SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 444 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

High speed rail debated

-

October 8, 2008

By Anna Rendall

Lots of people opposed the creation of BART, but what would the Bay Area be if taxpayers groups and libertarians successfully derailed the campaign that created it in the 1960s?

That’s the same argument proponents give to Proposition 1A, which would build a high-speed train from San Francisco to Los Angeles, allowing riders to get from one end to the other for $55 in two and a half hours, after a nine-year construction period and the sale of nearly $10 billion in state bonds.

For the last 12 years this plan has had its caboose dragged all over the legislative map, and now that it’s on the ballot, it’s time to decide if California adopts a green transportation source that’s proven popular in Europe and Asia or whether its derailed by fears that it will strain taxpayers in the midst of a financial meltdown.

Thrills a-plenty from New Thrill Parade, Judy Experience at Bottom of the Hill

-

October 8, 2008

0

new thrill parade 2 sml.jpg
Skeleton crew: New Thrill Parade. All photos by Jen Snyder.

By Jen Snyder

I like to rediscover relics from my past. Whether it’s an old sweater left to die in a storage unit, or 20 bucks that made it through the wash, the reunions are always pleasant – mostly because you know you’re encountering something that you’ll like.

Similarly I remember seeing New Thrill Parade at a house show years ago during college. I recall a gothic, schizophrenic dog-pile best paired with sweaty air. When I moved I lost track of them. But guess what? They moved, too. It’s always fun to see what happens to bands that only hold reference in your mind as photo stills: the cast had changed slightly, but the scenery was better than I remembered. At Bottom of the Hill on Sept. 30, the outfit, which is now located in San Francisco, had some pretty excellent opening acts, too.

strip mall seizures sml.jpg
The new, new Strip Mall Seizures.

Kicking off the night was Strip Mall Seizures, another combo I hadn’t seen in years. I had been excited to see the klezmer-inspired punk band I had known and loved, yet as the first song ended and the second began, I began to feel like I was seeing a completely different group. I asked another listener in the crowd about my musical amnesia, and he said, “Yeah, they lost some melody but gained some power.” Then I realized that I don’t have a pair of Creepers anymore, and Strip Mall Seizures doesn’t play klezmer punk either. And you know what? I think we’re both better off.

Bomb(ers) away: Roller Derby 2.0

-

October 7, 2008

4

By G. Martinez Cabrera

I can see the Kezar Pavilion from my bedroom window. It isn’t a very attractive building. Its Spanish red tiles, chipped peach paint, and round arched entranceway make it look a little bit like those old stand-alone Taco Bells that were around in the ‘70s. As with a lot of buildings in big cities, you could pass by it a million times and never think about why it exists or why it matters or who it matters to. But like any old gym, long faded dreams of glory are everywhere in Kezar. You just have to know where to look.

This became clear to me after spending some time with members of the San Francisco Bay Bombers. If you’re of a certain age, you might remember the name. In the ‘70s, the Bombers playing at Kezar was an Event with a capital “E”. Roller derby was as big then as any other sport — some say bigger. Coaches and team managers who’ve been around the game for decades are quick to explain that in its heyday, the Bombers would get more television viewers for its games than the A’s, the Raiders, or the 49ers.

From the mouths of babes … and Bombers. Video by Jamie Moore and G. Martinez Cabrera.

Follow the JROTC Money

-

October 7, 2008

11

You might think that the main money behind the campaign to keep JROTC in the San Francisco United School District is flowing directly from the military.

You’d be wrong.

Think Gap, PG& E and the San Francisco Association of Realtors, instead.

They are among the top contributors to a political committee that is supporting Proposition V, which is the measure on the November election that seeks to keep JROTC in the SFUSD beyond June 2009.

Here are the top five contributors to Choice for Students, the pro Prop. V committee in the November election cycle:

1.SF Chamber of Commerce 21st Century Committee: $20,500.
2. Donald Fisher, Gap, Chairman Emeritus: $20,000.
3. Plan C, San Francisco PAC: $10,000.
4. PG&E Corporation: $7,500.
5. SF Association of Realtors: $7,499.

