Marke B.

Living the dream of the 1840s

Big whale, lusty tale in SF Opera's 'Moby-Dick'

10.18.12 - 12:47 pm | Marke B. |

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MUSIC There's no better time for local composer Jake Heggie's 2010 opera Moby-Dick to wash up on our shores, especially in terms of men's fashion. Seriously — peacoats galore, henleys-and-suspenders perfection, button-up trousers, glorious galoshes, and perfectly nor'easter-tousled haircuts, not to mention a stubbly wealth of seafarin' beards. The whole cast, outfitted by ace costume designer Jane Greenwood, might have dropped onto the stage from this fall's All Saints Spitalfields lookbook. Read more »

Pre-lloween

Nightlife: Masquerotica, Michele Myers, Death Becomes Her, more as our favorite civic holiday swings into action

10.16.12 - 5:11 pm | Marke B. |

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marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO "We wanted to put together something that truly reflects San Francisco on its most popular holiday," DJ Syd Gris of Opulent temple tells me over the phone. "A titillating, intoxicating kaleidoscope of San Francisco flavor with soulful, sexy music. And zombie strippers."Read more »

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and timewarp

New book lays bare the countercultural roots of the Renaissance Faire

10.10.12 - 11:38 am | Marke B. |

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marke@sfbg.comRead more »

Hey, boldface

Nightlife: Taking names and shaking ass with Poolside, Black Coffee, Love Will Fix It, Jamie XX, more parties

10.10.12 - 9:00 am | Marke B. |

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SUPER EGO Warm and fuzzy-edged highlights of the past week or so: dancing to '80s hip-house pioneer Tyree Cooper in the apse of St. John the Evangelist church in the Mission last Sunday, yes the actual church, where many a rave was thrown in the '90s. Watching Amon Tobin melt faces with his stacked-cube digital-mapping projection stage show at Berkeley's Greek Theatre (but first, some hot mama threw her bra onstage for openers Kronos Quartet!) Also: did Amon really drop a trap track? Eek.Read more »

Party Radar: SFDJ Showcase to pave way for massive local fest

10.07.12 - 9:24 pm | Marke B. |

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It's strange to me, in the wake of Lovevolution lesving the city a few years ago, that we have all these music-oriented street festivals (and park -- Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was a hardly strictly madhouse this past weekend), yet nothing devoted to local DJs, of which we have many of great quality. CMAC, the California Music and Culture Association, which helps protect and lobby for local nightlife concerns, is out to change that with a huge fest next year.

But first, a fundraiser toward that lofty and laudable goal, the SFDJ Showcase, on Mon/8 at 8pm at Mighty, which also doubles as the opening party for the intense SF Music Tech Summit, and features DJs Syd Gris, Maneesh the Twister, Sleazemore, and many more. Full details after the jump.

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Michele Myers is coming ... to slay (slightly NSFW!)

10.05.12 - 3:04 pm | Marke B. |

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Our favorite pretty psychopath, Michele Myers, is back and cruising the bushes (for blood) as she brings a her hilarious horror musical to SF, Oct. 19-31. It's a mashup of Halloween and other horror flick faves -- plus "The Facts of Life"! What the hell could be scarier than that? Don't go into the closet, Tootie! Here's Michele in action -- and we've also fgot the official trailer for the show below. Hi-scarious.

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Open doors await on Affordable Housing Day

10.05.12 - 11:20 am | Marke B. |

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Tomorrow, 10/6 from 1pm-4pm, you can tour several of the city's affordable housing sites -- there's even a handy citywide bike tour! -- and get an indepth look inside many of the innovative buildings that have recently gone up (or been rehabbed) in San Francisco, helping to house the homeless and make the city an affordable place to live for seniors, families, and people with special needs.

There will be refreshments! And also access to detailed information about the design, finances, and management of the buildings. And if you're interested in finding out how to apply to live at one of the sites, there'll be info about that, too.

For Nosey Parkers like me who just like to go inside buildings and have a good gander, this will be pretty neat. (Also, my husband works in non-profit housing, and I get the backstory on a lot of the great stuff going on at these buildings, but never get to see it all!) And many of the buildings are doing really cool things environmentally and designwise. Complete list of locations and official press release after the jump.

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Affordable Housing

Party Radar: Kafana Balkan, Maurice Fulton, Never Knows, Body and Soul, Glamamore and more

10.04.12 - 2:30 pm | Marke B. |

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I finally made it to Tradition, the new bar from the Bourbon and Branch guys that mashes up classic bar types -- English pub, dive bar, Mad Men cocktail hour, classic drawing room, tiki lounge, etc. -- in a gorgeous Tenderloin (oh, sorry, er "Union Square") space with awesome vintage liquor ads plastered on the walls and really cuuute staff.

Well, not quite mashes up: there are no great drunk Irish-whiskey brawlers breaking through the walls of a girl-drink-drunk gaggle of video-bar gays to form some kind of mutant queer neon St. Patrick's Day Parade. Or, you know, the Catholic Church. (Laugh track.)

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Tetris of awesome

Amon Tobin's ISAM Live tour is some serious next level

10.03.12 - 10:03 am | Marke B. |

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MUSIC "We've done the ISAM show in venues as big as the Sydney Opera House and as small as a local rock venue, but we're basically holding our breaths every time. Someone could plug in their iPhone charger and blow the whole thing. In Coachella, the act on the field opposite had the idea of turning on floodlights for half their set, which washed us out for a good part with the ambient light."Read more »

Nite Trax: Hunee spreads love at Honey

09.28.12 - 10:14 am | Marke B. |

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"Hunee is a good eater," begins Berlin-based DJ Hunee's official biography. "Good" here surely means voracious -- Hunee may be well-known for his deep disco sets (sometimes running to seven hours in length, especially at his great Hunchin All Night parties) and deep-grooved house productions, but his omnivorous ear takes in everyone from Eric Dolphy and Sergiu Celibidache to N.W.A and Madlib. He creates lovely worlds from these disparate interests, and his generous, off-handedly ironic manner spreads a layer of laidback jazzy soul over the sonic smorgasbord.

On Sun/30, Honey Soundsystem celebrates six years of putting on one of the best weekly parties in San Francisco (it's honeycomb hexagonal!), Honey Sundays (9pm, $5. Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom, SF.) And to celebrate, the boys flew in this beloved underground soul traveller for an exclusive three-hour set. I caught him over email for a few questions.

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