SFBG Blogs

Vancouver International Film Festival: Dragons and Tigers

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I am beyond tardy with my Vancouver reports. An endless array of office tasks leaves me to merely imagine writing them while (cue violins) riding the bus to or from work.

But an hour or two of “free” time has opened up, and today, as the 25th VIFF winds down, is as good a time as any to talk briefly about this year’s Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema. I spent an extra night in Vancouver last week, a decision that proved fortuitous, because I saw the recently-announced winner and another film singled out for praise — and wound up at an impromptu dinner for the directors of both movies — during my last twelve or so hours in town.

Gavin’s girlfriend

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By Steven T. Jones
Mayor Gavin Newsom is now dating someone almost half his age: Brittanie Mountz, a model and restaurant hostess who recently turned 20 years old. And you can catch her in action thanks to some video that the Chronicle shot are last month’s opening of the San Francisco Symphony. Warning: the must-see part when she and the Gav talk to the cameras comes toward the end, so you’ll need to sit through some seriously nauseating high-society BS first (particularly creme-de-la-gag Dede Wilsey…ick). Even Newsom mocks the ostentation of the event before handing the mike over to his new sweetie, who sounds like…
Actually, you can just judge for yourself.

Ki-ki-ki … ah-ah-ah

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It’s Friday the 13th — just the very day I like to dust off my hockey mask, hustle to the nearest lake, and start spearin’ feckless teenagers with every sharp object my mitts can grab.

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Hooray for carnage! Tonight on Starz, the made-for-TV doc Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film machetes its way through the genre.

Nathan Nayman on the outs?

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By Tim Redmond

The Committe on JOBS chief may be facing the axe, according to “rumors-a-swirling” reported by Luke Thomas in Fog City Journal. The problem: Nayman is too confrontational, and the downtown forces are sick of getting nothing done.

Dufty’s a conservative

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By Tim Redmond

Well, not exactly — but a fascinating and incredibly detailed analysis of Dufty’s voting record, put together by Michael Poremeba in BeyondChron, indicates that he’s far more conservative than his district.

And while I’m on ol’ BC: I’ve had a lot of differences with Randy Shaw in the past year, but I must say, Paul Hogarth’s coverage of Prop. 90 has been excellent.

Now if only the big papers in the state would start doing stories like this.

The D6 sleaze reaches high tide

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By Tim Redmond

For starters, don’t the over-funded losers who are attacking Sup. Chris Daly have anything better to do than keep on circulating the same old image?

This comes from one of six — count ’em, six — expensive attack mailers aimed at ousting Daly, one of the city’s most progressive and hard-working supervisors.

Before I get into the ugly politics, let me give a bit of background on the photo.

Even wrong when right

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By Steven T. Jones
Even when the Chronicle gets it right, they get it wrong. Political writers Carla Marinucci and Tom Chorneau scored a great story by discovering that Amos Brown — the SF pastor and former supervisor — had been paid $16,000 by the Schwarzenegger campaign prior to deciding to endorse Herr Governor. It was disgraceful and should shred any credibility that Brown had left. But then they screwed up the story by alternately labeling Brown a “liberal” and a “progressive,” when he was neither. As a supervisor, Brown was conservative and a reliable vote for downtown, and since then, he’s been shilling for the Republican-funded SFSOS and selling out his flock to conservative nutball Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Marinucci and other Chron writers also regularly prop up disgraced SFSOS head Wade Randlett. It’s telling of the Chron’s worldview that they consider Brown to be left of center.
The paper also did some PR work for the Schwarzenegger this morning by writing about the party for Virgin Airlines, despite the lack of news. The company doesn’t yet have permission to operate and it seemed mostly about demonstrating Arnold’s bipartisan appeal by putting him next to Mayor Gavin Newsom, where they each claimed credit for “creating 1,700 jobs.” Too bad the actual total, as reported by Fog City Journal, is just 100 jobs. Oh well, can’t let those pesky facts get in the way of good politics.

NOISE: Tarrying, tangling with Long Winters’ John Roderick

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Guardian contributor Kate Izquierdo recently spoke to Long Winters’ John Roderick – and found him to be quite the eloquent, provocative wag. Chalk it up to his Welsh heritage? Here’s the rest of her talk with the man.

