This year marks the end of We Players’ three-year collaboration with the National Parks Service on Alcatraz Island. The project showcased the island’s scenic isolation in a number of artistic and community-building endeavors. The stage company’s 2010 marathon production of Hamlet was a tour de force of site-specificity, taking actors and audiences all over the island, including areas normally off-limits to the public. In their imaginative stagings of Macbeth, Hamlet, and Iphigenia, as well as their ongoing art exhibitions for, by, and about incarcerated juveniles and adults, the Players highlight themes of isolation, incarceration, justice, and redemption. They wield their art as a catalyst rather than as nostalgic revival. Their Alcatraz residency ends in the fall. In 2012, it partners with the California Parks Service to stage The Odyssey on Angel Island.
Art
Best of the Bay 2011: BEST AEROSOL ROOTS
It’s easy to forget, with the advent of sleekly produced, four-story street art extravaganzas, that graffiti used to be the strictly illegal pursuit of brave-crazy iconoclasts hustling around with backpacks full of signed FedEx stickers and cans of Krylon. But thanks to the self-described “lizard people” behind Endless Canvas, the art of the throw up is still being honored. The Bay Area street-art blog is updated daily with the kinds of pieces that’ll never star in a Warholian post — from ground tags to the bubble letters of WIRE, to the small wheat paste gems of Bella Ciao’s roses and Esu’s proud female faces. The site’s documentation dedication is testament to the real glory of street art: reasserting our right to be seen in a world that prefers blank walls.
Best of the Bay 2011: BEST SHOT OF PANACHE
We just have one question for you, Revolver: can we move in? We would fit so well in your charming, roomy, homey, comfy store-and-gallery. On warm summer days, we could don one of your light summer frocks and Illesteva sunglasses, like contemporary post-ironic preppies but not that heavy; seal in our dewy look with one of your delicious moisturizers; and have coffee while pondering the art on display in your back room. Evenings, we could venture out in a pair of Tretorn rubber boots or suede Volta high tops and Creep khaki chinos, then settle in for the night on one of your durable cotton Japanese Workers pillow covers. In short, Revolver, we like everything about your small, beautifully curated store. Just one more thing: Is that a pistol in your pocket, or are you glad to see us?
136 Fillmore, SF. (415) 578-3363, www.revolversf.com
Best of the Bay 2011: BEST LEATHER-SCENTED TIME WARP
Stepping into cobbler Suzanne George’s shop is like entering a hide-covered time warp. George crafts her clodhoppers in much the same way that shoes were made several hundred years ago. She works the leather by hand, stitching the pieces with thread and hammering it all together with actual nails. Not only are the shoes custom-made to fit every tootsie they encase, they are also unique pieces of art, nearly too lovely to take tramping on the dirty pavement. George shares her high-quality, low-technology workshop with Peter, a shoemaker originally from Italy who used to make sandals for Mother Teresa. Together they make some damn fine throwback sling-backs.
1787 Church, SF. (415) 775-1775, www.suzannegeorgeshoes.com
Best of the Bay 2011: BEST SONIC SAFARI
Deep in the thick of the taquerias, bodegas, butcher shops , and joyerias of 24th Street dwells this exotic little shopping outpost for fearless cultural adventurers. Explorist International captain Chris Dixon (known on assorted music bills as Phengren Oswald) lets his collector come out to play here, sharing new and used recordings of global party riddims, heady jazz, weird old folk and country blues, and various unclassifiables — as well as art books, micro-run zines, and McSweeney’s volumes. The record bins are where the real action is, though: Moondog vinyl canoodles with Sperm Walls rarities, and Charlie Nothing crashes with the Indonesian prog and funk of Those Shocking, Shaking Days. Would we like to snag that vinyl copy of Luk Thung: Classic and Obscure 78s from the Thai Countryside? Yes, Dr. Livingstone, we would indeed.
3174 24th St., SF. (415) 400-5850, www.exploristinternational.com
Best of the Bay 2011: BEST WAY TO SIGN UP
Beautify the street and bolster your curb appeal in classic style with some legit hand-lettering from New Bohemia Signs. Using traditional enamels and gold leaf, New Bohemia practices its old-school art with pride — snazzing up placards with over-the-top fonts, providing elegant window signage for boutiques and restaurants, crafting appetizing menu boards, even revamping your Victorian with a gilded transom. Founder Damon Styer and crew have also branched out into the gallery scene: a recent art show at Guerrero Gallery featured work by present and past New Bohemia staff. The vintage feel, handmade aesthetic, and design-addict cache — New Bohemia’s products have even been salivated over in The New York Times — seem a perfect sign of our local, small-batch, skill-appreciative times.
281 Ninth St., SF. (415) 864-7057, www.newbohemiasigns.com
Best of the Bay 2011:BEST BET FOR BAROQUE BEAUTY
You’ve redecorated your living room, but still something is missing. Could it be? Yes it is — a fuchsia-toned chaise lounge. Do not despair, for we have your marching orders: SF Antiques and Design Mall. The 13-year-old Bayview behemoth is something akin to an indoor flea market, and is home to 200 experts in the art of antique, all of whom have booths filled to the brim with fanciful paperweights, glittering heaps of costume jewelry, and ever-so-whimsical seating options. Seriously, if your interior design is hankering for a touch of the over-embellished, a whiff of kitsch, or perhaps a splash of hanging basket chair, you will find it here.
701 Bayshore, SF. (415) 656-3530, www.sfantique.com
A skate day for creative community
At last, a weekend with weather resembling an actual summer vacation. With Saturday’s moderate temperature, a soothing breeze, and clear skies I was in a great mood to head to Tha Hood Games at the African American Art and Culture Complex (AAACC) on July 23 (click here to see our event preview). The vast majority of my experience with skateboarding has been watching the X Games religiously every year, so you could say that the bar was set high for day’s skating.
I didn’t have a problem finding the Western Addition venue; all I had to do was follow the heart-pounding, bass-pumping beats coming from the event’s speakers. Mistakingly anticipating a small crowd as I rounded the corner of Buchanan Street, it turned out the party had already started. A crowd stretched out in front of the AAACC for a lock down Fulton Street: skaters, parents, fans, everyone excited to check out the fun that was visible through the parking lot fence.
Not to be deterred by the onlooking SFPD police vehicle, the energy in the parking lot turned skate park was infectious. It appeared that every skateboarder in the city had turned out for the Games.
Tha Hood Games was the kickoff event for an exhibit that will be on display in the AAACC’s Sargent Johnson Gallery through next year. Eye-grabbing smaller paintings and murals on helmets, car hoods, and other surfaces, all highlighting the past works of Tha Hood Games, which was created to give Bay Area youth a chance to showcase artistic talent in a positive skating environment. Saturday’s opening reception and fashion show were held following the parking lot open skate, which was held in tandem with music performances and a live mural painting.
But the skating was what caught my eye. The downhill orientation of the Complex’s parking lot acted as a natural drop-in for boarders who’d use it in their descent towards the various obstacles and quarter pipes that awaited them at the bottom. Boarders could grab a drink from vitamin water sponsors when thirsty, a bite from Gussie’s Chicken and Waffles booth when hungry, and if their board took a hit, visit the deck doctors stationed at, yes, another booth.
The crowd snapped to attention when the emcee and founder of Tha Hood Games, Keith “K-Dub” Williams announced that pro skater Nyjah Huston had arrived at the AAACC parking lot. Huston was the youngest-ever competitor in the X Games when he made his debut during the 2006 X Games at age eleven. Now, he was being ambushed by a group of skaters that ranged from youngsters to people twice his age.
For a high-schooler like myself, to see a ‘5”7 17-year old admired on a ten-foot scale was really gratifying. For the skaters in attendance, Huston was the person to be: they were standing in front of a skateboarding prodigy.
But the most the most rewarding part of the day was the sight of people of all ages coming together to enjoy a day of skateboarding. Literally, I took an informal poll. Whether it came out of the mouth of Williams or I overheard it from other attendees, the catch phrase of the day was clear: “this is just a beautiful sight.”
Best of the Bay 2011 Editors Picks: Shopping
Best of the Bay 2011 Editors Picks
Shopping
Tweekin Records in the Lower Haight was one of the centers of Bay Area dance music culture for the better part of two decades. But besides the basic insanity of operating a specialty record store in these e-times, the Tweekin brand had gotten a bit ragged over the years. So it was a charge for vinyl lovers when Manny Alferez and crew stepped up for a reinvigoration, unveiling Black Pancake Records. Pretty much the same concept reigns: great funk, soul, house, techno, jazz, and even (gasp!) rock records, plus a friendly staff with some primo recommendations. Perhaps best of all, there are a couple of those rarest of beasts — listening stations. Yep, you can put the actual circular whatsit on the doohickey that spins around and hear it make the music, little Johnny. All without clickety-clicking on the wee mouse-thingy.
593 Haight, SF. (415) 626-6995, www.blackpancakerecords.com
BEST EVERYDAY KAN DO
Peruse the labels of say, a kitty-shaped exfoliating washcloth or exquisitely lacquered bento box at Ichiban Kan, and you’re likely to see a Good Housekeeping seal of approval-style label trumpeting that the item won a design award in Japan. At times it seems like everything wins a design award in Japan, then the realization sets in that no other country seems to have dedicated itself so fervently to assuring that the everyday things of life — from paper clips to cooking utensils — be attractive, eminently functional, durable, and well-designed. When we want to load up on the best of the quotidian (we’re particular fans of the rolls of plastic wrap for $1), we come here.
Various locations, www.ichibankanusa.com
BEST GEEKDOM: THE GATHERING
It’s a constant nerd alert — not that that’s a bad thing — at Cards and Comics Central, a Richmond District shop where employees know the difference between vine whips and seed bombs and can explain why destroy effects don’t harm a cattank. Kids into Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokémon, or Magic will be overwhelmed by the shop’s vast selection. Parents will be overwhelmed at the price tag — you can spend more than $100 on a single card, though assorted decks (available for under $10) might keep the average young collector sated. Check out the back room for the real action — pale adults playing Magic with an intensity you won’t find at most Vegas poker tables.
5424 Geary, SF. (415) 668-3544, www.candccentral.com
BEST REFILL, NOT LANDFILL
What does it take to win a gazillion green business awards? It certainly starts with a great concept, a seriously vetted supply chain, and a commitment to spreading the eco-word. It also helps to have a pleasing storefront in Noe Valley, cute and eager staff, luscious products, and bulk-store prices without the forklifts and doublewide shopping carts. Green 11, launched by married couple Marco Pietschmann and Bettina Limaco and inspired by a Rachel Carson observation (“For the first time in history, every human being is being subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception to death.”), offers soaps, cleaning supplies, pet food, shampoo, conditioners, and lotions, all ready for your refillable, affordable use. Bring your own containers or put for up a starter container at the store.
3980 24th St., SF. (415) 425-5195. www.shopgreen11.com
BEST FAIR FEATHERS
You think your head hurts from the plumage parade that alit on Dolo Park this year? Think of the feather-farm roosters and other avian amigos that have lost their lives to appease the current mania for quill jewelry and hair extensions. Happily, two gentle crafters have taken the torture out of the trend: Erykah Prentice and Martha Hudson started their accessories label Divine Dandelions for peace, not plucking. The two create their cascading earrings and fanciful headdresses from foraged feathers, selling them from a sweet little gazebo at festivals up and down the West Coast. If you find yourself Bay-bound during next month’s Gaia Festival (up in the hills of Laytonville), you can always check out their Kahlil Gibran-quoting website for custom-made creations.
BEST MEMORY TRANSFERENCE
Are your childhood camcorder memories gathering worrisome mildew by the minute? Entrust your VHS-ed precious moments to the Mission’s Video Transfer Center run by Jennifer Miko, a 2008 graduate of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation and a collaborator with the Image Permanence Institute. Miko, along with husband Buck Bito, boasts some of the best equipment in the biz — including a fancy-pants transfer system for 8mm and Super-8 that the center says is California’s first and only. For a small fee, the team will inspect, repair, and transfer your film memories to a digital format that will last forever … or at least until we figure out brain-to-brain info-beaming.
395 South Van Ness, SF. (415) 558-8815, www.videotransfercenter.com
BEST BUGS BUNNY B-BOY FLASHBACKS
Mission vintage stores tend to cater to your typical high-waisted jean-clad, chain-smoking-in-front-of-Four-Barrel kind of girl. (We love her!) But New Jack City is a breath of fresh hype air. This “throwback goods” outpost at 15th and Guerrero streets specializes in sports gear and B-boy stylings straight from your favorite scene in Houseparty 2. Vintage Giants jackets, old school stripes, Bugs Bunny tees of various ages, priceless Afro-centric relics, and breezy caps repping teams or just plain reppin’ … . Actual 1980s and ’90s B-boys (and newer admirers) will feel they never left their Cold Crush Brothers and KRS-One cassettes in their cousin’s janky hoopty’s deck once they step inside.
299 Guerrero, SF. (415) 624-3751, newjackcitysf.blogspot.com
BEST REASON TO NOT GET OUT OF BED
You know those girls who flounce down 24th Street, vintage pastel print sundresses fluttering over their kicky cork wedge sandals, carrying a perfect sexy grandma purse? We know their style secret. Oakland’s Field Day Wearables’ bedding dresses are handmade by a crunchy-awesome label that wants to take the disposable out of fashion. They’ve got pockets and detachable straps that double as a matchy-match headband, and you can find them in patterns from striped to pansied to Batman (yes, they’re made from actual sheets). Score ’em at myriad brick-and-mortar distributing boutiques — or even better, by trying them on over your jeans at one of the craft fairs and street walks where FDW sets up a pretty post.
Available at various Bay Area locations. www.fielddaywearables.com
BEST SMALL WORLDS AFTER ALL
Apparently all the people who came of age in the late 1960s and early ’70s are either dead or too busy filling out Social Security forms to notice that at least one of their cherished craft projects is making a comeback. (No, not candle-splattered Mateus wine bottles or macramé hanging plant slings.) We’re talking about terrariums, the terrestrial equivalent of a ship in a bottle. So what if many G4-era terrarium enthusiasts call them “terraniums”? Their variation on vivarium nomenclature does nothing to diminish the charm of these glassed-in mini-worlds. And particularly high on the charm assessment scale are the creations of the good women of Studio Choo, part of Prairie Collective, whose arrangements of tiny ferns, succulents, and other floral inspire full minutes of unbroken, smart phone-free contemplation.
Available at Prairie Collective 262 Divisadero. (415) 701-8701, www.studiochoo.com, www.prairiecollective.com
You’ve redecorated your living room, but still something is missing. Could it be? Yes it is — a fuchsia-toned chaise lounge. Do not despair, for we have your marching orders: SF Antiques and Design Mall. The 13-year-old Bayview behemoth is something akin to an indoor flea market, and is home to 200 experts in the art of antique, all of whom have booths filled to the brim with fanciful paperweights, glittering heaps of costume jewelry, and ever-so-whimsical seating options. Seriously, if your interior design is hankering for a touch of the over-embellished, a whiff of kitsch, or perhaps a splash of hanging basket chair, you will find it here.
701 Bayshore, SF. (415) 656-3530, www.sfantique.com
BEST FASHION SHRINE
Natural wooden tables, colorful blankets spread here and there, a goat’s head staring placidly down on wonder-covered shelves — Hayes Valley’s Reliquary could be a gaucho explorer’s treasure room. And — minus the gaucho part — that’s pretty much what boutique owner Leah Bershad has created it to be. Bershad stocks the year-old space with crafts and vintage finds from all around the country, plus Europe and — in the case of some elaborate bead-and-quilt satchels stacked near the counter — Afghanistan. The store’s racks of secondhand embroidered dresses and its smattering of designer wear like high-waisted Court denim mean that, as far as fashion church goes, Reliquary lives up to its name: a container for sacred relics.
537 Octavia, SF. (415) 431-4000, reliquarysf.tumblr.com
BEST PLACE TO BUY 300 PAIRS OF PANTS, 250 TELEPHONES, OR 7,651 RUBBER GASKETS
If you’ve ever spent an afternoon wistfully clicking your way through the Craigslist “free” section — pondering all you could do with an extra this or that — you’ve sampled a certain seductive sweet taste. Beware: the California Materials Exchange is crack to Craigslist’s cocaine. It’s eBay on steroids, Urban Ore for colossi. A state-sponsored recycling program, CalMAX facilitates the transfer of bulk, odd, and industrially useful products for wholesale and discount rates, and sometimes for free. So, looking for extra cubicles? How ’bout a free 1000-gallon asphalt-emulsion tank? Or 7,500 pounds of apparel, including 300 women’s black twill pants missing only the waist button? That’ll cost you a paltry 10 grand, but for someone with a plan — and a lot of storage — it could be just the thing.
BEST SHOP FOR THE SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS STITCH
A sobering fact: your clothes were probably made in a sweatshop (sorry). Most of our industrially produced togs — you are probably aware — are made by people making far from decent wages, working with toxic, health-shattering dyes. Small wonder then that local fiber movements are beginning to stitch. Visit Oakland yarn shop A Verb For Keeping Warm to be indoctrinated. Owner Kristine Vejar sells an in-house line of local fibers and natural dyes, and stocks other brands as well. Plus she gives classes on the skills you need to clothe yourself sustainably and hosts free sewing nights to develop community among people who purl — responsibly.
6328 San Pablo, Oakl. (510) 595-8372, www.averbforkeepingwarm.com
BEST WAY TO SIGN UP
Beautify the street and bolster your curb appeal in classic style with some legit hand-lettering from New Bohemia Signs. Using traditional enamels and gold leaf, New Bohemia practices its old-school art with pride — snazzing up placards with over-the-top fonts, providing elegant window signage for boutiques and restaurants, crafting appetizing menu boards, even revamping your Victorian with a gilded transom. Founder Damon Styer and crew have also branched out into the gallery scene: a recent art show at Guerrero Gallery featured work by present and past New Bohemia staff. The vintage feel, handmade aesthetic, and design-addict cache — New Bohemia’s products have even been salivated over in The New York Times — seem a perfect sign of our local, small-batch, skill-appreciative times.
281 Ninth St., SF. (415) 864-7057, www.newbohemiasigns.com
BEST PROTOTYPES (PRIMATE OR OTHERWISE)
The website of the Foam Monkeys concept modeling studio has an “awards” section that admits, “While we can’t honestly recall Foam Monkeys ever actually being mentioned for an award, the company has certainly been a part of many award-winning product development teams.” But we’re giving the company itself a real, bona fide Best of the Bay to boast about. Why? Because! Here you can not only construct a polyurethane primate, but also all sorts of useful stuff — like prototypes for everything from MacBooks to microchips. Sure, the company is geared toward creating serious conceptual models for industrial design and product development, but that doesn’t make the idea of an accessible foam-based 3-D modeling studio any less awesome.
