Mission Mission

The mural:

The video:

Whether they’re related or not, they’re both compelling works of art. Watch the whole video here:

(Thanks to Jenny Gottstein for the tip!)

UPDATE: Got a relevant email:

thrilled you posted about me and my shark fin. kool kid is SF based (his mgr is the head booker for Yoshi’s) so i would guess he’s related to that mural somehow. not often you see rap artists taking up environmental causes.

we are a social media agency that works for the ocean (not kidding, it’s our client) and we’ve been promoting that video the last few days.

Do you know about this shark art tour that’s swinging through SF next weekend? thats what his video was promoting. http://thegreatwestcoastmigration.blogspot.com/p/migration.html

also, we put his lyrics up on rapgenius.com and asked shark scientists to put in their interpretations: http://rapgenius.com/Kool-kid-kreyola-me-and-my-shark-fin-lyrics

Rachel Dearborn
Upwell
project twitter: @upwell_us

What better night to tempt the lords of darkness with a wild Smiths/Misfits dance party than Friday the 13th?  Afraid?  Too bad, because the Smithsfits Friend Club makes it triumphant return tomorrow at the Knockout, and the best part is that the first 36 people to walk through the door get a rad limited edition Smithsfits button!  You’d be surprised how well the Smiths and Misfits go together when you just want to dance, which is why this night has become one of my favorite parties in the neighborhood!  Be sure to Like the page so you stay up to date on when the next party’s going down (that is, if you make it through the night).

Oh, and don’t forget to RSVP and invite your friends here!

Well, this is a dream come true. My two favorite parties in the world, coming together for what will likely be the best superparty the world has ever known. It’s Berlin-style ping pong, in the factory-turned-performing-arts-theater known as Z Space, with DJ Purple‘s newly reborn DANCE KARAOKE party providing the soundtrack.

DJ Purple has been a fixture here in the neighborhood for years and years now (read all about him in our in-depth interview), so it’s fitting that he’s debuting his newly revamped (and renamed) repertoire here on Saturday night. We asked him to explain exactly what’s new:

OK, so the PINK BOOKS are basically taking the DJ Purple DANCE KARAOKE concept and giving it a thorough overhaul and update.

The basic idea of “no slow songs” has been taken into every nook and cranny of the song book, searching out those few remaining “clunkers” as I like to call them – songs that kill the momentum of the dance floor.

I’ve also changed the name from “The Ultimate Karaoke Dance Party” to “DANCE KARAOKE” for a few reasons. Most important is that it puts the emphasis on dancing as the FIRST priority, not just an afterthought.

In the past, I would use the “Party” part of the name as an excuse to include songs that were fun, but didn’t really keep people on the dance floor.

In the new books, every single song (2,436) has been carefully evaluated for dance potential – WAY more carefully than in the old book. For the last nine months, I’ve devoted pretty much every free moment to this.

Of course, it’s still a karaoke show, so it’s not all EDM – it still requires people to be open-minded enough to dance to rock, swing, country, etc.

We tried something similar several years ago at Zen Lounge in Mountain View – I created a special “Super-Dance Karaoke” book – and the result was incredible – we had a packed dance floor all night for karaoke.

Sold! So there’s that, plus the ping pong, plus free PBR, plus an afterparty at Coffee Bar across the street, plus skeeball, and it all takes place in this glorious room:

Imagine the karaoke lyrics up on that giant movie screen, and four ping pong tables worth of ping pong action! This is going to be epic. RSVP and invite your friends!

Oh, and be sure to check out DJ Purple’s songbook in advance.

[Photo by Ulla Havenga / Z Space]

It seems our boy Rocky, of Rocky’s Frybread fame, has some other tricks up his sleeve. Here’s the mysterious promotional video for his band’s performance tonight at the Knockout:

Ooh, and here’s the kickass poster:

This should be interesting. Plus, I hear Chris Garcia is moving to LA, so you better get your fill quick. RSVP and invite your friends!

Did you know there is a whole video/production studio at the back of Artist Television Access on Valencia at 21st? It’s called Goldwave and lately they’ve been producing an ongoing series called Chromavision which highlights local musicians who are bridging the worlds of analog and digital production. Check out their second episode featuring both an interview (above) and live set (below) with Mission resident Natural Curves!

Peter from the Mission’s own Porto Franco Records filmed this new video of Mark Growden playing an improvisational piece on bicycle handlebars using a technique he invented himself. Not the first time we’ve posted about this very thing, but this video wasn’t filmed on an obsolete iPhone, so it’s worth another look.

Sounds like the kind of music I’d hear after eating too many Guatemalan insanity peppers.

One of our readers seems to have a little problem with his musically inclined neighbors:

I live in a house on a purely residential block in the Mission. Like most of the homes in the neighborhood, we have a zero lot line with the neighbors (ie our exterior walls touch). My neighbor is in a band, and they regularly practice at the house on weeknights until after 11pm. Occasionally they will play past midnight. The sound travels quite clearly into my bedroom.

The music, incidentally, is pretty good. The problem is that I have a job that requires me to wake up before 6am. For me, this means I need to get to sleep around 10pm.

Over the course of 8-10 months, I have repeatedly reached out and asked them to music on the weekdays to 10pm. The response is generally friendly, but the next day I need to ask again, and again and again. They clearly don’t care at all.

I certainly realize that I live in a dynamic neighborhood, but it just doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect band practice to stop by 10pm on a weeknight in a purely residential neighborhood.

Am I out of line? If not, any suggestions on remedies. I would like to salvage the relationship, but am out of ideas.

My take on the situation?  This is bullshit.  These jerks need to get a practice space and play their music there.  That’s what bands do in a city where everyone lives in apartments.  If you don’t, you’re a selfish douchebag.

Note:  I am NOT referring to the amazing Dennis Richmond rooftop band that occasionally plays above the Attic.  Those guys are rad and have their own practice space at Secret Studios.

[Photo by Burrito Justice]

Somebody very nostalgic for the good ol’ days of hardcore decided to demonstrate his or her style on the sidewalk near Benders. Does Benders have Cro-Mags on the jukebox? That would be cool.

(more…)

This jam rules:

Here’s all the info:

RSVP and invite your friends!