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Bay Guardian: Rolling Stone recently described you as a “folkie.” Does this come as a surprise to you? How would you describe yourself at this point if you had to?

John Roderick: Well, obviously Rolling Stone continues to be the most culturally relevant arbiter and go-to “paper of record” for all things pertaining to American music, but in this particular case they were referring to a live, solo, acoustic performance I did recently in New York, and so I think they can be forgiven for mistaking me as a folk singer. After all, who else would stand alone playing an acoustic guitar? Lesbians and Communists! I’m lucky they didn’t call me a Trotskyite. In truth, as everyone knows, I’m not a folk singer but a wily gypsy/klezmer trickster and balladeer in the great tradition of my people, the Welsh.

Pete Wilson’s bizarre homophobia

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By Tim Redmond

This one’s out of right field: Pete Wilson, who has a radio show on KGO, announced yesterday afternoon that Sup. Bevan Dufty and his old friend Rebecca Goldfader, should never have had a child. His argument: Since Dufty is gay and Goldfader is a lesbian, their co-parenting arrangement somehow isn’t as good as a “traditional” family in which the two parents are sleeping together. (I mean, having sex; if Dufty and Godlfader are like any other parents of a newborn, neither of them is sleeping much at all and when they do they’re playing musical beds — the baby’s here, the baby’s there, one of us is with him, or both of us, and nobody knows who’s going to wake up where.)

Left in SFhas the details, and a link to the show. Here’s what the station is saying about it, which is almost too strange to comprehend:

NOISE: Magic Christian, fer chrissakes

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—– Forwarded Message —-
From: Paul Kopf
To: heidichiao@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 11:47:44 PM
Subject: Magic Christian Show This Thursday, October 12 @ Red Devil Lounge

Hey there MC people…

Thanks to all who came out to last week’s Little Steven Underground show @ The 12 Galaxies..It was such a total blast!!Great to play in SF to a packed crowd..I know Cyril appreciates it. Happily, we get another opportunity to play another cool SF show this coming Thursday, October 12 @ The Red Devil Lounge ( http://www.reddevillounge.com) with Powell St. John and The Aliens and Joel Gion of the great Brian Jonestown Massacre’s new band ,The Dillantantes. So, should be a cool show.So, if you can, we’d love to see you there.Magic Christian are playing in the middle spot so we should go on around 10:00pm or so. Again sorry for the short notice about the shows but we’ve been real busy these days working night and day to get the new CD done, which will be ready to go with the coming year.!! See you Thursday….

Cheers!,
MC

Details…..

Who: Magic Christian with Powell St. John and The Dillantantes
When : This Thursday, October 12, 2006
Where : Red Devil Lounge
1695 Polk St.
SF
Time : 9:00pm

Cost: $ 8

The Village Voice gets lamer

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By Tim Redmond
Well, I’m a bit late on this, but Gawker had a great little item on how lame the Voice has become under its new management.

AMERICAN HARDCORE: the complete interview

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*The following is an (extremely) expanded version of an interview that appears in this week’s San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Director Paul Rachman and writer Steven Blush collaborated on every aspect of their new music doc, American Hardcore. “This is a two-person operation,” Blush explained as we settled into a booth at a not-very-punk-but-hey-we-were-hungry downtown San Francisco restaurant. The pair shared their thoughts on the cultural significance of hardcore music and their DIY filmmaking approach; they also meandered onto a Bay Area tangent, overlapping each other on topics like the charms of Flipper: “They were the ultimate San Francisco band in many ways. They were trashy. They were punk. They were nasty. They were arty.”

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American Hardcore director Paul Rachman and writer Steven Blush. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics Inc. Copyright 2006.

NOISE: Ka-Chingy! For free, actually

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Who doesn’t love free music? Can we all agree that despite its mammoth size and the weird experience of tearing through brambles and over big dogs, small children, and oldsters reading the Sunday paper, that Hardly Strictly Bluegrass wouldn’t be quite the same if it wasn’t free, free, free!?

