Mission Mission

Whenever Halloween falls on a weekday, such as a Thursday this year, there’s always some uncertainty concerning the proper time to celebrate.  Purists dress up on the actual day, some people choose the weekend before, others the weekend after, and some determined folks just decide that the whole week is Halloween and go, “fuck you, imma treat myself” while they come to work in costume every single day.

Luckily for those looking to get an early start this weekend, there’s a double dose of Halloween dance parties this Saturday!  If darkness is your forte, head over to Smithfits at the Knockout:

SMITHSFITS is back for our 3rd Halloween costume contest. $100 for first place. Drinks for second place.
You can scroll through the pics from two years ago here.

Selectors, Josh Ghoul and Victor Cuevas (LA) will be playing all your favourite SMITHS and MISFITS records all freakin nite long!

If you’re just looking to get down and dirty, check out The Devil Made Me Do It at El Rio:

Two costume contests with cash prizes: Best Devil & Best Overall Costume!
Smile and show us some fang in the Monster Photo Booth by SHOT IN THE CITY!

+ Performances by your spooktacularly malevolent ghostess LIL MISS HOT MESS!
+ Live creepy covers and Monster Mashes from MAMMOTH STRIFE!
+ Devil Babe & Boy GO-GO DANCERS from RED HOTS BURLESQUE!

All vinyl, sextacular Girl Groups, Soul, Psych & Garage by:
+ DJs BLOODY BROWN AMY (Hard French)
+ JACKIE “SHEER TERROR” SUGARLUMPS (Web of Sound)

The best part is that they’re right across the street from each other, which means you can go to both!  So, it looks like we’ve got your whole Saturday planned out for you!  Start with some rad live music at the Clarion Alley Block Party, then head on over to DJ Purple VIP Dance Karaoke, and finally finish your night with a double dance party in La Lengua!  Just try not to wear a Breaking Bad costume…

In addition to his weekly Thursday night party at Slate Bar on 16th Street, this week DJ Purple is trying something new: “VIP Dance Karaoke party” in a location somewhere in the Mission from 5-9pm on Saturday evening! Here’s the deal:

The perfect way to kick off your Saturday night!

DJ Purple, the award-winning originator of the Bay Area DANCE KARAOKE phenomenon, has been perfecting his very unique brand of party at venues throughout San Francisco and the region for years, and now it’s your chance to experience Purple Power as a VIP! DJ Purple is hosting a VIP Dance Karaoke event, limited to twenty-five singers in an awesome private clubhouse in San Francisco’s Mission District. You sing more! Others sing less!

Serious singers only! Get tickets here. RSVP and invite your friends here.

Six gins and tonics, one SFist editor.

(And a great DJ from BFF and an expert event planning staff from The Bold Italic and beautiful weather from the universe.)

Riding the Google buses over to the island from the AT&T Park parking lot is fun and all, but how about A PARTY BOAT INSTEAD???

As mentioned in our Q&A with BFF.fm founder Cosmic Amanda, BFF.fm found Cosmic Amanda will be DJing every trip. Also, OPEN BAR!!!

The Bold Italic has the official details:

Catch our boat at the San Francisco Ferry Building or in Oakland’s Jack London Square.

||OPEN BAR||SNACKS||MUSIC||

Our DJ, Cosmic Amanda from BFF.fm, will be playing tunes that will get you movin’ while we move you across the bay.

The first 25 people to board each boat receive a limited edition t-shirt from San Franpsycho. Nautical wear is optional, but heavily encouraged.

Schedule for Saturday 10/19 and Sunday 10/20
Please note: departure times are EXACT! Don’t miss the boat!

Trip to Treasure Island (available Saturday 10/19 and Sunday 10/20)
12:15pm San Francisco Ferry Building (Gate E next to Sinbad’s restaurant)
1:15pm Oakland Jack London Square (Water St. near the Waterfront Hotel)
2:00pm arrival at Treasure Island (Pier 1)

Trip from Treasure Island (available Saturday 10/19 and Sunday 10/20)
11:15pm Depart Treasure Island
12:15am Guests disembark in Oakland Jack London Square
1:00am Guests disembark at the San Francisco Ferry Building

We’ve got plenty of ticket options! Pre-sale pricing only available through Friday 10/11/13.

Tickets are here.

Note: the graphic above (by Allison of C’mon Pony) depicts the BFF crew getting wasted before the festival even starts, as well as the sequined outfit Cosmic Amanda will probably be wearing. Can’t wait!