32 Shotwell, SF. (415) 552-5577, www.foammonkeys.com
BEST SONIC SAFARI
Deep in the thick of the taquerias, bodegas, butcher shops , and joyerias of 24th Street dwells this exotic little shopping outpost for fearless cultural adventurers. Explorist International captain Chris Dixon (known on assorted music bills as Phengren Oswald) lets his collector come out to play here, sharing new and used recordings of global party riddims, heady jazz, weird old folk and country blues, and various unclassifiables — as well as art books, micro-run zines, and McSweeney’s volumes. The record bins are where the real action is, though: Moondog vinyl canoodles with Sperm Walls rarities, and Charlie Nothing crashes with the Indonesian prog and funk of Those Shocking, Shaking Days. Would we like to snag that vinyl copy of Luk Thung: Classic and Obscure 78s from the Thai Countryside? Yes, Dr. Livingstone, we would indeed.
3174 24th St., SF. (415) 400-5850, www.exploristinternational.com
BEST CHEAP PLACE TO SCORE A CUP AND A CONRAD
Literature and coffee: such sweet, sweet dependencies. Enable both on the cheap at Reader’s Café . Inconspicuous to those on a casual Fort Mason stroll, this used book treasure trove on the bay is infinite and grand once found. With $20, it’s possible to take home a few written works (some only $1!) and still have change for indulging in a custom-brewed cup of Blue Bottle. Reader’s is a production of the San Francisco Friends of the Library, so not only does each purchase soothe the DTs, it’s for a good cause.
Building C, Room 165, Fort Mason Center, SF. (415) 771-1076, www.readerscafe.org
BEST PARTNER IN PREUSED PURCHASE
In a perfect world, each visit to the Apartment would be a leisurely half-day treasure hunt. The Mission District store is packed with vintage furnishings, boxes of old family photos and 1960s magazines, even a $1 tray for affordable finds. No plywood or cheap IKEA stuff here — everything on offer is well maintained and crafted. Of course, that quality comes with some heft, but if you’ve fallen in love with a cedar armoire when you were supposed to be on the hunt for a throw rug, the Apartment will pay for its delivery: $65 plus $10 for every flight of stairs it must ascend to your door. So accommodating!
3469 18th St., SF. (415) 255-1100
BEST ANTI-GOLIATH GAME FACE
After a five-year effort by chain-wary neighborhood activists to keep it off the grand hippie boulevard, megachain Whole Foods opened at Haight and Stanyan streets early this year. It furthered the neighborhood’s fitful transmogrification into Fancy Town (or Ashbury Valley, the ‘hood’s new NoPa-like real estate agency-created moniker), but Haight Street Market is rising to this market-share challenge. With shifts starting before the crack of dawn, the 30-year-old family-owned shop has stepped it up, adding a high-quality butcher counter, a deli, the least pricey and most diverse beer selection in the Upper Haight, and a buffed-up coffee selection. If only all small businesses could up their game in the face of corporate claims.
1530 Haight, SF. (415) 255-0644, www.haightstreetmarket.com
BEST LEATHER-SCENTED TIME WARP
Stepping into cobbler Suzanne George’s shop is like entering a hide-covered time warp. George crafts her clodhoppers in much the same way that shoes were made several hundred years ago. She works the leather by hand, stitching the pieces with thread and hammering it all together with actual nails. Not only are the shoes custom-made to fit every tootsie they encase, they are also unique pieces of art, nearly too lovely to take tramping on the dirty pavement. George shares her high-quality, low-technology workshop with Peter, a shoemaker originally from Italy who used to make sandals for Mother Teresa. Together they make some damn fine throwback sling-backs.
1787 Church, SF. (415) 775-1775, www.suzannegeorgeshoes.com
BEST COUCH-BOUND — BUT COMMUNITY-MINDED — STONER’S DREAM COME TRUE
While a marijuana home delivery business may sound like nothing more than a couch-bound stoner’s dream come true, the Green Cross actually offers a valuable service to many of the city’s neediest residents who are less mobile as a result of illness, disability, or age. And this is no slapdash selection, either. Brick-and-mortar dispensaries can’t beat its impressive array of hard-to-find THC-infused specialty items like olive oil and agave nectar. Plus it boasts vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free goodies, all made in-house. So toke it all in — a portion of the proceeds are reinvested in the community, supporting social service agencies like the SF AIDS Foundation and the YMCA.
(415) 648-4420, www.thegreencross.org
BEST GOAL-GETTERS
Toby and Libby Rappolt hardly leave the balls behind when they exit their 20-year business, Sunset Soccer Supply, for the day. The Rappolts are players, coaches, and fans too. If they’re not holding up the counter at their shop, chatting with regulars about the most recent match or the best way to teach a kid to dribble or selling a team-sized box of scrimmage vests, there’s a good chance they’re out supporting the SF soccer community. The business is especially into rooting for women’s teams: it was present at the Civic Center showing of the World Cup final, it sponsors tournaments, and it has even invited players to in-store signings.
3401 Irving, SF. (415) 753-2666, www.sunsetsoccer.com
BEST PLACE TO PUT A CORD ON IT
Where to trundle if you want to wear that pretty pierced stone you found on your first anniversary hike up Mount Diablo? The Bead Store has a vast assortment of necklace-ready cords, and the Castro shop’s friendly staff can point you toward a nice clasp, or even tie a slip-knot for you if you’re not fancy. It’s the city’s smallest and oldest bead store — it has been in the same spot since 1964 — and stocks centuries-old beads and rare stones you won’t find anywhere else, as well as the standard tools you need to take your diamonds from the rough.
417 Castro, SF. (415) 861-7332, www.thebeadstoresf.com
BEST RING OF SUCCESS
Jewelry — it can be scary! We don’t mean the fun ornamental kind of jewelry, like Celtic nipple rings or jade idol earrings or purple pentagram pendants (although those can be scary too). No, we’re referring to real jewelry — like the fancy traditional kind you’d better get right or Bridezilla/o is gonna ‘splode and slap you silly with a rolled-up copy of Country Weddings magazine. How will you know how to score the perfect engagement ring, or wedding band, or anniversary bracelet, or birthday watch? Don’t fret. The enormously helpful and nice folks of Just Bands will help you with everything, from sizing and color to design and polish. Their showroom in the labyrinthine San Francisco Gift Center sparkles not just with diamonds and silver, but with the smiles of satisfied lovers whose romance wasn’t tarnished by stressful transactions.
888 Brannan, Suite 151, SF. (415) 626-2318
BEST THROUGH THE RABBIT HOLE
The N-Judah thunders by it dozens of times a day, but because it’s tucked well back in a garden courtyard, you’d never know this spirited, magickal little “multitraditional world mysticism” shop existed. Unless you capital-K Know. Look into your third eye: do you Know? Randy, the genial owner of the Sword and the Rose — a man who is part Keith Richards, part Baba Yaga — definitely Knows. And he’ll graciously tell you, spinning tales of about gods and goddesses from esoteric cultures past and present, or reading your tarot cards in a cozy nook warmed by an amber fire, or selling you his house-produced incense, or offering lessons in spellcraft, all while bestowing friendly (if a bit confusing to the uninitiated) guidance to more transcendent realms. First stop: Cole and Carl streets. Next stop: the Divine.
85 Carl, SF. (415) 681-5434
BEST BARREL FULL OF MONKEY SUITS
Let’s face it, if you’re a happenin’ gentleman or a trouser-trusting lady in this fancy-pants city, you’re going to need to bust out the occasional tuxedo. But who wants to spend a few hundred bucks on a new tux? Screw that noise, get over to Held Over, and check out the selection of $20 used tux shirts and wide variety of full monkey suits — from the 1970s-style mariachi look to something a bit more classic. Hell, why don’t you mix-and-match it up? They’ve already got you in a suit, so you might as well have some fun with it.
1542 Haight, SF. (415) 864-0818
BEST GRAND POOBAH OF THE PAST
A visit to the cavernous Potrero Hill digs of Big Daddy’s Antiques ushers you into a wondrous, uncannily postmodern version of the past. There’s definitely a little vintage-meets-steampunk aesthetic going on — Big Daddy grand poobah Shane Brown and his magic elves have collected enough old-school film lights, globes, wooden angel wings, horse-drawn buggies, large animal heads, giant pillars, and studio cameras with bellows to kit out the dreams of antique queens and cyber-fanboys alike. (Tech guys, please get your decor here.) And the large collection of Depression-era Americana like shoe shop signs and flag bunting adds to the pleasantly discombobulating Twilight Zone feel. Don’t worry though; the amiable Big Daddy’s staff will guide you though it all.
1550 17th St., SF. (415) 621-6800, www.bdantiques.com
BEST SHOT OF PANACHE
We just have one question for you, Revolver: can we move in? We would fit so well in your charming, roomy, homey, comfy store-and-gallery. On warm summer days, we could don one of your light summer frocks and Illesteva sunglasses, like contemporary post-ironic preppies but not that heavy; seal in our dewy look with one of your delicious moisturizers; and have coffee while pondering the art on display in your back room. Evenings, we could venture out in a pair of Tretorn rubber boots or suede Volta high tops and Creep khaki chinos, then settle in for the night on one of your durable cotton Japanese Workers pillow covers. In short, Revolver, we like everything about your small, beautifully curated store. Just one more thing: Is that a pistol in your pocket, or are you glad to see us?
136 Fillmore, SF. (415) 578-3363, www.revolversf.com
BEST HOLGA ROLLS
You know what’s tired? Using your iPhone to take a picture of yourself in the mirror for your Google+ profile. You know what’s not tired? Using a low-fi medium format 120 film Chinese toy camera from the 1980s to snap that same pic. Sure, you could just download Hipstamatic, but the hardcore among us prefer to use the delightful original mechanism — an actual Holga camera — which, thanks to a mini-craze in the past few years, has become readily available in the U.S. But you’ll need the right roll of film, and the awesome Photoworks is here to provide. Photoworks stocks hard-to-find film from all over the world, offers excellent print production services, and will even stretch your Holga hotness on a canvas to hang in your hallway.
2077-A Market, SF. (415) 626-6800, www.photoworkssf.com
BEST NATURE NOOKIE NAPSACKS
Backpacks, tents, and BPA-free utensils designed with an eye for classic retro outdoors-y accouterments (think 1980s L.L. Bean and 1970s RV campers), Mission District-based camping company Alite Designs‘ gear is innovative, body conscious, and oh-so-considerate of our decadent ways. Take for example its Sexy Hotness sleeping bag — at first glance, just a pretty sack for camp-crashing, but unzip the center fastener and it becomes a thermo-Snuggie with built-in feet, its center zipper freeing your nether regions for trips to the john or even a little nature nookie. Plus, the bags connect endlessly, so if you roll deep ‘n’ dirty, your camp orgies will be well served.
2505 Mariposa, SF. (415) 626-1526, www.alitedesigns.com
Will Esbernd support Lee?
As the tom toms grew louder at the Chronicle and in the Willie Brown/Rose Pak community for Interim Mayor Ed Lee to run for the full term as mayor, I emailed two impertinent questions to my district supervisor Sean Elsbernd:
1. Would you have nominated Ed Lee for interim mayor had you known he would consider running for the job?
2. Will you endorse him if he does decide to run for mayor?
As a longtime West Portal resident, I’ve always gotten annoyed at how Elsbernd (and other supervisors) love to play the neighborhood game back in their district — but when the chips are down on a power structure issue, they go down to City Hall and vote with Willie Brown and the downtown gang. Which is what happened in January on the critical vote for mayor when the Willie Brown/Rose Pak forces worked a quiet play to knock out the progressive candidates (Sheriff Mike Hennessey and former Mayor Art Agnos) and put in City Administrator Ed Lee, a Willie Brown ally.
Elsbernd was happy to nominate Lee and told us at the time that he had done so because he wanted an interim mayor who would not run in November.
In his email answer to me, Elsbernd wrote, “I believe the benefits of that strategy have proven correct (e.g. the overall budget process and its unanimous approval, and the unanimous approval of the consensus and comprehensive pension/health care charter amendment.“
So what about today when Lee seems more and more poised to run?
Elsburn noted that he has not endorsed anyone, but that “I have been most attracted to the candidacies of City Attorney Dennis Herrera and former Supervisors Alioto-Pier and Bevan Dufty.” He said that these three have the “right combination of qualifications, experience, intelligence, skills and integrity to serve as mayor.”
So what’s his out? “Should Mayor Lee run for election, I would only consider endorsing his effort under one circumstance—if, and only if, I was convinced that without his candidacy, Sen. Leland Yee would be elected. That is, if I see that no one else can beat Sen, Yee other than Mayor Lee, then I would support a Mayor Lee campaign. At this point, I’m not convinced of that—I still think any one of the three I mentioned above could beat Sen. Yee.”
Well, that’s Elsbernd back in his district doing his neighborhood routine at the Village Grill, a favorite Elsbernd breakfast place. Elsbernd has still left himself a way to do what he said he was dead set against doing: going along with Willie Brown and Rose Pak and helping Lee become the fulltime mayor. Bring back Quentin Kopp and John Barbagelata. B3
Best of the Bay 2011 Readers Poll: Arts and Entertainment
BEST OF THE BAY 2011: READERS POLL
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
BEST MOVIE THEATER
Castro Theatre
429 Castro, SF. (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com
BEST REP FILM HOUSE
Red Vic
1727 Haight, SF. (415) 668-3994, www.redvicmoviehouse.com
BEST THEATER COMPANY
American Conservatory Theatre
415 Geary, SF. (415) 749-2228, www.act-sf.org
BEST DANCE COMPANY, BEST PERFORMANCE SPACE
ODC
351 Shotwell, SF. (415) 863-6606, www.odcdance.com
BEST MUSEUM
De Young Museum
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, SF. (415) 750-3600, www.famsf.org
BEST ART GALLERY
111 Minna
111 Minna, SF. (415) 974-1719, www.111minnagallery.com
BEST ARTIST OR COLLECTIVE
SoMa Artists Studios
689 Bryant, SF. www.somaartiststudios.com
BEST LOCAL AUTHOR
Dave Eggers
BEST LOCAL ZINE
Rad Dad
BEST LOCAL PUBLISHING HOUSE
Last Gasp
BEST ARTS BLOG OR SITE
Fecal Face
BEST MUSIC BLOG OR SITE
Bay Bridged
BEST RECORD LABEL
Flenser Records
BEST LOCAL BAND
Mad Noise
BEST SINGER/SONGWRITER
Misisipi Mike Wolf
BEST DJ
Natalie Nuxx
BEST OVERALL PARTY VENUE
DNA Lounge
375 11th St., SF. (415) 626-1409, www.dnalounge.com
BEST OVERALL DANCE PARTY
Bootie SF
BEST ROCK CLUB
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455, www.bottomofthehill.com
BEST REGGAE CLUB
Rockit Room 406
Clement, SF. (415) 387-6343, www.rock-it-room.com
BEST HIP-HOP CLUB
Club Six
60 Sixth St., SF. (415) 863-1221, www.clubsix1.com
BEST JAZZ CLUB
Yoshi’s
1330 Fillmore, SF. (415) 655-5600 and 510 Embarcadero West, Oakl. (510) 238-9200, www.yoshis.com
BEST SALSA CLUB
Café Cocomo
650 Indiana, SF. (415) 410-4012, www.cafecocomo.com
BEST HOUSE/TECHNO CLUB
Mighty
119 Utah, SF. (415) 762-0151, www.mighty119.com
BEST AFTER-HOURS CLUB
The Endup
401 Sixth St., SF. (415) 646-0999, www.theendup.com
BEST TRIVIA NIGHT
Edinburgh Castle
950 Geary, SF. (415) 885-4074, www.castlenews.com
BEST JUKEBOX
Lucky 13
2140 Market, SF. (415) 487-1313
BEST KARAOKE BAR
The Mint
1942 Market, SF. (415) 626-4726, www.themint.net
BEST OVERALL QUEER PARTY
Bearracuda
BEST GAY BAR OR CLUB
440 Castro
440 Castro, SF. (415) 621-8732, www.the440.com
BEST LESBIAN BAR OR CLUB
Lexington
3464 19th St., SF. (415) 863-2052, www.lexingtonclub.com
BEST CLUB FOR TRANS PEOPLE
Divas
1081 Post, SF. (415) 474-3482, www.divassf.com
BEST DRAG SHOW
Trannyshack
BEST DRAG KING OR QUEEN
Suppositori Spelling
BEST BURLESQUE ACT OR SHOW
Hubba Hubba Review
BEST COMEDY CLUB
Cobbs Comedy Club
915 Columbus, SF. (415) 928-4320, www.cobbscomedyclub.com
BEST COMEDIAN
Scott Capurro
BEST MAGICIAN
Chin-Chin
BEST OPEN MIC NIGHT
Hotel Utah
500 Fourth St., SF. (415) 546-6300, www.theutah.org
BEST LITERARY NIGHT
Radar Reading Series
BEST STRIP CLUB
Lusty Lady
1033 Kearny, SF. (415) 391-3126, www.lustyladysf.com
BEST SEX CLUB
Eros
2051 Market, SF. (415) 255-4921, www.erossf.com
Best of the Bay 2011: BEST SAX ‘N’ SUDS
Who doesn’t like a little Miles with their rinse, a little Bird when they scrub, or some sweet, sweet flights of Mingus while they watch the tumble-dry? If your washing life seems culturally impoverished, then put a little Louis in your laundry at the Fillmore District’s Jazz Wash. Piped in scat, bebop, swing, and jazz standards help lift spirits while the state-of-the-art washers help lift stains. This little Laundromat has free Wi-Fi and a friendly, responsive owner who likes to mingle. The “midweek special” is a true deal: on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, it’s only $1.50 for a 30-pound wash. Perks other than joint’s squeaky cleanliness and squeaky saxiness? We’ve run into a few hottie jazz aficionados here who’ve made us quite Dizzy Gillespie.
1119 Fillmore, SF. (415) 238-5791
Best of the Bay 2011 Editors Picks: City Living
Best of the Bay 2011 Editors Picks
City Living
BEST KEPT KITTY CLUB
A horizontal open bag of kibble is not the only thing needed to ensure cat survival on your mid-August getaway. But Pet Camp’s Cat Safari dangles off the other end of the kitty-care spectrum. Appropriately tucked along the mansions and boutiques of Presidio Heights, its facilities include an indoor jungle gym where your precious can rub furry elbows with other pampered felines, huge garden windows, aquariums to gaze at, myriad perches, and even twirling club lights (to facilitate a killer catnip trip?). For the rare feline that actually gives a shit about people, Cat Safari even offers “very individualized playtime sessions.” Your lap never looked so boring.
