SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 492 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Guardian wins $15.6 million

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March 5, 2008

Shit! Mike Lacey flees the courtroom after losing a huge verdict
Photo by Charles Russo

Click here for full lawsuit coverage.

A San Francisco jury this afternoon found the San Francisco Weekly and its corporate parent guilty of illegal predatory pricing and awarded us $6.39 million.

Under state law, part of that verdict is subject to treble damages, bringing the total award to $15.6 million.

The battle isn’t over; Rod Kerr, attorney for the Weekly, told me immediately afterward that the 16-paper chain intends to appeal.

But the verdict sends a clear signal to small businesses, independent newspapers and the alternative press that a locally owned publication has the right to a level playing field and that a chain can’t intentionally cut prices and sell below cost to injure a smaller competitor.

Explosions at Pinhead Gunpowder? More thoughts on the Feb. 10 Gilman show

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March 5, 2008

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By Alex Felsinger

Punk venue 924 Gilman Street is notorious for two things, both equally insidious in thwarting the average person from attending shows there: a horrible sound system and an overwhelming elitist vibe from the staff. Pinhead Gunpowder, who recently performed at Gilman for the first time in 15 years on Feb. 10 (read the review here), proved that while a new sound system can work wonders, the off-putting vibe of the staff is harder to change.

On the surface, the show was a raging success. Fans flooded in for what was clearly the biggest show for Gilman in years, and from what I saw, almost everyone left with a smile. Every band that performed, not just the headlining super group, put on a fantastic show. But from talking with various people involved in the club, I knew not everyone was tapping their toes.

Weeks before the show, the band – which not only includes Billie Joe Armstrong, but also Green Day’s tour manager, Bill Schneider, and their touring second guitarist, Jason White – offered to donate money to the club. Instead, Gilman told the group that a new sound system would be the best way to help, and it would also make the sound better for their show. The band immediately obliged by installing beautiful new JVC speakers, and later provided a new mixing board as well. According to the club, the band instigated the donation on their own and was not encouraged to make one.

Toot-toot, Noise Pop: Port O’Brien, Delta Spirit, Okay, and friends whoop it up

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March 4, 2008

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Okay! All photos by Brandon Joseph Baker.

Photographer Brandon Joseph Baker checked out the Feb. 29 Okay performance at Bimbo’s 365 Club and the same night’s Blacks opening set at Great American Music Hall, and the March 1 Port O’Brien and Delta Spirit co-headlining show at Cafe du Nord.

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There will be more blood: El Topo returns to the screen of the crime

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March 4, 2008

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By Erik Morse

After its belated 2007 release in a highly anticipated DVD box set, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1970 midnight masterpiece El Topo – which translates to “The Mole” – will revisit the big screen on March 6 and 8 as a part of SFMOMA’s “Non-Western Westerns” film series.

El Topo has been touted as nothing less than the Philosopher’s Stone of film by certain cineastes, as well as by ars gratia artis anarchists and alchemy students. Much of El Topo‘s religious potency has been connected to the shared, orphic experience found in cheap art-houses and midnight festivals, where the elicit jouissance of its viewing came as a secret cinematic samizdat. Upon the film’s New York debut at Ben Barenholtz’s Elgin Theatre, its philosophical and cultural prescience – between the subterranean art of Jonas Mekas and Andy Warhol and the apocalyptic violence of Altamont and the Manson murders – secured it a place within the cleaving of two seminal but divergent decades. Although Jodorowsky seemed more entwined with the elder studies of Antonin Artaud and spectral mysticism, his work spoke to the ever-expanding archive of bestiality and immolation that was part of a new postmodern and post-war language.

“Raise taxes. That clear enough?”

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March 4, 2008

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I guess there’s something to be said for term limits. State Senate President Don Perata, who will be out of office next year, said loud and clear yesterday something that’s needed to be said for a long time in this state: The governor’s budget cuts are unacceptable. And the state needs to find some new revenue.

The L.A. Times reports on a Perata press conference:

Perata drew his line in the sand while standing with his successor as Senate chief, Democrat Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, and other Democratic senators and school leaders. Perata said the governor’s proposal to cut school spending by 10% is unacceptable, and Democrats will reject any budget that includes less for education next year than this year.

Asked how Democrats propose to make up the difference, Perata said: “Raise taxes. That clear enough? Raise taxes.”

