Mission Mission

Kevin hits us with this gem:

Just thought I’d share this.  Two officers came into the cafe I work at yesterday to remind us about the no drinking on Halloween and ask to put up a notice in the front window. Either they are not taking there job seriously or they were a bit drunk themselves. They still get points for effort.

It’s hard to take yourself seriously when your job consists of helping Gavin win an election by holding fun hostage.

Hey now, this looks pretty decent:

Budget Rock 8 starts tonight with a kick-off party at the Eagle Tavern starring Cheap Time and Hunx and His Punx, and ends Sunday night with hearthrobs the Gris Gris and Thee Oh Sees at Bottom of the Hill.  The festival features a collection of shows from some pretty big deal Bay Area garage-influenced bands.

Shows move back and forth between Thee Parkside and Bottom of the Hill Friday on.  The biggest hoopla of the weekend appears to be a pair of reunion shows by The Mummies Saturday.  Catch ‘em while they’re hot!

I’ve been meaning to see Hunx and His Punx at some point, as I find their music videos mesmerizing.  An example:

Phewf.  Yeah?

[From The Bay Bridged]

Broke-Ass Stuart alerts us to El Rio‘s 31st anniversary party.  Tonight at 8 p.m. and free!

“Bands/Dj’s, BBQ, Games and You!”, their website reads.

Happy birthday to this neighborhood institution!

Daaang.  Joshua writes in with a treatise on Blondies’ Bar & No Grill, Mission bars in gen, and his band Neighbors.  Sometimes these posts just write themselves, people:

have you guys ever been to blondies?

the band Little Wings played there last sunday night, pretty amazing set, for such a small place, they’ve got an amazing sound system. They’re more known for their martinis than the live shows they put on but their promoter, Alex Gallagher has been putting on some big name acts mixed in with local bands that aren’t doing that whole “GARAGE / NOISE” bs, musicians more interested in music than hipsters.

The martinis are amazing though, stuffed olives (ginger / jalapeno / bleu cheese & some other stuff I can’t remember), they use top shelf gins & serve it in a 16oz glass for 11 bucks. Which means you can split it up into two drinks, one for you & one for someone special.

Mainly, I wanted to show you guys this.

that’s the flier for the show being put on by Blondies next

sunday, October 25th.

Ashley, Eden & myself are in the band called Neighbors.

We’ve been playing around lately, Kimos, the Knockout,

last thursday, the Hemlock. Even still, we like Blondies

best, it has the mission feel without any of the pretense that

one might recieve if youwere to say, wear the wrong style

jacket into the Knockout. NO THANKS!!!! you know?

its just a good neighborhood bar, like El Rio.

Whew. Feel free to wear whatever style jacket you want at Blondies’ while slammin back an $11 double.

Thanks for writing in, J! And way to sell an idea. I actually had no idea Blondies’ put on shows.

This Friday and Saturday (10/23 and 10/24) the weirdos over at The Secret Alley are bringing together the most glorious music, movies, magic, art and street food in the immediate area. (I should note that I am one of these weirdos)

Friday night the doors open at 5pm with performances starting at 6pm. (early birds get the prime seats in the tree house) Saturday the doors open at 2pm and we go into the night.

You can listen to bands like Dot Punto, The Yellow Dress, Boyz IV Men, Queen Victoria and Commissure play music.

You can watch short movies by people like Ashley Lauren Saks, Casimir Fornalski and Tom Little.

You can enjoy art by people like Alfonso Kellenberger, Brian McDonald and Sonya Derman.

You can get food from vendors like Pizza Hacker, Sexy Soup Lady, Soul Cocina and Smitten Ice Cream.

A full list of participants and a schedule appears on our website. It will be a super fun two days and we’re really excited to show you all what we’ve been working on for the past few years. Please come by and say hi.

We will also be raffling off either a filmmaking class or a day of studio time at the impressive studios of The San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking.

SF Doc Fest is in full effect!

I read through some of the film descriptions and Waiting for Hockney, in particular, caught my eye.  Here’s a synopsis from the site:

Back in the ’90s, illustrator Billy Pappas had a portrait idea to wow the world. The only problem was that it would require a 20x magnifying glass to draw, for seven hours a day, for the next eight and a half years. After four years, he creates a sling system to overcome arm fatigue. After five years, his family and friends fear for his sanity. On top of this near-impossible endeavor, he’s determined to show his masterpiece to the famous and reclusive modern artist David Hockney, the one person that Billy believes can justify a decade of work. A film of both nail-biting suspense and pure old-fashioned grit.

Tonight at 9:15 at the Roxie!  $11, dudes.

Did you ever see that Daniel Johnston documentary?  DJ’s obsession with Laurie reminds me of the Hockney fixation described above.

Hockney is this guy, btw:

Go see it!

These are going to be on sale tomorrow. I struggle to think of anything I would rather eat.

Peep this: there are going to be 60 bakers selling sweet, sweet baked wares to make you fat from 11am-4pm tomorrow (Saturday) in front of Ike’s Place to benefit the Give Me Shelter Cat Rescue.  Best of all, there are going to be real-life kittens OTS to play with and maybe take home.  Kittens, people.

On a side note, the San Francisco Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines is also going to be there collecting money and relief goods to help the victims of Typhoon Ondoy.

Full Disclosure: I’ve been to one of these bakesales before and they’re delicious.  I’ll be eating the shit out of some pie tomorrow.

They made some really cutesy post that I somewhat disapprove of on the ground it made vegans look like virginal middle schoolers, so here is the doctored poster I made them:

I know the flyer is a little wordy but the skinny is this: this Sunday afternoon, you can go hang out with bike people and trade your stuff for better stuff/paper in the Sports Basement basement.  Even if you don’t have anything to buy or sell, they’ll be doing bike maintenance classes and everyone should know how to fix a flat, so be sure to make your way out there.

(Poster hat tip Box Dog Bikes)

ATA’s 4th Annual Film & Video Festival kicks off next week and there will be free workshops and not-free film screenings during the fest.  Best of all, we have a free pair of tickets to give away.  So, leave a comment with your best story remotely surrounding independent film and if we like it, you’ll get the tickets.

In the event no one tells us a story, the first person to comment “I’ll take the tickets if no one enters the contest” will get ‘em.

EVENT DATAS:

Artists’ Television Access celebrates original, independent and underground film & video with the 4th ATA Film & Video Festival on October 21, 22 & 23, 2009.

The festival will begin, Wednesday October 21, with a free workshop on experimental film exhibition and distribution, hosted by local experimental filmmakers and distributors.

On Thursday and Friday, October 22 & 23, ATA will screen two programs of short films. Both programs offer unique representations of the myriad facets of life and feature the work of local talents including Paul Clipson, Kerry Laitala, and Tommy Becker, and international filmmakers such as Maarit Suomi-Väänänen, Chris Kennedy, Laida Lertxundi and Martha Colburn.

The screenings will be followed by musical performances and the announcement of ATA Audience Awards.

Video installations will be displayed in the ATA store front window all month long and in the gallery during the festival!

ATA is at 992 Valencia at 21st Street in San Francisco. Doors open at 7pm every night. Screenings start at 7:30pm. Tickets are $7-$10.For complete information, including interviews with filmmakers visit http://festival.atasite.org/2009

It’s not every day that you can stuff your face with delicious pie without looking like a total piggy, but Sunday provided the perfect opportunity. October 11th marked the 3rd annual pie baking contest hosted by our fave pie shop, Mission Pie. This year’s contest was decided by a panel of distinguished judges; Ruby – Mission High student, Anthony – Anthony’s Cookies, Jessica Appelgren – last year’s winner, and Krystin & Karen – owners of Mission Pie.

The competition was fierce this year, but in the end Finch Linden walked away with “Best Looking Pie” (apple), Lauren Nilson won “People’s Choice” (salmon/ potato), Emily Montgomery grabbed “Best Savory” (tomato/ corn) and “Best in Show” went to Kurt Gross (apple/cranberry). Congrats to the winners!

But the big news of the day was that our state senator Mark Leno swung by and presented Mission Pie with a business of the year award. Well done guys!
Can’t wait for next year, I’m already drooling in anticipation!

See more pics of the pie madness here

-Ashleigh Cole