An “Early Strike”

The group of people who went around the neighborhood tonight smashing up local business storefronts were not involved with the Occupy movement, according to a source who is heavily active in the movement. He concedes that there easily could be overlap in terms of people who also go to Occupy rallies, or support the cause, but that this is not action that is generally acceptable with the vastly peaceful protesters.

The source points out that wording in this post, where the above image was found, implies Black Bloc tactics, frowned upon by many Occupy protesters, and does not specifically call itself Occupy. Though it appears on a site that seems to be affiliated with Occupy Oakland.

Let’s hope that the damage done tonight ends tonight and tomorrow’s peaceful actions will strengthen, rather than overshadow, the strike’s important messages.

Valencia Street ransackers attack poor unsuspecting plant

Congrats, fuckheads, you smashed an innocent little succulent.

[via @roseandsigil]

Eyewitness report: ‘Occupy fuckheads smash the shit out of the Mission’

From our pal Plumpy:

I was doing laundry on 14th & Valencia, when I walked out and there were about 100 Occupy kids in face masks and bandanas marching down the middle street without a cop in sight. I was waiting on the corner to see what was going on when they just started smashing windows. The Taca Airlines place on the corner and few businesses next to it got their windows obliterated, as well as the new condos across 14th. Eventually I noticed they were being followed by three cop cars, who apologized for being too outnumbered to do anything.

They headed up to Zeitgeist and stood outside, seeming to briefly ponder smashing the windows of a busy bar before thinking better of it. They headed down Duboce, smashing car windows, throwing trash in the street, and spray painting anything that seemed interesting. After breaking Brick & Mortar’s windows, the riot cops finally showed up on 14th & Mission, right outside my apartment.

The cops were shoving them back towards Duboce, but when they got there, a cop car ran into another private car. I think in the chaos the anarchist weirdos mostly got away into SOMA, presumably to wreak havoc on more undeserving people.

Then, I guess, a silver lining? A small coalition of neighbors and the local homeless joining together to pick everything back up. Yay, community? But ugh.

UPDATE: I’m pretty sure this was not an Occupy action. I apologize for the misleading headline. Plumpy wrote it in the heat of the moment, and I posted it in the heat of the moment. More on the origins of the demonstration here.

Smashed storefronts

[via @ksmeallie and @embot]

Riot police guarding SFPD’s Mission Station

[via Chris Filippi]

Valencia Street protestors/ransackers paintbomb Four Barrel

But I guess they got off lightly considering the heavier damage sustained by other local businesses.

(Thanks, Lindsey.)

Riot police marching in formation up and down Valencia Street, plus a doozy of a smashed-in storefront

And our pal Lindsey confirms:

it was black bloc from occupy oakland.

Black Bloc-looking, possibly Occupy-related marchers ransack Valencia Street, wrecking storefronts and luxury cars

Reader Steve wrote in with some pics and an explanation:

Hey, I’m sure you guys are aware of the black-bloc-looking Occupy-related (?) march that just ransacked Valencia.

Here are some shitty cell-phone photos of the immediate aftermath just in case.

Other notable casualties: SUV at 18th & Valencia smashed and maybe lightly smoking?, smashed and painted police station doors, most stores and restaurants with some yellow paint and broken glass.

Police weren’t with it at all. One cop got out of his car and literally just sort of yelled “HEY” at them at 18th & Guerrero as they were just getting started, then went and called it in. By the time the police were riot-geared up and locking down their station, the mob had moved on up Valencia.

UPDATE: I’m pretty sure this was not in fact Occupy-related. More on the origins of the demonstration here.

My reissue of the Hickey compilation came today, and I’m having a moment

Hickey was a band from the Mission in the 90’s that was the primary inspiration for the whole Mission punk scene of the late 90’s and early 00’s. I pretty much missed them entirely – I was still getting into music and probably at a Suicide Machines show at Slim’s around the time they were playing their last show. I did get ahold of their album at some point as well as a burned copy of Various States of Disrepair that I ripped from the KALX library on my first generation iBook. At some point I saw Matty Luv and possibly another member of Hickey play at Mission Records in an acoustic band called Me, You, and the Boys. All I distinctly remember was the closing refrain of the best song they played, “I’m higher than youuuuu are, I’m higher than youuuuu are.” Sadly, Matty Luv died a year or two later.

I pre-ordered this album a few months ago when Corbett posted about it on Facebook. 1-2-3-4-Go records in Oakland put the reissue together, and they did a great job. It’s two LPs, Gatefold jacket, a larger than cd-sized stapled booklet that’s around 20 pages, free download, optional red vinyl, and an adorbs punk rock patch (people still make those?)

I’m surprised by how many songs I remember, since I probably haven’t listened to it in about 8 years. My teenage punk nostalgia has already been kicked into high gear since I discovered an awesome blog called Remote Outposts that is posting a bunch of old demos and DIY cds/tapes that came out around that time.

Anywayz, for those of you who are fans, I hope you are enjoying this reissue as much as I am. Is this the first time it’s ever been pressed as an LP? And for those of you who haven’t heard Hickey, they’re worth looking into if you like inspiring, passionate, weird, catchy, edgy rock music.

 

Atlas Cafe’s beloved beetloaf sandwich is now slightly different

C’mon Pony, historically one of the sandwich’s most energetic proponents, reports:

They changed the spread to something more mayo-y (I guess I haven’t gotten it since before they updated their menu), but it’s not overwhelming so it’s still good!

Phewf! [link and link]