Caitlin Donohue Archives — Page 22 of 38 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Party with the new, movie-making Yard Dogs Road Show Sun/24

Andrew Lam

-

July 20, 2011

Party with the new, movie-making Yard Dogs Road Show Sun/24

It’s not every day that you get a missive from the carnival, so when I saw Eddy Joe Cotton’s email in my inbox I read it. Holy damn, Yard Dogs Road Show is making a movie. Even more than that — he was extending the invite to go play with the traveling pack of musico-gypsies on Sun/24 at their Oakland clubhouse. You can come too. No, really.

“The Yard Dogs Road Show wants to be a movie right now,” says Cotton, author of one of the best road journals ever (Hobo) and long-time member of the long-time traveling burlesque-vaudeville experience that is the YDRS. It kind of always did (if not another novel) — the band’s provenance has always been romanticized by its members, if not made into an urban legend. Take a gander at my interview with the group’s song and dance man Miguel for a look at magic and mystery.

The band’s developed a nationwide following through its bohemian wonderland of a live show. So cool, it wants to share its roots. Of course, there is a Kickstarter involved. See, movies don’t just pop up from nowhere. Cotton explains — actually, he really explains, maybe I’ll just cut ‘n’ paste. The band needs your dough for:

– Editing, obtaining additional footage, purchasing archival-stock footage, music publishing fees, audio production, camera upgrades, hard drives, film festival entry fees, film promotion, graphic design, DVD manufacturing, etc.

– We have a 7-year old mini-DV camera that has stopped accepting tapes. We’ve had it repaired too many times. We need a new HD camera – price tag $4000

– We still need more footage to tell the story we want to tell. This will mean more of everything.

Plus publicity, DVD manufacturing, cuts to Kickstarter and Amazon, mailing the DVDs, and for video gear they’ve already bought.

Bla bla bla. Contributing to the project through the Kickstarter site will mean you get anything from YDRS love (this is not totally broken down, so feel free to let your imagination run rampant) to lifetime tickets to see the band giggin’. And the party in Oakland will feature a movie Q&A, sushi rolls, and lasso tricks.

Yard Dogs Road Show movie party

Sun/24 5 p.m.-midnight, free

Yard Dogs Art Shack

2509 Myrtle, Oakl.

www.yarddogsroadshow.com

Youth Speaks finds its Brave New Voices at this week’s international poetry slam

Andrew Lam

-

July 19, 2011

0

Youth Speaks finds its Brave New Voices at this week’s international poetry slam

Bay Area, meet your home team. Their names are Joshua Merchant, Noah St. John, E.J. Walls, Gretchen Carvajal, Cassanda Euphrat Weston, and Jade Cho – spoken word poets, representatives of their cities in an international competition that has been the subject, even, of an HBO reality series, and all under the age of 18. Do you know about Brave New Voices?

A performance from BNW 2010 on everyone’s (least) favorite sustenance diet

The international youth spoken word competition has been shocking senses and giving young people a way to spit the most difficult and important aspects of their lives since 1998 (go here for our recent post on Youth Speaks, the SF organization that was instrumental in making this slam royale happen and coordinates the Bay’s BNV representatives). What happens is teams of high school poets, usually selected through city-wide slams in their own areas, hit the stage during three rounds, reciting poems in tandem and solo that they’ve been revising and perfecting for months. Offstage, the kids get to meet fellow poets from around the world, ciphering and practicing their performances into the night.

We’re stoked at the Guardian for our Bay beatniks, and we somehow hooked two of them for an email interview in the middle of their preparations for the competition, which starts tomorrow, Wed/20, and culminates in the final slam Sat/23 at the SF Opera. Like Youth Speaks executive director James Kass says, here’s your “unadulterated, uncensored kids.”

San Francisco Bay Guardian: Introduce yourself to the city — how old you are, how long you’ve been involved with Youth Speaks, what do you like about spoken word?

Cassandra Euphrat Weston: I’m 18, I’ve been involved with Youth Speaks for about a year. I love the directness and honesty that spoken word demands of me as a writer. There is only one chance to connect with the audience; there’s no leisurely re-reading spoken word poems, and that immediacy creates an extremely powerful connection.

Gretchen Carvajal: I’m 17, I’ve been involved with Youth Speaks for almost three years now, and I love the entire spoken word community, the freeing environment [of] integrity and vulnerability coexisting. All in all, spoken word is dope.

SFBG: You guys are less than a week out from Brave New Voices, how are you feeling?

GC: It feels surreal, we’ve been working at this for so long and it’s finally coming down to the wire, it’s Judgment Day. For real. Make it or break it. Think of every cliché used to describe this eye of the tiger moment, that’s what it is, times a million.

SFBG: What’s been the most challenging part about training for an international competition like this?

GC: Traveling from Newark to Oakland and Berkeley and San Francisco, it’s a lot of money to drop on BART. Also, several edits on the same poem can get a little repetitive, but it’s all for making the pieces stronger.

SFBG: What are you most looking forward to about BNV? What do you think is going to be happening there when a country full of young spoken word artists meet?

CEW: I can’t wait to meet poets from all over the country and hear their work. I don’t know exactly what will happen, but I know the experience will be absolutely phenomenal.

SFBG: Tell me something that you’re proud of about your San Francisco team.

CEW: I love how different we all are, and how close we’ve become over the course of the past few months. Everybody has pushed themselves into the most difficult conversations and poems. This effort definitely shows.

GC: I’m proud of the mix we have in our team, and how we coincide. Our team has so many different styles and we can contribute to each other’s style, making everyone diverse within themselves. I just love my team.

Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival

Wed/20-Sat/23, $6-100

Various Bay Area venues

www.bravenewvoices.org

Tech blogger takes on Silicon Valley

Andrew Lam

-

July 14, 2011

0

Critiquing the tech industry has to be one of San Francisco’s favorite events in the armchair Olympics – but usually the harangues are coming from my friend that can’t seem to hold onto his personal chef gigs. Incisive commentary about the social merits of Silicon Valley from within the tech community are hard to come by (maybe because they are all fully employed).

Perhaps that’s why a critical blog post that tech news site The Next Web ran this week by normally ebullient reporter Hermione Way (who covers the start-up entrepreneur beat) set off so many alarms among her techie cohorts. Way, who I kind of think is a genius at being immersed in, and taking the piss from the tech industry, moved to Bay six months ago from the UK to interview start-up masterminds (we caught her before she’d even hopped the pond to learn about the life of a pro social networker), called out Silicon Valley on being motivated for all the wrong reasons:

I’ve heard pitch after pitch of the same technology and keep wondering why all these highly intelligent, well educated youngsters, many of whom have been educated in the best universities in the world (Stanford, Yale and Harvard) are not putting their brains to good use by solving real-world problems. Instead they’re building technology to solve trivial issues – like apps that show where to spot your nearest tofu cupcake and share it with your friends.

It’s an obvious critique that’s been levied by many people that haven’t met a fraction of the Internet entrepreneurs that Way has, but the post stirred up it’s fair share of wrath.

Robert Scoble, who found initial fame as a Microsoft blogger and has been called a “technical evangelist”, pointed to financier Cynthia Ringo and Kevin Surace of Serious Material as exemplars of conscious technology movers.

Over at Y Combinator, a start-up seed firm that operates news forums on its Hacker News website, some commenters thought the problem is that Way simply doesn’t understand what Silicon Valley is:

There isn’t a ‘problem’ with Silicon Valley, it simply exists like a beaker sitting over a bunsen burner. Over time different chemicals are available in the beaker and sometimes something magical happens, and sometime noxious fumes come out, but the place is an engine.

Of course, geographic locations don’t themselves create new techologies, socially-minded ones or otherwise — the people that live in them do. But to say that there is no culture of Silicon Valley – or hey, any place – is remarkably un-self aware. What is worked on, funded, and valued are trends that is agreed on by any community, even if, like Scoble, you can find exceptions to the rule. Here’s hoping that Way’s words will make techsters take a break from the coding-networking-developing grind to look at what they’re working towards.

Bicicultura

Andrew Lam

-

July 12, 2011

2

caitlin@sfbg.com

I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was gorgeous: a two-way protected bicycle lane. It went the length of Figueroa Alcorta Avenue, a wide, tree-covered boulevard that traverses Buenos Aires’ central neighborhoods. And people were riding bikes on it — cruisers and those funky low-riding foldable bikes. It was a totally different but super-familiar scene. I had to join.

I didn’t come to Buenos Aires expecting to find the bike culture I did. Call me provincial, but the Bay Area bike scene is so exhilarating — the various Bike Party group theme rides, the radical workshops of the East Bay’s Cycles of Change, the gonzo tunes on trailers of the Bicycle Music Festival, SF Bike Coalition’s advocacy work, the slammin’ art and fashion of the Bikes and Beats parties — that it can make a body think we’re taking the whole lane, as it were.

But what else is cruising around out there?

“Buenos Aires does not have any formal complete streets initiatives as the term is understood in the United States,” says Andrés Fingeret, director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). Fingeret’s organization helps cities on three continents — including Jakarta; Guangzhou, China; and Denver — create sustainable transit systems, so I figured the organization would be a good start if I was going to understand where Buenos Aires stands in terms of biking.

“It’s a rare case,” Fingeret continues in an e-mail to me. “A compact city with great weather that is very flat but has no history of urban cycling.”

Following a visit from former Bogotá mayor and bike path champion Enrique Peñalosa, the Buenos Aires city government began working on 100 kilometers of new bike lanes in 2010, many of which are like the one I fell in love with: barrier-protected and luxurious. BA even has Mejor en Bici (“Better on a bike”), a network of free bike rental stations for city residents.

“When these plans were presented, it seemed like a utopia, something that would be impossible in our city,” says Fingeret. “Luckily nowadays, it is debated less and less that bicycles deserve an important role in the mobility of porteños (residents of Buenos Aires).”

But it’s one thing to create bike infrastructure — quite another to get people riding. And despite the city’s ambitious plans, BA has some serious roadblocks when it comes to its population accepting bikes as acceptable forms of transit.

DUMPSTERS IN THE BIKE LANES

A few days after catching sight of that first bike lane, I was on my way to La Bicicleta Naranja (“The Orange Bike”), the Buenos Aires equivalent of SF’s Blazing Saddles bike rental shops. The shop is true to its word — it specializes in renting tangerine-colored cruisers for goober tourists.

Not to retread the path of David Byrne’s Bicycle Diaries too much, but there is something spectacular about seeing a new city from a banana seat. Being a tourist is way more attractive when you can check out multiple neighborhoods in a day, especially in a metropolitan area of 12 million people.

Compared to American cities, traffic in Buenos Aires had a different flow. “Right of way” is a more fluid notion with fewer traffic lights and stop signs but just as many people on the roads — bicyclists, motorists, and pedestrians just have to use their eyes a lot more. Also Buenos Aires appeared to have little emissions level oversight — colectivo buses belched fumes into the streets, discouraging for people commuting without the protection of car walls and windows.

The reality of riding my bike through the city wasn’t quite as paradisiacal as it appeared when standing on the curb — especially given motorists’ ignorance of hand signals (they’re still an uncommon practice among bicyclists there), oblivious pedestrians, and garbage bins parked in delineated bike lanes.

“THE STREETS ARE FOR EVERYBODY”

On a busy street in one of the city’s northern neighborhoods, a year-old bike workshop and skill-share operates out of the back room of a community center. Two days a week, La Fabricicleta is staffed by volunteer bike mechanics who created the workshop after they met through city’s two-year-old Masa Critica (Critical Mass, in one of its many global incarnations), which attracts up to 2,000 riders in the warm summer months and takes to the streets every first Sunday at 4 p.m., with special rides on full-moon nights.

On any given day of operation, the tiny room is packed with mostly young people drinking yerba mate, pumping music, teaching each other how to fix flats and true wheels, and leaving donations for parts and to keep the shop running. It’s similar to SF’s Bike Kitchen — save for its provenance.

Buenos Aires’ neighborhood asambleas were formed in the wake of the country’s 2001 economic collapse, in the midst of runs on the banks, 25 percent unemployment rates, and looting — but also remarkable community organizing. In scenes reminiscent of this spring’s Madrid indignado demonstrations, the city’s plazas filled with demonstrations and entire neighborhoods occupied abandoned buildings, establishing a space where they could try to work through the seismic craziness rocking their country.

Villa Urquiza’s asamblea was one of these — it once housed La Ideal pizzeria, whose sign hangs over the doorway and whose massive ovens still greet visitors. Still buzzing a decade after the crash, the asamblea now hosts political meetings, an anarchist library, occasional fundraiser parties with live music and cheap beer — and La Fabricicleta.

“This is a lifestyle,” says Gustavo Troncoso, one of the workshop’s six core volunteer mechanics. He was introduced to La Fabricicleta through cyclist friends and was impressed by the way people “come to spend the day, and then end up doing mechanics.”

The shop protests throwaway culture, encouraging people to put in the time to resuscitate old bikes. Some of the volunteers who run the shop roll through with decades-old rides restored to impeccably detailed perfection. Another Fabricicleta goal is to provide bikes (and the smarts to maintain them) to low-income riders in the community.

Pausing from helping two young women take their bikes through a routine tuneup, Troncoso explains that riding in the city provides him with some much-needed autonomy from the sardine-packed subway system and environment-polluting car life. “When you get in a car and go somewhere quickly — well you’re not leaving much room for yourself.”

“The streets are for everybody,” he says. “We think everyone can share the same streets with respect. Bikes make you more autonomous, free — you can do it yourself.”

But the social stigma of bikes in Argentina is hard to shake. “Older people still believe that bicycles are for poor people,” says Troncoso, shaking his head. “It’s just a question of education.”

It’s easy to see why La Fabricicleta is packed during its open hours. People come to help out and tune up — but many are there just to kick it. More than a functional service center, the small room is a clubhouse in a town that’s not totally ready for the bike life.

LA VIDA IN BICI

It would be simplistic to say there is a single face of Buenos Aires’ bicicultura (“bicycle culture”). But if you had to choose one, you might select native porteño Matias Kalwill, director of nascent bike culture blog La vida en bici.

Kalwill believes that his city is hitting a “creative boiling point” when it comes to bikes — and other cultural vehicles, for that matter. “Buenos Aires is in a sweet spot,” he tells me over a late night beer. “For example, there’s been new kinds of sounds emerging in the local music scene over the last few years — it’s like a new kind of porteño energy.”

A bicyclist since his high school days who previously worked in a young family education center, Kalwill and friends started Biciconga in October 2010. The group promotes the bike as a part of Buenos Aires’ burgeoning creative culture, not just as a cool toy.

“We wanted to generate bicycle culture by fashion or style. We wanted to make it cool — not just a hippie or sporty thing,” says Felix Busso, one of the group’s founders and a fashion photographer. They began organizing free bike parties, riding en masse to predetermined secret locations where live bands played. The parties took off and in February, Kalwill started La vida en bici.