To put those figures in a deeper political and financia; context, check out the next top six largest contributors:

6. SF Police Officers Association: $5,000
7. Keith Phillips, Founder, Project Homecoming: $500
8. Gerald Paratore, Teacher, SF United School District: $300.
9. SF Chapter, Military Officers Association of America: $250.
10. Gwen Chan, Retired: $200.
11.. Elko Council Navy League: $113.

Choice for Students committee treasurer Quincy Yu gave her explanation of why these organizations are backing Prop. V.
“This is not about the military,” Yu said. “It’s about the 1,600 students who used to be served by the JROTC program, 90 percent of whom are minority students. It’s about preserving programs that work for our kids. If our school systems are not robust, they don’t attract middle class, who are then not going to stay in the City.”

With a son attending a SFUSD high school, Yu makes an articulate spokesperson for the Prop. V campaign, even if her own son decided not to enroll in JROTC, choosing football, instead.

Yu points to what she calls the hypocrisy of SFUSD buying food from the Department of Defense, while trying to drum JROTC out of town.

Which brings us back to questions of who really pays for JROTC to be in our schools. As it happens, the US Department of Defense pays 50 percent of the JROTC’s teachers’ salaries and 100 percent of JROTC’s supplies. So, even if it’s not making campaign contributions, the military does majorly underwrite the SFUSD’s JROTC program, all year round.

The real “blank check” — PG&E spends millions

-

October 7, 2008

14

By Steven T. Jones

Pacific Gas & Electric has already reported spending $5.23 million to defeat Prop. H, the Clean Energy Act, pretty much solely funding the ironically named Committee to Stop the Blank Check. And that’s just through the end of September, according to the latest campaign finance filing. With more than a month of blank check spending to go, PG&E is on pace to spend about $10 million to try to kill a measure that would establish renewable energy goals and call for study of whether public power might be the best way to reach those goals. That would make it the most expensive campaign in San Francisco history.

The major beneficiaries of PG&E’s blank check have been Storefront Political Media, the firm run by Mayor Gavin Newsom’s chief political consultant, Eric Jaye, and politicians such as supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Carmen Chu, who have appeared on the No on H mailers that have been clogging mailboxes for more than a month. But conservative political consultants Jim Ross and Tom Hsieh have also shared in this unprecedented payday, along with a variety of individuals and community groups. Yup, the checkbook is open for anyone willing to accept dirty money and a dirty environment.

Life training, the Maasai warrior way

-

October 7, 2008

0

By Michelle Broder Van Dyke

Maasai Warrior Sabore Ole Oiye, aka “Baby Giraffe” at Grace Cathedral on Sept. 27, with little giraffes

To see from other people’s perspectives, and to genuinely remember (or realize) that not everyone’s lives is yours, is a gift; or so says the late David Foster Wallace in a commencement speech I read the other day on the Guardian’s Promosexual blog, recited originally in 2005. Wallace stated that we should strive to see from other people’s perspectives, remember that we are not the center of the universe and that, in fact, other people have bad days, too. So, don’t feel so sorry for yourself. Or at least something to that effect is proclaimed by Wallace, but at greater length, with more subtlety and much more eloquence. As Wallace puts it: “I can choose to force myself to consider the likelihood that everyone else in the supermarket’s checkout line is just as bored and frustrated as I am, and that some of these people probably have harder, more tedious and painful lives than I do.”

Sometimes, though, you are adjacent to a world that is so different from the one that you’re familiar with that you don’t have to choose to remember that you are not the center of the universe, because the truth of the matter is staring you in the face. Instead, the importance becomes less remembering that you are not the center, but having to come to terms with and decide what you are going to do with this knowledge. Wallace offers an option, which seems still fitting for my own experience: “The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.”

Maasai Warrior Sabore Ole Oiye, nicknamed “baby giraffe,” towered above me at the Maasai Warrior Training at the Grace Cathedral a couple Saturdays ago, stating calmly, without even a slight smile in his eye, that he has killed two lions in his lifetime. Lifting his two-sided spear, Sabore explained that the blunt side is for throwing; the lion will first need to be declared TKO. The other side is razor-sharp, and ready to spear the lion. The Maasai warriors wear the mane of the lion home, and slide the tail over the sharp-end of the spear as they heroically return to their village.

