By Will York

There have been times when Oakland quartet the Mass have worn their Mike Patton and John Zorn influences a bit too visibly. Those inspirations are still present here, among others, but this four-song EP shows that the band has developed them into its own sound, one that deftly balances experimental quirks with quality metal riffage and sturdy songwriting.

The opener here, “Trbovlje,” starts off as a Sabbath-meets-Melvins workout before veering into a 3/4 instrumental breakdown with layered saxophones on top. The highlight, though, is the 11-minute finale, “Ilirska Bistrica,” a slow, lurching number that sounds a bit like the Melvins covering Meshuggah. At just over 20 minutes, this disc is concise and to-the-point. Well done.

Elsbernd argues Yes on H

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October 23, 2008

1

A great moment at the Miraloma Park Improvement Association meeting last Sunday night. The No on H team, including Hunter Stern, the flak for PG&E’s house union, showed up to make the case against the Clean Energy Act, but because of a scheduling confusion, Julian Davis of the Yes on H campaign wasn’t there.

So the head of the neighborhood group turned to Sup. Sean Elsbernd. You’re the supervisor, he said; why don’t you make the case for H?

Well, Elsbernd said, I’m not supporting the measure, but if nobody else is here, I’ll go ahead and explain what the Yes on H people are saying. He then proceeded to make an eloquent, effective and persuasive argument for clean energy and public power.

“Hunter Stern told me that was the best Yes on H argument he’s heard all season,” Elsbernd told me.

So there is hope for the supervisor for D7.

Sweet beat: Primal Scream packs its latest grooves with tasty melodies, duets

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October 23, 2008

1

PRIMAL SCREAM
Beautiful Future
(B-Unique)

By Todd Lavoie

There’s a standard snappy comeback which seems to inevitably follow the announcement of a new Primal Scream release. If you spend much time in the music-nerd universe, you’ve probably heard it somewhere. Hell, maybe you’ve even uttered the words yourself. It goes something like this:

“So, which Primal Scream will we be hearing from this time?”

I suppose it’s all in good snark, given that the Glasgow, Scotland, institution has thrown itself into frequent sonic overhauls and switcheroos over the years. Starting off in the mid-’80s as Byrds-y jangle-pop devotees, they’d adopted a harder, MC5/Stooges bluster by the end of the decade. In 1991 they had morphed into flower-hugging, Ecstasy-dispensing groove-lovers with the thoroughly zeitgeist-defining indie/dance crossover Screamadelica (Sire), an album which slipped acid house, dub, and even the odd diva anthem into the British guitar-pop charts and helped convince an entire generation that rock-culture and dance-culture need not be mutually exclusive.

PG&E knocks on my door

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October 23, 2008

6

And the PG&E canvassers reveal a key disconnect in PG&E’s
Don’t Sign the Blank Check campaign

By Bruce B. Brugmann

Yes, after covering PG&E since 1969 in the Guardian, I finally got a knock on my door in the West Portal area from PG&E. It was a telling moment.

Of course, it was not anybody from PG&E who knocked on my door about 6:30 Tuesday night. PG&E sent two young ladies, nicely dressed, both blondes, one standing at the top of my stairs holding a batch of forms presumably with my name and address on it, the other standing at the bottom of the stairs as backup.

Following the money, made easy

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October 22, 2008

1

By Steven T. Jones

The San Francisco Ethics Commission takes a lot of heat (some of it from us), but the employees there have created a great resource for easily following the independent expenditures that are seeking to buy the Board of Supervisors on behalf of the city’s wealthy interest groups, an effort that bodes ill for the San Francisco’s workers and renters.

Groups that include the Building Owners and Managers Association, Citizens for Responsible Growth (a new conservative group formed to counter “the left” that in an August letter pledged “an all-out attack with other like minded groups”), the Association of Realtors, and the Police Officers Association have spent more than $363,000 attacking progressive candidates and supporting their candidates in the swing districts of 1, 3, and 11. As the Guardian reported last week, some of that money originally came from other downtown players, including the Chamber of Commerce, Committee on Jobs, and Pacific Gas & Electric.

