sfbg

Jiz Lee: “An exciting time for queer porn”

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By Juliette Tang

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Photo of Jiz Lee by Nikola Tamindzic for Fleshbot

Jiz Lee exudes three things not frequently associated in tandem — sex appeal, brains, and sweetness — and copiously at that. High of cheekbone and strong of jaw, with a slinky frame and a startling, beautiful ethnic ambiguity, Jiz Lee has a face and name you don’t forget upon encountering. She walks the line between coquettish charm and full-on bravado, and in this she succeeds, exhibited tellingly by the opening line of the biography portion of her personal website: “With an ejaculation scene that knocked the concept of the facial cumshot on its ass, Jiz Lee unloaded into the revolutionary world of queer porn cinema.”

With degrees in dance and theater arts, Jiz Lee’s performance career began well before she started removing her garments on camera. Happily for her fans, she began to perform in queer porn while still remaining active in the local dance community, and she’s capably straddled both worlds ever since. I ran into Jiz in excess of five times before gathering my wits about to coherently request an interview, but I finally managed it. We emailed back and forth a few weeks ago and discussed her work as an adult performer, an artist, and a sex-positive activist.

SFBG: So, Jiz, what’s your back-story? What brought you to San Francisco and what led you to start performing in queer porn?

JL: I moved to the SF Bay Area from Hawai`i in 1999 to attend Mills College. My interests for a major were between experimental music (I was 1st chair French Horn throughout school and was part of the Select Band which toured the state. Band Geek!), in high school I had also performed in dramatic plays, and I was also in the Ensemble, the top level of dance which gave concerts regularly and through which I was able to take masterclass with well-known choreographers. (My background in dance began with Hula Auana and some Hula Kahiko and Tahitian which I performed with a Hula Halau and then in high school studied Limón modern dance technique and musical theater. I ended up finishing college with a B.A. in Dance and a minor in Theater Arts, along with a well-rounded liberal arts education that included Women/Gender Studies, and Queer Studies.

After graduation and working with several dance companies and non-profits, I began to feel the burn out. One of the festivals I produced lead me to meet Shawn, who now goes by Syd Blakovich. Syd told me about Shine Louise Houston’s new queer porn company Pink & White Productions, and asked if I were interested in shooting. I had become very comfortable with my naked body, particularly after touring with a modern dance troupe in a naked performance. I was also comfortable with my sexuality. I had seen “Please Dont Stop” “Hard Love & How to Fuck in High Heels” and Sex, Flesh in Blood”, however at the time there weren’t any porn opportunities available to me that I knew about until I met Shine, who’s first film was “The Crash Pad” and it’s all history from there.

I’ve since appeared in all of Shine’s feature films as well as her website, each of which has been awarded a Feminist Porn Award (in Toronto), the most recent being Champion which won Movie of the Year. I have also performed for Madison Young, and for Courtney Trouble who has run her queer company No Fauxxx for several years. Most recently I had the chance to work with Belladonna, a performer who was an inspiration to me when I first saw her work — she was the only pornstar I had seen with a shaved head. She’s athletic and a great performer and she’s very queer to me. “Strapped Dykes” releases soon and I was both honored to be a part of it, and thrilled about the rise of butch/genderqueer visibility in porn with casting of performers like myself.

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Jiz Lee and Gay Pornstar Arpad Miklos, photo by Nikola Tamindzic

SFBG: Not only are you a performer, but you’re an activist as well. You’ve said on your blog that “performing is a feat of radical activism in itself”. How would you describe the particular kind of activism that reveals itself in your work as an adult performer? In what sense does it transcend the realm from pure entertainment into that of political, social, or cultural activism?

