SFBG videographer Ariel Soto-Suver caught up with Shannon Harney at the Convent, a communal living space in Lower Haight that actually once was a convent, for this installment of Telegenic Band Check.
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Video Pick
SF’s Cocktails shout ‘Hey Winnie’
I’m loving this video by newish San Francisco power-pop (or “power-slop”) band Cocktails for “Hey Winnie,” off the group’s debut self-titled EP.
The video has the playful vibe of 1990s alternative spots (when power-pop was king), and looks to be set in Tenderloin store, Vacation actually was filmed at the No Shop in the Mission.
Released a week from today (Feb. 12) on local Father/Daughter Records, the seven-inch was recorded at Fuzz City Studio with Matthew Melton, of Warm Soda and Bare Wires fame. Cocktails’ next show is Feb. 23 at the Night Light, 311 Broadway, Oak. www.thenightlightoakland.com.
Telegenic Band Check: Roem Baur
Roem Baur performed for SFBG videographer Ariel Soto-Suver at St. Luke’s Church on Van Ness, where he also does an open mic event.
Nite Trax: Roasting SF club legend Timmy Spence
If you think you’re cool (or merely interesting) — please drop everything and watch this clubkid-packed 1981 video masterpiece by scene terror Timmy Spence. He’s being shamelessly and publicly roasted on the occasion of his 60th(!) birthday this Saturday, courtesy of some might big drag queens. After the jump, Trannyshack’s Heklina dishes the dirt and gives the deets.
Well, there’s a few things I thought would never happen!
First of all, I never thought we would be celebrating Timmy Spence’s 60th Birthday…if there was ever someone with nine (or more lives), it’s The Tammers. We’ve been through a lot together; thrown in jail together in Mexico, a cross country road trip where I got so mad at him we didn’t speak all the way through Texas, a near death experience while hiking in Nevada, cruising the Christopher St. Piers in drag in NYC together back when that was fun, the list goes on and on. And she’s still kicking. Even after countless trips to the hospital, she’s still here, shocking and offending everyone and really serving as an inspiration to countless young queens. Like an Auntie Mame from hell, every fiber in her body screams, live….LIVE!
Won’t you join me in honoring this queen of queens this Saturday?
Timmy Spence’s 60th Birthday Bash!
Saturday January 12- Join us as we pay tribute to this legendary drag fossil! Who would have thought she would live this long?
With your hosts Peaches Christ & Heklina, and appearances by Arturo Galster, Ethel Merman, Matthew Martin, Miss X, Laurie Bushman, Darlin’, Pippi Lovestocking, D’Arcy Drollinger, Deena Davenport, Sexitude, and more! With DJ’s Chicken and Dank.
Rebel, 1760 Market St. @ Octavia. 8pm. No cover, RSVP here
SFBG TV: Dinner with Cassava
“This place just sort of fell into our lap” says Yuka Ioroi, who opened the Richmond neighborhood’s Cassava Cafe and Restaurant earlier this year with husband Kristoffer. “We always wanted to have our own restaurant, but also wanted to start small with a cafe. So we thought, why not just serve a limited-seating dinner?”With Kris’s culinary knowledge, and Yuka’s eye for aesthetics, this small space in the Richmond is a treat, embellished with flowers, delectable foods. It’s a great space for community — you feel right at home here.
I was lucky enough to film a recent, one-off dinner the couple put together. The footage gives you a taste of their culinary chops, and will probably make you hungry regardless of any recently-finished holiday meal.
Not in the mood for dinner? During the day the cafe offers Ritual coffee, toasted sandwiches, pastries, and dishes that showcase Kris’s range of culinary talents. All ingredients either home-made or local.
Cassava Cafe and Restaurant
3519 Balboa, SF
(415) 640-8990
Simple H2O makes it go (into your head and stay there)
We salute Los Angeles’ Mark Bedol, inventor of the battery-free, water-powered clock, for bringing the ditty-centric production values of local cable TV ads to the Internet. The lil’ timekeeper comes in pink, red, blue, green, etc. You can choose to go meta with the water drop-shaped model or be boring and buy yet another round clock.
Also! Happy beginning of holiday (shopping) season. Our SFBG Holiday Guide comes out on November 21st, which you should be excited about if you like drag queens and ways to survive the season for alternative families.
Damn, that’s crazy: Frankie Quinones’ TV debut on Nickelodeon
W. Kamau Bell’s recent success notwithstanding, when it comes to Bay comics, we love Frankie Quinones as our stand-up ambassador. His shows — including a packed-to-the-brim gig a few we attended months ago in the cozy basement space of Bossa Nova — are where you want to go to watch the grown-and-sexy of the Bay Area crack. Up.
Anyway, he sent us a video of his old crush from Martin, Tisha Campbell introducing his set for an episode of NickMom Night Out that premiered last month. Moms making butterfly nets out of pantyhose are involved. Onward and upward, Frankie!
Rupa and the April Fishes re-‘BUILD’
The ethereal San Francisco global fusion band released this video for the title track of its new album, BUILD, last week. Tonight (Fri/9) it plays an album release show at the Great American Music Hall.
