sfbg Archives — Page 42 of 59 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Appetite: Caffeinated Comics, Chocolate Salon, Masa’s at a discount, and more

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March 16, 2009

By Virginia Miller

Chocolate time! See “events” below

As long-time San Francisco resident and writer, I’m passionate about this city and obsessed with finding and exploring its best food-and-drink spots, deals, events and news, in every neighborhood and cuisine. I started with my own service and monthly food/drink/travel newsletter, The Perfect Spot, and am thrilled to share up-to-the minute news with you from the endless goings-on in our fair city. View the last installment of Appetite here

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NEW RESTAURANT & CAFE OPENINGS

Caffeinated Comics, the breakfast of champions
Four Barrel coffee, free wi-fi, comic books and donuts? Could this possibly all be in one place? It is now with Caffeinated Comics, SF’s first comic book/coffee shop rolled into one. The Outer Mission shop is a bright red, orange and yellow space where you can sift through superhero memorabilia or check out DC or Marvel’s latest comic books, all while sipping a high-quality espresso. (Note: there’s also affogatos using neighbor, Mitchell’s, legendary ice cream). CaffCom’s applied for green certification with green lighting, building materials and energy efficient freezers and fridges. Holy caffeinated geekdom, Batman.
Caffeinated Comics
Weekdays 7am-6pm
Weekends 9:30am-5pm
3188 Mission Street
415-829-7530
www.caffcom.com

Livin’ La Dolce Vita at Pizzanostra
Jocelyn Bulow of the Chez Papa and Chez Maman restaurant group and Italian chef, Giovanni Aginolfi (who was cooking pizzas in Nice, France, prior to coming to SF), join forces for a new pizzeria/osteria on Potrero Hill called Pizzanostra. Aginolfi placed sixth in the World Pizza Championship and now we can get ’em right here. There are two themes to this restaurant: a pizzeria serving Aginolfi’s famed pies, and an osteria with a menu of antipasti, foccacias, salumi, pastas, gelatos and Italian wines. The outdoor sidewalk terrace will be a huge hit on sunny days for filling up on bruschetta topped with eggplant, prosciutto, mozerella and tomato, a salad of celery hearts and fennel, or pizzas covered in lamb sausage and egg or clams and prawns. This is la dolce vita realized.
Pizzanostra
300 De Haro Street
415-558-9493
www.pizzanostrasf.com

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EVENTS

March 17: Screening and Iyemon Cha Tea Reception as part of the Asian American Film Fest
Asian film screening and tea tasting sound good? Iyemon Cha is a one-of-a-kind organic bottled green tea made at the historic Fukujuen tea house in Kyoto, Japan. Only recently available in our city, the tea and complimentary appetizers will be served at an exclusive pre-screening reception you have to sign up for online. At the reception you’ll meet the director, Dave Boyle, and cast of that night’s film, “White on Rice.” Consider it a culturally fun education in tea and Asian film.
5:30pm reception at Bar Bistro; 6:45pm Film Screening
Free for pre-screening reception but must register on website ahead of time
Film screening, $10: www.festival.asianamericanmedia.org/2009.
Sundance Kabuki Theatre
1881 Post Street
www.iyemonchaevents.com

Objects of Obsession: Branch out

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March 16, 2009

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SFBG’s Laura Peach rounds up local items and experiences to die for. See her last installment here.

As a girl, I would spend summers wandering through island woods at my grandparent’s house. I always loved the birch tree bark, and would peel pieces off the trees to make little dresses of white and pale pink for my dolls, always wishing that there was a big enough section of bark to create a skirt my size.

Although I was never able to wear the wood of my childhood, recently I’ve been on the lookout for ways to bring the forest alive in my everyday urban home life. Here are a few of my favorite finds, wooden through and through. They just may bring out a different type of tree hugger in you.

