San Francisco Bay Guardian - Essential Bay Area News, Politics, Arts, and Culture

Housing for the rootless superrich

tim — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:07:38 +0000

Where billionaires buy pieds a terre

When San Francisco looks at building ultra-luxury housing -- places like 8 Washington -- and some city officials and "experts" say it's going to help meet the housing needs of the city, we ought to look at what's happening in Manhattan. There, high-end housing is being flooded with people who don't live in Manhattan, won't live in Manhattan, and will at best hang out there a few weeks a year.

Only 10 floors have been completed in what is intended to be the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere — a slender, 84-story tower on Park Avenue at 56th Street in Manhattan. But the top penthouse is already under contract for $95 million. Other buyers have snapped up apartments on lower floors for prices that are almost as breathtaking. While their identities are not known, it is likely that many are the rootless superrich: Russian metals barons, Latin American tycoons, Arab sheiks and Asian billionaires.

Why does that matter? Other than the fact that, according to developers, "Only about a quarter of the units will be occupied at any one time," which doesn't make for street life, community or even much in the way of economic benefits? Here's the problem:

The growth in high-end projects in Manhattan comes as housing for the working and middle class is in increasingly short supply in the city. These buildings are proving so profitable that they are warping the local real-estate market, making it more difficult to put up more-affordable housing.

Developers have long complained that the prices of land, construction materials and labor are high in New York, even if they are somewhat less expensive than in London or Hong Kong.

But builders of ultraluxury apartments have much more latitude on costs because they are securing spectacular prices for their projects.

As a result, the luxury building trend is driving up the overall cost of land in the city. Several developers maintained that they could build moderately priced housing only if they could get significant tax breaks.

Sound familiar? There is, one New York architects say, "only two markets, ultraluxury and subsidized housing." San Francisco is also an international city, and prices here are even better than New York. So don't be surprised if, in a city that doesn't seem a bit concerned about how much new housing costs or who the buildings are designed for, we reach Manhattan-like levels of insanity.

Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week

emily — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:57:48 +0000

Sea Lions play SF Popfest this weekend.

Bjork is coming! She’ll bring Biophilia’s ambitiously in-the-round and touch screen app-filled show to Richmond, Calif. this week. Plus, the educational component of that tour will make its way to the Exploratorium via a handful of science and sound experiments.

The sparkly avant-pop star is the major music news this week in the Bay, however there also is the annual (and reliably well-curated) SF Popfest, plus a bunch of other shows you should be checking out as well, like Japanese doom masters Boris, Swedish indie popsters the Shout Out Louds, the gritty B-side soul goodness of the Detroit Cobras, and local rock'n'roller Mikal Cronin -- high on the release of a celebrated new solo album, MCII.

Here are your must-see Bay Area concerts this week/end:

Boris
The experimental Japanese drone legends are playing two shows at the Rickshaw Stop this week -- only one of those is sold out (that would be Tuesday). At Wednesday’s show, Boris will perform the four song, 70-minute masterpiece/“cult classic” album Flood, in its entirety. The ‘00 sludge-rock album hovers between psychedelic and doomy in all the right ways.
With deafheaven
Wed/22, 8pm, $18
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
www.rickshawstop.com

Mortar and Pestle
On its self-titled new full-length, Oakland’s Mortar and Pestle sounds something like a trippier Little Dragon. There are bouncy keyboard lines and scattered upbeat found-sound touches boosted by the lush and dreamy vocals of lead singer Janaysa Lambert. On first single “U.V” there’s even the familiar ping-ping-ping of a classic pinball game, forcing you to picture the full Mortar and Pestle set-up placed neatly between games in a 1980s arcade. The tropical synth-pop trio is also one of the first acts to see release on Metal Mother’s new label-collective, Post Primal, so you know it has her stamp of approval.
With the Visibles (Record Release), Great Spirits
Wed/22, 9pm, $8
Brick and Mortar
1710 Mission, SF
www.brickandmortarmusic.com

Bjork
Can you even recall your first run-in with the mythic, boundary-less creature that is Björk? Perhaps it was bounding through the forest with crystals underneath her eyes as a giant paper-mache bear chased her through Michel Gondry's video for "Human Behaviour," off 1993 solo album Debut. Or maybe it was poised for the tabloids in an elegant swan dress, holding a large egg purse at the '01 Academy Awards after her devastating performance in Dancer in the Dark (2000). Those long obsessed will likely point to first hearing '88's "Birthday" by the Sugarcubes, her early Icelandic act (post teenage punk bands), on international radio. Whenever — and however — it went down, it left a lasting impression, the stunning shock of that otherworldly voice tends to permeate memories. Solo, Bjork has long coupled that voice with innovation, always grasping at new objects and sounds, or as she described it to me in conversation, she's "like a kid in a toy shop."
Wed/22, Sat/25, Tue/28, 8:30pm, $75
Craneway Pavilion
1414 Harbour Way, Richmond
www.craneway.com