The groups aren’t legally supposed to be coordinating their “independent” efforts, either with each other or with the candidates, but the timing of their expenditures seems to suggest they are ensuring a steady, unrelenting drumbeat of political propaganda.

As the chart shows, the progressive supervisorial candidates — Eric Mar, David Chiu, and John Avalos — are also receiving some helpful independent expenditures from the San Francisco Labor Council and the San Francisco Democratic Party. So forget all these distracting nonsense involving Chris Daly, Gavin Newsom, JROTC, and prostitution — who are you going to vote for, the candidates backed by Democrats, environmentalists, and workers, or those pushed by Republicans, landlords, and big corporate interests? The choice is yours.

Streetsblog is joining SF’s transportation intellegencia

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October 22, 2008

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048-atransport.web.jpg

By Steven T. Jones

San Francisco is filled with brilliant transportation visionaries, people who can see how to reach a future in which we’re less dependent on automobiles and the system not only continues to function, but it’s better, cheaper, and more efficient than what we have now.

I talked to many of them for my story this week on sustainable transportation, which was part of our larger Sustainable San Francisco anniversary package. And if you’d like to hear more from some of the sources that I assembled into a round table discussion, you can download the audio of that session here.

There’s also some other good news on the alternative transportation front in San Francisco: StreetsBlog and StreetsFilms – which do some of the best work in the country highlighting progressive innovations in getting around – have announced that they’re coming here.

That’s great news for those who prefer innovative, action-oriented approaches of our transportation future, rather than the mayor’s approach of issuing press releases and then failing to follow through, or waiting for entrenched transportation planners to make progress on important priorities. And if you’re one of those brilliant transportation wonks, consider applying to be the local editor of Streetsblog.

Haruki Murakami likes Radiohead

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October 22, 2008

1

By Chloe Schildhause

Haruki Murakami’s discussion in Berkeley earlier this month could make a fan out of those who have never even read his work, but his sense of humor, quick wit, and sharp philosophy definitely enhanced one’s appreciation of his writing. Because Murakami allegedly hates having his picture taken, and because he only agreed to three interviews while in the U.S., I expected a reclusive, anti-social man, but he was full of laughs and charismatic.

Murakami’s interview with moderator Roland Kelts drew a sold-out crowd of over 2,000 people. Longtime fans got a chance to see the persona of the man behind great novels such as The Elephant Vanishes, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and the recent memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Knopf, 175 pages, $21). Turns out that Murakami is a man who likes beer and jazz and is obsessed with cats, refrigerators, wells, ears, and elephants.

A good pic of a man who hates having his picture taken

Mob Deep: A new definition of FlashDance

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October 22, 2008

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By Alex Jacobs

Skating up the Embarcadero on Saturday night after a long day of work, I noticed that something along the concrete stretch of the boardwalk was out of place. People, loud music, and colorful lights in front of Cupid’s Arrow at night?
A crowd of 50 or so dancers had assembled near the source of the action. There, among the flashing lights and blaring music, was the man behind it all: Amandeep Jawa, a software engineer and environmental activist armed with a MacBook, a two-speaker sound system, and a rather large tricycle christened “Trikeasuarus.”

Skidelsky: Can Afghanistan Be Won?

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October 22, 2008

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Here is an installment from Robert Skidelsky’s monthly column: Can Afghanistan Be Won? from the Project Syndicate news series. Skidelsky, a member of the British House of Lords, is Professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University, author of a prize-winning biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes, and a board member of the Moscow School of Political Studies.

Kipling’s Wisdom

by Robert Skidelsky

– Robert Skidelsky, a member of the British House of Lords, is Professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University, author of a prize- winning biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes, and a board member of the Moscow School of Political Studies.

LONDON – The beginning of October marked the seventh anniversary of the beginning of the American-led bombardment of Afghanistan. Seven years later, the Taliban are still fighting. Some 50 insurgents died recently in an assault on Lashkar gar, the capital of Helmand province. Osama bin Laden is nowhere to be found. Has the time come for NATO to declare victory and leave?