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1. Wooden Wallet

A real slab of wood is not the best thing to have in your pocket. No one wants slivers in their behind. But the thoughtful, science geek designers at San Francisco’s Hlaska were enamored by the beauty and grace of wood grain. They reproduced the patterns found in a real pine tree onto Italian leather for their Evergreen wallet ($125).

Hlaska, 2033 Fillmore, SF. (415) 440-1999, www.hlaska.com

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2. Log Life

This watering can ($16) is the sweetest stump I’ve ever seen. Hydrate thirsty plants using the log pitcher and they may be inspired to grow grander and greener. Made from recycled plastic, so no trees were harmed and you can hold the branch handle guilt free. Oh, it also makes for a nifty vase.

Doe SF, 629 A Haight, SF. (415) 558-8588, www.doe-sf.com

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3. Pink Poison

The bright, bold berries bursting off the black branch on this t-shirt ($28) are supposedly poisonous. But such a pretty pink color makes them hard to resist. I might be tempted to pop one in my mouth.
Designed by San Francisco contemporary art golden boyTucker Nichols exclusively for Richmond’s hippest object/art/book shop Park Life, this berried branch shirt is a catchy closet addition for sure.

Park Life, 220 Clement, SF. (415) 386-7275, www.parklifestore.com

Last Days climbs “North” into shimmering electronic shoegaze

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March 16, 2009

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By Todd Lavoie

LAST DAYS

The Safety Of The North

(n5MD)

Keep your best headphones handy — you’re going to want them for spins of The Safety Of The North, the third and most recent full-length release from Edinburgh, Scotland-based Graham Richardson and his ambient/electro-folk Last Days project. As ominous as the artist’s AKA might be, the disc is nowhere near as fearful or nightmarish as one might expect. Rather, the music found here is intimate and ruminative, frequently glowing from ripples of electronics and shoegaze-y guitar textures. Delicate acoustic finger-picking and understated piano meditations add further flair to these largely-instrumental womblike pieces, and the occasional insertion of the human voice into the mix helps immensely in making this a thoughtful, emotional listen.

And while the proceedings sometimes veer towards melancholia, it’s a strangely comforting, sit-around-and-ponder-on-a-grey-day stripe of melancholia we’re talking about here — a little maudlin and wistful, yes, but ultimately cathartic in the end. Even the cold chills which bluster forth from the disc’s lower register from time to time offer their own curiously cocooning sensations to the listener — especially with the help of a good pair of headphones. The Safety Of the North is something worthy of surrender — of succumbing to its many hums and whirrs and whipping auroras of shimmering light.

There’s a back story to the album, though it isn’t required knowledge for appreciating its many charms: Richardson composed these 15 songs around the themes of of change, struggle, and hope. Specifically, it concerns a young girl, Alice, and her family. Disenchanted with city living, they decide to “move north” (the Arctic Circle, judging from a couple of contextual clues provided along the way) to find a simpler, quieter day-to-day life. Such major upheavals usually don’t come about without their share of challenges, however. Thus Richardson has constructed a story-arc which from sadness to hope to struggle to sadness to hope once again. More or less so, anyway. Again, since this is mostly an instrumental recording, the itinerary on this emotional journey is up to the listener, I suppose. Still, the prevailing themes of The Safety Of The North — change, struggle, hope — remain palpable, even without too much assistance from lyrics. Forgive me for trotting out the “cinematic” tag (I know that the label gets used quite regularly for any sort of wordless music which manages to create vivid, stirring images) but it honestly does apply to Richardson’s music. Even if concrete images fail to come to mind, the creation of particular moods is tough to miss.

Printless in Seattle

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March 16, 2009

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Text by Sarah Phelan

Unable to find a buyer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which it put up for sale in January, Hearst is kiling P-I’s print version. Starting tomorrow.

Hearst’s chief honchos, Frank A. Bennack, Jr., vice chairman and chief executive officer, Hearst Corporation, and Steven R. Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers, tried to give the announcement a positive spin, stating that the P-I “will become the nation’s largest daily newspaper to shift to an entirely digital news product.”

