SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 477 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Duran Duran again again

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May 7, 2008

By Joshua Rotter

Call me overly-dramatic but Duran Duran have and will forever be my favorite band. They have been since I was five. That’s probably why one of my greatest regrets is opting for a Nintendo console over tickets to the “Arena” tour — what was to be the band’s final outing (with all five founding members) — for my sixth birthday back in 1984.

While seeing reformed lineups both onstage and at record signings in the 90’s, and even encountering John Taylor one fateful morning at the Noah’s Bagels that I worked at in 1997, offered some consolation, nothing would come close to seeing the Fab Five together again on their 2008 reunion tour.

All pics by Quartknee Kwatek

While guitarist Andy Taylor’s recent departure from the group may have sprinkled on my parade, I can’t say that their Bay Area Red Carpet Massacre tour stop at Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Concord May 2 suffered for it.

The three-act show, which debuted in late 2007 on Broadway, was highly-theatrical, incorporating all the necessary show-stopping elements.

There was unique staging in the band’s utilization of a simple skyscraper background and a variety of light sources — from stage lights to bulbs — to evoke a variety of moods instead of traditional video screens.

The musical numbers — from the darker tracks off their Timba-Lake-produced “Red Carpet Massacre” (2007) like bass-heavy opener “The Valley”, beat-driven “Night-Runner” and hip pop number “Skin Diver” complete with Timbaland rapping loop to rearrangements of the band’s lighter classics such as “Hungry Like the Wolf”, “The Reflex” and “Rio” — were mixed gorgeously.

The mid-section of the show was run entirely on synthesizers and drum machines, so
tracks like “Last Chance on the Stairway” “All She Wants Is” and “I Don’t Want Your Love” became even more electro-shocked, blending seamlessly with the band’s cover of The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette”.

Josh and the boys

Clubs: Cross-dressed Monster Salad

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May 7, 2008

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The storied Metro Bar in the Castro moved down the street to Church and Market a while ago (the old space became the suspiciously Metro-alike Lookout) — and people worried for its future. Luckily, the minds behind the Metro are sharp enough to know they need a draw, and the new Metro has already become a premiere trash-drag venue (multiple Joan Crawford tribute nights aside.)

It’s even managed to lure one of San Francisco’s bloody, beloved drag traditions, The Cookie Dough Monster Show, run by Cookie Dough herself (with her cute DJ partner MC2), from its pleasant perch at Harvey’s.

The biweekly Saturday night drag-stravaganza may be big on low-budget thrills, but its offal-covered heart is always in the right place. This Saturday, May 10, features the freakishly unexplainable House of Salad, whom I adore. These underaged children will grow up to be starz someday, I tell you — starz.

Hillary Clinton, CTD

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May 7, 2008

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Among the most fascinating items in a day when the pundits declared the race over, no less than George McGovern told Clinton to drop out and Drudge reported that superdelegates don’t want to meet with her: CNN says Dianne Feinstein, a superdelegate and Clinton loyalist, has been trying to reach the candidate for two days and can’t get her calls returned.

I saw Hillary on TV last night vowing to fight on, and talking about seating the Michigan and Florida delegations, which would tear the Democratic convention apart and almost hand the election to McCain. But the Clinton campaigning is clearly circling the drain. She’s canceled all public appearances today; maybe she’s getting ready to do the right thing for the party and call it quits.

My Bloody $50

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May 7, 2008

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OK, yeah, I realize that after a 15 year absence or whatever, every one of chthonic “shoegaze” (ugh) legends My Bloody Valentine‘s fans are supposedly middle-aged Google coders now (or parking Daddy’s Pagani Zonda C12S outside Popscene on Thursdays). But $47.50 plus “handling” for their hopefully triumphant and thalassically massive comeback appearance at the Concourse on September 30? What am I, Jarvis Cocker?

Rollin’ and gazin’

Still, when I saw them in ’89 (?) they ripped my world apart. And the ceiling of the club actually rained down plaster from their ampage. I’m gladly going to fund Kevin Shields’s apparently still raging extasy habit. Fuck my dreams of front-row Cher in Vegas — bring on the luxury Googe!

Obligatory vid of “Soon” by MBV here:

Oaklanders pissed about robberies

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May 7, 2008

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Just got a call from the folks over at Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles in Oakland. They’re involved with a press conference that will take place today at noon calling on the city of Oakland to deal with a spate of recent aggressive robberies on Grand Avenue. Uhuru endured a takeover robbery on Sunday that left eight customers and two employees short of $1,000 in cash. Silver Screen Video at 3850 Grand Ave. has been robbed twice recently, as has Grand-Piedmont Liquors.