JL: I could write books and books on my thoughts on sex as a medium for social change and where this now fits within what could be defined as a renaissance of queer porn. This is not so much about the work “I’m” doing, but of the movement that is happening right now in a broader way. Work that new pornographers are doing, the talent who’s doing it with them, the sex toy retailers funding a lot of the work, and the growing audience of what used to be “niche” however is at this very moment entering mainstream adult industry consciousness — meaning that the money is there. There’s a major consumer shift happening, and if Oprah says women watch porn, you can bet the change is here. I think explicit queer sexuality on film will permeate the adult industry by opening dialogues about gender, sexuality, and sexual acts — queer porn can bring the seldom seen female-bodied authentic sexual response and pleasure to the screen, even going beyond basic female orgasm; the lack of which has given ‘porn’ a bad rap. Queer porn has the potential to affect the industry with celebrated natural sex acts including fisting, female ejaculation, sex while menstruating, and also safer sex practices.

Dive in: Forget rehab. Retox instead.

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Bar reviewer Kristen Haney seeks to separate hipster wannabes from real-life dives in this weekly column. Check out her last installment here.

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“Go down the rabbit hole,” as the sign suggests at Retox, and you’ll enter a subterranean lower music venue that is part low budget airline and part friend’s-parent’s-basement. Pieces of printed cloth are tacked to the walls as a sort of DIY interior decorating project, and airplane seats are lined up against the back wall and left side. Small, round, faux windows project blinking lights into the room, as though the band you’re listening to is rocking you into the future, DeLorean style, or like you actually crashed into someone’s basement and the band is playing loud enough to drown out the screams from the burning corpses above. Things get stuffy in the basement, but I can only assume the windows can’t be opened for fear of the main cabin depressurizing and audience members being sucked out the opening like in every airplane disaster movie ever.

As for the upstairs lounge area, I can only describe the scene as completely and unapologetically weird, which naturally makes for a fantastic dive bar. This may not serve as an indicator of the normal kind of shenanigans that occur in Retox, since I was there for a friend’s show, but I sincerely hope it does. There was quite the food spread in the corner, complete with chips, dips, and (much to my friend’s delight) brownie bites. An old guy, who I feel I can safely assume had at least one yellow tooth resembling a butter colored Chiclet, performed a wide shuffle of a two-step, head bowed down and arms swinging in the air. There was no music playing at the time. While ordering a round for my friend and I, I felt a tap on my shoulder. A grizzly-looking old dude politely informed me I was blocking his seat, which I assumed he occupied when not riding his Harley with his glamorous lady friend.

The first bartender to serve us introduced himself and made friendly, idle chitchat to put us at ease. The second one looked like he’d rather take a dump on my face than be interrupted while straightening up the bar and putting away glasses. I like to think it was part of a good bartender/bad bartender scheme, as my friend tipped the first one extremely well on her $10 tab, which was the credit card minimum. The second one warmed up later, and managed to keep a pretty clean bar to boot.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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

Today’s Look: Zoe, West Portal Station

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Tell us about your look: “Haight street flannel.”

Let’s get Wonderfull

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By Michael Krimper

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Few musicians, if any, have influenced and contributed to the sprawling landscape of contemporary music like Stevie Wonder. The songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer boasts a discography far too overwhelming for me to even paraphrase in this blog post. Luckily, New York icons DJ Spinna and Bobbito a.k.a. Kool Bob Love have already done the homework. The self-professed Wonder nerds dug deep in the crates, studied the liner notes, traced the lineage of classics and obscure credits alike, and now share all their research with the Wonderfull party. That’s right, a showcase of music dedicated strictly to revisiting and reimagining the legacy of Stevie Wonder. It’s a pastiche of raw soul and computer funk, the ebullient essence of boom bap and pummeling grooves, all timeless, all Stevie.

Originally started as a one-night celebration dating back to NY 2001, the party has since traveled across North America, touching down in San Francisco for the past five years. And the word is, we know how to jump off like nobody else. This year should prove no different with support from local favorites Hakobo, Proof, and King Most on the wheels of steel. So, if you were looking to escape this winter’s frigid onslaught, as we approach 2010 on the near horizon, I’d recommend sweating it out at the retro-futuristic dance party of decade.