New Maasai warriors are trained for six to eight years in “the bush,” the all-encompassing term that refers to the wild wilderness of Kenya, which surrounds their village. The warriors learn how to slay lions, which in a polygamous patriarchal society that measures worth in manes and cattle, is extremely important. A woman in the audience asked: “What reasons make you kill lions?” To which Sabore explained, “The main reason is to show that you are brave. And then your friends will say, ‘come and marry my sister.’” They also learn, based on the ancient ways of the nomadic Maasai, basic survival skills – how to protect themselves from wild animals and how to live off of the land.

Look what the free market does for housing

-

October 7, 2008

9

San Francisco has approved or built thousands of new high-end condos, and if the free-market theory is right, as supply is increased, rents should start coming down.

But look! They aren’t.

San Francisco is an utterly irrational housing market. You can build luxury condos til the cows come home and it won’t bring down rents.

Obamarama

-

October 7, 2008

3

The Barack Obama campaign will host a presidential debate watching party this evening at Temple Prana, 540 Howard near First Street, so come on down to bask in the lefty love as Obama fends off the increasingly desperate (and downright duplicitous) attacks by John McCain. Even Mayor Gavin Newsom will be there. The event starts at 5:30 and the action kicks off at 6.

Do we really need the Blue Angels?

-

October 7, 2008

19

Whoops, too close, everyone’s dead

By Tim Redmond

The Chron did its usual puff piece on Fleet Week today:

Windows will rattle, dogs will howl and a lot of people will complain about the ruckus. But those cries are traditionally drowned out by cheers from enthralled fans, and also drowned out by the jet engines.

I hate to be a killjoy, but there’s more to this story.

I’ll admit — I love cool technology, and the F/A 18 is a boss jet. I always appreciate amazing human skill, and the people who fly in the Blue Angels are phenomenal pilots. In the abstract, it’s a fun show to watch.

But this is a big city, and it’s a city with a big antiwar movement, and this expensive show of military might is really pretty ridiculous.

I got an interesting letter from journalist Rick Knee this morning in response to the KTVU news coverage. He makes some good points.

Fashion Hause: Liberals like fashion too

-

October 7, 2008

2

Style intern Chloe Schildhause talks trends and togs. Check out her last installment here.

Politics and fashion may seem like polar opposites, but much like lox and bagels, they actually go together quite nicely. To prove this point, to convince US citizens to vote for Obama, and to dispel the myth that progressives have no style, Environmentalists for Obama are hosting the fundraiser “Fashioning Change: A Fashion Show for Obama” on October the 17th.

There is no doubt that Obama is a fashionable man, with many comparing him and his family to the stylish political stars of Camelot. Michelle Obama is set to be a style icon as fashionable as the beloved Jackie O. Robin Gihvan, fashion writer for the Washington Post, said about the couples’ style, “Barack and Michelle Obama dressed for history…in a blend of the patriotic, the regal, the authoritative and the fashionable,” and praised Michelle Obama for “wearing a violet sheath with a wide black belt and matching shoes.”

The fashionable fundraiser will feature clothing by local designers such as Erica Tanov and Cari Borja as well as a silent auction, music by DJ Heco, scrumptious hourdevoures and plenty of Sangria. Donations are highly encouraged.

The latest mission? Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom

-

October 7, 2008

0

operation restore poster sml.jpg

By Brandon Bussolini

When the Guardian checked in with Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom two years ago, the quasi-annual, daylong music festival, organized by UC Davis student-run radio station KDVS, was in its fourth incarnation and ready to present one of the most ambitious lineups of its short existence.

Seventeen bands, ranging from Kid 606 to Michael Hurley, were slated to play, but just as 606 and hip-hop crew Third Sight were setting up – the bands with the biggest guarantees – Yolo County’s finest shut the proceedings down. “Some nearby residents complained about the noise level to the police,” writes Elisa Hough, co-organizer of this year’s O:RMF and a KDVS DJ, in an e-mail. “Everyone – even people who weren’t involved in the organizing – looked and felt so defeated.”