Given the state’s dire finances, he said, “no one is going to tell me . . . the average Californian would not be willing to pay pennies on the dollar more for an education system . . . that is worth what we believe California is about.”

David Dayen at Calitics has the right line on this:

The second statement is exactly the way to play this. California is worth paying for. This state deserves a better education system than it’s getting, a better health care system than it’s getting, better infrastructure than it’s getting. Because of the broken revenue model, we can’t even fund the landmark global warming law that got the Governor on the cover of all those magazines. Paying for this state to have the society everyone generally wants is a patriotic act. That’s exactly the frame the Democrats are using.

There’s a hint of a “go-for-broke” strategy here, which I believe is sped up by the transition in the leadership. We’ve needed to have this fight for 20 years.

And so, the fight begins.

SF activists campaign for Obama in Texas

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March 4, 2008

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Cat Rauschuber, Barack Obama and Julian Davis in Texas.
By Julian Davis and Catherine Rauschuber
(San Antonio, Texas) __ When we arrived here Friday afternoon, we had little idea what our experience of campaigning for Barack Obama would hold. We have several friends who are field organizers for the campaign and have been hopping from state to state, adding to Obama’s string of electoral victories. Now three of them are in Texas, Cat’s home state and the place that feels like ground zero in the presidential campaign right now. We decided to come to San Antonio, where campaign-diva Natasha Marsh was organizing a largely Latino district on the west side. Julian had never been to Texas before.

Since our arrival Friday, this experience has been nothing short of amazing. Friday evening we volunteered at a rally where Obama spoke that drew a crowd of 10,000 people. It was the perfect introduction to what the weekend would hold – the energy in the crowd, the diversity of attendees, the commanding and inspiring message of the candidate. Little did we know at the time that this would be the first of three events we would have the opportunity to see – and even interact with – the Senator.

Three days and counting

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March 4, 2008

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The jury in the Guardian’s lawsuit against the SF Weekly finished its third full day of deliberations without returning a verdict. The 12 members will be back at it tomorrow morning at 8:30.

Groovie Ghoulie Kepi is baaack

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March 4, 2008

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Groovie Ghoulies back in the day.

By Alex Felsinger

Some old dogs don’t need to learn new tricks

The burn-out – or sell-out? – rate for punk-rock musicians can be high, but the Bay Area has some long-standing forces who make a point to keep their fires glowing.

Kepi Ghoulie, the long-time frontman of the Sacramento pop-punk trio Groovie Ghoulies, has played essentially the same music for the past 22 years, since recording his first 7-inch EP in 1986. He still looks the same, wearing tight black pants, Converse All-Stars, and striped T-shirts. He makes music and sells his art for a living. At 43, he still epitomizes the do-it-yourself ethics of punk rock.

Dems running out of ballots in Texas

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March 4, 2008

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*UPDATE: It’s happening in Ohio, too.

Below is a quick post from the Austin American-Statesman. Does the shortage of ballots in some states foreshadow the Dems taking on traditionally Republican sections of the country?

Williamson Democratic ballots running low
By Andrea Lorenz | Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 01:44 PM

So many Democrats have voted in Republican stronghold Williamson County that ballots are already running low in some precincts.

“I have a little bit of concern that (the Democrats) didn’t order enough ballots,” Elections Administrator Rick Barron said.

Democratic election workers in some Williamson County precincts have called the county elections office today to say they’re already halfway through their ballots, and the afternoon and early evening heavy traffic has yet to happen.

The Democrats ordered about 50,000 paper ballots, Barron said, and the Republicans ordered 57,000. Each Williamson County polling location has one electronic voting machine. If precincts run out of paper ballots completely, voters will be directed to the machines, Barron said, which could mean long lines later today.

The location most in danger is Precinct 382 at Cactus Ranch Elementary School in Round Rock. Richard Torres, the chair of the Williamson County Democratic Party, said two more electronic machines are being delivered to Cactus Ranch to make up for it.

Torres said his party ordered 4.5 times as many ballots as the Secretary of State recommended, according to the state formula of how many people to expect to vote.

“People are just coming out all over the place,” Torres said.

Barron also clarified that the problems with the Williamson County election site did not cause a crash of the system, but the site was only allowing 150 people on the site at one time. This created a system down notice to the other people trying to access the site. The problem has been fixed, he said, by allowing more users to visit the site.