The press conference will be held at Uhuru, 3742 Grand Avenue, in Oakland.

“We recognize that the robbery at Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles and the increased robberies of Oakland businesses go hand in hand with the sharp escalation of desperate poverty of Oakland’s black community,” store coordinator Joel Hamburger said in a presser. “Although we denounce this attack on our nonprofit work, we are calling on the city to respond in a way that will not exacerbate the terrible conditions in the African community but address the root causes of crime and poverty.”

Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles is a nonprofit project of the African People’s Education and Defense Fund (APEDF) that relies on support from community donations. Residents are mad about the robberies, but organizers of today’s press conference want the city to respond by improving economic development in the neighborhood.

How many San Franciscans are there?

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May 6, 2008

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The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there were about 765,000 people living in San Francisco last year, down from about 777,000 in 2000. But a pro business non-profit group called Social Compact came out with a study a few months ago that claims our population is closer to 865,000 — and that we’re wealthier than official estimates because of our underground economy and other factors — so Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced that he’s challenging the Census figures to try to get us some more money.

“Every San Franciscan counts, and I am serious about ensuring San Francisco receives our fair share of federal
and state funding and attention,” Newsom said in a press release that went out less than an hour ago. “We can use this new data to attract high quality retailers to our under-served markets and make sure we develop the neighborhoods that have been unfairly under-counted.”

Erin Brockovich hits Lennar in South Carolina

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May 6, 2008

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Seems that Erin Brockovich is testing levels of methane and hazardous chemicals at a Lennar housing complex in South Carolina. The EPA previously tested the site and claimed all was well, but Brockovich is challenging those results. Hardly the kind of sound bite that Lennar’s well-financed Prop. G supporters in San Francisco were hoping for.

The Nation

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May 6, 2008

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Click here to read The Nation’s article, Our Lapdog Media.

Click here to read The Nation’s article, Mickey Mouse Media.

Africa adopts U2

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May 6, 2008

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By Todd Lavoie

Vieux Farka Touré, “Bullet the Blue Sky”

Oh, U2 — they might not have changed the world as much as they’d hoped (or, not yet, anyway), but at least they’ve made it a warmer, more hopeful place, yes? Hard to fathom a band more deserving of the tag “global phenomenon,” but there it is, slapped upon every stirring chorus and grand sweeping gesture from Bono’s anointed fingers — the sheer enormousness of it all would be mighty hard to take if the guys didn’t have the goods to back it up. But they do, and what’s more, they’ve kept the flow for longer than some listeners have even been alive — to whom else on the international airwaves could we ever say such a thing? Michael Jackson? Once upon a time, sure, but not anymore. Mariah Carey? Please. And you’d best bite that lip before suggesting Britney! But honestly: has anyone else in modern-day rock/pop ubiquity had the same level of social impact as U2? For all of the mumbles and grumbles about Bono’s perceived messiah-complex, it’s worth remembering that he and his mates have pushed far beyond the familiar celebrity-pose of half-hearted idealism in favor of honest-to-goodness optimism, championing countless causes with honest-to-goodness conviction. Take that, Ms Spears.

Further testimony can be found on the recently-released In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 (Shout! Factory). An intriguing collection of interpretations from U2’s catalogue by some of the continent’s most notable musicians, the disc serves as more than just a reminder of the band’s utmost uber-importance — this tribute also offers fresh insight into their unimpeachable songwriting skills. Language barriers? Pshaw! How nineteenth century!

Peaker Plan moving forward

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May 6, 2008

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Early Monday morning about a hundred citizens gathered in front of City Hall to protest the construction of two natural gas-burning “peaker” power plants in the city — one at the airport and one in the Bayview/Portero district. Representatives opposed to the plan, from a coalition of 20 different environmental and social justice organizations, articulated in so many ways that San Francisco should be moving toward green energy and away from fossil fuels.

Then the crowd, about 100 strong, filed inside to speak their minds about it at a Government Audit and Oversight Committee hearing — last stop for the plan before it heads to the full Board of Supervisors. But 10 hours later, only a handful of people were still in the room when the chance to speak was finally given.

The insanely long hearing had a loaded agenda, with topics ranging from funding the airport to defunding Edgewood foster care center, not to mention six separate bits of legislation related to the peaker power plants. The public comment requests were piled high and proceedings slammed to a halt during Item #5 when Stephanie Gates, a rep for Edgewood, fainted to the floor in the middle of her testimony about foster care in San Francisco.

