SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.
Today’s Look: Chris, Market and Montgomery
Tell us about your look: “Very greasy”
sfbg
Creepy sexist anti-abortion flick kind of turns us on
By Juliette Tang
“CHOOSE what’s right — Come What May“
Slumdog Millionaire won the coveted Academy Award for Best Picture this year, but I doubt the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had seen Come What May when they made that decision. The best sexist and preachy abortion movie you’ve never heard of, Come What May is a masterpiece that the Christian Pulse describes as a cinematic feast, literally. “I love movies that set the table with a Christian main course and side dishes of probing intellectual issues”, writes Donald James Parker. A succulent and delicious movie about abortion, my mouth is watering.
We ladies are so silly on the topic of our own bodies that sometimes it takes a strapping young protagonist like Caleb Hogan, played by the handsome Austin Kearney [Yummy, yummy! – Ed.], to set us straight. Caleb is so upstanding, his Christian compass pits him against his own mother, a morally irresponsible Constitutional lawyer who is representing an abortion clinic against the wishes of her husband and son. Maybe she didn’t get the memo that she was supposed to unconditionally obey of the men in her family? Luckily she has her son to parent her.
Baseball, abortion — “It’s all in my book”
Unfortunately, this movie wasn’t released in theaters, but you can score a DVD online, and if you apply to show it at your church, they will give you a copy for free. Forget The Cider House Rules, Revolutionary Road, Vera Drake, and Citizen Ruth. Forget Dirty Dancing, even. From now on, Come What May has the monopoly on the abortion circuit.
Live Shots: Boy in Static celebrates sweet suspicion
Text and photos by Ariel Soto. Read Marke B.’s take on Boy in Static’s single “Young San Francisco” here
Alexander Chen
Newish to the San Francisco music scene, Boy in Static already has a fledgling following. Only one of the duo could make it, but Bottom of the Hill on Wednesday, May 6, Alexander Chen used everything from a violin, ankle bells and a toy piano to play pieces that expressed both joy and melancholy.
Street Threads: Look of the Day
SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.
Today’s look: Ramona, Market and Davis
Tell us about your look: “I feel like this outfit is me in the 90’s, but sunnier.”
Shotwell takes off — in Union Square, and at home
By Laura Peach
Shotwell, the store, is at 36 Geary off Union Square. But for a recent Guardian article, I chatted with Shotwell owners Michael and Holly Weaver in their actual Shotwell Ave. home in the Mission, a space filled with glass jars holding a rainbow of bubblegum and chandelier candle holders. The former armory storage facility has been transformed into a wonderland — three separate concrete structures are connected by pathways where fountains trickle and faux birds roost in trees. The domestic space is fitting for this fashion-forward duo, who hope to push San Franciscan shoppers in a stylish new direction.
SFBG This place is pretty amazing.
Michael Weaver Originally, we were going to run the store out of the garage in front, but there just wasn’t enough space. And this location is so tucked away that there wouldn’t be much foot traffic.
Holly Weaver We love finding little hidden gems in neighborhoods, and we did want to create that in some ways.
SFBG But you chose Union Square instead.
HW Right. San Francisco has lots of shopping in neighborhoods, yet nowhere that is really a shopping destination.
MW Except Union Square.
HW We thought, if that’s the case, shouldn’t we be there?
More Shotwell talk after the jump
An etymology lesson on dongs with supplemental dick-tionary
By Juliette Tang
Here’s a sexual etymology lesson of the day. Did you know that the term “penis” is only 341 years old? English Dictionary lists as having been used from 1379-1668. Now how about that.
… And while we’re on the topic of etymology, I put together a Dick-tionary this morning for your enjoyment. This index has not yet been peer-reviewed, so please do not hesitate to inform us if there are any synonyms you would like us to add to this important list.
Recurrent debacle
By Julian Davis
(Julian Davis is on the board of San Francisco Tomorrow, an urban environmental organization. He chaired last November’s Clean Energy campaign, prop H.)