WONDERFULL
Featuring DJs Spinna and Bobbito
With Hakobo, Proof, and King Most
Sat/12, 9 p.m. – 4 a.m., $20 presale, $25 door
The Mezzanine
444 Jessie St., SF
(415) 625-8880
www.mezzaninesf.com

Brits blame Bremer on Iraq

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Text by Sarah Phelan

Paul Bremer called the shots (based on “pre-agreed Washington policy”), and the Brits were left in the dark in Iraq, according to a British inquiry into the war.

Campos to Herrera: tell Newsom he’s not a king

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Louis XIV didn’t exactly have a good rap as king of France. Is Newsom in danger of becoming Louis’ SF equivalent?

Text by Sarah Phelan

‘We may have a strong-mayor system of government, but it is not a monarchy,” writes Sup. David Campos in a Dec. 10 letter to City Attorney Dennis Herrera, sent the day that the Board’s veto-proof civil rights legislation to restore due process to undocumented kids is supposed to kick in—except Mayor Gavin Newsom has said he intends to ignore it.

“Nothing short of unprecedented,” is how Campos describes Newsom’s posture—as he urges Herrera to issue a written legal opinion on whether the mayor has “the authority to unilaterally refuse to implement the duly-enacted civil rights legislation at issue, where such legislation was reviewed and approved as to form by you and your office.”

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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

Today’s Look: Ashley, West Portal Station

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Tell us about your look: “This is all from thrift stores.”

Fun and games, City Hall style

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Text, photos and video by Sarah Phelan

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City Hall looked cold and pretty Tuesday, what with the snow outside.

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And the wedding couples posing for photographers at the top of the stairs.
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Against the backdrop of a glittering Tree of Hope.
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But inside the meeting, things were getting hot and ugly… in that glitteringly controlled way typical of city politics.
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The highlight came Sup. Chris Daly produced a handmade bar graph in an effort to help folks better understand the economic backdrop against which the budget debate plays out.
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Promising to bring more charts to future meetings, Daly displayed a chart that showed how the San Francisco Police Department has enjoyed a significantly larger growth in General Fund support than any other department, including the Health Department. And you can watch some of that fun by clicking on the following video clip:

During Daly’s show and tell, Sup. Sean Elsbernd started mumbling about stunts, and according to the Chron, he subsequently challenged Daly to tackle pension costs, especially related to the Service Employees International Union, promising in return to tackle the police budget. Daly reportedly said he’d take a look at pension reform—so expect even more bar charts in the New Year.

alt.sex.column: Winter Wonderland

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By Andrea Nemerson. Email your questions to andrea@mail.altsexcolumn.com. Read more of Andrea’s columns here.

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Dear Andrea:

Every year I dread this season, not because I particularly hate the holidays, but because the short, dark days depress me. I talked to a therapist friend and she doesn’t think I have SAD, and says lots of people feel a little gloomy when the days get short. I also notice that I have almost no libido this time of year. I’m single and I usually date, but when it gets dark so early, I find that I just can’t be bothered. I don’t want to meet anyone because I don’t feel like having sex or any sort of intimacy, really. I just want to sit on my couch in my pajamas. Do I have "seasonal libido disorder"? Is this kind of seasonal swing a common thing? I also find I get the stereotypical "spring fever" and can’t wait to go out and meet guys (I’m a girl) when the days get longer. Any ideas?

Love,

Poorly Seasoned

Dear Poorly:

You’re not the only one! Even people who need look no further than the other end of the couch often experience a libido-slump in the winter. For the single, who may have to actually leave the house to find a prospective mate, the hurdles are higher. There are all sorts of possible factors, including less exercise and its possibly associated weight gain and/or lack of energy, as well as the bigger push it takes to get up and bundle yourself into cold-weather gear and slog through sleet or slush, as opposed to merely flitting out the door in a darling little sundress whenever you feel like it.

