Mission Archives — Page 10 of 201 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Not even Sean Lennon’s gear is safe in SF

Steven T. Jones

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May 21, 2014

Not even Sean Lennon’s gear is safe in SF

Via Mission Mission: Earlier today, someone broke into the van carrying equipment for Sean Lennon’s The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, which played at Great American Music Hall last night.

Said thief made off with percussionist Connor Grant’s laptop, which seems like a thing that’s probably fairly crucial for performances going forward, like tomorrow night’s show in Seattle. Per Lennon’s Instagram:

Our van window was smashed this morning as [Grant] was getting coffee near Franklin and Hayes. BIG REWARD if computer is returned unharmed! NO QUESTIONS ASKED! If anyone knows anything pleeeeease contact us at mutethehead@gmail.com.

Here’s hoping someone has a change of heart. The GOASTT should know they can call up SF’s Waters, among other bands, if they want to feel lucky that t heir entire van wasn’t stolen. In the meantime, check our Q&A with GOASST’s Charlotte Kemp Muhl, think positive thoughts, and, you know, imagine a San Francisco where you can grab coffee without someone jacking your shit.

Party Radar: Heidi, Silent Servant, Dr. Israel, Paradise Garage, more long weekend joys

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May 21, 2014

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Party Radar: Heidi, Silent Servant, Dr. Israel, Paradise Garage, more long weekend joys

Now that I have a strapping young nephew in the Navy, Memorial Day scares the shit out of me. Best thing for it is dancing, of course — to celebrate our hardwon freedomz!

Also, oscillating wildly will help us get over the fact that we’re neither at the International Mr. Leather Competition in Chicago or Detroit’s huge Movement technofest. But we have Carnaval! And Honey Soundsystem! And Paradise Garage tributes! And so much more.

So let’s get to Memorialing! (Click the names below for more info.) Here’s our theme song, duh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBXu-iY7cw

>> FRIDAY

PARADISE GARAGE TRIBUTE
The great Odyssey after-hours crew calls down the spirits of true house and disco in this tribute to DJ Larry Levan and his epochal dance floor. Eight hours of deep dance madness, with incredible DJs Robin Simmons, Eli Escobar, Bus Station John, Steve Fabus, and Stanley Frank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnAatmJlgpA
Fri/23, Midnight-8am, $10, Beatbox, SF.

HEIDI
Love this classic Canadian mistress of banging’ house. Her Jackathon parties are true, well, jackathons. Get into her. With Kadeejah Streets, DJ M3, and Sharon Buck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsGwBnLWi4o
Fri/23, 9:30-3am, $15-$20, Monarch, SF.

GIORGIO’S JUNKSHOP GLAM DISCOTHEQUE
Finally, a proper night of 70s glam dance floor STOMPERS and Bubblegum KILLERS.” And with our patron DJ saint of all things dark and glamorous, Omar, at the helm, you know you’re going to hear some things. And stomp like a glitter-strewing monster to them! With Jason Duncan aka Medium Rare, Jodie Yagi Stridsberg, Jeff Glave, and Deedee Robbins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZYs_uogUwk
Fri/23, 10pm, $3-$5, The Knockout, SF.

ANTWON
Aw, Antwon — our favorite cuddly ex-pat SF rapper. He’ll tear up the 120 Minutes based goth party for sure. With DJs Santa Muerte and Chauncey CC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXmo0zsG3q0
Fri/23, 10pm-2am, $10-$15, Elbo Room, SF.

SILENT SERVANT
The current king of dark ‘n sexy industrial grooves comes up from LA to move the body. He’s joined by live dub-techno kid Austin Cesear for the always smoking Icee Hot party.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JLVGGep0U
Fri/23, 10pm-4am, $5-$10 (free before 10:30pm!), Public Works, SF.

>> SATURDAY

DAVID HARNESS
Our master of soulful house takes us on another all-night journey into the deep and up to the stars. His last marathon session broke Mighty into a serious sweat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDLEGTFP02M
Sat/24, 10pm-4am, $15 (free before midnight with RSVP at link above), Mighty, SF.

CLUB 1994
The original ’90s dance party for cool kids, playing “the best and worst” of that churning decade, returns to render us Clueless the next morning. How did we get here, 20 years later? Who cares, let’s party. With Jeffrey Paradise, Ava Berlin, Vin Sol, and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KL9mRus19o
Sat/24, 10pm-2am, $10-$20. Rickshaw Stop, SF.

>> SUNDAY

SUNSET + STOMPY
Oh dear — this is the final blowout for these two venerable party crews at Cafe Cocomo, slated for condofication demolition. You can bet it will be amazing (as all S+S parties are), with legendary live disco-house players Metro Area and a host of smiling, stomping people. All day! Big patio! BBQ till 8pm!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39We6ml2oY4
Sun/25, 2pm-2am, $20, Cafe Cocomo, SF.

DR. ISRAEL
Ace of all dancehall/dub parties, 18-year-old Dub Mission, brings in this incredible live, revolutionary dub artist from Brooklyn to set minds, hearts, and feet a-throbbin’. With Kush Arora and DJ Sep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbrt1oLjyOE
Sun/25, 9pm-2am, $8-$11, Elbo Room, SF.

HONEY SOUNDSYSTEM
That fearsome foursome of sticky-sweet queer action, Honey Soundsystem, hits the decks all night to transform the dance floor into a moist hole of glory. OK, that sounded gross. Just go and have a blast with hundreds of other really cute gays etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Ks0O_380k
Sun/25, 10pm-4am, $15-$20, Beatbox, SF.

Domo arigato

Michael Redmond

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May 20, 2014

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marcia@sfbg.com

JUST TRY TO KEEP UP WITH ALL OF THIS

Sushi lovers in search of great new spots, prick up their ears: Now accepting reservations is Kusakabe (584 Washington, SF. www.kusakabe-sf.com), a sushi restaurant from Mitsunori “Nori” Kusakabe — he was previously gaining quite the fan club while at Sushi Ran. His omakase (chef’s selection) menu will be $95 and features a lot of sushi, including some ancient styles, extending beyond the more common Edomae style we usually find here in the US. The menu takes on a kaiseki format, with themes of seasonality and harmony playing very prominent roles. You can supplement the main menu with extra dishes off the à la carte menu (I will not judge you for wanting the ikura and ankimo, I’m right there with you). Kusabe is an intimate space, with 31 seats, so reserve your spot before this place gets too busy — I have my money on that happening very soon. Open Tue–Sun 5pm–10pm.

Hayes Valley is gaining a couple more dining options, and both are spots that have locations elsewhere in the city. Throwing open the doors this week is Papito West (425A Hayes, SF. www.papitosf.com) from Jocelyn Bulow (Chez Maman) and co-owner David Alexander. It’s hermano to the Potrero Hill location, so you’ll be able to order off the taqueria part of the menu — think well-executed tacos, plus quesadillas, burritos, and more, all made with organic ingredients. But what’s new about this location is that it’ll feature a significant amount of seafood and ceviches from a raw bar. Chef Reynol Martinez whips up a crudo plate, oyster of the day (just as the sign says, it’s an “Oysteria”), and a shellfish platter with oysters, prawns, mussels, and clams, along with some seafood entrées too. You’ll hardly recognize the former Moishe’s Pippic: the room is full of light (thanks to the skylight), with windows that open to the street, plus a few outdoor tables. Continuous hours (so handy) will run Mon–Fri 11:30am–11pm, and Sat–Sun for brunch 10:30am–4pm and dinner 4pm–11pm.

Is that your sweet tooth gnawing at you? Maybe you just have an attack of afternoon munchies. Also now open in Hayes Valley, in the former Taste Tea space, is Loving Cup (535 Octavia, SF. www.lovingcupsf.com), known on Polk Street for its rice pudding and frozen yogurt that you can style with all kinds of toppings. There are also some larger tables at this location, with the intention of hosting birthday parties (or just your local club of rice pudding fanatics). Open 11am–9:30pm.

While Gashead Tavern (2351 Mission, SF. www.facebook.com/gasheadtavern) may have a bit of a menacing name (and sign), this is what happens when the two British owners (Edward Sargent and Rodger Howell of Murio’s Trophy Room on Haight Street) are seriously dedicated to their hometown soccer team, the Bristol Rovers, whose fans are called “gasheads.” So now you know. What you also need to know is that you’ll find British pub classics on the menu (fish and chips, of course, plus bangers and mash), and chef Matt Nudelman (previously of Lower Haight’s Greenburger’s) will be adding some California ingredient sourcing and seasonality to the hearty menu. There’s a full bar with simple takes on classic cocktails, plus beer and wine. The former Charanga has an eclectic look, with a huge antique mirror keeping company with midcentury chairs, and there’s a small outdoor seating area in the front of the restaurant. Opening hours are 4pm–2am for the bar and 4pm–9pm for the kitchen. Cheers, mate.

BALLIN’ ON A BUDGET

Just in case you’re looking for a new happy hour to add to your rotation, the NI Bar in the back of the new ICHI Sushi (3282 Mission, SF. www.ichisushi.com) in Bernal has happy hour specials like $1 oysters (so fresh and so clean), $6 yuzu chicken wings (so juicy and so good), a changing selection of $6 glasses of wine and sake, plus $4 pints of Sapporo. The regular bar menu will also be available. Hit it up Monday–Friday from 5:30pm–6:30pm.

Marcia Gagliardi is the founder of the weekly tablehopper e-column; subscribe for more at www.tablehopper.com. Get her app: Tablehopper’s Top Late-Night Eats. On Twitter: @tablehopper.

This Week’s Picks: May 28 – June 3, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 20, 2014

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WEDNESDAY 21

Brody Dalle

There is a serious deficit of female fierceness in punk rock at the moment. The music industry as a whole is a boys’ club, and it’s incredibly difficult for women to make a name for themselves in rock. Not only has Brody Dalle done this, she’s done it three times over, fronting beloved LA punk bands the Distillers and Spinnerette, and now as a solo artist, with her new record Diploid Love. She’s an inspiration in many ways — as a formidable frontperson, gifted musician, badass artist, and mother — and now, over 15 years since the Distillers began writing and performing, her work is tighter than ever. Diploid Love is a departure from the straightforward punk aesthetic of the Distillers and the pure rock ‘n’ roll of Spinnerette — the songs range from ballads and torch songs to angry rockers, all of them solid and heartfelt. Dalle’s versatility is impressive, but I’m happy to say that through it all she manages to keep her trademarked sonic sneer that made us fall in love with her to begin with. (Haley Zaremba)

$14, 8pm

Slim’s

333 11th St, SF

(415) 255-0333

www.slimspresents.com

‘Milk’

On May 21, 1979, Dan White was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to just seven years in jail for assassinating Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Thirty-five years ago today, the city took to the streets in outrage over the lenient sentence of a murderer. The White Night riots began with a march down Castro Street, continued into violent protests at City Hall and finished with police retaliation, tear gas, vandalization, and injury. Needless to say, Harvey Milk lived on as a hero of the gay rights movement in San Francisco and around the country. In honor of this anniversary, the Castro Theatre is celebrating Milk’s legacy with a special screening of Gus Van Sant’s Academy Award-winning Milk, starring Sean Penn as our favorite gay rights activist. The film chronicles the last eight years of Milk’s life, and how he changed this city for the better. (Laura B. Childs)

5:30pm and 8pm, $11

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

(415) 621-6350

www.castrotheatre.com

THURSDAY 22

The Acro-Cats

If you attended either the Roxie’s or Oakland’s cat video festival a couple weeks ago and have been in feline withdrawal ever since, have no fear — the cat circus is here. Yes, it’s the Acro-Cats, an all-kitty circus troupe, complete with a cat rock band, that’s touring the country. Feats of derring-do will include cats jumping through hoops, cats jumping on tightropes, cats riding on skateboards, cats balancing on balls…you get the idea. They also arrive in a “Cat Car.” Founder Samantha Martin has taken in over a dozen stray or orphaned cats and found homes for 130 more in her lifetime; a percentage of ticket sales will go to kitty rescue programs. Sounds like a purrr-fect evening to me. (Emma Silvers)

Through Sun/25, 8:30pm, $24

The Southside Theatre at Fort Mason Center, SF

www.circuscats.com

Black Flag

Legendary punk band Black Flag blazed the path for underground music in the United States during the 1970s and ’80s with its rigorous work ethic, groundbreaking recordings, and relentless touring that built a network and foundation for independent artists that still exists today. Recently resurrected by Greg Ginn, the founder-guitarist-primary songwriter and sole continuous member, the band released its first new record in nearly two decades last year, and is once again hitting the road and ripping through the new tunes along with old favorites like “TV Party,” “Six Pack” and “Rise Above.” (Sean McCourt)

With HOR, Cinema Cinema and Violence Creeps

8pm, $20-$25

Brick and Mortar Music Hall

1710 Mission, SF

(415) 800-8782

www.brickandmortarmusic.com

Rock ‘n’ roll history: ‘American Jukebox’

“Plug into this jukebox and see the face and figures behind the greatest American Music,” says the co-founder of City Lights Bookstore, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, about American Jukebox. For Christopher Felver’s newest photography book, 240 photographs from tours and encounters with musicians over the past 25 years have been compiled into a photographic journey chronicling the heritage of American music and capturing its lively spirit. Scattered between playlists, autographed lyrics, record sleeves, and anecdotes are portraits of musicians caught in action on stage or posed under Felver’s lens. From Doc Watson to John Cage and Sonny Rollins to Patti Smith, American Jukebox celebrates the vitality of the music industry and its rich history. The photographer will appear in person to read and sign books. (Childs)

7pm, free

Books Inc. Bookstore Opera Plaza

601 Van Ness, SF

(415) 776-1111

www.booksinc.net

FRIDAY 23

The Avengers

One of the best bands to come out of the San Francisco punk scene in the late 1970s, the Avengers mixed impassioned politics and social commentary into their potent blend of dynamic and invigorated music. Fronted by singer Penelope Houston, they secured themselves a place in history when they opened for the Sex Pistols’ final gig at Winterland in January of ’78 and threatened to steal the show. Though they lasted only a couple of years before they broke up, the group made a lasting impression — and now, 35 years later, Houston and original guitarist Greg Ingraham are back and better than ever. (McCourt)

With Kicker and California

9pm, $15

The Chapel

777 Valencia, SF

(415) 551-5157

www.thechapelsf.com

Rocketship

They might not have ever achieved widespread mainstream success, but the Sacramento-based band Rocketship had enough of a devoted following in the ’90s that news of their reunion for this year’s Popfest caused more than a little ripple of excitement among indie-pop lovers. This Slumberland Records showcase, part of the little indie-fest-that-could’s special weekend of bringing fuzz- and grunge-pop favorites from the ’90s and aughts back together, has a pretty stellar lineup from start to finish — you’re sure to see some cardigan-sporting superfans out in full force. (Emma Silvers)

With The Mantles, Bouracer, and The Softies

8pm, $18-$20

Rickshaw Stop

155 Fell, Sf

www.rickshawstop.com

SATURDAY 24

“The Hop”

Looking for a blast from the past party for this holiday weekend? Then check out Handsome Hawk Valentine’s “The Hop,” which will feature rockabilly bands including guitar slinger extraordinaire Deke Dickerson and his Ecco-Fonics and Kay Marie, along with Sin Sisters Burlesque. Slick back that pomp or put on those stilettos and get gone — but if you don’t have time before you get there, don’t worry: You can get in on some free retro hairstyling and photos, and then hoot and holler for the Bettie Page Clothing “Rockabilly Prom King and Queen” contest before you dance the night away. (McCourt)

9pm, $12

Elbo Room

647 Valencia, SF

(415) 552-7788

www.elbo.com

International Beer Festival

In the 30 years since the first International Beer Festival, a lot has changed. It all began with a selection of five beers (Pabst being one of the highlights) to now over 100 international and local craft brewers. Expect local brews from SF staples and Bay Area bites from local gems like the O-inducing Pizza Orgasmica. For over three decades, this beer festival has served as the perfect excuse to drink for a good cause — two birds, one stone — since the festival is entirely organized and staffed by parents of Telegraph Hill Cooperative Nursery School students. The proceeds are donated to Tel-Hi’s preschool, which will fund the school’s programs for the entire year. Now that’s drinking responsibly. (Childs)

7pm, $75

Festival Pavilion

Fort Mason Center, SF

www.sfbeerfest.com

SUNDAY 25

‘Grease’ Sing-A-Long

Whether you’re more of a fast-talkin’, gum-smackin’ Pink Lady or a dead ringer for Olivia Newton-John’s good girl Sandy, your stylistic choices will be welcome at this Castro Theatre tradition. Get ready for “Summer Lovin’,” “Greased Lightnin’,” “Beauty School Dropout,” and boatloads more overt sexual innuendo — a lot of which sounds pretty damn un-PC by today’s standards (“Tell me more, tell me more, did she put up a fight? Wait, what?!”) — than you probably noticed when you and your friends were all obsessed with this movie and crushing hard on John Travolta back at theater camp. The good news: Frankie Avalon was a teen-dream idol for a reason, Stockard Channing’s Rizzo is still the coolest of them all, and your hair goop is safe here. (Silvers)

2:30pm and 7pm, $16

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

(415) 621-6350

www.castrotheatre.com

MONDAY 26

Perfect Pussy

One of the buzziest bands of 2014, frenetic Syracuse-based punk rockers Perfect Pussy didn’t need the shock-value band name to make headlines — but it hasn’t hurt. The hype around the five-piece reached a fever pitch sometime around SXSW, when it became clear that vocalist Meredith Graves’ unusually confessional, literate writing (for noise punk) and take-no-bullshit delivery translated into a seriously mind-screwing live show, music blog darlings or no. She’s also been pretty articulate about feminism in interviews. In short: probably not a flash in the pan, and well worth seeing live. (Silvers)

With Potty Mouth, Wild Moth, Crabapple

8pm, $10-$12, all ages

Rickshaw Stop 155 Fell, SF

www.rickshawstop.com

The Guardian listings deadline is two weeks prior to our Wednesday publication date. To submit an item for consideration, please include the title of the event, a brief description of the event, date and time, venue name, street address (listing cross streets only isn’t sufficient), city, telephone number readers can call for more information, telephone number for media, and admission costs. Send information to Listings, the Guardian, 225 Bush, 17th Flr., SF, CA 94105; or e-mail (paste press release into e-mail body — no attachments, please) to listings@sfbg.com. Digital photos may be submitted in jpeg format; the image must be at least 240 dpi and four inches by six inches in size. We regret we cannot accept listings over the phone.

Rep Clock: May 21 – 27, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 20, 2014

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Schedules are for Wed/21-Tue/27 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.

ANSWER COALITION 2969 Mission, SF; www.answersf.org. $5-10. The Trials of Muhammad Ali (Siegel, 2013), Wed, 7.

ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS 992 Valencia, SF; www.atasite.org. $4-7. “Periwinkle Cinema:” Fixed: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement (Brashear, 2013) with “Prefixed: Cold Hard Facts” (Lamm, 2014), Wed, 8. “CCSF’s Directing Student Showcase,” Thu, 7. “Other Cinema:” “Live A/V Action” with Michael Gendreau, Sat, 8:30.

BALBOA THEATRE 3630 Balboa, SF; cinemasf.com/balboa. $7.50-10. “Popcorn Palace:” Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Columbus, 2001), Sat, 10am. Matinee for kids.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-11. Milk (Van Sant, 2008), Wed, 5:30, 8. Grease (Kleiser, 1978), presented sing-along style, Fri-Mon, 7 (also Sat-Mon, 2:30). This event, $10-16; advance tickets at www.ticketweb.com.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.50-$10.75. Palo Alto (Coppola, 2013), Wed-Thu, call for times. Ida (Pawlikowski, 2013), May 23-29, call for times.

CLAY 2261 Fillmore, SF; www.landmarktheatres.com. $10. “Midnight Movies:” Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Spielberg, 1984), Fri-Sun, midnight.

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-11. Documented: A Film By An Undocumented American (Vargas, 2013), Wed-Thu, 7, 9. “I Wake Up Dreaming 2014: Dark Treasures from the Warner Archive:” •Experiment Alcatraz (Powell, 1953), Wed, 6:40, 9:45, and Split Second (Cahn, 1950), Wed, 8; •Death in Small Doses (Newman, 1957), Thu, 6:15, 9:45, and Highway 301 (Stone, 1950), Thu, 8; •Al Capone (Wilson, 1959), Fri, 6, 10:15, and The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (Boetticher, 1960), Fri, 8:15; •Miracles for Sale (Browning, 1939), Sat, 1:30; Grand Central Murder (Simon, 1942), Sat, 2:50; Bunco Squad (Leeds, 1950), Sat, 4:20; •Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Lang, 1956), Sat, 6, 9:50, and While the City Sleeps (Lang, 1956), Sat, 7:45; •The Hypnotic Eye (Blair, 1960), Sun, 1:30, and Two on a Guillotine (Conrad, 1965), Sun, 3; •The Couch (Crump, 1962), Sun, 5:30, 10, and Brainstorm (Conrad, 1965), Sun, 7:45. Breastmilk (Ben-Ari, 2014), May 23-29, call for times. Frequencies (Fischer, 2013), Mon, 7, 9. Looking for Johnny: The Legend of Johnny Thunders (Garcia, 2014), Tue, 7:15, 9:30.

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. $8-10. “Astonishing Animation: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli:” Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata, 1988), Thu, 7:30 and Sat, 5:30; Only Yesterday (Takahata, 1991), Sat, 7:30 and Sun, 3:30; Howl’s Moving Castle (Miyazaki, 2005), Sun, 1. *

Theater Listings: May 21 – 27, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 20, 2014

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Stage listings are compiled by Guardian staff. Performance times may change; call venues to confirm. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, and Nicole Gluckstern. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com.

THEATER

OPENING

36 Stories by Sam Shepard Z Below, 470 Florida, SF; www.36stories.org. $35-55. Previews Wed/21-Thu/22, 7pm; Fri/23, 8pm. Opens Sat/24, 8pm and Sun/25, 7pm. Runs Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through June 22. Word for Word performs director Amy Kossow’s original adaptation of Shepard’s poetry and fiction.

BAY AREA

Daylighting: The Berkeley Stories Project Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. $20-35. Previews Wed/21-Sat/24, 8pm; Sun/25, 5pm; May 28-29, 7pm. Opens May 30, 8pm. Runs Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm (June 22, show at 2pm). Through June 22. Shotgun Players present Dan Wolf’s new play inspired by real-life tales from Berkeley residents past and present.

“Fringe of Marin” Angelico Concert Hall, Dominican University, 20 Olive, San Rafael; www.fringeofmarin.com. $10-20. Schedule varies; runs May 23-June 1. Fringe of Marin celebrates its 33rd season with 11 original one-act plays presented in two programs.

ONGOING

“Best of PlayGround 18” Thick House, 1695 18th St, SF; www.playground-sf.org. $22-55 (all-fest pass, $60-75). Thu/22-Sat/24, 8pm; Sun/25, 7pm. Short plays and musicals by Bay Area writers.

Chasing Mehserle Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission, SF; chasingmehserle.brownpapertickets.com. $25. Thu/22-Sat/24, 8pm. Also May 29-31, 8pm, $15-25, Z Space, 450 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. Intersection for the Arts, Campo Santo, and the Living Word Project present Chinaka Hodge’s performance piece about Oakland in the aftermath of the Oscar Grant killing.

Communiqué N°10 Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. $10-50. Thu/22, 7:30; Fri/23-Sat/24, 8pm (also Sat/24, 2pm); Sun/25, 5pm. Amid a fractious band of young rebels from the urban underclass and ongoing rioting in the streets, a young immigrant named Hassan (Damien Seperi) searches for the man who killed his 16-year-old brother. French playwright Samuel Gallet’s Communiqué N°10 draws immediate inspiration from the Paris riots of 2005, but the tinderbox of extreme inequality and anti-immigrant policies are hardly a French monopoly (indeed, the standoff last year between immigrant rights demonstrators and French police following the deportation of a Roma student, snatched off a school bus in front of her classmates, sounds all too familiar to Americans living through Obama’s unprecedented wave of deportations and incarcerations of undocumented people and the popular protest rising against it). Cutting Ball Theater’s US premiere of Gallet’s play, however, strains after its subject, timely though it is. Presented in association with Golden Thread Productions as part of the second biennial Des Voix&ldots; festival of new French plays and cinema, director and translator Rob Melrose’s production sets the action on a spare set (designed by Michael Locher) ringed by a two-tier framework of metal piping, about which some of the seven-member cast climb and roost. But the sparse setting is in fact overwhelmed with altogether too much stage business, including Emma Jaster’s somewhat labored choreography and Cliff Caruthers’ often distracting soundscape, which only detracts from the already difficult-to-follow plot points and further undermines an ensemble that never really coheres. Add to this contrived dialogue such as Hassan’s retort to having his picture snapped by love-interest Marlene (Maura Halloran) — “Images. We never know what purposes they serve in the end” — and what should be a tense and dynamic drama instead becomes a dreary, vaguely didactic ball of confusion. (Avila)

“DIVAfest” Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.divafest.info. Prices and showtimes vary. Through Sat/24. This 13th annual festival celebrates the work of women artists, with performances including the premiere of Rat Girl (adapted from the memoir by rocker Kristin Hersh), Margery Fairchild’s ballet comedy The Pas De Quatre, a reading by acclaimed poet Diane di Prima, and more.

Dracula Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; sfdracula.blogspot.com. $35. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through May 31. Kellerson Productions presents a new adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic.

Feisty Old Jew Marsh San Francisco Main Stage, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $25-100. Sat-Sun, 5pm. Extended through July 13. Charlie Varon performs his latest solo show, a fictional comedy about “a 20th century man living in a 21st century city.”

Foodies! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.foodiesthemusical.com. $32-34. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. AWAT Productions presents Morris Bobrow’s musical comedy revue all about food.

The Homosexuals New Conservatory Theatre Center, Decker Theatre, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Previews Wed/21 and Fri/23, 8pm. Opens Sat/24, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through June 28. New Conservatory Theatre Center performs Philip Dawkins’ play about a young man struggling with his identity amid a new group of friends.

Lovebirds Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $20-100. Fri, 8pm; Sat, 8:30pm. Through May 31. Award-winning solo theater artist Marga Gomez brings her hit comedy back for a limited run before taking it to New York in June.

Pearls Over Shanghai Hypnodrome Theatre, 575 10th St, SF; www.thrillpeddlers.com. $30-35. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Extended through June 28. Five years ago, Thrillpeddlers breathed new life into a glitter-dusted piece of Sixties flotsam, beautifully reimagining the Cockettes’ raunchy mock-operetta Pearls Over Shanghai (in collaboration with several surviving members of San Francisco’s storied acid-drag troupe) and running it for a whopping 22 months. Written by Cockette Link Martin as a carefree interpretation of a 1926 Broadway play, the baldly stereotyped Shanghai Gesture, it was the perfectly lurid vehicle for irreverence in all directions. It’s back in this revival, once again helmed by artistic director Russell Blackwood with musical direction by Cockette and local favorite Scrumbly Koldewyn. But despite the frisson of featuring some original-original cast members — including “Sweet Pam” Tent (who with Koldewyn also contributes some new dialogue) and Rumi Missabu (regally reprising the role of Madam Gin Sling) — there’s less fire the second time around as the production straddles the line between carefully slick and appropriately sloppy. Nevertheless, there are some fine musical numbers and moments throughout. Among these, Zelda Koznofsky, Birdie-Bob Watt, and Jesse Cortez consistently hit high notes as the singing Andrews Sisters-like trio of Americans thrown into white slavery; Bonni Suval’s Lottie Wu is a fierce vixen; and Noah Haydon (as the sultry Petrushka) is a class act. Koldewyn’s musical direction and piano accompaniment, meanwhile, provide strong and sure momentum as well as exquisite atmosphere. (Avila)

Romeo and Juliet Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason, Ste 601, SF; www.eventbrite.com. $20. Thu/22-Sat/24, 8pm (also Sat/24, 3pm). Ninjaz of Drama performs Shakespeare’s tragic romance.

Seminar San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post, Second Flr, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. $20-100. Tue-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm); June 1 and 8, 2pm. Through June 14. San Francisco Playhouse performs Theresa Rebeck’s biting comedy.

Shit & Champagne Rebel, 1772 Market, SF; shitandchampagne.eventbrite.com. $25. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. D’Arcy Drollinger is Champagne White, bodacious blond innocent with a wicked left hook in this cross-dressing ’70s-style white-sploitation flick, played out live on Rebel’s intimate but action-packed barroom stage. Written by Drollinger and co-directed with Laurie Bushman (with high-flying choreography by John Paolillo, Drollinger, and Matthew Martin), this high-octane camp send-up of a favored formula comes dependably stocked with stock characters and delightfully protracted by a convoluted plot (involving, among other things, a certain street drug that’s triggered an epidemic of poopy pants) — all of it played to the hilt by an excellent cast that includes Martin as Dixie Stampede, an evil corporate dominatrix at the head of some sinister front for world domination called Mal*Wart; Alex Brown as Detective Jack Hammer, rough-hewn cop on the case and ambivalent love interest; Rotimi Agbabiaka as Sergio, gay Puerto Rican impresario and confidante; Steven Lemay as Brandy, high-end calf model and Champagne’s (much) beloved roommate; and Nancy French as Rod, Champagne’s doomed fiancé. Sprawling often literally across two buxom acts, the show maintains admirable consistency: The energy never flags and the brow stays decidedly low. (Avila)

Sleeping Cutie: A Fractured Fairy Tale Musical Thick House, 1695 18th St, SF; sleepingcutiemusical.tix.com. $30-40. Wed/21, 8pm. Off a Cliff Productions and PlayGround present Diane Sampson and Doug Katsaros’ world-premiere musical.

The Speakeasy Undisclosed location (ticket buyers receive a text with directions), SF; www.thespeakeasysf.com. $65-100 (gambling chips, $7-10 extra; after-hours admission, $10). New schedule: Wed-Sat, 7:30, 7:40, 7:50, 8pm, and 9pm admittance times. Extended through June 21. Boxcar Theater’s most ambitious project to date is also one of the more involved and impressively orchestrated theatrical experiences on any Bay Area stage just now. An immersive time-tripping environmental work, The Speakeasy takes place in an “undisclosed location” (in fact, a wonderfully redesigned version of the company’s Hyde Street theater complex) amid a period-specific cocktail lounge, cabaret, and gambling den inhabited by dozens of Prohibition-era characters and scenarios that unfold around an audience ultimately invited to wander around at will. At one level, this is an invitation to pure dress-up social entertainment. But there are artistic aims here too. Intentionally designed (by co-director and creator Nick A. Olivero with co-director Peter Ruocco) as a fractured super-narrative — in which audiences perceive snatches of overheard stories rather than complete arcs, and can follow those of their own choosing — there’s a way the piece becomes specifically and ever more subtly about time itself. This is most pointedly demonstrated in the opening vignettes in the cocktail lounge, where even the ticking of Joe’s Clock Shop (the “cover” storefront for the illicit 1920s den inside) can be heard underscoring conversations (deeply ironic in historical hindsight) about war, loss, and regained hope for the future. For a San Francisco currently gripped by a kind of historical double-recurrence of the roaring Twenties and dire Thirties at once, The Speakeasy is not a bad place to sit and ponder the simulacra of our elusive moment. (Avila)

“Des Voix: Found in Translation Biennial 2014” Various venues, SF; www.desvoixfestival.com. Prices vary. Through Sun/25. In addition to Communiqué N°10 (listed above), this festival of contemporary French playwrights and cinema includes four new play translations, a “New Play Nightclub,” film screenings, and more. Presented by Playwrights Foundation, Tides Theatre, Cutting Ball Theater, French International School, and the French Consulate of San Francisco.

The World’s Funniest Bubble Show Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $8-11. Sun/25, 11am. The popular, kid-friendly show by Louis Pearl (aka “The Amazing Bubble Man”) returns to the Marsh.

BAY AREA

The Color Purple Hillbarn Theatre, 1285 East Hillsdale, Foster City; www.hillbarntheatre.org. $23-38. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through June 1. Hillbarn Theatre closes its 73rd season with the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic novel.

The Crazed Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; www.centralworks.org. $15-28. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through June 23. Central Works performs Sally Dawidoff’s play, based on Ha Jin’s novel about coming of age in Communist China.

Geezer Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. Wed/21, 8pm; Sat/24, 3pm. Geoff Hoyle moves his hit comedy about aging to the East Bay.

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $14.50-89. Opens Wed/21, 7:30pm. Runs Tue, Thu-Sat, 7:30pm (also May 29, June 26, and all Saturdays in June, 2pm); Wed and Sun, 7pm (also Sun, 2pm). Through June 29. Berkeley Rep performs the West Coast premiere of Tony Kushner’s latest play.

The Letters Harry’s UpStage, Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison, Berk; www.auroratheatre.org. $28-32. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through June 1. American playwright John W. Lowell’s The Letters harkens back to Stalinist days and some unspecified ministry, where a dutiful staff goes about censoring the personal and openly homoerotic correspondence of an iconic Russian composer (Tchaikovsky). Directed by Mark Jackson for Aurora Theater’s new upstairs black box, the two-hander unfolds in the small but tidy and dignified office belonging to the ministry’s director (an imposing Michael Ray Wisely). He has summoned one of his employees, a widow named Anna (a taut Beth Wilmurt), for reasons not immediately clear to her or us. A careful dance around a minefield of protocol, sexual innuendo, and hidden agendas ensues, as a dangerous and deadly scandal surrounding the aforementioned letters makes itself felt. Given the Ukraine crisis, the ramping up of Cold War II, and Russia’s increasing authoritarianism — including its new law against homosexual “propagandizing” in the cultural realm, and a Ministry of Culture vowing to withhold funding from art lacking in “spiritual or moral content” — it’s all a remarkably timely little time warp. And Lowell’s story is cleverly crafted for the most part. Unfortunately, the production’s two capable actors have a hard time conveying a lifelike (if however strained) relationship or the perspiration-inducing tension the drama purports to carry. At the same time, the drama’s dialogue, at least as played here, can stretch the bounds of verisimilitude by veering from flinty, cagey ducks and jabs to outright insubordination, sarcasm, and ineffectual blustering — the latter outbursts seeming to leave the pressure pot of the Great Terror far behind. It’s still a long way from Tom and Jerry, but as a cat and mouse game the stakes, and the arc of the story, feel more fantastical then pressingly contemporary. (Avila)

Mutt: Let’s All Talk About Race La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, Berk; www.impacttheatre.com. $10-20. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through June 8. Impact Theatre and Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company present the world premiere of Christopher Chen’s political satire.

Nantucket Marsh Berkeley MainStage, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $25-100 (all tickets include a picnic dinner). Thu and Sat, 7pm. Through June 14. Acclaimed solo performer Mark Kenward presents his “haunting yet hilarious” autobiographical show about growing up on Nantucket.

Not a Genuine Black Man Osher Studio, 2055 Center, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $30-45. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through May 31. Brian Copeland brings his acclaimed, long-running solo show to Berkeley Rep for a 10th anniversary limited run.

Other Desert Cities Barn Theatre, 30 Sir Francis Drake, Ross; www.rossvalleyplayers.com. $10-26. Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through June 15. Ross Valley Players perform Jon Robin Baitz’s Pultizer-nominated drama about a tense family holiday.

“Pear Slices” Pear Avenue Theatre, 1220 Pear, Mtn View; www.thepear.org. $10-35. Thu/22-Sat/24, 8pm; Sun/25, 2pm. Original short plays from the Pear Playwrights Guild.

South Pacific Cushing Memorial Amphitheater, 801 Panoramic Hwy, Mill Valley; www.mountainplay.org. $20-60. Sun and June 7, 2pm (arrive one hour prior to showtime). Through June 15. Mountain Play Association performs the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; www.centerrep.org. $37-65. Wed, 7:30pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm (also June 7, 14, 21, 2:30pm); Sun, 2:30pm. Through June 21. Center REP performs the Tony-winning musical by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

Alonzo King LINES Ballet Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, 700 Howard, SF; www.linesballet.org. Wed/21, 9pm (gala, 5:30pm; afterparty, 10pm); Thu/22, 7:30pm; Fri/23-Sat/24, 8pm (also Sat/24, 2pm); Sun/25, 5pm. $20-65. The company’s spring season includes a world premiere and a retrospective of three celebrated works.

“The Amazing Acro-Cats” Fort Mason Center, Southside Theater, Marina at Laguna, SF; www.circuscats.com. Thu/22-Sat/24 and May 29-31, 8:30pm; Sun/25 and June 1, 2 and 5pm. $24. Samantha Martin and her performing cat troupe, including “the only cat band in existence” (with a chicken on tambourine), take the stage. As its press release insists, “Yes, this is real!”

“Arab Love Arab Freedom” Stage Werx, 446 Valencia, SF; www.lisalive.net. Thu/22, 7:30pm. $10-25. Lisa Kotecki performs her solo show as part of the United States of Asian American Festival 2014.

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason Center, SF; www.improv.org. $20. “Director’s Cut,” Fri/23, 8pm; “The Good, The Bad, and the Improvised,” Sat/24, 8pm.

BrickaBrack Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF; www.dancemission.com. Fri/23-Sat/24, 8pm; Sun/25, 7pm. $25-45. The dance-theater company performs never fall so heavily again.

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sun/25, June 17, 22, and 29, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

“Dash: Improv in a Flash” Un-Scripted Theater Company, 533 Sutter, Second Flr, SF; www.un-scripted.com. Sat, 10pm. $15. Ongoing through Aug 30. A late-night, free-form improv show with Un-Scripted Theater Company.