Shout Out Louds
“My favorite songs by this Swedish pop group have clear antecedents in '80s New Wave. With Our Ill WIlls (2007) opener "Tonight I Have To Leave It" singer Adam Olenius was a ringer for Robert Smith at his most ebullient (read: "Just Like Heaven") and "Impossible" hit on the Human League and Simple Minds. It could be derivative, but with the Joy Division via Interpol meets the B-52s sound of "Glasgow" on its latest album Optica, the system the group has is working, particularly the sparkling production. Opening band Haerts seems a perfect match, as its slick debut single "Wings" sees the SOLs referent for referent, and adds in some Spandau Ballet and Stevie Nicks vocals to great effect.” -- Ryan Prendiville
With Haerts
Wed/22, 8pm, $19
Great American Music Hall
859 O'Farrell, SF
(415) 885-0750
www.slimspresents.com

The Detroit Cobras
“Some bands you'll just never be able to judge by their album cover(s). Some bands just don't have time for all that studio nonsense. They wanna rock — and they wanna rock with you. Up close and personal. In your face. Get it? That pretty much describes the rough-and-ready Detroit Cobras method, after releasing a scant handful of albums, they've continued to tour extensively, bringing the husky, tough-girl vocals of Rachel Nagy and the gritty, jangling guitar riffs of Mary Ramirez to the people. Their reinterpretations of vintage, B-side rock, soul, and Motown give songs that could have been contenders a brash new life, while their relentless stage show gives their adoring fans a good, old-fashioned, foot-stomping workout.” -- Nicole Gluckstern
With Pangea, the Chaw
Thu/23, 9pm, $16
Slims
333 11th St., SF
(415) 255-0333
www.slimspresents.com

Sea Lions
The pizza-loving Sea Lions (think a more beachy Vaselines) come to the Bay via Oxnard, Calif. courtesy of this weekend’s SF Popfest. And that fest lineup for the evening is rather ingenious, bookended with the awesome “stoner-punk” LA shredder Colleen Green -- go now and check fuzzy “Heavy Shit” -- along with distorted-pop maker Permanent Collection, and more.
With Still Flyin’, Burnt Palms
Fri/24, 9pm, $12
Café Du Nord
2170 Market, SF
www.cafedunord.com

Mikal Cronin
“Mikal Cronin has been bouncing around the San Francisco music scene for a couple of years as an unsung hometown hero, collaborating with Thee Oh Sees, recording with Ty Segall and performing in the Ty Segall Band, while quietly releasing his own solo records and singles. Finally, Cronin is no longer sidekicking. This year's full-length MCII has received rave reviews from major music publications (SPIN and Pitchfork have labeled it among the best new music of the year) and Cronin is enjoying a headlining slot on a national tour. Tonight's gig at the Rickshaw Stop is a much-deserved album release-party, and I wouldn't be too surprised if Cronin pulls up some old friends to help him celebrate.” -- Haley Zaremba
With Audacity, Michael Stasis
Sat/25, 9pm, $12
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(415) 861-2011
www.rickshawstop.com

"One powerful newsroom" pulls back from its San Francisco roots

steven — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:53:27 +0000

CIR last year took control of The Bay Citizen, which it has now folded into its own nationally focused news operation.

Locally focused journalism in San Francisco took another big hit today with the announcement that The Bay Citizen — which was founded by the late Warren Hellman in 2009 specifically to augment declining reporting on San Francisco and the Bay Area — is being folded into Center for Investigative Reporting [Updated below].

When the two entities merged last year, Bay Guardian and others raised concerns that local accountability journalism in San Francisco would suffer and that the strong donor base that Hellman developed to support Bay Citizen was being used to support CIR, whose board is chaired by former San Francisco Chronicle Editor Phil Bronstein, who engineered the deal.

"It's exciting for us to be able to address what has been a vacuum in San Francisco for a long time," CIR Executive Director Robert Rosenthal, addressing the need to strengthen local coverage, told us last year.

But today, in an upbeat press release and blog post announcing The Bay Citizen’s demise entitled “One Powerful Newsroom,” Rosenthal seems to dismiss the importance of San Francisco City Hall coverage and other locally based reporting in justifying CIR’s flip to a more national focus.

“We know that as long as we are telling the right stories – the stories that no one else is covering, the stories that reveal deeply hidden information, the stories that actually make a difference in people’s lives – it doesn’t matter if they are about San Francisco or Sacramento or Washington, D.C.,” wrote Rosenthal, who has not yet returned our call to discuss the issue [see below].

For anyone who cares about journalism and accountability in San Francisco, where wealthy interests have essentially partnered with the Mayor’s Office on an ambitious agenda that is changing the face and future of the city, it does matter where reporters focus their time and energies.

CIR Editorial Director Mark Katches also wrote today that in addition to less coverage of San Francisco, the merged organization will do fewer overall stories: “First and foremost, we have rededicated ourselves to high-impact investigative reporting – stories that matter. We’ve largely stopped covering routine stories and breaking news, which got in the way of this core mission. Last year, we generated about 1,000 stories. By choice, we expect to produce about 200 stories this year. But the stories we go after will be the ones we think can make a difference.

“The newsroom will also rethink the scope of its coverage: Last year, about 95 percent of the stories generated out of this newsroom were either focused on the Bay Area or the state of California. That left a small fraction of our work focused on national or international issues or produced in a way that would appeal to an audience outside California’s borders,” wrote Katches, who also hasn’t yet returned our call (we’ll update this post if and when we hear back from Rosenethal and Katches).

While it’s always good to have more quality journalism focused on national and international issues, San Francisco needs more accountability journalism, not less, particularly when the Chronicle newsroom has been decimated and the stories that its reporters are doing are now stuck behind an online paywall, further reducing readership.