Ready, set, Whirling Dervish

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By Caitlin Donohue

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Get lost in the whirl of the Mevlevi, better known as the Order of the Whirling Dervish

Recents events involving an unlit bicycle, an unsignaled left turn onto Geary and an unexpected phone call from the emergency room have impressed upon me the true cyclical nature of this crazy world we live in. Viewed from a properly meditative perspective (difficult when one is contemplating ambulance bills san health insurance), it can be a calming thought; that the ups and downs and round abouts we experience are merely a reflection of a turning universe.

The Order of the Whirling Dervish, or the Mevlevi, are a Sufi Islam sect that holds that to revolve is life’s original nature. Electrons, protons and neutrons revolve, the human being’s life cycle revolves from the earth to life and back again. The prophet Rumi developed their traditional “whirling” dance, the sema, 700 years ago to reflect this fact and to bring one closer to the “Perfect,” or the god force.

At one point banned from their religious practice in Turkey by a political regime for being excessively mystic, the Mevlevis are allowed to continue their sema in their home country for purposes of tourism- but not to vocalize their prayers to Allah. In 1986 the head of the Mevlevi sect sent his son to America to spread their beliefs. Since then, the Order has had several successful US sema tours- and apparently has accrued some American faithful as well. The US Mevlevi website posts an announcement of an “obligatory practice and tuning for all semazen (as the participants in the ritual dance are called) turning in SF and Sacramento” to proceed the public event at the Palace of Fine Arts on Friday.

In practice, the semazen are hypnotically tranquil in their dance. Traditional Sufi music accompanies the dancers, an atmospheric affair of sitars that provide fertile foundation for whatever meditation you bring to the performance. The men and women are dressed in white robes to signify “ego’s shroud” and tall camel hair fez-like hats portraying “ego’s tombstone.” They whirl about the floor on their right feet, weaving through one another in one long motion of prayer with one arm extending to Allah and one cradled in front of them, delivering a message to their fellow human beings on earth. Altogether, they look like maple tree seed pods, helicoptering down from their branches. Its calming, almost enough to make one appreciate that in life’s twists and turns lie an equilibrium of sorts.

In the meantime… anyone know a good bike lawyer?

Fri/11 8 p.m., $25- $45
The Palace of Fine Arts
3301 Lyon, SF
www.ciis.edu

Resnick and the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM)

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Text by Sarah Phelan

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When I read Lance Williams’ article about a corporate farmer who used his political connections to try and influence the Delta water wars debate, the corporate farmer’s name sounded familiar. So, I checked– and sure enough, Stewart Resnick’s name popped up, only this time in an article that I wrote about the contentious, controversial and ongoing fight about how best to control the Light Brown Apple Moth--and whether the aerial spraying of urban areas with a moth pheromone was ever really necessary.

As the Guardian article about the LBAM debate noted, “Critics of the state’s pheromone spraying program observe that Suterra LLC, which manufactured the spray used over Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, refused to release the full ingredients until it was sued — and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger demanded immediate full disclosure.”

The article also observed that, “These same critics also note that Schwarzenegger, who continues to support CDFA’s LBAM-eradication program, received $144,600 in campaign contributions from Los Angeles–based Roll International owners Stewart and Lynda Resnick (my bold), who control Suterra, Fiji Water, Paramount Agribusiness, and the Franklin Mint.”

“Records show the Resnicks donate broadly, mostly to Democrats — including the gubernatorial campaigns of Steve Westly and Phil Angelides, and US Sens. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama — with a lesser-size donation to Republican presidential front-runner John McCain, proving they play both sides of the fence,” the Guardian’s article concludes.

And as William’s recent article notes, “Underpinning [the Resnicks’] fortune is agribusiness – 70,000 acres of pistachios and almonds, 48,000 acres of citrus and pomegranates – most of it in Kern County at the south end of the San Joaquin Valley, and all requiring irrigation to survive.”

In other words, the Resnicks’ agribusiness empire could be negatively impacted if other countries refused to import their produce, because of LBAM-related fears, even if those fears were unfounded.. Conversely, the Resnicks’ business interests stood to gain if the state mandated the widespread aerial spraying of a synthetic pheromone by a company (Suterra) that the Resnicks controlled.