Plainfield Station, a Woodland country bar that has hosted O:RMF since its inception, is an unlikely place for this to happen: plunked down amid flat, tawny farmland, the nearest house is probably at least a mile away. But regardless of the small irony that crops up between its name and that incident, O:RMF is a provocative title in more ways than one. According to Rick Ele, a longtime KDVS DJ and veteran booking agent in Sacramento’s underground music scene, the name comes from a brainstorming session with former KDVS Events Manager Brendan Boyle and former DJ Joe Finkel.

Nevius: check your facts

-

October 6, 2008

1

by Amanda Witherell

Last week SF Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius waded back into one of his pet issues, homelessness, in a piece on the SF Streets and Neighborhoods workgroup. Convened by Mayor Gavin Newsom, the group is tasked with coming up with a few ideas to improve the street safety for a couple pilot projects centered around downtown. The group is stacked with local law enforcement officials, Newsom staffers, reps from the Chamber of Commerce and tourist groups, and a couple token homeless rights advocates, and the subtext of their mission seems to be implementing new quality of life laws, like a sit-lie ordinance, and double-strength enforcement zones that will further criminalize the already unfortunate condition of being homeless.

I reported on their last meeting here, a markedly different assessment than what Nevius penned.

Oh, where to start? How about the obvious: Nevius reported the wrong date of the next meeting. It’s actually going to be tomorrow, October 7 – though you wouldn’t necessarily know that since the group hasn’t posted its agenda. (Sunshine violation, anyone?) Anyway, Dariush Kayhan, the mayor’s homeless policy director, confirmed to me that the meeting is on Oct. 7, at 11 a.m., at St. Anthony Foundation’s offices at 150 Golden Gate.

Moving on: Nevius spins the group to make it sound like their work will be the first sip of a panacea long overdue – cooperation.

$850 billion reasons to vote for Sheehan

-

October 6, 2008

7

My brother called me this morning a bit upset. He runs a small construction firm in upstate New York and he’s bummed about the bailout bill.

“I think I’m the only company in the United States that isn’t getting something out of this,” he said. “I should be making wooden arrows or importing rum.”

And, indeed, as MSNBC reports, there are lotsa goodies in the bill:

Tucked into pages 262 and 263 of the bill, for example, are provisions that will aid the manufacturers of “certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.” The bill will exempt the arrows from an excise tax of 39 cents. There are also tax breaks for race-track owners, for rum imported from Puerto Rico, for worsted wool makers, Hollywood film and television production companies and on and on.

Cindy Sheehan is having fun with this; she and her pals took to the Hyatt hotel across from the federal reserve with a message:

Will Newsom debate Clean Energy?

-

October 6, 2008

1

The Sierra Club has challenged Mayor Gavin Newsom to debate the merits of Prop. H, the Clean Energy Act that Newsom and Pacific Gas & Electric are opposing. If Newsom accepts, the Commonwealth Club has agreed to host the debate at high noon on Oct. 23. No word yet on who would argue for the measure, but it would most likely be its author, Sup. Ross Mirkarimi, who is mulling a bid for Newsom’s job in a couple years.

The Mayor’s Office is treating the request like any other, with press secretary Nathan Ballard telling me, “We received this invitation this morning, and we’ll consider it along with every other invitation the Mayor has received.” It’ll be interesting to see whether Newsom, who is exploring a run for governor, rises to the challenge. His track record of helping local measures and candidates he supports is fairly dismal, and the case that PG&E (and Eric Jaye, the consultant Newsom shares with the corporate utility) has been making with regular mailers has been based mostly on alarmist lies and distortions.

Hopefully, an open and honest debate would help set the record straight, assuming Newsom has any interest in that sort of thing.

Fashion Hause: Green is (sometimes) good

-

October 6, 2008

0

Style intern Chloe Schildhause talks trends and togs. Check out her last installment here.