In the wake of Tuesday’s vote on the Recurrent solar power deal for the Sunset Reservoir, long time progressive activists have to ask themselves, what happened?
A widespread commitment to positive government courses through the veins of San Francisco’s political community. Whether it’s defending the public health care system against cuts or the perennial advocacy of public power, one thing that unites progressives is a belief that government should work for the people and that corporate special interests have no place dictating or writing the terms at City Hall.
Super Ego: Mophono, wet jocks, tiny spoons, lazers
By Marke B.
Some smooth and mellow Mophono pho’ ya
Oh, the transient grunts and groans of the dance floor: Just got word yesterday that the eagerly awaited appearance of disco progenitor Nicky Siano at Paradise Lounge has been cancelled — my deep throat tells me there were sound and venue concerns (although I love the ‘Dise!). In any case, there’s plenty of other things to hold your ear-nterest and get you bangin’ this weekend. Besides my rundown in this week’s Super Ego column, below are some more earth shakers and affairs.
———–
He loves me, he loves me not
Wanna spoon?
I had absolutely no idea that those little plastics coffee spoons from McDonald’s were banned because of illicit uses (or perceived one, anyway.) You’d think after all this time, plastic + noses = OK. But no. In any case, snort in luxurious style with the unveiling of a perfect publicity stunt: renowned hip mens’ clothiers and artists Ju$t Another Rich Kid, Nice Collective, Terence Koh, and more have designed cute, exclusive, and most likely expensive little Bolivian helpers (watch that terrorism funding!). They’ll be giving the dish at Harput’s from 6pm-9pm tonight (expect beautiful people), and then there’ll be a kiki afterparty at Triple Crown. Don’t try to force your way into the stalls. It’s all called “He loves me, he loves me not” which brings to mind a kinky game somehow.
Thu/7, 6-9pm, free. Harput’s Market, 1527 Fillmore, SF. www.harputsmarket.com
Afterparty, 10pm-midnight, free. Triple Crown, 1760 Market, SF. www.triplecrownsf.com
———–
Lazer Sword + Mophono live
Lazer Sword, can you blap me for loving you?
Local future blap fave raves Lazer Sword are back from their whirlwind Euro tour with an uptempo live set to get you moving, supported by Bay man of intrinsic deep dance knowledge, Mophono at, yes, the Paradise. Put ’em up and get down, child — and let’s see if those speakers still work.
Lazer Sword at 111 Minna San Francisco 1/15/09
Fri/8, 10pm, $10. Paradise Lounge, 1501 Folsom, SF. www.hacksawent.com
————–
The Rod
Post-Cinco uprising
Why, yes, I DO host a wet jock strap contest. Come down to Bus Station John’s retro bathhouse disco monthly, The Rod, at Deco this Friday around midnight and see me and Hunky Beau scare up a willing and wet bevy of gorgeous, unclad alternaqueer boys — and see who’ll win $100. (No muscle queens need apply, thanks.) Then stay and dance until 3am to the best disco you’ve only ever heard sampled in other songs before. It’s fun and a little scary: frisson alert!
Fri/8, 10pm-3am, $7. Deco, 510 Larkin, SF. www.decosf.com
LISTEN/VISION 06 speaks
By Johnny Ray Huston
In addition to making music, Christopher Willits is a guiding force behind the art and experimental music site Overlap (www.overlap.org). In conjunction with Overlap’s next event, I caught up with him by e-mail.
SFBG What was it like to collaborate with Ryuichi Sakamoto on Ocean Fire (12k, 2008)?
Christopher Willits It was surreal. We fell into an oceanic trance, and a bunch of music suddenly emerged. Then a Godzilla-like sea monster morphed out of his piano and he vaporized it with his max patch.
SFBG You’ve also worked with Brad Laner of Medicine. Are you an admirer of that (ahead-of-its-time) band?