That dearth of San Francisco-based reporting is why Hellman created The Bay Citizen, as he told me while he was conceiving the concept and shortly after it was created. “It will focus on local news events, including politics and the arts, the kind of thing that is just dying at the Chronicle,” Hellman told me.

And now, just as we feared, two of the Chronicle editors who oversaw that demise -- Bronstein and Rosenthal -- are killing off the once-successful local newsroom that was created to shine a critical light on what’s happening in San Francisco and around the Bay Area.

We certainly wish CIR well and we hope that this “one powerful newsroom” will continue to devote some reporting resources to San Francisco, as they did most recently in exposing radioactive contamination at Treasure Island. But this is still a sad day for the Fourth Estate in the rapidly evolving city of St. Francis.

Update: Rosenthal just got back to me and expressed the hope that San Francisco won’t suffer from this latest move: “We’re going to continue doing what we hope will be stories that make a difference in San Francisco and the Bay Area.”

But as a longtime newspaper editor who also values local reporters working beats to hold powerful people and entities accountable and to inform local citizens about issues that affect them, Rosenthal said that he understands the Guardian’s concerns.

“I love beat reporting, and yes, beat reporting will suffer,” Rosenthal said, decrying the newsroom cutbacks in communities across the country. “At the same time, we’re the only news organization, if you can call us that, in the country that has been adding staff in the last five years.”

Rosenthal emphasized that there were no layoffs during last year’s merger or as part of this current move, and in the always challenging modern media environment, he said the question he wrestles with is: “How do we keep the whole organization alive?”

Rosenthal also said CIR plans to expand its investigative reporting on the technology industry and its impact on San Francisco and other cities, which should benefit the need for accountability journalism here.

“We don’t want to abandon the Bay Area or the Bay Area media,” he said, citing recent coverage of Bay Area pedestrian deaths as an example the kind of stories that can make a difference locally.

As for Hellman’s vision of The Bay Citizen as a local news outlet, Rosenthal said, “It evolved.”

Legalize it--All of it

JohnnyW — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:51:54 +0000

A palm full o Pot!

bloomberg.com

Tomorrow is election day in Los Angeles and beyond the biggest race (for mayor between a pair of dull left of center bureaucrats of whom the less said is better), the most important ballot measures are three that, in varying degrees, are used to restrict the explosion and proliferation of Cannabis Clinics, "pot clubs", "Chronicatoriums" (OK, I made that one up) or whatever you'd care to call them. Naturally, the most popular of these, according to polls, is the measure that would severely restrict the number of such venues as they are the classic NIMBY, filling up Southern California's mini-malls with stoners disinclined to buy anything else from whatever shops are there. Which, regardless of what moral trepidation is claimed by shopkeepers, is the source of their objection, as the Brains or Cyndi Lauper could tell you, money does change everything.

That this is restraint of trade in the extreme is an understatement but given the nature of "medicinal marijuana", what do you expect? While it is true that marijuana does have valid medical use for glaucoma, nausea from chemo, insomnia and some forms of nerve pain, the only reason this half measure exists is as the gateway to the drug's eventual legalization. As the case with any "moral scourge", once it is plainly obvious that the world isn't gonna end because people toke up and enough marginally interested voters switch their positions as a result (see the companion issue "marriage, gay"), end of laws. Which is why I've always seen medicinal marijuana as a crock of undiluted crap in the first place--the drug, in fact all recreational drugs, should be legal for adults period. Not incrementally and yes, all of them.

For the weed, that is inevitable and has happened already in Colorado and Washington state (with some restrictions). Marijuana is not seen as a dangerous drug, not responsible for overdoses, not anywhere near as physically addiciting (if at all) as the presently legal alcohol, nicotine or caffeine. While it's true that some of the affectations that go along with it can be somewhat inexplicable (see "bands, jam"), they tend to be harmless and as is, the legalization of the drug is a slam dunk (or should be). This isn't exactly a radical idea and does have an unusual array of proponents.

In reality, all recreational drugs should be. Even the "bad" ones. First of all as "bad" as hard drugs are supposed to be, the laws that govern the punishment for their use are far worse, more life destroying, costlier and have made the US the world's number one prison state. Secondly, despite being illegal and punishment for same being draconian, people still seem to do lots of them at the danger of their health and well being--yet, when heart disease and diabetes are the first and seventh causes of death in the US, there is no similar call for imprisonment for either overeating, sedentary lifestyle or the injection of corn syrup into processed foods which lead to both--seems absurd. And yes--one does have to eat to live, one doesn't have to eat everything!

It's true--tweakers are gross, crackheads are whacked and junkies are thieving, scheming troublemakers. But banning their jollies hasn't changed any of this. What they do is illegal and they still do it--in the case of the narcotic addict, simply giving them the drugs they want plus clean supplies for injection ends their stealing and severely reduces HIV/HCV transmission. As far as the other drugs go, were they legal, they would not be brewed in a bathtub or in a clandestine lab and have the kinds of impurities that wreak misery on them and (as is the case with heroin/opiate addicts) simply giving them their drugs ends the street crime that goes along with it. Most importantly (but generally unknown to non users), once the stigma of "criminal" is gone, the positive effect is two fold--people that want to seek treatment can do so without stigma and much more importantly, the badge of perverse honor that goes with being an outlaw/renegade dope fiend a la Charlie Parker, Keith Richards or Johnny Thunders is history. Junkies are resourceful, cunning people, but it's no fun to be a junkie when all you do is go to a clinic, fix and nod out all day.