3233 Sacramento, SF. (415) 282-0700, www.petcamp.com
Who doesn’t like a little Miles with their rinse, a little Bird when they scrub, or some sweet, sweet flights of Mingus while they watch the tumble-dry? If your washing life seems culturally impoverished, then put a little Louis in your laundry at the Fillmore District’s Jazz Wash. Piped in scat, bebop, swing, and jazz standards help lift spirits while the state-of-the-art washers help lift stains. This little Laundromat has free Wi-Fi and a friendly, responsive owner who likes to mingle. The “midweek special” is a true deal: on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, it’s only $1.50 for a 30-pound wash. Perks other than joint’s squeaky cleanliness and squeaky saxiness? We’ve run into a few hottie jazz aficionados here who’ve made us quite Dizzy Gillespie.
1119 Fillmore, SF. (415) 238-5791
BEST STUBBORNLY ROOTED NEIGHBORHOOD NURSERY
The subject of an ongoing, highly politicized brouhaha (San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department is seeking to evict it) also happens to be an excellent place to shop for compost. The Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council (HANC) Recycling Center plant nursery is a treasure trove for gardeners who want to transform backyard plots to reflect the Bay Area’s natural ecology. HANC’s botanical collection features dozens of varieties native to San Francisco — all the better to attract winged visitors and helpful pollinators. Expertly tended by the green-thumbed Greg Gaar, seedlings sprouted under HANC’s care have also benefited urban ecology projects like the Mission Greenbelt.
780 Frederick, SF. (415) 753-0932, www.hanc-sf.org
BEST MORNING-AFTER MEDICINE
You’ve just experienced one of those glorious one-night stands you read about in fairy tales like the “Sex and the City” columns of yore. But the morning after … well, let’s just say things aren’t exactly coming up roses. Where do you turn for safe, comfortable, confidential STD testing and treatment? San Francisco City Clinic, of course. This year the clinic is celebrating 100 years of zapping not just simple post-tryst maladies, but more alarming epidemics as well. From the “red plague” of the Barbary Coast (syphilis) to the devastation of “gay cancer” (AIDS) and beyond, the capable city clinicians — trained through the San Francisco Department of Public Health — have fought back against STDs in an honest, shame-free environment. Free and low-cost diagnosis and treatments are a priority; promoting healthy sex while protecting against transmission and outbreaks is the mission.
356 Seventh St., SF. (415) 487-5500, www.sfcityclinic.org, www.100yearsofsex.org
BEST FLURRY FORECASTS
Though winter chills have given way to summer chills, SF residents won’t forget the “it’s gonna snow!” moment of February 2011. During this glorious time, we had not one, but two, reliable weather websites we could turn to: isitsnowinginsanfrancisco.com and isitsnowinginsfyet.com. Taking a cue from isitchristmas.com, the sites’ simple 1990s-era setups and delightfully snarky pre- and post-snow quips combined to make SF’s most recent winter weather hysteria a lot more fun for the majority of the city who didn’t see flakes. (Enough of the subfreezing temperature gloating, Sunset and Twin Peaks — you’re covered in fog the other 364 days of the year.)
www.isitsnowinginsanfrancisco.com, www.isitsnowinginsfyet.com
BEST REAL DEAL BARBER
Florindo “Flo” Cimino opened his barber shop atop Potrero Hill in 1953, when he was 20. He has been snipping at the same address ever since — he’s even lived about three blocks away, in the same Arkansas Street house, since his parents brought him back from St. Luke’s Hospital as a baby. Now 80, he’s spent six decades as a barber, hair stylist, news destination, and Potrero Hill institution. Many clients have been with him for decades and come from all around the Bay and beyond — for good reason. His barbershop has the look of a place that Sam Spade would visit regularly for a trim and the neighborhood scoop.
Flo’s Hair Styling, 1532 20th St., SF. (415) 642-0887
Get back, consumerist hoo-ha! Popular wisdom tells us that iPhones, like love and Goldfish crackers, are ephemeral. Crack your screen? Time for a new iPhone. Drop it in the toilet? Wassup, Apple store. But Shakeel the iPhone Guy sees through the capitalist flapjaw. The enterprising, customer service-oriented, cash-only Apple wizard operates out of a South San Francisco storage unit, stocks replacement parts, and can fix things we didn’t know were fixable, even waterlogged cell phones. He gives you a one-year guarantee on parts and labor — and all for prices way below what you’d find anywhere near official Mac Death Star retailers. No wonder the man’s a Yelp celebrity.
160 S. Spruce, Suite C001, South San Francisco. (650) 861-2810
BEST EXTRACTION SANS DISTRACTION
It really, truly is all about you when it comes to esthetician Jaydee Cohen of Alameda salon It’s All About You. Under her gentle, patient, and friendly ministrations, you’ll get one of the most detailed, carefully customized facials in the Bay, filled with good common-sense advice (yes, you can OD on certain products, harshing over-stressed pores) and soothing but no-nonsense, treatments. Plus Cohen dares to go where many estheticians fear to squeeze — we’re talking ’bout extracting those seemingly intractable little white bumps below your eyebrows, ladies and gents. The brave Cohen applies her considerable wisdom and expertise, as well as an absolutely perfect amount of pressure, and makes clarity happen — all sans the dreaded scarring. Blessed be.
2500 Central, Suite 1, Alameda. (510) 864-7000
BEST SWEAT FOR YOUR STANZAS
Fitting, we must profess, that the namesake of George Sterling Memorial Park was a poet. The views from this Russian Hill rec hub make us want to write stanzas between sets of tennis and ballads after basketball runs. Near-360-degree views of this epic setting can be found up at the corner of Hyde and Lombard streets (yes, right where Lombard begins to snake downward). Come for the views but stay for the play — four tennis courts and a full basketball court await the aerobically inclined. Waits can get long for the tennis courts, so be sure to abide by (and enforce!) the one-set-per-court rule.
Lombard and Hyde, SF
BEST FOREST GUARDIANS
In February, Chevron was found guilty of causing massive oil contamination in the Amazon and ordered to pay $9 billion — a landmark victory that took 17 years of litigation, brought by thousands of indigenous Ecuadorians affected by cancer and birth defects. Amazon Watch helped them win. The nonprofit supported their struggle through media work, speaking tours, and letter-writing campaigns — and it’s not stopping until Chevron cuts the check. During the oil giant’s recent shareholders conference, Amazon Watch partnered with the Rainforest Action Network to send three courageous souls rappelling off the Richmond Bridge with a banner bearing the message “Chevron Guilty: Clean Up the Amazon!”
221 Pine, Suite 400, SF. (415) 487-9600, www.amazonwatch.org
BEST SLICE OF POSTAPOCALYPTIC PARADISE
Maybe it’s the late summer evenings we’ve spent here drinking cheap wine on a slab of concrete while looking out over the San Francisco Bay. Maybe it’s the graffiti-adorned rocks or the handmade concrete hut, evocative of Dr. Seuss creation. Maybe it’s the bizarre formations of twisted rebar and spinning bike parts that can be found dotting the landscape amid tall, scraggly weeds. Maybe because it’s the prettiest former landfill we’ve ever explored. Whatever the source of its charm, there will always be a special place in our hearts for the Albany Bulb, which makes a great dog park but is also great for anyone who needs to get off their leash and run around. To get to the park, head bay-ward from Golden Gate Fields in Albany.
BEST CLUCK CONNECTION
You can find dogs and cats anywhere. But say you want to adopt a chinchilla — or perhaps a snake. How about a rat? A rabbit? A couple of birds — or yes, a feathered chicken friend? You’ll have to head down to the San Francisco Animal Shelter. The city shelter is the only place in town that adopts out just about every type of (small) animal that anyone could imagine keeping as a pet. Sadly, most of the creatures arrive there because they were no longer wanted in someone’s home — but that doesn’t mean they aren’t cute, cuddly, bouncy, fun, and ready to take up a (tiny) space in your apartment or backyard. Hell, they might even pay their own way — omelet, anyone?
1200 15th St., SF. (415) 554-6364, www.animalshelter.sfgov.org
BEST GARDEN VARIETY HISTORICAL HOTBED
With rock walls made from the stones of a medieval monastery, gravel beds, and balmy southern exposure, the San Francisco Botanical Garden succulent garden is one of our favorite places to bask in the heat like a lizard. But even here, the storms of controversy gather. The rightful ownership of the wall rocks has been disputed for decades — they’ve changed hands from Spanish monks to the megalomaniacal William Randolph Hearst to the City of San Francisco to an abbey near Sacramento to their current scattered locations throughout Golden Gate Park. Whew! Talk about your rolling stones.
Ninth Ave. and Lincoln, Golden Gate Park, SF. (415) 661-1316, www.sfbotanicalgarden.org
BEST NEIGHBORHOOD NOM NOMS
Every Mission District Sunday, a line forms for the Free Farm Stand‘s toothsome tenderheartedness. Founder Tree Rub has run the show since 2008, giving away thousands of pounds of mostly organic local produce from his garden to all who come. He believes everyone should have access to nutritious food, and that most of it can be grown right in our backyards. Apparently he’s not the only one: the stand is run by volunteers who often contribute their own homegrown surplus — from hummus to loquats to collard green seedlings to the free weekly bounty. The seed has been planted: last year FFS and other nonprofits opened an urban farm on Gough and Eddy streets that has added fuel to the food-giving fire.
Sundays 1–3 p.m. Parque Niños Unidos, 23rd and Treat streets, SF. www.freefarmstand.org
BEST WITHIN-SIGHT OVERNIGHT
From the vantage point of Kirby Cove — a small, sandy shore on the southern edge of the Marin Headlands — day-trippers and campers can gaze at the topaz glow of the Golden Gate Bridge-framed city or look westward toward the infinite Pacific blue — maybe even China. Wave to the container ships — hello, Shan Hai, Evergreen, and Maersk Danang shipping lines! — from what feels like your own private beach. Just two warnings: plan ahead if you wanna pitch a tent — there are only four sites and reservations can fill up to three months in advance. And bring earplugs — sea dreams will likely be interrupted by the endearing but incessant sound of foghorns.
Battery Spencer, Conzelman Road, Sausalito. (415) 331-1540, www.parksconservancy.org
BEST GRADUATION GUIDANCE
Without a parent who has been through the applications, intense study schedules, and patently awful cafeteria food, getting through college can seem like a tough circus to ringlead for many high school students. Studies show that scholarly parents are a big factor in kids’ academic success. That’s why we give props to First Graduate, a nonprofit founded in 2000 that guides first-generation, university-bound students through a decade of life. From seventh grade all the way through college graduation, the low-income kids receive monetary support, tutoring, counseling, and career exploration opportunities. So far, 100 percent of participants have conquered high school and made it to year two of university — surely something that’s worth tossing those tassels in the air.
37 Graham, SF. (415) 561-3450, www.firstgraduate.org
BEST CEREBRAL STROLL
Joel Pomerantz has a lot of nerve asking people to think and walk at the same time. He also has a lot of nerd. In fact, he bills his ThinkWalks — designed especially for locals — as “nerdy tours for San Franciscans.” Possibly the man who coined “the Wiggle” to describe the city’s best cross-town bike corridor, Pomerantz offers sliding-scale strolls that explore what makes San Francisco such an unusual city. He thinks it’s because these parts boast a headlong collision of the urban and the natural — like the buried waterway under the Wiggle and the Mission District’s latent ecology. So buy the ticket and take the stride: fresh geography, stronger legs, and opened eyes ahead.
(415) 505-8255, www.thinkwalks.org
BEST SENTIENT WEED WHACKERS
From an environmental standpoint, herbicides and lawnmowers are unsatisfactory ways to control invasive plant species. Enter City Grazing‘s goats. The Bayview rental company offers a pack of furry, friendly billies to spruce up your degraded land. While the goats nibble plants, their hooves work seeds into the soil, maintaining beneficial organisms and obviating the need for heavy equipment — thereby minimizing soil disturbance and compaction. They trample dried brush, create natural mulch, and add organic matter to the soil. And don’t forget the cuteness factor. When was the last time your lawnmower bleated playfully, nibbled your sweater hem, and butted your thighs (without causing serious bodily injury)?
Port of San Francisco Railyard, 100 Cargo Way, SF. (415) 756-4233
BEST EMANCIPATION STATION
Independent broadcast radio can be hard to locate on the dial these days. But we can still turn to KPOO, an African American owned and operated — and nonprofit — radio station. Since 1971 it’s been playing the silkiest, grooviest, most obscure soul, jazz, R&B, rap, blues, and gospel out there. KPOO also broadcasts weekly meetings of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, as well as community-minded interviews and event coverage catering to underserved audiences — y’know, Native Americans, women, LGBT folk, youth, and low-income listeners. Click over to 89.5 FM, pump up the volume, and listen. That’s the sound of freedom from corporate media, folks.
1329 Divisadero, SF. (415) 346-5373, www.kpoo.com
BEST NEW CHAIN GANG
San Francisco: we party on Judgment Day, we party on drugs, we party on crooked streets and Big Wheels — and now we party on bikes. Hard. The San Francisco Bike Party slapped the scene silly at the beginning of 2011 with its monthly low-conflict costume-partied rides, invented in San Jose. (When does anything in SJ ever get props in SF? For this alone, SFBP deserves praise.) Call it the natural evolution of Critical Mass, call it an awesome Friday night with hundreds of velo-minded new friends, call it an excuse to make a hot toddy in a thermos. But SFBP riders call it one thing, do so and at the top of their lungs to boot: “Bike Par-TY!”
First Fridays of the month, 7:30 p.m., free. Check website for start location, sfbikeparty.wordpress.com
BEST SAFETY NET FOR THE ‘NET
When technology evolves faster than law, unanticipated questions on Internet users’ rights spring up like weeds. Think of the Electronic Frontier Foundation as a machete for slashing through these digital thorns. Cops want to suck all the data out of your iPhone? Consult the EFF’s online consumer guide Know Your Rights. Wondering how that social media site you’re addicted to ranks on privacy policies? Check the EFF’s Who Has Your Back? campaign. The nonprofit employs a mix of advocacy, education, and litigation to protect consumer privacy and defend Internet free speech. Its lawsuits have countered everything from warrantless wiretapping to the feds’ unrestrained zeal in targeting Twitter-ers tied to WikiLeaks. A godsend for geeks, EFF helps you surf safe.
454 Shotwell, SF. (415) 436-9333, www.eff.org
BEST PARENT PEN
The only way they’d be getting a more authentic Mission experience is if they slept on your roommate’s couch and ate a leftover burrito for breakfast. But parents are rarely down for things like that, so shack ’em up at the Inn San Francisco. The Victorian bed and breakfast is a quick walk from mural alley stalking and 826 Valencia-ing. Inside, rooms with a jewel-toned grandma motif look out over a peaceful backyard garden. Your folks’ll love the rooftop patio for catching those Mission rays after a hard day of tourism, and a huge complimentary breakfast spread will make it difficult to convince them to brave the line at Boogaloo’s. Rates start at $120 for two.
943 South Van Ness, SF. (415) 641-0188, www.innsf.com
BEST PLACE FOR KIDS TO BE — OR NOT TO BE
Five-year-olds double, double, toil, and trouble. People too young to read Elizabethan English belt out the poetic lines of The Comedy of Errors. And generations of Bay Area kids get exposed to Shakespeare, literature, and performance in a way that makes even the most shy and inexperienced player feel comfortable. These are the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s summer camps. Their teachers are professional actors with extensive instructing experience, unafraid to split up lead roles so that more kids can get a shot at stardom — ages 4 to 18, all are encouraged to discover the Bard in their own unique, 2011 San Francisco way.
Various Bay Area locations. (415) 558-0888, www.sfshakes.org/camp
BEST HYPERACTIVE HERO
A one-time sports supplement entrepreneur who took the book bestseller lists for a ride with Four Hour Work Week — quit answering so many e-mails! — and then again with Four Hour Body — eat red meat, hello unbridled virility! — Tim Ferriss is clearly unfamiliar with the concept of specialization. In addition to being a career and fitness guru, he set world records in tango and regularly doles out info on his Experiments in Lifestyle Design blog on Mac viruses, luxury vacations on the cheap, and applying the philosophical lessons of Seneca to everyday life. The wisdom is always presented in the form of first person findings, a manic mishmash of Ferris’ life less ordinary.
BEST QUEER EXHIBITIONISM
It seems crazier than a Twinkie defense that San Francisco — one of the hottest of hotspots in terms of queer liberation and visibility — hasn’t had a history museum to preserve and explore all the wonder of LGBT life. Until now. In January, the 25-year-old GLBT Historical Society found a permanent space to display and interpret its vast archives of paper, photos, films, and audio recordings: the GLBT History Museum. The first of its kind in the U.S., the sleek storefront gallery may be small, but it packs a huge emotional and educational punch. From FBI files to feminist sex toys, radical activist pamphlets to old-school gay bar flyers, the museum’s lavender arsenal has ripped the lid off the often obscured queer past, and attracted tens of thousands of curious visitors (Britney Spears among them).
4127 18th St., SF. (415) 621-1107, www.glbthistory.org/museum
BEST BACKYARD BLISS-OUT
We were sartorially spoiling ourselves among P-Kok’s clothing racks of fripperies when we heard that the garden-sauna space behind the store had been converted into a self-care community. Tall Tree Tambo is a gym of sorts — members pay either a monthly or more affordable yearly fee depending on how much they want to utilize the space, and drop-in rates are available — but there are no StairMasters here. Instead, the tranquil backyard zone is used for meditation, reiki, yoga, sitting in the sauna, and reconnecting to self. Everyone’s encouraged to bring their own expertise to amplify the space’s curative effects, and intimate classes in healing are held regularly.
776 Haight, SF. (415) 430-8285, www.talltreetambo.org
BEST SECOND-CHANCE SENIORS
If we treated old people the way we treat old dogs, Dr. Jack Kevorkian would have made a fortune. Every day people pack their old pals off to the shelter in their golden poochie years. Many of those dogs — who are healthy but just a step slower and more in need of patience — are euthanized. Muttville, a San Francisco rescue group started by legendary dog-saver Sherri Franklin, aims to change that. The organization takes older dogs from shelters and connects them with adoption-ready families. One look at the website and you’ll fall in love with all the well-worn woofers looking for nice homes — especially considering their potty training, mellow demeanors (Franklin makes sure the ones who’ve led rough lives are fully socialized before they’re adopted out), and underdog chances.
(415) 272-4172, www.muttville.org
BEST SF AMBASSADORS
After 57 years of loyally cheering and impatiently waiting, San Francisco Giants fans finally got their wish when our team became the 2010 Major League Baseball champs. And boy, did we represent the orange and black, from the superfans to the drag queens to the drag queen superfans. If the enigmatically dark beard of closer Brian Wilson or the maroon-colored thong of outfielder Aubrey Huff didn’t hook the nation on San Francisco funk, the fans would have picked up the slack. Gigantes devotees caught everyone’s attention — including that of a Texas reporter who couldn’t help but be amazed by the fans outside AT&T Park getting high on life, among other things. What do you say team, how about two in a row?