Known for blending different cultural styles of music and languages, Rupa and the April Fishes spent years creating BUILD, a follow-up to 2009’s Este Mundo, traveling the world during the process, and touring via bicycle — and those global influences are felt throughout the record, along with a sociopolitical edge. Earlier this year she told us, “In the wake of where we find ourselves right now, economically, sociopolitically, we can’t wait for someone to hand us the reality we want. We have to build it, we have to create it.”
Rupa and the April Fishes
With Black Nature Band, the Glasses
Fri/9, 9pm, $17.50
Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell, SF
www.slimspresents.com
City Editor Steven T. Jones on where to get rowdy, dramatic, and/or historically significant for Election 2012
Sure you voted (you voted, right?), but do you know where your election night party is? After as many years as he’s been in the field, City Editor Steven T. Jones has some tips on where to see the most election-cycle hoo-hah. Don’t forget to check out our complete list of tonight’s parties, from the League of Pissed Off Voters always-raucus ruckus at El Rio to historic death penalty referendum Yes on Prop. 34’s get-together at Jillian’s.
Telegenic Band Check: Elegy
After spending an afternoon with Bay Area punk band Elegy, I learned that the band will not only rock your socks off, they can also style your hair, give you legal advice, and probably knit you a pair of socks. That’s pretty punk rock.
Macklemore’s hip-hop for thrifters is on
At the absolute risk of sounding like a f***in’ hipster, we swoon for Seattle hip-hop team Macklemore and Ryan Lewis‘ track “Thrift Shop.” Because if you haven’t worn a new score to the club that smelled like piss ‘cuz you forgot to wash it, you’re probably getting fleeced by corporate clothing America. Try to avoid sadness while comparing our Goodwill bins to those of the Northwest shown in the video. The Bay’s got ups on those to the north in other ways… just not used clothing stores. They win on that. Macklemore’s on fire right now with The Heist, his new release that’s been fueling a string of sold-out tour dates — including a gig on Sun/21 at the Fillmore.
End of days for Uzi Rash
Finito. Doneski. Kaput. Well, that may be putting it harshly, but Uzi Rash’s five years of fame is just about up. So says frontman Max Nordile who is winding down this East Bay band with two last hurrahs. They’ll simultaneously release one last LP, Coreless Roll Can-Liner (1234 Go! Records) as they kick off “Uzi Rash (2007-2012) End Days Last Tour” on Oct. 28. There is also word that a final, final cassette release, The Garbageman’s Uniform is near completion.
In the meantime you should go bananas and watch this Dan Shaw-directed, lo-fi video shot on a giant, grainy, camcorder that actually records using full-size VHS tapes (full disclosure: I make a cameo appearance — my music video debut right around the 1:30 mark).
Trust me, it wasn’t always sunshine and lollipops between the two of us. Nordile once stared me down and confronted me at a show after I had ignorantly mislabeled his band as a side project. I wised up. Still, he should be ashamed of himself for picking on a pipsqueak like me. But what else would you expect from a Neanderthal? Surely not good music. Here’s hoping for another day and a new dawn for him and any of his associate’s musical endeavors.
Only a few more chances to see Uzi Rash live in the Bay Area:
October 21st Indie Mart at Thee Parkside with White Mystery, Greg Ashley (formerly of Gris Gris) and Cracked Ice
October 26th Total Trash Halloween Bash pre-party at the New Parish in Oakland (Uzi Rash performs as The Fall) with Nobunny, Shannon and the Clams and Audacity
October 28th at 1234 Go! Records with Unnatural Helpers, Stillsuit and Synthetic ID
November 29th (Last show ever!) at Sugar Mountain in Oakland with Terry Malts, Apogee Sound Club, Yogurt Brain and Karen
Hunx’s Halloween wish list
Our very own Hunx (you know, of and His Punx) has officially got me excited for Halloween with this new video to an older song in the grand spooky holiday tradition of “Monster Mash,” anything by the Cramps, and other such gems. Or maybe it’s nothing like that.
It’s “I Vant to Suck Your C**k,” which features a pulsing beat, grave dancing, awesome tights, lime green wigs, and Hunx dressed as a Dracula type vampire, casually letting you know what he vants to do this October. Happy Halloweiners!
Michele Myers is coming … to slay (slightly NSFW!)
Our favorite pretty psychopath, Michele Myers, is back and cruising the bushes (for blood) as she brings a her hilarious horror musical to SF, Oct. 19-31. It’s a mashup of Halloween and other horror flick faves — plus “The Facts of Life”! What the hell could be scarier than that? Don’t go into the closet, Tootie! Here’s Michele in action — and we’ve also fgot the official trailer for the show below. Hi-scarious.
Telegenic Band Check: Emily Jane White
Emily Jane White played an acoustic concert in a tiny living room in San Francisco and talked about her dark, moody lyrics, before she heads to Portugal next month for a live performance.
