Mission Mission

Also, Judah Friedlander will perform his world-class standup act beforehand. SF Sketchfest 2013 gives us the rundown:

World Champion Judah Friedlander (“Frank Rossitano” on 30 Rock), the trucker cap-wearing comedian who also happens to be the best athlete in the world, the greatest martial artist, the sexual desire of every woman, and a master ping-pong player brings his stand-up to the Verdi Club in this very interactive night of entertainment. Following his set, join Judah and the American Tripps partiers for an epic throwdown of “Berlin-style” ping-pong. Ridiculous athletic wear encouraged.

Tickets available at the door or here.

[Photo by USA Today]

Berlin-style ping pong and DISCO!!! $5!!! Here’s the deal:

We’ve paired a lot of different musical styles with Berlin-style ping pong over the years, but this February, with the help of celebrity DJ COSMIC AMANDA (http://quonky.tumblr.com/), we’re taking AMERICAN TRIPPS to the DISCO for the very first time!!! Get ready!

Plus, we’re at Rickshaw Stop again, so be prepared for skeeball and foosball upstairs — and lots of snuggling in their fleet of comfy rickshaws.

RSVP and invite your friends! And then get down to the disco classic “I Like Love” by Norma Jean Wright:

The Hard French Winter Ball is rapidly approaching, and while there’s still a few tickets available, the deadline to nominate your 2013 Hard French King and Queen is tonight at 6pm:

We’re looking for extraordinary folks from our community who are smart, sweet, artsy, crafty, committed, bold, big-hearted, and of course, self-identifiably sexy and know how to shake their tail feathers!  Ultimately, it’s a chance to honor the folks who tend to put in more than they get back, to say thank you for being part of what makes our community so great!

Wait, you don’t even know what the Hard French Winter Ball is all about?  Well, just imagine 1000 folks from SF going down to Santa Cruz to party on the boardwalk at the Coconut Grove Grand Ballroom!  Check out all the details here, get your tickets here, and don’t forget to nominate those beautiful friends, lovers, crushes, and all-around heroes here!

It looks a little something like this:

It’s updated regularly with listings and info about good stuff.

Find it by clicking the calendar badge on our front page:

Here’s the deal:

In the glorious, annual tradition of the hot rod pin-up girl calendar, AUTOCULT, a new magazine that preserves and promotes the American custom automotive culture, put together twelve  months of a few of the most iconic custom cars with beautiful women in front of some of the most talented photographers of our generation.

To celebrate the launch, AUTOCULT is hosting a release party at the Pretty Pretty Collective on Saturday, Jan. 12 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., complete with $2 PBRs, records spun by Dirty  Donny and Big Nate, San Francisco’s original Derby Jackets for sale, hot rods parked out front and a few of the hot girls featured in the calendar inside. Calendars will be available for  purchase at a show-only price of $20 during the event only (regularly $30, shipped).

And here’s a making-of video (for further “info”):

Even if the world ends today, there still probably won’t be as much fire in the Mission as there was when the Giants won the world series.

Tomorrow night, as part of SF Sketchfest‘s pre-festival events, director Terry Zwigoff (of Crumb and Ghost World fame, swoon) will be presenting his director’s cut of Bad Santa (2003) at the Castro Theatre. After the film, Zwigoff will be holding a Q&A with actors Tony Cox and Lauren Tom. Tickets are available here.

We had the opportunity to chat briefly with Zwigoff, where we talked to him about Robert Crumb, Dan Clowes, the ties between comics and old-timey things, cynicism, and San Francisco’s changing landscape. Read the rest of the interview after the jump.

MM: You lived in San Francisco in the 70s, can you tell us what it was like and how it’s changed over the years?

TZ: [Laughs] I laugh because I hardly leave my house. I’m probably not be the best person to ask. But I’d say it’s more gentrified. In my neighborhood, anyway.

MM: What was the Mission like then?

TZ: It was a working class neighborhood. It’s strange to see it it now, especially Valencia Street. It’s like restaurant row now, like the Village. Mission Street still feels the same, especially around 16th Street. With the check-cashing stores and drug addicts and homeless people. Now, the homeless are being pushed towards Market Street. The skyline has changed, I liked it so much better before, it used to remind me of the San Francisco in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Now there are all of these awful skyscrapers and condos.

(more…)

Quite a format! Not sure anything like this has ever been done before. Here’s the lineup:

Caitlin Gill
Casey Ley
Kevin Camia
Ben Feldman
Shanti Charan
Kaseem Bentley
Sean Keane
Natasha Muse
Mike Drucker
Dave Thomason
Brendan Lynch
Joe Gorman
Anna Seregina
Jules Posner
Colleen Watson
Kevin O’Shea
Josef Anolin
Mary Van Note
Jesse Fernandez
Kevin Munroe
David Gborie
Joey Devine
Jesse Elias
Lydia Popovich
Red Scott
Andrew Holmgren
Juan Medina
Matt Gubser
George Chen
Clare O’Kane
Greg Asdourian
Rajeev Dhar
Kristee Ono
Drew Harmon
James Fluty
OJ Patterson
Kate Willett
Cameron Vannini
Kollin Holtz
Land Smith

Advance tickets here.

RSVP and invite your friends!

Holiday cheer! This will likely be the holiday party to end ‘em all! Here’s the deal:

The first SINGIN’ & PINGIN’ was the most fun anyone had ever had in the history of ever, so you’re darn right we’re doing it again! And we’re making it our official holiday party!!

DJ Purple (http://djpurple.com/) is an award-winning performer, and his DANCE KARAOKE parties are the stuff of legend.

We’ll have two ping pong tables for plenty of Berlin-style action, as well as foosball and skeeball in the mezzanine, drink specials, lots of dance floor, karaoke lyrics up on the big screen, and a handful of cozy rickshaws for cuddlin’.

RSVP and invite your friends! (And then peep DJ Purple’s songbook and get a-practicin’!)

Pics of the epic Singin’ & Pingin 1 right here if you wanna see what you’re in for.