In the beginning, he used it to share his bike illustrations and videos of various bike happenings. Its popularity grew quickly. Kalwill’s simple view of cycling freedom (“You know how superheroes fly around the city using their own energy? That’s what happens you ride your bike to see a friend across town.”) and anthropomorphic animal characters make bikes seem like something so elementary as to be a common sense part of city living.

The success of the blog and the events Kalwill sponsored through it earned La vida en bici entry into the British Council’s Climate Generation program, a worldwide network that supplies promising young environmental activists with the practical tools needed to make their organizations more effective. Theirs is one of the program’s only bike projects.

I met Kalwill three months after the launch of La vida en bici, at an event he curated at the city’s Museo de Arquitectura y Diseño (The Museum of Architecture and Design). He and the other artists who’d begun working with La vida en bici had been granted use of the museum’s minimalist concrete basement as studio space and had lined it with whimsical bike illustrations, silkscreens, and photographs.

That day, the group was holding its second Bicifriendly event at the museum. On the schedule were art demonstrations, bike maintenance lessons, and a discussion with city experts on the potential of complete streets plans in the city. Kalwill was dashing around in his signature Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou-esque red beanie, playing welcome wagon, docent, and hype man.

“One year ago, none of this existed,” he said. “This idea that the bicycle was cool, that’s really something special. It broke into the culture of the city without permission. And since it didn’t ask permission, it has people asking, ‘Hey, where are you going?'”

But he’s had something to do with this shift in perception. The Biciconga collective and the artists in La vida en bici — rarely older than Kalwill’s 30 years — are experts at packaging the joy of riding a bike in the city into a thousand easily digestible, easily sharable forms — key in the Facebook era. Bicifriendly, although an inspiring moment for those who could make it to the architecture museum, would soon have its impact magnified one-hundredfold by sweetly soundtracked event videos and professional-quality photographs posted onto blogs.

This dispersal is a big part of Kalwill’s plan. “For me, my work is like seeds. Thanks to the Internet, what I do is in part a result of things happening in other countries. And other things will come from what we’re doing here.” He is an avid follower of sites like Streetsblog in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., as well as the San Francisco Critical Mass site. He regularly posts bike happenings from around the world on his own websites.

La vida en bici‘s tastemaking ability has also caught the attention of city officials. Paula Bisiau, director of the Palermo neighborhood government, tapped the group to create a “Bicifriendly plaza” featuring a massive mural inspired by Luna de Enfrenta, a book of Jorge Luis Borges poems. In La vida en bici‘s typical cartoonish style, the design will revolve around the question “What would it be like to ride a bike to the moon?”

Bisiau has high hopes for promoting bicicultura projects in her neighborhood. “We hope that these spaces will be starting points to develop more ideas to help foment the use of bicycles in the rest of the city of Buenos Aires,” she wrote to the Guardian. “I think that this change is possible because it’s positive and healthy for everyone. I’m sure that in four more years, we’re going to see many more bicycles in circulation throughout the whole city.”

But it’s not all line drawings and bike music. In the run-up to the July 9 mayoral election, representatives from the office of the city’s current mayor, Mauricio Macri, as well as the two opposition candidates called Kalwill to discuss bike policy in the city.

He chatted with them about what’d he seen in the city — a bit reluctantly. Kalwill is loathe to get involved in politics, wary of the limitations they can impose on cultural movements. But soon afterward the two challengers reversed their previously held viewpoints that the city’s burgeoning bike lane network was a waste of street acreage and resources. Days before the election, everyone could agree that bikes were key to sustainable mobility. “It’s like bicycles won in this election,” reflects Kalwill, who maintains a strictly nonpartisan stance. Between the city’s cultural activists and politicians, he says, “the dialogue is happening.”

At a recent rally, Macri announced plans to build 100 new stations for the city’s Mejor en Bici program. Kalwill was pleased to learn of the plan but does have one bone to pick: at the moment all the free bikes are yellow. He thinks adding different colors to the mix would make the system more attractive to potential bike riders and would “reflect the diversity of the users.”

RUNWAY TO CHANGE

I didn’t bring a bike to the June Masa Critica Buenos Aires ride, and it hurt — I wanted to ride it bad. But my flight back to the States was scheduled to depart in three hours so I stood beneath the massive obelisk that soars from a plaza in the middle of Buenos Aires’ 14-lane 9 de Julio Avenue, the widest street in the world, saying goodbye to my new friends on their two wheels.

But Buenos Aires wasn’t done with me yet — a volcano explosion in the Andes delayed my flight home for three days. As luck would have it, I neatly missed the Biciconga post-Masa bike runway show, where 30 bikers, fresh from the ride, rolled down a makeshift red carpet on the front porch of an organic food co-op to live music by the Mahatma Dandys, a local folk-rock ensemble.

Busso, a driving force behind the show, hoped the spectacle would be a moment that helped change the way Buenos Aires looks at the way it uses bikes. “The more people who use the bicycle, the better. The change will not come from the government, it will come from these groups.”

After biking in Buenos Aires, it seems clear that people in other cities are forming indigenous, exciting bike cultures. But this turn to bicycles is less of a globalized fad as much as water naturally finding its level. In a world where the future of fossil fuels is uncertain and people everywhere are beginning to see the need for a more sustainable lifestyle, urban biking is a matter of common sense.

For Kalwill, the rise of the bike means a better future for his home. “It brings hope that things can change. And we need big changes if we expect to survive in a world that’s getting more crowded and warmer. We need hope. In Buenos Aires, bikes seem to be providing that.”

Great Bay escapes

Andrew Lam

-

July 12, 2011

0

culture@sfbg.com

AÑO NUEVO STATE PARK

Due to their penis-noses and penchant for lazing about, no animal invites as much tittering as the male elephant seal. We are currently in the thick of their molting season (older males nap and shed on the beach from July until the end of August), the perfect time to hike out to their hangout on the tip of Año Nuevo. Be sure you snag your visitor’s permit — you’ll need one to enter from April-August — from the entrance station.

Open March–Sept., 8 a.m.–6 p.m. 1 New Year’s Creek, Pescadero. (Off Highway 1) (650) 879-2025, www.parks.ca.gov

ALAMEDA BOOZE DISTRICT

On the western edge of the island of Alameda, a one-time naval station has been repurposed into the discerning boozehound’s day trip of choice. Located within a easy block’s stumble of one another lie the tasting rooms of St. George Spirits (boasting absinthe, flavored vodkas, and coffee liqueur on the shelves) and Rock Wall Wine Company, a co-op of local wineries. They’re both a sunny walk from the ferry terminal — stroll by the massive aircraft carriers docked farther down the shore if you need to sober up after, or west to Rosenblum Cellars (2900 Main, Alameda) if you need more tastes.

St. George Spirits, 2601 Monarch, Alameda. (510) 769-1601, www.stgeorgespirits.com; Rock Wall Wine Company, 2301 Monarch, Alameda. (510) 522-5700, www.rockwallwines.com

CANDLESTICK POINT STATE RECREATION AREA

Candlestick Point has gone through a lot of changes in its varied history — but its current incarnation as a well-tended, if sometimes landscaped-feeling, urban refuge perfectly jibes with our times. Refreshing views of the bay, some fantastic hiking trails, and a sense of seclusion (despite the nearness of Highway 101 and the stadium) make this a neato spot to picnic, bird watch, or fish. Don’t forget to bring those layers though becuase sometimes the wind attempts to rifle gently through you.

Candlestick Park exit off Highway 101, SF

CHINA CAMP STATE PARK

Historically this waterfront slice on San Pablo Bay is important as the site of a Cantonese immigrant shrimp-fishing village in the 1800s (there’s a wee museum). For nature, there’s a delightful salt marsh and lazy-day winding paths drenched in sunlight and the calls of waterfowl. But — why hide it? — this is one of the best make-out places on the bay, with couples gladly making hay in the grasses. After the picnic, of course. Wet your whistle for the Annual Heritage Day Celebration on Aug. 27, 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m.

101 Peacock Gap Trail, San Rafael. www.parks.ca.gov

INK WELLS

Damn this SF summer fog! Escape north to Marin, where just past Boonville and just inside the border of Samuel P. Taylor State Park lie these cool pools. The rocky, clothing-optional swimming holes cascade into each other and feature prime jump-off spots for the daredevils among us who can’t be satisfied with a shady forest and some cold water on a hot day. Park your car just past Shafter Bridge (coming from Lagunitas) and walk underneath the copper-colored bridge to arrive. Samuel P. Taylor Park, Sir Francis Drake, Lagunitas

SLACKER HILL

Don’t freak, you don’t have to go far for nature adventures. This inappropriately-named Marin Headlands summit is just a 15 minute — albeit gnarly — hike up a gorgeous trail from a stop on the No. 76 Muni line. Once you’ve peaked, rest in the tall grass with a phenomenal 180 degree view of Sausalito, the bay, the bridges, and the city from downtown to the avenues. It’s like you’re inside one of those awesome Panoramio pics, but it’s not freezing your computer.

Trailhead begins on the right, 100 feet downhill on McCollough from the Conzelman intersection, Marin County.

UPCOMING FESTIVALS

SUNSET CAMPOUT

Three-day dancing and frolicking to superlative house music with thousands of others. With DJ Larry Heard, a.k.a. Mr. Fingers.

Fri/15-Sun/17, $125–>$150, Belden. www.sunsetcampout.com

PAL BLUES FESTIVAL

A smokin’ BBQ competition will satisfy, as will roots and blues music from dozens of performers.

Friday, July 22, 6 p.m.–8 p.m. and Saturday, July 23, 11 a.m.–8 p.m., free.

Courthouse Square, 2200 Broadway, Redwood City. www.palbluesfestival.com

SONOMA COUNTY FAIR

It’s the 75th year for this bonanza of California country living, with carnival rides, turkey races, vaudeville performances, wine tasting, and live music.

July 27–Aug. 14, various times, $9, kids under six and seniors free. Sonoma County Fairgrounds, www.sonomacountyfair.com

WANDERLUST

Bend over backward, outdoors, as yoga meets music with Michael Franti and Spearhead, Girl Talk, Cornflower, MC Yogi, and more.

July 28–31, $24.50–$450, Squaw Valley. squaw.wanderlustfestival.com

GAIA FESTIVAL

Celebrate the earth by getting down (and dirty?) with India.Arie and Idan Raichel, Aaron Neville, the Wailers, Funky Meters, and dozens more.

Aug. 5-7, $5–$180. Black Oak Ranch, Laytonville. www.thegaiafestival.com

GOOD OLD FASHIONED BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

The Northern California Bluegrass Society goes all out with three days of pickin’ and pluckin’ campground jams and family fun.

Aug. 12–14, $8.50–$65. Bolado Park, Tres Piños. www.scbs.org/events/gov

OUTSIDE LANDS

A revamped food and wine aspect refreshes the massive SF music fest, whose star power includes Muse, Phish, and Arcade Fire.

Aug. 12–14, times and prices vary. Golden Gate Park, www.sfoutsidelands.com

BODEGA SEAFOOD ART AND WINE FESTIVAL

Drink, dine, and shop to your heart’s content. Also: Bodega Seafood Festival rubber duck races!

Saturday, Aug. 27, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 28, 10 a .m.–5 p.m., $8–$15. children under 12 free. 16855 Bodega Hwy, Bodega. www.winecountryfestivals.com

LOVEVOLUTION

The Bay’s hugest legal outdoor rave returns, now in Oakland for your fun-fur, hands-in-the-air pleasure. There will be a million DJs.

Sept. 24, price and time TBD. Oakland Coliseum Grounds, Oakl. www.sflovevolution.com

For more summer fairs and festival fun, visit www.sfbg.com/summerfests.

Art spotlight: D Young V’s post-Babylon transmutations

Andrew Lam

-

July 8, 2011

0

Art spotlight: D Young V’s post-Babylon transmutations

What’s the story behind a work of art? You could make like that bammer guy at the gallery opening and schmooze the into a corner artist, force them to tell you the story behind every single piece when they should be taking shots and turning up in paparazzi photos — or you could just hang with us. We asked SF wheatpaste artist D Young V what the deal was behind his “Make An Effort” show opening at White Walls on Sat/9. Turns out, he’d reimagined what his buddies would be doing after the City By the Bay went Mad Max on us. Post apocalyptic bike messengers? We’ll let him tell you himself.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: We’re intrigued by the artist statement — you asked San Franciscans to imagine themselves post-apocalypse? Explain?

DYV: (This is about the piece you see on this post) Aaron is a Tenderloin-based fine artist and extremely talented graphic designer. We’ve worked together on a number of occasions. He is one of the friendliest people I have ever met, and also an avid bicycle rider. The “A.C.S.” on his helmet stands for Armed Courier Services. This is sort of a rogue group of messengers in this world that handle the delivery of information, mail, packages, and the transportation of people through neigborhoods and cities (for the right price). They are an armed force that has taken on the roles of bike messenger, post office, and sometimes private security. They are more like a mercenary group or extremely organized militia, but also a necessary part of the city’s movement and traffic of information and goods. I thought Aaron would be a good candidate for this piece due to his bike riding and extremely high level of organization. I wanted to get his unique personality [to come out] through the piece as well. Despite the fact that he is holding an Uzi over his shoulder, he appears very approachable and friendly. Though nobody would be aware of this but Aaron and I, the color of the arrows represents the color of his helmet in real life. I am intrigued by his helmet and wanted to incorporate it somehow in the piece, if only symbolically. The handprint on the botton of his piece is his.

“Make An Effort: New Works by D Young V”

Through July 30

Opening reception: Sat/9 7-11 p.m., free

White Walls

835 Larkin, SF

(415) 931-1500

www.whitewallssf.com

Upcoming summer festivals

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks

-

July 7, 2011

0

July 14-24

Midsummer Mozart Festival Various Bay Area venues. (415) 627-9141, www.midsummermozart.org . Prices vary. You won’t be hearing any Beethoven or Schubert at this midsummer series — the name of the day is Mr. Mozart alone.

July 16-17

Connoisseur’s Marketplace Santa Cruz between Camino and Johnson, Menlo Park. (650) 325-2818, www.miramarevents.com. 10am-6pm, free. Let the artisans do what they do best — you’ll polish off the fruits of their labor at this outdoor expo of artisan food, wine, and craft.

July 21-Aug 8

SF Jewish Film Festival Various Bay Area venues. www.sfjff.org. Times and prices vary. A three week smorgasbord of world premiere Jewish films at theaters in SF, Berkeley, the Peninsula, and Marin County.

July 22-Aug 13

Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival Menlo School, 50 Valparaiso, Atherton. (650) 330-2030, www.musicatmenlo.org. Classical chamber music at its best: this year’s theme “Through Brahms,” will take you on a journey through Johannes’ most notable works.

July 23-Sept 25

SF Shakespeare Festival Various Bay Area venues. www.sfshakes.org. Various times, free. Picnic with Princess Innogen and her crew with dropping a dime at this year’s production of Cymbeline. It’s by that playwriter guy… what’s his name again?