“Drag Comedy Night” Pa’ina Lounge, 1865 Post, SF; facebook.com/funnynative. Sun/25, 7pm. $10. Hella Gay Comedy presents Victor Ocho, Chile Con Consuela, Lady Camilla Borles, and more, with host Miles Long.

“Lady Bunny in Clowns Syndrome” Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; ladybunny.eventbrite.com. Sat/24, 8 and 10pm; Sun/25, 7 and 9pm. $25. Drag superstar Lady Bunny performs an all-new musical show.

“Magic at the Rex” Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; www.magicattherex.com. Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $25. Magic and mystery with Adam Sachs and mentalist Sebastian Boswell III.

“Out of Line Improv” Stage Werx, 446 Valencia, SF; outoflineimprov.brownpapertickets.com. Sat, 10:30pm. $12. Ongoing. A new, completely improvised show every week.

“San Francisco Comedy College” Purple Onion at Kells, 530 Jackson, SF; www.purpleonionatkells.com. $5-10. “New Talent Show,” Wed-Thu, 7. Ongoing. “The Cellar Dwellers,” stand-up comedy, Wed-Thu, 8:15pm and Fri-Sat, 7:30pm. Ongoing.

“17th Annual Dionysian Festival” Mary Sano School of Duncan Dancing, 245 Fifth St, Studio 314, SF; www.duncandance.org. Sat/24, 8pm; Sun/25, 5pm. $20. Performance with live music celebrating the 137th anniversary of modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan’s birth.

“Threepenny Opera” Phoenix Annex Theater, 414 Mason, Ste 406, SF; www.waffleopera.com. Sun/25 and June 1, 2pm; May 31, 7:30pm. $15-25. Waffle Opera performs the Weill and Brecht classic.

“Tro Ve Nuoc” Mission Cultural Center, 2868 Mission, SF; www.trovenuoc.bpt.me. Fri/23, 6 and 8pm. $7-20. A performance about two Vietnamese American women in search of home in the Diaspora, presented as part of the United States of Asian American Festival 2014.

“Yerba Buena Gardens Festival” Yerba Buena Gardens, 760 Howard, SF; www.ybgfestival.org. Free. Through Oct 26. This week: SFSU Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble, Wed/21, 6-8pm; Babá Ken Okulolo and Kotoja, Sun/25, 1-2:30pm; “Poetic Tuesday,” Tue/27, 12:30-1:30pm.

BAY AREA

“Bare Bones” Western Sky Studio, 2525 Eighth St, Berk; www.paufvedance.org. Sat/24, 7:30pm. $20. Randee Paufve and Paufve Dance present this low-tech performance series, featuring works by ahdanco, Angela Demmel and Dancers, Blind Tiger Society, and others.

“Café Flamenco: Dancers of La Traviata” Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding, Alameda; www.rhythmix.org. Sun/25, 7pm. $10-20. Dynamic flamenco choreographed by Yaelisa for the SF Opera’s upcoming performance of La Traviata.

Tommy Davidson Tommy T’s, 5104 Hopyard, Pleasanton; www.tommyts.com. Thu/22-Fri/23, 7:30pm (also Fri/23, 10:15pm); Sat/24, 7 and 9:45pm. $35. The comedian performs.

“MarshJam Improv Comedy Show” Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. Fri, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Improv comedy with local legends and drop-in guests. *

Wear no evil

Michael Redmond

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May 20, 2014

2

arts@sfbg.com

CULTURE

Do you know where your clothes come from: Bangladesh? China? Possibly. Clothes are a commodity whose origins are often taken for granted. Fashion followers glamorize garments as collectible items, while others value comfort above all. In most cases, customers will size up a garment’s price or style first, rather than considering where or how it was manufactured.

But consider this: The production end of the apparel industry impacts the world significantly. The fashion industry employs one-sixth of the world’s population. An estimated 250 million children work in sweatshops. The lack of regulation results in unfair labor and pollution around the world. It is the second most polluting industry, second only to oil. Due to the toxic waste discharge in China, you can tell what colors are in season by looking at the rivers. The deadliest garment-factory accident in history, the Bangladesh factory collapse last year, killed 1,129 workers and injured twice as many.

The fact of the matter is, if you care about where your craft beer came from, whether your apple is organic, or if your latte contains fair-trade coffee, you need to be applying that same consciousness to your clothes. Read on for ways to whip your fashion karma into shape.

Click the image above to see our flowchart, “So you want to shop sustainably…”

SHOP SOCIAL

Global warming isn’t going anywhere. Why not help save the world (as summers grow hotter) one T-shirt at a time? Many independent (and several mainstream) brands have partnered with nonprofits to support the environment. Eco-friendly SF-based brand Amour Vert (www.amourvert.com) developed the Plant A T(r)EE program, in which a tree is planted in the US with each T-shirt purchase. According to the company, 15,000 have taken root so far, with plans to reach 100,000 by 2015. Other eco-conscious brands, including Alternative Apparel (www.alternativeapparel.com), support the workers behind the products. Though the company sources its materials in Peru, it works to ensure fair labor practices. Both of these brands design fashionable apparel with organic cotton and other natural, sustainable fabrics — which can result in higher prices. But if your clothing budget allows, it pays to focus on quality, not quantity.

SHOP SECONDHAND

Thrift shopping is probably the easiest and cheapest way to reduce your carbon footprint. The average American throws out 68 pounds of textiles every year. By buying secondhand, you’re saving water and energy that would otherwise be used to manufacture new products, not to mention keeping textile waste out of landfills — and curating your own unique style in the process.

When you clean out your closet, donate your duds to a local thrift store instead of discarding them. Somewhere, there’s a vintage shopper who will treasure that sparkly mini-dress you wore one long-ago New Year’s Eve.

SHOP LOCAL

Why haunt the mall when San Francisco has a plethora of homegrown makers? Eco-friendly apparel defies stereotypes (it’s not just hemp dresses anymore) thanks to independent, multi-brand shops like the Mission District’s Gravel & Gold (www.gravelandgold.com) and new Hayes Valley spot Gather (www.gathersf.com), both of which thoughtfully select products to create a connection with the craftspeople behind the designs. Progressive street style brands like San Franpsycho (www.sanfranpsycho.com) and Oaklandish (www.oaklandish.com) celebrate local love while keeping their manufacturing nearby. You can also find city blocks packed with locally made goods at craft and street fairs like the roving Urban Air Market (www.urbanairmarket.com).

But be wary. A label reading “Made in the US” does not guarantee the garment was produced under fair labor conditions. Despite labor laws, sweatshops still exist on our shores. Be an informed, aware shopper, and make sure your dollars are supporting an ethical company before you make a purchase. *

Renting isn’t sharing

Michael Redmond

-

May 20, 2014

71

steve@sfbg.com

Last week’s two-day Share conference in San Francisco came at an auspicious moment for companies that define themselves as part of the new “sharing economy,” which ranges from peer-to-peer services and products brokered online to various cooperative ventures designed to minimize resource consumption.

Most of these growing companies are part of San Francisco’s technology industry, using web-based interfaces to conduct their economic transactions. And some have been making local enemies and headlines recently by disrupting key aspects of urban life, from Airbnb impacting the housing and hotel markets to Lyft and Uber upending the taxi industry.

In fact, the biggest battle brewing at City Hall these days is over widely watched legislation by Board of Supervisors President David Chiu to regulate and legalize the short-term rentals facilitated by Airbnb and similar companies. And state agencies based in San Francisco are now working on regulations that would affect Lyft and its ilk.

So we decided to listen in as disciples of the sharing economy talked among themselves about the challenges and opportunities facing what they call the “new economy,” one that is at an important crossroads that will determine whether the interests of communities or capital guide its evolution.

CHIU DECLARES WAR

When Chiu took the stage at the Share conference, he was joining a sharing economy community that, he said he would probably be a part of today if he hadn’t gone into public service, citing his own experience with tech startups before running for supervisor.

“I believe we are becoming the capital of the sharing economy,” Chiu said, citing examples of San Francisco’s “ethos of sharing” that include the Summer of Love, Burning Man, and the fact that “we are a community that wants to foster trust among strangers to build what I think is one of the most amazing cities in the entire world. But we’re also a city that is expensive. The rent is too damn high.”

Chiu spoke proudly of San Francisco’s environmentalism and his own legislative contributions to that legacy. And he said “we are a city of innovation,” lauding the technology industry. “We understand that keeping up with the Joneses may not be the way to go,” he said. “In fact, sharing with the Joneses, I think, is the better path.”

In Chiu’s formulation, the sharing economy is the synthesis of all of these values and goals. By using computers and smartphones to facilitate the sharing of goods and services, we use less stuff and consume fewer resources, in the process opening up economic opportunities for more people.

He sounded like the most enthusiastic of sharing economy true believers, but with a couple of caveats, acknowledging how those “pesky taxes” on most of these economic transactions go unpaid, and how Airbnb and similar companies have removed apartments from the housing market for local residents.

“Shareable housing has both helped and exacerbated our housing crisis,” Chiu said, describing how he spent more than a year working on legislation that would regulate and legalize short-term housing rentals in San Francisco, where they are now considered illegal “hotel conversions” (see “Into thin air,” 8/6/13, and dozens of other Guardian stories and blog posts on the issue).

Chiu’s legislation would require Airbnb hosts to register with the city, rent out only their primary residence, and occupy that space for at least 275 days per year (which Chiu has said limits Airbnb hosts to just 90 rental nights per year, although critics dispute that interpretation).

“I thought this was a reasonable solution, but two weeks later there was a major press conference attacking it,” Chiu told Share attendees, referring to the coalition of landlord, neighborhood, labor, and affordable housing groups that have come out against the legislation, calling it a blanket rezoning of residential property around the city, pledging an initiative campaign challenging it.

“In part, this is politics. I’m in the midst of a race for the state Assembly this year, my opponent has supporters who have been protesting the Twitter headquarters, throwing rocks at Google commuter shuttles, vomiting on Yahoo buses, referring to tech workers as not real San Franciscans,” Chiu said.

Then Chiu ramped up his rhetoric, equating progressive concerns about the tax breaks and special treatment that Chiu, Mayor Ed Lee, and others have extended to tech companies in San Francisco with a war on the sharing economy and the forced deportation of its workers.

“They are calling for war on you, even though they don’t realize that what you are doing is helping to make sure we’re addressing our income inequality, we’re empowering everyday people by building community and using technology,” Chiu said. “All of you need to get involved in the political debate. You’re busy trying to change the world, but status quo interests are actively trying to ship you to Menlo Park, Oakland, and San Jose.”

In the end, Chiu did urge those starting up companies to “think early about how your paradigm meshes with existing laws and regulations,” but that tepid call for civic responsibility and good corporate citizenship did little to dull his feeding of techie exceptionalism, fearmongering, or appeals to vaguely libertarian values.

AIRBNB’S BOOSTERS

The pep rally atmosphere of the session got pumped up even more by Airbnb’s Douglas Atkin and venture capitalist Ron Conway, both of whom had nothing but glowing praise for the burgeoning industry and its customers, offering none of the caveats put forth by Chiu or the speaker who followed him, White House staffer Greg Nelson, who talked about the challenging access, equity, and regulatory issues facing the industry.

“We at Airbnb and PEERS think the sharing economy is a jolly good thing,” Atkin said in a charming British accent, presenting the sharing economy as an unstoppable and uniformly positive force that is replacing “the old economy, the last economy.”

As an advertising executive in that old economy, “I was the devil,” Atkin said. Now playing the role of savior, he spoke with an evangelical flair as he flashed Airbnb slides and videos, telling the crowd “there’s been a decentralization of wealth, control, and power” because “you can’t do this new economy without creating community.”

It was easy to forget that Atkin represents a company that Wall Street analysts have valued at $10 billion, despite having a business model that is illegal in many cities, causing some hosts to be evicted and others to evict their tenants, while the company and its investors move quickly to cash out with an initial public stock offering.

Among those who would profit handsomely from that IPO is Conway, a billionaire who already got far richer late last year from being “an early investor in Twitter,” as he described himself to the crowd after being introduced as someone who “has really led the way of connecting the tech industry to the public sector.”

Indeed, Conway spoke proudly of funding the politicians who pushed the package of tax breaks for Twitter and other technology companies that followed it into the mid-Market area, most notably Mayor Ed Lee, the biggest beneficiary of Conway’s largesse among San Francisco politicians.

Conway speaks the language of the technology sector that he’s been sponsoring with angel investments since the early days of the last technology boom, making seemingly common sense appeals that hide his conservative ideology, just as he switched his political party registration from Republican to decline-to-state when he became active in San Francisco politics (see “The Plutocrat,” 11/27/12).

But for the careful listener familiar with San Francisco political history, there were some intriguing revelations in his address that were probably lost on the average techie in attendance that morning.

For example, Conway talked about his role following up his advocacy for the Twitter tax break with behind-the-scenes work helping to craft the business tax reform measure in 2012 — which the Controller’s Office analysis found just happened to give the technology companies that Conway was invested in a substantial tax cut.

“Now all the companies enjoy this,” Conway said in reference to Twitter’s tax break, “because Prop. B was passed a year and half ago.”

He also then admitted that Airbnb owes its phenomenal growth to the widespread economic desperation triggered by the financial collapse of 2008 and an economic recovery that still hasn’t reached the average citizen struggling to cover their housing costs.

“Airbnb, for example, would not be here today if there wasn’t an economic crisis and a recession in 2008 in New York, where people had to decide to rent out a room in their house or I get foreclosed on my mortgage. It was that basic. Airbnb wouldn’t be here today if people all over New York didn’t save their mortgages and start using this product. And then by word of mouth it spread around the world because it is so convenient and so practical,” Conway said.

Conway is conservative on financial issues, but more moderate on social issues, and he talked about his advocacy work on gun control and immigration reform. Yet even on those issues, where it is almost exclusively Republicans who are blocking the changes Conway says he wants, he turns the gridlock into an anti-government argument.

“We need term limits in Congress,” the former Republican said, citing a standard conservative trope that got a big applause from the Share conference crowd.

Finally, he elevated the current struggles in San Francisco over the sharing economy into key battles that will shape the future of the new economy.

“This [Airbnb] legislation that David Chiu has proposed, which in the next few months will go to the Board of Supervisors is crucial legislation the whole country will watch,” Conway said, calling for everyone in the crowd to get involved and lobby their supervisors. “David Chiu needs help. This would not pass if it went to a vote today, it wouldn’t come close to passing. So we have to change this. We want to do on the local level what we have to do on the national level: Organize and conquer!”

ACCESS AND EQUITY

After Conway came an intriguing panel discussion about equity and environmental issues with Nikki Silvestri of Green for All, Vien Truong with the Greenlining Institute, and Adam Werbach, the former Sierra Club executive director who started the stuff-sharing company Yertle.

It was moderated by GreenBiz.com editor Joel Makower, who cited information from the previous day’s sessions about how it’s mostly middle class white people who use the sharing economy. “The reality is it’s not that inclusive,” he said, and all his guests agreed and talked about the need to broaden its benefits.

“How do you marry the economy with people?” Truong said as she discussed that challenge. And it’s an urgent need, as Werbach said while answering a question about how the sharing economy could help bring about a new kind of environmentalism aimed at producing and consuming less stuff.

“What’s wrong with the old environmentalism is we’re not achieving our mission. Climate change is what’s wrong with the old environmentalism,” he said.

Werbach cited the goal of replacing about a quarter of the things we now buy with shared goods, even though Amazon and other companies have made it easier than ever to have new products shipped around the world: “It is cheaper, faster, and easier to get something new than to get something used from right next door.”

But Silvestri said the limited participation in the sharing economy makes it difficult to see it as the solution yet, calling for the sharing economy to address access and equity issues, something that marginalized groups would respond to if it was based on true values of sharing.

“Coming from my own background, African Americans had to share because white people wasn’t giving us nothing,” she said. By that same measure, she also said that low-income people feel wary of being taken advantage of by sharing companies and customers: “When you’re in survival mode, you’re wary of people taking from you.”

That’s one reason why Silvestri said that black communities are slower to adopt sharing with strangers, whether it be their homes or cars, something that could be overcome with more personalized outreach: “If I look you in the eye, you might not come take my shit.”

She said that for all the talk at the conference about “community,” the community of strangers that makes up the sharing economy isn’t a true community, something that needs to change to realize the lofty goals that many espouse.

“The sharing economy is new enough that if we figure out this problem early then all of us can actually participate,” Silvestri said.

Werbach agreed, saying the sharing economy has great potential, but only if it makes the right moves now. “This is the beginning of a movement, but the people aren’t here yet,” he said. “We’re at the very beginning of this story.”

He defines the struggle of the moment as one between human and economic values, hoping the sharing economy’s customers will determine its values: “There is an interesting wild west movement now. We need people to do the recruiting so Wall Street doesn’t do the recruiting.”

STRAIGHT TALK

The closing plenary session at Share illustrated the divergent attitudes and goals that mark the sharing economy, in which some members feel a collective responsibility to meet important societal goals, while others seem more interested in just making money and mouthing the rhetoric of sharing.

New York University economics professor Arun Sandararajan, who runs the Collaborative Economy Project that studies and promotes the sharing economy, said it has the potential to develop in ways that will either exacerbate or reduce the income inequality that has become such a growing public policy concern.

Sandararajan expressed hopes that the sharing economy could increase the economic growth rate and lower the wealth gap by broadening access to capital and opportunities for entrepreneurship. But he also argued that the sharing economy has the potential to change the terms of the debate by giving more people access to goods and services than their incomes might otherwise allow.

“We have to go beyond measuring inequality in terms of income and wealth,” he said, offering a conception likely to appeal to the wealthy, but probably not those struggling to get by, even if they were able to get more hand-me-downs through Yerdle or odd jobs through TaskRabbit.

Others on the panel illustrated the dichotomy between do-gooders and profit-seekers more clearly, showing how broadly those in the sharing economy are trying to define it these days.

Jose Quinonez runs the nonprofit Mission Asset Fund, a nonprofit on Valencia Street that assists with peer-to-peer microlending, an amazing program that seemed to have little in common with the investor-backed companies that dominated the agenda. “I didn’t know I was part of the sharing economy until today,” he told the crowd.

In an earlier session, Quinonez called out the self-congratulatory tone by some boosters. “As we talk about the word inclusive it’s very easy to forget the people not invited to the party…We have to make sure we’re not making an exclusive sharing economy.”

Next came Denise Cheng, an academic who has been studying the sharing economy for the MIT Center for Civic Media, and she had perhaps the most poignant and insightful answer to the question the conference posed about what will best catalyze the sharing economy.

“Straight talk will catalyze the sharing economy,” Cheng said.

She discussed how the broad label of the sharing economy gets claimed by everyone from small idealists who truly want to promote the idea of sharing to self-interested corporations who use the label for political cover and really mean “renting.”

“When we say sharing economy, we actually mean a lot of things,” she said. “Companies that adopt the sharing economy label are not necessarily adopting the values of the sharing economy.”