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Anyway here’s even more for you cheapskates: we all know pop stars are increasingly making more appearances at, of all things, cellie stories (Chris Brown showed at a San Leandro Verizon store last week), but now phone and wireless companies are also getting behind music in other ways.

Tomorrow, Oct. 11, Flash Concerts (backed by Cingular Wireless and Sony Ericsson) present Chingy, free, at the Mezzanine. The dealie is that fans have to register to “Get in and Win” and sending the text message city code “SF” to “FLASH” (35274). Registrants will receive “Alerts” including: event details, exclusive free concert invites, VIP access, meet & greets and special music prizing. Text “SF” to “FLASH” or visit your local Cingular Wireless store for more details.

Then you’re “Right Thurr,” as the Chingster might say. One wonders how many Sony Ericssons the dude scored with this tie-in. Ah, something to contemplate when the doors open at 8:30 p.m. at 444 Jessie St., SF.

At least you didn’t have to sit through any commercials…

Keegan McHargue’s opening in NYC

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By Mirissa Neff

Better late than never right? Way back on September 21st I checked out the opening of Keegan McHargue’s show The Control Group at Metro Pictures Gallery in Chelsea. The hugely successful opening followed on the heels of Keegan being featured on the cover of the Guardian’s Fall Arts Preview. Here’s the artist with his mom and dad:

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It was impossible not to feel SF pride and I think Keegan was happy to see some homefolk in the Big Apple. The entire block was choked with hipsters as several neighboring galleries had openings. Rubbed elbows with Michael Stipe who seemed genuinely interested in the art as opposed to the free wine and cheese.

The biggest star in the world!

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Check out Ron Dorfman and Peter Nevard’s 1970 documentary Groupies, a fave amongst employees at at least one adventurous record shop that ain’t afraid of soul.

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Back from Berlin…

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By Mirissa Neff

In the midst of excursions to NYC, Reykjavik and Paris I spent last week in Berlin… here are some posts from the experience:

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Generally Berlin reminds me a lot of SF/Oakland… the thrift-store aesthetic, the experimental vibe, people are very willing to go out on artistic limbs here. The city is quite sprawling and real estate is cheap… e.g., anyone with a creative idea can afford to set up a storefront. This doesn’t mean that they will be successful… things seems to be in constant renewal. If a project doesn’t work out people here seem fine with picking up and starting from scratch with something else. Perhaps that attitude has historical roots… the wall coming down, etc? Hmmmm….

Last night we went to an underground party where my host’s friend Manuel was spinning. The party was very literally under ground… once we paid our $4 admission to a burly Austrian who was listening to honky tonk music on a transistor, we descended into the party via a shakey ladder propped up in a hole in the cement. The subterranean scene was very cool… tunnels full of brick arches with stalagtites hanging down, projections, art installations, a dj and a makeshift bar only serving beer, vodka (no mixers) and water. We grabbed a couple of Berliner beers and sat down to hear Manuel’s super eclectic set… he played everything from German soccer anthems to the Aryan equivalent of Frank Zappa.

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The King Kong Klub during a quiet moment…

Manuel was leaving to spin elsewhere and we followed. We ended up at the King Kong Klub… a bar saturated with red walls, hipsters and King Kong imagery. The scene had a full cast of characters…

