After watching Mayor Ed Lee and his appointees subvert the launch of CleanPowerSF and support PG&E’s illegal monopoly control of local energy users — and PG&E’s regular attempts to greenwash its dirty power portfolio — artist Michael Ortlieb developed and submitted this editorial cartoon. Enjoy.
Energy
Hail, Luther
The music has changed. It’s OK! The music is great. Let me tell you about Luther.
Since about 2005 — with the rise of the iPod, the laptop DJ, and then the vinyl resurgence — there’s been an electrifyingly diverse homosexual dance music scene. A not-so-underground-anymore network of adventurous queer jockeys rings the globe, slicing bleeding edge techno through juicy throwback electro-funk, trancey melodic house, and uncanny contemporary disco.
But for most outside this scene, the stereotype of “gay house” persists: tacky, relentlessly pounding, veering from diva shreik to carnival whoosh in the twink of an shirtless eye. (Hilariously, we’re actually so far from that sound right now that it’s come into post-ironic vogue. Let’s get soaking wet!)
The leather scene took a minute to glom onto the new possibilities of an expanded, sexier sound. But now it’s at the forefront: Folsom Street Fair (Sun/29, www.folsomstreetfair.org) is now a major music festival, with an electro-pop focus. This year, dark duo Light Asylum, aching house nostalgists Hercules and Love Affair, Berlin technoist Boris, Aussie dream-pop quartet Miami Horror, and classic house collagist Mark Moore of S’Express headline the fair amid all the floggings.
Filthy leather parties themselves are also sounding up: a couple of years ago, the mysterious entity known as Luther (www.thisisluther.com) began appearing at major North American fetish gatherings, its multiple members’ identities obscured behind leather facemasks, bobbing in crisp, monochromatic uniforms behind the decks, like a ball-gagged Kraftwerk. The music is hard in an intelligent way: recent mix “Fist Putin” starts with a rework of Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and then slams through any number of spank-ready microgenres. Zip up your hip boots and hear for yourself with a new generation of nasty kids at the Luther Shreds Folsom party: Sat/28, 10pm-4am, $15. 1192 Folsom, SF.
D-WYNN + STACEY HOTWAXX HALE
Two absolute legends from Detroit: D-Wynn, known for his work as R-Tyme, helped invent the deep-funk techno sound, while Stacey’s slamming house energy hits all the sweet spots. They’re at the excellent Housepitality weekly.
Wed/25, 9pm, free before 11pm with RSVP at www.housepitalitysf.com), $10 after. 1192 Folsom, SF. www.facebook.com/housepitalitysf
CUB CAMP
In the annals of gay sling-slang, I guess “cub” now means aspirationally gorgeous muscled young bio-boy with a beard — at least in Toronto, where this cute little undergroundish shindig originated. I miss chubby and awkward and shy, but I’ll take it! With DJ Scooter, Taco Tuesday, and the awesome A Bearded Boy.
Thu/26, 9pm, $5. Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF. Facebook: Cub Camp San Francisco
INDIAN SUMMER BLOCK PARTY
Um, holy crap. Twelve hours of outdoor dancing bliss from the Public Works, As You Like It, and Sunset crews — and here’s the lineup: Speedy J, Tiger and Woods, Henrik Schwartz, Midland, Woolfy, and a ton more stunners.
Sat/28, 2pm-2am, $25 advance. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com
INFAMOUS FOLSOM UNIFORM PARTY
Hot queer grrrl attack! Somebody call the cops … and the firewomen …also, a cowgirl and a road worker would probably do quite nicely. OK this night is more of the hot-hot leather and fetish variety of uniform, but whatever floats your kink boat. The Lexington Club’s 10th annual dress-up night is coming hard upon us, with DJs Jenna Riot and Rapidfire, the House of Babes dancers, and gallons of tequila.
Sat/28, 9pm, free. Lexington Club, 3464 19th St, SF. www.lexingtonclub.com
RAIME
Incredible, deviously dark duo from the UK seeks to “re-establish electronic composition as a physical and emotionally inquisitive force.” Their quest includes hallucinatory grooves and mounting an effects-laden wower of an audiovisual experience that’s earned Raime raves. Let’s have a black celebration.
Sat/28, 10pm, $15. Balancoire, 2565 Mission, SF. www.tinyurl.com/raimesf
DEVIANTS ADULT ARCADE
A Folsom Street Fair party that actually starts within the fair itself (a pervert pop-up!) and takes over two neighboring clubs and a huge outdoor space. Oh yes, the infamous hip-kinky Deviants party is back and whippier than ever. Hard-driving Russian DJ Boris (don’t boycott, he’s a homophile!) headlines, with Matrixxman, Olga T., Aaron Clark, and the Hard French soul and Honey Soundsystem techno crews. Hot slots await.
Sun/29, 4:30pm-2am, $25–$35. 314 11th St., SF. deviants.eventbrite.com
Bright future
arts@sfbg.com
DANCE It’s still early in the new season, yet two programs this past weekend offered worthwhile perspectives on new dance. “New” in this case doesn’t necessarily indicate right out of the oven, but the pieces were novel to these eyes, and more importantly, they looked fresh and left behind a pleasant aftertaste.
Every year Dance Mission Theater schedules two first-come, first-serve choreographer showcases, one in the fall, the other in the spring. Rarely have these evenings been a complete washout. Sure, you get the occasional novice who yet has to find a way to navigate the space (this time, that spot belonged to Erica Pinigis’ A Small and Rapid Sorrow). In the only other single-dancer piece, Todd Eckert’s hermetic Sole Soul felt like it was channeling someone being imprisoned without any possibility of escape.
The evening started on a ghostly note and ended with a paean to percussive feet. Megan Finlay’s Blood will have Blood looked suspiciously as if it were inspired by Macbeth, in the way that the man of the house was repeatedly attacked by something that nobody else could see. The piece, though a little thin, had a good sense for building suspense, starting on a comedic note but quickly becoming sinister.
Una Fusion de Percusiones’ snappy and friendly competition between Vanessa Sanchez and Arturo Flores delighted with its sense of freedom and discipline. While Flores mainly stuck to Mexican-flavored heel work, Sanchez spiced hers up with jazz and tap.
San Mateo’s Monsoon Dance Company brought a group of pre-teen girls in an exceedingly simple but enthusiastically performed Deva Ganesha, a Bollywood-style homage to the pot-bellied Indian god. Natasha Carlitz and Erika Tingey, all in white, wove their trajectories through pathways delineated by white balloons. If there was a subtext, as Subtext implied, it escaped me.
A trio of Afro-Caribbean dancers — Adonis Damian, Jose Carlos Alarcon, and Delvis Savigne Frinon — excelled in Reggaeton Fusion’s mostly unison choreography that benefited from these fine dancers’ skill, energy, and collaboration. They returned later in Ramón Ramos Alayo’s Untitled, which might have been a preview excerpt of a new piece Alayo will premiere in November. Set very closely to a lushly romantic orchestra score, the work featured dancers who kept the choreography aloft.
ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
You can’t blame choreographer Gregory Dawson for calling his newly minted hour-long septet fabbrica materasso d’argento. It is a lot more euphonious, and mysterious, than “silver mattress factory,” which refers to the metallically painted walls of Zaccho Dance Theater’s home, a former Serta manufacturing facility.
Though badly in need of better seating facilities, the space is becoming popular as a performance venue. But it has never looked better than in Dawson’s intelligent and spacious choreography, bathed in Patrick Toebe’s bluish lighting design that highlighted the performers one minute before swallowing them up the next.
Dawson, a former member of Alonzo King Lines Ballet, decamps for Italy — he is also a mosaic artist — for extended periods of time. For a choreographer, fabbrica is a major achievement, mesmerizing, puzzling yet ultimately convincing. Of course, he carries within him much of what he learned during his 18-year tenure with King. But he made the fractured lines, the fierce attacks, and the collage approach his own.
There are moments when you began to wonder where what looked like independent units were going, besides showcasing excellent dancers at their best. But in the end the pieces came together. It felt like a veil had been yanked away and, all of a sudden, you clearly saw what had been a journey for these six dancers after all. The exception was Jeffrey Van Sciver, who after an astoundingly virtuosic yet silken solo, performed in a diaphanous white skirt that beautifully set off his dark skin, simply disappeared. Why? Was his presence a guiding force no longer needed? Dramaturgically, this seemed weak.
Dawson brilliantly balanced the vigorous, individualized center-space dancing with a haunting pictorial quality, in which the performers devolved into black silhouettes against the silver coated black wall. Moving friezes, they melted away.
Alton San Giovanni’s tempestuous score excellently supported the choreography. The dancers: Jordan Drew, Oliver Shock, Ilaria Guerra, Christopher DeVita, Jessica Wagner, Isaiah Bindel, and, of course, Van Sciver — who next month is starting his first season with Lines Ballet — performed at the top of their impressive abilities. I want to see them again. *
LAFCo should launch CleanPowerSF
OPINION Last month, the Mayor’s Office and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) — largely at the mayor’s behest — refused to launch CleanPowerSF, a program which is absolutely crucial to leading the country and the world to reverse the climate crisis (see “Power struggle,” Sept. 18).
The Board of Supervisors must now use its state-granted authority to activate San Francisco’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to launch CleanPowerSF, regardless of SFPUC.
CleanPowerSF plans currently waiting to be implemented would create 1,500 jobs a year for the next 10 years, and install over 400 megawatts of local clean electricity projects. By 2024, 50 percent of our electricity would be generated by such local clean installations.
The newest proposed rates for CleanPowerSF are now fully competitive with PG&E, and the SFPUC’s staff (before the mayor intervened) was making unprecedented progress on the local clean energy installation plans. So at the SFPUC’s Aug. 13 hearing on CleanPowerSF rate-setting, community and environmental advocates stood unanimously to urge that the program be launched.
For the mayor and SFPUC of what is supposed to be one of the most environmental cities on Earth to completely ignore those community advocates, and throw a monkey wrench into the launching of CleanPowerSF, is simply beyond the pale.
Thankfully, in its wisdom, when the 2002 California Legislature passed the Community Choice law that made CleanPowerSF possible, it put city councils and county boards legally in charge of such programs (not mayors).
So is not up to the Mayor’s Office whether or not CleanPowerSF is launched. It is instead the job of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. And in a resounding 9-2 vote on Sept. 17, the Board of Supervisors raked the SFPUC (and by extension, the mayor) over the coals for not initiating CleanPowerSF. The vote was in favor of Sup. London Breed’s resolution demanding that the SFPUC obey the will of the board and launch CleanPowerSF immediately.
That’s a great first step, but the board now needs to go beyond resolutions and take decisive action through LAFCo, its most powerful tool for moving CleanPowerSF. LAFCo is independent of city government, is funded and tasked to oversee new enterprise programs like CleanPowerSF, and four of its five members are elected supervisors.
This independent supermajority can check mayoral overreach, and the LAFCo’s current board commissioners are John Avalos, David Campos, Eric Mar, and London Breed, all advocates of CleanPowerSF.
LAFCo was specifically given the budget and authority to act on CleanPowerSF when SFPUC fails to do so, and has already done this successfully in the past. When CleanPowerSF was first created in 2004, SFPUC refused to draft an implementation plan. In response, LAFCo stepped in with its own implementation plan and SFPUC, not wanting to lose influence, got back to work.
In 2011, SFPUC tried to sidetrack CleanPowerSF into only purchasing (but not building) clean power, refusing to fund planning work to establish a local installation and green jobs program. LAFCO stepped in to fund that work itself, and again SFPUC came back to the fold and hired Community Choice experts Local Power to do the work.
Now, yet again, SFPUC is refusing to do its job. Six months ago, it abruptly halted work on the local buildout and green jobs plan, and last month SFPUC put the whole program on hold by not setting rates.
LAFCo must now use its authority and leverage to both remove the rate-setting road block, and get the CleanPowerSF local buildout planning back on track. Eric Brooks is the sustainability chair of the San Francisco Green Party.
Alerts: September 25 – October 2, 2013
WEDNESDAY 25
Radical archiving and cataloging as social history 518 Valencia, SF. 518valencia.org. The Shaping San Francisco public talks series continues with a discussion defining a “radical archive,” exploring the role that nontraditional archives play in the interpretation and preservation of peoples’ history, the role of ordinary people in the preservation of these archives and more. Joining the discussion will be Lincoln Cushing of Docs Populi, as well as Claude Marks and Nathaniel Moore, both of the Freedom Archives.
Solar Energy Panel Discussion David Brower Center, 2150 Allston, Berk. https://solarenlightenment.eventbrite.com. 6-9pm, free. Andreas Karelas, the Executive Director of Revolv, and Jackson Koeppel of Soulardarity will lead a panel discussion on the use of solar energy and how it works. They will also attempt to clear up a few common misconceptions about solar power. Doors open at 5:30pm. Those who can’t attend can tune in on Ustream.