I’m not saying that’s why the state ended up pushing its controversial aerial spraying plan, until public pressure stopped that plan in its tracks, but it sure is an interesting question

Murio’s on Haight “dives” into its golden years

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By Caitlin Donohue

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Smash $4 PBR tall boys at Murio’s 50th anniversary bash.. just like they did in 1959

On a recent evening out on Haight, I stumbled into a bar whose cheapest beer was six dollars. This bar, which shall remain nameless, was a seminal force in my introduction to Murio’s Trophy Room, the little neon number that we fled to down the street that one always sees tucked away by Amoeba Music. Our wallets practically dragged us in with the promise of Hamm’s in a can, high tolerance for scruffy types and cheap liquor. Despite it being Saturday night, we located a small round table in the back under the speakers- and spent the rest of the evening fleeing for more drinks as random high decibel metal songs dotted the bar’s soundtrack. A place with this little concern for customer’s ear drums, I thought, must have some history to back it up.

And happily, it does. Whether you were aware of it (/born) or not, for the past fifty years, Murio’s Trophy Room has been there for your dive bar needs. John Murio, winner of the 1933 Canadian Open, opened up the dark little Haight Street oasis back in 1959 and though John kicked the bucket over fifteen years ago, Murio’s has been pouring Maker’s (neat) and cheap beer (cold) ever since. To elaborate on the dive’s charms, I’ve included here a late night missive I received from Murio’s self described “funniest bartender in SF,” Nick Cortez. Take it away, Nick…

This bar has outlasted the beatniks, the hippies, dozens of great music venues ( the most popular being the Nightbreak, which was next door to Murio’s), seen too many celebrities to count from Frank Sinatra, Janis Joplin (who lived a block away), and the Clash frontman, Joe Strummer (who did the last interview before his death at Murio’s with former mayoral candidate Matt Gonzales). What a freakin’ sweet place huh?

Heroes of the day: Dave Eggers and ‘Zeitoun’

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By Caitlin Donohue

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Eggers: given the current level of productivity, must be employing 826 Valencia kids as ghostwriters. Photo by Erik Charlton

Post Katrina New Orleans was a fissure unto what a well-meaning country turns into when the laws around civil rights are not made clear in crisis. Did you hear about this? The arrests of suspected looters that were made with little to no hard evidence? The chain link fence insta-jail that was built by maximum security prison inmates outside the city’s Greyhound Station? Guantanamo-like processing for maybe-maybe-not “criminals”?

Dave Eggers’ new book Zeitoun revists this time from the perspective of a man who endured more than most. Abdhulrahman Zeitoun was a father of four with his own construction company when Katrina hit. His decision to stay- during and after the storm- to secure the properties he was working on and help his neighbors led to his disappearance, one that resolved weeks later when it was discovered he’d been arrested and held without charge or access to phone calls.

Perhaps this is giving away too much of the book, but I’m telling you that Eggers’ true account of Zeitoun’s ordeals was one of the most stirring calls to reinforce civil liberties in our country that I’ve heard for awhile. It equals his last effort What is the What for making clear what can happen to good people in times gone bad for lack of other good people doing anything about them. But where What is the What took place in US ignored, civil war torn Sudan and surrounding African countries, Zeitoun could of happened to anyone’s construction worker uncle in New Orleans, USA.

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Zeitoun is not furry. Egger’s version of Wild Things is. The logic is clear

So can someone do me a favor and pop on down to Eggers’ signing this afternoon and ask him how the hell he does it? By that I mean, write activist-inspiring novels, head up a national chain of the funnest kids’ writing workshops on the face of the planet, run a publishing company and kick it with Spike Jonze on the screenplay for Where the Wild Things Are?

The man is nuts. Holler at him.

Dave Eggers Book Signing & Chat
Tues/8 1pm, free
Bookshop West Portal
80 West Portal, SF
www.mcsweeneys.net
www.bookshopwestportal.com

Sexcipe: Orgy with Rack of Lamb

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By Mistress Eve Minax, a professional dominatrix, sex educator, and food lover based in SF. As told to Juliette Tang.