Lick your pickle, kids

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March 4, 2008

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Hey, kids! Can you feel the heat? Ready to cool down with a nice tart treat? Then wrap your lips around a big frozen pickle.

Yep, that’s right — you’ll be cool as a cucumber with this doozy: The Pickle Sickle, which despite it’s name is NOT a preserved fruit bearing grim death. It’s a Popsicle made of picle juice, which the makers tout as a healthy alternative to sugar-laden frozen treats. It’s “made from the whole pickle!” (Not just the gizzard and feet.) Plus, you’ll look really cool:

Seriously! Holy frozen pickles, there’s even a theme song

Harry goes to war; Bush twins don’t

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March 3, 2008

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The (hot) prince at war: Where’s Jenna?

Yeah, the hype over Prince Harry getting assigned to combat duty in Afghanistan is way over the top. (As the U.K. Independent noted, even gaysocialites.com, not known for its war reporting, jumped in, calling Harry “like the hottest thing ever.”)

But the whole thing reminded me that the British have a different standard when it comes to the children of the powerful serving in times of war. The sons of British royalty have always gone to war; it’s almost expected. If the country’s fighting, the royals don’t sit it out.

The children of American leaders are doing just that, of course. You don’t hear anything about the Bush twins signing up to fight their father’s war. (Of course, Bush didn’t fight in Vietnam, either, nor did Dick Cheney.)

Ralph Nader, who shouldn’t be running for president, has a great line on this. He suggests that Congress ought to enact a law that

Whenever Congress and the White House take our country to war, all able-bodied military-age children of every member of Congress, the President and the Vice-President will be conscripted automatically into the armed forces.

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Makes a lot of sense.

No verdict yet

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March 3, 2008

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The jury in the Bay Guardian’s lawsuit against the SF Weekly finished its second full day of deliberations without reaching a verdict Monday. The 12 members will be back at work tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, the Chronicle weighed in with a nice, fair story by Meredith May Saturday. There were, of course, things I wish May had written, and things I wish she hadn’t, but I don’t think either side can complain about the piece.

Here’s what was most interesting to me:

Both Village Voice Media Executive Editor Michael Lacey and Weekly Editor Tom Walsh declined to comment.

Come on, guys. You run newspapers. What’s this shit about not talking to the press?

Turkish delights: ‘Love Peace and Poetry’ provides your psych pleasure portal into the country’s sounds

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March 3, 2008

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By Dina Maccabee

I first jumped on the Selda Bagcan bandwagon back in 2006, and I was pretty amused by that earnest bit of 1970s nostalgia, awash in reverby lead guitar lines, vibrato-laden organ, and loping “Age of Aquarius” shuffles. Her compilation of tracks from the ’70s, released by Finders Keepers two years ago, went into rotation at fashion boutiques and cafes nationwide: I was introduced to Bagcan in two different stores in Chicago on the same day. Her music was really sweeping the hipster nation.

But for me, Bagcan’s sounds were enchanting in their similarity to the dated but uplifting Israeli music I grew up listening to: crackly tapes of tapes of records by Poogy, Tzvicka Pick, Arik Einstein, and Boaz Shar’abi. “Other people like this stuff?” I thought. Well, German label Normal had correctly gambled in 2005 that they might, when they added a Turkish entry to its Love Peace and Poetry series, a line of compilations spotlighting artists in the psychedelic tradition from all over the world.

Love Peace and Poetry: Turkish Psychedelic Music starts with a track titled “Bundan Sonra” by Bagcan, the Turkish folk star who first hooked me. Like any nostalgia-driven trend, the mass penchant for Bagcan’s trippy washes of sound and dramatic vocal style, which had been thoroughly steamrolled out of the global pop lexicon by synthetic kick drums and vocoder way back in the ’80s, seemed contrarian and even ironic. Still, “Bundan Sonra” dispels any hint of clever disaffection. According to one online translation, the last verse mourns, “Death is what the Lord wisheth / Your words are wounds on my soul / Even if you were the bridge to heaven / I will not pass you anymore.” Serious stuff for us non-Turkologues to innocently take in while shopping for leg warmers.

Guardian Eye: Seeing red at Zeitgeist

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March 3, 2008

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We’ve invited fab local photog Darwin Bell to share some of his photos with us throughout the next month, and tell us what the heck he was thinking when he took them.

Redily Available

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Darwin Bell: “I LOVE colors, especially if it is all one color with different layers. And bright colors at that. Nothing beats the outside, weirdly painted red patchwork panels of the Zeitgeist bar on Valencia.”