(But for those of us who love and appreciate everything about newsprint, this is like saying, it’s too expensive to grow flowers anymore, but hey, you will be able to see cyber flowers online.)

“The P-I has a rich 146-year history of service to the people of the Northwest, which makes the decision to stop publishing the newspaper an extraordinarily difficult one,” Bennack said. “We extend our profound gratitude and admiration to our P-I colleagues who have done such an exemplary job under extremely difficult circumstances over the past several years. Our goal now is to turn seattlepi.com into the leading news and information portal in the region.”

“Seattlepi.com isn’t a newspaper online—it’s an effort to craft a new type of digital business with a robust, community news and information Web site at its core,” said Swartz.

“On the business side, we are assembling a staff to form a local digital agency that will sell local businesses advertising on seattlepi.com as well as the digital advertising products of our partners: Yahoo! for display advertising, Kaango for general marketplaces and Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask.com for search engine marketing,” Swartz said.

Hearst also noted that in January, Nielsen ranked seattlepi.com among the top 30 newspaper Web sites with 1.8 million unique users. The site has an average of 4 million monthly visitors, according to internal Hearst tracking.

You can read Hearst’s full statement about the Seattle P-1 here.

The annoucement came two days after workers at the San Francisco Chronicle voted 10-1 to accept Hearst’s proposal to cut 150 jobs and end seniority, moves Hearst Corp. stated were necessary to avert the immediate closure and/or sale of the city’s major daily newspaper. But even Guild workers were clear that voting to accept Hearst’s proposal was no guarantee that the Chronicle would thrive, unless a new business model can be found.

Carl Hall, the Guild’s lead negotiator for workers at the Chroncile, said that no amount of concessions can prop up a failed business model for long.

“This is the start of the real battle,” Hall said. “We have to find a solution, a real solution, to save what we really care about here – quality journalism and quality jobs.”

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Peepshow: They’re all gonna laugh at you!

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March 16, 2009

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Each week Justin Juul highlights a rad upcoming local sexy event

Who Remember the girl who sat in front of you in freshman math class? She was super cute and she smelled amazing, but it really sucked to be that close to her everyday because you just couldn’t stop wondering about the color of her panties and whether she had baby-toe nipples or the big round kind. Oh my god, the round kind! The cool thing about your daydreams was that they made algebra tolerable, but they were also kind of dangerous because they made you hard and if anything strange were to happen –fire alarms, group exercises, etc—you knew you’d be forced to parade your boner around in front of both your crush and all the other assholes in your class. But, whatever. If you absolutely had to stand up, you could always just grab your jacket and pretend to look for something in the pocket until you could sit down again, right? Wrong! Remember the day the fire alarm actually did go off? Where was your trusty jacket then, smart guy? It sure as hell wasn’t on the back of your chair like it should have been and so your only option was to stand up quickly and try to run out the door before anyone noticed -a perfect plan that went haywire when your crush suddenly stooped over and swung around to grab her backpack. After plowing your fourteen year-old wiener directly into the poor girl’s face, you promptly tripped and landed on your back with the most ridiculous and shameful erection the world had ever seen poking out the side of your Umbros.

It was the most embarrassing moment of your life and that’s why, although you remember her well, you probably don’t want to see the hot girl from math class ever again. Or maybe you do. If you’re a glutton for self-depreciating humor, you should check out this show. Sexy algebra girl will certainly be in attendance (in spirit, if not physically), as will all the little fuckers who called you “J-Bone” back in high school.

What Mortified is a spoken word showcase starring all your friends and neighbors as pimply-faced teenagers going through the hell.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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March 16, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Zoe, 18th Street and Valencia

Tell us about your look: “I wait for my friends to try out new looks and then I try them myself.”