Sexcipe: Orgy with a Roasted Rack of Lamb

Let’s face it, when people have sex, people get hungry, and when there’s more than two, you need enough food to keep the crowd satisfied. This recipe was inspired by a hotel room group-sextravaganza a few weeks ago and has evolved from other multi-partner sex scenes over the years. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

3 dozen baby carrots
2 tablespoons of dried tarragon or ½ cup freshly chopped
¼ cup of hemp oil
pinch or two of vanilla sea salt
hazelnut flour

2 racks of lamb, frenched
rosemary sea salt
cracked black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced

4 rosy red turnips, quartered
6 zucchini or yellow squash, quartered
¼ c olive oil
¼ teaspoon dried lemon
pinch of sea salt

4-6 oranges, peeled whole, leaving peel in snake like pattern
¼ c olive oil
pinch of crushed red chiles
½ teaspoon of cumin seeds, pummeled

*variation, hot fudge sauce made with fine dutch cocoa, agave nectar, pinch of cinnamon, ¼ c grass fed cream, bring to boil, simmer lightly until ready.

Method

Five or more hours before the guests arrive, toss the half the carrots in the hemp oil, tarragon, and salt and the other half with hemp oil, salt, and hazelnut flour. Stir mixtures every couple of hours.

Rub the salt, black pepper, and garlic on the rack of lamb and refrigerate.

Quarter the whole peeled oranges and toss with chiles, olive oil, cumin. Set aside.

One hour before guests arrive, remove carrots and place in serving dishes.

Toss the vegetables in the oive oil, dried lemon and sea salt.

Put a votive candle in each of the half dozen or so orange peels and place them around the sex space. The smell will be fragrant and lovely and the lighting will create a groovier ambiance. Make sure to have plenty of latex and nitrile gloves available, not to mention condoms, good lube, (I personally loved Sliquid Organics), and hand towels, (or as one of my lovers calls them, “trick” towels), or chucks, disposable under pads.

Preheat the oven to 375 and heat the space to 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Warm rooms invite people to undress more quickly.

Live Shots: Timmy Mezzy, Maggie McGarry’s, 12/3/09

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Text and photos by Ariel Soto

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I have a new favorite song and I need to share it with all of you. It’s about bubbly water and it’s by the band Timmy Mezzy … and it’s amazing.

Timmy Mezzy, hailing from The Sunset District of San Francisco, have other musical delights, such as love songs dedicated to ice cream and a tune about having nothing to do at all. The five piece combo rocked Maggie McGarry’s in North Beach on Thursday night to a thoroughly enthused crowd, peppered with obvious groupies who sang along to Bubbly Water and boogied across the tiny dance floor late into the evening. These guys have got something going, so check out their next show, because their music makes me happy and want to smile and I know it’ll make you all bubbly too.

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Readers respond to Slow Food class issues

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By Caitlin Donohue

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Chef Jon Hall of sustainable food management company Bon Appetit was profiled in recent SFBG article on class issues in the sustainable food movement. Photo by Erik Anderson

I’ve been pleased and impressed with the thoughtful feedback we’ve received on my recent cover story on class issues in the sustainable food movement. Many who wrote in took issue with my charge that sustainable food activists often don’t do enough for the working class. They cited programs that “good food” groups have implemented to work on making sustainable food accessible to low income groups, many of which I was excited to learn about and applaud. But is it counterproductive to “go after” organizations that are already doing important work to bring health back into our food systems, as rchstev- whose intelligent response raises a lot of great points- implies?

rchstev writes:

I’m disappointed, however, that the author and Bay Guardian editors chose – in the opening passage, closing statement, and under-headline – to disparage the sustainable food movement (and Slow Food in particular) as a hook for delivering the message.