Compounding that deception is the fact that companies like Lyft, Uber, and Airbnb are profiting from business models that are often illegal on the local level, but doing little to help drivers or hosts who get in trouble with local authorities: “When someone has to answer on the local level, it’s the providers who are on the front line.”

There was a very different tone and message that came from the subsequent guests to join the panel, who shamelessly promoted their companies and didn’t seem to take heed of Cheng’s call for straight talk.

“Sharing cars is how we can catalyze the sharing economy,” Jessica Scorpio, wearing a T-shirt of the car-sharing company she helped found, Getaround. She called car-sharing “a gateway drug to the sharing economy,” noting that car-sharing customers often go on to use other sharing economy products and services.

“Sharing cars is transforming the fundamentals of our transportation system,” Scorpio said, claiming that each shared car takes up to 32 cars off the road, a figure that doesn’t square with the body of peer-reviewed research on the subject, which places the actual number at nine to 13 cars.

Hyperbole and exaggeration are common among the biggest boosters of sharing economy companies, as are the sins of omission and misdirection — all of which are perhaps what prompted Chang’s “straight talk” prescription.

Sunil Paul, co-founder and CEO of the ridesharing company Sidecar, gave a long and detailed presentation on the supposedly ambiguous definition of “commercial transactions,” calling for what he called a “safe harbor” for sharing activities, without once mentioning the word that he was actually talking about and dancing around: taxes.

“There are certain activities that should be beyond the commercial reach of government,” Paul said, describing his clients who drive customers around the city like taxi drivers less than full time. “We need a safe harbor for sharing that protects these activities from being considered commercial.”

Paul said that Sidecar and other sharing economy companies have “blurred the line between what is personal and what is commercial,” comparing the activities his company facilitates to carpooling and arguing that people should be able to cover the annual cost of driving, say around $10,000, without it being considered a commercial activity (i.e. a taxable transaction).

“As long as you don’t make a profit from it, it’s not a commercial transaction,” Paul said, redefining the very concept of commercial.

And remember, this is a company that is already having a profound impact on the regulated taxi industry — of which Sandararajan said, “I think the taxi service as we know it will largely cease to exist in a few years” — just as other sharing economy companies steal market share from other industries, as Airbnb is doing to the hotel industry, also while avoiding taxes on those transactions.

FROM TALK TO ACTION

“One of the things we like to do in the sharing economy is talk about the sharing economy — a lot!” Jesse Biroscak, an Airbnb host and founder of BayShare, said during a session at Share entitled “Shareable Cities: From Concept to Action.”

It was the first thing I heard upon arriving at the conference, but I already knew it was true after covering this movement over the last couple years, a point that was emphasized strongly by the excited evangelism that I heard again and again over the next 24 hours.

But for all the talk that those in the so-called sharing economy do about the sharing economy, there is often a deliberate vagueness to it that tries to mask its many contradictions and paradoxes.

Its biggest proponents are anxious to go big — defined by a strange mix of idealism (for environmentalism, libertarianism, economic and social equity, and an odd and often contradictory assortment of other goals) and the desire to cash in on the new gold rush — before the opportunities slip away (thanks to competitors, government regulators, or an economic downturn).

“I’m tired of talking about it, I want to do things,” said Biroscak, a regular Airbnb host from San Francisco, without ever really defining the things he wants to do.

BayShare also seems to have a vagueness of purpose, defining itself on its slick website as “an organization whose mission is to make the Bay Area the best place on the planet for sharing. As this movement grows, BayShare will explore how city stakeholders and the sharing community can work together to help the Sharing Economy flourish in the Bay Area to benefit the city, businesses, and communities. The organization looks to be a resource for the Mayor’s Working Group on the Sharing Economy.”

But that working group, which Mayor Ed Lee announced when Treasurer Jose Cisneros was holding hearings two years ago to determine whether Airbnb and other companies should pay the city’s transient occupancy tax, never actually convened. It was simply a stall tactic that evaporated after Cisneros ruled that the tax was indeed owed.

Still, BayShare lists many of the biggest sharing economy companies among its “members,” including Airbnb, RelayRides, Lyft, Yerdle, Vayable, City Car Share, Suppershare, and Get My Boat. Biroscak described the advocacy work that he and BayShare do, work that he urged all of the attendees to get involved with, so that public agencies understand and support this growing economic sector.

“This is called lobbying, and that’s okay. Lobbying is not a dirty word,” Biroscak told the crowd.

Lobbying may not be a dirty word, but it is a regulated activity in San Francisco and other cities, and neither Biroscak nor BayShare are registered lobbyists with the San Francisco Ethics Commission, which they should be if they are indeed lobbying.

Biroscak even boasted of a partnership with the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management that BayShare secured last year on behalf of its member companies to provide their services to local residents in the event of an emergency.

“The sharing economy was born here, and partnering with BayShare, we are committed to ensuring that San Francisco supports this emerging sector’s success and nurturing even greater civic involvement,” Mayor Ed Lee said last June in a press release announcing the partnership, while Chiu said, “I’m confident that BayShare will improve the communication between this emerging sector and local government as ‘collaborative consumption’ evolves and grows in San Francisco.”

But when we reached Biroscak by phone, he said that BayShare doesn’t really have any agreements with the city, and that it doesn’t actually represent its “member” companies or get any money from them. And he said BayShare “definitely does not consider itself a lobbying organization,” instead defining it more vaguely as “a convener and facilitator.”

But as a self-styled spokesperson for the movement — “I try to speak for the San Francisco sharing economy as an industry,” he said at the conference — Biroscak issued a call to action to a crowd that mostly seemed to be puttering on their electronic devices and only half paying attention: “We need to stand up for what we want, but we want to do it in a coordinated way.”

Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez contributed to this report.

Alerts: May 21 – 27, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 20, 2014

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WEDNESDAY 21

San Francisco Tomorrow annual awards dinner

Delancey Street Restaurant, 600 The Embarcadero, SF. www.sftomorrow.org. 5:30pm, $50. San Francisco Tomorrow will hold its annual awards dinner to recognize individuals for their service to the city. Recipients for this year include Rebecca Evans and renowned journalist and editor Tim Redmond of 48hills.org and formerly San Francisco Bay Guardian, and the keynote address will be delivered by former Mayor Art Agnos. San Francisco Tomorrow depends on this event to gain support for their continued efforts to protect the environment, elect responsible and responsive public officials and promote excellence in public transportation.

THURSDAY 22

Justice Now’s Spring Fling

Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, 2323 Mission, SF. www.justicenow.org. 5pm-late, free. Justice Now is an Oakland-based nonprofit and law clinic focused on the needs of women prisoners, providing legal services and advocating for healthcare access, defense of parental rights, sentencing mitigation and other needs. Ten percent of the evening’s proceeds for food and drink will be donated to Justice Now. The bar is known for its good beer, cocktails by the pitcher, and an elaborate menu with everything from homemade corndogs to a jelly donut and fried chicken “sandwich.”

Harvey Milk’s 84th birthday bash

Beaux, 2344 Market, SF. www.milkclub.org. 6-9pm, free. Harvey Milk believed in LGBT leadership and the radical idea that LGBT people should be elected, and hold public office. He lived and died fighting for that dream. Join the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, former State Senator Carole Migden, State Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, and Supervisor and assembly candidate David Campos for a celebration of Harvey’s life on what would be his 84th birthday.

FRIDAY 23

Homelessness in SF: Panel discussion and speak out

St. Anthony Foundation Dining Hall, 150 Golden Gate, SF. (415) 346-3740. 3-5pm, free. As thousands lose their homes in San Francisco, and fewer find pathways out of homelessness, this panel will discuss how the city is responding and where experts believe efforts should be focused. This is event is put on by the Coalition on Homelessness, as part of its Free School series.

SATURDAY 24

Demonstration: Empty the Tanks

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, 1001 Fairgrounds, Vallejo. tinyurl.com/kx2jcpk. 10-1pm, free. This day is being organized to stand up against marine mammal captivity. The abuse and exploitation of these sentient beings has no place in the 21st century. On May 24th, protests and educational events will be held all over world in front of marine mammal parks and aquariums. The only way to close their doors for good is to get the general public to stop buying tickets. Please wear blue and join for a non-violent peaceful demonstration. Stand with us to tell the captivity industry that enough is enough.

Neighborhood papers tell the story of SF

Michael Redmond

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May 20, 2014

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Neighborhood papers tell the story of SF

By Jessica Lipsky

news@sfbg.com

Before many San Francisco residents traded their newspaper subscriptions for Internet media, a dozen monthly papers covered the beat of the city’s distinct neighborhoods. Nine of these papers, whose heyday came with radical changes in the ’70s and ’80s, are being digitally archived by local historical organization Found SF.

“The papers all have their own personalities,” said Found SF organizer LisaRuth Elliott. “You get a sense of even how those change over time too, whether it’s a hard hitting article or it’s talking about the evolution of how the street businesses changed in Noe Valley. Archiving these papers opens up the gates for all the stuff we don’t know, and that you want to find out about, in San Francisco.”

Over the course of six months, Found SF volunteers will archive two decades’ worth of content from papers published throughout the city — the Noe Valley Voice, Tenderloin Times, Visitation Valley Grapevine, Richmond ReView, Potrero View, the New Fillmore, El Tecolote, North Mission News, and the Glen Park Perspective — in partnership with the Internet Archive and San Francisco Public Library. Since beginning the project in January, Found SF has scanned over 200 issues and tagged each with searchable keywords.

BILINGUAL VOICES

While several of the papers have come and gone, the publication that inspired the project is still going strong. Born from 1968 riots at San Francisco State for relevant ethnic education, the Mission’s El Tecolote was founded in 1970 as a bilingual paper dedicated to social activism. The paper made great inroads in the mid-’70s fighting for equitable health services, such as a bilingual emergency phone system, while covering Latino arts and civil wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

“We started El Tecolote to fill the gap of the mainstream media, which wasn’t covering this neighborhood with any real consistency; if it did it was often times negative news,” founder Juan Gonzales said. “The mission was to really be a voice for the neighborhood and hopefully move the spirit of organizing ahead to make some social change.”

In addition to taking a hard line on local politics and immigrant issues, the archives document the evolution of San Francisco from various perspectives. Residents of lower-income neighborhoods were displaced, and many districts leveled, during urban renewal projects in the 1950s and 1960s, while a 1973-75 recession caused further damages. The resulting plight set the stage for journalism driven by demand for hyper-local coverage of LGBT and feminist rights, gentrification, and third-world issues.

“In the mid-’70s there was consciousness around neighborhoods as social centers and places where community organizing was happening,” Elliott said. “People are facing eviction, they’re protesting, there are these vigils happening, and people talking about gaining rights for long-term things. We’re still working with the legacy of some of the housing decisions [San Francisco] made around that time due to the activism,” she added, citing the Tenderloin Times’ advocacy for SROs in the face of hotel development west of Union Square.

RESILIENCE IN HARD TIMES

The New Fillmore — established in 1986 as the city became inflicted with crack and AIDS epidemics, just as Reaganism swept in — was at the heart of socioeconomic changes that transformed parts of San Francisco from what felt like a blue-collar town to an increasingly white-collar city. Approximately 30 blocks in the Fillmore and Western Addition were leveled and left vacant until the ’80s, and the monthly paper played an important role in chronicling the return of businesses to the once thriving neighborhood.

“We ended up with the worst of both worlds in the Fillmore,” said Thomas Reynolds, who took over publishing the New Fillmore in 2006. Redevelopment efforts initially provoked no organized public protest, he said, but later “generated a lot of activism. The New Fillmore managed to capture a lot of the change that was coming to the neighborhood, and a lot of the flavor and history of the neighborhood that was being lost.” The paper encouraged civic engagement through a regular architecture column that featured local homes and helped owners register their historic buildings.

Several papers served neighborhoods with large refugee and immigrant populations, many of whom didn’t speak or read English. The Tenderloin Times promoted social services and encouraged activism through coverage of Southeast Asian and local politics, while publishing simultaneously in English, Lao, Cambodian, and Vietnamese over its two-decade run. Others chronicled changes in demographics, including an influx of Chinese residents into Visitation Valley and a population shift in the Mission from predominately Chicano to more Central Americans.

The Noe Valley Voice also took an international turn when escaped Irish prisoner Liam Carl toured the U.S. to expose harsh conditions in British jails. Carl entered the country illegally and was housed in a Noe Valley home in the fall of 1980, telling the Voice, “If [prisoners] thought that perhaps there was a chance that they could be heard through less drastic measures … and maybe bring about some change without so many people having to die, perhaps I can save lives.”

While the newspapers often differed in their coverage, each featured complementary stories chronicling the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Common features included how to check for damage, profiles on restaurants that fed the neighborhood or, as one Noe Valley Voice headline described the experience of meeting neighbors during a power outage: “We Could See the Stars.” Ahead of the 25th anniversary in October, Found SF has examples of quake coverage online.

“It makes me think that the city is comprised of all these little villages and it’s a little hard to say San Francisco has one direction, one value system,” Elliott said. “The papers show the wide variety of people who live in the city … but it’s all very much at a very personal level. They know each other. They’re telling stories about each other.”

For more information on the neighborhood newspaper archiving project, or to volunteer, visit foundsf.org.

Guardian Intelligence: May 21 – 27, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 20, 2014

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P>Because nothing screams “invest in healthcare” like an aging Sammy Hagar: The former Van Halen rocker teamed up with Metallica’s James Hetfield, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Train’s Pat Monahan, Nancy Wilson of Heart, and other rock ‘n roll veterans for a special one-time acoustic show at The Fillmore May 15, benefiting the Pediatric Cancer program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital — what organizers were calling the first annual “Acoustic-4-A-Cure” show. That’s a lot of oversized egos for one stage, but hey, we can’t knock rockin’ for a good cause.

HAIL THE TRAIL

Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the San Francisco Bay Trail — still a work in progress, with 60 percent of the “ring around the Bay” having been completed — Sat/24, at a re-dedication of the Rosie the Riveter World War II National Historic Park visitor center in Richmond. The center houses exhibits dedicated to civilian efforts on the home front during World War II, embodied by the iconic female factory worker. The festive ceremony will be a vintage-themed affair, complete with WWII-era big band jazz, swing dancing, and a costume contest. And in a nod to our current century, the event will also unveil the first Bay Trail smartphone app. Let the summer hiking season begin! www.baytrail.org

PROP. 13 PRESSURE

Public policy group Evolve California sent out a survey to California candidates for public office, and discovered that a full 80 percent support reforming Prop. 13. The nearly four-decades-old law bases property taxes on purchase price, not current market value, and is often blamed for lost revenues that could go toward, say, rescuing California’s public education system from the dregs. The vast majority of hopefuls running for federal, state, and local office said they’d support reassessing commercial properties at market value, as long as small businesses, homeowners, and renters remain protected.

GUTS OF THE CITY

A daylong conference Sat/31 will expose curious participants to some of the lesser-known aspects of city life: The design and planning of public transit, water systems, wireless networks, and other kinds of urban infrastructure. MacroCity, to be held at the Brava Theater on 24th Street in the Mission, will feature talks on everything from San Francisco’s modern military ruins, to the city’s transportation history, to water systems feeding San Francisco. Visit themacrocity.com for more.

BISON: “YAWN”

One Bay to Breakers participant apparently heard the call of the wild, as the poncho-clad man was caught on video jumping into the Golden Gate Park bison paddock. Two officers arrested him in short order, and the SFPD Richmond station tweeted afterwards, “The bison seemed unimpressed.”

PORN DISCRIMINATION

San Francisco based porn star Eden Alexander was rushed to an emergency room after a near-fatal reaction to a common prescription drug. But when she tried using crowd-funding site Giveforward to cover the cost of her treatment, she was told by its payment operators, WePay, that her fundraiser would be cancelled because its terms state “you will not accept payments … in connection with pornographic items.” Alexander only sought funding for her medical costs.

MISSION: RUMBA

Dust off your feather headdress — it’s time yet again for Carnaval (Fri/23-Sun/25) when Harrison between 16th and 24th streets becomes one giant celebration of the music, dance, food, and art of Latin America. This year’s theme is “La Rumba de la Copa Mundial,” or a Celebration of the World Cup, which starts June 12 in Brazil. Sure, there’ll be plenty of drunken revelry, but this is also a great showcase of the deep-rooted Latino arts scene that’s holding on here, determinedly, even as the Mission changes: Look for the Arte Expo, featuring works from the Mexican Museum, Mission Cultural Center, Galleria de la Raza, Accion Latina, BRAVA, and Precita Eyes. The parade’s on Sun/25; see www.carnavalsanfrancisco.org to plan your route.

WANGIN’ IT

Insanely talented Chinese pianist Yuja Wang drops in on our SF Symphony once a year to tickle the ivories and steal a few hearts. Seriously: Her annual appearance here has become an event as eagerly anticipated as the return of the swallows to Capistrano or a sweet, light beating at the Folsom Street Fair. This time around (Thu/22-Sun/25, www.sfsymphony.org) she’ll be taking on Prokofiev’s magical, romping Piano Concerto No. 1 and Litolff’s whirling scherzo from Concerto Symphonique — a double treat for music lovers.

MEAT US SOON

We had doubts about 4505 Meats moving into the old Brother-in-Law BBQ #2 space on Divisadero — that hood moved upscale long ago, but a fancy BBQ in that particular space had the potential to be more sacrilegious than celebratory. Well, at least one local outlet is smitten: SFist has been drooling over 4505’s $18 “Big Mac” — “two beef patties lovingly caressing a block of fried macaroni and cheese” — and “famed bacon-studded hot dogs wrapped in macaroni and cheese and then deep fried.” We’ll let you know how all that goes down, once we can afford it!

Dear United States: #Jessicastux discrimination shows SF inequality

Erica Hanna

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May 19, 2014

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Dear United States,

Yes, you’ve found San Francisco out. You’ve got us. Our city is not the bastion of equality we claim it to be.

It’s something most San Franciscans know, but now you, the country, are getting a peek at how discriminatory our local institutions can actually be.

Just last week, the news of Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep’s discrimination against young Jessica Urbina went viral. Urbina just wanted to wear a tuxedo in her yearbook photo, and the Catholic school, Sacred Heart, said it would not print her photo in a yearbook because she wasn’t in a dress.

The resulting social media firestorm blew up in national media, propelled by the hashtag #jessicastux. Today Sacred Heart issued an apology, offering to work on its policies moving forward.

“On Friday, May 16, the school communicated that it will change its policy regarding senior portraits. We agree with our students who showed solidarity with their classmate that the current policy regarding senior portraits is not adequate to meet the needs of our families or our mission. We will involve our students, families, and Board in crafting the updated policy.

…

Many people suggest that the past few days have been deeply revealing about our school community. We agree. We are an imperfect community that can and does fail. We are a community that is open to self-reflection, and to the constructive criticism and leadership of its students, as well as to the criticism from members of our broader community. We are a community that strives to grow, improve and do what is right. We are a community that sees, in all situations, an opportunity to learn.”

