SFBG Blogs Archives — Page 539 of 597 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

ACCREDITATION REPORT BLASTS NEW COLLEGE: “Clear and egregious violations of institutional integrity, academic integrity”

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July 14, 2007

By G.W. Schulz

San Francisco’s New College of California has a culture of administrative “sloppiness and arbitrariness” in addition to flawed academic curricula, according to a report released this month by an accrediting outfit based in Alameda and obtained by the Guardian.

The accrediting commission for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges concluded following a special investigation that among other things New College fails to properly maintain student files and questions persist about how well the school handles and awards scholarships and financial aid to students under federal rules and regulations.

The group’s investigation began after it received six detailed letters alleging “various improprieties” and violations of its fundamental accreditation standards such as problems related to the fair and equitable treatment of students and the college’s ability to maintain operational integrity through sound business practices.

New College has long teetered on the brink of financial disaster, and according to the report, nothing’s changed and the school has failed even to make improvements since 2002 when the commission concluded that New College did not have stable revenues or effective financial controls. In fact, the commission learned that New College’s money woes had “materially worsened in the last year” since it bought two properties “without necessary analysis and planning.”

As a result of the investigation, New College has been placed on probation and will now be “subject to special scrutiny and any new site or degree program is subject to review through WASC’s substantive change process.”

Makes Nice makes it nice for everyone…all night loooong!

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July 14, 2007

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They’re kinda like the lil’ saints of fuzz guitar, in that sense. Sunday, July 15, SF threesome the Makes Nice makes it a free-for-all spasm of “Glorious Freakbeat Pyrotechnic Madness.”

The combo’s peeps describe the event as “just one band, all night, plus the killer selecting of DJ Mystic Stylez from Memphis, who will spin garage, psych and raw rock & roll before, between, and after the Makes Nice’s three sets. Did we mention it’s free? Between free admission, cheap beer, and no enemy bands, you can’t lose!!

The Makes Nice are the Rodney Dangerfields of Freakbeat. Their explosive post-mod power trio pop psych R&B harmonized violence is very, very pretty (see Les Fleur de Lys, Small Faces, Pretty Things, Equals, Everley Brothers, Tomorrow, Idle Race, Beach Boys, Nuggets 2). They have gorgeous harmony vocals and Keith-Moon-on-11 drums and fuzz bass and fuzz guitar.”

The group’s current CD, Candy Wrapper & 12 Other Songs, is now out on SF’s Frenetic Records. The label unleashes the band’s This Time Tomorrow this September.

But this time, let ’em knock you out at the Knockout, 3223 Mission, SF, July 15, 9 p.m. And it’s free, free, freeeeeeeeee…. !

Bonds brings ’em out

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July 13, 2007

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Guardian staffer Ben Hopfer checked out Barry Bonds pre-MLB All Star bout soiree at Roe Restaurant and Lounge on July 9. Where was Jay-Z? Who knows where the Jigga goes – anyhoo here’s what Hopfer saw on the red carpet.

The man of the hour and soon-to-be-world-record-holder for most home runs: Barry Bonds. All photos by Ben Hopfer.

Bay Area rapper B-Legit

49ers quarterback Alex Smith

David “Big Papi” Ortiz.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. Note the adult Barbie doll on his arm.

Former Giants manager Dusty Baker – come back, we miss you!

Bay Area rappers Dem Hoodstarz (Band-Aide and Scoot)

Dave Winfield and significant other.

San Francisco Giant Rich Aurilia

Local rapper Richie Rich

Summer interneat megamixxx – the octuple up

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July 13, 2007

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By Robert Bergin

Summer is for trains, cowboys, Rock the Bells, the Simpsons Movie, Daft Punk at the Greek, getting dirty, Slint at Bimbo’s, children’s programming, and soccer. But until all that shit happens, here’s some quasi-relevant YouTube videos to keep you occupied.

Intro: Wu Tang Office

1. Shame on a Simpson

2. Thomas (Is the Loneliest Tank Engine)

3. Arcade Fire Spaghetti

4. Dr. Stringz

5. July 27

Outtro: summer fun with Slint

Bonus track: The Future Is Now*

*But you gotta put it on silent and sync it up with this:

Ed Jew’s lawyer goes into ironic attack dog mode

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July 13, 2007

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By Sarah Phelan

In what could be the most ironic moment of the Ed Jew saga so far, Jew’s attorney Steven Gruel is accusing the City Attorney’s response to a recent public records disclosure request of being “woefully incomplete.”