CW Medicine [had] a mind-splittingly original sound — it was a soundtrack to many high school adventures. Now it’s an absolute joy to be friends with Mr. Laner. Together we are the varsity band members (guitar I and II) of the North Valley Subconscious Orchestra. We’re aiming for nationals next year.
SFBG What do you like about the Bay Area’s close proximity to the ocean?
CW The smell of fresh wind, and dreams of flying great white sharks.
SFBG I saw a fave list of yours once that had Magma, the Carpenters’ "Close to You" and Sun Ra’s Lanquidity on it. Who is inspiring or obsessing you at present?
CW That is a timeless list — can I say them again? Let’s add Morton Subotnick, Wild Bull (www.merlindarts.com), all Eliane Radigue, all Elvin Jones, John Coltrane, and that band that plays at El Rio on Sunday night.
SFBG You recently toured in China, including a performance with images on ice. What did you discover?
CW I discovered a resilient community of artists and experimental musicians pushing against the grain (and firewall) of this mammoth country or force. They understand my history and what I’m doing — another win for Chinese bootlegs? I also found some of the best food ever: huajiao (flower pepper) with asparagus! But hold the boiled big brains. Those I’m definitely not into.
LISTEN/VISION 06 With Christopher Willits, Taylor Deupree, and Classical Revolution. Sun/10, 8 p.m., $10. Café Du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016. www.overlap.org.
Dance: Emporer Norton, back as folk tale
By Rita Felciano
Andrew Wass as Emperor Norton. Photo by Andrea Flores
Two years ago Catherine Galasso appeared at the WestWave Dance Festival in Gnome Trouble, based on the Grimm brothers’ fairy tale Snow White and Rose Red. Freud would have loved to bite into that story of sibling rivalry. Even though Galasso’s piece wasn’t that successful, it somehow stayed in memory. Apparently she likes folk tales. She is back with another one, The Improbable Reign of Norton I, Emperor of the United States. In fact Norton was a 19th century San Franciscan, eccentric to say the least. He will be joined on stage by other semimythic Barbary Coast denizens, including Joaquin Murrietta, a Robin Hood type bandit. Sharing the bill with Galasso will be a kindred spirit, Seattle’s Salt Horse dance-sound company, with This Was a Cliff. Taking an entirely different perspective — improvisatory and nonnarrative — they also create imagistic dance-theater works in which reality and fantasy collide and cooperate. The double bill comes courtesy of SCUBA, the national touring network created by ODC Theater, Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, and the Southern Theater in Minneapolis. This small venture by cooperating presenters was founded in 2003 in a time of plenty. It seemed a good idea then. It’s an even better one today if small presenters and their artists are going to survive.
SCUBA WITH CATHERINE GALASSO AND SALT HORSE Sat/9, 8 p.m.; Sun/10, 7 p.m., $15–$18. ODC Theater, 351 Shotwell, SF. (415) 863-9834, www.odctheater.org
Street Threads: Look of the Day
SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.
Today’s Look: Oliver, McAllister and Hyde
Tell us about your look: “I’m wearing mostly hand-me-downs.”
The man in “Control:” Jim Jarmusch interview
By Erik Morse
Poster for Jim Jarmusch’s latest film, The Limits of Control.
San Francisco Bay Guardian: I was trying to think how to go about this interview and present something slightly different to you than the same old questions you’ve been asked a hundred times over. I kept going back to various anthropology texts I’ve been reading recently. Have you heard of James Clifford’s essay “Traveling Cultures”?
Jim Jarmusch: No.
SFBG: Would you mind if I read a bit of it to you? I think it could be very relevant to our discussion.
JJ: Sure.
SFBG: “To begin, a quotation from C.L.R. James in Beyond a Boundary: ‘Time would pass, old empires would fall and new ones take their place. The relations of classes had to change before I discovered that it’s not quality of goods and utility that matter, but movement, not where you are or what you have, but where you come from, where you are going and the rate at which you are getting there.’”