Enemies of the Internet

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March 13, 2009

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Text by Sarah Phelan

It’s not as snappy sounding as Bush’s “Axis of Evil,” but Reporters without Borders “Enemies of the Internet” report lists Iran and N. Korea among its 12 top perpetrators, along with Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

According to RWB, all 12 have transformed their Internet into an “Intranet in order to prevent their population from accessing ‘undesirable’ online information.”

Reporters Without Borders has also placed 10 other governments “under surveillance” for adopting worrying measures that could open the way to abuses, and draws attention to Australia and South Korea, where they say recent measures may endanger online free expression.

“Orchestrating the posting of comments on popular websites or organizing hacker attacks is also used by repressive regimes to scramble or jam online content,” RWB adds, noting that 70 cyber-dissidents are currently detained because of what they posted online, and that China is the world’s biggest prison for cyber-dissidents, followed by Vietnam and Iran.

Notably, Iraq did not make it onto RWB’s list.

Why Chronicle workers need to see Hearst’s books

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March 13, 2009

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Hearst and the Chronicle’s refusal to share its audited books should raise serious red flags for workers.

Text by Sarah Phelan.

We all know that the economy is in bad shape and that the newspaper industry is hurting. But before Guild members vote this Saturday at the Parc 55 Hotel on whether to accept a deal that cuts 150 jobs and eliminates seniority, they should demand to see the audited records of both the Hearst and the Chron.

Back in 2005-2006, Local 4, which represent pressmen at the Chronicle, hired Peter Donahue of PBI Associates to assess allegations that the Chron and/or Hearst could not meet its obligations to the pressmen and other Chronicle employees.

To assess these claims, Donahue suggested the union should request audited financial statements for Hearst for the past ten years, audited financial statements for the Chron, and detailed statements of non-operating and operating costs, “distinguishing clearly between actual expenditures, set-asides and inter-corporate transfers” for Hearst, the Chron, SFgate and the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, for the past 10 years.

“No such information was provided by Hearst,: Donahue advised Local 4’s then President Anthony Price. “Without such information, allegations that the newspaper or the Corporation are unable to meet their obligations are unfounded, only repeat claims that the company has been unwilling and unable to support with credible evidence.”

To see the full text of Donahue’s letter, click here.

Super Ego: DJ/rupture is cumbia’n for ya

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March 13, 2009

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By Marke B.

Rupture goes there

“A DJ mix that stands alone as an album is a rare thing, but leave it to Jace Clayton, a.k.a. DJ/rupture, to make one, as he has with Uproot (Agriculture),” wrote the Guardian‘s Brandon Bussolini last year. “Deeply, er, rooted in the bass plate tectonics of dubstep and cut with the finest in eclectic samples, ranging from experimentalist Ekkehard Ehlers to lazer bass don Ghislain Poirier, Uproot rolls deep with dubbed-out ambience, but DJ/rupture is just as happy to turn things upside down, as when he plunks down Ehlers’ gorgeous string loop, “Plays John Cassavetes, Pt. 2,” around the mix’s halfway point. And if bangers of the future don’t sound like “Gave You All My Love (Matt Shadetek’s I Gave You All My Dub Remix),” which subs out dub’s organic space for Fisher-Price primary-color contrasts that split the brain evenly in two, I’m not sure it’s a future worth living in.”

I’d have to agree with all of that, but also emphasize DJ/rupture’s extremely thrilling versatility when it comes to global musical styles with regards to both his recordings and live sets. That’s why I’m tickled hot pink that he’s putting together a special cumbia set for this Saturday’s Tormenta Tropical with the Bersa Discos boys, who’ve consistently stirred some of the world’s best DJs into their electro-cumbia-hop stew. Tormenta Tropical was bangin’ last month, and this one should be a real ruptured doozy.