This from the attorney of the “D4″ Supervisor, who still hasn’t been able to prove that he actually lives in the district that he is supposed to be representing at City Hall.

Gruel’s ironic accusation followed Jew’s July 11 request that the City Attorney’s office immediately disclose all communications regarding the investigation of Jew”s “official Residence or any allegations of his ‘official misconduct.'”

When Deputy City Attorney Chad Jacobs invoked an extension–citing the ‘voluminous nature” of Gruel’s request, plus the fact that other docs might be covered by “attorney work product privilege” –Gruel accused City Attorney Dennis Herrera of “skirting” the public records act request.

This from the attorney who applied for and got an extension from the City Attorney on behalf of his client not once but three times, but still failed to provide complete materials or make his client available for an interview–a request that doesn’t seem that hard given that Jew’s office is just around the corner from Herrera’s.

This campaign money bill is nasty

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July 13, 2007

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By Tim Redmond

Update on the :campaign-finance bill I mentioned a few days ago

This thing is pretty bad, and it’s winging its way through Sacramento with very little opposition. The bill number is AB 1430; it’s sponsored by Assemblymember Martin Garrick, a San Diego Republican who is mad that the San Diego Ethics Commission cracked down on unlimited GOP donations to local candidates.

The bill would limit the ability of local governments to control spending by political parties. Here’s an analysis by San Francisco Ethics Commission Director John St. Croix.

But the Democratic Party likes it, too, so the bill sailed through the state Assembly 77-0, and is headed for the floor of the state Senate. California Common Cause is against it, as is the League of Women Voters. The Ethics Commission has asked the San Francisco supervisors to oppose it, but nothing has happened yet.

The only member of the state Senate to come out against the bill is Carole Migden, who opposed it in committe and told us she will vote against it on the floor.

This one needs some attention, fast.

Storm the barricades with Rupa and the April Fishes

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July 12, 2007

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By Todd Lavoie

Last night I had the most peculiar dream. There I was, in Paris of all places, glug-glugging champagne from the boot of a Moulin Rouge can-can showgirl while a pair of elephants bejeweled with emeralds and rubies swaggered a slow bolero to the one-two-three/one-two-three of a rowdy accordionist grinding out hot-pepper triplets from the razor edge of a tightrope hung above.

I pulled my hungry gullet away from the champagne overflow and the heaving tray of exquisite pastries cradled in my lap to crane my neck in the direction of the most deliciously weepy cello I’d ever heard, sighing into my ears from overhead. Up in the balcony, swaying back and forth, were two young lovers with eyes blazing hot ‘n bothered, and every time their fingers touched, the swell of strings surged out of them. I looked out into the crowd— jugglers, acrobats, fire-eaters, starry-eyed mystics, couples dancing with the sheer wild damn-it-all abandon of being in love for the first time. My cat, Pickles, was playing the castanets with fierce precision. Hell, I don’t even have a cat.

CNN Vs. ‘Sicko’: Fact-checking Michael Moore is not a healthy thing to do on the air

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July 11, 2007

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By Bruce B. Brugmann

CNN, whose correspondents have been lobbying softball questions to Bush administration spokespeople since the Iraq War began, decided to do a “fact check” of Moore’s film ‘Sicko’ and then ask him some pointed questions when he appeared on CNN’s Situation Room on July 9.

Moore was up to the test, and then turned the tables on Wolf Blitzer and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s senior medical correspondent, who did the “reality check” on “Sicko.” Moore confronted Blitzer about the inaccuracies in Gupta’s report and the result was a most animated discussion, according to the media watchdog FAIR.

FAIR, which stands for Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, laid out the errors in Gupta’s piece and called for viewers to contact CNN’s Situation Room and demand that they correct the mistakes.

The Moore vs. CNN exchange prompts two rhetorical questions: Wouldn’t it be nice to have Michael Moore in the Washington and White House press corps? Wouldn’t it be nice to see CNN ask some tough “fact-checking” and do some “reality checks” of the Bush administration and its generals before and during the Iraq War–and now? B3

Click on the continued reading link for the July 11 FAIR report:

Migden: Clear Channel paid for the billboards

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July 11, 2007

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By Tim Redmond

State Sen. Carole Migden just called me to answer the question I’ve been posing to her for a couple of weeks: Who paid for all those pro-Migden billboards?

Migden says it wasn’t a secret donor; as far as she knows, Clear Channel, which owns the billboards, donated them, through the efforts of Michael Colbruno, a local Clear Channel exec who is a former Migden aide and remains close to the senator.

