Mission Mission

“A homosexual’s perspective,” by Myles, who loves Meryl Streep and Abba as much as we do. (via Imsoooconfused)

From the official press release:

OUR NEW VIDEO HAS BEEN HELLA CONTOVERSIAL!!! SOME PEOpLE ARE LIKE, WHY DOES THAT GIRL HAVE A HITLER-stach, other people are like GOD THIS IS TOO PORNY and other people are just GOD THOSE ROOMS LOOK SO DIRTY. Judge for yourself.

Judge for yourself.

Link to the Passionistas on Wikipedia.

We had to finish out the week with one last Jonathan Richman post. The above video is a vintage clip of Katie performing a specially choreographed dance to the old tune “It’s You” from the out-of-print album It’s Time For Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. In case you you can’t tell, those are dinosaur pajamas.

All the Make-Out Room shows were great, and we thank everyone who entered our contest for participating. Good efforts all. Jonathan’s new album, Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild, is available now at Aquarius.

Last night was great again. Jonathan added a bit in the cellphone song in which a friend asks him, “But Jonathan, what happens when there are no more pay phones and you need to get ahold of me?” Jonathan responds, “Well then I’ll write you a LETTAH! Write you a LETTAH! Or send you a postcawd…” So good. The above video is a quick clip of the beginning of the song, shot in Milan last month. Tonight’s contest winner is Joe. Here is his story:

One night a band that I used to play drums in was playing a show at the Make Out Room. I think it was a Monday or Tuesday. We had done weeknight shows at the Make Out Room before and they were always pretty uneventful, but we played them anyways. One night we were opening for local troubadour Jesse DeNatale. I’d never heard Jesse’s music before, but met him after we’d played our set (we were the first band), and after a brief hello he asked if I’d like to play drums for him that evening. I said I didn’t know any of his songs, but he reassured me that they were all pretty straightforward Bob Dylan/Van Morrison type stuff that I could easily handle. So I said sure, why not, it sounded like fun.

Before we were about to play, Jesse introduced me to the other guys playing with him that night. There was a bassist who I forget the name of, but I was immediately struck by the guitarist Jonathan. Oh my god, I thought, that’s Jonathan Richman!

I went over and talked to the guys in my band, and we all couldn’t believe it. We had actually been working on a Modern Lovers cover the week before at band practice, but decided it wasn’t ready yet. We all joked that it was a good thing we didn’t play it that night!

So I played the set with Jesse, bass guy and Jonathan, and it was a blast. There was a dog that kept coming in to the Make Out Room and Jonathan, in his childlike voice, was cracking himself up and kept saying “that dog needs a bone! He’s barking because he lost his bone!”. I had a great time that night, even if we were playing to only about 20 people or so. Now I can say “I played drums with Jonathan Richman”.

I saw Jonathan a couple years later when I went to see another Jesse DeNatale show, and he remembered me right away, which I totally wasn’t expecting. He’s a super nice guy and a great personality.

I’d love to go see him play at the Make Out Room!

This one we liked because in a way it kind of sums up everything great about both the Mission and Jonathan. Plus it mentions Jesse DeNatale, who was definitely in the crowd last night. Congrats, Joe!

Mission Mission pal Malcolm M. hipped us to this short documentary about a new trend born on the streets of the Mission District. Anybody tried it yet?

Previously on Mission Mission:

Skate-Punk Poetry Overheard Outside the Nice Lady Store

Another Hole in the Head Film Festival starts tonight with a selection of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films.

I just watched Exte: Hair Extensions (with subtitles), a j-horror film playing at Roxie Cinema tonight at 5pm:

Given that the first line in the movie is, “My nose hair is out of control lately,” the movie got off to a great start. Luckily, it had the elements I look for in all my movies: a crazy dude who wears wigs, an innocent girl who enjoys narrating aufblasbarer park her life, and possessed hair. Still, what I liked best was that the storyline isn’t all about hair growing on tongues and death (although there was quite a bit of that), it actually dealt with some real issues – ie abortion, child abuse, and the black market organ trade.

Kinda interested in seeing too. Who doesn’t love a good mockumentary?

I had never really found clowns particularly scary until I saw this charmer at Carnaval this past weekend. On the surface she seems nice, making inflables sweet balloon animals for the kids (notice that monkey in the front row). But the demonic gleam in her eye in the photo above hints towards a darker side:

It might just be me, but the lilting incantations coupled with the oddly unrhymed phrases is more than a little bit creepy.

Even if JJ wasn’t frightened, I was.

In this video, Lola makes fun of her dog Dante during a game of fetch in beautiful Dolores Park. (Thanks Lola, Dante and Carmel)

Reader Rai Sue just sent us this lo-fi (but great) video of this morning’s fire hydrant geyser at 21st and Valencia. Thanks, Rai Sue.

Previously on Mission Mission:

Construction Camp on Valencia Street

Valencia Street Squeaks onto Chronicle List of 25 Deadliest Roads for Cyclists

Omer, Bard of Valencia Street

Valencia Street Art Wall

I spent all weekend with my mom, and it occurred to me to finally post this video we made a few months ago. In it, she shares a project she made as an art student at San Jose State in 1968, which she’d recently dug up after running into Tony May, the professor under whom she’d produced it. As she explains here, the skills and interests that led to this project also led her to a career in cartography, via San Francisco State, where she met my dad. Their first apartment together was on Camp Street, which meant I grew up hearing romantic tales of the Mission District on a regular basis. Thanks, Mom!