Best of the Bay 2011 Editors Picks: Arts and Entertainment
Best of the Bay 2011 Editors Picks
Arts and Entertainment
It is safe to say that Scott Weaver loves San Francisco. Leaving aside that Weaver’s family has called the City by the Bay home for three generations, the man has spent the majority of his life recreating the city’s charms with 100,000 toothpicks in an almost masochistically intricate behemoth he’s titled “Rolling Through the Bay.” The sculpture — which includes two tracks that vault rolling ping pong balls past landmarks like the 1929 Cliff House, Fleischhacker Pool, and Humphrey the whale — had its Exploratorium debut this year, stunning audiences with Weaver’s commitment to his craft. His regard for the skinny sticks is for real: the guy even had friends and family chucking ‘picks at his wedding. That’s love!
BEST HIGHBROW WITH YOUR HIGHBALL
Though we appreciate the legions of pubs that rely on still shots and a good jukebox to entertain, we sometimes feel the need to broaden our drunken horizons with a good dose of drama. For those times, San Francisco Theater Pub is just the ticket. Chummily convened in the TenderNob’s low-key Café Royale, San Francisco Theater Pub has performed new translations of classic Greek dramas and staged adaptations of Lovecraft, Whitman, Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi, Evgeny Shvart’s The Dragon, and Vlacav Havel’s The Audience, as well as a series of San Francisco-themed shorts and a 75-minute version of Shakespeare’s Henry the IV and V — all against a backdrop of barstools, beer mugs, and bad lighting. Best of all, admission is free, so you can spend more on beer. Ah, the sweet, sweet hangover of dramaturgy.
At Café Royale, 800 Post, SF. (415) 441-4099, sftheaterpub.wordpress.com
BEST TITILLATING T.M.I.
Try as we might to hold to prudish societal lines, there’s simply nothing like telling a Really. Dirty. Story. (To a receptive group of friends.) Rejoice in your sluttiness, people! That’s the franchise line that Bawdy Storytelling creator Dixie De La Tour touts. Started as a recurring post-swinger’s night “kaffeeklatcsh for pervs,” around her kitchen table, De La Tour has grown Bawdy into a public, monthly, multicity storytelling event for kinksters and exhibitionists. Each edition has its own theme (polygamy, public sex, and SF-specific tales have all had their moments of glory); a cast of performers ranging from writers to pro pussy-petters; an occasional Grope-A-Clown box for intermission entertainment; and always, Dixie — to shout encouraging innuendos when the occasion arises.
BEST PROGRESSIVE CLUBHOUSE
Since early January, when Chris Daly stepped down from the Board of Supervisors and took ownership of the Buck Tavern, a political realignment has made City Hall a far less welcoming place for progressives. So they’ve followed Daly over to his new digs (nicknamed Daly’s Dive) instantly transforming the Mid-Market bar into the seat of power for the progressive local government-in-exile: a place where revolutions are plotted and frustrations are soothed with strong drinks and juicy burgers. With SFGTV on the tube, Daly slinging classic cocktails and brewskis, and malcontents lining the bar, the Buck has become a refuge for leftist political junkies. And for those looking for shockingly clean bar bathrooms.
1655 Market, SF.(415) 874-9183
BEST LORD OF METAL
You can’t put Slough Feg’s Mike Scalzi in a tidy box. As front man of the cult local metal band — its most recent album, 2010’s The Animal Spirits, earned critical raves — he prowls the stage with a vaudevillian flair while performing blistering, melodious tunes (sample titles: “Trick the Vicar,” “Ask the Casket". Plus: he’s a sci-fi fan; he teaches philosophy at Diablo Valley College; and he occasionally pens highly articulate, commenter-rattling columns for respected metal blog Invisible Oranges. Slough Feg will play a rare show Aug. 17 at the Elbo Room, opening for New Wave of British heavy metal legends Diamond Head. Voices will soar; faces will melt.
BEST PLACE TO MEET YOUR MAKER
If you ever need reminding that nerd is still the new black, TechShop is at the ready. Inside this SoMa “open access public workshop” you’ll find a veritable wonderland of high-tech tools for metal- and wood-working, machining, fabric crafts, electronics, and robotics — with classes on how to use it all. Offerings range from entry-level courses on basic skills like soldering, laser-cutting, silk-screening, milling, and injection-molding, to pro-pushing seminars on the latest precision machining tools and high-tech design software. Individual memberships are a pricey, $100–$125 per month (less for students), but hey — at least you won’t have to buy your own 3-D scanner! Whether you have a skill you’re itching to hone, an invention you’d like to prototype, or a project you’re hoping to finalize, this shop’s capable crew will help you see it through.
926 Howard, SF. (415) 263-9161, www.techshop.ws/tssf
BEST AEROSOL ROOTS
It’s easy to forget, with the advent of sleekly produced, four-story street art extravaganzas, that graffiti used to be the strictly illegal pursuit of brave-crazy iconoclasts hustling around with backpacks full of signed FedEx stickers and cans of Krylon. But thanks to the self-described “lizard people” behind Endless Canvas, the art of the throw up is still being honored. The Bay Area street-art blog is updated daily with the kinds of pieces that’ll never star in a Warholian post — from ground tags to the bubble letters of WIRE, to the small wheat paste gems of Bella Ciao’s roses and Esu’s proud female faces. The site’s documentation dedication is testament to the real glory of street art: reasserting our right to be seen in a world that prefers blank walls.
BEST UN-EGGS-PECTED PUPPET SHOW
The goofy brainchild of professional juggler Thomas John, “The Lady on the Wall” turns the dry bones, childhood mystery of the fall of Humpty Dumpty into a convincingly hard-boiled puppet noir, where all the puppets are eggs and almost all of them come to a rotten end. John’s deadpan, pun-filled narration and his deft physical manipulation of the principal players make “Lady” the best-laid plot starring a farm-fresh, extra-large dozen in the Bay.
Performance runs are sporadic but well worth the watching and waiting. You can also catch John performing his combination clowning-and-juggling shows on the Center Stage at Fisherman’s Wharf, and root for him as a final contestant on America’s Got Talent. Plus he plays the glockenspiel? Pretty crackin’, if you ask us.
BEST ROMP WITH YOUR INNER PSYCHOPATH
“Do you want to play?” challenges Nathaniel Justiniano, the artistic director of Naked Empire Bouffon Company, who invites performing artists and activists of all disciplines to explore their loonier selves during his hardcore Bouffon Intensive weekend workshops. Participants learn to tap into their physical and emotional “asymmetry” and exaggerate it, excavating the bouffon within and applying their inside-out personas to any performance situation. The resultant characters — bundles of twisted, giggling, homicidal urges who have an uncomfortable talent for honing in on the weaknesses of others — are, well, insanely entertaining. Justiniano, who trained in bouffonnerie at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, believes these “groveling goblin prophets” are harbingers of essential truths whose very grotesqueness compels people to pay them heed.
BEST SING-ALONG FOR WANNABE SEA DOGS
Admit it. You’ve always wanted to run away to sea. But landlubbin’ reality just keeps on getting in the way. Still, those Captain Kidd fantasies won’t go gently, so isn’t it great that there’s a safe space to live out your water-logged fantasies in real swashbuckling style? On the first Saturday of the month, at the very end of Hyde Street Pier (a National Park Service sanctuary for historic boats) a diverse crowd of young buffs and old salts gather together for a spirited sing-along, the Sea Chantey Sing. The atmosphere is pretty wholesome overall, but still a convivial anarchy reigns supreme. Want to lead a chantey? Go ahead. Want to improvise a harmony line during the chorus? Do it. Want to take a break and tool around the meticulously-restored tall boat Balclutha where the sing is held, cup of hot cider in hand? Totally encouraged! It’s free. It’s fantastically fun. And this October it’ll be a tradition 30 years young.
First Saturdays of the month, 8 p.m., free, reservations required. The Balclutha, Hyde Street Pier, 2905 Hyde, SF. (415) 561-7171, www.nps.gov/safr/historyculture/chantey-sing
BEST SITE-SPECIFIC CLASSICISTS
This year marks the end of We Players’ three-year collaboration with the National Parks Service on Alcatraz Island. The project showcased the island’s scenic isolation in a number of artistic and community-building endeavors. The stage company’s 2010 marathon production of Hamlet was a tour de force of site-specificity, taking actors and audiences all over the island, including areas normally off-limits to the public. In their imaginative stagings of Macbeth, Hamlet, and Iphigenia, as well as their ongoing art exhibitions for, by, and about incarcerated juveniles and adults, the Players highlight themes of isolation, incarceration, justice, and redemption. They wield their art as a catalyst rather than as nostalgic revival. Their Alcatraz residency ends in the fall. In 2012, it partners with the California Parks Service to stage The Odyssey on Angel Island.
BEST FRISCO FUSION
If San Francisco was one big dance floor, Bayonics would be its house band. Mission born-and-bred members Pedro Gomez and Jairo Vargas met through the salsa scene and the youth arts organization Loco Bloco (drummer Gomez, who joined the group when he was 12, is now its music director). The band incorporated the other sounds of the city: reggaeton, funk, old school Frisco hip-hop, reggae irie. Now with horns, timbales, and three emcees, it packs sweaty venues (and stages) with a diverse sound that could have only come from the Bay. A big band in the era of the iPhone DJ? With a new album, Mission Statement, dropping this summer, we bet there’s enough Bayonics love in this city to keep the party going.
BEST BARGAIN BEBOP TUTELAGE
What kind of music do young ‘uns listen to nowadays? Cheesy Disney tweens? Justin Bieber? Kidz Bop? Start the culture-makers of tomorrow on the road to good taste today by taking them to venerable jazz club Yoshi’s — either the Oakland or San Francisco outpost — for the Yoshi’s Children’s Matinee. Certain Sunday early-evening shows offer a special admission rate of five bucks for kids, with a discount, usually $15–$18, for accompanying adults. And while the idea of children learning the finer points of free jazz and bebop makes sense — kids love to improvise — Yoshi’s calendar actually factors in just about every genre other than heavy metal (start your tyke down that road with a copy of Black Sabbath). Recent $5 matinees have featured Hawaiian guitarist Willie K., flamenco guitarist Ottmar Liebert, and vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater’s tribute to Billie Holiday.
1330 Fillmore, SF. (415) 655-5600 and 510 Embarcadero West, Oakl. (510)238-9200, www.yoshis.com
BEST HOMEBOY SCRIBE
Awash as it is in traffic-stopping murals and radical neighborhood galleries, the Mission hasn’t produced a lot of novels recently from its native sons and daughters. So when born-and-bred Missionite and City College literature professor Benjamin Bac Sierra‘s debut effort Barrio Bushido turned out to be a magical realistic, drug-and-violence-driven, sophisticated lyrical achievement, the ‘hood rejoiced in its son. Bac Sierra’s readings at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts turned out a capacity crowd, and a retinue of candy-painted, hydraulic-powered low-riders lined the curb outside. With Bac Sierra as a role model, maybe the barrio won’t have to wait long for another of its own to follow suit and publish something great.
BEST KARAOKE PROUSTIAN
The continued karaoke tyranny of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” induces revulsion on the order of Barney’s theme song. Now one fine man, maverick karaoke DJ Roger Niner, has taken a stand for all of us against the song’s monopoly. The wildly costumed, wildly fun Niner levies a $5 tax for its use, and uses the extra cash to buy more songs for his collection. Niner can usually be found at the Parlor near Fisherman’s Wharf on Wednesdays, San Mateo’s Swingin’ Door on Thursdays and Fridays, and SoMa’s Butter on Sundays. Ever the intellect, his website quotes Marcel Proust: “Detest bad music but do not despise it. As it is played, and especially sung, much more passionately than good music, it has much more than the latter been impregnated, little by little, with man’s tears.”
BEST “HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS”
In 2010, Bay Area performance artist and provocateur Philip Huang bucked the notion of institutionalized artistic legitimacy and challenged his friends to stage performances in their own homes. “We can legitimize ourselves,” his manifesto promised, calling the welfare state of professional arts organizations a “crock of shit.” One year later, the all-volunteer, thoroughly-DIY Home Theatre Festival spanned the globe, with scheduled performances on four continents. The premise is simple: without paying hundreds of dollars to a venue for overhead expenses, artists can charge $8 at the door and still walk away with some profit, while audiences get to experience an intimately staged performance without an institutional filter. Whether home theater can or should replace all professional art space is up for debate, but it’s nice to be reminded that ultimately the art, not the venue, matters most.
philiphuangpresents.blogspot.com
BEST DOOR GUY IN A LOIN CLOTH
Bouncer-for-hire Isaac is a towering figure in San Francisco, standing sentry at all of the top cultural happenings and cool club events. Simultaneously a welcoming presence and one who is not to be trifled with, he can be as cuddly as a teddy bear and as imposing as a grizzly. (Although he artfully and subtly conveys his grizzliness without feeling a need to menace or provoke.) Simply by being who he is — a big bearded guy in a loincloth who seems to know everyone — his presence validates the cultural cred of any event, and ensures you’ll find the entertainment you’re looking for therein. As a veteran performer with Fireside Storytelling, he may even provide some of it.
BEST SPIRIT-RAISING TWIRL
Imagine yourself traipsing through Golden Gate Park one sunny afternoon when the sound of the great Sylvester’s “Can’t Stop Dancing” tugs you by the ear toward the AIDS Memorial Grove. There you spy dozens of human butterflies, fluttering and whirling in the breeze as a DJ turns them out. Drawn by your fascination, you enter the fray, pick up a couple of psychedelic-patterned pieces of fabric, and begin to twirl with abandon. You’re floating with Flagging in the Park, the charitable monthly afternoon flood of queer love, put on by personal trainer Xavier Caylor and friends. Like fan-dancing, flagging (dancing with weighted pieces of fabric) is a decades-old gay dance floor tradition that has taken on a spiritual edge, calling up the memories of those affected by AIDS and drawing the blessing of our own spiritual godmothers, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. It’s also simply fabulous.
Sat/30 and monthly, 1 p.m.–4 p.m., free (donation requested), AIDS Memorial Grove, Golden Gate Park, SF. Facebook: Flagging in the Park
BEST SHOEGAZERS ON THE BLOCK
The distortion burns. The reverb uncoils in snakey moans. And the rubbery bass and authoritative tom push forward, ever forward, in the hands of vocalist-bassist Shaun Durkan, guitarist Kevin Johnson, and drummer Abe Pedroza of Weekend. Formed just a year after the shoegaze pioneers of My Bloody Valentine made their way to San Francisco once more to play the hulking and reverberant Concourse, Weekend’s three unassuming childhood friends have managed to reform that cavernous shoegaze sound into something closely held and intimate, yet sweeping in its reach and tremulous with contemporary possibilities. The threesome’s first full-length album Sports (Slumberland, 2010), droned like 1990s post-punk yesterday once more — careening like a loud, unforgettable dream. End times have rarely sounded so breezy, so good.
BEST WORD OF LAW
Gone are the days when poetry readings were confined to the dimly lit coffee shops, public libraries and beat bars of urbania. San Francisco being one of the world’s meccas for all things literary, we word-worshipping denizens hardly bat an eyelash when we hear of something like the regular poetry readings at Tony Serra’s law offices on Pier Five. Serra, who has made a career defending and championing society’s outcasts by expressing “the poetry of the law,” has been holding such events for three years, usually with a theme attached and a lively crowd attending. This year included poetry events celebrating Native American culture and the great, lost deserts of America.
506 Broadway, SF. (415) 986-5591, www.pier5law.com/j-tony-serra
BEST READY-MADE ROCK BAND
The Byrds drawled it best: So you wanna be a rock ‘n’ roll star? Then listen now, to what I say. Thanks Jim McGuinn, we’ll take it from here. Or rather, Blue Bear School of Music’s band workshops will. The school sets groups of about seven beginner-level musicians to practice cover songs (genres range from rock to country) for three months with a very patient teacher before they perform at Café Du Nord or Bottom of the Hill. Just don’t let it go to your head. Back to McGuinn: the money, the fame, and the public acclaim. Don’t forget what you are, you’re a star.
Building D, Fort Mason Center, SF. (415) 673-3600, www.bluebearmusic.org
BEST SIXTH STREET SENSE
Does growing up in San Francisco make you an insider in its art scene? Definitely not — but it can be fertile ground for creating a scene of one’s own. Sixth Street resident and Filipino immigrant Reynaldo Cayetano Jr.’s passion for film photography led him to convene Inks of Truth, an art collective of young City College students and SF natives. The group has thrown packed multimedia art openings with live local hip-hop soundtracks all along Sixth Street — Rancho Parnassus, the House Kombucha factory, and Bayanihan Community Center. This year, group members got the keys to DA Arts, the one-time SF district attorney’s office, whose walls they have lined with stunning black and white photography of life on Sixth Street.
DA Arts, 135 Sixth St., SF. www.wix.com/purposebeyondreach/inksoftruth
BEST DARKWAVE EMBRACE
“Dark is the new light!” raves one online fan of San Francisco bleak-star rockers the Soft Moon. Outfit leader Luis Vasquez does double duty on conga and synth in Oakland-SF band, the Lumerians, weaving a sparkling, seething thread of exotica into that combo’s tropi-psych mind-meld. But the Soft Moon is where Vasquez chooses to tread darkly, venturing into an extremely chilled, vaguely menacing, yet exquisitely goth-derived and highly synthesized future. Rest assured, the way comes black-iced with ’80s-era shivers and intimations of Krautrock. Armed live with driving beats, bat cave echoes, and stabbing black-and-white visuals, Vasquez and Co. are the Bay’s prime entries in the “darkwave” wave that’s been sweeping underground dance floors. The Soft Moon released its self-titled debut on Captured Tracks in 2010. Next stop — your shattered earbuds.
BEST ALL PEDAL EVERYTHING
This year, in the interest of a more sustainable diet, Mark Zuckerberg started only eating animals he personally killed. Sure, Zuck can afford to slay a steer or 20, but he raises interesting questions about our individual consumption patterns. The expanding Bicycle Music Festival has been experimenting in this very concept as it relates to the live music fest. This year a free all-day, all-night outdoors affair featuring more than 12 bands and performing groups took place in two different city locations — with a three-piece band and opera singers performing while the entire festival biked from one site to the other. Powered by volunteers on generator-bikes — which occasionally lost their charge — attendees learned a lot about party-time energy costs.
BEST SCARY CLOWN TOWN
This could also be titled “worst place to go after you ingest hallucinogens,” but hell, don’t blame Playland-Not-At-The-Beach for its slightly creepy-carny vibe. Blame the former first lady of San Francisco’s seaside: Laughing Sal, the legendary Playland attraction with the unforgettable ghoulish guffaw. A version of Sal keeps her eye on the joint, which is tucked into an unassuming El Cerrito building concealing a stuffed-to-the-gills treasure trove of Playland history. Other attractions include side show and circus artwork, modern pinball machines, and some incredibly elaborate dioramas — everything from a frosty, candy-laden “Santa’s Village” to the awesome “Dark Mystery,” featuring a zombie scene and a cows ‘n’ aliens vignette.