“My campaign paid for the printing,” she said. “The money for the boards came from some sort of internal fund available to Clear Channel to pay for these things when there are boards that aren’t sold. It’s all perfectly legal.”

That isn’t exactly what Colbruno had told me, which was that this was entirely independent of the Migden campaign.

Migden agreed that the ads were “helpful to me,” but she also insisted that they were aimed in part at promoting her anti-war efforts, which will include a February state ballot measure calling for an end to the war.

Bottom line, though, these are billboards that promote Migden’s campaign, and if we hadn’t made a fuss about this, nobody would ever have known that they were, in effect, a gift from Clear Channel, one of the nation’s biggest (and some would say, most evil) media conglomerates.

An attempt to wipe out local clean-money laws?

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July 11, 2007

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By Tim Redmond

Calitics has this interesting report on a state bill (backed by both political parties) that could eviscertate loical campaign-finance laws.

No suprise, but still noteworthy

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July 11, 2007

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By Tim Redmond

I’m impressed that Dr. Richard Carmona actually came out and said what everyone in Wsshington knew was going on — that even doctors couldn’t provide accurate and true information to the pubilc if it interfered with the Bush Administration’s political agenda. The details are pretty stunning:

Carmona said he also ran afoul of politics on teen pregnancy prevention. Although the administration emphasizes abstinence from sexual relations, Carmona said he believed a variety of approaches was needed, including contraception for teens who are sexually active.

The administration “did not want to hear the science … but wanted to preach abstinence, which I felt was scientifically incorrect,” Carmona testified.

On the issue of stem cell research, Carmona said he found much of the discussion within the government “devoid of science.”

When will it end?

Harsh medicine

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July 11, 2007

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By Tim Redmond

It hasn’t gotten much press, but talk about harsh: China just executed the head of its food and drug agency for approving unsafe medicine. And over here, we can’t even seem to put Scooter Libby in jail ….

It’s a movie! It’s a musical! It’s a musical movie!

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July 11, 2007

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Hairspray (2007) ain’t even in theaters yet, but there’s already another movie-to-musical-to-musical-movie boomerang making the Hollywood rounds. According to Variety, a remake of Footloose (1984) is afoot, har har, but with actors actually singing and dancing (instead of, you know, simply DANCING THEIR ASSES OFF).

Anyone who’s watched the Footloose DVD commentary with writer Dean Pitchford knows the original film was conceived as a spin on the musical, where the characters didn’t actually croon but let the soundtrack do the talking: Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” during the tractor chicken race; Shalimar’s “Dancing in the Sheets,” featuring my favorite Footloose character, the groovy diner cook who’s not too busy flippin’ burgers to DANCE HIS ASS OFF; Deneice Williams’ “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” as Willard (Chris Penn, RIP) learns to boogie so he can impress Rusty (Sarah Jessica Parker); and Moving Pictures’ “Never” as tortured soul Ren McCormick (Kevin Bacon) works out his high-school angst by, ahem, DANCING HIS ASS OFF.

Anyway, the new version — to be produced by the guys who made Chicago — is set to star Hairspray/High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron. High School Musical helmer (and Dirty Dancing choreographer) Kenny Ortega will probably direct it. And — since I’m obviously a fool for Footloose — I’ll probably go see it. Though I may not be DANCING MY ASS OFF about it.

How’s the mayor’s Hump Day going!? Oooooh, not so good

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July 11, 2007

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By G.W. Schulz

> Homicides are up 20 percent this year over the same time last year, and much of it cannot be blamed on gang violence, according to the Chron, which suggests, like it or not, that City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s gang injunctions can go only so far. It’s hardly July, but we’ll put good money on any bet that the mayor won’t be cheerfully taking credit for the city’s homicide rate next January. As usual, we should make clear that this conversation still doesn’t take into account nonfatal shooting injuries. San Francisco General does a remarkable job saving people who’ve been shot, meaning the homicide rate is not really a reliable indicator by itself of how well the city’s doing on street-level violence.

Missing persons find an advocate in local musician Saul Kaye

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July 10, 2007

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East Bay’s Saul Kaye has found his mission – each CD-release show he’s doing for his latest, A Taste of Paradise (by the way, who came up with the subgenius idea of doing multiple CD-release shows – when does it all end!?) is going to be focused on raising awareness of missing people of the Bay Area.

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Lynn Ruth Connes.

His upcoming show at La Pena will spotlight Lynn Ruth Connes, who disappeared in 1976 in Berkeley.