Tormenta Tropical
w/ DJ/rupture
Sat/14, 10pm, $10
Elbo Room
647 Valencia, SF
www.myspace.com/bersadiscos

How to have an ecogasm

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March 13, 2009

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By Juliette Tang

There’s a big, hard, and urgent reason to use eco-friendly sex toys, and it’s not just to get off. If you haven’t ever thought about what’s harboring in the industrial-grade plastic of that favorite vibrator, now is probably a good time to start doing some research.

The majority of vibrators, dildos, sex beads, and blow-up dolls contain plastic, and most of that plastic is treated with one or more phthalates, a family of chemical compounds that is added to plastics in order to make them more flexible. If you use a bendable dildo that feels soft of pliable to the touch, it most likely contains a giant load, if you will, of phthalates. Because the presence of phthalates have been known to induce birth defects, change hormone levels, and cause liver and testicular damage in people and animals, phthalates used in childrens’ toys and animal toys are subjected to federal government regulations.

The government has no such regulations on the use of phthalates – or many other chemicals for that matter – in sex toys.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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March 13, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Janice, 19th Street and Valencia

Tell us about your look: “I dress for comfort, always.”

Super Ego: Cockblock vs. Cockfight!

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March 12, 2009

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By Marke B.

Yep, queeroids, it’s one of those rare and muy delicioso head-to-heads that a nightlife writer lives for: This Saturday night, one of SF’s biggest hot dyke parties, Cockblock, squares off against the highly anticipated launch of a giant new alternative fag party, Cockfight. That’s right:

VS.

Could it get any better? Only if you trade your GluStik for paint thinner.

In the irrespective corners:

SFIAAFF: “All Around Us” and “The Chaser”

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March 12, 2009

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By Natalie Gregory

Some movies do not need to be so long. Ryosuke Hashiguchi’s All Around Us feels a little like that. One of the installments in this year’s San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, it’s mainly about a couple in the 1990s who aren’t all that in love, but come to care for one another. A few key things happen that guide the story: they have a baby who dies in infancy, which sparks a depression in Shoko, the wife. Kanao, the husband, gets a job as a courtroom sketch artist, witnessing the real life trials that occurred in the nineties. The crimes are bizarre and fucked up.

As far as representing the progression of a relationship, this film nails it. There’s a moment mid-way through the film where Shoko breaks down and expresses her frustration with Kanao’s inability to communicate. It’s a semi-climactic scene. Before this, they truly don’t communicate very much. At least not very well. Anyway, the argument ends with a better understanding between the two. Kanao says he wants to kiss her, but instead he wipes the snot from her face (she’s been crying). It’s actually pretty romantic. It feels like we are witnessing an intimate moment, something real and connected.

Irony for sale!

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March 12, 2009

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By Juliette Tang

For the next three days, everything at the McSweeney’s store will be marked at $1, $5, $10, or $15. If you weren’t the type of person inclined to buy All Known Metal Bands, a book that “contains the names of over fifty thousand metal bands” for the lofty sum of $22, it’s yours for the less lofty sum of $5, this week only. Baby Do My Banking, a “12-page vibrantly colored instructional board book is suitably scaled and captivating for parents and babies alike” is $3.50, and worth it at that price for all the hours you will save once you teach your toddler how to balance your checkbook and withdraw money for you from the ATM. Unfortunately, the sale does not extend to the combo subscription to The Believer, McSweeney’s, and Wholephin. But it does include Michael Chabon, Nick Hornby, Art Spiegelman, Dave Eggers, and more, all at discount prices.

Ask a Porn Star: Sex with Stephen Boyer

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March 12, 2009

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In Which Super Sexy Porn People Answer Questions — each week — From Bay Area Locals
Mediated by Justin Juul

Fielding your questions this month is local writer/porn star, Stephen Boyer. Check out some of his movies/pics here and an excerpt from his upcoming novel here. Read our 2008 interview with Boyer here, and the last installment of Ask a Porn Star here.

