Mission Mission

As most of you know, BART busker Jesse Morris tragically passed away on Sunday. To help his family with the cost of his memorial, Different Fur Studios is releasing never-before-heard sessions of an unfinished country album Jesse began recording in 2008. The compilation, entitled “I Wanna Take It All Back,” is available for download with a suggested donation of $5.

Nic Pope, an engineer at Different Fur and a friend of Jesse’s, wrote in to share the following anecdote:

I met Jesse in the Montgomery St. Bart Station where I heard him doing his Johnny Cash covers and we got to talking. The first project we worked on together was for his punk band U.S. Kings and “I Wanna Take It All Back” was the second which we never finished. The frank and simple way Jesse could describe your darkest feelings is what drew me to his music originally. From the title track, “I look around and see the wreckage of my past, its bad enough sometimes I wanna douse myself in gas,” is one line of his that helped me grow up a bit in the last couple of years.

Preview the album here, and please consider making a donation.

UPDATE: Plus, there’s a benefit show tonight in Oakland!

Sad news — Muni Diaries reports that beloved BART busker Jesse Morris, aka “Punk Rock Johnny Cash,” passed away on Sunday. According to a commenter and alleged close friend, Jesse took his own life.

Jesse was known for his uncanny covers of Johnny Cash songs, which one could catch on lucky mornings at the 24th St. Mission BART station.

Rest in Peace, Jesse. Your voice and smile brightened many a morning commute for me.

[Photo via Troy Holden]

Are you South Asian? Our friend Amit Gupta might need some of your sweet brown bone marrow. Are you not South Asian? Chances are someone else needs your bone marrow too.

To put the odds into perspective, if you need a bone marrow transplant and you’re caucasian, the chances are 8 in 10 that you’ll find a suitable match. If you’re Indian, it’s more like 1 in 20,000. Help Amit and others smash those odds by stopping by Project One tonight and submitting a sample. All you have to do is fill out some paperwork and swab the inside of your cheeks with a Q-tip. Bring your brown friends!

Project One is at 251 Rhode Island St. and the event goes from 7-10:30pm.

I bet he was all like, “It’s expensive, and there’s no rice in the burritos, but I’ll be damned if this place isn’t great.”

[via @the SFCritic]

“You know what attracted me to you? Her tits.”

Say what? (Good one, Omer!)

[via Eavesdropping]

I’ve only met Amit Gupta a couple of times, but I could tell right away that he is one of the most charismatic, creative, and talented guys in the Mission. You may know him as the founder of Photojojo, a site full of great photography projects and products. He also happens to be the roommate to some other awesome people.

Amit was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia two weeks ago and has started treatment. He will need a bone marrow transplant, but South Asian donors are severely underrepresented.

Here’s how you can help:

1. If you’re South Asian, get a free test by mail. You rub your cheeks with a cotton swab and mail it back. It’s easy.
2. If you’re in NYC, you can go to this event. If not, encourage your NYC friends to go.
3. If you know any South Asians, please point ‘em to the links above.

South Asia means India and surrounding countries, in case you missed that day in class.

For more details, see Amit’s blog.

Update: Even if you’re not South Asian, do it anyway. Many other minorities are underrepresented in the donor pool and need help.

Fresh off his inspiring performance last night at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Thurston Moore opted for a more subtle undertaking at one of our neighborhood’s highly-touted coffee shops this morning.  Fortunately, my savvy cousin Nushin was on the scene and snapped this pic so the exploit would not be lost to posterity:

Suspicions confirmed by the highly agitated and blushing barista. We were too shy to invite him to the knockout tonight for the sonic youth cover band.

How rad would that have been?!?  Thurston, if you see this, come to the Knockout tonight!

(Thanks Lauren and Nushin!)

Most of you know about Deep, aka Trikeasaurus, and all of you by now have spotted the sweet triceratops parklet in front of his house (the first residential parklet in San Francisco, in fact). Some of you may have noticed the plywood barricade recently erected around Deep’s garage. As I was passing through last night, a friend of Deep’s (pictured) was in the middle of painting this triceratops mural over the street-facing portion.

Apparently, Deep is expanding his parklet back into his driveway, and construction is now underway. As for the mural, the plywood was getting tagged on the regular, so Deep’s buddy figured that a huge thunder lizard mural might be a good way to “keep things clean” until the new parklet expansion is unveiled.

Ever been to Hayes Valley? Then maybe you know these characters, described here by local urban anthropologist (and illustrator) David Enos:

[T]he one in the poncho “fishes” for change using a cup attached to a stick.  When he’s away from the office, (presumably not gone fishing) he weaves the stick and cup through the criss-crosses of the cyclone fencing for safe keeping.  They are horndogs.  I heard them once talking about how hot Red Sonja, Brigitte Neilsen, was.  “Red Sonja…man oh man…MAMA!  Red Sonja…hot as fuck…” Somehow, they have attracted a woman who hangs out with them.

Read on for talk of asses and corncobs.

Somehow I didn’t know that Troy Holden has a tumblr. It’s full of gems like this breathtaking shot of local pigeon whisperer Swan, and I don’t know why he isn’t racking up thousands of “likes” per post. Go follow him, if you’re into this internet stuff.

Be sure to check out the documentary on Swan, while you’re at it.