“Or begin again with hotels: Joseph Conrad, in the pages of Victory: ‘The age in which we are encamped like bewildered travelers in a garish, unrestful hotel.’ In Tristes Tropiques, Levi-Strauss evokes an out-of-scale concrete cube sitting in the midst of the new Brazillian city of Goiania in 1937. It’s his symbol of civilization’s barbarity, ‘a place of transit, not of residence.’ The hotel as station, airport terminal, hospital: a place ou pass through, where the encouters are fleeting, arbitrary.”
It’s a very long and incredible essay and I thought of it immediately after seeing your latest film.
Live review: Kreator and Exodus deliver the quality bangover
By LC Mason
Kreator at a German fest earlier this year
Quality bangover: the gloriously painful aftermath that results after a night of heavy headbanging to brutal bass drum runs and diabolic guitar solos, characterized by roaring tinnitus, aching neck muscles, bruises and scrapes from slamming and stomping into others, as well as stiff hands from gratuitous handing and devil horn-throwing.
This was my condition when I woke up the next morning, ringing ears and all, after witnessing the merciless onslaught of the Kreator and Exodus show at Slim’s on Tuesday, April 28. Except I wasn’t brave enough to enter the roiling whirlpool of 200-pound man-bodies, because a lot more than bruises and scrapes would have gone down, especially as Kreator vocalist-guitarist Mille Petrozza repeatedly and ravenously commanded the audience to “kill each other in the mosh pit.”
In a rhapsodic homecoming performance that surely sated the entire pantheon of thrash metal gods, San Francisco’s legendary sons Exodus played faster and harder than any band half their age and challenged their fans, both young and old, to act accordingly.
Sing those blues, Sita
By Dennis Harvey
Sita Sings the Blues
A few years ago, independent animator and comic strip artist Nina Paley left San Francisco for India, where her boyfriend had found employment. A while later, during a visit home, she received a surprise, brusque communication from the bf informing her she need not return — the relationship was over. Just what the bf ultimately got out of this episode is unknown. But Paley got posterity: her first feature film, inspired by both the breakup and the ancient Sanskrit epic the Ramayana, is artistic therapy that also happens to be just about the most delightful movie in eons, cartoon or otherwise. Utilizing very different animation techniques, she cuts between a blatantly autobiographical tale of romantic woe and the mythological travails of Sita, beloved of the noble Rama. He rescues her from an amorous, abducting rival, but his chivalry dies when false accusations about her "purity" threaten to tarnish his image. Then, as now, men are pigs. Sita wriggles through her fate like a Bollywood Betty Boop, frequently crooning vintage 78 tracks by Jazz Age blues chanteuse Annette Hanshaw, and the visual wit on display is akin to Max Fleischer’s antics plus intellectual gamesmanship, grotesque streaks, and eye-popping color. Paley breaks the fourth wall in umpteen ingenious ways. Sita Sings the Blues is so full of fun and invention you may start looking forward to seeing it again after it’s barely started.
Sita Sings the Blues trailer
SITA SINGS THE BLUES runs Fri/8–Tues/12 at the Red Vic..
The Blender: What we’ve been eating
By the hungry hungry Guardian staff
(1) Cabernet and oysters, Bistro St. Germain, SF
(2) Strawberry shortcake with vanilla ice cream and honey
(3) Five kinds of Pyramid Ale with beer-soaked mussels, Pyramid Brewery and Alehouse, Berk.
(4) Bacon-wrapped sausage, bacon-wrapped marshmallows, and bacon-wrapped bacon, Trout Camp, Shasta Springs
(5) Herradura chicken with red chili pesto
Street Threads: Look of the Day
SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.
Today’s Look: Shanti, Charles J. Brenham and McAllister
Tell us about your look: “I like wearing lots of color and today it was lots of gold.”
Oops: DirtyBird Pajama Jam this Friday
By Marke B.
What can I say? I’m cute and often clueless — and as attested below I’m perpetually on Spring Break. In the print edition of my Super Ego column in this week’s Guardian I mistakenly put the DirtyBird Pajama Jam down for Saturday, when in fact it’s Friday at Mezzanine. Full and correct preview below. Somebody spank me!