But because our Puritan roots suggest that all "bad behavior" (as if self-medicating is such a thing) can be stamped out with enough force, none of this will ever come to pass, I fear. It is (no pun intended) Johnny's pipe dream. And I have no personal stake in this--I haven't had a drink or rec. drug since Reagan was president, the USSR extant and indie rock any good. The binary thinking which leads to "drugs bad, must be eradicated" is what keeps the prison complex alive and well and the murderous Mexican drug cartels in business. Get rid of the "well-intentioned" laws and both disappear. However, my faith in the common sense of people died long before my sobriety was born, sad to say.

Internet cats, in their own words: Henri le Chat Noir

caitlin — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:26:42 +0000

Henri: "They curse the fur on the bed, but what is shedding if not a reminder of my own spiritual evanescence?"

As exhaustive and definitive as our cover story on the break-out fame of the Internet's Cat Pack was last month, still the masses clamored for more. Specifically, they wanted Henri le Chat Noir.

Who can blame them -- Seattle's existentially wracked feline inspires Christopher Walken to reference his videos mid-interview and whose short film Henri 2, Paw de Deux was declared the best of the Internet cat offerings by the dearly departed Roger Ebert. He figured prominently on our Cat Pack cover flirting with Luna the Fashion Kitty, but clearly, we would be remiss not to hear from the laconic cat himself, particularly now that he has a recently-released coffeetable book to shill.

"I think people seem to lump cat videos together by nature, and often in a dismissive way," says Will Braden, who Henri fans will recognize as the "thieving filmmaker." "Sometimes it works to refer to 'cat videos' as one entity, but often it doesn't. There isn't much alike between an Henri video and a five-second grainy cell phone video of a cat sneezing and falling into a bathtub, other than the fact that they both have cats in them."

Henri (who was born Henry and adopted from the Seattle Animal Shelter as a kitten) has seen his Internet fame massaged and engineered sleekly by Braden, who told me in an email interview that he works full-time on the Henri machine, driven by artfully shot Youtube videos and now including an online gift shop featuring mouse pads and mugs.

"My business cards just say, 'I make cat videos.'" says Braden. "I get a lot of personal messages from people saying that they really enjoy reading Henri's Facebook messages every day, particularly if it's a stressful day. The Facebook page in general, really has become a community for cat lovers, and I know a few people who have found comfort there after losing pets." He says he tries to use Henri's popularity by raising money for cat shelters ($5,000 in 2012 -- Braden's goal is double that for 2013) and occasionally for fans with sick kitties of their own.

But you won't see Henri posing with Bob DeNiro at Tribeca Film Festival, or appearing in Friskies commercials [CORRECTION: Henri is indeed tied up in the Friskies cabal], as have his Cat Pack peers.

"Henry is kind of a homebody, and I have to remember that unlike some other celebrity cats who seem to really like traveling around, Henry would hate it," says Braden. "Since he doesn't get to reap the benefits of fame and fortune, it would really just be putting him through aggravation for my own benefit."

Anyway, enough human flapjaw. Braden was kind enough to facilitate an Internet encounter between myself and Henri.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: What is your essential reading list?

Henri le Chat Noir: Print is dead. Except for my new book.

SFBG: Has celebrity brightened your world, or only highlighted life's bleakness?

HCN: Chasing celebrity is no different than chasing a little red dot. They are both fool's errands. The thieving filmmaker chases fame, not me.

SFBG: Describe a day in the life of Henri.

HCN: Generally, I will spend some time after my second nap pondering the metaphor of life as an empty bowl. Then it's dinner time, and then another nap.

>>DIP INTO THE LIVES OF COLONEL MEOW AND LUNA THE FASHION KITTY, OUR PREVIOUS INTERVIEW SUBJECTS

SFBG: Why make the move into literature?

HCN: I wanted to give people a glimpse into my philosophical ideas, without the interference and distortion of the thieving filmmaker. Of course, he found a way to plaster his name on the cover of my book anyway. He is truly shameless.

SFBG: In your book, you talk about the transition into adulthood (read: realization of existence as a cruel and arbitrary prison). Was there any particular event that precipitated your maturation?

HCN: One day, I was chasing a feather around in the living room. Every time I would just about catch it, it would slip through my fingers. Yet I could not give up. I had to have it. Then, after a while, I glanced up and saw that the feather was actually attached to a stick by string, and that it was being manipulated by one of my human caretakers. They were taunting me. All my effort had been for nothing. My innocence was torn away, and I felt the bleakness of life all around me. I held my paws over my eyes and wept...and they laughed and took pictures, saying I looked "cute". What a cruel joke is life.

Do falling jobless numbers mean we're smart and focused, or rich and exclusive?

steven — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:12:57 +0000

The unemployment rate continues to drop in San Francisco and all over California, according to new numbers released today by the California Employment Development Department, which were trumpeted by Mayor Ed Lee as vindication for his economic development policies.

“San Francisco’s steady economic recovery is the result of our continued focus on job creation, education and training residents for the demands of the 21^st century workforce. San Franciscans are getting back to work across the spectrum of job sectors – from hospitality to construction to technology to service industry jobs and we will continue to help these sectors grow in our City,” Lee said in a press release.