You Can’t Trust Arnold

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By Sarah Phelan
I saw the “Angelides for Governor” bus long before I saw the man who would be the next Democratic Governor of California. The bus was peacefully barreling up San Francisco’s Franklin Street on its way to the Central Labor Council where Phil Angelides was set to speak to a crowd of blue and yellow-sign waving supporters. But not before a horn-honking tow truck, cut in on the scene, its driver shouting “No to the Angelides Tax Tune-Up!” (And was that Arnold, dressed in a Super Man suit, driving a big rig, laughing manically as he pressed on a ear-drum shattering horn just as Angelides alighted from bus? Probably not, but it’s hard to tell, given the tendency of Arnie’s supporters to hide their true identities behind Super Hero masks and costumes.)
Either way, nurses, teachers, firefighters and working folks in general haven’t forgotten what Arnold has done, or tried to do, to them in the past 3 years.
Like wasting over $70 million on a special election that nobody wanted instead of trying to fix the state’s educational system.
Like stomping for Bush in Ohio in 2004, instead of demanding that California get its share of federal funds.
Like bragging about kicking nurses’ butts instead of ensuring that all Californians have access to health insurance.
Speaking of which, “Someone got their butt kicked and it wasn’t a nurse,” laughed Assemblymember Mark Leno as he addressed the crowd prior to Angelides’ appearance. “Phil Angelides slam dunked that debate.”
And as Angelides supporters pointed out, after spending over $35 million and beating up on Angelides for the past 3 months, Arnold is frozen at 44 percent in the polls. And his record sucks.
Maybe Phil Angelides hasn’t made any movies but he sure seems more trustworthy than Arnold. As Angelides told the crowd,
“I’m running with you at my side to stop the greedy obscene corporate-interest give aways.”

Why sleep when there are docs to watch??

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That’s my motto. I’m gonna get it tattooed in Olde English letters across my stomach, “Thug Life”-style. With the two question marks and everything. Here’s a couple of new recommendations for my doc-loving homies.

Tonight on IFC: the premiere of Rank, director John Hyams’ look at the elite ranks of the professional bull-riding circuit. (Hyams previously made a film for HBO about mixed martial arts fighting called The Smashing Machine. What’s scarier, an extreme brawler or a hulking, pissed-off bull named Crossfire Hurricane?)

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No on Jessica’s Law

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by Amanda Witherell

If we didn’t convince you enough that Prop 83 is just a somewhat timely law designed to make Democrats look like the ones who are soft on sexual predation (Ahem, Mark Foley) the New York Times ran an article today illustrating how similar legislation in New York has created nodes of sexual predators that are giving neighbors the willies and inspiring some to take the law into their own hands. Read more here. The other concerns, which the Times doesn’t touch, is that some acts that were once upon a time considered sex offenses, like consensual homosexual sex, no longer merit that status but under Megan’s Law the “criminals” may still have to identify themselves as sex offenders. Also, to slap Global Positioning Systems on people doesn’t necessarily mean it will be possible to keep vigilant track of them — the devices transmit signals by line of sight with satellites, which can often be blocked by roofs, walls, buildings, dense tree cover.

Does Beauty Ravish You?

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by Amanda Witherell

Did it ravish you, compel you, confuse you last night on the corner of 24th and Mission? That’s what a 20×30 foot red banner, spontaneously unfurled around 8 pm from the rooftop of “Chinese Food and Donuts,” was asking of many a surprised Mission hipster and inspiring the itinerant BART station population to look up and wonder why? As if the banner’s inquisitiions weren’t intriguing enough, the billboard, as dancer Jo Kreiter and Flyaway Productions are calling it, was merely an artful backdrop for an elegant aerial dance performance. Three dancers in boxes, suspended in front of the billboard, came alive like portraits caught in frames, pushing the edges of their tight parameters and the safety of their harnesses. A fourth woman, clad in shimmering red, lurched from the rooftop above the swinging frames, with graceful, raging footwork that oscillated between acquiescence and a suicide attempt. And I’d just been trying to figure out how to show my mother, visiting our dear city for the first time, that San Francisco is so much more than Fisherman’s Wharf…

The show is the first public Flyaway production since 2002, and is called the Live Billboard Project. It was conceived by Kreiter when she was driving home one day and the Top Model billboard at the intersection of Mission and 280 caught her eye. “Sequined and stripped down, they were spilling out of the garish billboard,” she wrote about the Top Models in a flyer advertising her show. “All hips, ass and titillation. Despite 40 years since The Feminine Mystique, despite the Guerilla Girls, and despite the activism of so many fed up women, the objectification of women’s bodies in public space persists.”

The free, live show premiered on Wednesday night, and ran through the weekend. It was lightly advertised because, as one organizer told me, they like the element of surprise to play a part in the experience. Don’t be sad — you didn’t totally miss it. Another round is set for this Thursday, October 12 through Saturday, October 14, with shows at 8 pm and 9:30. Schedule your BART traveling accordingly for this must-see.