James N: Do you enjoy the sex you have on camera or do you just sort of block it out and then count the money?

Boyer: I enjoy it for the most part. I got into the industry to pay rent. Then I started branching out more with my sexuality. Then I found Kink.com and a world full of toys I could explore and that is when sex got really fun and interesting. The great thing about porn, for me, was that it allowed me to try sexual positions and feel sensations that required toys that I couldn’t afford because I was poor. Doing it on video both paid my rent and gave me the opportunity to have sexual experiences with attractive contemporaries.

Elan F: What is the one thing you hate the most about sex?

Second Annual Poetry Luchador Battle of ALL of the Sexes winners

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March 12, 2009

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Editor’s note: The Second Annual Poetry Luchador Battle of ALL of the Sexes on Valentines Day was a multi-generational, multi-lingual, multicultural ash-up of art, gender, poetry, wrestling, language, and theatre brought to you by the favorite revolutionary poets, media-makers, poverty scholars and cultural workers at POOR Magazine. As cosponsors of the event, we’re proud to run the winning poem. We published the first-place winner in the paper this week — here are the second- and third-place winners of the contest.

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Second place: “Queer Boi and his HIStory with Biological Males”

By Queer Boi aka William Romero

The first one

Bought me Suszy Q’s, cherry cokes, and let me pick the Fantasy Five on Fridays.

He would wake up at 4 a.m. five days a week to go shine-up new cars so I wouldn’t have to

He carried me asleep in his arms, up the stairs to our two-bedroom apartment

His actions spoke his affection

Especially on nights when he would blast Vicente Fernandez while

drinking his Budweiser

Doors slamming, vases flying, his screaming, my mother’s crying

I’m not enough, was the feeling my seven-year-old lips sobbed onto my pillow

The second one

Made me lunches and fruit punch Kool-Aid during our summers at home alone

Beat the S-H-I-T out of any boys who made fun of me

And let me be Laserbeak to his Soundwave on our Cybertron

Unlike the one before him, whom we both called father, he let his

words speak to his affections

I would rather you be a criminal than turn out to be gay

I’m not enough was the thought that crept into my head as I fled home

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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March 12, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Brandon, 21st Street and Guerrero

Tell us about your look: “I like to put on clothes. I get most of my clothes at thrift stores.”

Southeast Engine quivers and lopes toward the deluge

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March 11, 2009

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By Todd Lavoie

SOUTHEAST ENGINE

From The Forest To The Sea

(Misra)

It’s all right there in the title: From The Forest To The Sea, the fourth, just-released full-length from Athens, Ohio-based Southeast Engine, is the chronicle of a journey. Literal, figurative, geographical, spiritual… it’s all of the above, rendered in nervy poetry, Biblical allusions, and volatile collisions of twisted Americana and restless indie-rock. Sure, the disc’s characters begin in the forest and end up at the edge of the sea — and in some cases, quite literally in the sea — but ultimately their movement is focused around much more than mere topography. Vocalist/guitarist Adam Remnant is not only a compelling singer — his quivering Appalachian yelp is perhaps the midpoint between Will Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy) and Jason Molina (Songs:Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co.) — but also a perceptive, precise storyteller, equally confident in clipped speech and extended, flowing narrative.

His subjects tend to be good people at their core, but not without their share of weaknesses, foibles, and lack of direction. Sin and salvation, along with all of the roaming which tends to go on between the two extremes, form the central themes of the disc, and they are presented without judgment and in clear, matter-of-fact detail. And just in case the potent storytelling here isn’t enough: these guys furnish a rather resplendently rustic sonic backdrop for Remnant’s redemption-seeking rambles. For all of its occasional echoes of other lonesome-howl enthusiasts — the aforementioned Oldham and Molina ventures, as well as Phosphorescent and maybe Castanets — From The Forest To The Sea offers up a distinct essence of its own. Distinctive enough, I should add, that I can’t wait to dive into their back-catalog….