[via Caryn]

Here’s the deal:

Jason Myers, author of four novels, including the bestsellers Exit Here and The Mission, and Stuart Schuffman (aka Broke-Ass Stuart), who runs one of the best goddamn websites in the world (BrokeAssStuart.com), and has written 3 famous travel guides, will be reading for the first time together on Saturday, October 12th at the DensityStore on Valencia Street in between 16th & 17th.

The event goes from 7-9 with Stuart reading from 7:15-7:45 and Jason reading from 8-8:45 or so. It’s an all ages event and it’s fucking free and wine and beer will be served as well. The shop itself is fairly small and it will get filled to capacity so we’d advise you all to get there before 7 to ensure that you’ll be able to actually get inside to witness this ridiculously entertaining and wild spectacle.

RSVP and invite your friends!

It’s a good place to just play some ping pong with your friends. Also, El Rio’s 35th Birthday Party is coming up later this month btw. Can’t get enough El Rio!

[via Ping Pong Nite on Facebook]

I don’t write about books very often, mainly because I don’t read very many books, but I’m halfway through Fondly and it is a fucking trip. After reading it for a while, I’d be going about my day and suddenly have a thought like, “Trains probably don’t really exist,” and actually think this thought for like 10 seconds before realizing my error. This is a good book.

Here’s the deal on the party, which starts at 7:30pm on Tuesday:

I’m throwing this sweet book launch at The Booksmith (1644 Haight) for my new book, Fondly. Andi’s going to read a “book report,” Alice Kim is going to read some new fiction, there’ll be other readers, some weird music, free beers, and snacks, and everything you could hope for.

Sounds pretty good! Hopefully it’ll be as good as Colin’s reading of a mysterious note we found on a burnt-out dock near Port Costa:

You’ve seen this version of the “Bikes to Books” map, published previously in the SF Bay Guardian, but reporter Nicole Gluckstern, Burrito Justice and City Lights Books are releasing a museum-quality version. And this Sunday they’re making an all-day party of it:

Twenty-five years after the street-naming proposal was passed by the then the Board of Supervisors, local author and city cyclist Nicole Gluckstern devised a bike route connecting all twelve streets into a comprehensive bike tour, and enlisted avid amateur historian Burrito Justice for the creation of an interactive, multi-functional map, recently published in an abridged form in The San Francisco Bay Guardian. The two-sided, full color map published in collaboration with City Lights, is appropriate for use as a navigational tool, a history lesson, and a unique work of art in its own right.

Bike Tour details for October 6:
Meet on the North side of Jack London Street at South Park from 10:30 am.
Tour will commence at 11:00 am sharp.
Tour will end at approximately 2 pm outside City Lights Bookstore, at Jack Kerouac Alley in North Beach.
Cost = Free! (bring your own water/snacks)

Reading details for October 6:
Meet in Jack Kerouac Alley from 2-4 pm for a celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Street-naming project and a release party for “Bikes to Books” map, sponsored by the City Lights Foundation.
Cost = Free!

Burrito Justice has lots more info here.

Scott writes in to let us know about this fundraising event for Marshall Elementary:

We are that small public elementary school on 15th and Capp. Our families are not wealthy, and we are struggling to figure out how to raise money for our school to fund the things that the school budget doesn’t. And that is pretty much everything outside of teacher salaries.

This year, we are teaming up with Lucha Libre – Mexican wrestling. Lucha Libre is a form of wrestling, popular in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, that is characterized by colorful masks, rapid sequences of holds and high-flying maneuvers. Should be more fun than the typical bake sale or silent auction! We will have some food to buy as well.

We set up a site to buy tickets and it would be great to get some of our community to come in and support our fundraiser.

$10 adults / $5 kids

OCT 6, Sunday, Doors open at 1:30 PM.

Looks pretty amazing.

The event is called C2SV, and seeing local heroes Thee Oh Sees open for rock ‘n’ roll legends Iggy and the Stooges in Downtown San Jose’s St. James Park is going to be awesome! Here’s more info on the music portion:

Held over four days at 12+ downtown San Jose venues, C2SV will showcase emerging and established acts in some of Silicon Valley’s best venues. Early punk innovators Iggy and The Stooges will headline the inaugural event at St. James Park on September 28 with additional performances throughout the weekend.

Tickets (at many different pricing levels) here.

P.S. Stooges guitarist James Williamson is also one of the conference’s featured speakers.