THURSDAY 26
Press up! El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF. 6pm, donations $25 and up. tinyurl.com/sfpmccontribute. An independent press is crucial. Join Tim Redmond, former editor-publisher of the Bay Guardian, as he launches the nonprofit San Francisco Progressive Media Center, dedicated to publishing a new online news source and keeping local journalism alive and independent of corporate, non-local interests. Co-hosts include Tom Ammiano, David Campos, Alicia Garza, Giuliana Milanese and Gabriel Haaland.
Syria: Secrets and lies Unitarian Universalist Center, 1187 Franklin, SF. sanfranpda@aol.com. 7-9pm, free. Dr. Steven Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco and Middle Eastern studies program chair, will examine whether the US is about to go to war again on unverifiable or perhaps false pretexts; why the Administration is so committed to this conflict, and how can we understand the actual facts behind the recently documented atrocities in Syria. Sponsored by the Progressive Democrats of American and Unitarian Universalists for Peace, SF.
SATURDAY 28 14th Annual World Veg Festival San Francisco County Fair Building, Lincoln & Ninth, Golden Gate Park, SF. http://worldvegfestival.com. 10am-6:30pm, $10 suggested donation. This festival will feature cooking demonstrations, speakers and live entertainment, including an eco-fashion show. Visitors will have the opportunity to sample and purchase vegetarian cuisine. The event is presented by the SF Vegetarian Society and sponsored by Varnashram, In Defense of Animals and Friends of Animals. An organic vegan dinner will be available each night for $26; sign up online.
SATURDAY 29 Grito De Lares Celebration Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission, SF. tinyurl.com/larescelebration. 4:30-7 p.m., free. Celebrate Grito De Lares, a holiday commemorating the birth of Puerto Rico as a nation, at the MCCLA on Sunday. 145 years ago this past Sept. 23, Puerto Rican revolutionaries entered the town of Lares to proclaim the birth of the Puerto Rican nation. At the bilingual event there will be a commemoration of the revolution, a discussion panel and a poetry reading in addition to Puerto Rican food and music.
Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week
This week, two sparkly dark singer-songwriters you should already know and love will return to SF on separate voyages: Zola Jesus (Thu/26 at Palace of Fine Arts) and Chelsea Wolfe (OK, technically she’s here next Monday). If only Grimes* were dropping by in these next seven to eight days, we’d have a triumvirate of goths-who-wow-now.
But beyond the Zola Jesus/Chelsea Wolfe lovefest, there’s also a totally free (with RSVP and soul-offering) Nick Waterhouse show, plus Islands, Double Duchess with Magic Mouth, Teenage Bottlerocket with the Queers, British teen folk-rocker Jake Bugg, and more!
*It appears Grimes is mostly popping up in Europe and Mexico this season, alas.
Here are your must-see shows:
Islands
After the fall of cult lo-fi indie project the Unicorns came the continuation of that sound in the band Islands, formed in the mid-aughts. Both were the creation of prolific, Twitter-friendly singer-guitarist Nick Thorburn. But that’s all ancient history by now. Islands just released fifth album Ski Mask on Manque Music, another step in Thorburn’s sonic evolution. In a recent interview, Thorburn described the record as “A little harder, a little deeper, a little faster and a little darker.” In a recent Tweet, Thorburn lamented, “The moms has perfected the art of ‘brunch drunk,’” and listed his favorite Baldwins in descending order.
Tue/24, 9pm, $18
Chapel
777 Valencia, SF
www.thechapelsf.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWVFrLvpvzg
Double Duchess
The best bet for your Wednesday night is a nervy all-night dance party with “high energy indie electro-hop” duo Double Duchess (Krylon Superstar and davO), soulful Portland rockers Magic Mouth — whose influences include THEESatisfaction, Gossip, and Erykah Badu — and Seattle electro-poppers Glitterbang. Go bang!
Wed/25, 8pm, $8
El Rio
3158 Mission, SF
www.elriosf.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awPpHIoCC3E
Zola Jesus
Darkly operatic singer-songwriter Zola Jesus is always a compelling force live, but this should be an extra-special showing. Not only is the Russian-American musician performing at the Palace of Fine Arts, but she’s bringing legendary Australian composer J.G. Thirwell (aka Foetus) and a string quartet. It’s the live incarnation of her most recent album, Versions, which is a collection of her songs arranged for a quartet by Thirwell, a departure for Jesus, who usually works in the synths and keyboards realm. The intensity of the strings live matched to Jesus’ striking, goth Kate Bushian vocals will likely make for a night of passionate high highs and moody, tearful lows (fans were actually moved to tears at the New York appearance).
Thu/26, 8pm, $25
Palace of Fine Arts
3301 Lyon, SF
www.palaceoffinearts.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV9O17Fy7Wk
Nick Waterhouse
Rooky Ricardo’s-bred revivalist rock‘n’roller Nick Waterhouse is traveling back through the city from which he launched his solo musical career tonight. (The early rhythm & blues besotted singer-guitarist moved back down to Southern California a few years back.) And the bespectacled former SF-er will be joined on stage by currently local rockers Cool Ghouls. The whole thing is free as it’s one of those promotional events — this time for Vans — which means you must RSVP, and get there early to ensure entry. But hey, free show plus merch (stickers for our binders? One can hope!)
Fri/27, 8pm, free with RSVP at vans.com/RSVP
Slim’s
333 11th St, SF
www.slimspresents.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJruQmdlU10
Teenage Bottlerocket and the Queers
“Joey Ramone? Dead. Dee Dee Ramone? Definitely dead. Johnny Ramone? So dead. Pop-punk that takes more than a couple pages out of the Ramones’ catchy, three-chord song book? Not so dead. That being said, most of the guys from the Ramones are dead, but its musical style lives on in many bands today such as pop-punk mainstays Teenage Bottlerocket and the Queers. Co-headlining a show at Bottom of the Hill, both bands have a lengthy catalog of snotty pop-punk anthems and cheesy love songs that are undeniably catchy. Also on the bill are Midwest pop-punks the Copyrights, who released an album of rarities and b-sides called Shit’s Fucked on It’s Alive Records earlier this year.” — Erin Dage
Sat/28, 9:30pm, $15
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th St, SF
www.bottomofthehill.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtGIVp91Zyg
Jake Bugg
“The year 2012 was a big one for Jake Bugg. At age 18, he could finally vote, enlist in the army, buy things over the telephone…and he had the No. 1 album in the UK. The Nottingham native has been writing songs on his acoustic guitar since age 12. Now, at the ripe old age of 19, Bugg is working on another album and is coming across the pond to share his thoughtful, catchy folk tunes with the colonies. Bugg has been called a new Bob Dylan, which may be a bit of a stretch (there can only be one) but the fact that the comparison has been made at all speaks volumes about his extraordinary talent. Plus, he’s feuding with One Direction. Two thumbs up.” — Haley Zaremba
With honeyhoney
Sun/29, 8pm, $15
Fillmore
1805 Geary, SF
(415) 346-6000
www.thefillmore.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY0oPg1h8fQ
Chelsea Wolfe
There’s always been this animalistic thread woven throughout Chelsea Wolfe’s output, and Pain is Beauty is no exception. (Indeed, Wolfe described her newest LP as a “love-letter to nature.”) The LA-via-Sacramento artist’s powerful soprano hollers are matched to ethereal whispery echoes, maintaining a balance between lightness and darkness. Her previous release, 2012’s Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs, was, obviously, acoustic, but the sparse record is still deeply unsettling. With Pain is Beauty, the singer-songwriter returns to a darker, grittier sound. And yet, there’s a more electronic twist on her early doomy experimental guitarwork (as with breakout 2011 record Apokalypsis), bursting with both synths and strings this time, without missing the black-hearted emotional core rooted in all living things.
Mon/30, 8pm, $15
Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell, SF
www.slimspresents.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGCsZ0X9_8c
Is Art Torres helping PG&E, helping his son’s political career, or both?
As I’ve been reporting on how CleanPowerSF is being blocked by Mayor Ed Lee and his political appointees on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, one piece of the puzzle that I couldn’t quite figure out was why SFPUC President Art Torres took the position he did, offering little public explanation for his stance.
“His opposition to the rate vote was strange because he didn’t give clear reasons,” Eric Brooks, who has been led the grassroots campaign in support of CleanPowerSF, told us. Torres also hasn’t returned Guardian calls on the issue, and he refused a formal request from Sup. John Avalos to explain his position.
As a former state senator and longtime former chair of the California Democratic Party, Torres certainly has connections to Pacific Gas & Electric and the array of politicians that support it, include Willie Brown. But that just didn’t seem like enough for a senior statesman with a decent environmental record to sabotage San Francisco’s only plan for building renewable energy projects.
But some of my political sources have clued me into another possible motive, and it seems to make sense. Art Torres’ son is Joaquin Torres, who works in the Mayor’s Office and who Lee in February appointed to the Housing Commission, where Torres now serves as president.
And here’s the kicker: those sources also say that Joaquin Torres has already started running for the District 9 seat on the Board of Supervisors, which is now held by Sup. David Campos, who is running for Tom Ammiano’s seat in the California Assembly. And if Campos wins that race next year, Mayor Lee will get to fill it, possibly naming Torres to one of the most progressive seats in the city.
So dad gets to score political points with some powerful friends, and help launch his son’s political career in the process. These motives are beginning to add up.
Joaquin Torres is now deputy director of the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, “where he leads Mayor Lee’s Invest In Neighborhoods Initiative to leverage City resources across city departments to maximize positive economic and social impact in low-moderate income neighborhoods and throughout San Francisco’s commercial corridors,” the Mayor’s Office wrote in February when Torres got appointed to the Housing Commission.
Sounds like the perfect job for someone being groomed for the Board of Supervisors, where he could have a serious impact on this city’s political dynamic, tipping policies in the neoliberal to moderate direction of expanding corporate welfare programs and speeding up gentrification.
Neither Torres has returned our calls, but I’ll update this post when and if they do. And while this is clearly just political speculation and conjecture, I have a feeling that I’m onto something here. So remember where you read it first.
Mexican summer
arts@sfbg.com
MUSIC There was no reason for me to be awake at 7:31am, since I’d flown into Mexico City the day before. Losing two hours of sleep from the time change left me dazed. Exactly 10 minutes later my hotel room started to shake. I sat up, alarmed, and assessed the commotion I heard in the hallway before I realized I was experiencing a 6.2 earthquake from the fifth floor. I clicked on the TV and saw structured evacuations of buildings that could have easily been near me. I wondered if I should be doing the same, but the shaking stopped. It was like my welcoming jolt — “Get ready, you’re with us now. You do what we do.”
I’d trekked to this monster of a city before, but only spent three days last time. I loved it on a touristy level and knew I wanted more, so I planned a return this summer. Coincidentally, SF’s Alcoholocaust Presents (which books punk shows) had Los Headaches and Los Vincent Black Shadows slated for some Bay Area appearances shortly before my trip, as part of both Mexico City bands’ West Coast summer tour. Intrigued, I spent two consecutive nights at the Hemlock Tavern checking out the bands, which were bouncing off the walls with energy (even when the musicians weren’t playing). Bob Log III and the Okmoniks headlined to a hot and crowded club the second night.
I bought Los Headaches’ CD, Never Ending Hunger, the night before from Twist!, the bassist [Ed. note: All last names are omitted to protect the band members from immigration]. At the time I didn’t realize he’s really not a member of the band (I figured they had interchangeable members since he is in Los Vincent Black Shadows) and that US Immigration, some weed in a guitar case, and those pesky work visas had marred the tour plans of two Headaches; granting them deportations and a five-year ban on US entry. Alcoholocaust would put me in touch with Twist! He’d be my point of contact for a week of strangers showing me kindness, sharing music, and letting me in on parts of the city I may have not otherwise seen.
“IT’S LIKE JEEEZ“
“Ever had Mezcal?” Twist! asked. I’d been off the sauce for nine months, but before I arrived an itinerary email suggested plans to infiltrate an invite-only VICE party (where the Growlers played), record shopping (my request), seeing some venues where local bands play or a house show (ultimately my goal), and the problematic hint of grabbing some beers.
We ate a salmon and caper pizza and I was introduced to chimichurri at a restaurant in the trendy Condesa neighborhood. His wife and 5-month-old joined, along with Carlos (one of the deported Headaches). Everyone but me had a beer. “Yes,” I answered. “What about pulque?” he retorted. The concoction of fermented agave sap evaded me on my previous trip. In the spirit of trying new things and rather than be a slave to any rules about substance (yet cautious not to be enslaved by the bottle), I decided the next day to alleviate my anxiety and imbibed.
“It’s like Jeeez” Fosi said, joking about the drink’s suspect consistency in a thick accent. (They told me they don’t normally speak English, but since my Spanish is limited they made an exception). He’s the other deported Headache, a guitarist who faced tough questioning and an invasive search from immigration officers who threatened him with up to 20 years in jail if he didn’t adequately cooperate. One mango, one pistachio: down the hatch. Both were delicious and I had no regrets, body buzz and all.