10979 San Pablo, El Cerrito. (510) 592-3002, www.playland-not-at-the-beach.org
BEST MAKE-SHIFT TO DIY CULTURE
From sand tapestries to cupcake cars, soap-making to 70-foot sculptures of spinning stone and steel, Make Magazine’s Maker Faire proves that people can make some cra-zay shit when they’re given the proper encouragement and place to show it off (and warehouse space). The event has gained a reputation for being like Burning Man — only with less dust and fun fur. This year, it featured the work of more than 600 makers, rendering the San Mateo County Event Center into a hand-woven, hydraulic-powered, homegrown healthy bacteria-sprouting maze of maker magic. The fair was also celebrating its fifth year in action (the East Bay edition of the fair takes place Oct. 16 in Oakland), having already turned on thousands to the joys of tinkering.
BEST SINGLE-FILE STYLE
If bikes are ever going to live up to their potential as game-changers in the world’s consumption of fossil fuels, their proponents are gonna need smarts, heart, and damn if they’re not gonna need style as well. Luckily, Tyrone “Baybe Champ” Stevenson Jr. has all three covered. The Oakland cyclist started decorating his two-wheelers with flashy strips of foil, elaborate sound systems, and kitschy corporate logos, sparking a movement that now claims a hip-hop video with more than 3 million hits on YouTube, a dedicated East Bay youth massive, and a world of imitators. The Original Scraper Bike Team holds head-turning single-file group rides through its neighborhoods and has become a bike advocate on par with few. Broke environmentalists everywhere can jam with OSBT anthem: “My bike rides/<0x2009>Don’t need no car.”
originalscraperbikes.blogspot.com
BEST (SWAG) TWITTER (SWAG) RAPPER (SWAG SWAG)
Hey Lil B, we don’t get you — which is crazy because you’re blowing up our Twitter feeds, clogging YouTube with your endless mixtapes and party tracks, and inspiring kitchen dances and gratuitous catchphrases (#swag, #based, #rare) — or rather, repetitious outbursts you insert into your hooks and tag all over aforementioned feeds like there’s no tomorrow. You’d think we’d all have the material necessary to formulate a theory, or something. But then we listen to your 2010 album Rain in England, whose songs lay your spoken word ruminations on dreams and feminine beauty over soothing ambient aural waves. Don’t even get us started with this year’s I’m Gay album-brouhaha. And you’re from Berkeley? #Complex.
BEST HOW SOON IS WOW
Smiths-mania is an admirable torment that afflicts any teen worth her salt who craves morosely literate lyrics paired with driving, jangly melodies. It can continue to affect its victims well into adulthood, too — from nostalgic Gen-Xers who slip on Meat is Murder when the sky is gray and the black dog is growling softly, to folks like author Simon Goddard, whose Mozipedia meticulously breaks down the particulars of every song the 1980s British group recorded. Another work of genius that a feverish Smiths obsession has engendered? Janice Whaley’s The Smiths Project. The Bay Area singer produced a six-CD, 71-song a cappella recreation of the melancholic Mancunians’ entire catalog — in one year. The ingeniously layered beauty of Whaley’s voice fills in all the parts of classics like “How Soon is Now” and “The Queen is Dead.” But all the ache of the originals remains.
BEST PUBLIC WORK (DANCE VERSION)
San Francisco is a global center of house and techno, and despite lacking the vibrantly extra-legal underground scene of other cities like Berlin, Philadelphia, or (closer to home) Oakland, it has always retained a handful of winning clubs that could host a killer party or two. But in the past five years, there’s been an explosion of dance music output — and dance music interest. Today there are just as many in-demand DJs as there are touring indie bands. For a while it seemed as if San Francisco wouldn’t be able to handle the flood, providing the required sound quality (expensive) at the right door price (affordable), while shunning annoying VIP vibes. So when a number of longtime nightlife freaks got together and opened a space last year with the right raw feel, kickass sound system (state-of-the-art Funktion One), and dedication to the funds-challenged community, San Franciscans breathed easy and got sweaty. The consistently stellar lineups and innovative charitable programming at Public Works has polished our little stop on the worldwide party train. Toot toot!
161 Erie, SF. (415) 932-0955, www.publicsf.com
BEST ATLAS OF OURSELVES
We couldn’t pass it around fast enough. Rebecca Solnit’s Infinities Cities, the SF intellectual’s cartographic wonderpiece of Bay Area history and emotion, swept a large part of the Guardian staff off our feet, so pleased were we by its 22 out-of-the-box renderings of the hills and valleys we work and play on. Sites of gay struggle superimposed with the natural habitats of butterflies; a comparison of how identities shift (in this case, Solnit’s and Mission District performance artist Guillermo Gomez Peña’s) between neighborhoods like Pac Heights and the Sunset — a city can’t be defined by Muni maps alone. Solnit’s book, which features deeply researched essays to accompany each map, showed us new roads toward understanding the Bay Area.
Best of the Bay 2011: BEST NO-HASSLE HOF
We’ve been raving about good cheer and good food at Leopold’s since it opened in January. The masses quickly followed suit and the Austrian hofbrau has been packed ever since. Tip back German, American, and Belgian draft beers at hearty pinewood tables under animal heads and Austrian art — a warm, welcoming space created by Sazlberg natives and brothers Albert and Klaus Rainer. With comforting Hungarian goulash (the border between Hungary and Austria is a shifty thing) and traditional wiener schnitzel, you’ll never make it out of here hungry — just make sure you save room for the apfelstrudel.
2400 Polk, SF. (415) 474-2000, www.leopoldssf.com
Best of the Bay 2011: BEST IMPERSONATION OF AN ART GALLERY BY A RESTAURANT
You are to be pardoned if you approach the nondescript brick SoMa building that houses Una Pizza Napoletana, walk through the door (plate glass, like the rest of the façade), and have the brief sensation of arriving at an art gallery between installations. Or perhaps the high-ceilinged, white-walled cube — with a turquoise-tiled conical shape rising from the center — seems more like a museum? No. It’s a pizzeria, home to tattooed chef and former New Yorker Anthony Mangieri, and the tiled shrine is the pizza oven. Pizza is the sole objet d’art: that’s it, nothing more, no sides, substitutions, condiments, nada. The drill isn’t quite as severe as on Seinfeld’s "Soup Nazi" episode, but it’s still a singular — and tasty — experience.
210 11th St., SF. (415) 861-3444, www.unapizza.com/sf
Best of the Bay 2011 Editors Picks: Food and Drink
Best of the Bay 2011 Editors Picks
Food and Drink
BEST BEELZEBUBIAN BEIGNETS
A beignet craze has swept the Bay, and really, who could withstand the fiendish temptation of these deep-fried, sugar-sprinkled, French-by-way-of-New-Orleans brunch delights? Our current favorites come courtesy of the new Devil’s Teeth Baking Company in the Sunset which, despite its intimidating name, traffics in heavenly pastries. (The bakery’s name is actually a tribute to a sobriquet for the Farallone Islands.) The diabolically good bakers here have even set aside a day for beignet worship: zip down to beignet Sundays and fill those idle hands with made-to-order clouds of perfection — and cups of Blue Bottle coffee to boot. While you’re there, score a batch of spice-chunked ginger cookies or a gooey-sweet pie. Followed by a stroll down Ocean Beach? Yes please, Mr. Mephistopheles.
3876 Noriega, SF. (415) 683-5533. www.devilsteethbakingcompany.com
BEST RETURN OF THE MAC
A one-room schoolhouse feel, minus the ‘marm but plus the mac? That seems right for a light-hearted, full-flavored spot that zaps you back — maybe not to Little House on the Prairie days (although the ingredients are Ingalls-fresh), but at least to second grade, when a grilled cheese and tomato soup were all the haute cuisine one needed. Oakland’s cute Homeroom makes us want to check that we have both of our mittens clipped to our sleeves as we dive into updated youth classics: grilled cheese with Inna jalapeño jam, Blue Lake string beans, and Three Twins root beer floats. Best of all, oodles of mac ‘n’ cheese, made with everything from tangy chevre to hot chorizo, Gilroy garlic to vegan-version walnut. School’s in for summer!
400 40th, Oakl. (510) 597-0400, www.homeroom510.com
BEST PORK DESSERT
If they shoot horses (don’t they?) and make garlic ice cream, they might as well whip up a dessert with pork in it. And they do: the peanut butter pie at Straw, a nifty little carnival-themed restaurant that opened recently on Octavia Boulevard in Hayes Valley. The pie filling is a luxurious mousse and the crust is chocolate, so you could make a good case that such a confection wouldn’t need pork — or anything else. But in the spirit of fun, the kitchen does lay some bits of candied bacon atop each slice. Candied bacon! When Homer Simpson finally dies and goes to heaven, this is what he will feast on. Until then, you can treat yourself to a little taste.
203 Octavia, SF. (415) 431-3663, www.strawsf.com
BEST SOUTHERN SLICE OF GLASS PIE
Aficionados of Southern cooking will agree that a slice of pecan pie is a nice way to end a meal. But even if you don’t like pecan pie — or you’re forswearing all desserts for some reason — you can still help yourself to a big slice of the glass pie at Criolla Kitchen, because the New Orleans-influenced restaurant is itself a big slice of glass pie. The wedge-shaped space is window-intensive, looks westward, and is splashed with sunlight in its many shades and tempers. It’s like the second coming of Zuni Cafe. In such an enchanted setting, it could be easy for the food to slip, but not here; from the hushpuppies to the po’boys to (yes!) the pecan pie, the kitchen consistently delivers.
2295 Market, SF. (415) 552-5811, www.criollakitchen.com
BEST CLIPSY WHISKEY
Meet Salvatore Cimino: barber by day, 1512 Spirits whiskey distiller by night. His unaged but surprisingly balanced Barbershop Rye — of which he makes only 350 bottles per month — makes it clear that this man knows spirits as well as he does scissors. As plainly evidenced from the bottle, which displays a 1923 photo of Cimino’s grandfather in Prohibition-era Potrero Hill, he hails from a long line of distillers. But his eyes are on the future: Cimino hopes to release a classic bourbon and cherry-smoked bourbon to expand 1512’s lineup. Sip these locally-made spirits at bars across the city, or get a pour with a shave at Cimino’s 1512 Barbershop in Nob Hill.
BEST IMPERSONATION OF AN ART GALLERY BY A RESTAURANT
You are to be pardoned if you approach the nondescript brick SoMa building that houses Una Pizza Napoletana, walk through the door (plate glass, like the rest of the façade), and have the brief sensation of arriving at an art gallery between installations. Or perhaps the high-ceilinged, white-walled cube — with a turquoise-tiled conical shape rising from the center — seems more like a museum? No. It’s a pizzeria, home to tattooed chef and former New Yorker Anthony Mangieri, and the tiled shrine is the pizza oven. Pizza is the sole objet d’art: that’s it, nothing more, no sides, substitutions, condiments, nada. The drill isn’t quite as severe as on Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” episode, but it’s still a singular — and tasty — experience.
210 11th St., SF. (415) 861-3444, www.unapizza.com/sf
BEST CRAFT CHEERS
When the Bourbon and Branch crew took over the former Tenderloin bar Club 441, it dubbed the bar Mr. Lew’s Win Win Bar & Grand Sazerac Emporium for a birthday party for B and B creative director. The renaming was meant as a one-night joke, but the name stuck (regulars shorten it to “441”. Whatever you call it, the dive — naturally — serves quality Sazeracs and other classic cocktails. Everyone gets into cheesy movie Wednesdays: Top Gun led to a group rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” complete with a craft-cocktailed gentleman belting atop the bar. Though there’s talk of remodeling, we hope 441 stays as is: a dingy, sticky place where industry insiders can grab a well-made post-shift drink.
441 Jones, SF. (415) 474-2284, www.mrlews.com
BEST SWEET TREATS FOR TECH GEEKS
Sure, there are plenty of places in the Mission to park it and plug in, but the Summit Café provides the chance to nosh on cocoa nib nougatine and buttermilk bubbles (no stale croissants here) while the ol’ MacBook boots up. The Summit my seem steep — a tiny mocha is $5 and most desserts are $9 or $10 — but the payoff is oh-so-sweet. The concept behind Summit is innovative in a techie way: it hopes to combine work and home into a “third space” to foster broader interaction and creativity. So while basically working forever, we’ll happily gorge on a rotating dessert menu full of high quality ingredients and imaginative concoctions (think beet fluid gel and Summit-exclusive Humphry Slocombe espresso balsamic ice cream) as we whip up that superhuman invisibility app.
780 Valencia, SF. (415) 861-5330, www.thesummit-sf.com
BEST CRUNCHY ALMOND BALLS
Waits are long at dingy, bustling Hong Kong Lounge, but on weekends you’ll be kept company by multigenerational Chinese families — kids and grandparents bonding over mountainous cheap meals. Like all superlative dim sum spots, not only is a meal here blessedly affordable (generally $2-$6 for dim sum plates), there are unusual items — like deep-fried coffee pork ribs that taste robustly of a cup of joe — to keep things interesting. We’re in love with the Lounge’s egg yolk almond balls: they’re doughy and filled with yellow sweet cream that looks like yolk. The balls taste similar to Chinese egg custards and are coated in almond shavings for a satisfying crunch.
5322 Geary, SF. (415) 668-8836
BEST CHANGE OF CHEESE
Waits can be epic at Plow, which has become Potrero’s brunch destination in the year since it opened. But there’s no reason to spin your wheels — try the breakfast and lunch menus Tuesday through Friday for quicker comestibles. For a midday meal, you could hardly do better than Plow’s grilled cheese sandwich. It’s always bracketed by thick slabs of Acme bread, but its filler rotates: one day you might be noshing on Vermont cheddar accompanying a Point Reyes Toma, on another you’ll sink into Gruyere and creamy fromage blanc with sweet oven-roasted tomatoes. Collect them all! It’s certainly a possibility — sandos this good have us craving another by the last bite.
1299 18th St., SF. (415) 821-7569, www.eatatplow.com
BEST NO-HASSLE HOF
We’ve been raving about good cheer and good food at Leopold’s since it opened in January. The masses quickly followed suit and the Austrian hofbrau has been packed ever since. Tip back German, American, and Belgian draft beers at hearty pinewood tables under animal heads and Austrian art — a warm, welcoming space created by Sazlberg natives and brothers Albert and Klaus Rainer. With comforting Hungarian goulash (the border between Hungary and Austria is a shifty thing) and traditional wiener schnitzel, you’ll never make it out of here hungry — just make sure you save room for the apfelstrudel.
2400 Polk, SF. (415) 474-2000, www.leopoldssf.com
BEST HOME ROASTS IN THE AVENUES
The gracious husband and wife team behind the beans at Brown Owl Coffee have been roasting together as Hearth Coffee Roasters for a few years now. Their passion shows — the two serve lush coffees at their tiny, cozy cafe. Impeccable cappuccinos and a mean cup of drip pair well with breads and pastries from local producers like Mi2Sweets; Oakland’s Pepples Donuts; and baklava from Richmond Egyptian restaurant Al Masri. Affogato lovers, take note — theirs is a beaut, made with Straus vanilla ice cream. Tucked out in the avenues, Brown Owl’s a big “how now?” to those who locate SF’s superior beans solely Mission and SoMa-side.
1131 Taraval, SF. (415) 242-1426, www.brownowlcoffee.com
BEST WAY TO GET SMARTER BY DRINKING
San Franciscans are lucky to have educational opportunities like the Boothby Center for the Beverage Arts. Over the last year — since it debuted during SF Cocktail Week — it has played host to a slew of classes, tastings, and events regarding all things drink. Of course, cocktails and spirits are heavily represented, but founder H. Joseph Ehrmann also envisions coffee classes, tea and wine seminars — and more — for the future of his Mixology 101 series. With classes like “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” and “When It’s Cocktail Time in Cuba” (a journey through Cuba’s cocktail and rum heyday), learning was never so much — hic! — fun.
1161 Mission, Suite 120, SF. Facebook: Boothby Center for the Beverage Arts
BEST BEANS ON A TRUCK
You’ll know it by the smell of slow-roasting ribs and pulled pork: on weekdays Smoke BBQ generally parks its truck on a semi-desolate warehouse stretch of Bayview-Hunters Point. The pulled pork has a satisfying juiciness, reflecting its Midwest roots. The brisket and ribs are well loved by local worker bees. But what gives the meats a run for their money is the Smoke BBQ’s BBQ beans. Rich broth, smoky beans, and fatty chunks of pork — so good you just might forget your carnivorous entree.
1438 Davidson, SF. (415) 312-1637 www.smokebbqsf.com
BEST BESTING OF THE BIG BOTTLES
The year was 2010, a flim-flam was erupting over the high alcohol content of kombucha sold long after its bottling date — and large companies with their complicated supply lines were compelled to pull their brews from grocery store shelves. Not so House Kombucha, SF’s little ‘bucha bottler that could. The Sixth Street factory was able to gain a sturdy market share due to its local distribution and small company profile — not to mention its sustainable practices (the company recently announced a 42 percent bottle return rate — that 50-cent deposit really works!). Best of all: we got to continue drinking its delicate vanilla orchid root and rose black tea flavors uninterrupted.
Available at various Bay Area grocery stores. housekombucha.food.officelive.com
BEST RIGHTEOUS VEGAN SASS
If we could even fake the exuberance that Vegansaurus editor-founder Laura Beck trips out willy-nilly in her sparklingly sassy blog posts sans animal products … we’d be running to the store a lot more for economy-sized boxes of capital letters and exclamation points. But the site’s zazz is by no means irritating — indeed, we consider its daily updates on the hottest new vegan grub dens, footwear, and activist news required reading for leading a sexy, cutting-edge vegan lifestyle in the Bay (and with the addition of new writers, the country). Plus, the site dares to say everything non-meaties tend to suppress for politeness’ sake. Sample quote on animal-abusive lab workers: “I hope they get totally fucked by justice!”
BEST ARMAGNAC ATTACK
There’s a saying that goes “the French make cognac, but they drink Armagnac.” Add an “as do San Franciscans” parenthetical to the truism, because one 76-year-old Fillmore Street liquor store stocks a collection of the superior Gallic brandy fit to spawn a connoisseur. We refer to D&M Liquors’ Armagnac selection, which includes $50 bottles of Tariquet for everyday sips as well as Veuve J. Goudoulin Vieux Bas vintages dating back to 1929 and bottled especially for the store. Ex-D&M employee Charles Neal set up this transatlantic partnership and proceeded to (literally) write the book on the subject — Armagnac: The Definitive Guide to France’s Premier Brandy. Unfamiliar with Armagnac? The friendly staff are happy to give you the 411.