Though the green fashion trend has been growing in recent years, it really seemed to take off last summer, with brands like Loomstate, Anya Hindmarch, and Linda Loudermilk using hemp and bamboo materials, as well as catchy slogans, as part of a new design aesthetic. These brands are proof that eco-friendly fashion can be done right. But sadly, most of the clothing I witnessed at the Fashions With Responsibility-sponsored event late last month was less thrilling.

Vanessa Wolfe’s designs are green and good.

The other October 2

-

October 6, 2008

1

By Stephen Torres

For most, this year’s Oct. 2 will be remembered as the day of the highly-anticipated debate between Veep candidates (if it’s remembered at all). But for our neighbors to the south, it marked the 40th anniversary of one the bloodiest, and what many view as one of the most pivotal, days in Mexico’s history.

It was 1968, the year Mexico City was to play host to the XIX Summer Olympiad. Not unlike the games that just closed in Beijing, the choice had become a contentious one for the International Olympic Committee; as the games neared, it became increasingly evident that the country was under a constant state of unrest and protest. Stories began to circulate of disappearances and rampant political corruption as President Diaz Ordaz frantically tried to silence the dissidence (especially by the student population) against one party-rule, corruption, and the games themselves.

CBC columnist censored over Palin

-

October 6, 2008

0

CBC removed Canadian journalist Heather Mallick September 5 column about Palin after Fox complained

News that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation removed a Palin-critical column from its website after FOX News complained, got me seeking out the column in question to see what the fuss was about, ‘natch.

Just in case that link gets blocked, here’s how Mallick began her censored column:

“I assume John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential partner in a fit of pique because the Republican money men refused to let him have the stuffed male shirt he really wanted. She added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn’t already have sewn up, the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America’s name inside adn outside its borders yet has such curious appeal for the right.”

So, was it “white trash” that got FOX going? Or her following suggestions that GOP has irreparably messed up its chances of securing the Pissed-Off-Hillary-supporters’ vote?

“So why do it? It’s possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she’s a woman. They’re unfamiliar with our true natures. Do they think vaginas call out to each other in the jungle night? I mean, I know men have their secret meetings at which they pledge to do manly things, like being irresponsible with their semen and postponing household repairs with glue and used matches. Guys will be guys, obviously.”

Was that got FOX News going? Or the following?

“Palin has a toned-down version of the porn actress look favoured by this decade’s woman, the overtreated hair, puffy lips and permanently alarmed expression.”

According to today’s New York Times, “CBC ruled that its opinion writers had to stick to the facts even when they were joking around.”

(Now, if only Palin had to stick to the facts, and not duck the questions, during her one and only VP debate.)

Pics: LoveFest whirls and twirls (and sometimes hurls)

-

October 6, 2008

2

Photos and text by Ariel Soto

Love was in the air this Saturday as thousands of scanty and colorfully clad party people made their way down Market Street, accompanied by beats so loud it even made the side line spectators shake a few moves. As the floats went by, ranging from outer space tanks to pink elephants, the passengers threw water, confetti and even pink panties at eager voyeurs below. I swear there must not a single pair of fishnets to buy anywhere in the city since every person in the parade seemed to be wearing one or two pairs. [Ed Note — Word!] San Franciscans can’t seem to pass up an any opportunity to dress up and wear a pair of fairy wings. Remember, all we really need is love!

Those North Virginia commies

-

October 6, 2008

0

Gee, this campaign is getting weird. John McCain’s brother suggested this weekend that Northern Virginia is “communist country.”

But, ooh, they love Omama there.

Congressman goes to prison in drag

-

October 6, 2008

0

Whoa, this is special.

According to a story in the Pasadena Weekly, Rep. Dana Rhorabacher — a nutcase if there ever were one — has decided that Sirhan Sirhan was part of an “arab conspiracy” to kill RFK — and dressed in drag to secretly interview the admitted assassin in prison.

The fun thing about this is that there’s a large and active Sirhan-Shirhan conspiracy underground out there, folks who attempt to linke the RFK killing to the JRK and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations, the CIA, the Bay of Pigs, Israel, the Mob and many more shadowy characters.