July 30

Oakland A’s Beer Festival Eastside Club at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakl. www.oakland.athletics.mlb.com. 4:05-6:05pm, free with game ticket. Booze your way through the Oakland A’s vs. Minnesota Twins game while the coliseum is filled with brewskies from over 30 microbreweries, there for the chugging in your souvenir A’s beer mug.

July 30-31

Berkeley Kite Festival Cesar Chavez Park, 11 Spinnaker, Berk. www.highlinekites.com. 10am-5pm, free. A joyous selection of Berkeley’s coolest kites, all in one easy location.

July 31

Up Your Alley Dore between Folsom and Howard, SF. www.folsomstreetfair.com. 11am-6pm, $7-10 suggested donation. Whether you are into BDSM, leather, paddles, nipple clamps, hardcore — or don’t know what any of the above means, this Dore Alley stroll is surprisingly friendly and cute once you get past all the whips!

Aug 1-7

SF Chefs Various venues, SF. www.sfchefs2011.com. Times and prices vary. Those that love to taste test will rejoice during this foodie’s paradise of culinary stars sharing their latest bites. Best of all, the goal for 2011’s event is tons of taste with zero waste.

Aug 7

SF Theater Festival Fort Mason Center. Buchanan and Marina, SF. www.sftheaterfestival.org. 11am-5pm, free. Think you can face about 100 live theater acts in one day? Set a personal record at this indoor and outdoor celebration of thespians.

Aug 13

San Rafael Food and Wine Festival Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission, San Rafael. 1-800-310-6563, www.sresproductions.com. Noon-6pm, $25 food and wine tasting, $15 food tasting only. A sampler’s paradise, this festival features an array of tastes from the Bay’s best wineries and restaurants.

Aug 13-14

* Nihonmachi Street Fair Post and Webster, SF. www.nihonmachistreetfair.org. 11am-6pm, free. Founded by Asian Pacific American youths, this Japantown tradition is a yearly tribute to the difficult history and prevailing spirit of Asian American culture in this SF neighborhood.

Aug 20-21

Oakland Art and Soul Festival Entrances at 14th St. and Broadway, 16th St. and San Pablo, Oakl. (510) 444-CITY, www.artandsouloakland.com. $15. A musical entertainment tribute to downtown Oakland’s art and soul, this festival features nationally-known R&B, jazz, gospel, and rock artists.

Aug 20-22

* SF Street Food Festival Folsom St from Twenty Sixth to Twenty Second, SF. www.sfstreetfoodfest.com. 11am-7pm, free. All of the city’s best food, available without having to go indoors — or sit down. 2011 brings a bigger and better Street Food Fest, perfect for SF’s burgeoning addiction to pavement meals.

Aug 29-Sept 5

Burning Man Black Rock City, Nev. (415) TO-FLAME, www.burningman.com. $320. This year’s theme, “Rites of Passage,” is set to explore transitional spaces and feelings. Gather with the best of the burned-out at one of the world’s weirdest, most renowned parties.

Sep 10-11

* Autumn Moon Festival Street Fair Grant between California and Broadway, SF. (415) 982-6306, www.moonfestival.org. 11am-6pm, free. A time to celebrate the summer harvest and the end of summer full-moon, rejoice in bounty with the moon goddess.

Sept 17-18

SF International Dragon Boat Festival California and Avenue D, Treasure Island. www.sfdragonboat.com. 10am-5pm, free. The country’s largest dragon boat festival sees beautiful man-powered boats take to the water in 300 and 500 meter competitive races.

Sept 23-25

SF Greek Food Festival Annunciation Cathedral. 245 Valencia, SF. www.sfgreekfoodfestival.org. Fri.-Sat., 11am-10pm; Sun., noon-9pm, free with advance ticket. Get your baba ghanoush on during this late summer festival, complete with traditional Greek dancing, music, and wine.

Sept 25

Folsom Street Fair Folsom between 7th and 12th St., SF. www.folsomstreetfair.org . 11am-6pm, free. The urban Burning Man equivalent for leather enthusiasts, going to this expansive SoMa celebration of kink and fetish culture is the surest way to see a penis in public (you dirty dog!).

Sept 30-Oct 2

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Speedway Meadows, Golden Gate Park, SF. www.strictlybluegrass.com. 11am-7pm, free. Pack some whiskey and shoulder your banjo: this free three day festival draws record-breaking crowds — and top names in a variety of twangy genres — each year.

Items with asterisks note family-fun activities.

The summer camp that’ll change the world, now accepting applications

Andrew Lam

-

July 7, 2011

40

The summer camp that’ll change the world, now accepting applications

Kids. Activist. Summer. Camp. The words kind of send shivers down our Never-Never Land synapses. And though we’re not exactly the target demographic for the Santa Cruz Mountains’ Youth Empowered Action Camp, breathless longtime camp professional Nora Kramer’s three year old vision of a place where socially conscious rockstars ages 12 to 17 could get together, hike it out, eat delicious vegan foods, and work on their plan to change the world has us all riled up in a yeah-that-exactly way.

The first California — there’s also a session in our northernly neighbor Oregon — camp session starts real soon (July 23) and Kramer wants everyone to know that scholarships for young Julia Butterfly Hills and Van Joneses — wherever they’re at in their activist skills and projects — are available. Know a parent or a kidlet? Forward them this interview, which single-handedly put Kramer and her team way, way up there on our “people who are really awesome” list.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: Tell me the story of how the camp started? When, where, who, all that.

Nora Kramer: I started YEA Camp in April 2009 after years of thinking “I want to start a camp one day for kids who want to change the world.” I couldn’t find a program quite like the one I wanted to work at — one that trained young people to be effective in taking action for what they believe in and care about. I was teaching environmental education and, with the economy really tanking, I was laid off. On my last day with the middle school club I advised, they asked me what I was going to do next. I wanted to reassure them that I’d be OK, so I nervously told them that someday I was planning on starting a camp for kids who want to change the world. They were so excited about it and asked me when the camp would start! In that moment, I knew I was ready to launch the program, and that there was a demand for this, and I said “August!”

I had already done an intensive training with the American Camp Association and worked as a camp director. I had a friend design our website pro-bono, and we had our pilot program in summer 2009. I hired incredible staff who all worked for free and we had amazing campers, most on almost full scholarships, as we were an unproven program people had never heard of. I contacted a beautiful venue I had been to with another youth program and found a time it was available, and I paid the deposit on it out of my savings account, hoping to recoup it once kids registered. That session was a total success, and we’re now up to summer No. 3.

Tomorrow’s leaders gettin’ crazy at YEA Camp 2010. Photo by Cody Cha

SFBG: What’s a typical day at the camp?

NK: We get up and have French toast or pancakes prepared by our talented cooks. We make music or do some other group activity to wake up. Then we head off to a hike or fun outdoor activity. When we come back, we do a workshop about an issue or practice a skill to bring about change on any issue, like how to start a club at school. We have a snack, like fruit or chips and salsa, and might play a group game that demonstrates a concept we are working on. We watch a movie about young activists who are doing amazing work right now and discuss their leadership qualities and what made them successful. Then we have lunch — maybe vegetarian BLTs or burritos — and then we have free time after that. Our afternoon workshops would be another skill or knowledge-building activity such as how to run a successful campaign (for example how to get recycle bins at your school), a group game, and discussion. We have amazing dinners — pizza or sushi with brownies or chocolate chip cookies for dessert. All of our food is vegan, mostly organic, and all delicious. We cap the day off with a fun group evening activity like a scavenger hunt, dance party, or night hike.

SFBG: Why did you think it was important for a camp like this to exist?

NK: I had been doing grassroots activism for a long time, and had worked with youth at camps, after-school programs, and teaching high school, and I met a lot of young people who were passionate about making the world a better place in some way–whether by rescuing an animal, recycling religiously, being part of their Gay Straight Alliance at school, or being a vegetarian. I started to notice they didn’t necessarily have any training or support or role models to nurture their involvement. There’s coaches and after-school practice to help you get better at sports, but what about to train you to make a difference in your community?

Sometimes kids who care or speak up about environmental or other issues are made fun of or criticized and get discouraged. I feel like our world is facing so many challenges, and we need to bring youth together with like-minded peers and adults to support them in taking action so they can bring about the world they want to see. If there can be successful summer camps for kids who like volleyball or theater or play the violin, why not for youth who want to make the world a better place?

SFBG: Where did you go to learn about activism as a youth? Where do you think most kids go today?

NK: I was not by any stretch a youth activist. When I was a teenager, I had no idea what activism was. I had a vague sense that there was some injustice in the world — I grew up in New York City, where I saw incredible wealth not far from people sleeping on the streets. But while I had progressive parents who taught me to question things and think for myself, I wasn’t really aware of a lot of social problems until college, and had no sense that I had any power to make a difference. Today, youth have far greater access to information — it’s no comparison — thanks in large part to the Internet and technology. Kids today reach out to organizations online, watch videos on Youtube, and might join a school club or get involved with a local youth program. But I honestly think a lot of youth don’t get or stay involved because there is not enough support.

Silly, silly changemakers. Photo by Ivan Olsen

SFBG: Is it easier today to learn about this stuff than when we were growing up?

NK: Absolutely. I grew up pre-Internet, which was a whole different world. Technology like Yahoogroups and Googlegroups, blogs and vlogs, e-newsletters, Youtube, Facebook causes, Twitter, and so much more make it more possible than ever to access information, connect with others who are like-minded, and advocate for important causes. Most organizations have multiple websites devoted to different issues they are working on. Ironically and unfortunately, this can also lead people to feel like they are on information overload, overwhelmed, alone and helpless to take action in the face of such large issues.

SFBG: Surely your campers are all the offspring of super activists already — or have you ever had a camper whose parents weren’t super stoked on the idea of camp?

NK: It totally varies. A lot of our kids’ parents are very progressive and politically aware and active; others aren’t but they want their kids to be happy and go to whatever camp they want. Often we have parents contact us and say “This is so perfect for my son! He started an environmental club at his school and doesn’t know anybody else who cares about these issues as much as he does!” They are relieved to find a program that speaks directly to their child’s interest and passion, whether or not it’s shared by the parent.

Thumb hug. Photo by Mike Melero

SFBG: What are some of the awesome projects that have come out of the camp?

NK: So many cool things! Campers have organized a beach cleanup, created a music video about youth empowerment, started several school clubs, raised over $1000 for a local animal shelter, interned at a nonprofit, gotten vegetarian options in their school cafeteria, organized a call-in to Congress, and lots more. There’s also the daily actions, like campers bringing water bottles with them, buying less stuff, eating healthier, or using communication skills they learned at camp to speak more effectively about their issue and influence people at school to get involved. Two campers also organized a benefit concert and a fundraising dinner to pay for their tuition to return to camp this year!

SFBG: What’s the hardest part about running a camp like this?

NK: I think it’s staying present to how amazing the camp is in, say, February, when last year’s camp seems like a long time ago and next summer’s camp seems like a long ways away. It makes doing work throughout the year tougher to keep in context. I think also going beyond my own comfort zone and skill set to learn more and build the team has been a great but challenging experience for me. Working at a start-up non-profit poses challenges, but every time I read an amazing camper application, I feel so proud and honored to do what I do.

Youth Empowered Action Camp

Session I: July 23-29, $925 without scholarship

Session II: July 30-August 5, $925 without scholarship

Quaker Center, Ben Lomond Calif.

(415) 710-7351

www.yeacamp.org

Hot sexy events: July 6-12

Andrew Lam

-

July 6, 2011

0

Good news this week’s gang: Femina Potens has found a new brick and mortar gallery! The sex-positive, high-art fetish org will be moving out to Cesar Chavez between Mission and Valencia, high times for those of us in favor of artsy bondage nights and feminist porn-o-rama. We’ll keep you posted as this story progresses… now onto the sex events!

Feelmore510 erotic film night

Didja catch our recent profile of Oakland’s dopest new sex toy store? Certainly worth a trip to downtown Oak-town, so why not make it tonight for owner Nena Joiner’s screening of blue films. Tonight’s theme is vintage – maybe it’ll get you all stoked for next week’s YBCA retro porn festival?

Weds/13 7:30-9 p.m., free

Feelmore510

1703 Telegraph, SF

(510) 891-0199

www.feelmore510.com

Pink

Oh man, you’re all dressed up in your marabou finery, you’re at Mission Control, there’s a sexy cat or Dorothy or mermaid sitting across the room giving you the come-hither gaze – and you freeze. Don’t worry, times like these just call for a workshop. You can get that before you hit this week’s Pink play party at the regular pre-party class, which this time around features Martha Baczynski teaching you the fine art of the swinger come-on. Just remember, you gotta bring a “responsible partner” to Pink.

Pre-workshop 9-10:15 p.m.

Play party 10 p.m.-3 a.m., $30 for both, members only

Mission Control

www.missioncontrolsf.org

Screwup

Guess what trannies, genderqueers, and the like: you now have your very own coffee meet-and-greet! Hie thee hence to Wicked Grounds, where you will find not only a gender-nuetral bathroom, but a roomful of fun, interesting, sexy folks who defy the gender binary that persists in asking: coffee or tea? at SF’s S-M cafe extraordinaire.

Sat/9 7-9 p.m., free

Wicked Grounds

289 Eighth St., SF

(415) 503-0405

www.wickedgrounds.com

11th Annual South Bay Kink Ride

Board your choppers and bring your appetite – this South Bay tradition takes you to that most suburban of restaurants, to a small park for singetail slingin’, and then out through the Santa Cruz Mountains – and lunch, of course. Perfect for those who enjoy the feel of fresh air whipping by their sexy loins. And whips, of course.

Sun/10 9 a.m. breakfast, 10:30 ride, free except for cost of food

Marie Callender’s

18500 Sutter, Morgan Hill

www.soj.org/calendar

Naked Girls Eating

The gang — Lady Monster, Carol Queen, Cherry Galette, Ophelia Coeur de Noir, and Isis Starr from Naked Girls Reading is back — and they’ve brought snacks. This month, the rude nudes will be orating from tales of delectable food porn — and all the while you can feast on their bodacious bods and treats from SF’s own BDSM coffeeshop, Wicked Grounds. Delicious!

Sun/10 8-10 p.m., $15-20

Center for Sex and Culture

1349 Mission, SF

(415) 552-7399

www.sexandculture.org

“Fabulous Fellatio: The Art of Oral Sex” and “Petting the Kitty: Cunnilingus and Female Massage”

Megan Andelloux‘s gotta have a great mouth. The sexpert is teaching not one, but two nights that’ll teach all comers the art of going downtown on their Charlie Brown (and Lucy). Hetero couples: going to one and not the other? Not fun at all, make it a two-fer and everyone goes home happy!