2200 Fillmore, SF. (415) 346-1325, www.dandm.com
BEST BROMANCE ON BREAD
We like our sandwiches the way Comcast and peep shows like their customers: pay-per-view. We don’t want no pre-made, plastic-wrapped, sittin’ around sandwiches. We want to watch. And we especially want to watch if hunky Italian uomini are making the sandwiches, and hunky construction worker uomini are waiting for them, and hunky delivery uomini are picking them up. Which brings us to Calabria Bros. in Potrero Hill, where what appear to be three generations of Vinnies manhandle (in a good way) the various cheeses, peppers, and salted pig parts to meet your specifications. The bros also put out a drool-worthy daily special (meat balls on Thursdays, chicken parm Fridays). Whatever sandwich you choose, the brothers will ask if you want it with their homemade garlic spread. Say yes.
2249 17th St., SF. (415) 863-1213, www.calabriabrosdeli.com
BEST AQUATIC SMOKES
We love smoked salmon. Cold-smoked, hot-smoked, maple-smoked, pepper-smoked — especially wild and locally caught salmon purchased from a seasoned Half Moon Bay fisherman named Pietro Pavarrano. But we also recognize that there are other fish in the sea, especially the Caspian Sea. And when we’re in that transoceanic frame of mind, we head to New World Market in the Richmond, where the no-nonsense Russians who run the place offer dozens of species of smoked fish, ranging from sturgeon to sea bass to fish you’ve never heard of. While we’re there, we also like to pick up the housemade borscht, kefir, and — to undo all the good effects of the beets in the borscht and the priobiotics in the kefir — some chocolate babka and an Obolon beer from the Ukraine.
5641 Geary, SF. (415) 751-8810
BEST FRENCH KISS (ON BOTH CHEEKS)
Ah, the French. They may be derided as pretentious and spoofed for pomposity, but really, is there anything more irresistibly charmant than a mâitre d’ with a French accent who runs to greet, addresses you as “monsieur” or “madame,” kisses your hand, and almost renders you dizzy with the inebriating bonhomie wafting from his person? We don’t think so. And when we want this kind of treatment — and some superlative food and wine — we head to Bistro Central Parc. A Panhandle institution long before NoPa was NoPa (the neighborhood) and NoPa had Nopa (the restaurant), this friendly Francais fixture excels at staples like beef bourguignon and duck confit. Can’t find it? Follow the neighbors, and the mingled smells of bouillabaisse and frites.
560 Central, SF. (415) 750-1111. www.bistrocentralparc.com
BEST PLACE TO YUCA IT UP
Yuca — sounds like yucky, often looks and tastes like same. Turquoise-splashed Puerto Rican restaurant Parada 22 in the Upper Haight turns that yuca to yum. Rarely eaten here, yuca is the deliciously inescapable side dish for the bulk of the entrees, the centerpiece of the vegetarian platter, and the base of the yucca, avocado and garlic soup. Even as a standalone side, mashed and marinated in onion, olive oil, garlic, and spices, it shines. Parada 22’s savory way with the cassava root (as it’s known in much of the USA) complements home-style island favorites like tender, oregano-suffused pernil asado pork and a piquant pollo encebollado (chicken smothered in onions). For real starch maniacs, order a side with the truly scrumptious mofongo, mashed plantains with shrimp criolla.
1805 Haight, SF. (415) 750-1111. www.parada22.com
BEST ROBBER BAR-ROOM
Revisit the era of California’s four robber barons — those capitalist tycoons who plundered their way to railroad riches in gold-rushing 19th-century California — at the Huntington Hotel’s Big Four Restaurant. Kitty-corner from the austere spires of Grace Cathedral (built on the earthquake-ravaged land of the Big Four’s Charles Crocker himself), the Bay’s premier lounge pianist Michael Parsons tinkles the joint’s keys while congenial barkeeps Ty and Jeffrey reside behind a 10-stool counter of gleaming brass. Join the boys at the bar or settle into leather-cushioned table seating for chef Gloria Ciccarone-Nehls’ specialty: wild game. Eat your meat and gaze upon the historic framed photos lining the walls.
1075 California, SF. (415) 771-1140, www.big4restaurant.com
BEST RUSSIAN RUSH
If you come from good peasant stock (did your grandfather slurp coffee from his saucer? Grandmother wear dresses and wool socks?), then you probably have regular waves of nostalgia for things like cabbage soup, pickled cabbage, cabbage rolls, cabbage dumplings, and cabbage pie. All at the same meal. At Cinderella Russian Bakery and Café, you can indulge all your yearnings for foods sour, smoked, sweet, earthy, tangy, and cruciferous. The ultra-tiny cafe has been around since 1953 and hasn’t strayed from its peasant-food-with-panache approach, offering blinchiki, piroshki, pirogi (if you already know the difference between those last two, congratulations), sour soups, etc. Come here to eat loudly; see really short, really cute older dames; and wear your woolly-sock-and-dress combo with pride.
436 Balboa, SF. (415) 751-9690. www.cinderellabakery.com
BEST CHOCOLATE LIQUIFACTION
In the third season of Dexter, top cop Maria has two bonding experiences with women that are consummated with two words: “ganache frosting.” Ganache — that rich, delicious, thick, delicious, dense, delicious mix of chocolate and cream — is the base element of Boulette Larder’s singular cup of Eastern European-style hot chocolate. All day long, Boulette’s attentive chefs keep a pan of molten ganache simmering in anticipation of its hot chocolate fans. The result is hot chocolate so thick you almost need a spoon, and so satisfying you can omit that dollop of cream. But an almost-colloidal scoop of liquid nirvana doesn’t come cheap: it’ll cost your $5 to go and $6 to stay. Still, that’s way cheaper than booking a flight to Prague. Now we know how Maria felt.
1 Ferry Building No. 48, SF. (415) 399-1155. www.bouletteslarder.com
BEST GRINDER AT YOUR BAR STOOL
So you’re happily imbibing at the Mission’s 500 Club, and you’re a wee bit too wobbly to uproot yourself from your bar stool. But dammit — you’re hungry, and no amount of tipsy wishing can summon the Tamale Lady on command. Thank the gods for Clare’s Deli and Late Night Kitchen. Just steps away from the Five, you can call in, order up (the meatball grinder, an homage to the legendary East Coast staple, is a comfort-food masterpiece), and be back in your spot before your latest song even finishes on the juke box. Clare’s will deliver your salvation to you at the bar, or anywhere in San Francisco. Though this is a mighty fine service — and Clare’s is open seven days, 11 a.m.–11 p.m., with a neato daily dinner menu — the deli also offers options for non-boozehounds: park at the few tables on location, or grab your food to go: to your home, to nearby Dolores Park, or to wherever delicious meatballs are needed mos t.
3505 17th St., SF. (415) 621-3505, www.claresdeli.com
BEST BIGGEST BAYVIEW BRAZILIAN BURGERS
Make sure you’re hungry when you roll up to the Junior Barbecue food truck to order one of Junior’s famous Brazilian burgers. The sandwich Junior hands you, wrapped in paper to keep the juices from cascading out, will be enormous. The uniquely delicious, stick-to-your-ribs burgers are packed with enough ingredients to equal about three meals — beef patty, egg, bacon, hot dog, cheese, ham, pineapple, grilled onion, fresh lettuce, tomato, and corn mayo crammed into a bun. Eight dollars gets you a burger, which will feed you for a couple days, and a Coke. Junior is a gracious Brazilian who has lived in the United States for 11 years and can’t do enough to ensure that his customers are happy. Want some ketchup? Need a napkin? On a bike? How about a bag with handles to make it easier for you?
Napoleon at Evans, S.F.
BEST FAMILY ITALIAN (WITH FREE CHEESE!)
The eponymous vintage painting of two blondes and their reflections that hangs inside an alcove of this classic Sunset District Italian resataurant is far from its sole golden attraction. Complimentary sharp cheddar cheese with crackers awaits you at the bar — not quite as epistemologically relevant, but certainly a nice prelude to your veal piccata and housemade tiramisu. The Gold Mirror Restaurant started as a 1940s Fillmore District cocktail lounge but relocated in the 1950s. Since then — except for when a runaway delivery truck caused a temporary closure in 2004 — chef Giuseppe Di Grande, wife Josephine, and sons Domenico and Roberto have continuously maintained the classy-comfortable place for what it is: a shining reflection of old-style San Francisco.
800 Taraval, SF. (415) 564-0401, www.goldmirrorrestaurant.com
BEST SUBLINGUAL HIGH
The Bay Area’s well-developed medical marijuana industry has done much to elevate the age-old practice of smoking marijuana to new heights, with sticky, stinky new strains and a wide variety of edibles. Along with improvements of the herbal variety have come winning technological advances: the formulation of some mighty fine of cannabis tinctures and other concentrates. Our favorite? Alta California tinctures by CBD Science, formerly known as 420 Alchemy. Take a drop or two sublingually (that’s under the tongue, stoners) and you’ll attain a beautiful high that’s different from smoking, vaporizing, or eating — a clear but consuming ride that seems to emanate from your very tissues, almost ecstasy-like. Three varieties — Healing, Tranquility, and Euphoria — give fans a range of satisfaction.
(877) 737-4420, www.4altacalifornia.com
BEST WAKE ‘N’ SHAKE
The only bad thing about Rudy’s Can’t Fail Café in Emeryville is the parking — and that’s because everything else is so damn good. (A new second location in uptown Oakland may bring drivers better luck.) From breakfast-all-day omelets and tofu scrambles to straight-up burgers and fries, the time-honored diner fare is good enough to keep cars circling the block for a spot. But if you’re eco-conscious, you’ll consider fueling yourself, rather than your car, to start your day off Rudy’s-right. For that, there’s nothing better than the Rudy’s Can’t Fail Shakin’ Jesse — an inspired blend of Guinness stout, chocolate ice cream, and homebrewed espresso. All the essentials in one malty mug, ready to whisk away the previous night’s hangover and power a morning of full-throttle accomplishment.
481 Hollis, Emeryville. (510) 594-1221 and 1805 Telegraph, Oakl. (510) 251-9400, www.iamrudy.com
BEST STAR EGG
You’ll want to come back to Oakland’s Commis again and again and again for chef James Syhabout’s not-so-secret faux breakfast, a dreamy amuse-bouche that is almost always on his $68 five-course prix fixe menu. Behold a blissfully custardy Commis slow-poached egg, a deep-yellow yolk cradled in a “white” of cream and onion and sprinkled with tiny pebbles of granola — you’ve soft-landed on Planet Sublime. The dish is just one reasons the Oakland native Syhabout — a veteran of Spain’s El Bulli, the U.K.’s Fat Duck, and the Bay Area’s Coi — and his crew earned O-town’s first Michelin star. The other reasons lie in the subtle magic he wrings out of seasonal, locally grown or foraged ingredients like garlic scapes, wild fennel pollen, sea lettuce, English peas, oxalis, thyme, and nasturtium.
3859 Piedmont, Oakl. (510) 653-3902, www.commisrestaurant.com.
BEST SMILING STAR OF THE SALVADORAN SAVORIES
Maria del Carmen Flores of Estrellita’s Snacks has been cooking since she was six. She took notes from her mother in El Salvador until she had mastered the pupusa. Then she lived in Mexico, learning the local cuisine. Her masa envelopes are plump, griddle-crispy on the outside and packed with toothsome seasoned meats, vegetables, and cheese. The pickled veggies are optional — in name only. Sliced thick, they’re best when combined with Flores’ hot salsa: all told, a perfectly crafted snack (but really a meal) you’ll crave all week long. Or maybe you’re just missing the metal stars that flash in Flores’ grill every time she smiles — telling you that the woman’s a dedicated entrepreneur.
Sat.–Sun., 7:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Alemany Farmers Market, 100 Alemany, SF. Also various Bay Area festivals. www.estrellitassnacks.com
BEST HAPP(IL)Y( SELF-DETERMINED) HOUR
Booze cruise to Asiento at 5 p.m. Every day, the first person into the Mission District bar at the designated hour of power gets to name their poison and their drink is added to the day’s happy hour specials. A soaring purple comet mural covers one side of Asiento — follow its trajectory and you’ll find classy cocktails, tapas, board games, and a comfy yet sleek neighborhood bar. Quietly gaining popularity in recent months as a friendly place to meet your building mates, Asiento also offers a late-night Sunday happy hour from 10 p.m. to midnight for the hard-working service industry superstars among us. It’s even serves brunch.
2730 21st St., SF. (415) 829-3375, www.asientosf.com
BEST REVENGE SERVED COLD
At 7.5 percent alcohol by volume, Speakeasy Brewery’s Payback Porter is dark, sweet, and potent — good traits for anything, great traits in a beer. This is not to say Payback is cloying; rather, it begins with a fresh bitterness that quickly melts into one of the smoothest strong beers available, whether on tap or in 22-ounce bottles. For all you lager louts, Payback makes for an easy first step into darker brews. And once you’re hooked, Payback is easy to get — it was formerly known as “Hunters Point Porter” in honor of the location of Speakeasy’s brewery — and is now sold all over its hometown.
1195 Evans, SF. (415) 642-3371, www.goodbeer.com
BEST DONUTSOS
All our lives, we have searched for a pastry that resembles a mosh pit fatality. And now that we’ve found it — the raspberry jelly-filled Headbanger — small matter that we have go to San Jose to re-up. Such is the glory that is Psycho Donuts, where the employees wear old-fashioned nurse uniforms and preside over a parade of freak-out frosteds, meat-stuffed donuts, tart raspberry-and-key-lime vegan ‘nuts, even 14-inch donut pizzas made to order and a cocktail-flavored donut of the month. Many are charmingly dubbed with losing-it labels: Cereal Killer, Dead Elvis, Comfortably Numb. Liberate the patients from their glass pastry case! You’d be crazy to miss out.
288 South Second St., San Jose; 2006 South Winchester, Campbell. (408) 378-4540, www.psycho-donuts.com
BEST PANCAKE WITH A SIDE OF CHOW MEIN
Punjab Chinese American Restaurant (the name’s not a reference to the Indian state, here it means “fire dragon” offers free mimosas with its weekend brunch, a standard Americana menu of eggs, pancakes, french toast, and the like. Standard that is, until one considers that the weekday menu is also fair game, from traditional Chinese fare to trash food staples like hot dogs and cheeseburgers — and some say the joint’s Polynesian fried chicken is among the best cluck in town. Whatever’s making your tummy rumbly, the secret to Punjab is to call in your order in advance — this homemade fare takes time to prepare.
2838 24th St, SF. (415) 282-4011
BEST LIQUOR LOWDOWN
Why is it that we like to read about food and drink so much on the Web? In no other Internet area, except maybe porn, is the meeting of the weightlessly virtual and the essentially physical so addictively fruitful. And while crackerjack local liquor expert Camper English’s Alcademics site doesn’t tear off your panties with glossy cocktail shots, his entertainingly detailed descriptions of the latest drool-worthy liquors will have you practically licking your screen. Over the past four years — besides visiting more than 70 distilleries, blending houses, and bodegas in 14 countries — Alcademics has helped refine the Bay Area’s cocktail-blogging niche with some much-needed worldliness and a willingness to look deeper at what’s in our highball. (English’s degree in physics helps here.) Now you can drink to feel smarter!
BEST COMMUNAL EATS, TWEETED
“Red leaf lettuce soup crème fraiche toasted almonds, country ham on pan de mie caramelized onions dijon mustard, arugula and green bean salad” is just one character shy of 140 characters. And that one character is you — as in “Why aren’t you rushing down to farm : table right now to stuff your face?” The super-tiny Tenderloin breakfast and lunch hotspot didn’t pioneer the art of announcing its daily menu via Twitter every morning, but it quickly became the most mouthwatering thing on our feed. In real life, farm : table has the whole local, foraged, organic, and yummy thing down. And you can share your meal seated around one large inside table with strangers — a boon for those seeking a more communal feel in this often alienating world.
754 Post, SF. (415) 292-7089, www.farmtablesf.com
BEST SWEET HOOKERS
We used to love watching David “Hooker” Williams rule the pool table and patio at the Pilsner Inn back in the day. But who knew then that lurking within him was the potential to blow our sweet tooth into the stratosphere? Good thing he let that scrumptious light shine, following his muse to create Hooker’s Sweet Treats — handmade, habit-forming, sea-salted, dark chocolate-covered caramels. These little babies, which Williams calls his “hookers,” work the corners of finer food stores like Bi-Rite Market or display themselves tantalizingly at the homey Hooker’s Sweet Treats Café in the Tenderloin, tempting you to pick up a private evening’s worth of smooth and gooey entertainment. Or hey, just gorge on all the hookers you want right there, accompanied by a fresh cup of Sightglass coffee and to-die-for plum pudding.
442 Hyde, SF. www.hookerssweettreats.com
BEST RUM LEED-ER
When Bar Agricole opened earlier this year, the provenance of its architectural design made almost as many headlines as its food. Impeccably eco-contemporary and obsessively LEED-standard compliant, the striking tavern in SoMa raised the bar for restaurant design. Good for it. It’s lovely; it’s immaculate; we would almost eat off the walls. But — besides the fact that all this green-edged conception has actually yielded a comfortable vibe, stellar drinks, and spectacular cooking (please try the sauerkraut soup and roasted mussels with chorizo) — what’s the real news? Agricole! The classic West Indian white rum, or rhum, is derived from pure cane juice and much prized by the French. Bar Agricole serves it in its ti punch cocktail, spiffily accented with lime zest. The clean, crisp taste evokes an amiable warmth within, much like Bar Agricole itself.
355 11th St., SF. (415) 355-9400, www.baragricole.com
BEST KOREAN CHICKEN GARAGE
You hear tales of a magical Korean restaurant located in a converted garage near Ocean Beach, barely marked by a strand of Christmas lights and a winking chicken with a bowtie and green hair. The restaurant is open until 2 a.m. and is perfect for after-bar snacks: kimchee fried rice, calamari and beef bulgogi, heaps of noodles, crispy fried clucker, and jugs of thick, soju-infused cocktails. When you enter Toyose, it’s actually the quaintly decorated Korean restaurant of your imagination, with a tasty underground vibe to boot. Perfect for post-bar refreshment, true, but a destination in itself: you could lose yourself (and your party) in one of the huge, savory seafood casseroles or cauldrons of sizzling rice soup. And so affordable! No wonder it’s jam-packed with the young and hot.