And now we have Dana as Diana digging into this lovely mess. What a great country.

I

Catching up with ballboy’s chamber-pop poetry

-

October 6, 2008

2

ballboy
I Worked on the Ships
(Pony Proof)

By Todd Lavoie

I’ve never kept this a secret, but here goes: I’m a lyrics guy. Little surprise, I suppose, given my stats. I work in a bookstore. I’m a voracious reader. I’ve been known to throw words upon the page from time to time. I geek out over silly things like etymology and colloquialisms. Not only do I own several dictionaries, but I also have a shelf full of books of slang, quotations, and various other word-nerd delights.

Not to sound all Hallmark card about the whole thing, but words – well, they mean a lot to me. I am, after all, one of those saps who immediately yanks open the liner notes upon getting a new CD, scanning to see if the artist included the lyrics in the pages. As much as I love to lose myself in dense guitar washes or crunching synth riffs or blaring trumpet fanfares, ultimately I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the thrust of whatever is leaving the vocalist’s lips didn’t matter the most to me. As a lover of books who admittedly doesn’t read too much verse, I’m a sucker for lyrics probably because they’re the closest thing to poetry in my life. Hell, some might even argue that certain songwriters out there – Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, maybe even Joni Mitchell at times – are bona fide poets as well.

Now, I wouldn’t necessarily say that ballboy’s Gordon McIntyre is a poet, but he does have a knack for penning engaging, lexicon-loving lyrics. Ever since arriving in a shower of wordplay in 2001 with their EP-collecting, snarkily-titled full-length Club Anthems (SL/Manifesto), the vocalist has pulled listeners close to their speakers with absorbing tales of love, sex, and the burning desire for something bigger and better.

The dobro mastery of Jerry Douglas in all its glory on ‘Glide,’ at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

-

October 3, 2008

0

JERRY DOUGLAS
Glide
(Koch)

By Todd Lavoie

Universally regarded as the finest dobro player in contemporary music, Jerry Douglas has long been the go-to source for the most evocative of resonator-guitar textures.

Starting off as a session musician back in the ’70s and ’80s – and having worked along the way with everyone from bluegrass pioneers David Grisman and Ricky Skaggs to country artists as varied as Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Trisha Yearwood – Douglas eventually launched a solo career which established him as one of the forerunners of the burgeoning “newgrass” movement. Proponents of the newgrass sound wanted to expand the boundaries of bluegrass by drawing from other traditional acoustic-based styles – particularly jazz – and the drive to rescue the dobro from pigeonholing was certainly understandable, given the perceived limitations many folks had up until that point.

The instrument has been frequently, almost predictably, used in film and television scores to introduce a Southern setting – often rural and run-down in nature – thanks to its ability to fashion moods from its lazy slides between notes. Sure, its “we’ll-get-there-when-we-do” slides and slow finger-pickings easily summon up images of sweltering afternoons under a merciless sun. But the dobro can do so much more – and Douglas has made it his mission to prove exactly that.

Even Palin wants us to leave McCain

-

October 2, 2008

3

Gov.Sarah Palin gave the Democrats a great slogan, when she said “John McCain is the man we need to leave…I mean lead,” during tonight’s one and only vice-presidential debate. Classic.

Senate seeks to “orphan” more art

-

October 2, 2008

1

By Katie Baker

Thousands of visual artists wrote to Congress after the Senate passed the Orphan Works Bill (S.2913) on Sept. 27, urging their House representatives not to follow suit. As of now they haven’t, but the arts community is worried that the House will pass quietly behind the enormous economic issues currently distressing the country.

“Passing controversial legislation by this process, i.e. under the radar, is deeply troubling to say the least,” the Advertising Photographers of America wrote in an email alert last week. “Every Senator needs to be held accountable.”

The bill would deem “orphaned” any copyrighted work whose author can’t be located by a “reasonably diligent search.” Artists fear that vague standard could allow individuals and corporations to steals artwork for any personal or commercial purpose after going through the motions of search. The artwork could then to deemed part of the public domain, preventing creators from claiming ownership and compensation for their work.