But are Lee’s neoliberal policies of promoting technology and other corporations with tax breaks and city-subsidized training programs and financing mechanisms really creating the rosy economic picture he’s painting? And even if it is helping to promote boom times, at what point have we essentially reached full employment, the point at which we should maybe turn our focus and resources to addressing the rising cost of living here?

After all, San Francisco’s unemployment rate of 5.4 percent is third only to Marin County (4.6 percent) and San Mateo County (5.1 percent). Those three counties also just happen to be the three counties with the highest per capita incomes in the state, a fact that explains our jobless rate more than the mid-Market payroll tax exemption and other taxpayer giveaways.

“Unemployment rates tend to be lowest in areas with high education attainment,” Ruth Kavanagh, EDD’s labor market consultant for this area, told us when we called to discuss the disparties among counties.

What about the rising cost of living in San Francisco? Clearly, this is becoming a much more difficult city for the unemployed and marginally employed to remain living in. How much are gentrification, evictions, and the exodus to the East Bay (Alameda County’s rate is 7 percent, still better than the statewide rate of 8.5 percent) and other locales a factor in our low jobless rate?

Kavanagh said the EDD doesn’t directly track that and so she couldn’t address the question. But she did say that the Bay Area was indeed experiencing the fastest job growth in the state, driven largely by the tech industry. In the last year, this three-county area has added 9,600 jobs in Professional Business Services (which includes tech) and 4,600 each in Leisure & Hospitality and Construction.

Indeed, in his State of the City speech in January, Lee touted the 23 construction cranes on the city skyline as the best gauge of the state of the city. And if counting jobs is one’s only measure of success, San Francisco is doing as well as can be expected. Kavanagh said most economists consider “full employment” within the capitalist system to be somewhere between 4-5 percent.

Yet Lee says he’s not backing off from his full-throttle focus on economic development. “San Francisco’s unemployment rate today stands at a five-year low and I will continue to pursue policies that get people back to work, support San Francisco families and invest in our City’s future,” he said. “This Summer through San Francisco Summer Jobs +, we are setting an aggressive goal of putting 6,000 youth to work in paid jobs and internships, and I will continue working hard to make sure all San Franciscans have access to good paying jobs.”

Now if only we all had access to reasonably priced housing, health care, food, entertainment, and a transportation system built to handle a growing population.

-sigh-

Now get back to work!

Forget Bay to Breakers -- it's time for a Thong Parade!

admin — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:38:19 +0000

Well, OK -- if you're a nudist you'll probably be doing Bay to Breakers on Sunday. It's one of the few sanctioned city events you're allowed to attend in your birthday suit.

On Saturday, however, in order to draw attention to the absurdity of banning nudity in the city while still keeping it legal on its most crowded and family friendly days, the organizers of "Bare as You Dare: Thong Parade" are encouraging people to don their best mankini or panties and join them at Jane Warner Plaza in the Castro, noon-2pm tomorrow, Sat/18. "Come hang out with us!" Press release after the jump:

Saturday, May 18, 2012 From Noon to 2pm
Starts at Jane Warner Plaza, San Francisco

DON'T BE LATE!

The THONG PARADE happens the day before the Bay to Breakers, so you have two great reasons to be in SF that weekend!

Some city officials claim the nudity ban was implemented to protect public safety by totally eliminating the huge crowds that gather because of the naked people. Leathermen, drag queens, tattooed persons and lots of other citizens draw attention.

WHO WILL BE BANNED NEXT?

Tell your city leaders you don't want San Francisco sanitized!

Wear a thong, a jock strap, a g-string, a cock sock, panties, briefs, boxers. Organizers have applied for a sidewalk parade permit.

Bring a sign or paint a message on your body for a group march around the Castro neighborhood, along Market Street and the City Hall/downtown area. Route maps will be provided at the event.

Be a part of the resurgence of fun and quirkiness in the Castro and beyond!

Parade group meets in JWP at noon. Parade will take place on the sidewalk and we'll be walking through the Castro and surrounding areas and then return to conclude at Harvey Milk Plaza under the Pride Flag. Come hang out with us!

Can't a guy even smoke crack in peace any more?

tim — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:24:10 +0000

Okay: Yes, it's really funny that the mayor of Toronto, who is an odd guy at best, was apparently caught on a cell-phone video sucking on a crack pipe. Insert jokes here. Go ahead.

It reminds me, since I'm very old, of the last crack-pipe mayor, Marion Barry, who in 1990 fell into an FBI sting when a former girlfriend invited him to her hotel room to have sex. Turns out she was an FBI informant, and when she suggested they get high before getting into bed, the fibbies caught Barry on a secret camera. Didn't do much to harm his career -- he served six months in jail and was soon re-elected mayor.

In Ford's case, it's hard to see how he'd even get arrested. I don't know Canadian law, but a videotape of someone smoking out of a glass pipe isn't legal evidence of cocaine posession (hey, it could have been medical marijuana). At this point, there really isn't a crime. But already, there are calls for him to resign, and it's going to be hard to put this behind him.