Recently, a French diplomatic cable relating a conversation on September 2 between the French ambassador to Afghanistan, Francois Fitou, and his British colleague, Sherard Cowper-Coles, was leaked in Le Canard Enchainé , a French satirical magazine. Cowper-Coles was reported to have said that the security situation in Afghanistan was deteriorating, that NATO’s presence was making it worse, and that the two American presidential hopefuls should be dissuaded from getting bogged down further. The only realistic policy would be to cultivate an “acceptable dictator.” Of course, the British Foreign Office denied that these thoughts reflected the British government’s views.

Ill Bill talks family ties, metal and hip-hop mixes, and Slayer swastikas

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October 22, 2008

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By Ben Richardson

Brooklyn MC Ill Bill, a.k.a., William Braunstein, recently passed through San Francisco, touring to support his new LP The Hour of Reprisal (Uncle Howie).

The album showcases Ill Bill’s formidable microphone talents, and the ex-Non Phixion MC spits hellfire over 18 martial sounding tracks, taking full advantage of production by such luminaries as DJ Premier, Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs, and DJ Lethal of House of Pain and more recently Limp Bizkit. In addition to appearances by hip-hop household names like Wu Tang princeling Raekwon, Immortal Technique, and B-Real, the recording includes contributions from artists better known in metal and hardcore circles: Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, H.R. and Daryl Jenifer of the Bad Brains, and Max Calavera of Sepultura.

Reached by phone from a stop on his continuing tour, Bill discussed the disc, being a new father, and the state of music and the world.

New projects: Ill Bill’s “Glenwood Projects.”

Norman Yee and JROTC

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October 21, 2008

4

I’ve gotten some calls and emails on our school board endorsements, particularly our comment that we couldn’t back Rachel Norton because of her support for JROTC. (Okay, that photo’s a bit of a cheap shot; she discusses her own position here.

Well, school activist Caroline Grannan asked me, why did you endorse Yee — who, according to the Chronicle’s summary of candidate positions, is also a JROTC backer. In fact, Fog City Journal described him as supporting the military program.

In our endorsement interview, Yee told us he would not vote to bring back JROTC and that he didn’t support Prop. V. What’s up? It’s a fair question.

I called Yee today and here’s what he said, for the record:

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

So there you have it.

The SF Weekly’s big lie

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October 21, 2008

4

By Tim Redmond

Will Harper, who insists he’s not opposed to public power, lashed out today at the Yes on H campaign. His claim: Supporters of the Clean Energy Act — including me — aren’t being straight with the voters about what the measure means.

Yes, Will: Much of what is in the charter amendment could be done without going to the ballot — if the mayor of San Francisco were willing. But with a mayor whose chief political advisor, Eric Jaye, is on Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s payroll, it’s a little hard to get any progressive energy policy done. Even if eight supervisors vote for, say, a study to consider public power, the mayor can do what he’s done with affordable housing: Refuse to spend the money.

And yes, it seemed to make sense to put together an overall ballot measure that included several things — aggressive clean-energy goals, an energy optioins study AND enabling legislation to allow the supervisors to issue revenue bonds for utility projects.

Harper insists that Prop. H is somehow misleading:

With the earlier power measures, their intent was always clear: Municipalize PG&E. Prop. H, however, conceals its true objective.

Um, I think if you read the Guardian, Will, you’ll see that we’ve been rather clear that this is a BOTH a clean-energy proposal and a public-power measure, and that we think that’s a good idea. The evidence is pretty clear that public power is the best (perhaps the only) way to meet strong clean-energy goals; PG&E clearly isn’t going to get there.

It’s true that the measure calls for a study on power options. If it hadn’t, then PG&E and its allies would be blasting the measure for mandating public power without a study. You can’t win with these guys.

As for his personal attack on me:

In various editorials, the Prop. H supporters at the Bay Guardian have made this seem like no big deal. The most blatant distortion appeared in its recent endorsement issue in which executive editor Tim Redmond proclaimed, “Nobody ever votes on revenue bonds. In California, we vote on general obligation bonds, which are backed by taxpayers. Revenue bonds are backed by a defined revenue stream…”

Actually, people do vote on revenue bonds. Seven years ago, San Francisco voters approved Prop. A, which authorized the city to sell $1.63 billion worth of revenue bonds to upgrade the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The defined revenue stream: San Francisco water users, who saw their rates go up.