But before we let Sacred Heart be crucified in the court of public opinion, let’s remember an old religious maxim: let ye who is without sin cast the first stone. And when it comes to inequality, San Francisco has many sinners.

Yes, dear country, you spent the last week utterly aghast that San Francisco, the champion of marriage equality, could discriminate against an LGBT teen.

You really don’t know the half of it.

Take our public schools. Even as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Brown vs. the Board of Education, an investigative report by the San Francisco Public Press revealed massive inequality in San Francisco public elementary schools. Though the SFUSD suffered funding cuts totalling $113 million in the 2009-10 school year (after numerous annual state cuts), some public schools managed to stave off layoffs and provide excellent facilities for their children. The catch? Only the elementary schools attended by rich families survived, bouyed by nearly $3 million in PTSA fundraising in 11 elementary schools.

But 35 of SFUSD’s elementary schools raised no money at all. These schools are not surprisingly attended mostly by the city’s poorest families, and their schools were met with brutal cuts.

The SFUSD is only now allowing students to wear hats (including some religious headgear), and is only now considering raising its minimum wage to San Francisco’s minimum of $10.24 an hour (as a state entity, it only has to pay $8 an hour).

And lest we pick on the schools too much, the explosive tech industry has had its impacts on San Francisco equality too. As taxi drivers flock to rideshare companies like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, there are fewer drivers to drive wheelchair-accessible taxis. Those rideshare companies don’t yet have a plan to offer service to our city’s many persons with disabilities. Even our beloved regional transit system, BART, has new proposed “trains of the future” offering less space for electric wheelchairs to move around as well.

San Francisco has also seen massive numbers of folks displaced by the tech boom, symbolized (and even exacerberated) by our city’s most hated/loved/over-discussed behemoths, the Google buses.

We’ve even got the second highest inequality in the United States, fast headed for number one. Go us.

And though Bill O’Reilly at Fox News loves to make funny videos about San Francisco’s homeless while he talks up our love of hippies, he’s got it all wrong (unfortunately). The city issues numerous citations against homeless youth for the act of sitting down in the Haight Ashbury district (the birthplace of the Summer of Love), and has struggled with policies to help the homeless for over 10 years running.

Also, did we mention one in four San Franciscans are food insecure? That means about 200,000 San Franciscans don’t have enough money to eat healthily, and many are near starvation.

Yes, dear country, San Francisco espouses many loving principles, and we do have an innate sense of justice to help immigrants, the poor, and the marginalized.

But we still have a long, long way to go.

Best,

A San Franciscan.

Go do this thing tomorrow: Speak up for Viracocha

Steven T. Jones

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May 19, 2014

7

If you’ve ever set foot in Viracocha, the Never-Never-Land-esque antiques store/typewriter shop/arts space/music venue at 21st and Valencia, you know it’s a pretty magical place — especially in contrast to some of the shiny new businesses springing up around it in the Mission as of late. The brain child and passion project of poet Jonathan Siegel, it’s a homey haven for writers, musicians, visual artists, and dreamers of all kinds; for the past four years, it’s also been hosting intimate live shows and spoken word events in its downstairs performance space. Only problem — Siegel hasn’t been able to promote that aspect of the business, as the room’s not ADA-compliant, meaning the space has remained a (relatively open) secret, since each of those shows has been illegal.

Now, the little speakeasy that could is trying to go legit once and for all: At a City Hall hearing tomorrow, Tue/20 at 5:30 pm, Siegel and the store’s employees are hoping supporters will show up to help convince the SF Entertainment Commission that Viracocha should be granted a Place of Entertainment Permit.

Ezza Rose performing in the Viracocha basement. Photo by Pete Lee.

“We’ve been operating underground for four years: building, strengthing, and expanding a diverse community of artists, writers, and musicians,” Siegel wrote to supporters. “Not to mention an incredibly supportive and loving mass of patrons and neighbors. But now, it’s time to share with the world how this all works…what, exactly, we’re about, and what our potential is for the future.”

The hearing is open to the public, and Siegel says the commission knows everything about the space’s operations at this point (including its squeaky-clean track record in terms of noise complaints, thank you very much), and nothing’s on the DL anymore. So if you’ve had a good experience there, or just give a shit about the survival of affordable, independent, community-minded arts spaces in this city, come on down.

(Oh yeah, the bathroom’s pretty great, too.)

KUSF’s axe-man, Father Privett, stepping down

Erica Hanna

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May 16, 2014

40

KUSF’s axe-man, Father Privett, stepping down

The University of San Francisco president who sold off beloved community radio station KUSF in 2011 is stepping down in August, the university recently announced. Father Stephen Privett is known by elected officials and higher-education folks as a strong, stalwart 14-year leader of San Francisco’s oldest university. But to local artists and music lovers, Privett was and will always be the axe-man of KUSF.

And no, we don’t mean he shredded on the guitar.

KUSF continues to rock on as San Francisco Community Radio, but in 2011 its spot on the terrestial dial was sold and closed.

The day it went down, KUSF radio’s employees and volunteers were unexpectedly tossed out of their studio, the locks were changed, and they learned then and there that the station was sold. The signal went dark, radios went silent. The USF-hosted radio station long broadcasted renegade tunes on 90.3 FM, with programming in a variety of languages few other stations replicated.

Privett brought the hatchet down on the beloved radio station, silently. The backroom deal to sell KUSF’s spot on the dial to a Southern California classic music radio station was brewed largely in the dark, with only two KUSF employees told before the day the station was shuttered. Both were silenced under non-disclosure agreements, according to news reports at the time.

In his farewell interview with USF’s campus magazine, Privett touched on his controversial decision.

“KUSF was originally student run and operated, and a valuable learning laboratory. It morphed over time into a community enterprise where only 10 percent of the workers were USF students, while USF remained 100 percent responsible for its operation and costs.

Our mission is to educate in the Jesuit Catholic tradition, not to provide opportunities largely for non-students. I am obligated to spend tuition dollars to support student learning, and that’s how the proceeds were used: to fund scholarships and academic programs.

USF continues to offer students solid learning opportunities at KUSF.org, which is entirely student-staffed and streamed live on the Internet.”

It’s safe to say former KUSF DJs and volunteers aren’t sad to see him go.

“Sadly, a black cloud continues to linger over Father Privett’s legacy, due to his shady and dishonest actions in killing one of the largest and most vital community radio stations in San Francisco,” former KUSF Music Director (and DJ) Irwin Swirnoff told the Guardian. “With all the drastic changes the city has gone through since the sale of the station, the loss of KUSF is extra devastating as the need for a spot on the terrestrial dial for artists, activists, musicians, and underrepresented communities.”

Privett has led San Francisco’s oldest university for 14 years, and this will be his last semester presiding over the Jesuit institution. This weekend, May 16-17, Privett will send off a graduating USF class for the last time. Meanwhile, the fate of the former KUSF-in-Exile, now SFCR, is still in limbo.

The staff and volunteers of KUSF filed an appeal of the sale of the station with the Federal Communications Commission back in 2012, former KUSF DJ Damin Esper told the Guardian. The appeal has neither been ruled on nor dismissed.

SFCR also filed with the FCC for a new spot on the dial, 102.5 FM. The frequency is known as Low Power FM, which has a variable broadcast strength. On its blog, SFCR says the broadcast range of 102.5 FM is as of yet unclear.

But what is clear is that no matter what his accomplishments at USF, Privett will long be remembered in San Francisco as the man who shut down KUSF.

“The station was gutted and demolished; dorms now stand in its place,” former DJ Andre Torrez told the Guardian. “He did what he felt he had to do in order to make his instant millions. Our vast vinyl library was handed over to the Prometheus archive, with no option for the Save KUSF volunteer/ activist group, which still broadcasts online only, to purchase or access the collection.”

“We were major. We had Nirvana, The Ramones, Metallica, Iggy, Green Day, and more recently Ty Segall all as live in-studio guests when they were emerging artists or on the brink of breaking through. Father Privett probably wasn’t fully aware of how important KUSF was, but we certainly would have let him know how we felt had he cared or asked.”

“He has been instrumental in killing community terrestrial radio in San Francisco,” Torrez said, “and for that, he should be ashamed.”

Porn stars write-in against mandatory condom bill

Erica Hanna

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May 15, 2014

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Porn stars write-in against mandatory condom bill

A website and letter-writing campaign against a statewide mandatory condoms-in-porn bill launched on Monday.

The website has no stated backer or “about” page, but an embedded video PSA against the mandatory condoms-in-porn-bill is hosted at a YouTube page of local porn studio Kink.com.

AB 1576, sponsored by Assemblymember Isadore Hall III (D-Los Angeles), would require porn actors to wear condoms at all shoots, mandate STD tests, and require porn studios to keep health data on its actors. Locally, Kink.com and other porn studios alleged if the bill passes, they may choose to leave California.

“AB 1576 is opposed by both adult film performers and filmmakers because it puts performers’ health at risk,” AB1576.org states. “It would also effectively force California’s adult film industry out of state and underground, putting thousands of people out of work and costing the state a multi-billion dollar business.”

The subject of Kink.com’s possible move from the historic Armory building in the Mission District is the topic of a story in this week’s Bay Guardian, “Getting the Kink Out, [5/14].” The Division of Occupational Safety and Health (formerly Cal/OSHA) fined Kink.com $78,000 for safety violations related to the alleged HIV infection of two actors on the set of a Kink.com shoot last year.

Porn performers have already taken to Twitter using the #stopAB1576 hashtag to speak out against the bill.

“Shame on you for taking away performer rights, Isadore Hall,” tweeted performer Anikka Albrite.

A video PSA against the mandatory condom in porn bill, via Kink.com.

The stop AB 1576 website also calls out the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, largely seen as the driver of the mandatory condom bill. It claims the foundation is pushing the bill for a “hidden agenda.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation spokesperson Ged Kenslea told us condoms were already essentially mandatory under state law, given workplace protections against contact with infectious materials, and enforcement of those regulations is the organization’s goal.

“It’s not a hidden agenda,” he said,”it’s a pretty straightforward agenda.”

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been pretty vocal, leading press conferences with porn perfromers and politicians to champion the bill, which they say strengthens existing regulations.

“Federal and state OSHA statutes require condom use,” Kensela said. “That’s something (Kink CEO) Peter Acworth has not been compliant with. While he threatens to go to another state, those statutes apply there as well.”

But Kensela warned tthat being so loud and out in opposition to the bill may actually damage the porn industry’s cause.

Not just performer but HUMAN rights too @kinkdotcom Shame on you for taking away performer rights, Isadore Hall #stopab1576 (cont…

— Anikka Albrite (@AnikkaAlbrite) April 29, 2014

“There is middle ground, but this is poking the bear,” he said. The porn industry, he said, erroneously suggests the regulations are burdensome on acts like cumshots, claiming “there will be goggles and space suits.”

“In fact that won’t be what AB 1576 would require,” he said.

But inspectors from DOSH told the Guardian even cumshot facials run afoul of state regulations, because it exposes eyes and mucus membrane to bloodborne pathogens.

So is the AIDS Healthcare Foundation picking and choosing which regulations it cares to emphasize?

“We do not have a realistic expectation,” Kensela said, “that condom use for oral sex is necessary or practical, and similar with goggles.”

Panchita’s Pupuseria

Michael Redmond

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May 13, 2014

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In the gentrifying heart of the Inner Mission District — near the corner of 16th and Valencia streets, where longtime bookstores, markets, bars, and restaurants have all been forced out by rising rents in the last year or so — a simple Salvadorean restaurant has continued to thrive by serving one dish, pupusas, to customers old and new.

Panchita’s Pupuseria is a wonderfully unassuming little restaurant that spills out of its own doors on busy weekend nights, with its family members joining the street food vendors on the sidewalk flipping these tasty treats, as they’ve been doing in a series of Mission locations over the last 24 years.

“My grandma and mom started it there with a bunch of my uncles,” Doris Vargas tells us of the original location on 17th Street that has since closed. She and her family don’t mind the challenging evolution of the Mission, with its influx of high-paid tech workers. “It has expanded our customer base. My mom loves that pupusas have been exposed to a larger crowd.”

The pancake-like pupusas are served right off the grill with hot sauce and curtido, a slaw-like mix of cabbage, carrots, and spices soaked (the word actually mean “soaked” in Spanish) in a vinegar that Vargas’ namesake mother makes herself, infused with pineapple, something she learned before emigrating from El Salvador at the age of 25.

Simple, delicious, family-run — and a survivor appreciated by us and the large crowds of newbies that have begun to discover it.

3091 16th St., SF

(415) 431-4232

SF en fuego

Michael Redmond

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May 13, 2014

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culture@sfbg.com

ANOTHER WEEK, MORE OPENINGS!

TABLEHOPPER Just when you thought you already had enough options of new places to check out, you get hit with more. Yup, this month is bonkers, and could very well be setting a record for the most openings in a month. Let’s do this.

Due to open this week is Outerlands (4001 Judah, SF; www.outerlandssf.com), with a newly expanded space (owners Lana Porcello and Dave Muller took over the Chinese restaurant next door and knocked the wall down) and a new chef (Greg Kuzia-Carmel). There will be 20 more seats, and a big bonus is the new bar area, with 10 bar seats and some high-top bistro tables, perfect for those moments when you just want to slip in for a cocktail, or even a full meal. You’ll notice the expanded kitchen with a cool architectural feature above it (it looks like a white wave). The cocktail list will be more extensive, with Chris O’Brien as the new bar manager and some consultation from Kevin Dowell, who is the bar manager at Foreign Cinema — look for some initial cocktail pop-up nights to start as they ramp things up. Other additions: Brunch will now be served Saturday and Sunday, and during the week 8–10am, there will be an edited brunch service. It’s enough to make someone plot a morning beach walk, with breakfast before (or after!). Outerlands plans to start with lunch this week (10am–3pm), but check its website before heading over — weekend brunch will be kicking in too, and then dinner service and bar bites soon thereafter.

Now for a couple of SF classics that have been redone and zhooshed. First up, the Big 4 (1075 California, SF; www.big4restaurant.com) has reopened, and fortunately not tooooo much has been changed inside. Ty is still shaking cocktails at the bar and telling jokes, the white tablecloths and leather banquettes in British racing green remain, and guests will still hear the grand piano playing. So what’s new? Well, the snazzy carpet for one. A big change is longtime chef Gloria Ciccarone-Nehls has departed, and the menu from the new chef, Kevin Scott, will be launching May 23 (there’s just an interim menu for now). Some of his dishes will include previous menu staples but with new twists.

There’s also a new cocktail menu with some additions. You can come by for breakfast and dinner daily (6:30–10:30am and 5:30–10pm) and there’s talk of lunch service returning too!

Another SF icon that got a big redo is Schroeder’s (240 Front, SF; www.schroederssf.com), the 120-year-old downtown German beer hall, with new owners and quite a new look too (although the Herman Richter murals remain in place). While it’s definitely a beer hall, the space has a sense of modernity as well (blond wood, Tolix metal chairs, and check out the illuminated glass shelving with beer steins). You can order cocktails from bar director Claire Jane Hunter at the original rosewood bar, cicerone Rich Higgins is behind the quality beer selection (15 on tap), and the wine list is from Mauro Cirilli of Press Club — yeah, people who know what they’re doing. Prost to all of it. Chef Manfred Wrembel (Plum, Incanto) is doing a Cali spin on German dishes (like spätzle with corn, tomato, and ricotta), with some meaty entrées (yes, there’s wiener schnitzel) and the bar menu features a dry-aged cheeseburger.

You like to play mini golf, drink beer, and eat deep-dish pizza, all without leaving the comfort of the Mission? Well, you’re in luck, because Urban Putt (1096 South Van Ness, SF; www.urbanputt.com) is now open (in a former mortuary, how vewy cweepy!). There’s a 14-hole course (complete with a Transamerica building — and you thought I was going to say Transylvania building), a restaurant and bar upstairs (just beer and wine for now), and even the kiddies can come play during the day (until 8pm); $12 adults, $8 kids, first-come, first-served. *

Marcia Gagliardi is the founder of the weekly tablehopper e-column; subscribe for more at www.tablehopper.com. Get her app: Tablehopper’s Top Late-Night Eats. On Twitter: @tablehopper.