Problems in our food system are complex and multifaceted. In many instances, addressing one concern, such as increasing wages and benefits to farm workers, can create offsetting problems, such as affecting the viability of smaller operations who want to produce high quality, healthy food and provide workers fair compensation and safe conditions. Talk with most independent producers and even the most successful say it’s an extremely difficult balance. (One reason numerous organizations are actively working to effect governmental changes.)

Appetite: Smuggler’s Cove Shanghais the Tiki vibe

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By Virginia Miller of www.theperfectspotsf.com. View her last installment of Appetite here.

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Mixing it up behind the bar at Smuggler’s Cove

Smuggler’s Cove… so much more than Tiki
I’m crazy about all things Tiki and its accompanying kitsch… which is why I’ve long been a fan of Alameda’s Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge. Martin Cate helped make that bar great with his cocktails, going beyond the usual too-sweet, one-note swill often paired with such a setting. Though he departed Forbidden Island awhile back, we’ve been holding our breath for his first bar right here in Hayes Valley in the former, tri-level Jade Bar space.

I had the privilege of attending a media preview last Thursday of Smugglers’ Cove, which officially opens tomorrow (Tue/8). As I entered the tinted storefront, it was as I hoped: a full-on themed bar, transporting me to another world… but with a heavy degree of taste, even refinement. There is (thankfully!) the occasional puffer fish lamp, or bamboo and thatched awnings in the inviting upstairs perch overlooking the main floor bar, keeping the Tiki torch burning. There’s also a strong maritime, pirate-like presence with a ship wheel, barrels, skulls and weaponry. Dark wood walls give the small space warmth, while under a vaulted ceiling lies knick knacks and treasures rife with stories: Tiki legends have their own little shrines tucked into the walls, with a couple lamps from the original Trader Vic’s emitting a soft glow. In the basement, dubbed the Boathouse, there’s another bar, across from a cascading waterfall. Much care has gone into the decor, with touches like unique punch bowls, making this a playful, campy space; part Tiki bar dream, part sophisticated, nautical rum bar.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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

Today’s Look: Julie, Haight and Ashbury

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Tell us about your look: “Mostly wearing H&M and the skirt if from American Apparel.”

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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

Today’s Look: Julia, Haight and Ashbury

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Tell us about your look: “I like the soldier look, boots and big buttons.”

SFS snags Grammy nom-nom-nom

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By Marke B.

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Oh, MTT. You and your Grammy noms and your Nehru collars.

“I dare you to sit through San Francisco Symphony’s exhilarating new CD of Symphony No. 8, the so-called ‘Symphony of a Thousand,’ and not leave your body a few times,” some scallywag wrote in the Guardian a couple months ago. And the Grammy committee must have been lifted off its tippy-toes as well, because it just nominated the SFS — thrice! — for its absolutely heavenly recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.

Behind the Mahler 8 scenes

Find more videos like this on San Francisco Symphony Social Network

Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance, and Best Engineered Classical Album are the relevant cats. The recording utilized an array of groundbreaking techniques that give it an almost 3-D sound, which is pretty awesome when you’re working with a huge orchestra and chorus of almost literally a thousand. If you pick up one classic classical release this year, this one should be it. (And if you pick up one avant-classical release, try this.) Also nominated for a bunch of stuff: some Green Day people or whoever.

PS: The Bay’s own jazzy Latinist, John Santos, who also scored a Grammy nom nod in the World Music category, will be performing at the SFS’s uniquely nightlife-oriented Davies After Hours shindig on January 15.

Russoniello to Herrera: No Way. Kinda.

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Text and photos by Sarah Phelan

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The City Attorney’s office has been trying to smoke out Russoniello for weeks on the city’s sanctuary ordinance.

And finally, US Attorney Joe Russoniello has replied in writing to City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s Nov. 10 request that Russoniello provide “reasonable assurance” that his office won’t prosecute local officials who follow the city’s new sanctuary policy.

And it seems that Russoniello’s answer is “no way,” though it’s qualified by conditions that suggest that the feds are only interested in deporting convicted juvenile felons, even as their policies rip innocent kids from their families.