Will, do your homework. In 2002, voters approved two things: A revenue bond measure for water and sewer projects and another measure that allows the SF PUC to issue revenue bonds without a vote of the people..

So we don’t vote on water and sewer revenue bonds. We don’t vote on airport revenue bonds, either. The airport is in the process right now of selling revenue bonds for the Terminal 2 rebuild; nothing on the ballot about that. In fact, the mayor wants to speed up the process. The voters have decided that it’s okay to issue revenue bonds for improving the airport and the Hetch Hetchy water system; all Prop. H does is ask for the same authority for clean energy and power projects.

There’s nothing secret about this (except maybe the SF Weekly’s position on the issue). Harper writes:

I’m not opposed to the idea of public power, but I don’t like being bullshitted.

Okay, WIll, now that I’ve cleared it all up for you, are you voting Yes on H?

SOS hearing: Stop the Mirant power plant!

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October 21, 2008

1

By Bruce B. Brugmann

Tony Kelly, president of the Potrero Hill Boosters, and Susan Eslick, president of the Dogpatch Association, have put out an SOS for Potrero Hill residents and others to attend a special hearing on the Mirant Retrofit issue, at l:30 p.m., Wednesday, City Hall Room 283, Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee.

The meeting is timely, just as PG&E is going allegro furioso with its multi-million dollar campaign against the Clean Energy Act (Prop H) and to keep PG&E firmly in control of city energy policy. Which would mean, if PG&E wins, PG&E would keep the city’s dirty little secret, the ruinous Potrero Hill plant, pumping away indefinitely.
Full disclosure: I see the fumes from the plant from my office window at l35 Mississippi Street.

Here’s Tony’s note:

It’s short notice, but we NEED to have as many citizens attend this hearing
as we can!
(Please forward this where you like.)

1:30 PM this Wednesday (10/22/08) at City Hall Room 263, the Board of
Supervisors Land Use Committee.

Mirant wants to continue to operate the big Unit 3 power plant (the tall
red stack) and modify the 35 year old diesel generators so they can
continue to operate them for many years to come. Supervisor Maxwell has
called in some real experts to testify about the real problems we will
face.

We must have a turn out PG&E and Mirant certainly will!

Contact me with questions, info, etc.

Tony Kelly
President, Potrero Boosters (Tonykelly@thickdescription.org

SF’s Lemonade move to NYC

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October 21, 2008

1

Lots of stuff in store for the SF group Lemonade – this just in from their PR peoples:

“Lemonade marries big beats with heavy psychedelic noises, while touching on elements of North African rai, dub, breakbeat, and samba and much more in their self-titled debut. The SF trio (soon to be NYC trio) is composed of childhood friends Callan Clendenin (vocals), Alex Pasternak (percussion) and Ben Steidel (bass), and they did not have grand expectations for the project outside of exploring their shared vision of a place that they have never been: a fantasy landscape that is at once gritty and pristine, tropical and foreboding. Their trippy, pulsing self-titled debut is out now, Oct 21, on True Panther.

“Hot on the heels of this much anticipated release, Lemonade is announcing the REMIXTAPE album this November as companion to their debut. The REMIXTAPE features contributions from Delorean, Lazer Sword, Ghosts On Tape, C.L.A.W.S, among others.”

A portrait of a musical migrant worker: Chris Arnold

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October 21, 2008

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chris arnold sml.jpg

By Sonny Smith

I kept seeing this guy at all the shows, always with the big Grizzly Adams-type beard, with a flannel shirt and cowboy boots. A tall man, long hair, large features. I met him outside the public library once. It was raining, and he stood there spouting some convoluted scheme to make art across the country. I couldn’t puzzle together what the hell he was talking about.

Every time I see him at a show he’s setting up little microphones all over the mic stand and the stage, and then video taping it, too. He’s got a big Samsonite suitcase full of digital tape. He’s probably got about one hundred thousand billion hours of live local music – not to mention video. The Oh Sees, Jolie Holland, Michael Musicka, Entrance, etc.