This Week’s Picks: May 14 – 20, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 13, 2014

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WEDNESDAY 13

KQED Presents an Evening With Ken Burns

Remember slowly drifting off while watching documentaries during history class on a warm afternoon? Well, if there’s anyone who can make a historical documentary interesting, it’s the great Ken Burns. If you’ve ever used iPhoto, iMovie, or Final Cut Pro, you’re familiar with “The Ken Burns Effect.” Known for bringing life to still photographs, the Ken Burns Effect is back with The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. Burns will present a sneak preview of his seven-part, 14-hour documentary after an onstage conversation about the film, which will premiere on PBS in September. The film takes the unique perspective of weaving together the lives of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt, illuminating the influential stories of how two presidents and a first lady played integral roles in shaping American history — from human and civil rights battles to the creation of National Parks to the defeat of Hitler. (Laura B. Childs)

7:30pm, $25

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

(415) 621-6350

www.castrotheatre.om

Rocking the robots

If you’ve never seen Sleepbomb do its thing at the band members’ main stomping ground, you’re in for a rare treat. This postindustrial improvisational band, made up mostly of Zeitgeist employees and regulars, will play a live soundtrack to Metropolis, the cult-classic silent film by German Expressionist filmmaker Fritz Lang. Sleepbomb has done live soundtracks to Metropolis and Nosferatu before in the Zeitgeist beer garden, and it’s always an eerie, artsy, urban, robotic, drunken good time. (Steven T. Jones)

8pm, donation-based

Zeitgeist

199 Valencia, SF

www.zeitgeistsf.com

THURSDAY 15

Anti-Nowhere League

British hardcore punk stalwarts the Anti-Nowhere League have made a name for themselves over the past three decades with an unabashedly aggressive and in-your-face approach, as evidenced by their signature songs “I Hate People” and the profanity-laced “So What” — the latter was even notoriously covered by Metallica. In a perfect pairing, Southern California punk icons T.S.O.L (True Sounds of Liberty), who became infamous for the police riots that would break out at their shows, and the tune “Code Blue,” an ode to the joys of necrophilia, join the bill for what promises to be one hell of show. (Sean McCourt)

With The Riverboat Gamblers and Dime Runner

9pm, $18-$20

DNA Lounge

375 11th St, SF

(415) 626-1409

www.dnalounge.com

FRIDAY 16

Fou Fou fabulous

Fou Fou Ha, our favorite cartoon performance troupe, makes a big leap forward as it returns to its roots for its latest original show, In Living Colors. This psychedelic dance journey through an exotic world is described as “Alice in Wonderland meets the Forbidden Zone,” combining elaborate 3D pop-up sets and projections by Obscura Digital. It’s a new twist on the lively choreographed comedy that is classic Fou, but on an occasion that’s a little bittersweet for Mama Fou (aka Maya Lane) and the rest of Family Fou. The troupe got its start in this location back when it was CELLspace, the players kept it as their home during its evolution into Inner Mission, and now this looks like it will be Fou Fou Ha’s final performance in a space that is being shut down this fall and converted into condos. So come laugh, cry, dance, and laugh some more. (Jones)

9pm, DJ dancing until 1:30am

$25 advance, $30 door

Inner Mission

2035 Bryant, SF

www.foufouha.eventbrite.com

Zion I

Last time Zion I was at the Independent was for a guest appearance during the venue’s 10th anniversary celebration. Tonight, the Bay Area indie hip-hop duo is back. Baba Zumbi and AmpLive of Zion I have been making music together for over 15 years. AmpLive brings the electronic dance beats that vacillate between reggae and drum ‘n’ bass, Zumbi carries the vocals with socially conscious lyrics. Originally formed in Atlanta, the Berkeley-based duo creates a relatable sound that’s difficult to define. Neither West Coast hip-hop, nor East Coast rap, the band’s musical influences remains deeply engrained in songs that deliver messages of unity and hope. (Childs)

9pm, $25

The Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

(415) 771-1421

www.theindependentsf.com

SATURDAY 17

Black Market SF Presents ‘Rendezvous’

Secrets, truths and lies…Black Market SF is hosting one of its legendary events tonight for the curious: Rendezvous. They say, curiosity killed the cat, but in this case, let your curiosity run wild. This clandestine discovery market will carry an assortment of local craft and food vendors as well as many secret activities to be discovered on the night of. Explore one of SF’s best-kept secrets in the intimate setting of the Folsom Street Foundry. If the city’s best craft artisans and food purveyors don’t pique your interest, an exclusive live set of up-and-coming acts will spearhead the dance party. This mysterious night will be one for the books. (Childs)

6pm-11pm, $8

Folsom Street Foundry

1425 Folsom Street

(415) 795-3644

www.folsomstreetfoundry.com

‘Nomad: The Blue Road’

Many tribal people living on parched lands engage in ritualistic dances to encourage the falling of precious rain. Since water is the world’s most important and most endangered natural resource, we might as well try dancing. It just could help. For this weekend the bi-national Dance Monks, an interdisciplinary ensemble that works both in the Bay Area and Mexico, has enlisted local artists — Dohee Lee, NAKA Dance among them — to help out drought-stricken California. NOMAD: The Blue Road, takes audiences along the path of Strawberry Creek, Berkeley’s beloved small stream that still burbles and runs under the urban asphalt of downtown Berkley. The piece starts on the UC campus and winds its way along the creek’s trajectory with performances along the path. (Rita Felciano)

May 17-18, 11am, free

UC Berkeley Campus

Oxford and Center St, Berk.

www.dancemonks.com

SUNDAY 18

Bay to Breakers people-watching

If you have friends participating in the race but, like so many of us, you also feel a local’s urge to get the hell out of town during Bay to Breakers weekend — or at least as far away from the costumed, beer-soaked debauchery as possible — get the best of both worlds by hitting one of the rival Hayes Street house parties along the course, with DJs, more than you could ever want to drink, and probably very little pressure to be athletic in any way. Alternatively, hit Alamo Square for an amazing view of some 30,000 people all making their way up the Hayes Street Hill. Just remember: The cops have pledged a zero-tolerance policy for public drunkenness this year. We’ll see how that all shakes out. (Emma Silvers)

All day, free

Throughout SF

Check www.baytobreakers.com for the official route and other events

Iggy Azalea

First things first, she’s the realest. The Australian beauty and hip-hop performer, Iggy Azalea, has been making waves in this hemisphere since her Clueless-inspired music video for her hit single “Fancy.” With sassy raps and catchy hooks about the glam life, Azalea’s sound is reminiscent of the “it” girls of the early 2000’s. Think Gwen Stefani’s vocals and Lil’ Kim’s beats, but this former model adds personal flair with her zero-fucks-given charisma and unabashed obsession with America. She’s opened for household names such as Beyoncé and Rita Ora, but since the release of her debut album, The New Classic, Azalea is on the prowl with her Monster Energy Outbreak Tour. (Childs)

8pm, $35

The Fillmore

1805 Geary, SF

(415) 346-6000

www.thefillmore.com

MONDAY 19

Ben Folds with the San Francisco Symphony

In the 17 years since his old band, Ben Folds Five, burst onto the national scene with “Brick” — likely the catchiest, most radio-friendly song ever penned about an abortion at Christmastime — pianist-singer-songwriter-storyteller Ben Folds has proven to be so much more than a flash in the pan. On this tour, he’s been performing solo with orchestras and symphonies around the world; if you’re not quite sure how his songwriting would stand up to such elaborate instrumentation, search for videos online of his performances with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra. This one-off show should be a treat for devotees of the singer’s nearly three-decade career as well as symphony fans — nothing like a little pop-rock-classical synergy on a Monday night. (Silvers)

7:30pm, prices vary, see website for details

Davies Symphony Hall

Grove between Van Ness and Franklin, SF

www.sfsymphony.org

TUESDAY 20

Write Club SF

Who says writing isn’t a contact sport? The monthly Write Club, which bills itself with the motto “literature as bloodsport,” pits local lit figures against each other in a competitive readings series, with writers arguing such topics as “snow vs. fire,” “ham vs. turkey,” and “Santa vs. Jesus.” This month’s will see six writers, including Caitlin Gill, Rachel Bublitz, and founders Steven Westdahl and Casey Childers arguing over topics such as “beginning” vs. “end.” The audience picks the winner, and proceeds go to a charity of the winner’s choice. Reading, arguing, a full bar — what’s not to like? (Silvers)

8pm, $10

Make-Out Room

322522nd St, SF

www.writeclubsf.com

Damien Jurado

Serious Damien Jurado fans — and the folksy indie-rocker does seem to inspire a certain (well-deserved) fervor amongst a certain set — know the songwriter’s gift for storytelling owes as much to a willingness to get weird as it does to playing with narrative. Jurado’s latest release, January’s Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son, is the third piece in a three-part collaboration with producer Richard Swift, and it shies away from neither the religious overtones nor the heady, spaced-out hero’s journey type of tale 2012’s Maraqopa laid out; it’s more stripped-down, if anything, so those themes are laid bare. Live, he’s known for making even large rooms feel intimate; this show shouldn’t disappoint. (Silvers)

8pm, $15

The Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

www.theindependentsf.com

The Guardian listings deadline is two weeks prior to our Wednesday publication date. To submit an item for consideration, please include the title of the event, a brief description of the event, date and time, venue name, street address (listing cross streets only isn’t sufficient), city, telephone number readers can call for more information, telephone number for media, and admission costs. Send information to Listings, the Guardian, 225 Bush, 17th Flr., SF, CA 94105; or e-mail (paste press release into e-mail body — no attachments, please) to listings@sfbg.com. Digital photos may be submitted in jpeg format; the image must be at least 240 dpi and four inches by six inches in size. We regret we cannot accept listings over the phone.

Rep Clock: May 14 – 20, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 13, 2014

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Schedules are for Wed/14-Tue/20 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.

ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS 992 Valencia, SF; www.atasite.org. $6-10. Films by SF State University’s experimental documentary class, Thu, 7:30. “Other Cinema,” contemporary sound and video art works by Derek G, Tommy Becker, and others, Sat, 8:30.

BALBOA THEATRE 3630 Balboa, SF; cinemasf.com/balboa. $7.50-10. “Popcorn Palace:” Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Box and Park, 2005), Sat, 10am. Matinee for kids.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-11. “KQED presents: An Evening with Ken Burns:” The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (Burns, 2014), Wed, 7:30. Sneak preview of new miniseries to air in September on PBS; this event, $20-25 at www.cityboxoffice.com. •Drugstore Cowboy (Van Sant, 1989), Thu, 7, and Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996), Thu, 8:55. “Epidemic Film Festival,” works by Academy of Art University students, with a speech by cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, Fri, 4-8. •Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981), Sat, 2:30, 7, and Romancing the Stone (Zemeckis, 1984), Sat, 4:45, 9:15. •A Streetcar Named Desire (Kazan, 1951), Sun, 2:15, 7, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Nichols, 1966), Sun, 4:35, 9:15.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.50-$10.75. Palo Alto (Coppola, 2013), May 16-22, call for times. “Mark Cantor Presents Jazz at the Movies,” Sun, 6. This event, $15-25.

CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO Diego Rivera Theatre, 50 Phelan, SF; www.ccsf.edu. Free. “CCSF City Shorts Student Film Festival,” Thu, 7.

CLAY 2261 Fillmore, SF; www.landmarktheatres.com. $10. “Midnight Movies:” Dirty Harry (Siegel, 1971), Sat, midnight.

“HIMALAYAN FILM FESTIVAL” Ninth Street Independent Film Center, 145 Ninth St, Suite 250, SF; and Himalayan Fair Grounds, Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.himalayanfilmfest.com. $10-20 (festival pass, $40). Documentary and narrative films from Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. Fri-Sat.

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; milibrary.org/events. $10. “CinemaLit Film Series: Comedy Tonight:” Stir Crazy (Poitier, 1980), Fri, 6.

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-11. Documented: A Film By An Undocumented American (Vargas, 2013), May 15-21, 7, 9. Director Jose Vargas in person at Thu-Fri shows. NOW: In the Wings on the World Stage (Whelehan, 2014), Wed-Thu, 7, 9. “I Wake Up Dreaming 2014: Dark Treasures from the Warner Archive:” •Stranger on the Third Floor (Ingster, 1940), Fri, 6:30, 9:30, and The Unsuspected (Curtiz, 1947), Fri, 8; •Love is a Racket (Wellman, 1932), Sat, 2, and Ladies They Talk About (Bretherton and Keighley, 1933), Sat, 3:30; •Nora Prentiss (Sherman, 1947), Sat, 7:30, and The Unfaithful (Sherman, 1947), Sat, 5:15, 9:45; •Angels in Disguise (Yarbrough, 1948), Sun, 2, and Fall Guy (Le Borg, 1947), Sun, 3:15, and When Strangers Marry (Castle, 1944), Sun, 4:30; •The Window (Tetzlaff, 1949), Sun, 6:30, 9:45, and The Locket (Brahm, 1946), Sun, 8; •Two Seconds (Le Roy, 1932), Mon, 6:30, 9:40, and 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (Curtiz, 1932), Mon, 8; •A Woman’s Secret (Ray, 1949), Tue, 6:15, 9:45, and Tomorrow is Another Day (Feist, 1951), Tue, 8.

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. $8-10. “Astonishing Animation: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli:” Pom Poko (Takahata, 1994), Thu, 7:30 and Sat, 5; Castle in the Sky (Miyazaki, 1986), Sat, 7:30 and Sun, 3; My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki, 1988), Sun, 1. *

Theater Listings: May 14 – 20, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 13, 2014

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Stage listings are compiled by Guardian staff. Performance times may change; call venues to confirm. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, and Nicole Gluckstern. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com.

THEATER

OPENING

The Homosexuals New Conservatory Theatre Center, Decker Theatre, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Previews Fri/16-Sat/17 and May 21 and 23, 8pm; Sun/18, 2pm. Opens May 24, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through June 28. New Conservatory Theatre Center performs Philip Dawkins’ play about a young man struggling with his identity amid a new group of friends.

BAY AREA

The Crazed Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; www.centralworks.org. $15-28. Previews Thu/15-Fri/16, 8pm. Opens Sat/17, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through June 23. Central Works performs Sally Dawidoff’s play, based on Ha Jin’s novel about coming of age in Communist China.

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $14.50-89. Previews Fri/16-Sat/17 and Tue/20, 7:30pm; Sun/18, 7pm. Opens May 21, 7:30pm. Runs Tue, Thu-Sat, 7:30pm (also May 29, June 26, and all Saturdays in June, 2pm); Wed and Sun, 7pm (also Sun, 2pm). Through June 29. Berkeley Rep performs the West Coast premiere of Tony Kushner’s latest play.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; www.centerrep.org. $37-65. Previews Fri/16-Sat/17, 8pm; Sun/18, 2:30pm. Opens Tue/20, 7:30pm. Runs Wed, 7:30pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm (also June 7, 14, 21, 2:30pm); Sun, 2:30pm. Through June 21. Center REP performs the Tony-winning musical by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin.

ONGOING

“Best of PlayGround 18” Thick House, 1695 18th St, SF; www.playground-sf.org. $22-55 (all-fest pass, $60-75). Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through May 25. Short plays and musicals by Bay Area writers.

Chasing Mehserle Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission, SF; chasingmehserle.brownpapertickets.com. $25. Thu-Sun, 8pm. Through May 24. Also May 29-31, 8pm, $15-25, Z Space, 450 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. Intersection for the Arts, Campo Santo, and the Living Word Project present Chinaka Hodge’s performance piece about Oakland in the aftermath of the Oscar Grant killing.

Communiqué N°10 Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. $10-50. Thu, 7:30; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 5pm. Through May 25. Amid a fractious band of young rebels from the urban underclass and ongoing rioting in the streets, a young immigrant named Hassan (Damien Seperi) searches for the man who killed his 16-year-old brother. French playwright Samuel Gallet’s Communiqué N°10 draws immediate inspiration from the Paris riots of 2005, but the tinder box of extreme inequality and anti-immigrant policies are hardly a French monopoly (indeed, the standoff last year between immigrant rights demonstrators and French police following the deportation of a Roma student, snatched off a school bus in front of her classmates, sounds all too familiar to Americans living through Obama’s unprecedented wave of deportations and incarcerations of undocumented people and the popular protest rising against it). Cutting Ball Theater’s US premiere of Gallet’s play, however, strains after its subject, timely though it is. Presented in association with Golden Thread Productions as part of the second biennial Des Voix&ldots; festival of new French plays and cinema, director and translator Rob Melrose’s production sets the action on a spare set (designed by Michael Locher) ringed by a two-tier framework of metal piping, about which some of the seven-member cast climb and roost. But the sparse setting is in fact overwhelmed with altogether too much stage business, including Emma Jaster’s somewhat labored choreography and Cliff Caruthers’ often distracting soundscape, which only detracts from the already difficult-to-follow plot points and further undermines an ensemble that never really coheres. Add to this contrived dialogue such as Hassan’s retort to having his picture snapped by love-interest Marlene (Maura Halloran) — “Images. We never know what purposes they serve in the end” — and what should be a tense and dynamic drama instead becomes a dreary, vaguely didactic ball of confusion. (Avila)

“DIVAfest” Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.divafest.info. Prices and showtimes vary. Through May 24. This 13th annual festival celebrates the work of women artists, with performances including the premiere of Rat Girl (adapted from the memoir by rocker Kristin Hersh), Margery Fairchild’s ballet comedy The Pas De Quatre, a reading by acclaimed poet Diane di Prima, and more.

Dracula Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; sfdracula.blogspot.com. $35. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through May 31. Kellerson Productions presents a new adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic.

Du Barry Was a Lady Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, SF; www.42ndstmoon.org. $25-75. Wed/14-Thu/15, 7pm; Fri/16, 8pm; Sat/17, 6pm (also Sat/17, 1pm); Sun/18, 3pm. 42nd Street Moon presents Cole Porter’s saucy musical comedy, with comedian and writer Bruce Vilanch starring.

Feisty Old Jew Marsh San Francisco Main Stage, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $25-100. New performance schedule: Sat-Sun, 5pm. Extended through July 13. Charlie Varon performs his latest solo show, a fictional comedy about “a 20th century man living in a 21st century city.”

Foodies! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.foodiesthemusical.com. $32-34. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. AWAT Productions presents Morris Bobrow’s musical comedy revue all about food.

Lovebirds Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $20-100. Fri, 8pm; Sat, 8:30pm. Through May 31. Award-winning solo theater artist Marga Gomez brings her hit comedy back for a limited run before taking it to New York in June.

Pearls Over Shanghai Hypnodrome Theatre, 575 10th St, SF; www.thrillpeddlers.com. $30-35. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through May 31. Five years ago, Thrillpeddlers breathed new life into a glitter-dusted piece of Sixties flotsam, beautifully reimagining the Cockettes’ raunchy mock-operetta Pearls Over Shanghai (in collaboration with several surviving members of San Francisco’s storied acid-drag troupe) and running it for a whopping 22 months. Written by Cockette Link Martin as a carefree interpretation of a 1926 Broadway play, the baldly stereotyped Shanghai Gesture, it was the perfectly lurid vehicle for irreverence in all directions. It’s back in this revival, once again helmed by artistic director Russell Blackwood with musical direction by Cockette and local favorite Scrumbly Koldewyn. But despite the frisson of featuring some original-original cast members — including “Sweet Pam” Tent (who with Koldewyn also contributes some new dialogue) and Rumi Missabu (regally reprising the role of Madam Gin Sling) — there’s less fire the second time around as the production straddles the line between carefully slick and appropriately sloppy. Nevertheless, there are some fine musical numbers and moments throughout. Among these, Zelda Koznofsky, Birdie-Bob Watt, and Jesse Cortez consistently hit high notes as the singing Andrews Sisters-like trio of Americans thrown into white slavery; Bonni Suval’s Lottie Wu is a fierce vixen; and Noah Haydon (as the sultry Petrushka) is a class act. Koldewyn’s musical direction and piano accompaniment, meanwhile, provide strong and sure momentum as well as exquisite atmosphere. (Avila)

Romeo and Juliet Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason, Ste 601, SF; www.eventbrite.com. $20. Thu-Sat, 8pm (also May 24, 3pm). Through May 24. Ninjaz of Drama perform Shakespeare’s tragic romance.

Seminar San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post, Second Flr, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. $20-100. Tue-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm); Sun/18, June 1, and 8, 2pm. Through June 14. San Francisco Playhouse performs Theresa Rebeck’s biting comedy.

Shit & Champagne Rebel, 1772 Market, SF; shitandchampagne.eventbrite.com. $25. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. D’Arcy Drollinger is Champagne White, bodacious blond innocent with a wicked left hook in this cross-dressing ’70s-style white-sploitation flick, played out live on Rebel’s intimate but action-packed barroom stage. Written by Drollinger and co-directed with Laurie Bushman (with high-flying choreography by John Paolillo, Drollinger, and Matthew Martin), this high-octane camp send-up of a favored formula comes dependably stocked with stock characters and delightfully protracted by a convoluted plot (involving, among other things, a certain street drug that’s triggered an epidemic of poopy pants) — all of it played to the hilt by an excellent cast that includes Martin as Dixie Stampede, an evil corporate dominatrix at the head of some sinister front for world domination called Mal*Wart; Alex Brown as Detective Jack Hammer, rough-hewn cop on the case and ambivalent love interest; Rotimi Agbabiaka as Sergio, gay Puerto Rican impresario and confidante; Steven Lemay as Brandy, high-end calf model and Champagne’s (much) beloved roommate; and Nancy French as Rod, Champagne’s doomed fiancé. Sprawling often literally across two buxom acts, the show maintains admirable consistency: The energy never flags and the brow stays decidedly low. (Avila)

Sleeping Cutie: A Fractured Fairy Tale Musical Thick House, 1695 18th St, SF; sleepingcutiemusical.tix.com. $30-40. Extended run: Sat/10, May 12-14 and 19-21, 8pm; Sun/11, 2pm. Off a Cliff Productions and PlayGround present Diane Sampson and Doug Katsaros’ world-premiere musical.

