Marke B.

Spirit moves

Nightlife: Slam, RJD2, Steve Bug, Salva, Some Thing, more heavenly parties

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Lamebows 2013

The gay gaffes and honey boo-boos of a very queer year

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marke@sfbg.com

POODLES ON PARADE Marriage, the military, nudity bans, Bravo TV: queople, why must we torture ourselves! It's true that we are everywhere, lurking even in the aeries of stupid-headedness. But queen, please, put down that can of mentally challenged and back slowly away in your new cha-cha heels. Here I am once again to call my people out for their foibles of faggotry with the annual Lamebow Awards. Even in a banner year for LGBT wins, we still clutched a Gucci full of dumb.Read more »

Nite Trax: Comedowns are for losers! 2013

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Anybody can go out to any fabulous party on New Year's Eve. But how long can you survive into the dawning of 2k13? Below are the best parties happening on Tuesday, New Year's Day -- how low can you go! (It's kind sad that we now only have one day a year that's like SF nightlife in the 90s, sigh.)

But first, here's the exact chill-before-thrill mix I want to hear at 7am rolling up to the venue with my girls, blunt smoke pouring from the cracked window:

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Of grumpy cats and Kony kings

YEAR IN FILM 2012: The video memes we couldn't get off our screens

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YEAR IN FILM Welcome to "Shit Year-in-Film Writers Say"! This was a swag/YOLO year for video memes (vemes?): they helped take down a major presidential candidate (47 percent, baby), helped elect another presidential candidate (Obama hugging Sandy victims), made sure "Call Me Maybe" and "Somebody That I Used To Know" popped up in some form or other on our feeds all year. Also, if .GIFs count as videos — and 2012 was surely the year of the .GIF revival — then even McKayla Maroney is impressed. Forget Angelina Jolie's leg, texting Hillary, botched Ecce Homo, and stingray photobomb. Read more »

Where to party on New Year's Eve

Kiss off 2012 at these festive wing dings

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marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO Buckethead is playing the Great American Music Hall on New Year's Eve. Isn't that all you need to know, really? But if you must shred your own final night of 2k12 with a lampshade, rather than a KFC bucket, on your head, here are some ragers I'd recommend. Check out this week's music and stage listings for more.Read more »

Last-minute gifts

Tick, tock, it's panic o'clock, Christmas shoppers

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culture@sfbg.com

SHOPPING Dearest Christian and Christian-adjacent reader: it's too late for the Internet. Unless you want to shell out Santa-sized bucks for overnight delivery, you're gonna have to fill those loved-ones' stocking IRL, with a good ol' fashioned brick-and-mortar dash through the metaphorical snow.Read more »

Nite Trax: Ana Sia, back on home court

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For those of you who haven't been listening: Ana Sia is kind of a big deal. One of those quaintly San Francisco nightlife things -- you blink for a hot minute, and someone familiar on the scene blows up, their hard work rewarded with major festival gigs, a large and growing following, and DJ sets being featured on NPR. Heeeey.

I've been a fan of the poised yet energetic Ana for a long while, and I must say I'm pleased as punch for her continued success -- and to see what she's got in store for us as she plays again in SF. (She's one of the headliners, along with the UK's excellently house and techy Ben UFO, at Friday night's As You Like It party at Beat Box.) Onstage, the local Frite Nite label head quickly pulls you into her zone, tempering a concentration born of pure appreciation of the music with some playful bouncing and disarming charm. "I'm having a shit-ton of fun!" you can hear her shouting from the decks.

Categorizing her actual sound, however, can prove challenging.

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Nite Trax: Tormenta Tropical whips up 5 years of cumbia madness

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Five years ago the local nightlife scene was broadening its scope in a multitude of awe-inspiring musical directions, from contemporary Afrobeat and baile funk to experimental global indie. In that atmosphere of diverse ferment, a couple of super-talented kids, recently returned from Argentina, started Tormenta Tropical (along with label Bersa Discos), a monthly at the Elbo Room dedicated to the electronic spin many Latin American artists were putting on the traditional cumbia sound.

The sound centered around club Zizek in Buenos Aires and its ZZK label -- but it also found a home, strangely enough, in the tropical-hungry underground clubs of Montreal. Tormenta Tropical provided a third leg of the nu-cumbia triangle, and has been known ever since as a go-to for cutting edge global bass and electro-Latin tracks. There were also a lot of glowing Virgin Marys on the DJ booth and a taco truck parked outside. 

This Saturday, oro11 and Shawn Reynaldo (formerly Disco Shawn), celebrate the fifth anniversary of the club, and it's gonna be a humdinger, chicas.

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10 winter essentials

Stay haute with our picks for braving the cold

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culture@sfbg.com

MARINE LAYER HI-LO CROPPED SWEATER, $88

American Apparel's appeal fades when we discovered this line of comfy basics made right here in the city. Marine Layer (2209 Chestnut, SF; 498 Hayes, SF. www.marinelayer.com) specializes in men's and women's tees, but we love its warm-yet-trendy cropped sweater, whose hemline dips low in the back.Read more »