“I like the idea that music actually makes a difference” he said to me. “More than just a soundtrack to people’s lives. I wanted to shoot stuff and put it in the context of my life, the story of my own life, so the songs tell my story. Isn’t that what a mix tape is all about?”

‘Eh!’ Istituto Italiano di Cultura toasts a Tuscan ball game

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October 21, 2008

0

By Michelle Broder Van Dyke

Envision tennis without racquets – as the French name of the sport, jeu de paume or “game of the palm,” implies. Then take away the nets, like the tennis term “the line” suggests; Hold the five-centimeter ball in the palm of your hand and before serving always yell, “Eh!” And you’ve got Palla Eh!, a traditional Tuscan ball game played pick-up style in the piazzas of six hilltop towns.

These very small villages of about 1,000 residents have kept Palla Eh! alive and vibrant as a swift, spontaneous sport that brings the entire community together. The game originated in the 16th century and spread throughout the region, evolving over the years, but with roots that clearly demonstrate that Tennis and Palla Eh! share a common ancestor. The sport was formalized as it spread to Holland, South Eastern Spain, and Piemonte, Italy, but the rules within these Tuscan villages remain malleable, varying from town to town.

The game’s small, handmade balls are constructed from recycled materials such as couch covers and yarn, and are thrown or struck – rather then caught – with either a bare or gloved hand by facing teams. Games are played in the piazza of a village, a central feature in Italian towns, and the boundaries are marked with painted lines, but there is no net, and players can move freely between sides.

The two Colin Powells: Obama’s and W’s

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October 20, 2008

1

Colin Powell and Jeffrey Wright

By Steven T. Jones

It was weird to watch Colin Powell endorse Barack Obama for president on the same day that I saw Colin Powell (as played by actor Jeffrey Wright) help lead the country into an ill-fated war in Iraq, despite privately expressing all the right concerns and misgivings, on the big screen in Oliver Stone’s new film W.

Powell, the real one, was eloquent and insightful as he endorsed Obama on Meet the Press, in the process calling his own Republican Party to task for the nasty tactics it’s using to smear Obama. And perhaps the best scene in W is when Powell butts chests with Dick Cheney over the reasons for going to war as Karl Rove lurks in the shadows.

Mayor’s economic stimulus plan — huh?

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October 20, 2008

0

Gavin Newsom just announced an “economic stimulus plan” for San Francisco. Guess he wants to get in on the action.

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot in his plan that actually amounts to any local econic stimulus.

Here’s his first proposal:

Accelerate capital projects, such as the Terminal 2 rebuild at SF
International Airport, the SF General rebuild, the Transbay Transit
Center, HOPE SF and the rebuild of the Hall of Justice.

That’s nice — I’m all in favor of increasing public works spending during a recession. But there are a couple of problems. For one thing, the municipal bond market is in the toilet. The airport’s Terminal 2 bonds aren’t going to fly off the shelf right now. If Prop. A passes and the voters approve the San Francisco General rebuild, it will be months before the city can start selling those bonds at a decent rate.

And, of course, most of the money for rebuilding the airport terminal won’t do anything for local business. Those contracts go to big out-ot-town firms like Tutor-Saliba , which are not known for helping local and minority subcontractors.

Then there’s this proposal:

Increase foreign investment by establishing San Francisco as the premier
gateway between Chinese businesses and North America. A delegation of
San Francisco officials will go to China in November to set up a
“China Desk” to attract businesses to San Francisco.

You can ask any progressive urban economist what factors are effective in stimulating a local economy, and they’ll tell you that it starts with local investment, local initiative, local business. Seeking outside investment is a poor and ineffective subsitute.

Then:

Reduce the cost of doing business in San Francisco by reviewing fees on
businesses, helping local business take better advantage of federal,
state and local tax credit programs and implementing targeted tax
incentives.

Which fees is he going to reduce — and how is he going to pay for that? Cut the public workforce — in a recession? .

Finally:

Keep dollars local by creating more local jobs through City Build and
other workforce programs, expanding San Francisco tourism marketing
more regionally, revising parking and transit polices to make it
easier to visit San Francisco, expanding Neighborhood Market Place
Initiatives and Business Improvement Districts including the new
Tourism Improvement District, reducing retail leakage with the “Shop
Local” campaign, and increasing funding for business attraction and
retention efforts.