The Speakeasy Undisclosed location (ticket buyers receive a text with directions), SF; www.thespeakeasysf.com. $70 (gambling chips, $5-10 extra; after-hours admission, $10). Thu-Sat, 7:40, 7:50, and 8pm admittance times. Extended through May 24. Boxcar Theater’s most ambitious project to date is also one of the more involved and impressively orchestrated theatrical experiences on any Bay Area stage just now. An immersive time-tripping environmental work, The Speakeasy takes place in an “undisclosed location” (in fact, a wonderfully redesigned version of the company’s Hyde Street theater complex) amid a period-specific cocktail lounge, cabaret, and gambling den inhabited by dozens of Prohibition-era characters and scenarios that unfold around an audience ultimately invited to wander around at will. At one level, this is an invitation to pure dress-up social entertainment. But there are artistic aims here too. Intentionally designed (by co-director and creator Nick A. Olivero with co-director Peter Ruocco) as a fractured super-narrative — in which audiences perceive snatches of overheard stories rather than complete arcs, and can follow those of their own choosing — there’s a way the piece becomes specifically and ever more subtly about time itself. This is most pointedly demonstrated in the opening vignettes in the cocktail lounge, where even the ticking of Joe’s Clock Shop (the “cover” storefront for the illicit 1920s den inside) can be heard underscoring conversations (deeply ironic in historical hindsight) about war, loss, and regained hope for the future. For a San Francisco currently gripped by a kind of historical double-recurrence of the roaring Twenties and dire Thirties at once, The Speakeasy is not a bad place to sit and ponder the simulacra of our elusive moment. (Avila)

The Suit ACT’s Geary Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $20-120. Wed/14-Sat/17, 8pm (also Wed/14 and Sat/17, 2pm); Sun/18, 1pm. ACT performs Peter Brook, Marie Hélène Estienne, and Franck Krawcyzk’s music-infused drama about betrayal and resentment adapted from the short story by South African author Can Themba.

Tipped & Tipsy Marsh Studio Theater, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $20-50. Sat/17, 5pm. Last fall’s San Francisco Fringe Festival began on a high note with Jill Vice’s witty and deft solo, Tipped & Tipsy, and the Best of Fringe winner is now enjoying another round at solo theater outpost the Marsh. Without set or costume changes, Vice (who developed the piece with Dave Dennison and David Ford) brings the querulous regulars of a skid-row bar to life both vividly and with real quasi-Depression-Era charm. She’s a protean physical performer, seamlessly inhabiting the series of oddball outcasts lined up each day at Happy’s before bartender Candy — two names as loaded as the clientele. After some hilarious expert summarizing of the dos and don’ts of bar culture, a story unfolds around a battered former boxer and his avuncular relationship with Candy, who tries to cut him off in light of his clearly deteriorating health. Her stance causes much consternation, and even fear, in his barfly associates, while provoking a dangerous showdown with the bar’s self-aggrandizing sleazeball owner, Rico. With a love of the underdog and strong writing and acting at its core, Tipsy breezes by, leaving a superlative buzz. (Avila)

“Des Voix: Found in Translation Biennial 2014” Various venues, SF; www.desvoixfestival.com. Prices vary. Through May 25. In addition to Communiqué N°10 (listed above), this festival of contemporary French playwrights and cinema includes four new play translations, a “New Play Nightclub,” film screenings, and more. Presented by Playwrights Foundation, Tides Theatre, Cutting Ball Theater, French International School, and the French Consulate of San Francisco.

Waxing West Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th St, SF; www.brava.org. $20. Thu/15-Sat/17, 8pm; Sun/18, 3pm. Romanian-born American playwright Saviana Stanescu’s 2007 comedy channels real-world angst and dislocation in its sly story of an independent-minded Romanian woman who, after arriving in New York as a mail-order bride, becomes a wax-wielding beautician and pastime kleptomaniac, haunted in her sleep by the vampire spirits of Nicolae and Elena Ceaucescu. In a deal brokered by her mother (Catz Forsman in old-world head scarf), 32-year-old Daniela (a serenely offbeat Beatrice Basso) leaves her family home in Bucharest, and an uncertain future in Romania, for a boyish Manhattan computer programmer named Charlie (a sympathetic, physically comical Jon Deline of local clown troupe Pi). Charlie is kind but noncommittal, having had no say in the arrangement initiated by his late interfering mother. Indeed, Charlie’s lesbian sister (Molly Shaiken) is far more interested in bedding Daniela, and courts her amid wine and waxings. Daniela’s only real friend ends up being a homeless and sickly ex-Yugoslav philosopher named Uros (Sam Coughlin, who doubles as Daniela’s brother Elvis), obsessed with pursuing the origins of the ancient Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh. Banking East and West throughout — in discretely titled scenes that hop between Bucharest and New York City over a 17-month period from 2000 to 2001 — Daniela’s every step comes dogged by a sarcastic pair of commentators, namely Romania’s former dictators, Nicolae Ceaucescu (a comically wimpish Forsman) and wife Elena (a pants-wearing Shaiken, in a heavily accented jewel of a performance), here reduced (elevated?) to blood-sucking zombies by Daniela’s fevered imagination. The current lurching production from Brava! For Women in the Arts and RasaNova Theater benefits from a quirky energy throughout, although director Vidhu Singh’s respectable cast had not fully cohered as of opening night, and there are plenty of rough patches. The stage is not always well lit and the action comes erratically blocked, for instance — although one wacky burst of physicality is also a highlight, as mismatched couple Daniela and Charlie engage in some idiosyncratic foreplay known as “the turkey game.” And if the production wanders in search of a clear course, that’s at least not entirely out of place with the play’s restless but good-humored emphasis on everyone’s search for an anchor in the 21st-century West. (Avila)

The World’s Funniest Bubble Show Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $8-11. Sun, 11am. Extended through May 25. The popular, kid-friendly show by Louis Pearl (aka “The Amazing Bubble Man”) returns to the Marsh.

BAY AREA

The Color Purple Hillbarn Theatre, 1285 East Hillsdale, Foster City; www.hillbarntheatre.org. $23-38. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through June 1. Hillbarn Theatre closes its 73rd season with the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic novel.

Geezer Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. New show schedule: Wed, 8pm; Sat, 3pm. Extended through May 24. Geoff Hoyle moves his hit comedy about aging to the East Bay.

The Letters Harry’s UpStage, Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison, Berk; www.auroratheatre.org. $28-32. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through June 1. American playwright John W. Lowell’s The Letters harkens back to Stalinist days and some unspecified ministry, where a dutiful staff goes about censoring the personal and openly homoerotic correspondence of an iconic Russian composer (Tchaikovsky). Directed by Mark Jackson for Aurora Theater’s new upstairs black box, the two-hander unfolds in the small but tidy and dignified office belonging to the ministry’s director (an imposing Michael Ray Wisely). He has summoned one of his employees, a widow named Anna (a taut Beth Wilmurt), for reasons not immediately clear to her or us. A careful dance around a minefield of protocol, sexual innuendo, and hidden agendas ensues, as a dangerous and deadly scandal surrounding the aforementioned letters makes itself felt. Given the Ukraine crisis, the ramping up of Cold War II, and Russia’s increasing authoritarianism — including its new law against homosexual “propagandizing” in the cultural realm, and a Ministry of Culture vowing to withhold funding from art lacking in “spiritual or moral content” — it’s all a remarkably timely little time warp. And Lowell’s story is cleverly crafted for the most part. Unfortunately, the production’s two capable actors have a hard time conveying a lifelike (if however strained) relationship or the perspiration-inducing tension the drama purports to carry. At the same time, the drama’s dialogue, at least as played here, can stretch the bounds of verisimilitude by veering from flinty, cagey ducks and jabs to outright insubordination, sarcasm, and ineffectual blustering — the latter outbursts seeming to leave the pressure pot of the Great Terror far behind. It’s still a long way from Tom and Jerry, but as a cat and mouse game the stakes, and the arc of the story, feel more fantastical then pressingly contemporary. (Avila)

Mutt: Let’s All Talk About Race La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, Berk; www.impacttheatre.com. $10-20. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through June 8. Impact Theatre and Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company present the world premiere of Christopher Chen’s political satire.

Nantucket Marsh Berkeley MainStage, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $25-100 (all tickets include a picnic dinner). Thu and Sat, 7pm. Through June 14. Acclaimed solo performer Mark Kenward presents his “haunting yet hilarious” autobiographical show about growing up on Nantucket.

Not a Genuine Black Man Osher Studio, 2055 Center, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $30-45. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through May 31. Brian Copeland brings his acclaimed, long-running solo show to Berkeley Rep for a 10th anniversary limited run.

“Pear Slices” Pear Avenue Theatre, 1220 Pear, Mtn View; www.thepear.org. $10-35. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through May 25. Original short plays from the Pear Playwrights Guild.

Tribes Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $29-99. Wed/14 and Sun/18, 7pm; Thu/15-Sat/17, 8pm (also Sat/17, 2pm). Berkeley Rep performs Nina Raine’s family drama about a young deaf man who comes of age.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

ABADA Capoeira ABADA Capoeira, 3221 22nd St, SF; www.abada.org. Sun/18, 1-3pm. Free. Demo featuring both professionals and Bay Area kids learning the Afro-Brazilian dance-martial art hybrid.

“American Utopias” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, 700 Howard, SF; www.ybca.org. Fri/16-Sat/17, 7:30pm. $30-35. Monologist Mike Daisey performs his latest work.

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason Center, SF; www.improv.org. “Director’s Cut,” Fri, 8pm, $20. Through May 23. “The Good, The Bad, and the Improvised,” Sat, 8pm, $20. Through May 24.

BrickaBrack Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF; www.dancemission.com. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through May 25. $25-45. The dance-theater company performs never fall so heavily again.

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sat/17, May 25, June 17, 22, and 29, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

“The Colossal Show: Bad Asians” Dark Room, 2263 Mission, SF; www.thecolossalshow.com. Fri/16, 10pm. $10-15. Stand-up comedy presented as part of the 2014 United States of Asian America Festival.

“Comedy Returns to El Rio” El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. Thu/15, 8pm. $7-20. With Karen Ripley, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Eloisa Bravo, Julia Jackson, and Lisa Geduldig.

“Dash: Improv in a Flash” Un-Scripted Theater Compan, 533 Sutter, Second Flr, SF; www.un-scripted.com. Sat, 10pm. $15. Ongoing through Aug 30. A late-night, free-form improv show with Un-Scripted Theater Company.

“Dream Queens Revue” Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; www.dreamqueensrevue.com. Wed/14, 9:30pm. Free. Drag with Collette LeGrande, Ruby Slippers, Sophilya Leggz, Bobby Ashton, and more.

Feinstein’s at the Nikko 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. This week: Spencer Day, Thu/15-Fri/16, 8pm; Sat/17, 7pm, $40-55; “Lee à la V: A Peggy Lee Songbook” with Veronica Klaus, Sun/18, 7pm, $30-45.

“The Fifth String: Ziryab’s Passage to Cordoba” Brava Theatre Center, 2781 24th St, SF; www.goldenthread.org. Thu/15-Sat/17, 8pm; Sun/18, 3pm. $15-22. Golden Thread continues its “Islam 101” performance series with this family-friendly play with live music.

Flamenco del Oro Emerald Tablet, 80 Fresno, SF; www.emtab.org. Fri/16, 8pm. $15. Flamenco music and dance.

“Half-Breed” Stage Werx, 446 Valencia, SF; www.apiculturalcenter.org. Thu/15, 8pm. $10. Acclaimed musician-poet PC Muñoz presents his latest multidisciplinary piece as part of the 2014 United States of Asian America Festival.

“Hand to Mouth Comedy” Lost Weekend Video, 1034 Valencia, SF; www.handtomouthcomedy.com. Fri/16, 8:30pm. $10. Trevor Hill presents this monthly show with Derek Sheen, Chris Locke, Kate Willett, and other comedians holding forth on the same topic: embarrassment.

“In Living Colors” Inner Mission, 2050 Bryant, SF; www.foufouha.net. Fri/16-Sat/17, 8pm. $25. Fou Fou Ha! performs an evening-length comedy, dance, and theater show. Saturday’s show includes an afterparty with dancing and additional performances.

“Laughter is Medicine” Puerto Alegre #2, 2950 25th St, SF; podercomedy.brownpapertickets.com. Sat/17, 8pm. $15. Help raise money for PODERsf.org by checking out comedians Juan Medina, Tony Sparks, and others.

“Literary Sriracha: Spicy Mix of Poetry, Prose, and Flash Fiction” SOMArts, 934 Brannan, SF; www.aawaa.net. Sat/17, 2-4pm. Free. Literary artists discuss the visual art of current food-themed exhibit “Eating Cultures.” Part of the 2014 United States of Asian America Festival

“Magic at the Rex” Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; www.magicattherex.com. Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $25. Magic and mystery with Adam Sachs and mentalist Sebastian Boswell III.

“Out of Line Improv” Stage Werx, 446 Valencia, SF; outoflineimprov.brownpapertickets.com. Sat, 10:30pm. $12. Ongoing. A new, completely improvised show every week.

“Outrageous Adult Sing-Along Show 2014” Martuni’s, 4 Valencia, SF; (415) 241-0205. Sat/17, 7pm; Sun/18, 4pm. $20. Entertainer Matt Yee performs.

“Patti Issues” Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; www.eventbrite.com. Wed/14, 7 and 9pm. $25. Ben Rimalower performs his critically-acclaimed solo play — inspired in part by his childhood love of Patti LuPone.

“Porch Light: Kitchen Confidential” Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa, SF; www.eventbrite.com. Mon/19, 8pm. $20. Storytelling with food bigwigs Joey Altman, David Lynch, Michael Mindel, Chalres Phan, and Nina Tamburello.

“San Francisco Comedy College” Purple Onion at Kells, 530 Jackson, SF; www.purpleonionatkells.com. $5-10. “New Talent Show,” Wed-Thu, 7. Ongoing. “The Cellar Dwellers,” stand-up comedy, Wed-Thu, 8:15pm and Fri-Sat, 7:30pm. Ongoing.

“Secrets of the Ancient Divas” Venetian Room, Fairmont San Francisco, 950 Mason, SF; www.bayareacabaret.org. Sun/18, 5pm. $48. Broadway star Karen Mason performs iconic tunes by Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and others.

“Shotz: Who Owns San Francisco?” Tides Theatre, 533 Sutter, SF; www.tidestheatre.org. Tue/20, 8pm. $10. Six plays, each five minutes long, zeroing in on the theme of “Who owns San Francisco?” (and each must include the line “Mine, mine, mine, me, me, mine!”)

viv dance ensemble Kunst-Stoff Arts, One Grove, SF; www.ftloose.org. Fri/16-Sat/17, 8pm. $15-25. the company performs Ouroboros, choreographed by Kathleen Hermesdorf, with special guests Ashley Trottier and Elizabeth Chitty.

“YBCA Converge” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. Thu/15, 4-8pm. Free. 0th and Infrasound perform at this event investigating sound’s relationship to the body. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon: It Only Happens Once.

“Yerba Buena Gardens Festival” Yerba Buena Gardens, 760 Howard, SF; www.ybgfestival.org. Free. Through Oct 26. This week: Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Thu/15, 6-7:30pm.

BAY AREA

“Aeolian Day: Music Made by the Wind” Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, 2777 Middle Harbor, Oakl; www.thingamajigs.org. Fri/17, noon-3pm. Free. Thingamajigs presents this event, in which local artists and Oakland elementary school students create and display instruments that are played by the wind.

“Amnesia” La Peña Cultural Center, 3150 Shattuck, Berk; www.lapena.org. Thu/15-Sat/17, 8pm; Sun/18, 7pm. $18-25. Ariel Luckey performs a world-premiere work about race and immigration.

“The Bad Aunties” 142 Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton, Mill Valley; www.throckmortontheatre.org. Fri/16, 8pm. $25-35. Improv comedy with Debi Durst, Diane Amos, and Judi Nihei, plus special guests.

“An Evening with Paula Poundstone” Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro, San Rafael; www.marinjcc.org. Sat/17, 8pm. $34-64. The comedian performs.

“FESTAC African Diaspora Dance Festival” Laney College, Odell Johnson Theater, 900 Fallon, Oakl; facebook.com/festacculture. Fri/16, 8pm; Sat/17, 2pm. $10-15. Dance from Cuba, Haiti, and America performed by the Laney College Dance Department.

“The Iron Heel” Hillside Community Church, 1422 Navellier, El Cerrito; www.teamrichmond.net. Sun/18, 7pm. $10-20. This production, based on the Jack London novel and featuring London’s great-granddaughter, is a benefit for Richmond Progressive Alliance candidates in November’s election.

“MarshJam Improv Comedy Show” Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. Fri, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Improv comedy with local legends and drop-in guests.

Oakland Ballet Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice, Oakl; www.oaklandballet.org. Fri/16-Sat/17, 8pm (also Sat/17, 2pm). $20-35. The company performs its spring season program, Oakland-esque.

Suzanne Westenhoefer First Church Berkeley, 2345 Channing, Berk; www.brownpapertickets.com. Sat/17, 8pm. $20-50. The comedian performs, with guest Jennie McNulty, at this benefit for the United Church of Christ’s Coalition for LGBT Concerns. *

Stony lonesome

Michael Redmond

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May 13, 2014

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arts@sfbg.com

FILM Prison should be the most natural setting for film noir, as that’s where most of the genre’s protagonists are headed (if they don’t get bumped off first), and where many of them have already been. But it’s had spotty representation onscreen, with time served either skipped over in the narrative (how many pulp fictions start with a hard-luck protagonist just getting out of long-term for what’s sure to be short-term freedom?), or dominating entirely.

This spring’s edition of “I Wake Up Dreaming,” the recurrent Roxie noir showcase programmed by Elliot Lavine, has a number of notable titles dealing with the claustrophobic consequences of crime-not-paying. What’s even more notable this time around is the cross-pollination with Lavine’s other Roxie perennial, the series of Hollywood “pre-Codes” made in an approximately five-year window between the advent of “talkies” and the 1934 arrival of more rigidly enforced, censorious industry standards toward potentially objectionable content. Their peaks separated by about 15 years, pre-Codes and noirs shared a taste for hard-boiled dialogue and seamy situations, so their programmatic overlapping here feels right.