Southeast Engine, “Black Gold”

Southeast Engine recorded the disc in a creaky, abandoned middle-school auditorium, built in the 1800s, in the hills of rural Ohio — a fitting choice, given that these songs appear to be populated by ghosts as well. Listen closely, and the odd atmospheric hum slides into perception, only to drift away as soon as the ears are pricked; once the moment is almost forgotten, a disembodied echo or a floorboard-sigh is just as likely to emerge. As much as these production touches give a nice chill, it’s in the voices that the true goosebump potential resides. Remnant is quite adept at conjuring ghosts with his taut, choked waver, and the haunted backup supplied by the rest of the band does a convincing job of highlighting the restlessness which permeates these dozen songs.

I see London, I see France …

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March 11, 2009

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By Juliette Tang

Attention all you narcissists, fetishists, and exhibitionists, Bombshell Betty’s crew of pin-up photographers are coming to San Francisco this Sunday, March 15, and they want to take naughty photos of you in your unmentionables. If you bring your bod to Hotel Frank in Union Square on Sunday between 3 to 9pm, along with your cutest skivvies and your sassiest ‘tude, you’ll get some star treatment that includes a pin-up posing workshop, a hair and make-up session, and a photoshoot that will make you feel like a burlesque goddess like Bombshell Betty herself. Afterward, you get to keep the disc of more than 200 of your own pin-up portraits, which will make a great present for a significant other, and an even better present for yourself. If you can’t make it this Sunday to the group session, you can schedule a private one here.

Along with being the birthplace of Bombshell Betty, San Francisco is also home to other talented pin-up photographers who can help you channel the spirits of Betty Page and Gypsy Rose Lee. Check out some more great local pin-up photography services, after the jump.

Designer Dish: Pop Junkie’s spring sugar rush

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March 11, 2009

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By Laura Peach

Old West meets Studio 54 retro with Pop Junkie’s “Disco Roosters” Tee.

This week, we chatted up local master printmakers Aaron Feiger and Ashley Marcinczyk about the sugary sweet, super sexy San Francisco-inspired designs they’ll be pulling off the press in the next few weeks. Their whimsical T-shirts sprouted into screenprinting project Pop Junkie. The funky, fun tees and totes are popping up not only on the streets of our fair city, but also across the country and in fashion forward, graphic-obsessed Japan. Here’s what the design duo had to say about their work, life, and love of San Francisco style.

SFBG: So… what are you working on right now? Tell us about the new spring line you’re currently cultivating.

Aaron: This season we’ve done our own take on a Barberella theme. I watched it over and over as a kid—I was only 7 or 8 years old. Looking back I can’t believe my mom let me watch something with so many sexual references. We’re adding some geometric shapes into these designs too.

Ashley: I’m making some re-usable beer bags. Everyone’s out at Dolores Park brownbagging it, and I thought it would be great to have an attractive, eco-friendly option. Our homewares will be expanding: we’ll be making more pillows and bags, and coming out with some laser-cut candleholders.

Super Ego: Relight my fire, Francois K.

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March 11, 2009

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By Marke B.

I just came upon this 2k7 vid of the best-club-ever-after-Paradise-Garage Body and Soul tour in Tokyo. And I don’t know if it’s the beauty of DJ Joe Clausell’s knob-tweaking, the pain of the recent Depression, the gay-soul-gorgeousness of Dan Hartman and Loleatta Holloway’s barnstormer duet, or the sight of hundreds of off-their-nut Japanese boppers singing “Relight My Fire” — but I’m bursting into tears.

Body & Soul Live in Tokyo Open Air 2007

Those kids are so amped up that by the time of the breakdown (“I’m strong enough to walk on through the night”) they can’t shout any louder. Srsly, it’s time for a house comeback. There’s already a couple of underground roving house revivals going down in NYC, and Body & Soul itself will rock Webster Hall there this Sunday. Let’s pick it up SF!

