Mission Mission

Pizza Zone (‘N’ Grill!) on Duboce and Valencia.

Look, I’m not going to pretend I know anything about street art. The closest I got to “tagging” was repeatedly drawing the Stüssy S all over my binder in 7th grade.

But I think it’s really tacky when businesses paint their signs in graffiti text. It reminds me of those arcade machines in the 90′s that would show you a tag-font “Stay In School” splash screen when they started up. Even then I was cynical enough to see through their ridiculous attempt to appeal to my “urban” side.

Sure, we’ve sung praises for the yodelin’ Japanese cowboy Toshio Hirano before, but I just found this video profile of him done by PRI that deserves some attention:

Toshio has a charisma and passion for music that is really sobering to all the cynical young musicians like myself. Here’s a guy who loved classic country music so much that he literally up and moved straight to the source. (Ok, so my love of burritos may have moved me from the east bay to San Francisco, but that’s not exactly the same thing.)

He’s no fool either, he’s well aware that there’s quite a bit of the novelty/freak show draw to his act. But hey, if that’s what it takes to get people to come out and see him doing what he loves, then he’s ok with that. Oh, and his between-song banter is hilarious… that’s no act. This man is funny.

Toshio will be playing tonight as part of his monthly residency at the Rite Spot Cafe on 17th and Folsom from about 9pm-12. Go get your two-step on.

photo by Eric Wolfinger - http://ericwolfinger.com/

Move over gamelan! Accordion is the new hotness. Marié Abe plays at Tartine Bakery on Fridays (TONIGHT) from 6-8pm. I don’t even know why I’m bothering to type anything else since after seeing the HOTT picture above I’m sure you have already left this site and you’re totally myspace-stalking the shit out of her.

Marié is from Japan and was April in 2009′s Accordion Babes Calendar. She plays in a ton of groups including the Japonize Elephants, Tango No. 9, and Thorny Brocky. Most of her music is pretty damn heavy and experimental, but at Tartine they keep it a bit more accessible for the baked goods crowd with jazz, Brazilian choros, French musette waltzes, and such. She’ll be joined by Darren Johnson (Nice Guy Trio, Brass Menazeri) and Lisa Mezzacappa. No cover, so tip well.

And if that’s not enough accordion for you, head over to Amnesia from 7-9pm for Rob Reich and Craig Ventresco right afterwards, playing some good old ragtime, blues, and early jazz.

Wow, this brings me back to the AOL days. It’s hard to imagine, but those Translink add-value kiosks are probably making these sounds somewhere behind the scenes. I wonder if it says “Goodbye!” after it’s done with your transaction.

MrEricSir might be able to clarify on this, but if it’s true, that’s OLD SCHOOL.

That being said, I guess if it aint broke don’t fix it. Oh wait, it is broke. On the bright side, when those kiosks go down, the bus drivers usually just wave me on when I flash my rendered-useless Translink card. Playing these odds probably works out in your favor when compared to the ever-inflating MUNI pass prices.

Write your own caption contest! GO! (No prizes, don’t be mean, Sexpigeon auto-disqualified)

Snapped at 16th St. BART. God we’re creepy.

No big deal, just a picture of someone enjoying an El Farolito quesadilla, right?

Psych! It’s a picture of someone enjoying an El Farolito quesadilla in the East Village, NYC!

You can do it too: On the way to SFO, hop out at 24th St. station. Run into El Farolito and order that quesadilla to go. It’s probably a good idea to avoid the sour cream. Immediately double-ziplock bag it and toss it in your luggage. When you land in NYC 6 hours later, call up your friend and tell her that you’ll be bringing lunch. Don’t worry, as a previous mission resident, the concern of a salmonella infection will be dwarfed by her longing for decent Mexican food*.

Your clothes will smell like carne asada for a week, but the look on her face will be worth it. She’ll give you a big hug and tell you that this was a way better gift than the “Alcatraz Swim Team” T-Shirt you brought last time.

The question is, what can your NYC friend do for you? Imported pizza? Nah, contrary to what they think, we have plenty of good pizza here.

*The “Mexican” food in NYC borders on the terrible. Trust me when I say I wish it were otherwise.

Mission Loc@l posted a video (well, audio slideshow, really) behind the scenes at Arinell.

If you’re still on Windows 95, here’s the gist: employee Neil Aviles talks about eating “tons” of pizza (“like 3 slices… in 4 hours”… I’m pretty sure Andrew Sarkarati has broken that record), dudes passing out in the store, failed crank deals, mission gentrification, and yuppies.

Oh no he didn’t just drop the Y-bomb! Careful Neil… I got in trouble for that this week.

If you like listening to a proper English gal sing about anal sex, hot water bottles, and proper cunnilingus technique in a punky cabaret backdrop, you’ll love the Trifles! They are playing tonight at El Rio at around 9pm with the Barbary Coasters, and the Cheshire Rock Opera.

These guys are awesome and I wish they would play more often. Singer Linda Robertson is hella talented. She plays a bunch of instruments, was Miss Accordion San Francisco 2004, and is the author of a high-larious memoir “What Rhymes With Bastard“.

Here’s a video of them playing at the Makeout Room last year:

Mission swing dance promoter Christopher Lee posted this great video of the local Gypsy Jazz group Gaucho playing at Tartine Bakery last night. Bet you didn’t know they have live music, right? Gaucho has been playing there 1st and 3rd Thursdays from 6-8pm for years. In the evening, the line isn’t so bad when people aren’t fighting over that morning bun.

In this video they are joined by a visiting NYC singer, Tamar Korn. She does that awesome 30s “operatic jazz singer” thing that is so rare these days. The tune is Honeysuckle Rose by Fats Waller. Have you listened to the lyrics to this song? It’s filthy.

Ah, “Garage Psych”. Aren’t you curious as to why people are lining up around the block for this shit? Allan, Kat, and I tried to check out this dude Ty Segall with thee Oh Sees at the Eagle last week. On our way, we walked past a pair of flustered girls saying, “…I mean, who would wait for an hour in line for a show here?” Not a good sign.

Well if you were like us and gave up only to go home and watch youtube clips of Aziz Ansari as RAAAAAAAANDY, here’s your second chance: Ty is doing a solo set at The Knockout at 6pm. That’s too early for most of the yuppies just getting off work in Mountain View, so you’ll probably score a sweet spot in the front.

Here’s a clip of Ty Segall doing his one-man band thing:

Speaking of thee Oh Sees, anyone want to start an all-Asian Oh Sees cover band with me? “Thee Ah-Sos”. Ok, no more Asian humor. I’m no Margaret Cho.