Fellatio: Mon/11 6:30-8:30 p.m., $20-25

Petting: Tues/12 6:30-8:30 p.m., $20-25

Good Vibrations

1620 Polk, SF

(415) 345-0500

www.goodvibes.com

The faces of High Sierra

Andrew Lam

-

July 6, 2011

3

All photos by Erik Anderson

Consider the camping festival. A chance for music, art, and recreational drug use fans to slough off the shackles of outrageous office jobs in the summertime and head out for the hills, to engage in traditional Mardi Gras mode where playing is your job, three concurrent stages of live music is the norm, and everyone — everyone! — has the residue of somebody’s glitter in their facial hair (and they all have facial hair).

Such was the 2011 High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, Calif. — can you tell it was a good time?

High Sierra, I’ve always thought, is one of the most manageable festivals out there. It’s not too big — but not too small (typically, it hosts about 10,000 happy campers). It’s far enough from the city that you feel like you’ve achieved something when you round that last bend of the Feather River into the clear night of the Sierras, but you can still get out there if you leave mid-afternoon from the Bay.

Most importantly (unless like me you like to spend these weekends shooting the shit with friends you only get to see come festival-time), the music is supremely varied — Maceo Parker’s soul jazz rocked the main grandstand in the Saturday afternoon gleam and then the gleamy-eyed Sunday night late night party. Electronic beat maker Emancipator zoomed prettily through a Blackalicious remix that made the post-Dawes and Diego’s Umbrella-klezmer-power-surge crowd sink into a deep groove at the Vaudeville stage. Local boys Soft White Sixties brought the rock, Morning Jacket and Ween headlined, Sunset Productions‘ Silent Frisco silent disco — which will make an Outside Lands appearance this year — provided essential (lack of) background music for the dawn games of kickball in the shady grove, small impromptu sessions sprang up in every camping zone and bend in the dirt paths by the vendors and late night venues, and the kid’s stage — well hell, Dead-style environmental educators Banana Slug String Band killed it, per usual.

But hey, every music festival’s got music — and you can peep all these bands in the Youtube links I just shared with you. What you can’t catch on Youtube is the baby balancing on his dad’s outstretched palm (gonna be a surfer!), the impromptu high fives after the Samba Stilt Circus, parachute parties, and the innertube suspenders that some lucky man was still wearing after taking the customary HSMF break to dunk into the freezing cold mountain waters.

So lucky us, photographer Erik Anderson’s sharing his flicks to those effects. You’re officially invited to clear your mind, click through the slideshow above, and pretend you spent your Fourth of July weekend with us.

Ameri-cows rejoice!

Andrew Lam

-

July 1, 2011

0

Come our nation’s day of independence, all non-meat eaters will eat one: a homogenized, unexciting tofu dog. Especially if they are shy and/or lazy – the dog package conveniently slips into one’s red-white-and-blue woven straw tote, and they are easily sneakable onto BBQ grills without a huge amount of haranguing from friends pumped up on animal proteins.

But they suck (except for Field Roast sausages, whole food fist pump). And thankfully, this year all you little veggies have an option to the tube-shaped madness: the San Francisco Vegetarian Society‘s Healthy Holiday BBQ on Sun/3.

Belly up to the benefit for Go Vegan Radio (which airs Sundays at 3 p.m. on am channel GREEN 960) BBQ for treats from a tummy grumbling V-list: Souley Vegan, Rudi’s Bakery, and Sunshine Burger among other moo-friendly vegan magic makers.

But what would a vegan gathering be without a little speechifying on topics that affect your belly and other things? Dr. Elliott Katz, the founder of In Defense of Animals will give a talk to reaffirm your anti-burger convictions, and at 2:30 p.m., animal rights crusaders Jake Conroy of the persecuted e-activists Shac Seven, Alfredo Kuba, and Pat Cuviello will flap jaw in a panel discussion entitled “Coffee, Cake, and Constitution.”

Oh, and vegan bodybuilder Kenneth G. Williams will be there. Stoked!

Meat-free muscles: Kenneth G. Williams

Should Sunday’s festivities leave you unable to stomach the thought of being restricted to one kind of coleslaw and buns on the Fourth itself, you’re in luck: bring your best cornmeal-crusted tempeh over to the Presidio for a conveniently-located potluck before the fireworks, also sponsored by the Veg Society (details below).

San Francisco Healthy Holiday BBQ

Sun/3 noon-3:30 p.m., $10 suggested donation

First Unitarian Universalist Center

1187 Franklin, SF

www.sfvs.org

Fourth of July SF Vegetarian Society-Living Foods picnic potluck

Mon/4 1 p.m., free

O’Reilly Avenue between Lincoln and Eddy, SF

www.sfvs.org

Ritual Coffee puts a bird on it (UPDATED)

Andrew Lam

-

June 30, 2011

8

Ritual Coffee puts a bird on it (UPDATED)

San Francisco blogosphere has found a fun new obsession: the removal of an artist’s work from Ritual Roasters because it dealt with “real stuff.” It has all the elements of 2010s Mission District drama: dispute over the bounds of creativity, third wave coffee, and Chicken John Rinaldi, whose name people really enjoy typing, over and over again.

So let’s type it again! The Guardian spoke on the phone with Rinaldi – whose partner Eileen Hassi owns Ritual — this morning after rumors that he had been behind the early removal of Varese Layzer’s “Making Room” photography exhibition, and had engineered the space’s replacement. On the phone, he said he’d never met Layzer, but that “we were promised work and she gave us different work. No one’s writing about that, or that she yelled at the baristas.”

Here’s what happened, in a nutshell: a photography exhibit was removed from Ritual Roasters. Hassi sent an email telling artist Layzer her art was “too serious,” but that hey, she’s got some gallerist friends, here’s their phone numbers. Chicken John announced on Facebook that the subsequent replacement of the work with friend Julian Cash’s Burning Man photography was “just that simple.” We are intrigued.

“Someone is using this for publicity – and I kind of admire them for it,” Chicken said, referring to his own penchant to play with the press for fun and profit.

“I don’t really see the need to go into this anymore. We’re too busy, we’re too smart, we’re too good looking. I’m having a nice day, I hope you are too.”

Not very surprisingly Layzer, who discovered her artist statement missing from the wall of Ritual on Sunday before the whole shebang came tumbling down, says she doesn’t understand why the art was removed. “I suspect the owner didn’t like a statement being on the wall and it made her dislike me,” the artist wrote in an email to the Guardian. Layzer tells us that she expressly asked permission to post a statement and that the coffeeshop told her “’It’s your show. Go for it.’”

The art in question was photo documentation of Layzer’s deceased parents’ rent-controlled apartment before it was “bought and demolished,” according to the offensively depressing artist’s statement that was putting people off their americanos. Though she was “devastated. I screamed and wept,” when she heard the work had been de-walled, Layzer says “it means a lot to me that they were public in a physical form, however briefly.”

The photos now on the wall are from Julian Cash’s book The People of Burning Man. They’re not exactly the “pictures of telephone poles, birds sitting on the wires, tapestries of heavy metal lyrics,” that Hassi wrote to Layzer as being more appropriate to decorate a cafe – though they certainly qualify as her other descriptor: “whimsical stuff.”

His are portraits from the playa of freaky, body-painted and well-adorned Burners. Cash sets up an improbably-white studio at Black Rock City and encourages subjects to express themselves as they see fit. Ironically, some of the expressions that made their way to Ritual touch upon strife in the Middle East, a man literally drowning in his suit-bound life, a man protesting credit card debt by faux-inserting them into his bald scalp, faux (?) blood dripping everywhere.

In a recent statement published on his website, Cash seems happy that his newly-released book has been thrust into the spotlight. “I am almost delighted to be told that my work is “fluffy” but I’m uncertain as to why. I think I have a reputation as someone who is respectful to his subjects and thrives on collaboration. I certainly believe in the value of fun, and that if you live a life where you are not regularly feeling joy, you are doing it wrong.” (You can read Cash’s complete take on the matter here)

So maybe Layzer was just a jerk to someone’s employees, and maybe she switched up the content of her show and exacerbated relationships. Maybe the folks at Ritual Roasters just wanted another artist. The event as a sign that Valencia Street continues to be Valencia-ized – well that’s too obvious to write a blog post about these days. Maybe it’s indicative of the hippie-punk back and forth that seems to drive this city culturally.

Or maybe we just need to grab our coffee and head outside. Look, sunshine!

Update: In response to the yelling allegations, Varese had this to say:

No way! It’s very possible that some loyal friends of mine came in and yelled at the baristas. People were very upset for me. But I bet I wasn’t even in SF when this yelling of mine occurred. The last time I talked to a barista at Ritual I had work on the walls and were asking if my business cards were still on the counter or some such relatively unimportant matter – and also I asked did anyone know where the statement had gone. Then I stormed out, phoning the curator on the way and crying on the phone. I guess the whole story is about an artist and a cafe hating each other? I’d be sorry to see that but I suppose it doesn’t really matter.

Okay, now weekend.

Hot sexy events June 29-July 5

Andrew Lam

-

June 29, 2011

0

Love the mommy bloggers. Such a feel good moment when a harried parent gets to sit down and share (even electronically, even through a screen) just what they’ve been feeling about their day with the kids. Y’know, how to talk to a youngster about adoption, wise words from grandma, the best new G-spot stimulator.

Oh yes, there’s a new kind of mommy in town. Or at least, pervy parents are finally getting their due. Dirty mommies now have their very own local blog, and meet-up.

To compliment personal online screeds that are already being penned by Shar Rednour of How Good Sex Made Me a Great Mom, of the example above, and sex toy shop mommies Moms In Babeland, Madison Young organized Sexy Mamas Social Club (she’s also held workshops on motherhood and sexuality at Good Vibes, and ate breast milk icecream as performance art this year). It’s open to moms in the sex trade, moms who have sex on screen, moms in alternative sexuality communities, and moms who support all of the above. The group meets for brunch at one in the afternoon on Fridays, which is another reason to like it.

Sex With Emily livecast

Today, Emily Morse told me all about the new semen cookbook (there’s something weird in the air about cooking with cum). She’s got this squeaky little voice, she’s broadcasts outta San Francisco, she has very little qualms about talking about her decidedly heterosexual, but fairly entertaining love life. And she’s there for you everyday so that you can snicker through the afternoon, especially when your boss asks you what you’re listening to and you say “making Jello shots with male ejaculate.” Now I wish that would happen.

Monday-Friday 1-2 p.m.

www.sexwithemily.com

Go-Go Studs night

There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of a good grind and looking up to see the scantily clad go-gos with looks of boredom on their Adonis-like faces. Well hell, how hard do you have to work it to get a rise out of them? KOK feels your pain, so they’ve assembled a line-up of faces so fresh they’ve had no time to weary of your (adorable) flailing. Sexxy.

Fri/1 11:30 p.m.-1 a.m., $2 after 11 p.m.

KOK Bar

1225 Folsom, SF

www.kokbarsf.com

Sexy Mama’s Social Club

Because sexy thangs shouldn’t be barred from having kids – or from continuing to be hella sexy. New mamí Madison Young has apparently organized a get-together for mommas from the sex industry. Be you a sex worker, a sex writer, polyamorous, an adult film actress, or just supportive, roll through this brunch (the group’s third) to be part of a new old girl’s club.

Fri/11-4 p.m.

Email Madison Young at feminapotens@gmail.com for details

www.feminapotens.org

Nasty

In addition to hosting a frequently-updated site of HIV/AIDS research news, Project Inform throws a good party. We think – Powerhouse‘s Nasty will now go to benefit the HIV/AIDS advocacy organization, which is promising for many reasons. The party’s raised over $30,000 for the AIDS Emergency Fund in the past, and it’s kind of your dirty, dirty duty to make sure that it gets off (ha) on the right food with Project Inform. All for charity!

Fri/1 10 p.m.-1 a.m., $5

Powerhouse

1347 Folsom, SF

www.projectinform.org

Pyro Passion with Stefanos and Chey

Why wait til the Fourth for the fireworks? Rumor has it this power couple of SF BDSM learned their fireplay skills in a sub-zero Minnesota dungeon – that’s one way to figure out how to be sensual with flame, but getting taught by the experts, with super hot models, in one of the city’s best-known dungeons – you’ve upped them on comfort factor, at least. Learn skills in tools, safety, and the psychology of properly lighting your lover aflame.

Thurs/30 8-10 p.m., $20

SF Citadel

1277 Mission, SF

(415) 626-2746

www.sfcitadel.org

Bernal’s bucks

Andrew Lam

-

June 28, 2011

0

caitlin@sfbg.com

SHOPPING I stumbled into a small-town saloon, complete with a dingy 1950s cowboy mural over the door, a horseshoe-shaped bar, and the feeling that everybody — everybody! — knew the score better than I did.

Oh wait, I remembered. I’m just in Bernal Heights.

Normally I do not spend my Tuesday night on this hill, but tonight was an exception. Cortland Avenue was hosting a local business walk — the sidewalks lined with bustling young families and the fundraising popcorn stands of neighborhood groups. Paulie’s Pickling was offering free tastes of its delicious jarred carrots and cauliflower.

I wasn’t even on the hill for the sour samples. The evening also was meant to debut the Bernal Bucks card — an innovative, or at the very least, new take on the idea of local currency.

Bernal Heights is a neighborhood full of folks who don’t have much call to go anywhere else. Harriet — the kindly woman whose hubby was playing fiddle in the bluegrass sextet perched cozily on the small stage to the side of the Lucky Horseshoe’s front door — told me that they had lived in the neighborhood since 1971. They were well-acquainted with Lisa Marie Delgadillo, owner of the Horseshoe. In fact, Delgadillo’s partner would be playing banjo during the next set with his band Shedhouse.

“I wasn’t expecting this many people to show up,” Delgadillo said. As luck would have it, that day was actually the soft opening of the tavern, which she had bought from an owner who had stocked the historic space with great blues music but “hadn’t given it a good clean in 20 years.”

“Bernal really has a tight-knit community of business owners and residents — it totally makes sense that they’d promote in this way. It’s totally Bernal,” she said, refilling my pint as Shedhouse launched into four-part gospel harmony.

Mind you, this was not the start of Bernal’s local currency program. Bernal Bucks have been in circulation since 2009, initially as stickers users could affix to $1 bills. By spending them, users got a little more for their money — a free Fuji apple at Good Life Grocery, a free used DVD from Four Star Video, $1 off your drink at Stray Bar. The money went to the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center and other community groups. The nonprofits got funding, shoppers felt warm inside, and businesses passed along the stickered bills to the next consumer, encouraging more people to drop dough in the area.

But now there’s a debit card, which eliminates the sticker step and acts like a frequent-flyer miles credit card. The more you spend, the more Bernal Bucks you rack up. You print out the bucks in $10 increments on your computer and spend them in your favorite local enterprise — on a screwdriver on Wild Side West’s garden patio perhaps, or a quick knife sharpening at Bernal Cutlery. The whole shebang is accessible via computer: no fuss, no muss.