“The f*cking building was looking like a f*cking jail. But now it’s like a museum.”
A guy who is on the board of the Oakland Museum of California buys an abandoned 36,000 square foot warehouse (1350 Fourth St., Berk.) He doesn’t realize the structure is a hot spot for local graffheads, but when he sees the art inside his new purchase he decides to roll with it, at least until he turns it into office space. Enter Endless Canvas, the superlative Bay street art site that Mr. Property Owner taps to curate the building. And viola. Special Delivery, a three-story aerosol wonderland, opened this Saturday with a bigass all-ages party, live music from Ear Peace Records, and what might be the highest concentration of legal street art you can see today in the Bay. The whole deal’s only standing til the end of the month, so we suggest checking EC’s website for its next viewing hours.
Who says sailing’s not a spectator sport? Hot America’s Cup action
We brought nautical-themed beer and outfits to Crissy Field for the America’s Cup preliminary races, and had a great view of one of the turning points of the really big boats before the winning sailors aggressively sprayed champagne on each other. I’m not sure how many of the race’s subtleties our fellow spectators were getting, but it was clear the Team Prada had a lot more fans than Team J.P. Morgan. Say what you like about the economic benefits of millionaire’s sporting events in our city, but they are great excuses to wear peacoats, anchor jewelery, and visible chest hair. Arrrr!
Black Cobra’s ‘Crimson Blade’ video
Local sludge-metal duo Black Cobra just released its first video off last year’s Invernal. The video for “Crimson Blade,” which is mostly based in ominous shadows with snippets of the story flashing along with the beat, was directed by Greg Downing, of San Francisco bands Glitter Wizard and Buffalo Tooth.
Conceptualized by the band and Downing, the video is centered around a man as he “devolves to a previous state of humanity and resorts to cannibalism in a post-apocalyptic world.” During filming, the actor Landon Bates accidentally cut himself, so yes, that blood is real.
Video premiere: ‘With You’ by Oakland’s DRMS
Eclectic local eight-piece DRMS (formerly Dreams) today released a haunting video for “With You” off the band’s self-titled debut LP. The album release party takes place Sat/28 at Rickshaw Stop.
The video for “With You” was funded through – say it together now – Kickstarter. The Oakland band raised $5,000 to create it, a thousand bucks more than its initial goal.
Director Elia Vargas says the video, which depicts color-punctuacted scenes of lead vocalist Emily Ritz wandering through an old Victorian, “explores themes of transposing human ideas and human emotions onto inanimate objects. Specifically, inanimate spaces – like the home,” adding “We transformed a house to engage in a flirtatious dance with [Ritz].”
SF bragging rights (and ass) galore in Double Duchess’ brand-new “Bucket Betch”
Blatant disregard for traffic safety be damned (really, the bike-riding sparklers past the Castro Theatre shot is magick), the new Double Duchess video for “Bucket Betch” looks like something I’d show to my friends who don’t live in San Francisco to make them jealous. See, New Orleans and Brooklyn aren’t the only place with queer hip-hop anthems right now. See, it is possible to dance in those shoes. See 2:55 for an expert glitter vogue move. Try to count how many flagging club kids you can spot in this tour of ass-cheek-exposed SF summer. You can catch the duo performing with drag-wreck Christeene at Peaches Christ‘s new quarterly party Church on Aug. 10 at Public Works.
Cosmic hip-hop group Copperwire in the studio
Porto Franco Records caught cosmic local hip-hop group Copperwire in the studio in this video that shot just before the release of the band’s debut record, Earthbound.
Back in May, singer-songwriter Meklit Hadero discussed her new project and album with the Guardian explaining, “Earthbound uses metaphors of intergalactic distances to talk about diaspora and cultural connection and disconnection.” The group is now working on a follow-up with “interactive remixes,” which sounds awesome if a bit confusing.
Bachata morning, courtesy of Joan Soriano
Surely when Joan Soriano left his Dominican fishing town for the bright lights of bachata central Villa Mella — at 13! — he couldn’t have anticipated that a San Francisco culture writer’s fireworks hangover would be alleviated by his NPR concert. There you have it, however. Let Soriano take away that Fifth of July (red, white, and) blues on the coattails of his jingling, mellow notes. For more Soriano, check out his gigs at Cafe Cocomo on Fri/6 and Impala for “Hot Bachata Nights” on Sun/8.
A quick glimpse into the SF Mime Troupe’s history
The amazing SF Mime Troupe has been part of San Francisco so long, it basically is San Francisco. In honor of 53 years of guerilla theater (and new show “The Last Election”), the troupe put together this little vid full of nifty clips of past presentations. Catch ’em in Dolores Park and beyond.
Video premiere: Tim Carr is 3-D in space (and catchy, too)
Fans of local hottie chanteur Tim Carr, rejoice — the new video for “Give Me the Light” offers emo aliens, a nice Placebo-esque rave-up, and the hunky Mr. Carr himself in a bathrobe. (Also: Cheerios?) Funky glasses and/or visual cortex creativity required, but you can view in earthly 2-D as well.