Hell bent on finding an in to the VICE party, a barrage of texts and phone calls flew across the table. Pepe (Twist!’s brother and Los Headaches’ drummer) met us at the bar. I envisioned the lost home video mentioned of the two brothers taking turns throwing themselves into a drum set, honing their Nirvana impersonations as kids.
Their conversations lapsed into Spanish as another stressful development arose when a band showcase they organized at the last minute for Friday night was suddenly jeopardized by greed (the person who was going to lend the art space was now asking $300. It wasn’t clear to me if that meant pesos or US dollars). For a moment my stomach sank and I thought there might be a shakedown, but a house was secured. They’d throw a party, free of charge.
Despite the free hors d’oeuvres and Dos Equis we stumbled upon at a Volcom party for a new shoe line, it probably paled compared to any exclusive party. I passed on the Growlers (a few of the band members snuck in) since Friday’s showcase would be the main event.
“THIS IS ALL FOR YOU, MAN”
Nico called my name to join him for a walk to the liquor store. Bleached-blond with shades, there’s no way he’s not in a band. He plays guitar and sings (they all sing) and was the final Headache I met in Mexico City. He described the common response from girls when they ask what he does and he tells them he plays rock’n’roll: they’re not interested. I said freelance music writing doesn’t pay well either. “We are losers,” he joked.
They don’t often get paid to play, but the determination to simply do what they love with their lives seemed to be the core of their existence. The showcase came together in a series of sweaty, passionate, punk-rock performances. Grandma Boys, Suca Suca, and Los Reverse demonstrated spirited, supportive roles for the aforementioned bands.
“This is for you. This is all for you, man,” Twist! said, almost staring through me with intensity. Party mode had climaxed, but the profundity of what transpired didn’t sink in until later. The day before I left, Fosi asked, “Did you get what you came for?” I told him “And then some.” Humbled, lucid, and feeling alive, I left fulfilled. My reward is that I remember everything.
The Performant: Vancouver Fringe-mania
Well, it’s been another fringe-ferrific whirlwind here at the Vancouver Fringe, but like all good things, it too has come to an end. The Boulder Fringe is still poised to begin this afternoon despite the flooding, but the East to West Coast circuit is now complete, and many career-fringe artists headed home, wherever that may be, to count their successes and tally their losses (often both).
For Naked Empire Bouffon Company the rewards of its five-week tour appear to be both tangible (a Critic’s Choice nomination and a “Talk of the Fringe” award in Vancouver, quotable reviews, and some modest profit), and ephemeral (connecting with other Fringe artists, experiencing new frontiers of audience reaction, generating excitement and controversy). But it’s been a lot of work to get that: months of rehearsal time, many long days of flyering in costume, hustling for audience and some small portion of recognition. But it’s the shows themselves that Fringe artists and audiences come together to experience, and it’s the shows that will hopefully stay with us long after the bone-wearying nature of the hustle fades from memory. Here’s a shortlist of some of the stand-outs from my second week at the Vancouver Fringe. Catch them elsewhere if you can.
Preacher Man Jesse LaVercombe’s solo show only lasts 25 minutes, and he’s confined to a chair the entire time, but there’s nothing static about his character Marcus, a convicted killer awaiting execution. “Do you know what it’s like to live a fulfilled life?” he taunts the oddience knowingly. “Probably not, because if you were living a fulfilled life you probably wouldn’t be attending funerals.” As his story unfolds, it’s a sad one of abuse and befuddlement, but Marcus still manages somehow to convince us he’s the happiest man in the room. LaVercombe also played an equally intense though much less “fulfilled” killer in the full-length Model Wanted, by Step Taylor, but it’s the charismatic Marcus who will haunt me for longer.
Eyes of the Enemy Speaking of haunting, this unsettling show gives its viewers what basically amounts to a crash course in “enhanced interrogation techniques” including stress positions, sleep deprivation, fingernail-removal, psychological manipulation, and finally waterboarding, as Chris W. Cook relentlessly torments Evan Hall, attempting, he claims, to stop a terrorist attack. Cook and Hall literally don’t pull punches in this harrowing reenactment of the grim realities of modern-day “information gathering,” and the message that this sort of treatment is not atypical is one that can’t be ignored.
6 Guitars Florida-native Chase Padgett looks like any ordinary guy with a guitar until he begins to seamlessly switch between six different musical styles — and the musicians who play them. There’s Tyrone, the bluesman who once tried to follow the Blind Lemon Jefferson formula by renaming himself Syphilis Mango Taft, and Wes the effete jazz player who states we probably don’t understand his music before grudgingly admitting that the best listeners of jazz can be those who don’t speak its language. Some of his characters are better developed than others, but it’s Padgett’s guitar playing that really stands out, connecting each disparate character and genre into a cohesive musical experience.
Threads Portland, Ore.’s Tonya Jone Miller reenacts the fall of Saigon with just a pair of suitcases and the power of her performance to convince us. She primarily portrays her mother, who traveled to Vietnam as an English teacher during a period of time when most Americans were trying to stay away far from it, as well as a slew of supporting characters who are part of her story — her students, her love interest, the doctors at the orphanage she volunteers at. Like all the best solo performers, Miller has a powerful charisma that keeps one riveted despite the bare stage and minimal tech, and her vivid story is lush with detail and energy.
Psychic Dream Astrology: September 18 – 24, 2013
Psychic Dream Astrology
Sept. 18-24, 2013
ARIES
March 21-April 19
You’ve gotta let go, Aries. There’s being strong willed, and then there’s being daft, and you know which side of that fence you wanna be. If things continue to not flow in your present direction maybe it’s time to change course. Let what’s not working in your life point you towards what needs tweaking this week.
TAURUS
April 20-May 20
Growth sometimes comes through struggle and if you shut down every time a crappy thing happens, how will you gain the benefits? Make peace with the demons at your door by accepting that they’re here and requiring your attentions, Taurus. This week you need to keep your head in the game, pal.
GEMINI
May 21-June 21
Let lessons learned in your past guide you in the now. You are poised to have successes culminate in several areas of your life this week, but you need to heed one warning to get the best of what your life has to offer; don’t stop working hard just because things are going well now. Action trumps reaction, Gemini.
CANCER
June 22-July 22
Acting in intentional ways will get the best results this week. You are on the precipice of major change but the best way to create situations that you’re happy in is by not rushing headlong away from, or towards things. Decide what will make you happy and pursue that, Moonchild.
LEO
July 23-Aug. 22
Your point of view is changing, even if your situation is not. This week you may have to change course, Leo, and that may require that you make peace with some newfound perspectives. It is far better to change your mind if that means being true to yourself, than staying consistent if that has become disingenuous.
VIRGO
Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Patience, prudence, and faith will lead you where you need to go this week. You are both at an ending and smack dab in the middle of a major transition this week. Don’t jump to conclusions, Virgo, because they will not be based on the whole picture. Let things reveal themselves to you and hold your ground in the meantime.
LIBRA
Sept. 23-Oct. 22
This week you are likely to find out that you dodged a bullet some time in your recent past. As you look back and see that something you thought was a loss was actually a win, let that inspire you to have greater faith that even the things that look like they suck right now might turn out to be fabulous later.
SCORPIO
Oct. 23-Nov. 21
True leadership requires assuming responsibility that takes into account the needs of the whole. This week you will be greatly rewarded if you take the time and energy to consider what will bring the most joy and harmony to your life and the lives around you. Happiness trumps winning, Scorpio.
SAGITTARIUS
Nov. 22-Dec. 21
If you come on too strong you will stir up opposition before you really begin, Sag. Being truly open requires that you are receptive to the feelings and needs of others, even if what’s going on for them doesn’t make sense to you. For best results, stay present and don’t try to fix, corral, or convince this week.
CAPRICORN
Dec. 22-Jan. 19
Stay grounded, Capricorn. No matter how upsetting things appear, you do not have all the information you need yet, and you cannot properly assess your options, or even your needs. Nurturance and kindness are the gems that will support you to get in touch with your much-needed inner strength this week.
AQUARIUS
Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Freedom is sometimes won by knowing which battles are worth the effort and which are better to concede. Know yourself deeply enough to gauge where there is value in fighting, and what is just your pride (which, BTW, tends to go before a fall). Invest in the adventure and vibrancy of your life and let the other stuff alone for now.
PISCES
Feb. 19-March 20
It’s a great time to innovate and conjure up new ideas, but it’s not so good to try to implement them, Pisces. You are in a great space for opening yourself up to possibility, but that doesn’t mean that all your ducks are in a row and you’re ready to start the action part of your plans. Hold off this week.
Jessica Lanyadoo has been a Psychic Dreamer for 19 years. Check out her website at www.lovelanyadoo.com to contact her for an astrology or intuitive reading.
Challenge Mayor Lee and his lies
EDITORIAL In the long history of San Francisco political corruption caused by Pacific Gas & Electric’s willingness to do and spend whatever it takes to hold onto the energy monopoly that it illegally obtained generations ago, in violation of the federal Raker Act, there have been countless ugly and shameful episodes, many of them chronicled in the pages of the Bay Guardian.
Mayor Ed Lee’s misleading Sept. 10 testimony to the Board of Supervisors, where he deliberately distorted CleanPowerSF and defended the dubious actions of his appointees to kill the program, ranks right up there with some of the worst episodes (see “Power struggle,” page 12). If there were any doubts about Lee’s lack of political integrity and independence, about his unwillingness stand up to his corporate benefactors on the behalf of the people he was elected to serve, this appalling performance should settle them.
It was bad enough when PG&E used money from San Francisco ratepayers to bury public power advocates under an avalanche of lies, fear-mongering, and the testimony of paid political allies every election when its monopoly was being challenged, making it virtually impossible to have an honest conversation about the city’s energy and environmental needs.
But now that advocates for consumer choice and renewable energy have spent more than a decade developing a program that doesn’t require a popular vote, is competitive with PG&E’s rates, would create city-owned green energy projects serving residents for generations to come, and which was approved by a veto-proof majority on the Board of Supervisors, Mayor Lee has stooped to new lows in a desperate and transparent ploy to stop it.
Once again, as he did during his rash decision to remove Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi from office before even investigating his most serious official misconduct allegations, Mayor Lee has blithely created what Sen. Mark Leno calls a “Charter crisis.” Then, it was over the question of when one elected official should remove another; now, it is whether a trio of mayoral appointees can usurp the authority of the elected Board of Supervisors, the top policymaking body under the City Charter.
Relying on tortured logic and Clinton-esque legalese backflips doesn’t justify the SFPUC commissioners refusal to do their jobs — and it would be deemed official misconduct by a less corrupt mayor. But this mayor sees his job as simply carrying water for the people who put him there, whether that be Willie Brown and his longtime client PG&E, or venture capital Ron Conway and the companies that Lee is heaping with unprecedented tax breaks (see “Corporate welfare boom,” page 14). Please, isn’t there someone out there willing to challenge this corruption and run for mayor? This city, and the future generations living in the warming world we’re creating, deserve better.
Power struggle
steve@sfbg.com
Jason Fried could barely believe what was coming out of the squawk box in his office at the San Francisco Local Agency Formation Commission on Sept. 10, as he listened to Mayor Ed Lee describe the CleanPowerSF program Fried had spent years helping to develop.
The program would give San Franciscans the choice of buying their electricity from clean, renewable energy sources rather than Pacific Gas & Electric’s oil, coal, hydro, and nuclear dominated power portfolio, a program that was finally able to become competitive with PG&E on price and still fund the creation of local clean energy projects.
But the program that Lee described — which three of his appointees on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission have recently decided to block, against the wishes of the Board of Supervisors supermajority that approved it (see “Fizzling energy,” Aug. 21) — sounded nothing like the program that Fried, LAFCo’s senior program officer, knows so well.
As Lee described it, CleanPowerSF is “based on vague promises” and has “questionable environmental benefits,” claiming it has “gotten progressively more expensive” and “creates no local jobs.”
“What the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission did was in the best interests of the city,” Lee said. The city has spent untold hours and dollars over the last decade developing and approving CleanPowerSF.
“It was very frustrating to watch, particularly when you see him just making stuff up,” said Fried. “If he wants to be against CCAs [Community Choice Aggregation, that state-created program the CleanPowerSF is a part of], fine, just say that…But he wasn’t even getting his numbers right.”
LIES, DAMN LIES, AND STATISTICS
Questioned by the Guardian following his monthly mayoral policy discussion at the board, where all five questions from frustrated supervisors were about CleanPowerSF, Lee cast himself as sticking to the facts.
“I know that elements of this are somewhat complicated because you have to actually read a lot of volumes of materials to understand the choice aggregation program,” Lee said, claiming, “I’m taking it exactly from facts that were presented.”
But in reality, Lee was cherry-picking facts that were either out-of-date or presented in a misleading way, while ignoring inconvenient questions like how the city can still achieve its clean energy goals without it, or why his appointees are subverting broadly supported public policy on technical grounds that appear to exceed their authority.
