Mission Mission

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

I keep noticing this bit of sidewalk stenciling in front of a house on Valencia between 20th and 21st.

It’s not in S. Pigeon’s “Codes Of The City” guide, so I can only assume that this is the meeting place of an underground club where swingers try out all the latest non-standard sex positions. You heard it here first. Knock on their door and ask for an application if you’re interested. (Don’t really do that)

The battle for edgy chalk sign supremacy rages on at Frjtz, who is still in the lead for unpronounceable restaurant names.

Previously:

• Bowel, Please
• You Should Come In. Yeah.
• Regalito: “Made By Real Mexicans”
• Oh, Come On

This new Reggie Watts video is pretty awesome:

That clown guy is Jeff Seal and he used to live in the mission, so save your “not the mission” business. Also, it’s meta-as-fuck, there are beards, and features street art so it’s basically the Mission.

Kari alerted me to the fact that she’ll be telling a story at next Monday’s Porchlight SF storytelling series at the Verdi Club. I hadn’t heard of it, so I looked it up:

Porch light brings together an eclectic mix of storytellers for evenings of entertainment and inspiration. Each storyteller tells a 10-minute tale about a specific theme, without using notes or memorization.

It sounds almost exactly like the Moth, which I love because I’m a public radio podcast fanboy. That’s right, I’m staying perfectly goddamn true to Mission yuppie form. Seriously, if I was a chick I’d probably be crushing on Ira Glass, but I guess I’ll just have to settle for the less-dreamy Terry Gross.

The theme for Monday is “Beware: Stories Of Danger”.

Monday, March 15th, 8 p.m. (Doors open at 7 p.m.)

Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa Street, San Francisco

General admission tickets: $12.

From Peter R.

From the always exciting SE corner of the mission… a car somehow managed to flip itself over this morning on Cesar Chavez at Hampshire. I keep looking at the picture but can’t figure out how this happened…

Hope everyone’s ok. Careful out there, drivers.

My friend Emma spotted this sweet tank top at Golden Plaza Trading on Mission and 23rd.

I have a soft spot for Engrish T’s, which are among my peoples’ best export, and jokingly mentioned that “I need this in my life”. So of course minutes later she went and bought it for me. Now what should I do with it? Sew it into beer cozies? Give it a Turkish friend who just had a kid?