Two of the strongest entries here were released at least a decade before the arrival of anything that might legitimately be labeled noir. Daintily titled Ladies They Talk About (1933) is a rip-roaring original Women in Prison exploiter, with the inimitable Barbara Stanwyck as a moll who sashays into the hoosegow after enabling a bank stick-up. Getting two-to-five in San Quentin’s women’s ward, which here is like the world’s saltiest sorority, she quickly identifies her allies and enemies while spurning the visits of a childhood pal turned crusading DA (Preston Foster) — when she’d ratted on herself to prove “I’m on the level now” to him, he had the noive to actually charge her with the crime. That bum!

Another enduring star who came in with the sound era, Edward G. Robinson, gets all of Two Seconds (1932) to recall what got him to the electric chair — though that translates into a still-trim 67 minutes’ screen time in Mervyn LeRoy’s drama. The first half is a gem of snappy patter as the headliner and a terrific Foster play construction-worker roommates — Robinson the penny-pinching plodder, Foster the one always ready to blow his paycheck on booze, broads, and the horses. Yet it’s the former who’s taken for a chump’s ride by dancehall girl Vivienne Osborne, whose personality goes from Jekyll to Hyde the moment she’s manipulated him into an unholy matrimony. You can guess what happens — she’s already murder just to live with. As a none-too-bright lug who can’t get a break, Robinson gets a serious acting workout here, even if the climactic pre-execution Big Speech smacks overmuch of writing for Oscar’s sake.

Several rarities that verge on horror come from before and after the semi-official, immediately post-World War II noir era. Miracles for Sale (1939) was the final feature for director Tod Browning of Lon Chaney Sr. and Freaks (1932) fame. It stars Robert Young as a professional “magic” debunker investigating murders connected to an alleged witchcraft circle. Even so, this slick comedy thriller provides scant outlet for Browning’s love of the macabre.

Even less frequently revived are three early 1960s chillers: Erstwhile Incredible Shrinking Man Grant Williams plays a psychiatric patient and serial killer in The Couch (1962), Robert Bloch’s first screenplay after Hitchcock adapted his novel Psycho. The Hypnotic Eye (1960) has tall, dark, and handsome Jacques Bergerac (who married Dorothy Malone and Ginger Rogers) as a hypnotist whose prettier subjects tend to grotesquely disfigure themselves. Two on a Guillotine (1965) is a sub-William Castle gothic with the punishingly perky duo of Connie Stevens and Dean Jones having to spend an inheritance-earning week in the inevitable haunted house. They’re all terrible, but have a certain creaky charm.

Holding up very well indeed is 1949’s The Window, a rare genuine independent production of the era to achieve major recognition. As opening on-screen text announces, it’s the story of the boy who cried wolf — updated to a modern NYC tenement, where little Bobby Driscoll is testing the patience of his parents and playmates with his constant fabrications. Thus nobody believes him, of course, when he witnesses a real murder. Once his homicidal neighbors catch wind of him, our grade-school protagonist becomes prey himself. Criminal child endangerment was far from a typical story element in those days, and with its still-tense chase finale amid crumbling condemned buildings, The Window presented such a novelty that it won a (rather generous) special Oscar for Driscoll, who was usually seen in the more wholesome environs of Disney films like Song of the South (1946) and Treasure Island (1950). Yet soon after, adolescent acne would kill his acting career. Ironically echoing this famous role, the by-then heroin-addicted ex-con was found dead in an abandoned 1968 NYC tenement at age 31, his body found by playing children.

Other “Dreaming” highlights include a glossy 1947 double bill showcasing talented Warner Brothers star Ann Sheridan, the better being The Unfaithful, though Nora Prentiss has the virtue of being partly shot in SF. As sleepers go, though, two vintage “Bs” may rep the series’ best discoveries. Perhaps the program’s least likely inclusion is Angels in Disguise (1948), a later entry among the Bowery Boys’ nearly 100 juvenile hijinks. This one is a spoof of tough urban crime dramas, and a surprisingly good one, complete with shadow-heavy noir imagery and hard-boiled voiceover narration. As ever, the scene stealer is rubber-faced beanpole Huntz Hall.

From 1957, Death in Small Doses (“The picture that crosses the forbidden territory … of THRILL PILLS!”) rips the lid off amphetamine abuse among long-distance truckers, with future Mission: Impossible and Airplane! (1980) star Peter Graves as an undercover federal investigator. What makes it unmissable, however, is the supporting turn by none other than Chuck Connors (1979’s Tourist Trap, 1973’s Soylent Green) as perpetually hopped-up boarding-house hepcat “Mink.” If scene-stealing were a crime, Hall might get life without parole, but Connors would merit the chair. *

“I WAKE UP DREAMING 2014”

May 16-26

Roxie Theater

3117 16th St, SF

www.roxie.com

Getting the Kink out

Michael Redmond

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May 13, 2014

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joe@sfbg.com

The spotlights shone down, the athletes tussled, and the crowd screamed.

The toned and tattooed female wrestler tackled the topless, tanned, blond wrestler from behind, pulling her down like a tumbling tower. The mat thumped. Cheers erupted. In a sudden reversal, the tanned wrestler gained leverage with her right arm and slammed the tattooed fighter’s shoulders onto the mat, giving the blond the win.

What happened next was definitely not standard wrestling fare.

The tanned wrestler, triumphant, digitally penetrated the tattooed fighter. Her moans silenced the crowd, who listened, rapt. The fight wasn’t sport, but porn, America’s real favorite pasttime. Ultimate Surrender is just one of San Francisco-based studio Kink.com’s 30 or so paid subscription porn websites, including Fucking Machines, Everything Butt, and Hogtied.

But a new series of proposed state laws threatens the state’s porn industry, and the freakiest city on the West Coast may soon say goodbye to its highest profile porn purveyor, Kink.com, which for years has operated out of the historic Armory building on 14th and Mission streets.

The situation raises a question: Is Kink.com breaking up with San Francisco? If legislation requiring condoms on-set in porn and stricter state safety requirements become law, Kink.com CEO Peter Acworth tells the Guardian he has no choice but to leave California entirely.

“We can’t do business under those circumstances,” Acworth told us. “We can’t make a product that can compete.”

The tussle between pornographers, porn actors, and state lawmakers is a crucible where worker safety — and the right to choose how that safety is implemented — may soon be decided. Caught in the crossfire, freaky and sex-positive San Francisco stands to get a whole lot less kinky.

ECHOES OF LOS ANGELES

California Assembly Bill 1576 would legally require condom use while shooting porn, mandatory STD testing, and pornographic studios required to hold health records of their talent. The bill cleared the Assembly’s Committee on Labor and Employment just last month, the first step on a short road to gaining the governor’s signature.

Assemblymember Isadore Hall (D-Los Angeles), sponsored the bill, and the day it cleared committee he was triumphant.

“For too long, the adult film industry has thrived on a business model that exploits its workers and puts profit over workplace safety,” Hall said in a press statement. “The fact is, adult film actors are employees, like any other employee for any other business in the state. A minimum level of safety in the workplace should not have to be negotiated.”

The concern is largely over HIV infection on the sets of porn studios, and two parallel statewide efforts are working towards safety on porn sets. The state bill is the first, and the second is the renewed vigor in enforcing longstanding California Division of Occupational Safety and Health regulations.

In the early 1990’s, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration adopted a bloodborne pathogens regulation, and DOSH adopted a similar regulation soon after. DOSH’s standard requires employers to take measures to prevent employees’ eyes, skin, and mucous membranes from coming in contact with blood and “other potentially infectious materials,” including semen and vaginal secretions.

To some industries, the standard mandates rubber gloves and goggles. For the porn industry, the DOSH regulations are a moratorium on porn stars ejaculating on each others’ faces, deeming facials a workplace hazard. That standard porn finale can have life-changing ramifications.

“In 2004, there was a big (HIV) outbreak in the industry,” Eugene Murphy, senior safety engineer at DOSH, told the Guardian. “It was demonstrated HIV was clearly contracted on set.”

These infections mostly occurred in Los Angeles, once the center of the porn universe until Measure B arguably changed that. Los Angeles voters mandated porn studio condom use in 2012, and two years later, LA newspapers reported many pornographers have relocated to Las Vegas to escape the regulatory requirements.

The statewide pushback on porn is largely driven by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, whose President Michael Weinstein has smiled for the cameras alongside Hall and other lawmakers every step of the way.

DOSH began its part in the porn crackdown in Los Angeles, but Murphy was charged with looking into San Francisco’s Kink.com, where Acworth is chafing against the idea of mandatory condoms.

RUBBERS REBUFFED

Acworth said he used to believe condoms should be mandatory for performers. After the porn set HIV infections in 2004, Kink.com buckled down.

“I attempted to run the business as condom mandatory for about a year,” Acworth told us. He even pronounced their necessity in an interview on CNN. But there were complications.

“There was pressure from the models themselves because of the chaffing issues,” he said. Porn performers have echoed those sentiments as well.

In an interview with entertainment site Nerve, popular porn star James Deen (see “Dick and smile,” 7/31/12) said he had no problem with personal condom use, but women he’s worked with often complained of chafing.

“I was talking to a girl about it and she was like, ‘Dude, I’m in pain everyday and constantly swollen,'” he told Nerve. “Condoms are intended to be used on an average-sized penis for average sex, and we have entertainment sex, for anywhere from 20 minutes to four hours.”

The condom effort tanked at Kink. Acworth said he withdrew the policy after listening to his performers’ wishes. The studio does adhere to 14-day HIV tests, and condoms are available in a “double-blind” agreement, by which actors can purportedly safely ask for condoms and not fear retaliation.

Despite those efforts, Kink was later awash in condom controversy. Earlier this year, DOSH fined Kink $78,000 in violations connected with the alleged on-stage HIV infections of two actors in 2013, one of whom alleged that a shoot continued despite one actor having a bleeding cut on his penis.

Acworth adamantly asserts the HIV transmission happened in these actors’ personal lives, and says the issue is used as a wedge by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to push a political agenda. The Guardian attempted to contact the foundation but did not hear back by press time.

Regardless, Murphy said, DOSH is pursuing regulatory requirements around bloodborne pathogens at Kink, and the enforcement of those regulations is not tied to the whether the initial HIV infection case was verified or not.

“My concern,” Murphy said, “is whether there is a healthy and safe workplace.”

COMMUNITY TIES

Acworth came to San Francisco for the reasons many do: he wanted a place to be weird, or in his case, kinky.

He wanted a new home from which to shoot his leather porn site, Hogtied.com. New York City was big, but at the time (the ’90s), he felt San Francisco had a more established leather scene in the Folsom Street Fair and leather shops like Mr. S.

“San Francisco,” Acworth said, sitting across from us in a leather bondage chair, “appeared to be more geared up.”

Although not universally loved within the BDSM community, the studio is popular in San Francisco. Part of the credit may go to Kink’s recent revitalization of one of the largest spaces in its 200,000-square-foot historic brick fortress: the Drill Court.

The vast, arch-roofed space was outfitted with modern sound proofing for the benefits of performers and neighbors, but its life as a performance space is not new. In the 1920s, boxers traded blows under its lights, and history may repeat itself, Armor Community Center Sales Manager Quincy Krashna told us.

He’s in talks with Golden Boy Promotions (boxer Oscar De La Hoya’s company) to bring prize fighting back to this historic space. In recent months, the Drill Court played host to a massive New Year’s Eve party, a Game of Thrones-themed dance night and cancer fundraiser, and even an evangelical medical conference, where missionaries offered free dental and doctor checkups to the public.

“The Holy Spirit was truly present at this event,” a doctor from the program, Building Bridges, wrote on the program’s website.

Even bigger changes could be in store. Last month, Acworth filed an application with the city to convert most of the historic Armory into office space, what he called a “last ditch” plan in case the state condom ban passes and Kink decamps for Nevada.

“This move represents an insurance policy,” he told us.

In a public May 11 letter to Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Acworth asked the foundation for a truce: “I am reaching out to you and AHF, in the hopes of a day where we may sit across the table from one another and agree on common goals and strategy on protecting performers as opposed to continuing this battle.”

As he notes in his letter, if pornographers lose this battle, the companies may relocate. If Acworth finds himself uncomfortably bound and gagged by new regulations, his safe word may be: Nevada.

Alerts: May 14 – 20, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 13, 2014

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WEDNESDAY 14

Growing Green Awards

Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk. www.nrdc.org. 6-9pm, $30/$20 for students. Author and advocate Anna Lappe serves as master of ceremonies for this year’s multimedia awards ceremony, celebrating leaders in sustainable food and agriculture. Presented by the Berkeley Food Institute and Natural Resources Defense Council. Food and wine reception follows.

THURSDAY 15

Global Day of Action Against Fast Food Industry

Downtown Oakland. sandra.eboc@gmail.com. 11am, free. Join fast food workers and allies from 36 countries and 150 U.S. cities for a day of action to call attention to some of the worst corporate behavior and income inequality. The first action will be in East Oakland at 6am and the second will be downtown at 11 am.

Community Forum on Proposed Development for 16th and Mission Plaza

Victoria Theater, 2961 16th St., SF. www.plaza16.org. 6-8pm, free. The proposed housing development near Mission and 16th Sts. will be too expensive and too big, shadowing Marshall Elementary School for five months of the year. Learn more about how this project will negatively impact neighborhood residents, community organizations, and mom and pop businesses. Be part of a community-based effort where the needs of people come before the needs of multimillion-dollar profits.

Fundraiser to support farming veterans

Goldman Theater, David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berk. 5:30-7:30pm, $100. Show your support and celebrate the accomplishments of the Farmer Veteran Coalition, portrayed in the award-winning documentary Ground Operations: Battlefields to Farmfields. Meet the veterans in the film who are part of a new generation of sustainable farmers, ranchers and artisan food producers.The evening will feature veteran-produced, farm-fresh tapas, beverages (wine, beer and mead!), as well as stories told by vets-turned-farmers. Meet the filmmakers, and watch the film, documenting how vets with post-traumatic stress disorder have found peace through sustainable agriculture.

Guardian Intelligence: May 14 – 22, 2014

Michael Redmond

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May 13, 2014

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SOUNDTRACK TO THE CITY

What exactly does a “sound sculpture” look like? We’re not quite sure either, but judging from what we’ve heard about Sonic Dreamscape, the new installation by sound artist Bill Fontana that’s set to debut this weekend as part of the opening of the North Beach Branch Library, you’ll want to tune in. Fontana, a North Beach resident, has been recording the sounds of his neighborhood or the past 15 years, including the bustle of restaurants and cafes, a reading by Lawrence Ferlighetti, Telegraph Hill parrots squawking up a storm, and more; the mix, which will be broadcast from weatherproof speakers on one side of the library’s building, will shift constantly so that no two moments are the same. Sounds pretty sweet. (photo by Christoph Rembser)

SRO OWNERS SUED

It’s often rumored that housing conditions in certain San Francisco single-room occupancy hotels, or SROs, are atrocious. And now, a May 12 lawsuit filed by City Attorney Dennis Herrera alleges that when it comes to hotels under the ownership of one family in particular, the housing conditions are also illegal. Herrera’s suit names the Thakor family, owners of more than a dozen SROs, charging that the city contractors are renting uninhabitable rooms to vulnerable occupants and making false claims for payment from the city. “San Francisco’s response to our affordable housing crisis must include aggressively protecting our most vulnerable residents,” Herrera said.

NOTORIOUS NEMA

By now readers have probably seen their news feeds light up with outrage over the fact that high-end apartment complex NEMA went out there and published a map of San Francisco that did not include the Castro or Chinatown. It’s the same mid-Market complex that spurred the earlier creation of a satirical Twitter account. Top tweet on the “ENEMA Lux Apartments” feed? “Amenities not enemies! Tech not blech! White not blight!”

SFBG RADIO

Now you can be Guardian listeners as well as Guardian readers. The Guardian’s new radio show, Alternative Ink, is now airing biweekly on BFF.fm, San Francisco’s best Internet radio station. Alternating every other week with the SF Weekly, we deliver a blend of music, talk, and random musings. Visit BFF.fm or sfbg.com to hear our latest show, recorded live in the studio on Sun/11.

DOC CLOCK

The 13th annual San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, always a top pick amid the Bay Area’s overpopulated film-fest scene, announced its programming last week. The fest, which runs at the Roxie and Brava Theaters in SF, and the Oakland School of the Arts, kicks off June 5 with Actress, the latest from Robert Greene, who is also the recipient of DocFest’s Non-Fiction Vanguard Award. (Memo to any fans of The Wire: the subject of Actress is Brandy Burre, who played political troublemaker and McNulty foil Theresa D’Agostino.) The centerpiece film is The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, about the late programmer and activist; closing night brings Sundance-acclaimed doc Rich Hill, about kids growing up in rural Missouri. Check out the whole program (Zombies! Punks! Cults! Christmas music fanatics!) at www.sfindie.com.

CELEBRATE SMALL BIZ

You (yes, you!) are cordially invited to join us for a happy hour where we’ll toast our Small Business Awards winners and all members of the small business community. Enjoy a celebratory drink (or three); we’ll be serving delicious cocktails poured with Distillery 209 Gin by the talented bar staff at Virgil’s. It’s happening Wed/14, 6:30-8:30pm, at Virgil’s Sea Room, 3152 Mission, SF.

#DONTFUNDEVIL

Activists are targeting Google this week as its shareholders meet, by calling on the tech giant to disclose how much it spends on lobbying and contributions toward groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “While it sells our information and invests in technologies that could fundamentally shift society, such as robotics, artificial intelligence and drones,” said Sam Jewler, communications officer for Public Citizen’s U.S. Chamber Watch, “Google has strayed from its ‘Don’t Be Evil’ mantra and is spending unaccountable dark money on lobbying and on funding groups that stifle action on climate change, Internet rights, voting rights, good jobs and more.”

PITTING THE HOMELESS AGAINST THE POOR

We’re happy to see the Sup. Mark Farrell, who represents the wealthiest part of the city, take an active interest in reducing homelessness. But a proposal he introduced as we were going to press strikes us as a little out-of-touch with how most San Franciscans are struggling to get by these days. His Homeless Tenant Preference Legislation would give the homeless and those formerly homeless individuals in supportive housing priority for all affordable housing programs and units managed by the city. So rather than taxing wealthy industries to build more affordable housing, we’re going to pit the homeless against the poor while promoting a housing boom for the rich? So slipping into homelessness would be a prerequisite for housing subsidies? Try again, supervisor.

DAVID CHIU’S AMA

Board of Supervisors President and Assembly candidate David Chiu went onto Reddit on May 12 for an “ask me anything.” One voter threw this curveball: “I’m a bigger fan of you than Campos, should I just vote for him to send him off to Sacramento to keep you here?” Chiu’s response might serve as advice for anyone trying to decide whether they should vote for him or David Campos for Assembly. “I hope you don’t mind if I suggest a flaw in the logic to your question,” he wrote. “Whoever you send to represent you in Sacramento could be your representative for the next 12 years. Whoever loses this election will very likely only be in office for another two years. What would you rather have — 12 years of someone you support or two years of someone you don’t?” Then he added a smiley face. 🙂