“How can we create a mechanism that gives us more control over our economic destiny?” asked Arno Hesse, co-creator of the program, in a phone interview. Hesse hopes the card will “create a reminder in the wallet and an incentive to do the right thing more often.” He cited a study done on a similar shopping mall program that yielded a 24 percent income growth for business owners as a result of increased buying trips and ticket sales.

Hesse expects that “hundreds, hopefully even thousands” of Bernal Heights residents and workers will sign up. “We are optimistic that it will be a mainstream phenomenon. You don’t have to have a degree in economics to jump on this program,” he said.

He estimates that the program’s participating companies receive 50 percent of the neighborhood’s cash flow to locally run businesses.

The card is available through Mission SF Federal Credit Union, whose sole location is just down the hill from Cortland Avenue. Local bank, local businesses, card design by local artist (Ashley Wolff, an accomplished children’s book author) — it’s all local except for one thing: the glaring Visa symbol in the card’s lower right-hand corner.

Hesse is aware of the irony of having a megacorporation’s logo on a card meant to prevent Bernal money from “leaking out to the Safeways, Home Depots, or Amazons of this world.” There was debate at the Bernal Business Alliance over the issue, he said. But in the end, it was all about convenience: Business owners were unsure if part-time employees would be able to grasp an alternative payment system and counter space was too valuable to set up another kind of card-processing apparatus.

“Choosing Visa makes sense because is widely accepted by most merchants,” said Kathleen Scheible, an eight-year resident of the area and owner of Bernal Homeopathy. She added that the program also features a Web interface for businesses that would like to skip the Visa step. “There was a fair amount of logistical challenge to using the Bernal Bucks: having to go somewhere to physically purchase them, knowing how to use them. We like the idea of cash over credit in Bernal, but for many of us, debit or credit is the reality for anything over $10.”

I handed Delgadillo my sticker-less cash and told her I’d be back for more bluegrass when the bar gets its cabaret license in August. Judging from the convivial tenor of her first night, I bet by that point she’ll have seen her share of the Bernal Bucks card.

Bernal Heights is truly doing its own thing — few neighborhoods in the city produce the same close-knit, down-home vibe. If the program succeeds, Hesse said his group might respond to requests to help implement it in other neighborhoods or even citywide. The responses I heard from neighbors that night indicated the program will continue to succeed. Still, it is somewhat discouraging that even this successful local business campaign comes by way of plastic fantastic.

To learn more about the Bernal Bucks program, let your fingers do the walking to www.bernalbucks.org.

Carrot coladas: Vegan happy hour, anyone?

Andrew Lam

-

June 27, 2011

0

Carrot coladas: Vegan happy hour, anyone?

A short list of cocktails that are not vegan: Irish coffee, anything involving Drambuie or Martini and Rossi vermouth, cheese-garnished Bloody Marys. (Thanks Barnivore.)

This spring, I interviewed six SF vegans on the state of animal product-free lifestylin’ out here in the Bay. They agreed it was all pretty awesome, given the kitchen creativity and commitment to healthy eating that lives out here. But they identified one thing that our hills and valleys are lacking: a strong sense of vegan community.

And what’s a better community builder than alcohol?A vegan — and thus more hardcore — version of worldwide sustainability boozery crew Green Drinks, Vegan Drinks SF has been gathering up meat-defeaters for the past two years, dumping them (with fair notice) on the city’s watering holes for a vegan cocktail special, scintillating mingling opportunities, and drunken event announcements to cap the whole thing off. This week, there’s a meet-up at Martuni’s on Thurs/30. We caught up with Elizabeth Castoria, the managing editor of Vegan Drinks progenitor VegNews, to find out more about the phenomenon.

Ah, and if you’re really feeling the concept, you might try meat-free speed dating.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: How many meetings of Vegan Drinks SF have there been?

Elizabeth Castoria: We started in February of 2009, and typically skip the months of November and December because since Vegan Drinks is always held on the last Thursday of the month, those two months tend to get swallowed by the holidays. If my math’s right, that’s 25 meetings so far.

SFBG: Are the drinks specifically vegan? I know that animal products tend to lurk in alcoholic beverages when you least expect them.

EC: The nice thing is that the vast majority of hard liquor is vegan (it’s much more common to find beer and wine that’s been processed with animal byproducts). Our monthly drink special changes up, but it’s always a liquor-based martini.

SFBG: Who are the Vegan Drinkers? How many people came to the last event?

EC: We don’t take tickets at the door or anything, but about 50 were in attendance at the last event. The group usually ranges between around 50-ish people to 75-ish, and it’s a real mix. Most are probably between the ages of 25 and 55, and the personalities are diverse, as in any group. Most are professionals who come right from work.

SFBG: Why Martuni’s for this one? Does the place have a special vegan allegiance?

EC: When we were scouting out places, Martuni’s seemed like a really good fit because it has a fairly spacious back room that’s semi-private. Skip, the owner, has been really wonderful about coming up with creative drink specials every month. He also happens to have both a popcorn popper and a really adorable little hot dog cart, and he went out and got us a bunch of vegan hot dogs, buns, and condiments that sold for $1. It’s wonderful to partner with someone who’s so enthusiastic!

SFBG: And knowing Martuni’s, there will be some amazing lounge act in the back room…

EC: Ha! Not intentionally. Though Martuni’s martinis are notoriously strong, so after a few, you never know! We do, however, have a brief announcement period at the end of every event so that anyone who has a project or opportunity to share has the chance to do so.

SFBG: Drunk events announcements, love it. Why’d you start Vegan Drinks?

EC: Vegan Drinks as an idea actually started in New York in 2008. When our staff started seeing photos from their events that looked like way too much fun, we got jealous. So we started our own chapter! The point is just to create a space for people to come together, spend time among like-minded folks, and hang out. It purposefully doesn’t have an agenda beyond “let’s have drinks and chat” because so often events are fundraisers, or outreach, or festivals, or readings, or something else that involves a level of obligation, and it’s really nice to just get together with people in the community and hang out without any pressure.

SFBG: Have you seen any interesting animal product-free collaborations spring up out of these meetings? What are the hot vegan conversation topics that people are mingling over these days?

EC: Certainly some networking happens, and some projects have come from that. For example, even with Vegan Drinks itself, we started organizing the events, and then connected with the Vegansaurus bloggers, and now we co-sponsor the event with them. In terms of hot topics, food is a nearly ubiquitous theme at vegan gatherings. New restaurants, places people have eaten recently for the first time and had either good or bad experiences, new recipes people are experimenting with and those kinds of things definitely come up.

(Carrot colada photo by Wendall T. Webber via Food & Drink)

Vegan Drinks

Thurs/28 6-8 p.m., free with purchase of drink

Martuni’s

4 Valencia, SF

(415) 241-0205

www.sfvegandrinks.com

Prided out? Hang with Jazz Mafia on Sunday (UPDATED)

Andrew Lam

-

June 24, 2011

0

Prided out? Hang with Jazz Mafia on Sunday (UPDATED)

There is nothing to do on Sunday that is not Pride, so good luck if you’d like a pass on Virgin America floats and daunting crowds. Well, except one really, really awesome thing: the debut of Jazz Mafia‘s second orchestral composition “The Emperor Norton Suite” at Stern Grove Sun/26. Charlie 2na will be there too, welcoming you to the Outer Sunset — and maybe even Lyrics Born.

Sneak peek behind the scenes of Emperor Norton’s Suite

Have you been to Stern Grove? You need to go, because if you live in one of the central neighborhoods, it’s a great opportunity to see what the vast majority of the city of San Francisco looks like: avenues, families, houses! Ample parking! Well, this last one not so much for you, unless you and your automobile arrive at the festival ways far in advance, like mabye 11 a.m. for the 2 p.m. start. Tips: hella picnic snacks, mimosas, a soft blanket for when you inevitably get stuck sitting in a bramble bush halfway up the park slope, a sharp knife, and cutting board. Please don’t attempt to have a picnic without these last two items, sweartagod.

Back to the tunes. Composer, horn player, bandleader, and all-around overachiever Adam Theis has been working his ass off to put together a follow-up to the excellent work he did on his first symphony, entitled Brass, Bows, and Beats. Theis has had his hands all over the hip-hop-jazz-etc. scene, with recent collaborations with everyone from Beck to Zion I’s Amp Live (he told us after rehearsals today in the Grove he’s headed down to an LA gig with Blackalicious).

But believe Sunday show, that’s going to be his baby up there. And motormouth stage stealer Lyrics Born (check out his thoughts — at 00:34 — on this weekend’s venue at his Stern Grove press conference last year), has announced on his Facebook page that he’ll be hosting, though the fact hasn’t made itself known on the Stern Grove site yet.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a pass on Pride’s hypetastic explosion (that said with nothing but love and vogue in my heart), you could do worse than a long bike ride out to see some of the Bay’s most solid soul machines.

UPDATE: Just rolled through the JM rehearsals in the grove. This from Aima the Dreamer, who said there is a major difference between the creation of Emperor Norton’s Suite and the first Jazz Mafia orchestral piece. “For Brass, Bows, and Beats, all the emcees wrote and performed their parts separately,” she says. But for Emperor Norton’s, the piece’s three emcees (Aima, Shotgun Wedding Quintet’s Dublin, and Soulati) collaboratively wrote all the flows, then divided them up among themselves. The result? “Not common, to be noted” says Aima — at times she feels like she’s “channeling” Dublin’s “hip-hop mathematics” and Soulati’s different styles.

Jazz Mafia’s self-titled “trombonist, composer, and librarian” Jeanne Geiger was one of the composers of Emperor Norton’s, which involved a writing process she says started last summer. Like Aima, Geiger says in contrast to the all-encompassing effort put forth by Theis for the first symphony, the goal of the second one was “to be collaborative.”

In sum: it’s going to be dope. Martin Luther will be performing with the family, Lyrics Born is confirmed as host, and SF schoolkids will even take the stage for a song or two.

Jazz Mafia feat. Charlie 2na, Martin Luther, and Lyrics Born

Sun/26 2 p.m., free

Stern Grove

19th Ave. and Sloat, SF

www.sterngrove.org

Our bike falls in love

Andrew Lam

-

June 23, 2011

0

Our bike spotted this super clean tag in the Lower Haight the other day. It was drawn to the piece not just for its subject matter (you know how bikes tend to stick with their own kind), but also because of the composition. Check those lines! Dynamic! Hot. It was in love.

It’s the work of Jaut Cares — we told our bike — who has been spraying two-wheelers around the Bay for a hot minute. Superlative local street art photography blog Endless Canvas has been tracking the artist since early last year, and Altar of Unanswered Prayers snapped a radtacular shot of a red, white, and blue number Jaut put up.

Our bike didn’t have much to say in response, just recommenced scouting around for the Macaframa minibike and anything/one ever featured on Erin from Calivintage’s Bike + Babes blog. Fickle, fickle bici.

Hot sexy events: June 22-28

Andrew Lam

-

June 22, 2011

0

Apparently we got everyone a little too hot and bothered with our bike messenger sex post a few weeks back — the bicycle coitus backlash has already begun!

This news from LA, where the super fly Midnight Ridazz ride ran into some complications in the form of a drunk, cell phone-using driver smashing into a group stopped on the side of a road, injuring 11 cyclists. The police were quick to point fingers — at the cyclists. After all, “alcohol, condoms, and marijuana” were found near the scene of the crime, as ABC Channel 7 reported. Clearly, the Ridazz were gearing up (ha!) for a late night bike orgy. You know how that saddle friction gets everyone all randy.

LAPD did offer this PSA-type release, which I suppose is intended to act as a mea culpa for being all sassy about adult beverages, smoking weed, and safe sex? At any rate, “bike orgy” should surely be the SF Bike Party’s next theme ride. And now onto sex events for Pride Week!

Oh!

Dirty young gentlemen, be aware: you’re not to miss this grimy-beated, well-meated party time at SF’s cruisey queer watering hole. Details? Write the story yourself — all we can tell you is that DJs Taco Tuesday and Guy Ruben will be getting the soundtrack hot like a skin flick.

Wed/22 10 p.m.-2 a.m., $5

Powerhouse

1347 Folsom, SF

www.powerhouse-sf.com

“Heart/Hand/Art: Erotic Moments from San Francisco’s Lesbian Underground”

In a recent SF Station interview, Phyllis Christopher insists she “never, never wanted to shock people. I was having these amazing experiences and I wanted to talk about it.” Surely shocking is not the right word for Christopher’s florid shots of women in the throes of passion — titty grabbing, peeking out between fishnetted leg passion — we only flash on “sexy.” But Christopher’s intent was to document the lives of San Francisco lesbians. The erotica she captured is gorgeous — a flattering portrayal of women loving women in the City by the Bay.

Thurs/23 6-8 p.m., free

Good Vibrations

1620 Polk, SF

(415) 345-0500

www.goodvibes.com

Lexington Club Pride weekend

Let’s be honest, it’s a rat race trying to name your Pride parties with the sluttiest monikers in the city — there’s just too much competition out there. But the Lex surely has a leg way up, if there is such a contest. Honestly, it wins based on sheer quantity: Thursday dances out with “DTF,” Friday flirts hard with “No Strings Attached,” on Saturday you can “Tap That,” and Sunday’s climax (after a super-slutty brunch party — oh, and the official Pride blowout, of course) is “Hit It and Quit It.” Straddle you a lady lez and get down — just don’t spill that Pabst on her cut-offs unless you’re trying to lick it off.

Thurs/23-Sun/26, free

Lexington Club

3464 19th St., SF

(415) 863-2052

www.lexingtonclub.com

Mr. Kok Kontest

Kok Bar’s keeping it hard and slutty for you all weekend, but the new kid on the Folsom block has some extra special for you planned for Saturday night: a contest to see who has the biggest dick — though wait, isn’t that the point of Pride Week itself? Anyways, it’s been formalized here, so pack your binoculars, not much else, and head down.

Sat/25, free before 10 p.m., $4 afterwards

Kok Bar

1225 Folsom, SF

www.kokbarsf.com

Pansexual Pride Party

Cap off your Pride celebrations (or gear up for Sunday night) at the Citadel’s all-inclusive dungeon play party. Featured will be a demonstration by Mr. SF Citadel 2011 on how to successfully dominate a bottom twice your size. The website promises that it will produce experiences akin to “a chihuahua picking on a rottweiler.”

Sun/26 5-8 p.m., $10

SF Citadel

1277 Mission, SF

www.sfcitadel.org

“Sex, Death, Laughter, and Disease: Writing and the Body”

Empower your body (and your prose) with this course, which will teach the skill of writing the corporeal form as protagonist. Sound a little English Lit-y for you? Instructor Lorelei Lee is an NYU creative writing professor, but check her clips before you dismiss this event from this column: lady’s been featured in $pread Magazine, the anthologies Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life and Love and Off the Set: Porn Stars and Their Partners — plus, she’s currently penning a script with Stephen Elliott.