NOISE: Last Alcoholocaust at Golden Bull?

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Tonight’s your last chance to catch hard rock courtesy of Alcoholocaust at the Golden Bull, 412 14th St., Oakland. Scott Alcoholocaust is throwing a last shindig before the joint closes Tuesday, Oct. 10. Alas – and it was so fun last night, dancing to Jay-Z and Michael Jackson in the shadows. Tonight, Oct. 8, the last Alcky show at GB includes Decry, La Plebe, Infect, Troublemaker, and Snatch and the Fingers. 7 p.m. $7. Rock it and weep.

Working in the East Bay

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By G.W. Schulz

Both the issues of fair compensation for hotel workers and immigration rights merged this week in the East Bay with an emergency picket and a call to the police. Hotel housekeepers announced that a demonstration against Woodfin Suites Hotel in Emeryville would take place on Wednesday after claiming that the establishment threatened mass firings of immigrant workers who were demanding recognition of Measure C, a living wage and workload protection ordinance passed by East Bay voters in 2005.

According to a statement sent out by the non-profit East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, managers at Woodfin Suites gave workers 24 hours to re-submit work authorization forms or be fired. Ouch. The following day, workers delivered a petition protesting the re-verification demand and a hotel manager called the cops on them and kicked them out of the building. Since then, the 24-hour deadline has been extended to 14 days, but the hotel is still demanding a valid social security number, or workers who can’t provide one will be fired.

If that’s not enough, Woodfin Suites is suing the city of Emeryville over the ordinance, but according to an e-mail from EBASE organizer Brooke Anderson, their motion for a preliminary injunction has been denied.

“Workers see the hotel’s re-verification and termination plan as clear retaliation, which is illegal under both federal labor law and the living-wage ordinance,” the statement read.

More information can be found at EBASE’s Web site, www.workingeastbay.org.

Skate or die

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By G.W. Schulz

Gavin Newsom has made a lot of promises during his tenure. He’s even come up with a few half-baked plans to contend with the city’s highest homicide rate in 10 years. But he recently dropped the ball on a seemingly simple gesture that could have at the very least kept a few kids out of trouble.

SF PartyParty reported a while back that the mayor has slipped on a promise to build two new skateparks for the city this year. They confirmed it with a call to Parks and Rec and noted that at the very most, the city could see one new skatepark next year.

We reported earlier in the year that kids attending an after-school program at Cellspace in the heart of the Mission off Bryant Street had grown fond of a group of skate ramps that had appeared quietly in the parking lot of the long-time flea market and bike kitchen located across the street from Cellspace’s warehouse. But the non-profit’s executive director Zoe Garvin told us at the time that the lot was slated for a new housing development, and the ramps wouldn’t be permitted to stick around much longer.

A new skatepark could have been timed perfectly. What a shame. Thanks to SF PartyParty for the heads up. By the way, Cellspace is holding a fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 7-10 pm. Attend and help out some fine folks. While you’re there, ask Henry about his idea for a veggie-fueled lowrider with solar-powered hydraulic suspension. Awesome.

Rallying point

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By Steven T. Jones
It’s good to be reminded sometimes that San Francisco is truly an oasis in a desert of fear and ignorance. Yesterday’s City Hall press conference on the terrible Court of Appeals ruling against same sex marriage was one of those moments, when we felt unified in our quest for justice and equality. Despite this disappointment on the way to the eventual California Supreme Court hearings, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said, “We are steadfast and couldn’t be prouder to be at the forefront of this battle.” And everyone felt it. Win or lose, we’re doing the right thing. “We’re making tremendous progress,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom, who didn’t mince words when describing the majority opinion that traditional marriage shouldn’t be updated by the courts: “They made a mistake.”
Both sounded notes of optimism. Said Newsom, “I’m confident we’re going to get there, but today was an emotional setback.” Yet Herrera noted that we need to be vigilant against the right wing forces that are trying to make judges fear doing what they must: “The threat to the independence of the judiciary by those screaming about judicial activism is a disgrace.”