It was well into the evening and most of the audience had left for home or work by the time talk finally turned to the peakers.

Who’s afraid of public nudity?

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May 5, 2008

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George Davis, the naked former mayoral candidate , was arrested again — on May Day, no less — and has reached a scientific conclusion:

“From my field experience with public nudity, I can state that the only people who have emotional problems with public nudity are angry people, excessively authoritarian personalities, and fundamentalist religious nut cases.”

Oh, and he thinks Pope John Paul II was a big fan of nudity.

You can read his entire letter after the jump.

Ammiano: Yearning for Zion

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May 5, 2008

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Today’s Ammianoliner:

Yearning for Zion, PG@E’s attempt to greenwash.

(From the home telephone answering machine of Sup. Tom Ammiano on Monday, May 5, 2008.) B3

Pics: Protest at the ICE

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May 5, 2008

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Photos and text by Ariel Soto

At the San Francisco Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office an emergency protest and a call for justice was held on May 5th in a response to condemn last week’s raids where 60 immigrant workers were detained by the ICE. People gathered at the protest to call an end to these raids that tear apart families and criminalize the important work immigrants are doing in the community. Of the 60 workers who were arrested, some have been released, but must wear an electric ankle bracelet while they wait for deportation hearings. “Estamos aquí y no nos vamos” (“We are here and we’re not leaving”) was one of the many slogans chanted by the passionate and diverse group of protesters at the event.

Participating organizations included: East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, Bay Area Immigrant Right Coalition, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Pride at Work, and San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network.

Pics: Reliving Coachella — Chromeo, Fatboy Slim, A-Trak

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May 5, 2008

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Hell yeah we’re still hungover and sunburnt. That’s why this is a week late. Fab photog Tommy Brockert captured the sites and moods of Coachella 2008. This is part one. Rawk.

Burning Man fave Big Rig Jig centered the fest

The boys of Chromeo slice the backhand

Oakland/Sacramento natives Wallpaper made their own lineup in the parking lot

SPORTS: Billy Ball, where have you gone?

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May 5, 2008

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By A.J. Hayes

Somewhere, maybe in a moldy gym locker or a clandestine liquor cabinet, a brilliant game plan for big league success has sat untouched for more than a quarter century.

Were talking about “Billy Ball,” the late Billy Martin’s blueprint for righting the ship of moribund baseball franchises. It was last used in Oakland in the early 1980s.

The A’s were the last team of dubious talent that Martin managed to meld into winners. He took an Oakland club that had lost 109 games in 1979 and led them to the American League Championship Series within two seasons with essentially the same personnel.

Martin may have been a kook of momentous proportions, a guy who drank and fought like a pirate – a real pirate, not the Pittsburgh variety. But he knew how to light a fire under a ball club and get it back on the winning track.

Billy took four major league clubs with losing records (Minnesota, Detroit, Texas and Oakland) and turned them instantly into winners. He also increased attendance by his presence alone – and what percentage of ticket sales do you think current A’s manager Bob Geren and Giants skipper Bruce Bochy are responsible for?

Employing a ramped up style that resembled sand-lot ball (some would prefer the term “bush league”) Martin led clubs would blitz opponents by using everything from double steals and hidden ball tricks to literally falling down on the job.

“My favorite was the ‘first and third play,” recalled Shooty Babitt, an infielder on Martin’s 1981 Oakland club. “Billy loved to steal home. So if he had runners on first and third would have a guy like Wayne Gross, who was probably the least athletic guy on the club, take a good lead off first and then suddenly fall down. Right, away and the pitcher would throw to first base and the guy at third would walk right in. We thought he was crazy when he told us to do that, but lo and behold we scored a few runs by doing that.”

Once a particular recipe for success has worked in professional sports – Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense, for example – other teams desperate for a winner will run it into the ground. So why it is that no one has adopted Martin’s strategies?

One word: fear.

The Cinco skinny: Drop that Corona

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May 5, 2008

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By Justin Juul

Hey! Learn some history, dude.

I don’t know exactly how you’re going to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year (or have celebrated it already) , but odds are it’s going to involve excessive drinking, a BBQ grill, and a few of your close friends. I mean that’s what it’s all about right? Drinking Mexican beer in the sun? Well, the simple answer is yes. Cinco de Mayo is one of those holidays, like St Patrick’s Day and Easter, that most Americans use as another excuse to drink beer when they should be working. But have you ever wondered what it’s really all about? I mean, the fifth of May wasn’t just picked randomly by The Corona Corporation was it? The date must signify something.
After a long weekend of cerveza and sun, The Guardian got to feeling a little guilty about its ignorant participation in the traditional (and early) Cinco de Mayo celebration at Dolores Park and decided to ask Paul Ortiz, professor of Latino/African American History at UC Santa Cruz and author of Emancipation Betrayed, to share his insights on the holiday.