Wig out to J. Phlip on Friday night, download her 2008 !@#$%^& mix (which I’m still wrapping my head around) here.
DIRTYBIRD PAJAMA JAM
Ha ha ha, I feel so spring break. Famed local techno label Dirty Bird matches its goofy sensibility with a no-slumber party, bunny slippers and all. DJs Claude VonStroke, Worthy, Justin and Christian Martin, and up-and-comer J. Phlip bring the post-minimal hijinks, you bring the stripy drawers and stuffed E.T. dolls.
Fri/8, 10 p.m., $15, Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com
Claude VonStroke at 2007 DirtyBird Picnic in Golden Gate Park
Booker T. and Bettye LaVette punch up the soul
By Andre Torrez
In the 1960s Booker T. and the MG’s served as Stax/Volt’s house band, much like the Funk Brothers were for Motown. Playing alongside Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and the Staple Singers, among others, they beat Love and also Sly and the Family Stone to the racially-integrated rock-band punch. It was 1962’s "Green Onions" on the Memphis-based soul label that put them on the map. The song’s recent omnipresence at sporting events has given it a bit of a "jock jam" tag, but it isn’t tarnished completely.
Today Booker T. Jones is letting his signature Hammond organ sound sing alongside "the Great Lady of Soul," Bettye LaVette. After hearing her humbling rendition of the Who’s "Love Reign O’er Me" at that group’s Kennedy Center Honors, I knew LaVette’s tag was legit. Even Barbra Streisand — in attendance that night — recognized it. She turned to Pete Townshend in disbelief, asking if he’d really written that song.
Bettye Lavette, “Love Reign O’er”
LaVette gives the rock opera ballad a gut-wrenching, soulful treatment. She owns it.
For most of her career, the Detroit native has struggled, but she’s steadily built an audience, touring with late legends including James Brown and a young Mr. Pitiful along the way. LaVette’s had one-off singles released by Atlantic and Motown. It seems she is finally getting her due, having had the honor of dueting on a song at President Obama’s inauguration ceremony — even if it was with Jon Bon Jovi.
Now LaVette’s career has paralleled Booker T’s. Both are signed to Anti- Records. Booker’s new album for the label, Potato Hole, features Neil Young and includes a playful version of Outkast’s "Hey Ya," Expect covers aplenty — and some surprises, too — from this bill’s soulful one-two punch.
BOOKER T. AND BETTYE LAVETTE Fri/8, 8 p.m. Independent, 628 Divisadero, 415-771-1421. www.theindependentsf.com
Highbrow smut: local literary porno for book lovers
By Juliette Tang
Why Kindle when you can burn?
Sometimes, it really is sexier to close your legs and open a book. Especially in the case of good erotic fiction. While porn gives you a balls-in-the-face visual overload, the pleasures of erotica are subtler, more cerebral. A book of erotica is something you can take with you into the bathtub with a glass of wine, candles lit, and jazz on the radio. Or, put the dust jacket of Ulysses on your copy of Hot-N-Naughty: Extreme Erotica and you’re totally safe to read while MUNI-ing to work in the morning.
Always known as a bookish city, San Francisco does not disappoint bibliophiles whose tastes lean toward the more sensational. Who knew there were so many different words for “penis”? Like “bald-headed butler”? This Friday (May 8, 6:30PM) at the Good Vibrations on Polk (1620 Polk Street), treat yourself to a free session of “Erotica and Wine” with a special reading by writer John Thursday. More of an “erotic philosopher,” Thursday has introduced some truly necessary terms to our sexual lexicon, like zen penis, dong perch, and shirt cocking.
Not an example of “shirt cocking”
If you’ve got the urge for some sizzling stories but can’t make it out to Good Vibes on Friday, check out some of these progressive San Francisco bookstores for some literary hardcore!
“Hellish grammar safer”: Artist Kevin P. Mosley patterns his instructors
By Marke B.