Kaye, meanwhile, can be found on Sat., Aug. 4, at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck, Berk. (510) 849-2568.
$10-$15 sliding scale.

I hate Alvin and the Chipmunks. I hate them!

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July 10, 2007

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By Sean Manning

If the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy teaches us anything (other than that the ironic love of pirate kitsch runs deep), it’s that childhood nostalgia is ripe for the coming-soon-to-a-multiplex-near-you rampage. And when it gets there, it’s not just bigger and louder and more special-effects laden (ahem, Transformers), it’s got edge. Take, for instance, upcoming yuletide turd Alvin and the Chipmunks. Starring Jason Lee, from, like, you know, edgy independent movies, and three thugged-out updates of our favorite helium-voiced rodents, the movie is sure to be a knee-slapper. We may have already found this year’s answer to the Santa Clause 3 — a movie so mind-bogglingly, infuriatingly stupid that it will likely incite outbursts of rage every time a bus plastered with an advertisement rolls by.

Hey Jason Lee, did you shave off your dignity along with your My Name is Earl ‘stache?

Carolyn Knee is free! Finally, after five years, the poster girl for ethics reform has been freed by the Unethical Commission

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July 10, 2007

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By Bruce B. Brugmann

Rick Knee flashed the word from City Hall about 6:35 p.m. Monday (July 9): Carolyn Knee is free!.

In a follow up email that was uncharacteristically short, Carolyn’s husband wrote, “The Ethics Commission voted unanimously Monday evening to accept the $267 settlement that staff members and Carolyn’s attorney reached.
This concludes the case.”

Well, this case may be closed and the long nightmare and high drama may be over for the Knees, who took the brunt of the commission’s wrath for the 2002 grassroots public power campaign that damn near kicked PG&E out of City Hall, but their fight was well worth it and the battle for ethics reform goes on. Carolyn’s rousing defense even made nice folks out of the commission and staff, at least for one hearing.

Bear Grylls, you da Man

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July 10, 2007

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By Gazelle Emami

A man alone in the wilderness bends fearlessly over a precipice, planning his first move. “First,” he says, squinting into the sun, “I must find my bearings.” With a no river in sight, he bounds down the edge of the sheer drop and begins his search for nourishment.

Night falls and a storm rumbles overhead. The man is discouraged—he’s already drank some muddy water and eaten a sheep’s eyeballs, so he’s doing alright. But with no shelter and temperatures dropping rapidly, survival seems unlikely. That is, until, he comes across a rotting deer carcass. Energy renewed, the man guts the carcass, huddles inside of it for shelter, and survives the thunderous night.

Sound like fiction? It’s not. It’s all just another day in the life of Man vs. Wild star Bear Grylls. In fact, everything above is true, except for one detail—the part about our story’s hero being a mere man. Because British adventurer Bear Grylls is crazier than your average man. I’m not talking Gnarls Barkley crazy or R. Kelly bat-shit crazy. I’m talking I-will-squeeze-the-juice-from-elephant-dung-into-my-mouth crazy. I’m talking oh-look-here’s-some-quicksand-why-don’t-I-just-jump-into-it crazy.

Let me explain. On the Discovery Channel reality series, Grylls is dropped in remote locations around the world until he finds civilization, left to survive with little more than a knife. Fresh into its second season, the show’s purpose is to show you the skills you would need to survive if you were to ever find yourself lost in the wild. While I could never do most of the things Grylls does, I’ve picked up on a few skills. Among them, I’ve learned how to tell when the sun will go down, the best way to catch a fish, how to get out of quicksand, and that elephant dung is sterile.

The show’s real draw is not its educational value, but rather witnessing just how far Grylls will go. He survives by essentially being a ballsier version of MacGyver. Don’t get me wrong, MacGyver ranks high on the badass meter. But when it comes down to it, will he drink his own urine? I don’t think so.

Catch an episode of Man vs. Wild tonight at 11 p.m. on The Discover Channel. New episodes air every Friday at 9 p.m.

Mean and shallow

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July 9, 2007

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By Steven T. Jones
Leave it to the poets to find just the right few words, which is what punk legend, performance artist, and former mayoral candidate Jello Biafra did in today’s Chronicle. In an article on how Chicken John is running for mayor, Biafra distilled down the perfect pair of descriptors for Mayor Gavin Newsom: mean and shallow.
There’s much I could say to elaborate on why that’s so insightful, but for now, I think it’s better to just let Jello’s words gel. Or maybe to use his complete quote: “I think what (Chicken John) wants is an impact. The more he uses his sense of humor to lampoon how mean and shallow Newsom is, the more people will be inspired to vote for him.”