SFBG: What exactly is Cinco de Mayo a celebration of?

Paul Ortiz: Cinco de Mayo commemorates the victory of a Mexican militia force over Napoleon III’s army at The Battle of Puebla in 1862. France sought to take advantage of a nation still reeling from the impact of The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the resulting internal strife. The French planned to install a puppet dictatorship in Mexico and they landed their imperial army in the state of Veracruz to implement this plan. The French expected little or no opposition. Instead, the Mexican people organized a volunteer militia and met the French expeditionary force near Puebla.

The Mexican soldiers were outnumbered and faced troops with superior military training and leadership. In spite of this, these citizen soldiers prevailed over the French and defeated them on the field of battle.

The remarkable victory at Puebla provided a much-needed sense of pride to an embattled nation. The French defeat also prevented Napoleon III from intervening in the U.S. Civil War on the side of the Confederate States of America. After the end of the Civil War, the U.S. assisted Mexico in expelling the remaining French occupying forces. Thus, Cinco de Mayo is a truly American day of celebration!

SFBG: I heard they don’t really celebrate the holiday in Mexico. If that’s true, then why do we celebrate it here?

Tipping your waiter health coverage

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May 5, 2008

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Here’s another example of a restaurant passing on the cost of Healthy San Francisco to its patrons. The lady and I had brunch at the Slow Club in the Mission on Saturday and this is our bill. Healthy San Francisco is the program created by Sup. Tom Ammiano to reach the more than 73,000 uninsured San Franciscans with a reasonably inexpensive form of health insurance.

The program is tied up in federal court right now because restaurants have sued arguing that it’s illegal for local governments to require employers to fund health insurance for their employees, which Healthy San Francisco does. About 19,000 San Franciscans had already signed up for the plan by last week and on Wednesday about 13,000 more were added as local businesses met a deadline for registering with the program.

Part of the idea is that without insuring more Americans, you and I pay for it each time someone who lacks coverage ends up making a costly emergency room visit at a public hospital with a preventable disease, illness or injury because they couldn’t access advance treatment, mental health assistance or any other type of care before they reached a tipping point. This program might actually prove that if the government extends coverage to more people who haven’t traditionally received it, we may all save money in the end.

For now, you’re stuck with the bill while the restaurant industry sues to ignore the true cost of our robust local economy.

SFIFF: A magic act from Claude Chabrol

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May 4, 2008

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Jeffrey M. Anderson looks at the latest sinister magic act from veteran auteur Claude Chabrol:

Claude Chabrol’s A Girl Cut in Two is about as good as any of his films, which is to say, it is highly skilled and hugely entertaining. Yet it will probably come and go fairly quickly. Chabrol made his fiftieth film a few years back, and when you make your fiftieth film, no one cares. If the Coen Brothers or Paul Thomas Anderson live long enough to make fifty films, just see if anyone notices. If the quality of their films falls, people will complain, but if it stays the same, they’ll be taken for granted, just like Chabrol. I guarantee it. Look at Ingmar Bergman. He cracked fifty films, and when his last, the great Saraband, opened in 2005, people could scarcely be bothered to even yawn.

Since Claude Chabrol has fewer unlicensed YouTube clips than feature films to his name, this still from A Girl Cut in Two will have to do

In any case, Chabrol’s A Girl Cut in Two tells the story of a love triangle. Beautiful, ambitious television weather girl Gabrielle (Ludivine Sagnier) falls for the much older, but successful, married writer Charles Saint-Denis (François Berléand). At the same time, a snotty, rich younger man, Paul (Benoît Magimel) is swept away by her and is even more intrigued by her utter indifference to him. The strong characters show at least two sides, slyly seducing one another while selfishly scheming. Chabrol moves the story ahead with a deceptively deft combination of humor and suspense. And of course, there’s more. It just wouldn’t be a Chabrol film if there weren’t a murder or something equally sinister.

A Girl Cut in Two screens Tues/6, 9:30 p.m. at the Clay.