Tues/28 (through Aug. 2) 7:30-9 p.m., $325

Center for Sex and Culture

1349 Mission, SF

(415) 902-2071

www.sexandculture.org

Pride Events

Maria Poblet

-

June 21, 2011

0

Our mega-guide to 2011’s Hot Pride Action — and parties and art and …

WEDNESDAY 22

Pullin’ Pork for Pride Pilsner Inn, 225 Church, SF. www.pilsnerinn.com. 6-9pm, free. The Guardian’s Pride Week happy hour turns seven years old, so we’re sharing our secret of youth: pulled pork sandwiches, which our own Funk N Chunk crew will be dishing out for free. Beats by DJ OME, and and ample chance to check in with all the beautiful alternative people.

Stay Gold Public Works, 161 Erie, SF; Facebook: Stay Gold Pride. 9pm-2:30am, $3-$5. This young and fun queer party kicks out the party jams (plus an art show, live performances, and other surprises) with resident DJ hotties Rapid Fire and Pink Lightning.

Oh! The Powerhouse, 1347 Folsom, SF. www.powerhouse-sf.com. 10pm-2am, $5. Oh hey, Bright Young Gentleman’s Adventuring Society, let’s not waste any time on this whole Pride week, shall we? Head to the Powerhouse for DJs Guy Ruben and the so-dreamy Taco Tuesday while you’re still fresh – you’ll be a little less so after these porno beats and scruffy meets.

THURSDAY 23

“Heroes With Bling” Market Street Gallery, 1554 Market, SF. www.marketstreetgallery.com. 6-8pm, free. ‘Cause what would Pride be without the glittery gaudy of our city’s drag royalty? Photographer Jose A. Guzman Colon has documented the highest of heels, the opaquest of eyeshadow in this photographic Pride pre-party. This one will be a gracious who’s who.

A Truly Fabulous Nightlife California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, SF; (415) 379-8000, www.calacademy.org. 6-10pm, $12. Help drop the science on Pride week with special exhibitions, DJs Miss Juanita MORE!, Stanley Frank, Chelsea Starr, and Honey Soundsystem in the aquarium, plus a “tranimal” costume contest judged by drag’s own special fauna exhibit, Heklina.

Sex-positive photo show Good Vibrations, 1620 Polk, SF; (415) 345-0400, www.goodvibes.com. 6-8pm, free. Enjoy the images of storied sex-positive photographer Phyllis Christopher with wine, hors d’oeuvres, and, of course, good vibes.

Street Power: The Story of San Francisco’s Vanguard GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th St., SF; (415) 621-1107, www.glbthistory.org. 7-9pm, $5 suggested donation. Learn your history as local smartypants Joey Plaster, Mia Tu Mutch, and Rev. Megan Rohrer draw parallels between the Vanguard youth movement of the 1960s and present day LGBTQ organizations.

Pan Dulce The Café, 2369 Market, SF; (415) 675-9763, www.clubpapi.com. 8pm-2am, $5-$8. The Bay Area’s largest weekly Latin party kicks off Pride in the ‘Stro with sexy go-go papis, drink specials, and more – hosted by Sasha and beats by DJ Carlos.

Eden Thurs/23-Sun/26, Various locations, SF; (510) 842-6315, www.edininthebay.com. $65-$100. This weekend-long event is for all the ladies – four nights and six parties featuring glamorous catwalks, celebrities from the Real L Word, stand-up comedy, superstar DJs, and more.

In the Mood for Love Truck, 1900 Folsom, SF. www.trucksf.com. 10pm-1am, free. High-octane laser beams will sear from the eyes of drag glamorpuss La Monistat – tonight’s all about the dramarama love ballads, so donate to the party’s concurrent food drive to avoid unhinging a woman who is already bawling out.

Stud Bar 45th anniversary party Stud, 399 Ninth St., SF. www.studsf.com. 8pm-2am, free. Hey daddy, you’re not gonna want to miss the festivities at SF’s classic cruisy queer bar.

Big Gay Warehouse party Big Gay Warehouse, SF. www.biggaywarehouse.org. 6-10pm, $5 plus $1 six month membership. It’ll be the BGW’s (first and) last Pride hurrah before the party collective gets the boot from their SoMa space – but don’t cry for them. Better that you dance dance dance to Forever, Tacocat, Bitter Fruit, and Fat Transfer. Shuttles depart from 17th St. and Capp to take you there all night, and afterwards you can catch a ride to East Bay parties.

DTF Lexington Club, 3464 19th St., SF. (415) 863-2047, www.lexingtonclub.com. 9pm, free. Are you? Come prepared to get revved up – DJs Miss Jackson and Astro, host Kellen, and a passel of comely go-go dancers will have you mashing face with other lucky lasses toute suite.

The Ms. Tang Tang Show African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton, SF; (415) 922-2049, www.aaacc.org, www.brownpapertickets.org. 7:30pm, $15-$20. Be apart of a live studio audience for this all-queer-all-Asian variety show with guest artists D’Lo, Kit Yan, Philip Huang, and more as they perform, amuse, and delight. The show will be aired online, so be sure to sit strategically to get your “good side” on film.

Hunky Rebel, 1760 Market, SF. (415) 431-4202. Facebook: Hunky. 10pm-4am, free before 11pm. An out-of-state ID gets you in for free all night, so this is the perfect spot to check out all the just-docked fresh meat.

Pride Kick-off party The Lexington, 3464 19th St., SF; (415) 863-2052, www.thelexingtonclub.com, 9pm, free with drink purchase. Kick-off pride at the Lex for their notorious shit-show of a celebration (and we mean that in a good way.) This year Ms Jackson and Astro from parties She Said and Cockblock handle the decks while those sexy Lexy go-go dancers turn the crowd out..

Shameless House of Music, 420 14th St., Oakl.; www.shipsinthenight.blogspot.com. 9pm-3am, $7. Can’t make it over the bridge in to SF tonight? No worries – Ships in the Night brings Pride to Oakland! This 700 plus venue will hold DJs, debauchery, dancing and more – including a special performance from kick-ass Purple Rhinestone Eagle, home-cooked treats, and indie vendors.

FRIDAY 24

Trans March Dolores Park, Dolores and 18th St., SF; www.transmarch.org. 3:30-6:30pm rally, 6:30pm march, donations accepted. Gather in support of transgendered and transsexual justice and visibility at a rally in the park – featuring DJ Stephanie Luz , Rev. Megan Rohrer and the Vanguard Youth, Josie and the Pussycats, and more – and a protest march to follow. This year’s Trans March honors the 45th anniversary of the Compton Cafeteria Riots.

Trans March after party The Lexington, 3464 19th St., SF; (415) 863-2052, www.thelexingtonclub.com. 9pm, free with drink purchase. Decompress after a day of kickass trans unity and solidarity at the Lex with DJs Jenna Riot and Miss Pop spinning an eclectic dance mix of hip-hop and Top 40s jams of the past and present.

33rd Annual Pride Concert® Everett Auditorium, 450 Church, SF; 1-800-595-4TIX, www.annualprideconcert.org. 8pm, $15-$30. Get a dose of culture during this year’s Pride festivities with a showcase of the world’s premier LGBTQ orchestra, choruses, and wind ensembles with host Trauma Flintstone.

Unofficial 2 Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. (415) 552-7788, www.elbo.com. 10pm-2am, $7. Coinciding nicely with trans mag Original Plumbing’s green issue, this is the OP crew’s second year of post Trans Parade hijinx. DJs Rapidfire and Bunnystyle will kick out the jams. Amos Mac will snap your look.

Le Petit Mort Pride Som Bar, 2925 16th St., SF. (415) 558-8521, www.som-barsf.com. 6-10pm, free. A magical mystery ride? Celebrating diversity? A free party during Pride Week? Will wonders never cease – these deep ’80s and disco tunes will touch you deep inside, cuz that’s what Pride’s all about.

Marga & the Tomboys LGBT Community Center, 2nd Floor, 1800 Market, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. 8Pm, $15. Check out Latina funny-woman Marga Gomez and resident cutie-pie Janine Brito as they serve up some side-splitting queer comedy for the National Queer Arts Festival.

Beefy Babe Parade Big Gay Warehouse, SF; www.biggaywarehouse.org, Facebook: Beefy Babe parade. 8pm-3am, $6-$9. If you’ve never been out to his punk rock warehouse, this would be the time – bad ass babes from Portland, Purple Rhinstone Eagle, are performing and other awesome surprises are in the works. Check online for bike-able routes and info on shuttles from the Mission.

GAWK’s 25th anniversary party Tikka Masala, 1668 Haight, SF. 7pm, free. The Gay Artists and Writer’s Collective celebrates a quarter century of providing soundtrack to the city’s progressive causes, with live bands, quite moving and fun readings, and a always fascinating crowd of characters.

MR. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. Facebook: Mr. 4th Annual Mustache Party. www.mighty119.com 9pm-4am, $15 presale. ‘Tis the season to mingle with porn stars from Naked Sword and Golden Gate and hear to NYC’s Miss Honey Dijon tear up the decks. Throw on your best fake or real mustache because that’s how hot and porny it’s gonna get.

Some Thing Pride The Stud, 399 Ninth St., SF. www.studsf.com. 10 p.m.-4 am., $7 The wild drag threesome of Vivvyanne Forevermore, Glamamore, and Down-E take you down the rabbithole with loads of performances, a scene truly to behold, and music from DJs Hoku Mama Swamp and Stanley Frank.

Color from God-lung (Larkwatt 1152) Breathing Room, 1592 Market, SF. Facebook: Color from God-lung. 9-11pm, donation suggested. Take a break from the candy-coated craziness to check out this movement-based opera, whose plot unfolds in a post-apocalyptic petrified elephant carcass and involves endurance-based vocal feats.

SATURDAY 25

Pink Triangle installation and ceremony Twin Peaks Vista Overlook, SF. (415) 726-4914, www.thepinktriangle.com. 7-10am installation, 10:30am commemoration ceremony, free. Help commemorate the gay victims of the Holocaust with the annual installation of the symbolic pink triangle atop Twin Peaks that can be seen for miles!

Dyke March Dolores Park, Dolores and 18th St., SF; www.thedykemarch.org. 3-7pm rally, 7pm march, $5-$10 suggested donation. San Francisco’s Dyke March is the largest of it’s kind in the world. Represent and be visible at a rally with performances and DJs – Hard French’s Brown Amy is headlining, so wear your dancing shoes – with a parade to follow.

Pink Saturday at the Dark Room The Hot Spot, 1414 Market, SF. 10pm. “Demented” performances from some the best drag queens going (Anna Conda, Lady Bear, Raya Light) stud this macabre gay goth-industrial break from the rainbow rally outside. Drink specials help melt your makeup off. With DJs Le Perv, Phatima, and Faux King Awesome.

Men’s Spanking Party Power Exchange, 220 Jones, SF; (415) 864-2766, sanfranparty@yahoo.com, 1-6pm, $20. Yup, you sure did read that correctly. So, who’s been a bad boy? Those of you males who are into spanking and paddling – whether bi, gay, or straight – bend on over. This is your lucky day.

Tap That Lexington Club, 3464 19th St., SF; (415) 863-2052, www.thelexingtonclub.com. 7pm, free.DJ Becky Knox of Lions, Tigers, and Queen keeps the delicious dyke dancing going well after the march is over. This is the OG of Dyke March afterparties, so let’s not forget our heritage, people.

Big Top vs. Trannyshack Club 8, 1151 Folsom, SF. www.trannyshack.com. Doors at 9pm, show at 11pm, $15 presale. When clubs collide, you wanna be there for the ensuing bump ‘n’ grind. Kooky-crazy drag institution Trannyshack’s bearded ladies take on the ringling go-go twinks and hairy fortune tellers of Big Top’s homo disco circus – they’ll tangle til dawn, with you caught in the dancetastically dirty sheets. Watch that elephant.

Indigenous Pride LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market, SF; www.sfcenter.org, peacewarrior@earthlink.net. 8pm, free. This Indian Two Spirits celebration is alcohol-free and features spoken word, Native American hand games, drumming, and more.

Go Bang! Go Pride! Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin, SF. Facebook: Go Bang! Go Pride! 9pm-3am, $5. DJ Peeplay of Honey Soundsystem teams with Lel’Elephant, Sergio, and Steve Fabus for a gay ‘ol time. Disco dance your way through the weekend with rare grooves and deep cuts .

Bearracuda Pride Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.bearracuda.com. 9pm-late, $10-15. Furry manmeat takes over Public Works to listen to dabecey of Electronic Music Bears, DJ Peeplay of Honey Soundsystem, and Jen Irish of Denver – and make the second floor treehouse into a teddybear’s picnic. Fuzzy!

Gaypocalypse SUB/Mission 2183 Mission, SF; Facebook: Gaypocalypse – Dyke March Afterparty. 9pm-2am, $7. DJs from Stay Gold, Ships in the Night, Party Hole, and Hella Gay join party forces for a night of booty-clapping jams at this debaucherous Dyke march after party.

Lights Down Low SOM Bar, 2925 16th St., SF. www.som-bar.com. 8pm-3am, $15 presale. JD Samson of Le Tigre, Nomi Ruiz of Hercules and Love Affair, and Honey Soundsystem’s Derek Bobus headline this electronic get down. Nu disco? Nu problem.

Mighty Real Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com. 10pm-4am, $10 presale. House god Quentin Harris — the man with the golden ear and platinum body — and local boy David Harness turn up the dance floor soul into Pride Sunday’s early hours.

Cockblock Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. www.cockblocksf.com. 9pm-2am, $15. This Dyke March after-party will feature Cockblock and Q Bar’s sharp Natalie Nuxx and DJ C.LA, who is gonna bring that trampy Vegas spirit straight to the sexy lesbis at this sweaty dance-off.

SUNDAY 26

SF Pride Parade and Celebration Market, from Beale to 8th St., SF; www.sfpride.org. 10:30am, free/$20 V.I.P. passes for 2-5pm party at City Hall. The mother of all Pride babies – this is where it all began, folks. The O.G. protest march down Market Street for LGBTQ rights, justice, and visibility. This year’s main stage performances at Civic Center include Sandra Bernhard, Luciana, Big Freedia, and tons more. The theme this year is “Stand Up for LGBT Youth”

Bradley Manning parade contingent Meet at Starbucks, 99 Jackson, SF; Facebook: March for alleged WikiLeaker. 9:45am, free. March in the parade with fellow supporters for the gay soldier who spoke openly against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and who is now imprisoned for allegedly blowing the whistle on U.S. war crimes in Iraq.

Mikes on Bikes Contingent Meet on Spear near Market 9pm-10pm, $5-$10. 415-905-8854 pre-reg hotline. Hey alternaqueer boys, bring your bike and ride with DJ Bus Station John and a spokeful of hotties, probably in their underwear, for the 15th anniversary “ride of your life.”