Ammiano tosses out an Ammianoliner for the All-Star game

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July 9, 2007

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“San Francisco welcomes five day All-Star wank fest. Who’s your Daddy? (On Ammiano’s answering machine on Monday, July 9.) B3

Cherub block? Thoughts on the Smashing Pumpkins’ return

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July 9, 2007

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By Sean Manning

In a perfect world, the Smashing Pumpkins’ residency at the Fillmore that begins next week would start not with one of the band’s nu-skool eyeliner anthems like “United States” or “God and Country,” but with James Iha and D’arcy Wretsky taking the stage, throwing their replacements off, kicking Billy Corgan in the groin, and then diving straight into “Jellybelly.”

Unfortunately, the chances of that happening are about as good as Corgan growing a hearty mullet in time for his next Rolling Stone photoshoot. The Smashing Pumpkins’ “reformation” may be more than just your typical excuse to tour again, since Corgan seems to be taking this Zeitgeist business pretty seriously, but let’s just hope he still knows how to play the solo from “Cherub Rock.”

SOS: The Unethical Commission goes into session Monday night on the Case of the Grassroots Treasurer who went up against PG&E in a tight public power campaign. Come and support Carolyn Knee at the Ethics meeting at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall room 408

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July 8, 2007

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By Bruce B. Brugmann

Carolyn Knee, the poster girl for how the Ethics Commission is unethically treating treasurers of grassroots campaigns, goes once more before the Ethics Commission at a hearing starting at 5:30 p.m. Monday (July 9) in Room 408 in City Hall.

Carolyn and her attorney have reached a settlement of $267 with the commission’s enforcement division, which is one per cent of the amount the staff originally recommended.
But public power supporters fear that the reason her case is on the agenda once again is because at least two commissioners intend to raise questions about the recommended amount.

Carolyn, a retiree on a fixed income, found herself threatened with $26,700 in fines by the Ethics Commission for several alleged violations of campaign finance laws during a random audit of San Franciscans for Affordable Clean Energy, the grassroots group that forced PG&E to the ballot in the 2002 public power campaign.
The point: SFACE raised peanuts during the campaign (a little more than $l00,000) while PG&E spent more than $2 million to defeat the initiative, $800,000 in the final days of the campaign (and PG&E didn’t report this critical amount until nearly a month after the election.) Knee was fined l4 times what James Sutton, treasurer of PG&E’s front group, was fined. And the commission hassled and hounded her for the past five years or so. (See Amanda Witherell’s excellent story, “The ethics of Ethics,” in the Guardian and on our website and an earlier Bruce blog headed “Free Carolyn Knee! Free Carolyn Knee from the Clutches of the Unethical Commission.”)

Keen on Maria McKee

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July 6, 2007

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By Todd Lavoie

I’d always enjoyed Maria McKee‘s former band, the under-appreciated rootsy rockers Lone Justice, but my moment of conversion— much like it was for countless others, I’d wager— arrived in the form of her contribution to the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, “If Love is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags).”

Love is… Maria McKee. All images courtesy of www.mariamckee.com.

After I finished collecting the pieces of my heart from the floor at the song’s end, I swore true to McKee’s transcendent blue-eyed, countrified soul, and that was that. If you too are hopelessly addicted to Dusty Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis and are seeking another avenue for getting your fix, McKee is the clear choice. For further proof, check out her incendiary cover of signature Dusty tune “I Can’t Make It Alone.”

Maria McKee plays with Victor Krummenacher Sunday, July 8, 8 p.m., at Café du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. $20. (415) 861-5016.

Shape San Francisco’s future

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July 6, 2007

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By Steven T. Jones
Years in development and 600 pages thick, the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report is a policy wonk’s wet dream, but perhaps a tad inaccessible for most people. That’s too bad because this is the plan that could determine whether there will still be jobs and homes for the working class 20 years from now, or whether policymakers will let the free market continue to gentrify the city. The plan (available here along with important info on upcoming hearing and a series of workshops that start on Monday) looks at three development options, ranging from maximum conversion of industrial lands to housing to maximum preservation of job-producing properties. Either way, the plan will almost double the housing entitlements in the city and create a potential developer feeding frenzy that could have irreversible results. But the plan also calls for proactive policies for creating more affordable housing, exacting more public benefits from development projects, and creating development models that take public health into consideration, all firsts for the city’s area plans. So check it out, get involved, and keep reading the Guardian for updates.