Diving into Or, the Whale, Bodies of Water, and Willow Willow

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March 3, 2008

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Thar she blows: Or, the Whale. All photos by Brandon Joseph Baker.

Photographer Brandon Joseph Baker checked out Noise Pop’s sold-out Dodos/Or, the Whale/Bodies of Water/Willow Willow show at Cafe du Nord on Feb. 28. The sets were eclectic with Willow Willow quietly starting the evening out. The crowd grew as Bodies of Water took stage and played a fierce yet short set due to time constraints – much to the audience’s dismay. Next, Or, the Whale prepared the listeners for the Dodos’ set with their strong ballad-driven Americana tunes.

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SPORTS: Winning at losing

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March 3, 2008

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The Giants suck. So do the A’s. But it could be a fun season.

By A.J. Hayes

How’s this for sunny spring time forecast: for the first time since the mid-1980s, both the Giants and A’s will enter the major league season without a sliver of a hope of contending for a playoff slot.

Sad face?

In fact, it will take a minor miracle for both clubs to finish higher than last place.

But that doesn’t mean that the 2008 baseball campaign has to be a snooze-fest. There’s something appealing about a losing baseball team. Football and basketball are just unwatchable when they’re performed shabbily, but bad baseball can be a hoot.

The train-wreck 1962 expansion New York Mets who went 40-120 turned the bumbling Marv Throneberry and Choo Choo Coleman into flannel uniformed folk heroes. The Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox (until their recent World Series success) built up the most loyal fan bases in the game with their lovable losers flying in the wind like a prop-plane banner.

49ers fans, on the other hand, would just as soon forget this past splotchy season.

It’s something about the daily intimacy of baseball and the fact they the players have traditionally resembled normal humans – discounting the steroids era – that allows us to empathize. Baseball players are not covered up with helmets and pads, so we see the embarrassment when they bobble a pop-up the same way we might drop a jar of bread-and-butter pickles on our foot.

But baseball fans are not suckers, and not every lousy club is in a position to be celebrated.

A small business survey: fill it in

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March 1, 2008

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Here comes the Scott Hauge/Small Business California Survey. Deadline March l0.

By Bruce B. Brugmann

As attentive Guardian readers know, it is small businesses that generate the net new jobs in San Francisco and most every other community in the country.

We even did two pioneering job generation surveys back in the mid l980s to prove the point.

Yet small business people, particularly in San Francisco, feel as if they are a minority under siege from City Hall and most every political quarter.

Scott Hauge, founder and president of Small Business California, is working tirelessly to change this perception.
HIs latest project: his annual survey of small business owners and supporters and their opinion on the economy and issues they care about most.

Personally, I like to add in some of the Guardian issues to benefit small business: enforce the antitrust laws, enforce the Raker Act and bring Hetch Hetchy public power to San Francisco, bring in progressive income and business taxes, get candidates from the presidential candidates on up and down to promote small business issues etc. You get the point.

Fill in the survey. Join Small Business California and keep up on the sector of the economy that produces the jobs and enlivens our neighborhoods.

Click here to take the Small Business Survey.

george micheal

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March 1, 2008

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

GEORGE MICHAEL ANNOUNCES FIRST NORTH AMERICAN TOUR IN 17 YEARS, A NEW ALBUM AND MAKES AMERICAN ACTING DEBUT

George Michael
HP Pavilion in San Jose on June 19th

Tickets are onsale Monday, April 7th at 10am!

San Francisco, CA (March 24, 2008) – After performing 80 shows in 12 European countries for a staggering 1.3 million fans over the past year alone, legendary superstar George Michael will be bringing his smash 25 LIVE tour to North American Arenas in the summer of 2008, including a local show at the HP Pavilion in San Jose on June 19th, in support of his new retrospective record. This will be Michael’s first North American tour in 17 years. His last Bay Area performance was on October 1st, 1991 at the Oakland Coliseum. The new record, titled Twenty-Five, will be released April 1st and is a 29-song, 2-CD set featuring several new songs (including duets with superstars Paul McCartney and Mary J. Blige) in addition to many of Michael’s iconic songs from both his solo and WHAM! career. In addition, a companion 2-disc DVD of 40 videos will also be made available.