BiBi Pride After-Party T-Dance Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF. Facebook: BiBi Pride, www.eightsf.com. 4 p.m.-10 p.m., $15. Calling all Middle-Eastern and North African hotties! Get into the swing of Pride with Ooh La La Belly Dance, DJ Nile, DJ Nader and all the hip-shaking girls and boys you can handle.

Hard French Hearts Los Homos Public Works, 161 Erie, SF; www.hardfrench.com. 2-10pm, $15-$20. Like a Hard French on steroids, this massively popular, fresh and funky daytime BBQ soul party touches down for Pride and features sure-to-be-mind-blowing performances from Erase Errata, Nick Waterhouse and the Tarots, and New Orleans sissy bounce queen Big Freedia (azz up!), as well as a second room with guest DJs from Stay Gold, Ships in the Night, Dial Up!, and more.

Hit It and Quit It The Lexington Club, 3464 19th St., SF; (415) 863-2052, www.thelexingtonclub.com. Dirty bass to top 40 – if you can’t hook up here, you can’t hook up anywhere (or you have a penis).

Juanita MORE! Pride Party Chambers, 601 Eddy, SF. www.juanitamore.com. 2pm-2am, $25-35. Not only have we anointed it “Best Queer Party” of the year, but the top shelf entertainment (the Some Thing crew will be there, as well as the adorable Cougar Cadet Corps Drumline, NYC’s House of Stank, and the UK’s Horsemeat Disco) all goes to benefit a gay-straight youth alliance doing werq with the young folks. Plus it’s a pool party, too! Drag fierceness Miss Juanita More presides.

Honey Pride Holy Cow 1535 Folsom, SF. www.honeysoundsystem.com, 6 p.m.-2 a.m. The gorgeous boys of Honey Soundsystem draw a hot, fun crowd of dancers who like being taken on a journey through all manner of dance music. Plus there’s a barbecue going on! San Francisco’s storied DJ Robbie Hardkiss and Doc Sleep provide the soundtrack for lovers.

Last Night Pride Party Club Six, 60 Sixth St., SF. www.clubsix.com 4pm-2am, $10. Race in style to the finish line with this DJ-fashion-dance explosion. With dubstep and electro DJs holding down Six’s White Room and hip-hop and pop bobbing their heads in the Dark Room, you’ll have options for the soundtrack to your come-down after a week of wild.

Queerly Beloved El Rio, 3158 Mission, (415) 282-3325, www.elriosf.com. 3-9pm, $8. Dubbed “a Pride party for the rest of us,” Courtney Trouble’s annual Pride celebration is for all genders and sexualities, and features a wet t-shirt contest with pricey prizes, musical performances, a photo booth, tons of eye candy, porn screenings, free food, and so much more.

SF Pride Closing Party Regency Ballroom, 1300 Sutter, SF; (310) 880-4546, www.theregencyballroom.com. 7pm, $65. This year’s official Pride closing party is a bonanza that includes performances by Taylor Dayne, fierce contestants from Ru Paul’s Drag Race, DJ Glovibes, and host Peter Paige from Queer as Folk.

Pedaling out in front: Bike Music Festival 2011 shows us what it takes

Andrew Lam

-

June 21, 2011

0

Pedaling out in front: Bike Music Festival 2011 shows us what it takes

Chilling in the middle of Saturday evening traffic in the Stanyan-Kezar intersection doesn’t seem like a situation engineered to produce warm fuzzy feelings. But the aggressive honk cloud of surely confused, possibly perturbed automobiles behind me mattered little – I was digging too much on the tandems, trailers, and trees rolling past me on two (and three, holler back trikes!) wheels.

In a way, that was all part one of the Bicycle Music Festival organizers, Paul “Fossil Fool” Freedman’s plan. Freedman (who we profiled in our recent Bike To Work issue), co-founder Gabe Dominguez, the Rock the Bike crew, and a superhuman pack of volunteers, staged the fifth year of their outdoor festival on June 18. Once again, it was completely pedal-powered, from the stage to the smoothies.

The fest started out in Golden Gate Park, in a concave field near Stowe Lake. But it was no day in the park to implement, this plan.

At the festival’s peak, 12 in-shape attendees, pumping away on bikes hooked up to electrical generators, were needed to keep the tunes going. A flashing LED stick and a multi-colored tube holding a floating soda can were used to monitor the voltage being produced.

When I hopped aboard for my turn to pump up the jams, I was surprised to find that the levels being generated by the bikers weren’t always enough to keep the music moving. In fact, during the second-to-last set of the night (when temperatures were dropping rapidly and a tired crowd had begun to disperse), rapper Ashel Eldrige lost power momentarily.

Periodically, a core volunteer held up a handmade “PEDAL” sign. To, you know, make people pedal harder.

This would cause a meltdown in many event organizers — but then, Freedman’s not your typical event organizer. “I think it’s cool that it works that way,” he said in a phone interview with the Guardian.

“We’re used to things being ‘on.’ I think it’s a cool message that if you don’t show up, we’re not going to be able to have our festival.”

For Freedman, the Bicycle Music Festival is more about the journey. In fact, it was his favorite part of Saturday. After an already full day featuring female Latin rock vocalists, pedal-churned ice cream, mass instances of square-dancing, and a solid chunk of klezmer, it was time to pack it all up and head to the next location – Showplace Triangle, an intersection in Potrero Hill that has been converted into a temporary community plaza by urban sustainability group Rebar. There, the second half of the lineup would commence, including tunes from the California Honeydrops and an aerial acrobatist who’d cavort from a hoop attached to Freedman’s infamous tree-on-a-bike, El Arbol.

Around six p.m., volunteers had racked up all stage equipment (including the Ginger Ninjas, a three piece band who re-stationed itself on the stage after it had been securely affixed to the back of a three wheeled trike), all the bike-powered smoothie machines, and lineup posters. The hundreds of biking music lovers at the fest had also boarded their bikes, and we all looked on in awe at the bike mechanic flaunting of the laws of physics that was being performed.

I had volunteered to help out as a “turn marshall” on the ride so that my fellow partiers could cruise without fear of being crushed by an impatient commuter, so I was up at the front of the pack near the more complicated endeavors.

“This isn’t the first time that you’re… doing this, right?” I asked Mark Sullivan, the brave soul who had been selected (while he was out of the room, he told me) to tote the live music across town. “Well, we’ve done it. Maybe not with all the equipment, but yeah…” I made a mental note not to ride in front of the band bike going down a hill.

Off we went, the music playing, and random spurts of cheering erupting as they are wont to do in such mass bike rides. I detached on Stanyan street to cork traffic and watch the parade of bikes and music and festival. It was a welcome break in my day – and gave me those aforementioned warm fuzzies to be doing something for the fun. But for reports on the rest of the ride we’ll have to turn to Freedman:

“I was really praying for Mark when he was climbing the hill in East Mission. If he had stopped, the trailer would have fallen over. I had an amazing view because I was up high on the tree, but I couldn’t help, so I was just watching him. Then I was praying the brakes would be sound going down the hill.”

Halfway through the ride, at Duboce Park, the second act took the stage: opera singers from the San Francisco Conservatory.

“People were leaning out of windows, it was real street theater,” says Freedman. “Opera doesn’t have a strong beat, but the audio was excellent, and the way [the sound] was echoing off of buildings – it didn’t hurt the song. One singer would give the rock sign after each track ended and everyone would cheer.”

Looking back on the day, its organizer is proud, but convinced that it’s just the beginning. “I don’t think we nailed it like we could have. I’m very grateful for where we are right now, but it can only get better.”

Even more important that the audio quality, Freedman looks forward to growing the people portion of the Bike Music Festival – partially for selfish reasons (he’d like to be able to dance more next year).

Christopher Drellow is Freedman’s neighbor. Saturday was his first major role in one of the bike music productions – he rode a heavily loaded bike and trailer from his home in the Mission to both concert locations, and then home at the end of the day. He started out concerned about the heavy load he was toting, but as the day progressed, got sucked into the endless possibilities of bike cargo.

“Because at that point it seemed clear that, well fuck it, it can clearly be done. I even invited passengers onto the load because suddenly [I] became interested in what can’t be done on these things — like, at what point will this fail? Or call it my hubris, that’s fine too.”

All told, he was bike-musicking from nine a.m. to three in the morning, which gave him ample time to reflect on what it meant to power over 15 musical acts for a daylong party.

“I guess primarily what I’ve been thinking about has been BMF indicating a kind of proof that transitioning off fossil fuel driven machines will not be easy. And that it will be totally doable.”

All the hustling, all the saddle sores – these are the real cost of powering a festival. Somewhat akin to Mark Zuckerberg’s recent, much ballyhooed decision to eat only the animals that he killed personally, one has to wonder if people would party the same way if they knew what it cost in fossil fuel to bring the beat back (and back, and back).

Or maybe low-emission festivity would just mean a shift in what we think of as a celebration. “ People pitch in their different skills and talents and energy and love,” says Freedman. “We need positive examples of that to reaffirm our faith in living together in a city. There are advantages to living in a tight space, you can pull things off that you can’t do in car culture suburbia.”

Says Drellow: “It’s something of a time-honored tradition for people to cling to the assumption that something is impossible until someone else goes out and does it. Seeing the work done is something people kind of need. And okay, perhaps there are circumstances where bicycles are not the solution. But they seem to work pretty damn well beyond our common understanding of them. So I guess that’s what Paul Freedman is doing.”

Rock the Bike is working on the first NYC bike-powered music festival this weekend. (Freedman told us it’ll have the “most amazing” pedal-powered sound yet.) If you’re East Coastin’, check it out. The crew will be back in SF to perform at the July 10 Great Highway Sunday Streets and the July 31 SF Marathon.

BYO Flair: A guide to this weekend’s festival explosion

Andrew Lam

-

June 17, 2011

0

BYO Flair: A guide to this weekend’s festival explosion

If there is one thing I know about festivals it is this: the gear you pack can leave you hydrated, hip and happy — or break you down to a sunburned, schlubby hunk of bad vibes. (It’s true – shoddy preparation for Reggae on the River 2006 left me stranded in the psych tent with disoriented girlfriend during the Ziggy and Damian Marley concert. Clearly, a hipper fedora would have solved everything.)

This weekend plays host to a freakishly large share of summer festivals, so consider this your guide to happy cavorting in the sun. Cups, caps, frocks, and foods: here, friends, are our picks for best festie flair.

Sierra Nevada World Music Festival

The perfect weekend campout for those that can’t handle the crushing crowds of the more commercial festivals this summer. Even the little things (children) will appreciate the open-minded approach to beautiful noise here.

Bring: Consider SNWMF a three-day immersion program in getting loose. Translation: you need costumes. If you’re heading up from San Francisco, we’ve got the perfect sartorial layover for you. Sebastopol’s Funk & Flash vintage store is far enough removed from the big city that its stock hasn’t been picked to all hell by the club kid set, so festie-bound you can benefit from its racks of flowery skirts, and tons of sparkle. Go, do you!

Fri/17-Sun/19, $60-150

Boonville Fairgrounds

CA-128, Boonville

www.snwmf.com

Juneteenth Festival and Parade

The website proclaims this celebration of African American heritage to be the largest gathering of blacks in Northern California, but it remains to be seen whether you’ll fixate on the cultural signifcance while attending the event itself: with an impressive classic car show and three-on-three basketball tournament, all the historical reflection might have to wait until after the festival.

Bring: No brainer accessory: a hat from Hats of the Fillmore, an independent business that’s been holding it down on Fillmore’s main drag for years. High quality at surprisingly low prices, you can don one of these lids to fit in perfectly with the jazzy milieu of SF’s traditionally black neighborhood.

Sat/18 11 a.m.-7 p.m., free

Fillmore and Geary, SF

www.sfjuneteenth.org

Alameda Sailing Festival

Hey Muffy, take a break from hating on the impending America’s Cup to catch a day of boating buoyancy. The Encinal Sailing Foundation will be providing turns on the high seas for a “nominal” fee, and there will be seminars on “pilates for sailors,” boating to Mexico, and how to get your captain’s license. Afterwards, we know some great places to get drunk in Alameda!

Bring: This really goes for every fest on the list, but possibly the most important piece of flair is a fun, functional backpack to hold your water (flask), sunscreen, cell phone, and snacks. We love the Brooklyn Circus’ BKc satchels – but for the moment you’ve gotta special order them from New York. That’s fine, this ain’t the last weekend of the summer! The store’s preppy style (without the snooty WASP-y supply chain behind it) would be divine if you’re looking to drop some dough on a nice sailing fest outfit.

Sat/18 10 a.m.-8 p.m., free

Encinal Yacht Club

1251 Pacific Marina, Alameda

www.summersailstice.com

Bicycle Music Festival

You read our profile on Fossil Fool, so you know all about the current trend towards bike-fueled culture fun. According to all the volunteers that have been standing near Mona Caron’s bike mural behind the Church Street Safeway for the past few days, this fest will be the perfect spot to enjoy the zeitgeist. Saddle up for awesome tunes, and community-building bike rides between concert sites.

Bring: Hedgehog mug from Gravel and Gold so you can (chicly, adorably) reap the benefits of the fest’s pedal-powered smoothie maker. It also comes in rabbit, fyi. The calories you consume in said smoothies work doubletime — once you’re done drinking, take your turn powering the generator for the drinks or one of the music stages yourself.

Sat/18 noon-11:25 p.m., free

Various locations, SF

www.bicyclemusicfestival.com

Berry Festival

You know this sun isn’t going to last past 4th of July, so now is the perfect time to up your antioxidant intake and arm the old immune system against “summer” colds. CUESA and the Ferry Building farmers market is holding this day of loving for berry season – sample the treats available in the market stalls and let chef Daniel Clayton of Nibblers Eatery and Wine Bar show you how to whip up some healthy, hearty grub with the juicy little devils.

Bring: a nice navy sweatshirt from Mollusk for the Bay breezes and inevitable tayberry stains.

Sat/18 11 a.m.-1 p.m., free

Ferry Building, SF

www.cuesa.org

California Big Time Indian Gathering

The Ohlones are hosting their first gathering of Native peoples in their ancestral lands in two centuries. Come to learn more about real SF locals through dance, rituals, and craft exhibitions.

Bring: Mocs that slip off easy – you’re not gonna want a layer of separations between the well-manicured lawns of Yerba Buena and your soles.

Sat/18 noon-11 p.m., free

Yerba Buena Gardens

Howard between Second and Third St., SF

www.worldartswest.org

North Beach Festival

Sure, the neighborhood street fests all start to look the same after awhile. But there are good parts of that same: family-friendly musical acts, artery-busting festie food, and an excuse to run amok in the streets. The North Beach incarnation has been going for 56 years, and manages to sneak a couple unique facets into the standard cruise-shop-eat formula SF has perfected.

Bring: your kitty cat companion for the yearly St. Francis of Assisi animal blessings. Also, a flirty, locally made frock from NooWorks is totally Maria from West Side Story – perfectly for the neo-Catholic-in-the-summertime vibe you’ll be channeling.