Jeff Linder
I’m a big admirer of SF (by way of Kansas and NYC) artist Kevin P. Mosley‘s work. The bright, flickering patterns of his aplique-on-found-glass output somehow convey to me a feeling of camp guignol: vibrantly psychedelic yet rigidly hallucinogenic — kind of like what I imagine pill-popping housewives from ’50s movies might see when the high kicks in and the children are screaming from the solarium. On Easter. If those housewives were trapped in gay men’s bodies.
Rosa Jimenez-Vasquez
Strangely, the works are also almost soothing to get lost in — they register any changes in light impeccably; I especially like them on golden-sunny late afternoons — and they’re pretty like a little girl’s hat. His latest batch of works, which Mosley calls “portraits,” is receiving a monthlong showing at Magnet in the Castro.
Fashion forward at the third annual Alchemy fashion show
By Juliette Tang
If I were to wear something in lieu of a shirt, it probably wouldn’t be a breastplate cleaved onto someone else’s even smaller breastplate. But looking at these photos from the Alchemy fashion show that took place earlier this month at the California Modern Art Gallery, I can’t help but be intrigued.
Thown by False Profit LLC, the annual Alchemy party showcases an eye-catching fashion production by Missing Piece, a San Francisco based artist representative agency promoting some of San Francisco’s most talented emerging designers. Included in the show were collections by Joshu + Vela, Montree, Miranda Caroligne, Callibug Designs, and Antiseptic Fashion and Ivana Ristic.
Are those warm beignets in your pocket?
By Ariel Soto
Steamy, gooey, French …
This week all over San Francisco restaurants are cooking up hot and steamy dishes, in honor of TasteTV‘s new book Sexy Dishes: San Francisco — A Guide to Who’s Hot in the Kitchen (TCB Cafe) a celebration of some of the best chefs who are cooking up the most sensuous meals in the city.
I stopped by the Beach Chalet last night to try the restaurant’s featured sexy dish, beignets by their pastry chef Amy Heater. The beignets, which are like miniature doughnuts, were served with an espresso and Bailey’s anglaise for dipping and were light and airy. Although I usually don’t think of donuts as sexy, these little, perfectly round balls were quite satisfying, especially when they were carefully dipped in a layer of sweet, gooey sauce. (“Schweddy Balls” they are not.)
To find out which restaurants are participating in Sexy Dishes Week, and what specials they’re offering, check out the Web site: tasteable.blogspot.com
Street Threads: Look of the Day
SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.
Today’s Look: Landon, Market and Grant
Tell us about your look: “I’m trying to keep it light for Spring.”
Nite Trax: White Warp bleep
Wherein Marke B. does go on about dance music past and present. View the previous Nite Trax here.
In the current issue of the Guardian, I have a little devilish fun with white labels and tell a few possibly apocryphal tales of foundational electronic music label Warp Records‘ genesis. Before I multimedially augment that article a bit, here’s a spectral white label that really calls up the toe-tingling ghost of the unknown in my third ear:
Reese, “Power Bass”
The 1990 white label rumbler above, whose B-side apparently played inside out, was produced by Detroit techno god Kevin “Master Reese” Saunderson — he later released it under his E-Dancer guise. (When I hung with Kevin at last year’s Detroit Electronic Music Festival, I believe he was drinking Black Label, however.)
My own former prize possession white label turned out to be “The Green Man” by Shut Up and Dance that I snagged from Detroit’s amazing Buy Rite Records in ’round 1991– somehow an unlabelled test press had found it’s way from London and into my bin. Below is a vid of a promo copy version. Warning: Never, ever, let go of your records. I could retire a bit if I had this slice of vinyl on me now ….
Shut Up and Dance, “The Green Man”
Thank you, magic of youtube. OK, then … Warp Records. It’s their 20th this year, and in a typically nifty yet slightly desperation-whiffy marketing gimmick, you can vote online for your favorite Warp tracks to be included in their forthcoming anniversary comp.