SFIFF: The umbrellas of China

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May 4, 2008

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Jennique Mason weighs in on Du Haibin’s Umbrella, also featured in Jeffrey M. Anderson’s ‘SFIFF, day ten’ diary:

Director Du Haibin reveals the gap between labor and commodity in his modern-day documentary odyssey Umbrella. Beginning with the actual construction of mass-produced umbrellas in an urban factory, Du traces the product’s journey as it becomes increasingly divorced from its origins. He juxtaposes the tedium and repetition of factory work with the mindless chatter of umbrella merchants’ wives who shamelessly lust after Audis and BMWs.

Can you stand under an umbrella?

Umbrella complicates these relationships with one beautiful shot after another. As factory workers, students and soldiers all attempt to shed their agricultural heritage, they find there are no guarantees in a consumer-based society. In creating a vast societal portrait through his focus on umbrellas, Du pulls off the rare feat of capturing the ephemeral. Umbrella takes modern life to its logical conclusion, succinctly stated by an auctioneer-type host at a job fair cattle call: “You go to school, so you can get a job, so you can make money, so you can buy a home, so you can start a family and send your children to school.”

Umbrella screens Thurs/8, 8:30 p.m. at the Kabuki

SFIFF, day ten: Cachao and the wow of Still Life

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May 4, 2008

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By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Last night, Maria Bello accepted her Peter J. Owens award and hosted a screening of her new film Yellow Handkerchief. I haven’t seen that film yet, but Bello will always have a place in my heart for her fearless performance in David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence (2005).

If you saw Buena Vista Social Club at the festival in 1999 and Calle 54 at the festival in 2001, then you may be familiar with the music of Israel ‘Cachao’ Lopez, the great Cuban songwriter and bassist who helped bring the mambo to popularity. The new Cachao: Uno Mas arrives just in time, given that Cachao passed away two months ago at the age of 89. It would be great to report that this 68-minute documentary was a worthy farewell, but it’s far too brief and it breaks the cardinal rule of music films: it interrupts the songs with talking heads.

Cachao: Uno Mas talk at SFIFF

World Press Freedom Day

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May 3, 2008

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To learn more about World Press Freedom Day, click on the links below:

http://www.worldpressfreedomday.org/

http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/freedom.html

http://www.freemedia.at/Heroes_IPIReport2.00/00Heroes_index.htm

http://www.rsf.org/

How Weird, hell yeah!

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May 2, 2008

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07-hw-me,ro,ma.jpg
Photo by mvgals.net
How Weird Street Faire is the best annual party in San Francisco, bar none, particularly on days like this Sunday when the sun is scheduled to shine brightly. I’ll be among thousands of people dancing my ass off to some of this city’s best DJs and generally mixing it up in a way that I’ll probably regret on Monday, particularly with the plethora of cool after parties around the epicenter of Howard and 2nd streets. The fair shuts down at 6 p.m., an unfortunate cut-off that the city first imposed last year, so get there around noon-ish and don’t forget the sunscreen.
DJs lineups on the flip…

ICE raids San Francisco restaurants

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May 2, 2008

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We’re receiving early reports from the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition that federal immigration officials have raided restaurants around the Bay Area and are arresting undocumented workers including in the Haight. So much for our sanctuary city “awareness campaign” that San Francisco launched in April. Limited details below.

*ENGLISH VERSION*
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 02, 2008

Contact:
Evelyn Sánchez, (415) 572-0639, evelyn@immigrantrights.org
Larisa Casillas, (415) 640-4557, larisa@immigrantrights.org

ICE Unleashes Immigration Sweeps Against Bay Area Restaurant Workers, Arrests Dozens of Workers
Coalition Urges People to Call Hotline to Get Legal Help

We are calling on members of the Bay Area community to be alert to an immigration police presence in your neighborhoods or workplaces. Today, the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition started receiving reports of immigration police raids, carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE arrested dozens of restaurant workers in El Balazo restaurants in San Ramon, Lafayette, Concord, Pleasanton, San Francisco and Danville. ICE arrests were also reported in Oakland. The numbers of workers detained, which cities, and if only EL Balazo restaurants were targeted have not yet been fully confirmed. Please report the names of any individuals, your co-workers, neighbors and others, who may have been picked up by ICE to BAIRC.

More on the raids including who to contact for help and a Spanish translation of the presser after the jump.

Ammiano sizes up Joe Nation

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May 2, 2008

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Today’s Ammianoliner:

Joe Nation on Castro Street says he’d bend over backwards for the gay vote.

(From the home telephone answering machine of Sup. Tom Ammiano on May 2, 2008.) B3