3814 Noriega, SF. (415) 731-0232
BEST SHABU-SHABU FOR KLUTZES
We’re not sure what your list of priorities looks like when it comes to promising soulmate candidates, but for us, that person better damn well know how to cook. Here’s one nifty little trick for finding out if the person across the table can adequately steam your beef: schedule a shabu-shabu date. The Japanese cuisine, which requires you to use chopsticks to cook your own thinly sliced meats and veggies in a shared hotpot, is incredibly fun and tasty — once you get the hang of it. The friendly Shabusen in Japantown is our favorite, because it has an authentic atmosphere and a klutz-patient staff who don’t mind a little splashy ineptitude. And if your companion happens to be a butterfingers, you can always save face with one of Shabusen’s umami-riffic sukiyakis.
1726 Buchanan, SF. (415) 440-0466
BEST CAKE-TASTROPHES
“I just want to make people read my evil shit,” gleefully wicked Bay Area meta-baker and blogger Shannon O’Malley of Apocalypse Cakes told us last year. “Fatalistic gluttons!” Branch Davidian Texas Pecan Pie, Seismic Haitian Mudcake; Bird Flu Feather Cake, “Inexplicable” Blackbird Pie, Global Jihad Date Cake, even Gay Wedding Cake (there’s bondage involved) — O’Malley’s hilarious, conceptual “recipes for the End” play up our primal fascination with food and disaster while tweaking the foodie propensity for perky cultural appropriation. Now her End Times creations have been collected into an Apocalypse Cakes book, so you can unplug, retreat to your mountain survival hut, and indulge your millennial cravings, enraptured.
apocalypsecakes.wordpress.com
BEST OF THE BAY 2011
Welcome to the Guardian’s Best of the Bay 2011! This is our 37th annual celebration of the people, places, and things that make living here such a great experience — from Best Burrito and Best Local Band to Best Strip Club, Best Shoe Store, Best Drag Queen, and beyond.
More than 15,000 of our readers voted in our 2011 Best of the Bay Readers Poll for their favorites in more than 200 categories. You’ll find the results inside — as well as 150 Editors Picks that highlight some Guardian favorites, old and new, that we think deserve special recognition for lighting up our lives this year.
Our theme for 2011 is “Beautiful Rebels” — and inside this year’s Best of the Bay, we’ve highlighted eight of our favorite “beautiful rebels” who we think are helping change the Bay Area for the better. Throughout its history, the Bay Area has attracted wave upon wave of people looking to create something unique. From Barbary Coast explorers to Belle Epoque, Jazz Age, and Beatnik free spirits, from hippies and queer and civil rights pioneers to tattooed 1990s swing kids and Burning Man visionaries, to today’s global tech innovators and their DIY, local, organic, small-batch counterparts.
We seem to be living in a time when a certain conservatism and conformity reigns, when speaking out gets you pilloried in the comments section and big-box consumerism squeezes out charming idiosyncrasies. That’s why we wanted to take this Best of the Bay opportunity to celebrate the Bay Area’s proud perseverance in remaining the weirdest, oddest, most interesting and rewarding place in the world, somewhere where “freak” is a compliment and “out there” equals “gorgeous.”
In 1974, Esquire magazine asked us for ideas for its Best of the USA issue, which led to us publish the original Best of the Bay. Made by the people of the Bay Area for the people of the Bay Area, it’s our annual opportunity to celebrate the people and places that make this city great. We were the first weekly paper to publish a regular “best of” issue. Thirty-seven years on — and 45 years after we opened our doors — we’re still going strong.
Editing this year’s installment was a hoot. I shower grateful smooches on all my collaborators, especially my right-hand amiga Caitlin Donohue, creative wiz Mirissa Neff, amazing illustrator Renee Castro, photographer Ben Hopfer, the Guardian staff, and the ever-supportive Hunky Beau, my own personal Best of the Bay.
But most of all I thank you, dear reader, for your generous participation, for making the Bay Area such an astounding place to live, and for turning us on to some great new things this year.
Marke B.,
Best of the Bay 2011 co-editor
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Like the Guardian, Renee “Lady Reni” Castro is native to the Bay Area — really. Born in Oakland, Castro’s heritage stems from the Ohlone Native American tribe. (You can’t get more local than that.) Her background serves as inspiration for much of her art, especially her subjects’ clothing and their deeply-rooted connections to the natural world. Her other influences for her illustrations in this year’s “Beautiful Rebels”-themed Best of the Bay include Mexican and Spanish folklore, broken-hearted femmes fatales, disheveled muses, and erotic heroines. Castro’s current projects include commissions for SF companies the Loin and Peasants and Travelers, shows in local galleries, plus an apprenticeship at Amor Eterno Tattoo in Oakland, where you’re welcome to drop by and see her.
BEST OF THE BAY STAFF
BEST OF THE BAY EDITORS
Marke B., Caitlin Donohue
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Mirissa Neff
ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR
Ben Hopfer
ILLUSTRATOR
Renee Castro
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Jackie Andrews, Emily Appelbaum, Rebecca Bowe, Richard Boyce, Kimberly Chun, Angelina Kravich, Cheryl Eddy, Nicole Gluckstern, Sean Hurd, Steven T. Jones, Heather Mack, Virginia Miller, Carly Nairn, Sarah Phelan, Julie Potter, Tim Redmond, Paul Reidinger, Kat Renz, Charles Russo, Amber Schadewald, Ariel Soto-Suver, Diane Sussman, Hannah Tepper, Christopher Trenchard
BEST OF THE BAY PHOTOGRAPHY
Francesca Balaguer, Stephen Heraldo, Ben Hopfer, Eric Lynch, Virginia Miller, Ariel Soto-Suver, Erik Anderson
COPY EDITORS
Emily Appelbaum, Diane Sussman
Grab your deck, Tha Hood Games riding out tomorrow Sat/23
Mini ramps in front of murals, skate shoes stomping around, multiple forms of media sharing the spotlight for tomorrow (Sat/23)’s all-day multimedia art exhibit at the African Art and Culture Complex. Thanks to Parks and Recreation and an East Bay youth creativity non-profit you can shoulder your deck and head to Tha Hood Games exhibition.
Founded in East Oakland in 2005 by Keith “K-Dub” Williams & Ms. Barbara “Adjoa” Murden, Tha Hood Games was created to give “youth a creative platform to share their talents,” according to the group’s website. Tha Hood Games has ramped up 30 skate events and youth art festivals all over the Bay Area, in Las Vegas, Long Beach, and at the X Games.
The group’s events highlight the talents of Bay Area youth skateboarders. In an interview with the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center, Williams said that, “Tha Hood Games gives youth an opportunity to showcase and nurture their skills in skateboarding, music, dance, and the visual arts in their own communities. This exhibition is our way of sharing our journey visually, and spotlighting our family of creative people and the many youth, cities and communities we have visited.”
So of course, there’s gonna be art on Saturday — the exhibit features murals and paintings on helmets and car hoods. There’s gonna be skateboarding – a temporary park’s been erected in the parking lot of the the African Art and Culture Complex that’ll be open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Also included will be live performances, live art, skate demos, and vendor booths. Pro skater and associate of Tha Hood Games Karl Watson will be in attendance, as will be pro skater Nyjah Huston. An opening reception in the art gallery will take place from 5-7 p.m., and a fashion show from 7-9 p.m.
“Tha Hood Games: Kids, Community, Comrades”
Sat/23, 11 a.m.-9 p.m., free
African Art and Culture Complex
762 Fulton, SF
(415) 292-6172
Facebook: Tha Hood Games Exhibition
Mark Mulroney uses repressed Catholicism to explore sex and gore
Artist Mark Mulroney learned his ABCs in Catholic school but his spongey child-brain soaked up a lot more than just textbook facts and bible versus. The gigantic boobs, guts and bloody wounds, horrified men, sweet girls, and hilariously exaggerated genitalia present in Mulroney’s current exhibition, “Sent Upstate”, is far from holy, but he likes to give the church credit where due.
Mulroney didn’t exactly realize the severity of the images he had been exposed to in the church until he started drawing as a teen. The violent stories, bloodshed and the relentless guilt surrounding sex started to show up in his doodles, mixing with comic book clippings and album cover art. All grown-up, Mulroney isn’t afraid to be honest about where his ideas on sex and death derived from and a quick stroll around “Sent Upstate” at The Guerrero Gallery will give you shivers and tingles. Should you be offended? Turned-on? Maybe you should laugh? Mulroney’s artist statement says it best, “People don’t want to die and they want to have sex.” Still, it’s best to hear Mulroney explain things a bit further.
“Savage Love”
SFBG: What was the inspiration for “Sent Upstate” collection?
Mark Mulroney: I had six weeks to turn it around so I didn’t have time to overthink. I just relied on my usual methods: put a boner on something or make it bleed.
SFBG: What are some of your primary inspirations for all that sex and creepiness?
Mulroney: My work helps me understand the world, however tripe or cliché that sounds. And a lot of it has to do with what I saw in Catholic school. You don’t realize the gravity of things you’re looking at when you’re really young. So violent, but you don’t realize it until you look back. Like, I when I was five, I saw a picture of a Saint being filleted. Odd, isn’t that? So what I’m doing now is making sense of the influential images I was exposed to during age five to 18. What was I looking at back then and how did it shape me?
SFBG: What are some other specific images you remember?
Mulroney: Someone’s eyes being lit on fire by the holy spirit. Now that makes for some fantastic imagery. I did a lot of drawing as a kid. I’d look at album covers of Black Sabbath and this one from Sub Humans with a guy being shot in the head. I learned how to draw through Catholic school and record covers.
“That’s My Wife You’re Fucking”
SFBG: Do you really think about those things while you’re creating or is it more subconscious?
Mulroney: I don’t overthink anything. The rule is make work I would want to look at. Sex and death? That’s work I want to see and then I just make it fit together somehow.
SFBG: Is the work meant to make your stomach churn? Mine did a little.
Mulroney: Well you don’t get a free pass—every action has consequences. I suppose that’s a Catholic thing. No matter what you do, you’re going to pay for it somehow. In most of my imagery there is someone having a good time, coupled with another image of a person not having a good time.
SFBG: Where do you get inspiration for all the sexual imagery?
Mulroney: Library book sales. I go to a lot of thrift store with my wife and brother.
SFBG: Describe a few recent finds.
Mulroney: Outside of buffalo NY I found five, small photo albums. Polaroid size. All images were of a guy taking a picture of his boner, different positions, different days. No face, just this guy’s boner. I got it for five bucks. Why were you collecting pictures of your boner. Can’t anticipate finding that. Why is this out there? What did you get out of this—was it a gift. Everything everything ends up at swap meet or thrift store, like this handcarved wood box I found with a women’s diaphragm in it. And Argentina is fantastic place to find self-published home pornography from swingers clubs in the 50s. This kind of stuff totally informs everything I do. I’m so curious about this stuff. I’m not being judgmental, I just have a curiosity for why people do what they do.
SFBG: Do you think your work turns people on?
Mulroney: Ya. I get emails about being people turned on and then I get emails about people complaining that my work is too gratitutius. This one women had a crush on Veronica from Archie, at the time I was using her picture a lot and this woman loved the work. She wanted to pay me to draw Veronica masturbating, with green smoke coming out of her vagina– what? Like what? I just couldn’t fathom…why the green smoke? So funny.
SFBG: Did you draw it?
Mulroney: I emailed her back to ask some sizing questions and she never replied. She wanted to pay me $25, but man, I would have done it anyway. She had the balls to ask for that. I old have done it for free.
“Untitled”
SFBG: What’s up with all the super, gigantic boobs in your work?
Mulroney: Goes back to when I was five. My dad had a Playboy with a blonde woman, standing on top of waterfall in a 70s jungle setting. She had really big boobs and I thought to myself, “This is really something I think I like. Those are fantastic.” And bigger boobs are more fun to draw than small ones. There’s so much comic potentioal in boobs and wieners. I haven’t found comedy in vaginas— I can’t seem to find a way to draw them in a way that doesn’t make them slightly scary.
SFBG: Is drawing vaginas a current goal?
Mulroney: Ha! Not a goal. Usually when I move from one house to the next I change my focus. When I lived in San Francisco, you would think I would have made more sexual work but there was so much around that I didn’t need to participate. When I moved to upstate New York, the sex stuff started coming out. You don’t see bodies there. It’s too remote, non-stop grey, cold snow.
SFBG: Maybe you should to an island of men so you can work on your vag drawings?
Mulroney: Ya or go to prison. Then it would happen. I could do tattoos on people as a trade for cigarettes and things.
Marky Mulroney “Sent Upstate”
With Charles Linder’s “Swimmingly, With Watermelons and Referrals”
Through Aug. 6
Guerrero Gallery
2700 19th St., SF
(415) 400-5168
Party with the new, movie-making Yard Dogs Road Show Sun/24
It’s not every day that you get a missive from the carnival, so when I saw Eddy Joe Cotton’s email in my inbox I read it. Holy damn, Yard Dogs Road Show is making a movie. Even more than that — he was extending the invite to go play with the traveling pack of musico-gypsies on Sun/24 at their Oakland clubhouse. You can come too. No, really.
“The Yard Dogs Road Show wants to be a movie right now,” says Cotton, author of one of the best road journals ever (Hobo) and long-time member of the long-time traveling burlesque-vaudeville experience that is the YDRS. It kind of always did (if not another novel) — the band’s provenance has always been romanticized by its members, if not made into an urban legend. Take a gander at my interview with the group’s song and dance man Miguel for a look at magic and mystery.
The band’s developed a nationwide following through its bohemian wonderland of a live show. So cool, it wants to share its roots. Of course, there is a Kickstarter involved. See, movies don’t just pop up from nowhere. Cotton explains — actually, he really explains, maybe I’ll just cut ‘n’ paste. The band needs your dough for:
– Editing, obtaining additional footage, purchasing archival-stock footage, music publishing fees, audio production, camera upgrades, hard drives, film festival entry fees, film promotion, graphic design, DVD manufacturing, etc.
– We have a 7-year old mini-DV camera that has stopped accepting tapes. We’ve had it repaired too many times. We need a new HD camera – price tag $4000
– We still need more footage to tell the story we want to tell. This will mean more of everything.
Plus publicity, DVD manufacturing, cuts to Kickstarter and Amazon, mailing the DVDs, and for video gear they’ve already bought.
Bla bla bla. Contributing to the project through the Kickstarter site will mean you get anything from YDRS love (this is not totally broken down, so feel free to let your imagination run rampant) to lifetime tickets to see the band giggin’. And the party in Oakland will feature a movie Q&A, sushi rolls, and lasso tricks.
Yard Dogs Road Show movie party
Sun/24 5 p.m.-midnight, free
Yard Dogs Art Shack
2509 Myrtle, Oakl.
As the world turns
arts@sfbg.com
THEATER The title of Matt Smith’s solo show recalls a certain long-running television soap, but the tale it flags is nutty even by the guiding light of that genre. The Seattle-based writer-performer’s All My Children, now running at the Berkeley Marsh, is the wry, offbeat first-person account of one solitary middle-aged man’s shameless construction of a family by unconventional means — namely, stalking the children of his exes.
Max Poth (an affable, dryly amusing Smith) explains he’s had six serious romantic relationships in his life. But owing to a certain reticence or immaturity on his part, none of them lasted or led to marriage, let alone children. Max has recently learned, however — after a little nostalgic trawling of the Internet — that the women he once loved all managed to marry some other dude within months of breaking up with him. More than that, they each had a child — their one and only child — within a year of leaving him.
Max is the kind of guy who takes that kind of thing personally. Intrigued, stirred, and more than likely gripped by a midlife crisis, the wiry, weathered, graying perennial bachelor seeks out these grown children one by one, and tells them he is their real father. To hear Max confess it, this pronouncement comes out the first time as the pure inspiration of the moment, an irresistible impulse. But what begins willy-nilly soon continues with premeditation, a half-examined earnestness, and an almost scientific detachment. We, his audience, listen with increasingly rapt attention, a combination of fascination, mounting horror, and nervous laughter as Max — alone on a small stage with no mise-en-scène to speak of beyond a deliberately hokey light shift or two — waxes on about his cuckoo-like experiment in brood parasitism, or fatherhood.
The beauty of the show and its sly, unadorned storytelling (handily managed by director Bret Fetzer) lies in its ability to expand beyond a one-liner premise. Max soon introduces us to six younger characters as intriguing as his own suspect self. That this droll, unpredictable yarn ends up not just a midlife ode to parenting but one with something that smacks of real truth in it can be chalked up to the delicate (im)balance in Max between seemingly psychotic tendencies, morbid humor, and a genuine urge to devote himself, at last, to others. If love is the ultimate high he seeks, for Max — and all his voluntary children — a willing weirdness is the gateway drug.
SUBURBAN MAUL
Dysfunctional parents and dysfunctional children ultimately harmonize and heal amid the silent stalking of an escaped tiger in Tigers Be Still, a sweet and competent if TV-mannered 2010 comedy from young New York City playwright Kim Rosenstock, now making a sure West Coast debut at SF Playhouse under director Amy Glazer.
After her advanced degree in art therapy leads to exactly no job offers, Sherry (Melissa Quine) moves back into her mother’s house. It’s a house that admittedly could use some therapy. Mom is a recluse who communicates by an internal phone line from upstairs (and offstage), where she battles the shame of weight gain from an unknown ailment. Sister Grace (Rebecca Schweitzer) meanwhile occupies the couch, besotted, recovering not too well from a breakup with her fiancé with the aid of a large bottle of Jack Daniels, a well-worn DVD of Top Gun, and a reckless flirtation with the geriatric postman.
But Sherry’s ostensible charge, and first client, is in fact Zack (Jeremy Kahn), the morose son of her mother’s old flame and Sherry’s new boss (Remi Sandri). Zack, it turns out, is burdened by guilt over the car accident that took his own mother’s life, and his relationship with his loving but perplexed father has accordingly attenuated. In other words, that escaped tiger outside ends up standing for a lot of people’s trauma and fear — unless of course it’s just as lost and bored and depressed as everybody else in this gentle, mildly funny, and well-acted production. Although sentimental and not quite as outrageous or acute as it would like to pretend, Tigers Be Still has some decent laughs and can charm, especially with so likeable a cast, even if it doesn’t bite.
ALL MY CHILDREN
Fri/22, 8 p.m.; Sat/23, 8:30 p.m., $20–$50
Cabaret at Marsh Berkeley
2120 Allston, Berk.
TIGERS BE STILL
Extended through Sept. 10
Tues.–Wed., 7 p.m.; Thurs.–Sat., 8 p.m. (also Sat., 3 p.m.), $30–$50
SF Playhouse
533 Sutter, SF
Rep Clock
Schedules are for Wed/20–Tues/26 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features are marked with a •. All times are p.m. unless otherwise specified.
AFRICAN AMERICAN ART AND CULTURE COMPLEX 762 Fulton, SF; (415) 922-2049. Free. Crisis in the Congo: Uncovering the Truth, Wed, 6.