The interesting twist, though, is that the person who filmed him wasn't a cop at all; it was someone else in the room, quite possibly a dealer, who was looking for a big cash score. Which could be coming -- Gawker is trying to raise $200,000 to pay for the clip. (Yes, you can chip in and help crowd-fund the further embarassment of a politician!)

Now, it's pretty likely that the person with the camera wasn't a good-government crusader or an anti-drug type. What happened here, it appears, is someone who is either selling crack or smoking it with Hizzoner then gets into not-quite extortion or blackmail (though he might have called Ford before putting it out on the open market) but certainly a setup of another kind.

I'm not advocating that the mayor of Toronto (or anyone else) smoke crack. It's nasty shit. But isn't it just a tiny bit creepy that you can't even sit in a crack den without worrying that you're going to star in a Gawker video?

What if instead of smoking crack he'd been fucking a woman (or a guy) he wasn't married to? Would Gawker raise $200,000 to see a mayor having consensual sex outside of Holy Matrimony? (Eeew, I don't want to see Rob Ford having sex, but you get the point.)

I'm sorry, trolls, but I have to admit that (like pretty much everyone I know) I have done things in my life, in the privacy of my own or someone else's home, that I don't think should be public (crack smoking, for better or worse, not being one of them). Never hurt anyone, so it's my fucking business. And it's kind of creepy to think that anyone in the room could be filming me now, for all of posterity.

From now on, folks, hide the crack pipe.

To twerk at the symphony: Tipping on the tightrope with Janelle Monae

caitlin — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:44:56 +0000

"Normally the Symphony is like, stuffy!" -- woman in the bathroom stall next to me post-Monae.

PHOTO BY CAITLIN DONOHUE

There was a moment at Janelle Monae's show at the SF Symphony last night when it looked as if the diorama of world-class musicians behind the diminutive person in black-and-white striped shoes, pompadour, and endless progression of tailored tuxedo jackets was a natural growth. If the trombone-and-oboe look isn't an every day occurance for Monae, she did not let on as the final moments of Prince's "Take Me With You" surged around her. The andro-android turned her back to the audience and almost subconsciously, began waving her arms, a sudden conductor.

And then by the end of the next song the entire spangly gown crowd was on their pave-jeweled feet, twerking in the aisle. Maybe Monae can't always have a back-up symphony, but the Symphony should always have a Monae in front of it.

"I've never seen that before," said a friend whose been to "over a dozen" shows at Davies Symphony Hall. The crucial moment when floor-length dresses with complicated back straps found themselves navigating approximations of Monae's duck-footed pops and jazz hands, came about three quarters of the way through the show, after her covers of the tender "Smile" (originally an instrumental in Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, eventually sung by Nat King Cole in 1954), the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back", "Goldfinger", and her own concotions: "Peach Tree Blues", "Sincerely, Jane".

"I did not quite feel comfortable with myself as a young woman," the famously androgynously attired Monae announced to the crowd. The song that followed, she said, was meant to assist anyone feeling similarly unhinged. "For everybody out there who has ever felt weak, this song is for you."

She launched into a one-two of her singles "Cold War" and "Tightrope", and we went there. Had the elder statespeople, the rich blonde stunners, the swath of young, well-turnt, and apparently rich (considering the ticket price for the show, which was a fundraiser gala for the Symphony's impressive public school programming), the tightly-curled man who secured his ginger locks with what I swear was a black tie scrunchie, ever felt out of place? "You better know what you're fighting for," Monae hollered, thrillingly. You could feel the crowd feeling their own, each, personal fight, even if it was just their plans to breach the VIP lounge at the post-show open bar reception across the street at City Hall.

She ran into the crowd? She dropped her new single featuring Erykah Badu in an absolutly inevitable encore? She wins the day. On Monday, Monae takes the show to Chicago's Symphony, a stand-in for an ailing Queen Aretha Franklin. I doubt the Windy City will be disappointed, and I hope it wears its dancing scrunchie.

FYI, the show was one in a series of concerts at which the Symphony is featuring guest artists from varying genres -- Rufus Wainwright is coming up June 9, will he get the crowds rolling ass in the aisles too?

Pointy ears and freaky eyebrows: this week's new movies

cheryl — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:32:28 +0000

Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) take it to the bridge in 'Star Trek Into Darkness,' now playing.

Photo by Zade Rosenthal

In Hollywood, summer starts in May, or even earlier ... give it a few more years and there'll be an Avengers tie-in movie ringing in the season in early February. This weekend's "summer" blockbuster is Star Trek Into Darkness, directed by J. J. Abrams, who was recently tapped to helm at least the first film in the "Star Wars sequel trilogy." Lotta stars in J.J.'s eyes these days. At least he's having fun with it so far (my review of Darkness after the jump).