Take Lee’s claim that the CleanPowerSF program approved by the board “was 95 percent renewable on day one,” which he used to support his argument that “when the final project is so vastly different than the original intent, the SFPUC has to intervene.”
Lee is referring to the “three buckets” from which the program will draw its energy, as defined by the California Public Utilities Commission. Bucket 1 is the gold standard: juice coming directly from certified renewable energy sources in California. Bucket 2 is renewable energy that isn’t reliable and must be “firmed and shaped” by other energy sources, such as wind or solar farms supplemented by fossil fuels when there’s little wind or sunshine. And Bucket 3 is Renewable Energy Credits, which support creation of renewable energy facilities or green power purchased from other states.
When the board approved the program in September 2012, the SFPUC called for it to secure 10 percent of the power from Bucket 1, 85 percent from Bucket 2, and 5 percent from Bucket 3, although these were just guidelines and the SFPUC was specifically authorized to change that mix.
Lee and other critics of the program decried the program’s cost of more than 14 cents per kilowatt-hour, while supporters worried the price would cause more customers to opt-out, so the SFPUC decided to allow more RECs, while also substantially increasing the amount of guaranteed green power.
“The difference between buckets two and three is not that big a difference,” Fried said, noting the Bucket 2 can actually include a substantial amount of dirty energy. “It really depends on how you’re firming and shaping.”
So the SFPUC increased the size of Bucket 1 to 25 percent and Bucket 3 to 75 percent, with idea being that RECs are only an interim step toward issuance of revenue-bonds to build renewable energy projects that would eventually fill Bucket 1 to overflowing. All for the not-to-exceed rate of 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour that the SFPUC is refusing to approve.
“Our entire mix would be 100 percent greenhouse-gas-free, but the mayor is ignoring that because it doesn’t fit his ‘green’ argument,” Fried said, also noting that it would be generated in-state by union workers. “PG&E can’t make that same claim.”
CPUC statistics show PG&E derives less than the state-mandated 20 percent of its energy from clean, renewable sources, and that the percentage of its portfolio that is greenhouse gas-free actually dropped in 2012, to 51 percent from 59 percent in 2011. And despite Lee’s emphasis on local jobs, PG&E’s three largest solar projects built in 2012 are outside California.
By contrast, CPSF contractor Shell Energy North America wrote in an Aug. 12 letter that in addition to setting aside $1.5 million for local buildout after its first year, which “should create local jobs,” it is now negotiating in-state wind and hydroelectric (“operated by union labor”) contracts to meet the program’s demands.
But at this point, supporters of the program are running out of options to get that contract approved.
“CHARTER CRISIS”
CleanPowerSF has broad political support in San Francisco, from Sups. David Campos, John Avalos, and other progressives, to moderates including Sup. Scott Wiener and state Sen. Mark Leno, who authored legislation to protect nascent CCAs from PG&E meddling and has been a steadfast supporter of CleanPowerSF.
“There’s a constitutional crisis, or a [City] Charter crisis, of sorts,” Leno said, referring to the standoff. “The legislative body has been unequivocal in its desire to proceed and it’s not for this commission to interfere with that decision.”
Leno said PG&E and its allies have played strong behind-the-scenes roles in sabotaging this program. “They are definitely exerting their influence,” Leno said, “they have never stopped trying to derail this.” SFPUC Chair Art Torres, who is leading the obstruction, didn’t return a Guardian call for comment.
If there is a silver lining, Leno said it’s that “PG&E has had to present its own version of green energy. But the two can coexist. We want competition.”
So does Fried, LAFCo, and all of the supervisors who sit on that commission, which has long tried to break PG&E’s monopoly.
“It’s close to checkmate, but we’re trying to breathe new life into this,” Sup. John Avalos, who sits on LAFCo, told us. “Part of the politics can be seen in the mayor’s statements, which are full of misinformation.”
Sup. David Campos, also on LAFCo, told us CleanPowerSF is “a good program, and it’s consistent with what the Board of Supervisors approved. I think it’s a mistake for the city not to move on this and it’s a bad thing for consumers.”
The newest member of LAFCo, Sup. London Breed, authored a resolution supporting CPSF that the Board of Supervisors was set to consider on Sept. 17, after Guardian press time. It recites a history of strong support for the program by the Board of Supervisors, starting with a unanimous votes in 2004 and 2007 to launch the CCA and continuing through the supermajority approval of CleanPowerSF and a $20 million appropriation to launch it in September 2012.
It noted that the SFPUC held 18 meetings on the program between September 2012 and August 2013, and that its Rate Fairness Board determined that rates for the Phase 1 are “technically fair.”
The resolution emphasizes an important governance issue at stake: “Irrespective of the particular policy decision, the Board of Supervisors must protect and defend its authority to make policy decisions.”
Yet there’s been a concerted effort to undermine CleanPowerSF this summer, led by appointees and allies of Lee and PG&E.
At the Aug. 6 Commission on the Environment meeting, Commissioner Joshua Arce pushed Department of the Environment head Melanie Nutter to renounce CPSF as no longer a green power program, something she refused to do. Arce fell a vote short of approving a resolution characterizing the program as not meeting “all of the commission’s original goals” and urging the SFPUC “to work with the Department of the Environment to craft a program that is acceptable to the San Francisco Environment Commission.”
Breed said she was disappointed in Lee’s approach, although she takes him at his word when he says he’s open to alternatives.
“The questions were answered, but there wasn’t any closure in terms of what this means for the future,” Breed said. “If not this program, what’s the alternative?”
If the city is going to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals, which call for reducing 1990’s carbon emissions by 25 percent by 2017 and 40 percent by 2025, it’s going to have to offer some alternative.
“We need to be aggressive about moving in this direction,” Breed said, “and we need to make sure the public has an alternative to PG&E.”
Come together: Kevin KoChen of Symbiosis Gathering talks communion, spirituality, electronic jams
The eighth annual Symbiosis Gathering — part outdoor music festival, part rave on a lake, part yoga retreat, part art project, part green conference, all pretty amazing — happens this weekend. I wrote about it in last week’s paper (especially about my enthusiasm for the music lineup, including Mount Kimbie, Polica, Hudson Mohawke, Matias Aguayo, STS9, Thugfucker, and a ton more).It’s a creative explosion!
I caught up with Symbiosis producer Kevin KoChen to get a little more interdimensional with the fest’s vibe.
SFBG Hi Kevin! Getting my bells on for the fest. Can you tell me a little bit of your history with Symbiosis?
KEVIN KOCHEN I’d met two of the founders separately when I was living at ‘the Fulton House’ at Fulton and Divisidero and enrolled at the California Institute for Integral Studies. In ’05 they asked me to give a workshop at the first Symbiosis. When I arrived I was amazed at the different crews of people all comingling. There’s all types of festival people and usually people hangout with people they already know. But at Symbiosis it seemed that peoples guard was down, new relationships were made, and there was a real sense of community that was created that went beyond groups of friends. It was also the loudest I’d ever heard trance. I couldn’t believe that the louder it was, the better it sounded. I was into jambands for years and was looking for something new. Symbiosis was colorful, full of workshops, and the crowd was fantastic. When the time came for the next year, I was invited to stir the cauldron.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x1TFxao0oI
SFBG This year’s music lineup is killer — what kind of philosophy did you have when booking this year’s fest?
KK Our lineups are like a fine wine; better with age. We love the edge or what’s next. We’ve had quite a few artists play Symbiosis and go on to tour nationally. You could get as excited by artists you haven’t heard of as much as the ones that got you to buy a ticket. This year, IAMAMIWHOAMI has never performed in the US and they’re incredibly unique, talented and interesting. We’ve been friends with people in and around STS9 for years and this was the first year where the timing worked out. We’re excited to have these innovators of the live electronic jam. The Coup from Oakland is something to be excited about as well as Mount Kimbie post-dubstep (hooray for post-dubstep!) and Chet Faker’s crooning will have everyone in the mood. From top to bottom, each artist is really special. Be sure not to miss Sunday. We usually put some of our favorite music on Sunday because its when we are done working and can enjoy the ride like everyone else.
SFBG I noticed the Edwardian Ball Roadshow is premiering — can you tell me a little bit about that, and what other new things can we expect this year?
KK We’ve been working with Vau de Vire Society — who along with musical group Rosin Coven put on the Edwardian Ball Roadshow — since 2009 and have been working on ways to get them more involved. Their energy, their crowd, their appearance… everything about them is so LIVELY! We love the opportunity to work with them. This was our chance to have their team pull together an event within an event. People will be costumed and hilarious, and you may seriously question if you had just popped into another dimension where Jules Verne actually existed when cowboys and aliens might bust through the door at a moment’s notice. Their musical taste is also fantastic. They have a healthy dose of gypsy swing which is immediately appealing, fun, and danceable.
SFBG It seems there’s another music festival sprouting up everytime I turn around. What are some of the things you think really define Symbiosis as different, and what do you think is the key to the festival’s longevity?
KK Symbiosis is an art project. We have no sponsors, incredible workshops, art, yoga, dance, organic food, ceremony, healers, and masseuses. We are a full spectrum experience. The event is not defined solely by musical lineup. Out workshop lineups are like a sustainability conference in a festival. Plus, Saul Williams will be performing a spoken word session, we have improv troupes from Chicago’s legendary Second City, and our stage designs are epic themed art projects rather than a skeleton of truss. We pay meticulous attention to detail and really love the project like an art piece. We hope it shines through. Our crowd seems to return the favor and are another big part of our success. Our crowd is vibrant and creative and fun and enjoyable to be around. They surprise us with random acts of beauty and senseless acts of expression.
SFBG As far as the connection between music and spirituality goes, can you tell me some of your thoughts on that? How does Symbiosis bring together those elements?
KK Music is transcendent and the universal language. It passes through language, color, creed. Our team has travelled overseas for Eclipse Festivals, Boom Festivals, Rainbow Serpent, Universo Parallelo, and dancing to music with people who don’t speak your language can be a beautiful experience. Music is a bridge that can be crossed by a smile and connection, and community is something in this world that is missing. While we have more Facebook friends but less real world relationships, we may have more timesavers but we may have less peak experiences with the people we love. Symbiosis is our attempt to facilitate a peak experience.
SYMBIOSIS GATHERING
Sept. 19-23
Oakdale, CA
Onstage proposal prompts group hug from Grouplove at the Indy
The last thing I expected to hear at a Grouplove concert was Skrillex and ASAP Rocky’s “Wild for the Night” but for some reason it seemed to be the perfect soundtrack to the band’s entrance. Dancing wildly and hyping the crowd to the beats and bleats of the track, the five musicians had whipped the sold-out Independent crowd into a high-energy frenzy before they played a single note.
After touring more or less constantly since its inception in 2009, Grouplove is a well-oiled machine on stage. Every member bounces around with frenetic energy, never standing still for a moment. Vocalist and keyboardist Hannah Hooper was all hair, headbanging, whipping around, and running in place in a leopard print unitard as frontperson Christian Zucconi (clad in a bathrobe and Grateful Dead tee) furiously strummed, jumped, and bumped into everyone around him. By comparison, bassist Sean Gadd, guitarist Andrew Wessen, and drummer Ryan Rabin almost seemed demure, despite their own dancing and roaming around the stage.
Even at its most energetic, however, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Grouplove was phoning it in. Being this well-oiled touring machine has detracted from the raw electricity of its early performances. Even the new material, which the band played much of, fell flat. No amount of jumping screaming, and running could hide the fact that the group, frankly, seemed tired.
Though Grouplove has a handful of really great, catchy tunes (especially 2011 single “Tongue Tied”) its strength has always been in its live presence. It’s not that its Saturday show at the Independent was bad — Grouplove has just set the bar incredibly high with its previous tours. Even in this slightly watered down form, however, one thing reads clear — the amorous bond that Grouplove is named for. The group is constantly interacting with each other, lighting up with smiles, leaning into each other, and feeding off of each other’s presence.
Grouplove has a miraculous and fateful backstory, starting with the chance meeting of Hooper and Zucconi in New York. Hooper, feeling an immediate bond, invited Zucconi to drop everything and join her on an artists’ residency later that week in Crete, where the pair met the three musicians who would ultimately make up the rest of Grouplove. Since that serendipitous meeting, the five relocated to LA and have rarely left each other’s sides. It is this genuine group love that makes the band’s joyful noise so infectious and endearing. Despite the flat, forced feeling of their set, it was clear that the band was happy to be there, and happy to be with each other.
During the encore, a few little miracles happened to turn the night’s energy around. First, a man proposed to his girlfriend onstage, prompting screams from the audience and a few tears, high fives, and a group hug from Grouplove. Second, members of Morning Benders (now POP ETC) and Waters joined Grouplove to play the POP ETC’s “I Woke Up Today.”
By the time the band got to its last song, the slow-building, hyper-catchy “Colours” the entire room had exploded with dancing, signing, and the kind of energy that got Grouplove its reputation for being an unmissable live band.
As the show closed, the previously silent Wessen leaned into the microphone and said, with heartwarming earnestness, “San Francisco, we love you so, so much. You have no idea.”
The Moondoggies croon sweetly at Brick and Mortar Music Hall
I’ve yet to be disappointed with a Brick and Mortar show, and the Moondoggies concert was no exception. When the Seattle rockers came on stage last Thursday night, they dove straightaway into bluesy rock songs.
Frontperson Kevin Murphy’s vocals were pleasant and warm, but they stood in contrast to his expression, which most of the time was apathetic.
The group’s seductive hooks, pulsing bass lines, and somewhat-ominous piano chords went over well with the crowd, people were swinging their hips, drinks in hand.
Bassist Bobby Terreberry, head bobbing, calmly plucked away, facing the side of the stage most of the set. And Jon Pontrello’s spastic, weaving dance moves with his guitar and tambourine proved a comic contrast next to Murphy’s uninvolved position behind the mic.
Drummer Carl Dahlen also brought some needed energy to the stage. Lost in the beats, Dahlen struck the set with an affable urgency, his fire-red hair swinging in his wake. And keyboardist Caleb Quick was anything but, taking his time to strike each chord with what looked to be a deep and somber intent.
No matter any critique you may have of the group, it’s impossible to say its lacking in fullness, in totality. When the vocals become hushed, the heedlessly playful guitar riffs meandered to new heights. When the percussion and bass toed the line of “background” music, the group’s harmonies became impressively bold.
The result was a striking sense of balance. The beauty was in their distinctions as performers: Murphy swaying and singing; impassively cool behind his caterpillar-like mustache, Terreberry zoning out to resilient bass lines, Pontrello a feisty hot mess.
Dahlen was buoyant behind the drum set and Quick gave the performance a tasteful poignance.
One highlight was “Midnight Owl,” off their latest album Adios, I’m a Ghost (Hardly Art, 2013), which came out of this August with plenty of critical praise. It was also where Murphy shone the brightest — or darkest.
Murphy crooned the soft chorus wearing a yearning expression while shuffling uncomfortably, “She’s a midnight owl, ain’t seen her yet/ She’s an early riser, ain’t gone to bed.”
Their set seemed to go buy too quick, always a sign of a good show.
For whom the bell rocked: Too much turned up
Three to five years ago, the most popular phrase at Rock the Bells was “Rest in peace J Dilla.” This year, it was “Let’s get turned up!” The difference between the two shout-outs exhibits the festival’s progression from underground/old-school hip-hop gathering to a way more genre-expansive festival.
This year included stalwart acts that you would have seen at Rock the Bells 2004, 2005, and 2007 such as the Wu Tang Clan, TechNine, and Deltron 3030. But rappers like Juicy J, Riff Raff, and Trinidad James would have been ridiculed for not being “real hip-hop” enough in past years. This year’s eclectic and diverse cast was a reassuring reminder that hip-hop is not dead and that the music coming out in 2013 is just as worthy as that of any other era.
More than 50 acts split between two days and divided onto three stages meant that I had lots of ground and music to cover despite only being one person. And due to the immense offering of music, there were bound to some distressing scheduling conflicts. The worst of all was Juicy J vs. Black Hippy vs. Deltron 3030 at 7:45pm.
Even more upsetting was the fact that there was no music playing between 7:15 and 7:45. I cannot fathom why the organizers would have absolutely no act performing for 30 minutes less than three hours before the end of the festival. Fortunately I was able to dash between the three stages where the three acts were performing.
Nearly every act, all weekend, encouraged the audience to get “turned up,” but Juicy J was the only rapper to get his crowd “turned up” without asking. Due to the scheduling conflict, Deltron accompanied by an orchestra played to a rather small but very impassioned group of fans. When I caught Black Hippy, Kendrick Lamar was in the midst of performing the hits from his acclaimed good kid m.A.A.d city and I only needed five minutes to understand why he proclaimed himself to be “King of New York.”
The E-40/Too $hort duet was lackluster due to their early time slot — a mind boggling 4:25pm slot — and because 40 didn’t show up on the stage till more than halfway through the set. Other bland performances included Joey Bada$$ who was very undeserving of his main stage slot, Immortal Technique who belongs in a museum of homophobia and sexism and not on a concert stage, and Action Bronson. Bronson, who normally is overflowing with personality, spent his entire set floating around on stage and basically talked his verses, the most exciting part of his set was the guest appearance of Riff Raff on “Bird on a Wire.”
For the most part, the rappers at the festival were generally excited to be presenting for an exclusively hip-hop head audience. Brooklyn outfit Flatbush Zombies exploded on stage with psychotic energy from start to finish. Odd Future mates Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt in each of their sets trolled the hell out of their fans, which made for an even more amped set. Pusha T gets immense credit for kicking off his set with his lively guest verse from “Don’t Like” and Clipse-favorite “Grindin,’” a successful attempt at keeping fans from drifting off to the other stages.
Trinidad James’s “I’m so happy to be here” schtick surprisingly made for a bouncy show. A$AP Mob and Black Hippy each tied for best overall group performance and both crews played like they owned the Shoreline Amphitheatre. Kid Cudi, who some hip-hop heads might have doubted as a viable headliner, possessed a contagious enthusiasm that the crowd inhaled like it was pot smoke.
As for the holograms, they get credit for their novelty and not much else. Both Eazy E and ODB were flickering in the beginning. The hologram as a medium could barely play surrogate for these two strong and influential personalities. I pray to god Mac Dre never gets subject to this. The hologram was a worthy endeavor in that it gave a sense to millenials what it was like to witness Eazy E and ODB, but fun time is over and it’s time to retire this gag before we jump the shark.
Awards
Least Surprising Cancellation: Chief Keef.
Best Surprise Guest: Tiny “Zeus” Lister aka Deebo from “Friday” showing up during Earl Sweatshirt, E-40/Too $hort, and TechN9ne’s sets.
Most “I’m old” Comment: RZA for “I know a lot of y’all grew up with iPads and iPhones, but I’mma show y’all how we used to do it back in the day”
Most Generous: Juicy J for throwing his sweat-soaked Gucci sports jacket into the crowd.
Most Unnecessary Stage Set-Up: Kid Cudi and his giant “Legends of the Hidden Temple” boulders.
Biggest Bay Area Panderer: Host Peter Rosenberg for constantly reminding people who live in the Bay Area that they are currently in the Bay Area.
Best Freestyler: Supernatural for the umpteenth time.
Stats
Number of times I heard the word “Twerk:” A shockingly low 2.
Number of times I heard the phrase “Turn Up” or any variation there of: ∞ [infinity]
iPad sightings: 6 (ugh)
Number of “Fuck the Police” chants: 7
Number of acts I heard lip-syncing: 4
Mayor Lee distorts reality in defending CleanPowerSF obstruction by his appointees
Mayor Ed Lee yesterday answered a series of five questions from the Board of Supervisors about CleanPowerSF, the renewable energy program it approved last year on a veto-proof 8-3 vote, but which three of Lee’s appointees on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission are now blocking.
Lee reaffirmed his opposition to the program and support for the three commissioners who are refusing to approve a maximum rate for the program, while making a series of statements that were misleading, contradictory, and, according to Sup. John Avalos, some outright falsehoods.
CleanPowerSF would group tens of thousands of city residents into a renewable energy buying pool, a system called Community Choice Aggregation authorized by state legislation, which would compete against Pacific Gas & Electric’s illegal local monopoly. Initally, the energy would be purchased under a contract with Shell Energy, but the main goal of the program is to build city-owned renewable energy facilities by issuing revenue bonds supported by the program’s ratepayers.
Yet the program Lee described has little resemblance to CleanPowerSF — and his statements of support for the concept belie his longstanding opposition to the program and support for PG&E, whose union is leading the campaign to kill CleanPowerSF.
“I know that many members of the Board of Supervisors are upset,” Lee began in his first answer to similar questions posed by Sups. Eric Mar, David Chiu, London Breed, David Campos, and John Avalos, who all represent the odd-numbered districts whose turn it was to submit questions to the mayor for this month’s appearance.
Lee then explained that one of the duties of the SFPUC is to protect ratepayers, which he called “the overriding concern they have when faced with any issue,” adding that, “The commission ultimately decided that the rate wasn’t a fair rate.”
Ironically, the top rate that the commission is being asked to approve in order to finally launch CleanPowerSF was just 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, only slightly more than current PG&E rates and a substantial reduction from the rate that was discussed last year when supervisors approved the program.
PG&E, Lee, and other critics of the program had attacked its high cost, so SFPUC staffers tweaked the program to allow the initial use of Renewable Energy Credits, which support the creation of renewable energy projects, rather than being purely juice directly from solar, wind, and other renewable sources, which is more expensive.
So Lee criticized that change as a departure from what the board approved last year, telling the supervisors that the program should be at least “95 percent renewable on day one,” saying that, “This is what a green power program should look like.”
Yet when it did look like that, Lee opposed it, something he didn’t mention yesterday. And yet he still made the argument that the SFPUC was simply exercising its fiduciary responsibility in blocking a program that has gotten cheaper than when the board approved it.
“The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission did its job in protecting ratepayers,” Lee said. “I agree with the majority of the PUC.”
So, on one hand, Lee said that CleanPowerSF has “gotten progressively more expensive as time goes on,” citing statements made years ago about the goal of trying to meet-or-beat PG&E’s rates, which have been subsidized by taxpayers over the years.
And when the program then got close to matching those rates, he criticized the use of RECs to get there, saying the climate change benefits “need to be real and tangible and not based on vague promises.”
Yet even city-commissioned studies have shown that San Francisco won’t meet its own greenhouse gas reduction goals without substantially changing the energy portfolio of city residents, and CleanPowerSF is the only plan on the table to get there, except for PG&E’s vague promises to offer more renewable energy in the future.
While Lee touted city efforts to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and the recent launch of a regional bike share program — neither of which will come close to meeting city climate change goals — even he acknowledged the “need to expand our in-city renewable energy generation,” citing the $4 million SolarSF as an example.
But Lee never made reference to CleanPowerSF’s plan to build up to $1 billion in renewable energy projects whose impacts would be far more impactful. Instead, he said the program “creates no local jobs,” which wouldn’t be true during the buildout phase.
While praising PG&E, Lee also glossed over the fact that a majority of supervisors still support CleanPowerSF, and that the SFPUC vote was supposed to be on the rate and not these ancillary issues, raising fundamental democratic issues when three mayoral appointees can override the decision of elected supervisors who represent all city residents.
“When a final project is so vastly different than the original intent, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has to intervene,” Lee said.
Avalos called many of Lee’s statements “lies,” so I followed Mayor Lee back to his office after the hearing and we had the following conversation as several reporters from other media outlets listened in:
SFBG: Supervisor Avalos just said that you’ve made a number of statements that are not factually accurate, and certainly misleading, including saying that the program has changed substantially. Given that you opposed the program initially, and you seem to make statements that criticize those changes, and clearly the majority still supports it, how can you make the argument that the PUC is acting against it because the program has changed?
Mayor Lee: Well, you know, I know that elements of this are somewhat complicated cause you have to actually read a lot of volumes of materials to understand the choice aggregation program, cause it has those three aspects and I would….
SFBG: As guidelines, not as rates….
Mayor Lee: I would point to those numbers that were discussed at the board and presented to the [SF] Public Utilities Commission, because that’s what I’m quoting from. I’m taking it, not from even verbiage, I’m taking it exactly from facts that were presented at the commission at the Board of Supervisors and I specifically lifted quotes from the board about their comments about local jobs and all the other things, so, I don’t think I’m inaccurate at all. I think I’m actually quite on point.
SFBG: But the rates have come down from when they approved it and you made it sound like the rates have gone up.
Mayor Lee: The rates were up and they came down in trade off with less green.
SFBG: Right…
Mayor Lee: That’s about the point I was trying to make is that we wanted these other goals to happen and they couldn’t happen cause people were trading off things in order to set the rates and that was going to become a bigger and bigger gap as to what the original goals were. That’s the way…
SFBG: But the board clearly wants this program. Why, as a matter of policy, as a matter of city procedure, why isn’t the elected body the one to make this decision, instead of your appointees?
Mayor Lee: Well, I think that’s the whole reason why they presented it to the Public Utilities Commission. They’re charter mandated to set these rates. It’s not just an automatic acceptance of what the board says. They also independently review what the board has said. And in their independent review, they said they had gone well beyond what they stated their goals were and so they couldn’t set the rates and still honor all the goals that the board was suggesting.
SFBG: But those rates are less than what the Board has approved. How can they be exercising fiscal oversight… I mean, it doesn’t make any sense.
Mayor Lee: I think we have a big disagreement there. They’re mandated by the charter to set those rates responsibly, not just to follow what the board has stated and so, in their independent review, they went and reviewed all the goals that the board has said and said ‘This is not the program that they have stated should be fulfilled.’
SFBG: Even though the majority of the Board of Supervisors disagree with that statement that you just made?
Mayor Lee: Well, you know, then again, are we not respecting peoples’ right to disagree over what is being done here?
SFBG: But your argument that the program changed from what they approved, a majority is saying ‘that’s not true,’ that you’re misrepresenting that.
Mayor Lee: No, I don’t think that I’m misrepresenting that. I disagree with that.
SFBG: A majority of the Board of Supervisors who approved it says you are.
Mayor: Well, I disagree with that assessment.
Shit happened
Exploratorium layoffs raise questions
A round of recent layoffs at the Exploratorium in San Francisco has taken the museum staff by surprise and sparked questions about the institution’s focus, an unexpected turn of events on the heels of the institution’s splashy reopening at its refurbished 330,000 square foot facility along The Embarcadero.
In mid-August, just a few months after the Exploratorium opened the doors at Piers 15/17, some 80 full-time-equivalent positions were eliminated without warning. The cuts included 35 layoffs, 35 positions that went unfilled, and eight reductions from full time to part time, according to spokesperson Leslie Patterson, a 14-year Exploratorium employee who was among those affected. The total staff is composed of 290 full-time-equivalent positions, according to its website.
Roughly three quarters of the impacted staff members are represented by SEIU Local 1021, and union members are now gearing up to launch a social media campaign in response to the sudden staffing cuts, featuring the community-minded vision of founder Frank Oppenheimer, with the hashtag #ourcommunitymuseum.
Officially, the cuts were made to solve a budget shortfall created when attendance at the new facility failed to reach anticipated levels. “They had very, very aggressive projections for attendance,” noted Eric Socolofsky, an exhibit developer who has been representing unionized museum staff at the negotiating table.
“We worked so hard to get in these doors and open this place,” Socolofsky said of the new waterfront spot. “People have given so much,” but in the weeks since layoff notices were issued without warning, “there’s a lot of disillusionment.”
Patterson emphasized that “our crowds have grown” since the new facility opened, despite the uncertain financial picture. June attendance was triple that of June in the previous year, she said, but the overall attendance figures still failed to hit necessary targets. “We needed to reduce the workforce to offset a budget gap,” she said.
Yet several museum employees told the Guardian that there is more to the sudden staff reduction than just solving a simple budget gap. There appears to be a reorganization effort afoot to promote business development, Socolofsky said, and that has some staff members concerned about a shift in priorities that could detract from efforts geared particularly for Bay Area patrons.
Socolofsky said more energy had been going toward “client services,” or contracting with outside institutions to build exhibits, and rent or sell portable exhibits developed at the Exploratorium. And even as the layoff notices have been issued, the Exploratorium is hiring for a dozen or so new positions.
“One of our concerns is that it’s moving toward a profit model,” Socolofsky said, adding that it was his understanding that some positions had been eliminated because they did not fit into the new organizational structure.
Its board of directors includes representatives from prominent businesses including Google, Twitter, eBay, Bechtel, Disney, PG&E, and a host of prominent venture capital firms with investments in the tech sector. Exploratorium Board Chairman George Cogan is a director at Bain & Company, Inc., a firm that specializes in restructuring, which gained notoriety during the 2012 presidential election due to GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s history of involvement there.
“It just seems like the pendulum has swung more toward the business aspect,” said David Barker, a graphic designer with the Exploratorium’s Institutional Media Group who was forced into an early retirement as a consequence of the staffing cuts.
Pamela Winfrey, a senior artist who started working at the museum in 1979 and just had her hours scaled back, said the Exploratorium has always felt like a family. “I think there are new directions in the wind as well as a budget shortfall,” Winfrey said. “It’s a complicated picture.”
And across the board, she added, the Exploratorium must contend with the fact that there’s a steadily eroding pool of funding for arts and science. “Funders are really having to think about whether they want to feed starving children,” she said, “or feed the mind.” (Rebecca Bowe)
Prisoners end hunger strike
Bay Area legislators Tom Ammiano (D-SF) and Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) — who chair the Assembly and Senate Public Safety Committees, respectively — played pivotal roles in the Sept. 5 decision by California prison inmates to end their hunger strike (see “Hungry for reform, July 3) after 60 days.
The legislators called for legislative hearings to consider implementing some of the reforms that the prisoners and their supporters have been calling for, including changes to solitary confinement policies that critics say amount to illegal torture under international law.
“I’m happy that no one had to die in order to bring attention to these conditions,” Ammiano said. “The prisoners’ decision to take meals should be a relief to CDCR and the Brown administration, as well as to those who support the strikers.”
The question now is whether the legislative hearings, set for next month, can persuade the executive branch to finally take action, despite the fact that both Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation have taken a hard line on prison issues, even resisting federal court orders to reduce the population in the severely overcrowded prison system and to improve substandard health care.
Ammiano spokesperson Carlos Alcala told the Guardian that the end of the hunger strike could help end that stalemate: “Mr. Ammiano is hopeful that CDCR’s intransigence has been directed at negotiating under the hunger strike pressure, but that they will now be open to making some changes that are meaningful.”
CRCR head Jeffrey Beard issued a public statement saying, “We are pleased this dangerous strike has been called off before any inmates became seriously ill.”
Issac Ontiveros of the Oakland-based California Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity group said the hunger strike generated international attention and support, waking the public up to horrific conditions in the prisons and putting pressure on the CDCR to implement reforms.
“Their demands are legitimate and they are pointing out human rights violations in California’s prisons,” Ontiveros told the Guardian, noting that Amnesty International and a long list of other groups are putting pressure on California to reform its prison practices. “What made them call off the strike was the political gains that they made…It was a thoughtful civil rights strategy.” (Steven T. Jones)
SFPD handling of cyclist fatalities probed
In the wake of revelations of shoddy and insensitive police work related to the Aug. 14 death of 24-year-old bicyclist Amelie Le Moullac, who was run over by a commercial truck driver who turned right across her path as she rode in a bike lane on Folsom Street at Sixth Street, Sup. Jane Kim has called for a hearing on how the SFPD investigates cyclist fatalities.
The issue has lit up the Bay Guardian website with hundreds of reader comments after we wrote a series of blog posts and an editorial (“Anti-cyclist bias must stop,” Aug. 28), revealing that SFPD failed to obtain video of the crash even as its Sgt. Richard Ernst showed up at an Aug. 21 memorial to Le Moullac to denigrate cyclists and make unfounded statements about the fatal collision.
Police Chief Greg Suhr later apologized for Ernst’s behavior and the flawed investigation and said that surveillance video unearthed by cycling activists led to the conclusion by a police investigation that the driver who killed Le Moullac was at fault, according to Bay City News and SF Appeal, which also reported on Kim’s call for a hearing. “We’re really thankful to Jane for bringing this forward,” San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Director Leah Shahum told the Guardian, saying she hopes the hearing results in changes to how the SFPD investigates cyclist fatalities. “We want to make sure there is ongoing accountability.” Meanwhile, as the San Francisco Examiner reported Sept. 5, Le Moullac’s family has filed a civil lawsuit against the driver who killed her, Gilberto Oriheaula Alcantar, as well as the company that he was driving for, Daylight Foods Inc., alleging that he was negligent in driving too fast and failing to pull into the bike lane before making a right turn from Folsom onto Sixth Street. (Steven T. Jones)
Grouplove talks Haight love, the Seesaw Tour, and spreading rumors
Grouplove’s existence is a strong argument for fate. In 2009, Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi met on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Feeling an instant connection, Hooper invited Zucconi to an artist residency in Greece on the island of Crete, which she was heading to just a few days later, and he said yes. At this residency, in a remote mountain village, the pair formed a fast friendship with three other musicians. Within the year, Grouplove was formed.
Two years after that, the band exploded into the music scene with its cheekily titled, megacatchy album Never Trust a Happy Song. Touring constantly since its inception, Grouplove is still going at full sprint, with its second album, Spreading Rumors, coming out Sept. 17, accompanied by the ambitious Seesaw Tour, in which the band will spend two nights in every city at intimate venues, playing one electric and one acoustic show.
I caught up with Hooper during one of her rare moments of semi-downtime (if that’s what you call standing on a busy street corner waiting for Zucconi) to chat about hometown shows, Haight Street, and (group)love:
SF Bay Guardian I saw you play in San Francisco almost exactly two years ago to a nearly empty Bimbo’s, and it was an absolutely amazing show. There was this incredible energy and because there was a sparse audience, it felt truly special to be there. Now you’re playing to much bigger audiences and selling out two nights in a row in SF. How do you feel about this change in dynamics?
Hannah Hooper It’s really exciting! It’s kind of surreal in a lot of ways. When we get to play a show we’re excited no matter what, so the scale of it blows our minds. With the Seesaw Tour, we’re kind of underplaying and getting to actually see our fans again. And we’re playing the Independent, which is one of the first venues we played in SF.
We personally love playing any size, but there’s a level of intimacy that’s hard to capture [in a bigger venue]. It’s a very special thing. As a fan, I love to see high-energy bands in small venues. That’s what we want to do before we gear up to do a bigger tour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x1wjGKHjBI
SFBG How did you come up with the idea for the Seesaw Tour? Why this format?
HH We were talking about bands. I love the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I’m a big fan, but I’ve never had the opportunity to get close to them. I’m always in the back behind like thousands of people. I had this vision of how cool it would be to see them play one night electric and one night acoustic.
It will be a challenge for us because we’re definitively an electric band.
SFBG Grouplove has a very vigorous touring schedule. How do you keep from getting burned-out?
HH That’s a good question! We stopped to record our album that’s about to come out, which is really the first time we’ve stopped touring in three years. But recording is not that different from touring — we still are living in tight quarters and spending all our time together.
If you stay in motion you don’t notice how exhausted you are. Even when you’ve traveled halfway around the world and you’re like, “are we going to be able to do this?” When you get up on stage, you just respond to the audience. It’s a back and forth. When you see people there screaming your name, you just have to bring it. It’s so fulfilling to give all that you have every time you get on stage. We just get into a trance friendship mode.
SFBG Do you all really love each other as much as your name and your live show suggests?
HH We do! We really love each other. We have this ability to share this crazy experience together; we’re vulnerable and we’re funny together; we’re stronger together than we are separate. It really works.
There was a freedom when we first got together because we didn’t know each other. We all got to be exactly who we are. We met at a really special time and our friendship really shows that. We write a lot of songs on the road and we genuinely go out together…You have to want to make it work. This is our dream, this is what we want to do. It’s an outlook that we all quietly agreed to have.
SFBG There is a unique pressure associated with sophomore albums. Have you felt a need to prove that you’re not a one hit wonder with this record?
HH Coming from a painter background I didn’t really realize the “pressure of the second album.” We had this catalogue of songs we had written on the road and we basically drew straws to see which songs made the album. We’re really lucky. We make a point never to combine fear of success with making artwork and writing songs. There’s nothing you can do — you can’t predict whether people will like the songs. All you can really do is be genuine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGvHnDeS12o
SFBG What does the title of the album Spreading Rumors mean?
HH We’re kind of bringing it back to the way that people used to talk about bands and spread the word before the Internet. Despite all of the Internet attention we got for [2011 single] “Tongue Tied,” people were also telling their friends about us and our live shows. The rumor that keeps spreading…we really are this crazy bunch of wild animals let loose.
SFBG Since you’re playing two nights in a row here, you’ll have some time to spend in the city. Any special SF plans?
HH Well, my brother, sister, mom, and dad live here. I grew up in Upper Haight. I really miss SF. I just like walking down Haight Street. Thrift stores in SF are the best. I can’t tell you how much I love San Francisco.
[Playing here is] like playing a hometown show which is always secretly the most nerve-wracking. It’s always funny to see people you’ve known your whole life in the audience. You really get a sense of how far we’ve come. I’ll probably get emotional up there.
SFBG Anything else you feel that people need to know about Grouplove? Any parting words?
HH [I’ve learned] through all this touring and meeting all these bands that everyone has their own flavor. We have love, heart, honesty, and passion. Our goal is to have people see that there’s no bullshit up there [on stage] and leave feeling happy. We’re not trying to be cool or sexy. We want to inspire kids to not to care what they look like or whether they’re cool and just be themselves.
Grouplove
With the Rubens
Sat/14, 9pm, $20
Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
(415) 771-1421
www.theindependentsf.com
Grouplove (acoustic)
Sun/15, 9pm, $22
Chapel
777 Valencia, SF
(415) 551-5157
www.thechapelsf.com
Supervisors to grill Mayor Lee over CleanPowerSF sabotage
Mayor Ed Lee will be on the hot seat for his unqualified support of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and his related opposition to the CleanPowerSF renewable energy program, which his appointees to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission are trying to sabotage, when he shows up for the monthly mayoral question time at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday.
Hopefully the boring, scripted question time format that Lee created in collaboration with Board President David Chiu will finally give way to what the voters intended when they required the mayor to engage with the legislative branch: an actual, substantive, back-and-forth policy discussion meant to illuminate issues of public concern.
Because that’s what’s needed on this important issue. After more than a decade in the making, the board last year cast a historic vote to create the project on a veto-proof 8-3 vote. But the SFPUC is now refusing to set the maximum rate for the program, which should be a fairly technical and pro forma action, instead raising unrelated issues that the supervisors have already considered. In other words, unelected mayoral appointees have decided to veto a hard-won democratic gain, creating something akin to a constitutional crisis in a city that values public process and input.
So for the first time ever, all the of the supervisors scheduled to ask questions (it rotates because odd- and even-numbered districts each month) have focused various aspects of a single important issue. Even though Lee has mastered the politicians’ dark art of speaking without saying anything, this one should still be a doozy as supervisors ask the following questions:
1. Mayor Lee – As you know, San Francisco has set ambitious goals to combat climate change. In many ways, the City is making great strides in this direction, from increasing bicycling, to pursuing zero waste goals, to hiring a new, excellent environmental policy advisor in Rodger Kim who has a strong background in environmental justice and community engagement. However, the Public Utilities Commission has repeatedly failed to set rates for CleanPowerSF, the most impactful local proposal yet designed to curb carbon emission. This program was adopted by the Board of Supervisors, the legislative body of the City. However, there are some allegations that your office is stalling its implementation. What specifically are you doing, as the City’s head executive, to implement this policy in a timely fashion? (Supervisor Mar, District 1)
2. Mr. Mayor, can you please outline your objections to the CleanPowerSF program as approved last year on an vote 8-3 by the Board of Supervisors? (Supervisor Chiu, District 3)
3. Recognizing the constraints imposed by state law, particularly with respect to opt-out provisions, how would a clean power program need to be structured in order for you to support it? Are you willing to work with the Board of Supervisors, and have your staff and commissioners work with the Board of Supervisors, to revise CleanPowerSF so that you can support it? Can we come to the table and make clean power a reality without any further delay? (Supervisor Breed, District 5)
4. The Board of Supervisors has been very supportive of CleanPowerSF. Do you think it is appropriate for a City Commission to go against the policy the Board of Supervisors set when it approved CleanPowerSF? (Supervisor Campos, District 9)
5. Days after the one-year anniversary of the 2010 PG&E San Bruno pipeline explosion, you called PG&E a “great local corporation” and a “great company that gets it.” However, the examples of PG&E’s immoral, illegal, and greedy behavior are legion:
– PG&E avoided admitting fault in the San Bruno explosion, failed to cooperate with the investigation, fought against paying a fair fine, and hopes to make ratepayers pay for the fine.
– PG&E’s current electric mix is only 20% California-certified renewable.
– Outages of PG&E-owned streetlights have increased over 400% in recent years, and PG&E wants to increase by $600,000 a year the amount it charges the City for streetlight maintenance without committing to improved service.
– Despite the fact that PG&E already has some of the highest electric rates in the country, PG&E is seeking to further increase rates in each of the next three years.
– While PG&E has proposed a new Green Tariff program, it remains only a vague proposal and there is no guarantee that it will ever be implemented.
– PG&E’s previous green campaigns-such as ClimateSmart and “Let’s Green This City”-have proven to be short lived and ineffective public relations stunts. Multiple public surveys conducted by the PUC to gauge the level of support for CleanPowerSF have all found that a substantial number of San Franciscans want the opportunity to pay a slight premium for a 100% renewable alternative to PG&E.
Why does your office continue to oppose providing City ratepayers with an alternative to PG&E’s monopoly by implementing CleanPowerSF? (Supervisor Avalos, District 11)
Questions raised by staff cutbacks at the Exploratorium
A round of recent layoffs at the Exploratorium in San Francisco has taken museum staff by surprise and sparked questions about the institution’s focus going forward, an unexpected turn of events on the heels of the institution’s splashy reopening at its refurbished 330,000 square foot facility along The Embarcadero.
In mid-August, just a few months after the Exploratorium opened the doors of its LEED-certified space at Piers 15/17, some 80 full-time-equivalent positions were eliminated without prior warning. The cuts included 35 layoffs, 35 positions that went unfilled, and eight reductions from full time to part time, according to spokesperson Leslie Patterson, a 14-year Exploratorium employee who was among those affected. The total staff is comprised of 290 full-time-equivalent positions, according to its website.
Roughly three quarters of the impacted staff members are represented by SEIU Local 1021, and union members are now gearing up to launch a social media campaign in response to the sudden staffing cuts. They’ve created a graphic depicting founder Frank Oppenheimer (above), and are posting to Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #ourcommunitymuseum.
Officially, the cuts were made to solve for a budget shortfall created when attendance at the new facility failed to reach anticipated levels, making actual revenues lower than what consultants had projected. “They had very, very aggressive projections for attendance,” noted Eric Socolofsky, an exhibit developer who has been representing unionized museum staff at the negotiating table.
“We worked so hard to get in these doors and open this place,” Socolofsky said of the new waterfront spot. “People have given so much,” but in the weeks since layoff notices were issued without warning, “there’s a lot of disillusionment.”
Yet Patterson, the museum spokesperson, emphasized that “our crowds have grown” since the new facility opened, despite the uncertain financial picture. June attendance was triple that of June in the previous year, she said, but the overall attendance figures still failed to hit necessary targets. “We needed to reduce the workforce to offset a budget gap,” she said.
Revenue generated by museum visitors is separate from the money raised to relocate the Exploratorium from its previous home at the Palace of Fine Arts. That effort was bankrolled by a capital campaign, which has collected $290 million of its $300 million goal so far, according to Patterson.
Meanwhile, several museum employees expressed to the Guardian that there is more to the sudden staff reduction than just solving a simple budget gap. There appears to be a reorganization effort afoot to promote business development, Socolofsky said, and that has some staff members concerned about a shift in priorities that could detract from efforts geared particularly for Bay Area patrons.
Socolofsky said more energy had been going toward “client services,” or contracting with outside institutions to build exhibits, and rent or sell portable exhibits developed at the Exploratorium.
And even as the layoff notices have been issued, the Exploratorium is hiring for a dozen or so new positions. “Whatever positions are available are being opened to people who were laid off,” Patterson said. But when asked how the museum could possibly afford be hiring at a time when it was cutting staff to balance the budget, she said she didn’t know the answer.
“One of our concerns is that it’s moving toward a profit model,” Socolofsky said, adding that it was his understanding that some positions had been eliminated because they did not fit into the new organizational structure.
In some ways, it seems odd that the celebrated 44-year-old institution, which lists its budget online as $58.6 million for 2012-13, would be facing financial problems. Its board of directors includes representatives from prominent businesses including Google, Twitter, eBay, Bechtel, Disney, PG&E, and a host of prominent venture capital firms with investments in the tech sector. Amid speculation that the museum could be changing course, some observers have hinged on the fact that Exploratorium Board Chairman George Cogan is a director at Bain & Company, Inc., a firm that specializes in restructuring, which gained notoriety during the 2012 presidential election due to GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s history of involvement there.
David Barker, a graphic designer with the Exploratorium’s Institutional Media Group who was forced into an early retirement as a consequence of the staffing cuts, echoed Socolofsky’s assessment that a reorganization effort seemed to be driving staffing cuts in part. But at the same time, he said the museum had to do something to adapt to a new climate in which funding sources are drying up.
“It just seems like the pendulum has swung more toward the business aspect,” he said. An employee for more than 30 years, Barker lamented that the staffing cuts could dampen mentorship opportunities for younger artists and designers.
Barker was dismissive of the idea that the reorganization was somehow linked to Cogan’s role at Bain & Co., saying, “There’s no person who is more dedicated to the museum.”
Amid the unanswered questions, impacted and unaffected staff members alike emphasized in interviews with the Guardian that the Exploratorium staff continued to feel like a kind of family. “I think it’s kind of extraordinary,” said Pamela Winfrey, a senior artist who started working at the museum in 1979 and just had her hours scaled back. “I think there are new directions in the wind as well as a budget shortfall,” Winfrey said. “It’s a complicated picture.”
And across the board, she added, the Exploratorium must contend with the fact that there’s a steadily eroding pool of funding for arts and science. “Funders are really having to think about whether they want to feed starving children,” she said, “or feed the mind.”
Psychic Dream Astrology: September 4-10, 2013
ARIES
March 21-April 19
Don’t give up, Aries! If you strive to live up to your own code of ethics then your problems will have a clear strategy embedded in them. Do what you believe to be right, not just for this situation, but in your most elevated value system. Be the person you want to be and don’t devolve into reactions this week.
TAURUS
April 20-May 20
Build foundations that support your material needs, but not at the expense of your feelings. There is no way to be truly effective without incorporating your emotional needs, Taurus. True wisdom encompasses the management of all your parts; when you leave out pieces of yourself they eventually come back demanding attention, pal.
GEMINI
May 21-June 21
Love has a transformative effect on everything. By pouring care, hope and delight into your relationships and circumstances you will see everything flourish. Practice it and see what happens this week. Kindness heals! Just don’t confuse loving kindness with niceties; be authentic, Gem. Compassion heals but BS doesn’t.
CANCER
June 22-July 22
The key to your success this week is in the hard stuff. You’re in a great place to be actualizing your goals, but as you do, don’t forget that all light casts a shadow. Do not fear your “dark” side; show yourself the compassion you need to integrate it in a healthy way. Seek the purpose in all things, Moonchild.
LEO
July 23-Aug. 22
If you move too fast you will create a heap of trouble. Don’t let your enthusiasm push you in over your head this week. Allow your self to feel excited without making any promises based on those feelings, Leo. Let things change without forcing your will on them or rushing them along. Let yourself be surprised as you see where your relationships take you.
VIRGO
Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Don’t let your worries convince you that things are dire, Virgo. This week you are being called on to make the most delicious lemonade that you can with the lemons you’ve been served. Nothing is set in stone, and you can change them if you stop wasting energy over thinking things. Trust your instincts, but not your fears.
LIBRA
Sept. 23-Oct. 22
You may find yourself obsessing on ‘whys’ this week, but there’s no sense in it. Instead of lamenting a past that can’t change, look expectantly towards your future from this very moment, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. Once you get out of your own way you will find that the road before you is not worth dreading, Libra.
SCORPIO
Oct. 23-Nov. 21
You’re OK, Scorpio. You’ve worked hard to get where you’re at, and you and finally, totally, OK. The trick this week is to not rest in this place. Use it to reflect on what you’re hopes and goals are, or you may turn around sometime in the future and not know how you got where you are. Be intentional.
SAGITTARIUS
Nov. 22-Dec. 21
If there is a way to trust in your security, you need to find it now, Sagittarius. This week obsessive thinking threatens to turn your world upside down for no good reason. Pay attention to the difference between fear of unpleasant circumstances, and actual problems! Don’t create the things you wish to avoid.
CAPRICORN
Dec. 22-Jan. 19
It’s easy to shine when circumstances are going your way; it’s what you do when the shit hits the fan that matters, though. This week you need to surrender your will. Accept what isn’t working and let it teach you a new way of seeing things. Major change is before you and fighting it will only make things worse.
AQUARIUS
Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Don’t add anything new to your to-do list, Aquarius! This week should find you balancing responsibilities and tidying up loose ends. You are in a great position to secure your world, but it won’t happen unless you make it happen. Focus your intentions and follow through with your goals.
PISCES
Feb. 19-March 20
Its time to let go, Pisces. You can’t control the course of things, and the sooner you make peace with that, the better. Strive to have a healthy ego without being attached to getting your will executed in any particular way. Participate in the reality you’re stuck in, for better or worse this week.
Jessica Lanyadoo has been a Psychic Dreamer for 19 years. Check out her website at www.lovelanyadoo.com to contact her for an astrology or intuitive reading.
The Selector: September 4 – 10, 2013
WEDNESDAY 4
The Zombies
When their single “Time of the Season” was released in 1968, the Zombies had already broken up and the album that featured the now-classic tune almost wasn’t released. Even if that seminal song hadn’t hit the airwaves, the band would still be considered one of the best groups of the 1960s based on the strength of its earlier hits such as “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No.” Original members Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent have re-formed the group and are bringing back the classic sound — and catch opening band Et Tu Bruce, featuring Jamie White, son of Zombies’ founding member Chris White. (Sean McCourt)
8pm, $39–$60
Yoshi’s Oakland
510 Embarcadero West, Oakl.
Thu/5, 8pm, $39–$60
Yoshi’s SF
1330 Fillmore, SF
FRIDAY 6
Everything is Terrible!