BALBOA 3620 Balboa, SF; www.balboamovies.com. $7.50-20. “Opera, Ballet, and Shakespeare in Cinema:” Giselle, performed by the Royal Ballet, London, Wed, 7:30. Make Believe (Tweel, 2011), July 22-28, call for times. Idiots and Angels (Plympton, 2011), Mon-Tues, 9. With shorts and animator Bill Plympton in person.
CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $7.50-13. •Poison (Haynes, 1991), Wed, 3, 7, and Safe (Haynes, 1995), Wed, 4:35, 8:40. San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Thurs and July 23-28. Check www.sfjff.org for complete schedule and ticket info. •Wild at Heart (Lynch, 1990), Fri, 7, and Vampire’s Kiss (Bierman, 1988), Fri, 9:20.
CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $10.25. Buck (Meehl, 2011), call for dates and times. Page One (Rossi, 2011), call for dates and times. The Tree of Life (Malick, 2011), call for dates and times. The Trip (Winterbottom, 2010), call for dates and times. Road to Nowhere (Hellman, 2010), July 22-28, call for times.
“FILM NIGHT IN THE PARK” This week: Creek Park, 451 Sir Francis Drake, San Anselmo; (415) 272-2756, www.filmnight.org. Donations accepted. Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944), Fri, 8. True Grit (Coen, 2010), Sat, 8.
FOUR STAR 2200 Clement, SF; www.lntsf.com. $10. “Asian Movie Madness” •Red Cliff Part I (Woo, 2008), and Red Cliff Part II (Woo, 2009), Thurs, call for times.
JACK LONDON SQUARE 66 Franklin, Oakl; www.jacklondonsquare.com. Free. “Waterfront Flicks:” Big Night (Scott and Tucci, 1966), Thurs, sunset.
JAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER AND COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 1840 Sutter, SF; www.jetaanc.org. Free. The Five Bandits, Sun, 2.
MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; (415) 393-0100, rsvp@milibrary.org. $10. “CinemaLit Film Series: Music and Nostalgia:” The Night They Raided Minsky’s (Friedkin, 1968), Fri, 6.
PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. “Bernardo Bertolucci: In Search of Mystery:” Partner (1968), Wed, 7; Last Tango in Paris (1972), Sat, 8:10. “Japanese Divas:” Late Spring (Ozu, 1949), Thurs, 7; Early Summer (Ozu, 1951), Sun, 5. “Hands Up: Essential Skolimowski:” Deep End (1970), Fri, 7; The Shout (1978), Fri, 8:50; Identification Marks: None (1964), Sun, 7:30. “Going South: American Noir in Mexico:” The Great Flamarion (Mann, 1945), Sat, 6:30.
PARAMOUNT 2025 Broadway, Oakl; 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com. $5. Jaws (Spielberg, 1975), Fri, 8.
RED VIC 1727 Haight, SF; (415) 668-3994; www.redvicmoviehouse.com. $6-10. The Last Waltz (Scorsese, 1978), Wed, 2, 7, 9:25. Harold and Maude (Ashby, 1971), Fri-Mon, 7:15, 9:15 (also Sat-Sun, 2, 4).
ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $5-9.75. Enforcing the Silence (Nguyen, 2011), Thurs, 7. Road to Nowhere (Hellman, 2011), July 22-28, 7 (also Fri, 9:30; Sat-Sun, 2). Monte Hellman in person Fri/22. Ride in the Whirlwind (Hellman, 1965), Sat, 4:30, 9:20. The Shooting (Hellman, 1966), Sun, 4:30, 9:20. Two-Lane Blacktop (Hellman, 1971), Mon, 9:15 and July 27, 7. Cockfighter (Hellman, 1974), Tues and July 27, 9:20.
VORTEX ROOM 1082 Howard, SF; www.myspace.com/thevortexroom. $5 donation. “The United States of Vortex:” •Death Race 2000 (Bartel, 1975), Thurs, 9, and Mr. Freedom (Klein, 1969), Thurs, 11. YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; (415) 978-2787, www.ybca.org. $6-8. Pornography in Denmark (de Renzy, 1969),Thurs, 7:30.
Music Listings
WEDNESDAY 20
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Barn Owl, Sean Smith, 3 Leafs Elbo Room. 9pm, $8.
Brush Prairie, Sexy Water Spiders, Ruby Feathers Knockout. 9pm, $10.
“DAMSF” DNA Lounge. 10pm. Emerging artists’ showcase with dancers, musicians, and more.
Liturgy, Chelsea Wolfe, Common Eider King Eider, DJ Rob Metal Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
Hamilton Loomis Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $18.
Mental 99, Wesley Morgan Madrone Art Bar. 7pm, free. Every Wed. in July.
Jeremy Messersmith, Lumineers, Rin Tin Tiger Hotel Utah. 8pm, $10.
Paper City Kimo’s. 8pm, $6.
Tim Robbins and the Rogues Gallery Band Bimbo’s 365 Club. 8pm, $28.
Spyrals, VonVeederVeld, Nectarine Pie, Outlaw Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $8.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Cat’s Corner with Nathan Dias Savanna Jazz. 9pm, $10.
Cosmo Alleycats Le Colonial, 20 Cosmo, SF; www.lecolonialsf.com. 7pm.
Dink Dink Dink, Gaucho, Michael Abraham Amnesia. 7pm, free.
Jazz organ party with Graham Connah Royal Cuckoo, 3202 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30pm, free.
Ben Marcato and the Mondo Combo Top of the Mark. 7:30pm, $10.
“Outsound New Music Summit: Face Music” San Francisco Community Music Center, 544 Capp, SF; www.outsound.org. 8:15pm, $12.
“Underground Sound” Stage Werx, 533 Sutter, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. 8pm, $12. With Kurt Weill Project and Kat Downs.
DANCE CLUBS
Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita Moore hosts this dance party, featuring DJ Robot Hustle.
Buena Onda Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, free. Funk, swing, rare grooves, and more with Dr. Musco and guests.
Joe Clausell, Afrolicious DJs Public Works, 161 Erie, SF; www.publicsf.com. 10pm.
Mary Go Round, the New Generation Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 10pm, $5. Drag with Suppositori Spelling, Mercedez Munro, and Ginger Snap.
No Room For Squares Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 6-10pm, free. DJ Afrodite Shake spins jazz for happy hour.
Third Wednesdays Underground SF. 10pm-2am, $3. With Ms. Jackson, DJ Loryn, and Becky Knox spinning electro, tech, house, and breaks.
THURSDAY 21
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Big Talk with Ronnie Vannucci Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $15. Plus Popscene DJs.
Con Brio, Audiafauna Café Du Nord. 8:30pm, $13.
Dreamdate, Lotus Moons, Skystone Amnesia. 9pm, $7.
Johnny Gill with live band Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $38.
Laurie Morvan Band Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $16.
Mannequin Planet, Slave Unit, Spellbound, Scission Red Devil Lounge. 9pm, $6.
Memory Tapes, Painted Palms, Sleep Over Slim’s. 9pm, $15.
Asada Messiah, Lord Dying, Nether Regions, Pigs Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.
Naked Fiction 50 Mason Social House, 50 Mason, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 9pm, free.
Soundgarden, Mars Volta Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove, SF; www.ticketmaster.com. 7:30pm, $62.75.
Steel Hot Cakes, Olive Ewe, Inferno of Joy Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.
Superhumanoids, Easy Street, Half-handed Cloud Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
Chris Webby 330 Ritch. 8pm.
Zodiac Death Valley, Lilac, Cannons and Clouds, DJ Mikey Tashjian Independent. 8pm, $12.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Dave Parker Quartet Purple Onion, 140 Columbus, SF; (415) 956-1653. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
Dime Store Dandy Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.ritespotcafe.net. 9pm.
Gilbert Fix Trio Rose Pistola, 532 Columbus, SF; www.rosepistola.com. 8pm, free.
Organsm featuring Jim Gunderson and “Tender” Tim Shea Bollyhood Café. 6:30-9pm, free.
“Outsound New Music Summit: The Freedom of Sound” San Francisco Community Music Center, 544 Capp, SF; www.outsound.org. 8:15pm, $12.
Savanna Jazz jam Savanna Jazz. 7pm, $5.
Soul jazz party with Chris Siebert Royal Cuckoo, 3202 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30pm, free.
Stompy Jones Top of the Mark. 7:30pm, $10.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Crooked Still, Cahalen Morrison and Eli West Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $20.
Muddy Roses, Emily Bonn and the Vivants Hotel Utah. 9pm, $6.
DANCE CLUBS
Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5. Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk with DJs Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz.
Culture Corner Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; www.kokococktails.com. 10pm, free. Roots reggae, dub, rocksteady, and classic dancehall with DJ Tomas, Yusuke, Vinnie Esparza, and Basshaka and ILWF.
Double Down John Colins, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm, $5. Soul, funk, and hip-hop with DJs Guillermo, E Da Boss, and Kung Fu Chris, plus a live performance by Myron & E.
Guilty Pleasures Gestalt, 3159 16th St, SF; (415) 560-0137. 9:30pm, free. DJ TophZilla, Rob Metal, DJ Stef, and Disco-D spin punk, metal, electro-funk, and 80s.
1984 Mighty. 9pm, $2. The long-running New Wave and 80s party features video DJs Mark Andrus, Don Lynch, and celebrity guests.
Thursday Special Tralala Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 5pm, free. Downtempo, hip-hop, and freestyle beats by Dr. Musco and Unbroken Circle MCs.
Thursdays at the Cat Club Cat Club. 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm). Two dance floors bumpin’ with the best of 80s mainstream and underground with Dangerous Dan, Skip, Low Life, and guests.
Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. Salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and more with DJs Don Bustamante, Apocolypto, Sr. Saen, Santero, and Mr. E.
FRIDAY 22
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Automatic Rival, Endroit, Phantoms, Era Escape Blue Macaw, 2565 Mission, SF; www.thebluemacawsf.com. 9pm, $10.
B’z Fillmore. 8pm, $55.
Frank Bey Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.
Mike Burns Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.ritespotcafe.net. 9pm.
Earth, Angelo Spencer et Les Hauts Sommets, Whirr Slim’s. 9pm, $15.
Ben Folds, Kenton Chen Warfield. 8pm, $38.
I The Mighty, A Lot Like Birds, Case In Theory, Quiet Game Starting Now Bottom of the Hill. 8:30pm, $12.
Love is Chemicals, Mist and Mast, To The Sea Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $8.
Odd Future Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $22.
Old-Fashioned Way, Altars, Upstairs Downstairs, Honey for the Bears Café Du Nord. 9:30pm, $12.
Peeling Grey, Tongue + Teeth, DJ MIB Retox Lounge. 9pm.
Langhorne Slim, Henry Wolfe Independent. 9pm, $15.
Tainted Love, This Charming Band Bimbo’s 365 Club. 8pm, $23.
Velvet Teen, Silian Rail, Worker Bee, Not to Reason Why Great American Music Hall. 8:30pm, $13.
Nick Waterhouse and the Tarots, Allah-Las, DJ Lucky Elbo Room. 10pm, $10.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark. 9pm, $10.
Dan Heffez Trio Rose Pistola, 532 Columbus, SF; www.rosepistola.com. 8pm, free.
“Outsound New Music Summit: The Art of Composition” San Francisco Community Music Center, 544 Capp, SF; www.outsound.org. 8:15pm, $12.
Suzanna Smith Savanna Jazz. 7pm, $8.
Soul Jazz Party with Jules Broussard and Chris Siebert Royal Cuckoo, 3202 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30pm, free.
Vaughan Johnson Jazz Combo Jack’s Club, 2545 24th St., SF; (415) 641-1880. 7pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Spoonbill 50 Mason Social House, 50 Mason, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 9pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Afro Bao Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.
Baxtalo Drom Amnesia. 9pm, $7-10. Gypsy punk and belly dance.
DJ Cam Yoshi’s San Francisco. 10:30pm, $20.
Doc Martin, Garth, Nikola Baytala, Galen, Bo, Rouzbeh Public Works, 161 Erie, SF; www.publicsf.com. 10pm.
Duniya Dancehall Blue Macaw, 2565 Mission, SF; (415) 920-0577. 10pm, $10. With live performances by Duniya Drum and Dance Co. and DJs dub Snakr and Juan Data spinning bhangra, bollywood, dancehall, African, and more.
Dillon Francis, Adam F., Ototoxik, Manics, Ultraknock Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $13-16.
Greasetrap Underground SF. 10pm. DJs Cutso, Doc Fu, and Mr. Lucky spin ghettotech, booty bass, and more.
Hubba Hubba Revue: That Old Time Religion DNA Lounge. 9pm, $10-15. Bible-thumpin’ bump n’ grind.
Soul Rebel Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; www.kokococktails.com. 10pm, free. Reggae, punk, 2tone, oi, and more with Dougie, Tim, and Tomas.
Vintage Orson, 508 Fourth St, SF; (415) 777-1508. 5:30-11pm, free. DJ TophOne and guest spin jazzy beats for cocktalians.
SATURDAY 23
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Ambrosia Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $30.
Audiodub, Sean Tabor Band, Starving Millionaires Independent. 9pm, $15.
Alvarius B, Porest, Cave Bears Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $12.
Alan Choy and Dingle 50 Mason Social House, 50 Mason, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 9pm, free.
Ferocious Few, Rad Cloud, Indianna Hale Amnesia. 9pm, $10.
Hallflowers Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.ritespotcafe.net. 9pm.
Mister Loveless, Books On Tape, Stripmall Architecture Bottom of the Hill. 10pm, $10.
Nothington, Build Us Airplanes, Semi Evolved Simians, Why I Hate Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.
Socialists Party, Yes Gos Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.
Tainted Love, This Charming Band Bimbo’s 365 Club. 8pm, $23.
Uncle Rebel, Soft White Sixties, Hypnotist Collectors Slim’s. 8:30pm, $14.
Wallpaper, Hood Internet Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $19.
Zoo Station: The Complete U2 Experience, Lovefool: The Quintessential 90s Party Band Café Du Nord. 9pm, $15.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Dee Dee Bridgewater Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $25-30.
Eddie Duran Duo Rose Pistola, 532 Columbus, SF; www.rosepistola.com. 8pm, free.
Escalay Seventh Avenue Performances, 1329 Seventh Ave, SF; www.sevenperforms.org. 7:30pm, $15-20.
Gina Harris and Mark Jordan Savanna Jazz. 7pm, $10.
Jazz Organ Party with Graham Connah Royal Cuckoo, 3202 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30pm, free.
Lisa Mezzacappa’s Bait and Switch Red Poppy Art House. 9pm, $10-12.
“Outsound New Music Summit: Sonic Foundry Too!” San Francisco Community Music Center, 544 Capp, SF; www.outsound.org. 8:15pm, $12.
Sunday jazz jam 50 Mason Social House, 50 Mason, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 9pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Hafez Modirzadeh and Ethel Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. 8pm, $25.
Maurice Tani, Jenn Courtney, 77 El Deora St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church, 2097 Turk, SF; www.noevalleymusicseries.com. 8pm, $13-15.
DANCE CLUBS
Afro Bao Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.
Bootie SF: Mysterious D’s Birthday DNA Lounge. 9pm, $8-15. Mash-ups with a special birthday set by resident DJ Mysterious D.
Fog & Laser #2 Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $7-10. With DJs EmDee and RamblinWorker, plus an electro set by Little Wings.
4OneFunktion Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-10. Hip-hop and funk DJs.
Go Bang! Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin, SF; www.gobangsf.com. 9pm, $5. Atomic dance floor disco action with DJs Pat Les Stache, Mykill, Kuze, Steve Fabus, and Sergio.
SUNDAY 24
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Cody Canada and the Departed Slim’s. 8pm, $15.
Coathangers, Swann Danger, Morning Crazies Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.
Cults Redwood Room and Velvet Room, Clift Hotel, 495 Geary, SF; cliftsessions@morganshotelgroup.com. 9pm, free (RSVP required).
Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three, Swamp Noir Amnesia. 9pm, $7-10.
Emily Wells, Blank Tapes Café Du Nord. 8pm, $10.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Dee Dee Bridgewater Yoshi’s San Francisco. 5 and 7pm, $5-25.
Jazz organ party with Lavay Smith and Chris Siebert Royal Cuckoo, 3202 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30pm, free.
Little Brown Brother Jazz and Blues Jam Savanna Jazz. 7pm, $5.
Rob Evans Trio Rose Pistola, 532 Columbus, SF; www.rosepistola.com. 8pm, free.
Sherri Roberts, David Udolf, Chris Amberger Bliss Bar, 4026 24th St, SF; www.blissbarsf.com. 4:30pm, $10.
San Francisco Symphony Sigmund Stern Grove, 19th Ave at Sloat, SF; www.sterngrove.org. 2pm, free.
Sunday jazz jam 50 Mason Social House, 50 Mason, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 9pm, free.
Tom Lander Duo Medjool, 2522 Mission, SF; www.medjoolsf.com. 6-9pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Batcave Cat Club. 10pm, $5. Death rock, goth, and post-punk with Steeplerot Necromos and c_death.
Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall with DJ Sep, J Boogie, and guest Dub Snakkr.
Jock Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 3pm, $2. Raise money for LGBT sports teams while enjoying DJs and drink specials.
La Pachanga Blue Macaw, 2565 Mission, SF; www.thebluemacawsf.com. 6pm, $10. Salsa dance party with live Afro-Cuban salsa bands.
MONDAY 25
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Zachary Cale, Fort King, Cabinet of Curiosities Knockout. 9pm, $7.
Cold Cave, Austra, Prurient Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $16.
Fucked Up Independent. 9pm, $15.
Iceage, Cult of Youth, DJ Omar Elbo Room. 9pm, $12.
Project Film, Moonbell, Horsefly Kimo’s. 8pm.
Ana Popovic Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $22.
DANCE CLUBS
Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with Joe Radio, Decay, and Melting Girl.
M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. DJs Timoteo Gigante, Gordo Cabeza, and Chris Phlek playing all Motown every Monday.
Sausage Party Rosamunde Sausage Grill, 2832 Mission, SF; (415) 970-9015. 6:30-9:30pm, free. DJ Dandy Dixon spins vintage rock, R&B, global beats, funk, and disco at this happy hour sausage-shack gig.
TUESDAY 26
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Sharif Ali and the Radical Folksonomy Kimo’s. 8pm, $6.
Bombino, Magic Leaves Slim’s. 8pm, $25.
Faye Carol Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $10-20.
Ghost Animals, Kids on a Crime Spree, Permanent Collection Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.
Iceage Amoeba, 1855 Haight, SF; www.amoeba.com. 6pm, free.
Thurston Moore, Kurt Vile, Hush Arbors Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $22.
Sheens, Sad Bastard Book Club, Cryptics Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $8.
Tidelands, Debbie Neigher, Blue Rabbit Café Du Nord. 8pm, $10.
Yuck, Unknown Mortal Orchestra Independent. 8pm, $15.
Music listings are compiled by Cheryl Eddy. Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks.