Mission Mission

Here’s a great video of the old soul Kally Price singing at the Red Poppy Art House May of this year. She is joined by Leon Oakley on trumpet, Ari Munkres on bass, Craig Ventresco on guitar, and Rob Reich on piano.

Her new album is recorded and will come out on Porto Franco Records some time soon (I hope).

The Bicycle Music Festival is back!  What better way to spend a sunny Saturday than biking down city streets with a bunch of fellow cyclists in the middle of huge rolling concert? 

The fun starts in Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park at 12 Noon for a bushel of bands headlined by Sean Hayes.  At 5pm the party gets rolling through the streets (the full map of the ride can be seen here), with bicycle rapper Fossil Fool leading the way on his crazy double-decker musical cycling contraption (seen in the awesome GIF up there by Burrito Justice).

The route goes through Dolores Park (where, if last year is any indication, a few bands might post up and play),  Valencia,  24th Street, and Harrison, before looping back to 16th and finishing the party up at Showplace Triangle.  See you there!

Previously:

Last Year’s Bicycle Music Festival

Mission: Comics and Art‘s own Leef Smith was recently immortalized in comic form, along with two other local comic shop guys and a few old school ones. The amazing drafstman Jon Adams illustrates and writes the piece for The Bold Italic.

As drawn by Jon Adams.

As photographed by AD.

This Saturday Leef invites you into his awesome shop on 20th Street for a performance by Marian Call. Her music is rad and when you hear it you know why she’s playing at a comic book store.

Info is found here.

Our buddy Nicole Browner from Bay Bridged explains why she’s pumped about this year’s Regional Bias:

I am personally excited about having this fairly new local band, Exrays (members of Ray’s Vast Basement). Also, we have Morgan Maki (18 Reasons/Bi-Rite) cooking for the evening, with veg options. Many of the local artists are people who have designed website banners for us in the past and present, and they will be selling their work. Yeah SF!

Yeah SF! RSVP (or invite your friends) via the Regional Bias 2010 Facebook Page.

Previously:

Scenes from Oysterfest 2010 featuring Thao Nguyen

Pitchfork 2010 was rad. If you haven’t been, do try some day. Apart from the epic lineups, the festival is very friendly and local, out in a neighborhood park your concierge and your cabbie have never heard of.

LCD Soundsystem nearly killed me with how perfect they are.  Totally cried during “All My Friends.” The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are back, in good a form as ever. Surfer Blood continue to impress. Girls win the award for best shirt on a frontperson.

There were lots of cameras:

And LOTS of Ray-Bans:

Lots of trees and lots of people:

MORE AFTER THE JUMP . . . . .

(more…)

One tried and true way to ingratiate yourself to the local community is to host a free event with a popular band and an open bar.  In this, the quite controversial Levi’s pop up on Valencia does not disappoint.  We arrived on Saturday evening and were treated to an enthusiastic crowd of folks who were just as curious to explore the various intricacies of the shop as we were.  Tables around the space were teeming with lettering stamps, screen presses, Macs, and all sorts of other design supplies, and visitors were encouraged by the staff to get their hands dirty.  Of course, the bountiful supply of free Wild Turkey on the rocks did not hurt either.

By now, it seems as though everyone has expressed their opinion about this possibly revolutionary endeavor.  Could they have made more effort to engage the already prevalent printing shops in the neighborhood, such as Ape Do Good, in an attempt to bolster those businesses?  Sure, probably.  But given their impressive list of local community collaborators, such as Southern Exposure and the Women’s Building, this seems a lot more benign than many initially assumed.

One thing that I definitely would have done differently about the evening though:  Even though it was free to attend, guests still needed to RSVP on Facebook prior to the event.  While I understand the rationale and crowd-controlling aspects of this decision, it unfortunately promoted this weird LA club vibe with people lining up to get in and staff with clipboards at the front door to see if they were “on the list.”  I feel this could have been made to be a little more inclusive.  However, once people got in, the joy on their faces was apparent as they were treated to free drinks and the musical stylings of local favorites Honey.

We spoke to Dan, the shop manager, about the ambitious project’s future.  The plans are to vacate the space by the end of August (so Charles Phan can open a high-end banh mi spot or something) and move to New York, where instead of printing presses, the focus will be on photography (not just digital, but also dark rooms with stop bath and photo flow  and all that business).  Then, if things work out, the next spot might be in New Orleans to open a pop-up music recording studio.  It really seems like they’re taking this community thing seriously, but man, I wish we had gotten the photography or recording pop-ups!  I guess when Levi’s thinks of San Francisco, they think of T-shirts.

UPDATE!!!  I neglected to mention the purpose of the event, but luckily commenter Patti fills us in:

That particular Levi’s event was a launch party for the 4th issue of First Person Magazine, which was printed on the premises that day, along with three limited edition artist prints.  FP Mag, made by local Betty Nguyen,  was chosen as one of the projects for the workshop.

We initially were wondering how it would all go off and it actually went really well.  I don’t think the RSVP list is meant to be exclusive but is simply a way to manage the head count to keep the SFFD happy.

Previously:

What Do You Think About the Levi’s Workshop on Valencia?

Inside the Levi’s Workshop

Just found this great video of Ramon & Jessica and was reminded that they will be playing TONIGHT at the Red Poppy Art House on Folsom and 23rd. This is a great, intimate room to see them in.

Tuvan-throat singing bluesman Seth Augustus will also be on the bill.

Doors at 8:45pm, show at 9pm. $10-15 suggested donation.

With a forecast calling for mostly pleasant weather, there is no shortage of fun things to do outside in the sun this weekend.  First up on Saturday, the Mission Creek Festival reconvenes for a free outdoor concert at McLaren Park from noon to 6pm.  Local products The Fresh & Onlys and Grass Widow headline a melodious offering that also features Brian Glaze & the Night Shift and Ganglians.  Remember to bring a sweater just in case because we live in San Francisco.

Sunday marks the 2nd summer session of the indie mart at thee Parkside.  As I’ve said before, it’s tough to beat a Sunday spent leisurely strolling along a closed-off city block while sipping a Zeitgest-tier bloody mary and scoping the latest offerings from local fashion designers, such as the custom sized 1960s bikinis from newcomer Lacombe Lingerie.  The design-your-own-terrariums will also be returning this time around, joined this time by a life-size terrarium where you can hang out and drink some beers while you kick it with Pauly Shore.  PBR giveaways, dog and cat adoption, Heavy Metal Aerobics, and a slew of musical acts round out the action, which also happens to run from noon to 6pm.  Don’t forget the sunscreen!

[Photo by hummingbirdheart]

It’s been a too long since Gamelan Girl last graced MM with her presence.  Luckily, Gamelan is coming to the Mission this weekend for the first time that I can remember so you can all finally see what the fuss is about. 

Dance Mission (you know, the studio above the Chinese/Donut place on 24th and Mission that sometimes causes you to think the world is ending when you walk by, only to realize that people are just banging on giant drums up there) is hosting the Gadung Kasturi Balinese Dance group this Friday and Saturday at 8pm each evening.  Tickets are available for a very reasonable $12 at Brown Paper Tickets.

Chill out to the soothing, meditative rhythms and chimes of this ancient Asian art form.  Smoke a bowl or something if that’s what it takes (Disclaimer:  MM never advocates drug use) because you’re going to want to zone out to this contagious groove.  If that’s not enough, 8-year old dance sensation Chandra Ayu Davies will be there too, dazzling us with her moves.  Try something different before you head over to the Mission Creek Festival this weekend!

[Photo]

 Previously:

Gamelan Girl

You all love the French, right? After all, this is San Francisco and I’d like to think we are Paris’ equally smug North American sister city. The best way for you to celebrate Bastille Day is to head over to Amnesia to see the always swingin’ gypsy jazz band Gaucho from 8-10pm.

There will be drinks, Charleston dancing, an accordion, authentic 30′s French jazz, and a REAL beheading. I’m not even joking. I was put in charge of constructing the guillotine.

Update:

Shameless tells us of more Bastille Day awesomeness:

There is also a Mods v Rockers Bastille day celebration at the Make Out Room. Supposed to be French guest DJ’s and dancing. It starts around 10 so fun neighborhood times to be had.

And Heather says this is going on at the Rickshaw Stop:

Don’t forget Bardot A Go Go! http://www.myspace.com/bardotagogo