Everything Is Terrible! began as a blog compiling hilariously bizarre video clips, plucked from tapes rescued from garage sales, thrift stores, and wherever else VHS carcasses, particularly copies of 1996’s Jerry Maguire, go to die. The seven-member collective’s found-footage efforts soon spawned multiple viral sensations (including “So Your Cat Wants a Massage?”, which has over two million YouTube hits) and 2009’s Everything Is Terrible! The Movie! Now, there’s a live show to accompany a pair of new films: Comic Relief Zero! (“a comedy special that’s the opposite of special”) and EIT! Does The Hip-Hop!, which promises “white rappers promoting hamburgers,” among other delights. (Cheryl Eddy)
Fri/6, 9:30pm, $15
Roxie Theater
3117 16th St, SF
Sat/7, 8pm, $10
New Parkway
474 24th St, Oakl.
Agave Baroque
I’m throwing my yearly pitch for the fantastic concerts that take place regularly at Old First Church: an entrancing mélange of programs by seasoned and younger musicians that covers centuries of “classical” music — and an ocean of styles, too. (Sitting in the surprisingly comfy pews, I’ve enjoyed everything from contemporary Celtic-tango hybrids to Liberace-dramatic Brahms.) The lively, Bay Area-based Agave Baroque quartet — Aaron Westman, violin; Shirley Hunt, viola da gamba; Kevin Cooper, baroque guitar; JungHae Kim, harpsichord — takes us back, way back, to the 17th century, with selections from Bach, Biber, Buxtehude, and more. Intimate evening music in a gorgeous church — hard to beat it, Baroque or no. (Marke B.)
8pm, $17
Old First Church
1751 Sacramento
Traditions
Considering that Shiva, the god of dance and one of the most important figures in Hindu mythology, is represented as male, you’d think that Bharata Natyam, India’s most popular classical dance, would have produced male dancers galore. In fact, it hasn’t. Part of the reason is that Bharata Natyam originated with women temple dancers. Today, much as in the West, Indian parents apparently still discourage their sons to take up dance professionally. For Ganesh Vasudeva this was never an issue. Though the only boy in class when he started at age 10, he says that dancing makes him feel “like nothing else in his life.” For his one-night only Traditions program, he has researched “male oriented compositions” both within and outside the common practice. (Rita Felciano)
8pm, $20
CounterPULSE
1310 Mission St., SF
(415) 626-2060
The Shrine
This LA-based outfit’s aptly titled debut album Primitive Blast is a raw slice of seething thrasher rock that dares you to throw the devil horns up and head bang til dawn. Borrowing heavily from Black Sabbath, Black Flag, and maybe some black magic, the Shrine’s youthful fuzz and manic energy are the soundtrack to a Venice Beach endless summer. Born out of a Santa Monica high school and the discovery of a shared love for Thin Lizzy at a beach party (you can’t make this shit up) the Shrine has been steadily moving up the ranks, graduating from sweaty house shows to its current headlining tour. If you’re looking for good, dirty fun or a sweet logo to stencil onto your skate deck, this is your band. (Haley Zaremba)
With Hot Lunch, Carlton Melton
9pm, $12
Chapel
777 Valencia, SF
(415) 551-5157
SATURDAY 7
Filmage
Milo Aukerman from the Descendents went to college, and got his “Suburban Home” with his “Silly Girl,” and now there’s a film about him and fellow bandmates and their efforts in achieving “ALL.” Tired Descendents puns aside, there’s cause for Bay Area fans of the band to rejoice again after its early August performance at America’s Cup Pavillion. Recently released Descendents-centric documentary, Filmage, serves as a love letter to the band as well as its offshoot group, ALL. As a two-year do-it-yourself effort by filmmakers Matt Riggle and Deedle LaCour, Filmage tells the story of the band with interviews from members of the group and through artists such as Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana, Mike Watt of Minutemen, and Keith Morris of early Black Flag and Circle Jerks fame. Making a one-day appearance, this will be the film’s SF premiere. (Erin Dage)
Sat/7, 12pm, $7.50
Roxie Theater
3117 16th St, SF
(415) 863-1087
Sammy Hagar
Celebrating a 40-year-plus music career, Sammy Hagar is back in the Bay Area this week, where he first came to prominence as a member of Montrose before heading out solo and eventually (controversially) joining Van Halen. The shaggy-haired Red Rocker is out on the road with a band featuring old cohorts, including ex-VH bassist Michael Anthony, ahead of the release of his new album, Sammy Hagar and Friends, which sees release later this month. And know that while you’re rocking out and having a blast, you’ll be helping along a good cause too — Hagar has announced he’ll give the San Francisco and Marin Food Banks $2,500 during the tour stop. (Sean McCourt)
7:30pm, $39.50–$85.
America’s Cup Pavilion
Piers 27/29, SF
SUNDAY 8
Total Burger Bub Showcase
If the Internet is any indicator of real world trends, cats are pretty in right now — and so is garage rock. So why not combine the two? Lil Bub, Burger Records, and Total Trash Booking are working together as a team to bring together a full day and night of unabashed camp, cats, and rock ‘n’ roll with the Total Burger Bub Showcase. Lil Bub, arguably one of the most famous smushed-face “perma-kittens” on the market right now, is coming to the Bay Area along with some garage rock friends. At the tender age of 2, she has reportedly penned a book, Lil Bub’s Lil Book, and invites you to see her live and get your copy of the book signed! She’ll be at the Rickshaw Stop from 3 to 7:30pm (and there’ll also be a screening of the Vice.tv doc film on her during that time). Shortly thereafter, at 8:30pm, garage rock artists such as pervy rabbit man Nobunny, Colleen Green, Monster Women, and the Shanghais will be playing at the same venue in honor of Lil Bub. If you’re interested, the price of admission to see Lil Bub is $12, and the rock show is $12, respectively. (Dage)
3pm, $12; 8pm, $12 Rickshaw Stop 155 Fell, SF (415) 861-2011
Vikesh Kapoor
There’s something earnest and sweet about Vikesh Kapoor, who offers a refreshing take on acoustic songwriting. The musician’s simple finger-picking style carries his rough sing-talk vocals quite well, and rounds out the candid quality of his singing. Kapoor’s songwriting conveys something so basic and human, and his unkempt pipes are at times reminiscent of Bob Dylan (just wait till he brings out the harmonica). The young performer seems to have carved out a very specific niche of folk singing and songwriting, as shown in “I Dreamt Blues,” which Kapoor once described as a ballad about love, work, technology, government, and apathy. The ballad is the first track off his upcoming concept album The Ballad of Willy Robbins, out Oct. 15. Kapoor is bringing his enlightened sound to the Chapel very soon — just in time to make you a fan. (Hillary Smith)
With Alela Diane
9pm, $18
Chapel
777 Valencia, SF
(415) 551-5157
Titus Andronicus
About nine months ago, I went to see Titus Andronicus at the Great American Music Hall. My expectations were high, since it’s one of my favorite bands, but I was totally unprepared for the onslaught of earnest rock ‘n’ roll, 500+ person gang vocals, and the entrancing vulnerability of frontperson Patrick Stickles. Titus Andronicus’ recorded work is extremely calculated. Its grandiose story arcs and complicated orchestration are both impressive and mind-blowingly neurotic in their attention to detail. (2010’s Civil War concept album The Monitor comes with a hefty “suggested further reading” list of historical texts.) However, the band still captures a raw energy and soulful sincerity that pushes it over the line into greatness. If you like high energy shows and high register lyricism, this is not a show to miss. (Zaremba)
With Lost Boy
8pm, $17
Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell, SF
(415) 885-0750
TUESDAY 10
Tab Benoit
This Louisiana native reminds me of the raw, electrifying power of a classic Fender. His wallowing vocals paired with bluesy guitar create a sound both soulful and unique. All of Tab Benoit’s songs include smooth, high-toned blues notes during which he seems to melt right into his guitar. His raspy, sometimes bleak vocals seem to hang in the air like a thick cloud of smoke. And with that voice, Benoit capitalizes on the ability of blues music to address those carnal feelings of lust, loss, and heartache, deep within us. His smoky sound has been sifting onto stages all over the West Coast this past month, and Brick and Mortar Music Hall is next. Check out the talented musician before he heads back out to the South. (Smith)
With Chris Cobb Band, Kris Lager Band
9pm,$25
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
1710 Mission, SF
(415) 800-8782
“Frederick Marx Documentary Series”
Though he’s traveled the world making films, Frederick Marx — best-known for co-producing, writing, and editing 1994 doc Hoop Dreams — lives in Oakland, and hometown venue New Parkway has programmed a three-part series with Marx (who now runs nonprofit Warrior Films) in person to introduce and discuss his work. Influential, critically-acclaimed basketball tale Hoop Dreams kicks things off tonight; future editions will showcase Marx’s short films, as well as 2010’s Richard Gere-narrated Journey From Zanskar, about youths who leave Tibet in an effort to preserve their culture. (Eddy)
Also Oct. 15 and Nov. 12
7pm, $10 (series pass, $25)
New Parkway
474 24th St, Oakl.
Bleeding Rainbow
Bleeding Rainbow has seen several incarnations since its 2009 formation as Reading Rainbow. Its third album, Yeah Right, includes two added band members, a new name (allegedly provoked by a remark from Carrie Brownstein), and as one would expect with a move from “Reading Rainbow” to “Bleeding Rainbow,” added shades of something sinister. Despite the changes, though, its signature sound remains: Out of the fuzzy noise of reverb and distortion emerges sweet pop melodies from Sarah Everton. The band’s transformed, but between the noise, the darkness, and the pop, it still promises a good time. (Laura Kerry)
With the Love Language
8pm, $12
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(415) 861-2011 www.rickshawstop.com
Psychic Dream Astrology: September 4 – 10, 2013
September 4-10, 2013
ARIES
March 21-April 19
Don’t give up, Aries! If you strive to live up to your own code of ethics then your problems will have a clear strategy embedded in them. Do what you believe to be right, not just for this situation, but in your most elevated value system. Be the person you want to be and don’t devolve into reactions this week.
TAURUS
April 20-May 20
Build foundations that support your material needs, but not at the expense of your feelings. There is no way to be truly effective without incorporating your emotional needs, Taurus. True wisdom encompasses the management of all your parts; when you leave out pieces of yourself they eventually come back demanding attention, pal.
GEMINI
May 21-June 21
Love has a transformative effect on everything. By pouring care, hope and delight into your relationships and circumstances you will see everything flourish. Practice it and see what happens this week. Kindness heals! Just don’t confuse loving kindness with niceties; be authentic, Gem. Compassion heals but BS doesn’t.
CANCER
June 22-July 22
The key to your success this week is in the hard stuff. You’re in a great place to be actualizing your goals, but as you do, don’t forget that all light casts a shadow. Do not fear your “dark” side; show yourself the compassion you need to integrate it in a healthy way. Seek the purpose in all things, Moonchild.
LEO
July 23-Aug. 22
If you move too fast you will create a heap of trouble. Don’t let your enthusiasm push you in over your head this week. Allow your self to feel excited without making any promises based on those feelings, Leo. Let things change without forcing your will on them or rushing them along. Let yourself be surprised as you see where your relationships take you.
VIRGO
Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Don’t let your worries convince you that things are dire, Virgo. This week you are being called on to make the most delicious lemonade that you can with the lemons you’ve been served. Nothing is set in stone, and you can change them if you stop wasting energy over thinking things. Trust your instincts, but not your fears.
LIBRA
Sept. 23-Oct. 22
You may find yourself obsessing on ‘whys’ this week, but there’s no sense in it. Instead of lamenting a past that can’t change, look expectantly towards your future from this very moment, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. Once you get out of your own way you will find that the road before you is not worth dreading, Libra.
SCORPIO
Oct. 23-Nov. 21
You’re OK, Scorpio. You’ve worked hard to get where you’re at, and you and finally, totally, OK. The trick this week is to not rest in this place. Use it to reflect on what you’re hopes and goals are, or you may turn around sometime in the future and not know how you got where you are. Be intentional.
SAGITTARIUS
Nov. 22-Dec. 21
If there is a way to trust in your security, you need to find it now, Sagittarius. This week obsessive thinking threatens to turn your world upside down for no good reason. Pay attention to the difference between fear of unpleasant circumstances, and actual problems! Don’t create the things you wish to avoid.
CAPRICORN
Dec. 22-Jan. 19
It’s easy to shine when circumstances are going your way; it’s what you do when the shit hits the fan that matters, though. This week you need to surrender your will. Accept what isn’t working and let it teach you a new way of seeing things. Major change is before you and fighting it will only make things worse.
AQUARIUS
Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Don’t add anything new to your to-do list, Aquarius! This week should find you balancing responsibilities and tidying up loose ends. You are in a great position to secure your world, but it won’t happen unless you make it happen. Focus your intentions and follow through with your goals.
PISCES
Feb. 19-March 20
Its time to let go, Pisces. You can’t control the course of things, and the sooner you make peace with that, the better. Strive to have a healthy ego without being attached to getting your will executed in any particular way. Participate in the reality you’re stuck in, for better or worse this week.
Jessica Lanyadoo has been a Psychic Dreamer for 19 years. Check out her website at www.lovelanyadoo.com to contact her for an astrology or intuitive reading.