Mission Mission

I just noticed these bike lockers by the 19th / Broadway BART Stop in Oakland:

The way this system works is you get some kind of smart card similar to Translink or FastPass. It maintains a balance of funds (like $20) which you use to gain access to the locker. The rates are an arbitrarily low 3-5 cents per hour.

I’m not sure I get the point. Sure it may be superficially more secure for long term parking, but it’s also a waste of space (only 4 bikes fit in the lockers seen above), nowhere near ubiquitous, expensive to maintain, and seems to encourage people to not carry a real lock. According to BART these are available in mostly east bay cities.

Has anyone used one of these and find it to be more practical or secure than hitching up next to a parking meter?

Fair warning: you might have to deal with drunk zombies tonight. Zombie Steve F. sends us word of a last-minute Zombie Bar Crawl. They are meeting at Dirty Thieves at 24th & Treat and will supply the blood.

If you’re into totally trolling the unsuspecting public, then Zombie Bar Crawls (Limps?) are probably as good as it gets. I’m personally no so into this stuff since I find it offensive towards zombies. Haven’t they been through enough?

two interceptors guarding the albion throne (newly spattered with vomit.)

(via brianwickman)

This week, on Tales of Inappropriate Hippie Dancing: this guy at Amnesia’s happy hour set yesterday:

Psych! There is no such thing as “Tales of Inappropriate Hippie Dancing”, because all the “tales” would be: “Yeah this weird bearded guy came in and started dancing all crazy. First it was funny, then it was sad, then everyone started looking away uncomfortably.”

Still, you gotta admire that I-don’t-give-a-shit-what-you-think attitude, especially since most of us enjoy the music by crossing our arms and nodding subtly behind that invisible 15-foot forcefield around the stage.

The excellent band, by the way, is Seattle’s Casy MacGill’s Blue 4 Trio. They are playing at the Verdi Club on Friday if you’re into this stuff.

Previously:

Dolores Park Interpretive Dancer Takes It All Off

TheBayTaper just put up a stunning video of Realistic Orchestra performing live at Coda Lounge. Realistic Orchestra is a jazz/hip-hop band made up of members of the Jazz Mafia, a super-group collective of San Francisco musicians.

Click the image to check it out, or the mp3 link below if your bandwidth can’t take the 720p.

Realistic Orchestra live at Coda Lounge MP3

Circus Bella did a fundraiser performance at Amnesia last night. And, not to be deterred by the tight quarters, they managed to install a goddamned trapeze in the middle of the room:

That’s the artistic director Abigail Munn performing.

Circus Bella does it the old-school way and sets up free open air one-ring circus performances in parks. They feature a live band with original music written and performed by Rob Reich. You may remember last summer when they posted up in a beloved park in the ‘hood that starts with a “D” and translates to “pains”.

They are ramping up for the summer season and hopefully coming to a park near you. The next SF performance is at Yerba Buena  Gardens on July 3rd. They run on donations from supporters so find out how you can get involved here.

Wow, there have been some killer photos on the mission flickr feed  and they aren’t all just pics of Dolores Park (which are quickly becoming the Mission photographer equivalent of performing “Freebird”).

Yakubovich:

Jennaaaye:

According to this craigslist ad, the Culture Skate storefront is up for grabs. Sucks… sounds like it’s time for another game-changing iteration of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise to get more young posers on boards and give the skating industry the boost it needs.

Thanks to Devin H. for the tip.

If you’re like me, you didn’t know St. Patrick’s Day was this week until you heard folks bitching about the parade downtown this past Saturday.

Well, now that you’re all caught up, get into the spirit by checking out this cool show at Amnesia tonight. Live drankin’ songs and sea shanties by the Barbary Ghosts, a duo featuring Sean (the owner of Amnesia) and 2009 Accordion Babes Calendar pin-up Joan.

Starts at 10pm and costs 5 bucks. And as always from 8-10pm there’s Gaucho Gypsy Jazz doin’ what they do.

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of checking out Mark Growden in an intimate house-concert setting at the Porto Franco Art Parlor. He opened up with with this haunting improvisation on the bicycle handlebars.

It sounds like the type of music that would be playing in the background while an elderly Asian man explains the spiritual journey I’m about to take, shortly before being attacked by bandits from a neighboring village.

Mark’s new album, St. Judas is great and it was recorded completely live, after he and the band took a week-long retreat in the woods rehearsing and speaking to wild coyotes.

Previously:

• Mark Growden @ The Porto Franco Art House This Friday