“I have no authority, discretionary or otherwise, to grant amnesty from federal prosecution to anyone who follows the protocol set out in the referenced ordinance,” Russoniello wrote in his Dec. 3 letter to Herrera.

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Meanwhile, a group of community advocates shared their concerns that the sanctuary legislation be duly enacted with City Attorney spokesperson Matt Dorsey (left) today. (See end of this post for further details.)

“We present a case for indictment when there is a reasonable basis for believing that a federal crime has been committed and a conviction can be obtained,” Russoniello wrote, noting that, ”not every case that meets this test is necessarily brought.”

“A number of factors may come into play… including, as you correctly referenced with respect to so-called ‘medical marijuana’ cases, our need to prioritize cases, given our limited resources,” Russoniello stated.

Under the city’s new sanctuary policy, juveniles will get their day in court before being referred to federal immigration authorities in an effort to prevent needless deportations.

This new policy, which takes effect Dec. 10, gives the city’s Juvenile Probation Department 60 days (Feb. 8, 2010) to figure out how to implement the new legislation.

But Mayor Gavin Newsom has said he intends to ignore the policy, claiming it violates federal law, as has Gabe Calvillo, president of the city’s probation officers union. They also cite a federal Grand Jury that Russoniello convened last year to investigate the actions of Juvenile Probation Department officers, who tried to repatriate Honduran teenagers accused of selling drugs, instead of referring them to the feds forl deportation.

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City Attorney spokesperson Matt Dorsey listens as community advocates express frustration over Newsom’s comments that he intends to ignore the sanctuary legislation, even as Herrera has promised to aggressively defend the policy.

Russoniello has claimed that JPD’s former activities were tantamount to “harboring.” But that procedure was discontinued last year, and it won’t be reinstated, when the city’s amended policy kicks in, in February.

But while Sup. David Campos has repeatedly stated that his sanctuary policy amendments won’t shield anyone found guilty of a felony, Russoniello claims the new policy violates federal law, even as he admits that cases are typically prosecuted by his office in the belief that a conviction can be obtained, and on a priority basis.

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Dorsey (second right) listens as Cynthia Muñoz-Ramos of the St. Peter’s Housing Committee (far right) requests that Herrera provide the local community with written assurances that the new sanctuary policy will be duly implemented.

People’s Grocery dishes it up for underserved West Oakland

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By Caitlin Donohue


East Oakland’s People’s Grocery puts working people at the forefront of the fight for healthy, sustainable food for their community. Warning: around 7:30 things get very touching.

My recent SFB cover story “Out of Reach: How the sustainable food movement neglects poor workers and eaters” has attracted attention from both those within the “good food” movement and without. Which is good- it was meant to kick up a discussion of where working people stand these days in the fight for a more sustainable food system.

In celebration of this healthy discourse, I wanted to profile another East Bay group who is on the front lines of getting sustainable, pesticide-free eatables to the working class who was brought to our attention by one of the readers of “Out of Reach.” West Oakland’s People’s Grocery was started in 2002 in response to the area’s lack of grocery stores (versus its 50 plus liquor dealers) and has since developed a multi-pronged attack on the dearth of healthy food in poor American neighborhoods.

Currently People’s Grocery runs an urban agriculture program, nutrition classes for community members of all ages and maintains a focus on enterprise and leadership development among West Oakland youth, employing young people at their Grub Box program, which functions as sort of a reverse CSA- using local farms to support the health of the community at the cost of about $12/month per family. In the past they’ve also run a mobile healthy food cart that serves the areas of the city whose distance from proper grocery stores is so far as to be prohibitive to get to.

So rock on, People’s Grocery. The kind of action- along with work on a variety of other levels- is what it’s going to take to convert our country to a sustainable, equitable food system for all. And Guardian readers- you guys are awesome, keep sending in your nominations for food heroes. They deserve all the press, digital or not, that they can get.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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

Today’s Look: Max, Broderick and Haight

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Tell us about your look: “Dress differently”

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