We could do worse that pack Vessel on Thursday night for a very rare appearance by way-more-than-legendary Body & Soulmate Francois K.

Hot sex events this week: March 12-18

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March 11, 2009

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Compiled by Breena Kerr

Lusty Ladies and cheap tattoos at the “Friday the 13th” benefit party

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>> Bawdy Storytelling
Local literary smut-spillers – including Sherilyn Connelly, Isaac Rodriguez, Sister Mable Syrup, Melissa Hoobler, Ray Allen, and many more — share their bawdiest tales with a ribald crowd. Bring your own beverage and sparkling personality (and a tale of your own, too – there may be room for one or two from the audience!). This installment’s theme is “But We Finished Anyway: Tales of frozen asses and gag reflexes.” Good times.

Thu/12, 7pm, $7 (snacks included)
1286 Folsom, SF.
Contact bawdystorytelling@gmail.com for more info

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>> Born Into Brothels screening
This amazing documentary by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman is about children in Calcutta’s Red Light district. It won the Oscar for best documentary film in 2005. The screening is part of SF Camerawork’s film series about youth empowerment and will be followed by a discussion.

Thu/12, 7pm, free with suggested donation
SF Camerawork
657 Mission, second floor
415-512-2020
www.sfcamerawork.org

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>> ”Friday the 13th” fundraiser with Inkwell and the Lusty Lady
Join the lovely ladies of the Lusty Lady and the inkers at Inkwell tattoo studio for a lively show – and $40 tattoos all night! – benefiting the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Free drinks all night, and who knows what you’ll wake with scrawled permanently on your backside. For charity, of course.

Fri/13, 9pm, donations encouraged, tattoos $40
Inkwell
1145 65th St., Emeryville
www.inkwellworld.com

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>> IXFF Exposure Party
“The erotic film networking event of the year.” Come one come all directors, editors, producers, talent and more for a special panel presentation on erotic cinema. And if the thought of enjoying a live DJ, complimentary cocktails, and the sheer pleasure of knowing everyone around you is in the pleasure business isn‘t enough to get you through the doors, maybe the Independent Erotic Film Festival’s grand prize of $1,500 will have you smoozing with the porn-sters, combing the party for your production crew.

Fri/13, 7pm-10pm, $5-10 (sliding scale)
The Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF.
510-522-5460
www.goodvibes.com

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Street Threads: Look of the Day

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March 11, 2009

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Jessica Lanyadoo, writer of Psychic Dream Astrology, 23rd Street and Valencia

Tell us about your look: “I dress according to my mood, always, and I believe in glasses.”

Lingerie Shopping 101

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March 11, 2009

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The SFBG’s Laura Peach helps her roomie take the fear out of shopping for sexy underthings.

A few weeks back, my roommate Gina and I sat in our living room, chatting about life and drinking cheap red wine as had become our custom since we’d both broken up with our significant other, when she dropped the bomb: she had never been lingerie shopping.

I was aghast.

She named off her reasons: She was a tom boy at her core and didn’t know how to buy things like that. She was trying to live fairly simply and could certainly get by fine without lingerie. And most of all, she was simply too intimidated and afraid to go lingerie shopping.

“Oh Gina, you don’t even know what you’re missing,” I said. I vowed to take her out.

It was a while before we could find a time when our schedules coincided. When we finally set out on a drizzly Monday morning, I wouldn’t let anything — not mising keys, a flat tire, or a forgotten credit card — get in our way.

We started with Haight Street’s best vintage and modern underthing outpost, Dollhouse Bettie . Gina was wide-eyed and nervous at first, but then became seduced by a purple babydoll slip. Soon her ooohhh’s and aaahhh’s and light fingertips on corners of fabric gave way to pulling hangers off the rack, and before she knew it, Gina had a dressing room stocked full of lingerie.

Photo from Dollhouse Bettie.