Sat/18-Sun/19 10 a.m.-6 p.m., free

Washington Square Park

Union and Columbus, SF

www.northbeachchamber.com

Northern California Pirate Festival

Never underestimate the amount of people willing to drop serious time and dime on dressing up in period costumes. You’ve seen the Renaissance fairs and the Dickens Christmas Fair – now it’s time to peep the pirates. Two very full days of pirate entertainers and replica boats (not to mention squadrons of pirate clothing vendor booths) await you if you be brave enough to cross the seas to Vallejo.

Bring: Your 826 Valencia designer spyglass, for scurvy-watching of course.

Sat/18-Sun/19 10 a.m.-6 p.m., free

Vallejo Waterfront

Mare Island Way (near the ferry terminal), Vallejo

www.norcalpiratefestival.com

Picklewater Free Circus Festival

As we mentioned in last year’s profile of our favorite free circus troupe, Circus Bella, nothing quite highlights the magic (and eccentricity) of this city quite like catching a high-flying aerial act smack dab in the heart of downtown. Picklewater is taking over Union Square for the third year in a row this weekend, and we suggest you head down — if only to catch the amazed gaze of the throngs of tourists that’ll be on hand to remind you that yes, your city is freakin’ amazing.

Bring: Your medical marijuana card, and attending accoutrements.

Sun/19 2-4 p.m., free

Union Square

Post and Powell, SF

www.jewelssf.org

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at the Stern Grove Festival

The 74th season of this green glade’s free concert series kicks off with a killer show from the queen of throwback soul.

Bring: The Stern Grove scene struts more with its picnic spread than by any accessory or fly outfit. A retro basket (check Goodwill, people are always ditching picnic baskets) will be a useful score, and in terms of snack to make (they must be homemade!), peep our favorite new vegan cooking blog, The Vegan Stoner. It’s perfect, even if you had to self-medicate your hangover before you started prepping for the journey out to the Sunset.

Feat. Ben L’Oncle Soul

Sun/19 2 p.m., free

Stern Grove

19th Ave. and Sloat, SF

www.sterngrove.org

Mission Street mural unveiling

But why spend all your time at the big events? Artist Aaron Lawrence is holding an al fresco event of his own – pulling the dropcloth off the work he and muralist Rocky Villanueva did on a new apartment building on Mission. He’s making a party of it, so get there early if you want to get down on the free burritos provided.

Bring: Tapatio, tall can Tecate. Bring two cans, share them.

Sun/19 2-5:30 p.m., free

Mission between 18th and 19th St., SF

Facebook: Sunday Mural Reveal Party

Two bike photo projects show love for the movement

Andrew Lam

-

June 17, 2011

0

Two bike photo projects show love for the movement

We’re in a moment of bike love. Bikes are hot: in SF the weather’s hot, the Bicycle Music Festival‘s coming up, an extended network of bike paths is on their way – and around the world, there’s a lot of energy surrounding the rise of two-wheeled transport. It’s an important time for bicycles, so let look at how it’s being documented.

One way: Matthew Finkle and Brittain Sullivan are the authors of a book called – yes – I Love My Bike (Chronicle Books, $16.95, 160 pages) that recently landed in our Guardian mailbox. Finkle and Sullivan, the book’s intro tells me, met on a bike ride on a summer night in Boston and subsquently pedaled across the country with each other, snapping flicks of their bikey buddies along the way.

Theirs is a photo book of bikes and their riders, smattered with terse little quotes from all the pretty things (“when I get pissed off I build gold bikes!” the handlebar-mustachioed, booze-toting Erik Noren of Minneapolis’ Peacock Groove Cycles enigmatically proclaims). America’s lookin’ real good on our bikes, according to I Love My Bike — everyone’s got a bicycle fit to induce heavy breathing among the so-inclined.

I have to admit, I started getting a little hot and bothered over some of the (bike!) specimens – there’s a yellow banana seat cruiser on page 109 for which I die, and I know that according to the bike snob gods I’m not supposed to like those five spoked plastic fixie rims anymore, but Daniel Mueller of Boston’s pink and powder blue creation… I don’t care, want.

I Love My Bike: Wall to wall wheel walls

When I shut I Love My Bike, I did so with the impression that the US is a solid mass of trendy, creative (mainly) young people — on bikes. I like those kinds of people – some might say that I am one myself. The book, presented as an aspirational showcase of hipster and high performance bike fashion, works just fine.

But Finkle and Sullivan need to holler at whoever’s writing their back cover blurb. “Throughout their travels they met cyclists of all kinds…,” it rather hyperbolically shouts. Or maybe they met cyclists of all kinds, but they didn’t publish any photos of them – I’m didn’t see any families in there, and certainly no one with a junker bike that isn’t a hard-to-find, check-my-steez brand of junker. This is a book of bikers that are just a few freeways from having a big ass social ride to a BBQ of local, organic edibles in a park somewhere.

I think that people who bike are more complex than that — in a good way. For a different take on a bike photography project, head south. And east. Really far in both of those directions.

There you will find South Africa’s Bicycle Portraits, a photo series that was started by Nic Grobler and Stan Engelbrecht to highlight the brave, self-propelled souls on roads where cars aren’t always the friendliest neighbors for meat puppets (to borrow a favorite term from David Byrne’s Bicycle Diaries). You’re not getting the idea that everyone depicted in Bicycle Portraits is a brother from a different mother — but you are getting the feeling that the biking movement is moving away from the “ain’t it cool?” model of awareness-building to the “ain’t it necessary?” school of thought.

You can’t scroll through Grobler and Engelbrecht’s website without realizing that biking in South Africa may well be a lifestyle, but it’s not a single lifestyle — people aren’t just riding bikes because it’s fun, hip, or social, but because it’s the mode of transportation that makes the most sense for them. Bicycle Portraits purposefully paints a country of bikers as a diverse, important group of citizenry.

Rich people, poor people, old people, kiddos. Ashton May’s black township cruiser, Loza Philani’s well-ridden Raleigh (“my bike is like oxygen to me – it keeps me alive,” he says), and Brandon Searle’s high tech Durban Cannondale. The two also collected in-depth interviews with each subject to help explain how bikes figured in each of the lives they documented.

After two successful Kickstarter campaigns, the Bicycle Portraits team is now accepting pre-orders for what is sure to be a phenomenal book. (Swoop.)

In a land such as our own when bike riding all too often is stereotyped as the domain of flippant and sullen (does that work?) trendoids who refuse to “mature” into taking crowded public transportation and gas-guzzling automobiles, projects like Bicycle Portraits seem incredibly important. If we have proof in front of our eyes that bikes are helping people lead lives that help the planet, city governments are way more likely to invest in bike systems, parents are more likely to encourage their wee ones to take to two wheels, and people who don’t fit the hipster stereotype are more likely to pedal off into the sunset. Fashion is fun, but fashion alone can’t influence urban planning.

We do the movement a disservice if we paint ourselves as the sole face of biking in today’s cities – but of course, the diehard dandies among us are always going to Love our bikes. Damn Carolyn Ngo of San Diego, where’d you get that metallic blue handlebar tape?

Hot sexy events: June 15-21

Andrew Lam

-

June 15, 2011

0

And we’re back! After a brief jaunt around the world, I’ve returned to hunker sexily down amidst a mountain of press releases for SF’s sluttiest happenings (yes, they make press releases). Seems like y’all have been busy since I’ve been gone – this week alone there’s a big-ass conference for nerdy – is there any other kind? – pervs and a class with Madison Young on making your own adult videos.

Idea: go to Young’s Good Vibes class tonight, complete your star turn post-learnin’, and learn how to market and code the darn thing (or meet someone who can) this weekend! Then give link to all the new friends you meet at Pride. Planning ahead: it pays!

“DIY Porn”

Because it’s not just about figuring out how to many books to prop the Flip atop. No no, recording your sexy precious moments requires a lot more skills – starting off with the skill of knowing what dirty tricks you’d most like to capture for posterity. Femina Potens’ head mistress Madison Young (it’s safe to say) is a master at figuring these kinds of things out, so entrust to her your future on the silver – or laptop – screen. She’ll be touching on scripts, casting, and financing, so dream big.

Wed/15 6-8 p.m., $20-26

1620 Polk, SF

(415) 345-0500

www.goodvibes.com

Ecosexual Queer Porn Night

Ecosexuality, the sensual relationship with the world around us. Not surprisingly, Nature (that sexy beast) plays a big roles in many pornos. Beaches, vineyards, parks – all this and more you will see for your own dirty little eyes if you attend a mini-fest incongruously located in the Tall Tree Tambo center, which last I checked was a spa and woo-woo health club-skillshare type arrangement in the back of Lower Haight’s favorite hippie hangout, Pkok. Enjoy! (Psst, if things get really natural, ask to take the party to the sauna out back in the garden).

Thurs/16 8-11 p.m., $10

Tall Tree Tambo Wellness Center

776 Haight, SF (behind Pkok)

www.feminapotens.org

Ynot Summit

Formerly the Cybernet Expo, this three day conference for the online sex industry promises to hook you up… with networking opportunities, at least. Attend speed mix-and-mingle sessions with your point-and-click-to-perversion peers, learn about legal issues surrounding online porn and escort services, and of course, the Saturday night show. Last year the nerds hit up the Kink.com palace, but this year they won’t even have to truck out the Mission: Kimo’s is hosting a show by the Asian Diva Girls and Smash Up Derby, which is curiously dubbed “one of San Francisco’s favorite bands” by conference organizers. Well hell, if they say so!

Thurs/23-Sat/25

Holiday Inn Golden Gateway

1500 Van Ness, SF

www.ynotsummit.com

Kinky Salon: SanFranSexual

Be entertained by Chadd Behavior of SF Boylesque and the triumphant return to Mission Control by X-rated storytelling doyenne Dixie De La Tour – or just fool around with everyone in the building. This week’s Kinky Salon swinger’s party is themed SanFranSexual for a reason, you’re allowed to do whatever the hell you want, in style.

Sat/18 10 p.m.-late, $25-30 members only

Mission Control

www.missioncontrolsf.org

Bawdy Storytelling: Tales of Non-Monogamy

Bawdy’s back – could this be the most popular monthly storytelling series in the Bay, pervy or not? – in its East Bay incarnation. Dixie’s overseeing a night of swingtastic synopses, from fundamentalist Christians at key clubs (I’d love to hear the scripture on that), and other godly pursuits.

Tues/21 8 p.m., $10

The Uptown

1928 Telegraph, Oakl.

www.bawdystorytelling.com

Summertime Fernet-drinking just got its video anthem

Andrew Lam

-

June 15, 2011

5

Summertime Fernet-drinking just got its video anthem

There was a time when ordering a shot of Fernet Branca was weird, when your friends would screw up their faces (if they actually knew what the stuff is) and waft a glass of Cuervo under your nose: “now this is a shot!”

Oh hold up, that’s actually still how it is – but at least now you have a dope song featuring a legit San Francisco soul legend to bawl back at the haters when they’re questioning your libation election.

I’m (half) joking – Fernet has long been the officially official “we’re in San Francisco!” weirdo drink for weirdos — who run this town, of course. We’ve been drinking it since Italian immigrants lugged it through Angel Island in their suitcases – straight on through Prohibition in fact. Branca ducked the judging gaze of teetotalers by being sold in pharmacies as medicinal elixir.

But the modern day craze, well that’s something else. I was recently down in Buenos Aires, where they drink even more than we do (mixed with Coca Cola, in their case) – but even the porteños knew that San Francisco drinks hella Fernet Branca – we take down a quarter of the entire country’s total consumption, by some counts.

If you’re going to point fingers anywhere for the current renaissance, you may as well jab them at DJs Doc Fu and Pause of the Red Wine crew.

Aaron “Pause” Vaughn says he was first introduced to Fernet back in 1995 by Hobson’s Choice bartender Chris Dickerson. Back then, it was the after hours drink of choice for the service industry set. Red Wine started drinking it paired with pints of Guinness at all its gigs, and members haven’t looked back.

“I know the Red Wine crew and affiliated converts like it because it settles your stomach after a Mission burrito or a harrowing bike ride through the City,” Pause tells me in an interview over the Internets. “The Red Wine DJs have been notorious for drinking and pilfering bottles of the stuff at gigs for years.”

“We’ve been drinking it since we were kids in the club,” says Bruce O’Leary, who spins hip hop, soul, and eclectic booty-shakers throughout the city under the moniker of Doc Fu. “It wasn’t a thing. The bartenders we worked with were like ‘we’ve got this stuff in.’ And I was like ‘I’ll drink it.’ It was like a secret handshake.”

But what started as an after hours drink for the cool kids started become the all hours drink for the cool kids – at least for Doc Fu, who started to “go to the bar and be like ‘yo, I need a shot of Fernet and Guinness like, right now.’”

And just like that, it wasn’t just the industry set anymore. “The other night I saw a guy on a ten speed with a sipper [of Fernet] in his back pocket,” says Doc Fu.

High time the brew (comprised of a million ingredients culled from sources on multiple continents, reputably suitable for defeating hangovers, assuaging menstrual pains, or bonding with your Argentinian buddies) had an anthem.

And one night, gathering together drinking supplies from Safeway for a gig opening for Mistah F.A.B., the Red Wine boys hit upon it: “I Drink Fernet.”

“You know how in Safeway they play random shit?” remembers Doc Fu. A mellow ’80s jam came over the tinny loudspeakers as the Red Wine crew was dealing with a store clerk who kept trying to sell them champagne instead of their desired bottle of Italian bitters. They started subbing out the lyrics to ones that were more appropriate for the situation at hand.

The result was too good to leave in the grocery aisle. Pause recorded the song with Equipto a few years ago, and even got Michael Marshall to do the hook. Marshall was part of the ’80s Berkeley group Timex Social Club and will forever go down in history for singing the hook for the Luniz’ “I Got Five On It.” Recently he’s been popping up all over, including in Equipto’s must-bump for SF summer 2011. “Pause got Mike Marshall on the phone. I was like, the San Francisco soul legend? Why don’t you just call up Deangelo,” Doc Fu remembers.

The crew recently released a video for “I Drink Fernet”, which they filmed at Haight Street bar Nickie’s with a little help from the amiable publicity reps at Fernet Branca. “Fernet showed up to the video shoot with four or five magnums. They’re incredibly nice folks by the way. It was a pretty fun night,” says Doc Fu. Pause phrases the night a little differently: “during the video shoot everyone got sloppy on Fernet.”

The videos making the rounds through SF drinkers now, which has Doc Fu joking about what the next round’s gonna be. “We should do a whole EP about liquor song, a song about Jameson, a song about pony kegs. Everyone loves liquor songs. Somebody today is having their first drink.”

And that’s what makes this city great. Perfect, now I’m thirsty. Pass that weird shit they only drink in San Francisco, and turn up my song.