The 25 LIVE tour broke several ticket sales records, most notably in Copenhagen. Michael’s concert at The Parken Stadium sold over 50,000 tickets in the matter of minutes, shattering the previous ticket sales record at the venue, formerly held by U2. On the 25 LIVE tour, Michael left both fans and critics alike in awe:

“It was a master class in pop genius.” – The Observer

“George proved he is simply one of the best vocalists this country has ever produced. A stunning performance.” – The Sun

“Worth waiting for. The show was, in every single meaning of the word, perfect.” – De Morgen

“A tremendous singer, a complete showman, all George Michael needs is a mike, his songs, and the magic on stage is instantaneous.” – La Parisien

The North American leg of the 25 LIVE tour will kick off in San Diego on June 17th and will continue through San Jose, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York and several other major cities. The tour will incorporate 22 shows over the course of seven weeks and Michael will perform material taken from the entire span of his career, including some classic Wham! tracks. Michael has recently teamed up with iTunes and Ticketmaster to produce an innovative media package which allows fans rare access to Michael’s videos, songs, and tickets to one of his North American 25 LIVE concerts. The package goes on sale on iTunes on March 25th.

Tickets to the 25 LIVE tour at the HP Pavilion will go on sale to the general public on Monday, April 7th at 10am at www.livenation.com, Ticketmaster outlets and charge by phone at 415-421-TIXS or 408-998-TIXS. Tickets are priced at $55.50, $89.50 and $175.50 for reserved seating plus applicable service charges.

George Michael has enjoyed one of the most successful and enduring careers in the history of pop music, selling more than 85 million records globally and encompassing seven US No. 1 singles, two Grammy awards, three American Music Awards, an MTV Video Music Award and two prestigious Ivor Novello awards for songwriting. His record “Faith” has sold over 20 million copies alone. In addition, Michael has garnered 11 British No. 1 singles and seven British No. 1 albums. He recently was declared the most played British artist on radio over the course of the last 20 years. On March 27th, Michael can be seen making his American acting debut on the new hit ABC series, Eli Stone, in which each episode is titled after one of his songs.

For more information about the George Michael, please visit:
www.georgemichael.com

For media inquiries, please contact:

North America:
Cindi Berger
Bianca Bianconi
PMK-HBH Public Relations
(212) 582-1111

International:
Connie Filippello
Connie Filippello Publicity
+44 (0) 207 229 5400

OFFICIAL 25 LIVE U.S. CONCERT DATES:

6/17 San Diego/San Diego Sports Arena
6/19 San Jose/HP Pavilion
6/21 Las Vegas/MGM Grand
6/22 Phoenix/US Airways Center
6/25 Los Angeles/Great Western Forum
7/2 Seattle/Key Arena
7/4 Vancouver/General Motors Place
7/7 St Paul/Xcel Energy Center
7/9 Chicago/United Center
7/13 Dallas/American Airlines Center
7/14 Houston/Toyota Center
7/17 Toronto/Air Canada Centre
7/18 Montreal/Bell Centre
7/21 New York/MSG
7/23 New York/MSG
7/26 Philadelphia/Wachovia Center
7/27 Boston/TD Banknorth Garden
7/29 Washington DC/Verizon Center
7/31 Atlanta/Philips Arena
8/2 Tampa/St Pete Times Forum
8/3 Sunrise/Bank Atlantic Center

###

Aaron Siuda | Marketing Director / Northwest – Music
(:: (415) 281.9216 / (415) 243-9532 fx
8:: aaronsiuda@livenation.com
*:: 260 5th Street | San Francisco, CA, USA | 94103

We (heart) Horseface

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February 29, 2008

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Kerchiefs. Gezundheit! We’ve been reticent to write about one of our favorite local designers, Mica Phelan aka Horseface, because he’s just so damn popular — no one is anyone in this town without a House of Horseface bandanna hanging somewhere off their body. And we’d never cave in to that kind of popularity. Kidding! We’re total whores that way — thus the coke habit. Kidding again! It’s meth. Coke is for toddlers. And Horseface is still pretty underground. But we digress.

Hotness

Anyway, you need to get a Horseface bandanna (they even come in delectable porn prints). They’re available at fantastic print shop My Trick Pony (where you may see Mica behind the counter), cute li’l clothing store Seventh Heart, or even through the Horseface Myspace, which rhymes.

Ammiano: the Nader/Gonzalez ticket

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February 29, 2008

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Today’s Ammianoliner:

In light of the Nader/Gonzalez ticket, Ammiano declares for president and vice-president.