Also this week: he'll soon be playing the villain in Man of Steel, speaking of summer blockbusters, but Michael Shannon first appears as a based-on-truth hitman in the very fine Iceman, reviewed here by Dennis Harvey. Also of interest, the first Himalayan Film Festival is now underway in various Bay Area theaters; I take a look at the doc-heavy line-up here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ec_rPApKCA

Star Trek Into Darkness Do you remember 1982? There are more than a few echoes of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in J. J. Abrams' second film retooling the classic sci-fi property's characters and adventures. Darkness retains the 2009 cast, including standouts Zachary Quinto as Spock and Simon Pegg as comic-relief Scotty, and brings in Benedict "Sherlock" Cumberbatch to play the villain (I think you can guess which one). The plot mostly pinballs between revenge and preventing/circumventing the destruction of the USS Enterprise, with added post-9/11, post-Dark Knight (2008) terrorism connotations that are de rigueur for all superhero or fantasy-type blockbusters these days. But Darkness isn't totally, uh, dark: there's quite a bit of fan service at work here (speak Klingon? You're in luck). Abrams knows what audiences want, and he's more than happy to give it to 'em, sometimes opening up massive plot holes in the process — but never veering from his own Prime Directive: providing an enjoyable ride. (2:07) (Cheryl Eddy)

Midnight's Children Deepa Mehta (2005's Water) directs and co-adapts with Salman Rushdie the author's Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel, which mixes history (India's 1947 independence, and the subsequent division of India and Pakistan) with magical elements — suggested from its fairy-tale-esque first lines: "I was born in the city of Bombay, once upon a time." This droll voice-over (read by Rushdie) comes courtesy of Saleem Sinai, born to a poor street musician and his wife (who dies in childbirth; dad is actually an advantage-taking Brit played by Charles "Tywin Lannister" Dance) but switched (for vaguely revolutionary reasons) with Shiva, born at the same moment to rich parents who unknowingly raise the wrong son. Rich or poor, it seems all children born at the instant of India's independence have shared psychic powers; over the years, they gather for "meetings" whenever Saleem summons them. And that's just the 45 minutes or so of story. Though gorgeously shot, Midnight's Children suffers from page-to-screen-itis; the source material is complex in both plot and theme, and it's doubtful any film — even one as long as this — could translate its nuances and more fanciful elements ("I can smell feelings!," Saleem insists) into a consistently compelling narrative. Last-act sentimentality doesn't help, though it's consistent with the fairy-tale vibe, I suppose. (2:20) (Cheryl Eddy)

Something in the Air After accidentally causing a guard serious harm during a Molotov-cocktail revenge attack on high school campus police, floppy-haired Gilles (Clément Métayer) and his baby anarchist comrades have to scatter for summer vacation. He heads to Italy along with potential new girlfriend Christine (Lola Créton), the last one (Carole Combes' Laure) having tripped off to London and Ibiza with her artist parents. Gilles wants to be an artist, too. As much of a narrative arc as there is here details his gradual shift from dedication to political ideology toward decisions that might help further his career and define his aesthetic as a painter (or maybe a filmmaker). Always interesting but never involving, Olivier Assayas' somewhat autobiographical feature is a portrait-of-a-young-man exercise that's ultimately a little too much like everyone's freshman college year: Fascinating and life-changing if you were there, not so much if you're just hearing someone else's countercultural reminscences. Gilles is a petulant blank whose revolutionist convictions seem borrowed rather than felt — which may be the writer-director's intent, but it's hard to tell. Originally titled Apres Mai — a much more useful reference to the French far-left political tumult of May 1968 and its aftermath — this is one more cinematic attempt to encapsulate the "turbulent" 1960s (extending here into the mid-'70s) that at least fleetingly captures the era's fluidity of sex, love, community, and ideology. And that's far less successful at convincing us the beliefs our protagonists tout are anything more than an immature following of cultural fashion. It's an incongruously passive movie about a time in which passion reigned. (2:01) (Dennis Harvey)

Stories We Tell Actor and director Sarah Polley (2011's Take This Waltz) turns the camera on herself and her family for this poignant, moving, inventive, and expectation-upending blend of documentary and narrative. Her father, actor Michael Polley, provides the narration; our first hint that this film will take an unconventional form comes when we see Sarah directing Michael's performance in a recording-studio booth, asking him to repeat certain phrases for emphasis. On one level, Stories We Tell is about Sarah's own history, as she sets out to explore longstanding family rumors that Michael is not her biological father. The missing piece: her mother, actress Diane Polley (who died of cancer just days after Sarah's 11th birthday), a vivacious character remembered by Sarah's siblings and those who knew and loved her. Stories We Tell's deeper meaning emerges as the film becomes ever more meta, retooling the audience's understanding of what they're seeing via convincingly doc-like reenactments. To say more would lessen the power of Stories We Tell's multi-layered revelations. Just know that this is an impressively unique film — about family, memories, love, and (obviously) storytelling — and offers further proof of Polley's tremendous talent. (1:48) (Cheryl Eddy)

Sun Don't Shine Prolific indie producer and actor (Upstream Color) Amy Seimetz's debut as feature writer-director is a intriguingly ambiguous mumblecore noir about a couple on the run, à la Bonnie and Clyde. Crystal (Kate Lyn Sheil) and Leo (Kentucker Audley) are driving south through Florida — a state that seemingly always relaxes demands on intelligence and legality — with a handgun, innumerable anxieties, and something problematic hidden in the trunk. We gradually realize she's unstable, though to what extent remains unclear. Seimetz's refusal to spell out that and other basic narrative elements lends her film a compelling aura of mystery, one that heightens some striking, tense sequences but also can prove somewhat frustrating in the long run. (A little more insight would have made it easier to understand why the seemingly level-headed Leo has hitched his wagon to the increasingly off-putting Crystal.) Overall, though, it's the kind of first feature that makes you eager to see what she'll come up with next. (1:20) Roxie. (Dennis Harvey)

The Ro Khanna party

tim — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:11:07 +0000

When Ro Khanna, a young, energetic intellectual property lawyer, ran for Congress against Tom Lantos, he was the candidate of the progressives. I liked Khanna, and appreciated his willingness to take on the almost unheard-of task of challenging a longtime incumbent in a Democratic primary. At that point, in 2004, the big issues were the war and the PATRIOT Act, and Khanna was against both. Lantos, who was always hawkish on defense issues (and a die-hard supporter of Israel, no matter what the Israeli government was doing), was clearly out of touch with his district. But Khanna never got much traction, and he lost pretty badly.