As if we aren’t already trying to expand our tourism marketing?

There are plenty of things that could help. I’d even argue that supporting Prop. B, the affordable housing measure, and Prop. H, the Clean Energy Act, would create jobs in the city for San Franciscans, keep more money in the economy and provide a sustainable economic stimulus.

But oh, wait — the mayor is against those.

Ammiano outs Joe the Plumber

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October 20, 2008

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Today’s Ammianoliner:

Joe the plumber comes out of the water closet, says vote no on prop. 8.

(From the home answering machine of Sup. Tom Ammiano on Friday, Oct. 17, 2008.)

Sparring with Garcia

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October 20, 2008

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I was honored to be a guest on KQED’s Forum with Michael Krasny this morning, but I was once again dismayed by the conservative political spin of Examiner columnist Ken Garcia, another guest on the show. Perhaps I should adjust my expectations (after all, Garcia works for a paper that endorsed John McCain for president) but it’s still so frustrating to be arguing about issues we should have settled generations ago in San Francisco.

Instead, progressives are still fending off arguments by Garcia and his ilk that Pacific Gas & Electric is more trustworthy than our elected local government (a ridiculous notion that PG&E is spending record-breaking millions to push), that decriminalizing social ills such as drug use and prostitution is the same thing as condoning and promoting them (as if “harm reduction strategies” pioneered in SF is a foreign concept), that creation of affordable housing (which developers won’t build without public subsidies that Prop. B will strengthen) is something the city can’t afford, that new revenue measures are also bad, and that the best leadership program we can offer our young students is JROTC (the main purpose of which is to instill military values in our peace-loving kids and recruit them as cannon fodder for our wasteful, unnecessary wars).

I think I held my own and hopefully offered listeners a better sense of this city’s full political spectrum than they often get from the mainstream media, but I’ll let you all be the judge of that. You can listen to the show here:

Obama and the SF DCCC

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October 20, 2008

1

So Kos reports that Obama now has so much money he’s thinking about sharing it with Democratic Party committees to help expand the majority in Congress. I’m good with that; 60 seats in the Senate and a strongly Democratic house and Obama (like FDR in 1933) would have the ability to take immediate direct action to get the economy going again — the right way.

Of course, if he has that much money, maybe he could toss some of it toward the San Francisco Democratic Party to help elect progressive supervisors, build affordable housing and pass the Clean Energy Act.

Britpop Faves: Fly, doves

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October 20, 2008

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By Daniel N. Alvarez

Part of a continuing series: Britpop Faves.

Something must be in the water in England’s second city. For a population of less than half a million, Manchester has spawned a hair-raising number of musical visionaries that are often as charismatic as they are brilliant. While the Gallagher brothers, the Moz, Ian Curtis, Richard Ashcroft, and Ian Brown may have stolen the headlines, three likely lads from Wilmslow, a Manchester suburb just 10 miles to the south, quietly built a sublime, glistening catalog.

Doves made a splash with their stunning debut, Lost Souls (Astralwerks, 2000), which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. While it didn’t take the award, it was a statement of intent, highlighted by “The Man Who Told Everything,” still among their best.

Approaching: “Here It Comes.”

Street Threads: What the heck are you wearing?

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October 19, 2008

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Guardian street photog Ariel Soto takes in San Francisco style.

Kisha, Crystal, and Gianna, Eddy and Divisadero

After my last few fashion seeking jaunts through the city, the styles seems to be moving towards fall, with boots galore and then a mix of almost all black and white, or totally color crazy. Luckily for us city dwellers, the sun is still shining here in San Francisco and we don’t have to completely cover up to fight the elements, or our toes for that matter, as many were still sporting cute open toed sandals. My favorite fashionista this round? Olive in her adorable purple pants. Whose style do you lust over?

Anee, Castro and 18th Street

Carol, Fillmore and Sacramento

Corey, Pierce and Post

Jamie, Sacramento and Fillmore

James, McAllister and Divisadero

Mayumi, Buchanan and Sutter