And I can also save more money by serving as my own first lady.

(From the home answering telephone answering machine of Sup. Tom Ammiano on Friday, Feb. 29, 2008, Leap Year.)

Personal note to Tom: Grammar, Tom, Grammar. You are now moving inelegantly from third person to first person. Personally, I like first person the best. B3

Not No Wave: These are ghost punks

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February 29, 2008

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By Vanessa Carr

With a storm of eerie electronics and crashing beats, otherworldly sounds that clang like metal pipes, and a palette of weird effects, it’s no wonder Brooklyn/Chicago-based trio These Are Powers are calling their trance-inducing incantations “ghost punk.”

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According to band members Anna Barie (ex-Knife Skills and Fxxxing Lion), Pat Noecker (ex-Liars), and Bill Salas (Brenmar), the “spiritual” part of writing and performing music is the ability to unconsciously communicate something about their state of being. They use an unconventional instrument set up – which includes prepared bass, strange guitar tunings, and an electro-acoustic drum kit played standing up – that encourages a less structured, more intuitive way of playing. The result is a hypnotic punk mantra that – even while invoking early Sonic Youth – is refreshingly original, immediate, and surprisingly danceable.

Currently in the midst of a fast-paced cross-country tour, These Are Powers are playing two Bay Area shows this weekend, one Saturday night (3/1) at the Hemlock Tavern with Lemonade and Mi Ami, and another on Sunday (3/2) at the ABCO Warehouse in Oakland with Lumerians, Wildildlife, and Chen Santa Maria (a Club Sandwich production). These Are Powers are scheduled to release a new EP, Taro Tarot, on Hoss Records in April 2008.

I talked with the band while they were driving down I-80 West on their way to Salt Lake City.

SFBG: What is ghost punk?

Pat Noecker: It’s a name that we came with to describe our music that meant something to us personally and was also a way to give the music we were making an identity of its own. It seems like anytime you do something that doesn’t have bar chords in it or is not your standard USA rock and roll, it gets referred to as No Wave. We are not a No Wave band.

The jury has it

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February 29, 2008

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The Guardian’s case against the SF Weekly finally went to the jury yesterday.

A little after 1 pm, Judge Marla Miller called in a bailiff, explained the verdict form to the jurors, and dismissed the panel to begin deliberations.

The move came after both sides presented detailed closing arguments, seeking to tie together weeks of testimony, reams of exhibits and contradictory opinions from a total of five expert witnesses.

Judge Miller started the day by describing the applicable law to the jurors and explaining how they should interpret the facts. Then Ralph Alldredge, representing the Guardian, opened by explaining that the Weekly, its corporate parent (Village Voice Media, the chain formerly known as New Times) and the East Bay Express (until recently owned by VVM/New Times) were all jointly liable for any damages. “If the SF Weekly didn’t have the ability to get money from the corporate parent to cover its losses, it would have gone out of buinsess,” Alldredge said.

Then he ran through the basic facts of the case.

The hit man’s big duck

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February 29, 2008

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Andy Van De Voorde, the Denver-based hit man for the Village Voice Media chain who is out here to cover the Guardian’s trial against the SF Weekly, rambles on at great length in print, using nasty personal attacks to fuel his vitriolic blogs.

But when you try to ask him a question in person, he’s not quite as forthcoming.

I tried to engage him outside of the courtroom yesterday. I had a question for Andy, and it went like this:

Isn’t it standard journalistic practice and basic professional ethics to call the other side for comment when you do a story? And when you dredge up a story that’s 30 years old just to try to smear the people who dared to sue your almighty employer for predatory pricing, doesn’t basic decency require that you check the facts before you go to print?

Van De Voorde refused to answer the question. The tough-sounding writer who excoriates his foes in print couldn’t handle a simple question from a reporter. “You write what you want and I’ll write what I want,” he said.

There’s a reason I confronted Mr. Van De Voorde yesterday morning. One of his blog posts from earlier in the week contained some startling inaccurate information about a fascinating battle the Guardian was involved in back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The hit man dredged up information that was more than a quarter-century old to try to make some point about the Guardian (although I’m still not quite sure what it was or how it relates to this trial), and in the process, stuck his foot into a political and journalistic swamp that he clearly didn’t understand.

I understand it all too well. I was right in the middle of it, right after I started working for the Bay Guardian.