Now he's back, in a new era of top-two primaries (which has its own problems), and in a different district. He's taking on Mike Honda, who, like Lantos, has been around a while, and hasn't faced serious opposition in years.

And this time around, it's not Matt Gonzalez and the left supporting Khanna -- it's Lite Guv Gavin Newsom, who beat Gonzalez for mayor of SF, along with Ron Conway and the tech industry. And instead of talking about failed US military policies, he's talking about bringing the interests of Silicon Valley to Washington:

“The premise of this campaign is quite simple,” Khanna told the crowd. “We’ve had quite brilliant people…use technology to change the world. And it’s time that we actually change politics, that Silicon Valley has the potential to do this.” “It’s not just about having a tech agenda. This is about something much deeper — our values, and our ability to use those values to change Washington and the world,” he told them.

Now: It's not as if Mike Honda has been horrible to Silicon Valley. He's been involved in all sorts of tech-related issues. But he's of a different generation, and however stereotypical it may be to say it, there's a certain level of ageism in the tech world right now. Honda is old; the wealth in the tech world is overwhelmingly young. Politico notes:

Khanna’s decision to take on Honda also reflects a long-standing frustration among many young California pols who have been patiently waiting for older members to exit the state’s congressional delegation. Last year’s induction of an independent redistricting committee and a jungle primary system in which the top two finishers in an open primary advance to the runoff regardless of party affiliation, helped push many senior members into retirement.

Oh, and Honda is very much a pro-labor guy. And tech firms are almost never unionized, and their owners and workers don't tend to have the same sympathies for labor unions as young activists did 20 years ago.

Politico doesn't give Khanna much of a shot; it's going to be a tough battle. Honda's been around the district forever, and has no apparent scandals or gaffes (and unlike poor Pete Stark, he doesn't seem to be losing his marbles).

But money talks, and Khanna's got a lot of it -- and in some ways, this will be a new-money-v.-old-Democratic Party, tech v. labor kind of battle that will say a lot about where Bay Area politics are going as the region's population, and wealth, are dramatically and rapidly changing.

The "Do Nothing" Solution to "Illegal Immigration"

JohnnyW — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:06:31 +0000

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida

www.ftlauderdale.gov/news

Both sides of the political aisle have made a major issue out of the problem of the 11 million people inside the US illegally or presently undocumented. The president has said this is a priority and Florida senator Marco Rubio has agreed. They are theoretically opposed to each other, yet Rubio's proposals entailed in the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 don't differ a great deal from Obama's. In a nutshell, Rubio has suggested that the wholesale eviction of 11 million people is impossible and that the bill offers them an opportunity for legalization and permanent residence and citizenship. Naturally, the "jump through hoops" process begins here: Fines and background checks and no federal bennies.

Sounds completely reasonable, but you'd think Rubio had suggested that the government was handing out lollipops and bon-bons, making Spanish the new "official language" and changing the "Star Spangled Banner" to "Guantanmera" by the reaction of his "conservative" peers. A cursory Google reveals an enraged base represented by such intellectual heavweights as Townhall.com and Ann "To Hell With Palin, I Was Here First" Coulter. Any concessions to the teeming masses of south of the border is treasonous amnesty and in their hardly humble opinions, this will lead to "de-Europeanization" (ie less white).

As far as what the generally pitiful Democrats are offering, it is only marginally different than Rubio's idea. Which is also reasonable, but overlooks the crux of the issue, because no one anywhere has to unmitigated gall (until now) to say it: "Illegal Immigration reform" is a solution in search of a problem, because in reality, it isn't a problem at all!

The way I see it, a problem means an aggrieved party and in this instance, there isn't one. People want to hire help for whatever the task is, other people agree to do it for a price, end of story. The idea that "illegal immigrants are stealing American workers jobs" sounds fairly solid on its face unless you happen to live in the American Southwest and notice that wherever day laborers congregate, there aren't a whole hell of a lot of white folks. As far as "taking away jobs that union carpenters/plumbers/electricians do", isn't it the union's job to protect their own for one and for two, a skyscraper isn't built and wired with dudes from the Lowe's parking lot. It is not worth a major contractor's license to screw with E-Verify (I passed an E-Verify check myself a few months ago for my radio show!).

Assuming you "legalized" every man, woman in child in the US tomorrow, what happens? The working person's price rises. Which means that they will be replaced by new people from Central America or Asia that will remain invisible. See, we are a free country with open borders--people can come and go as they please, this isn't a gulag (yet) (The irony of the most virulent anti-USSR voices being the loudest for a border fence is astounding). Not only is there no way to stop it, there isn't even a real reason to stop it--as China and Japan might tell you, an aging and shrinking worker base is starting to hurt them and hard.

Fact is, both major political parties support and oppose it for a pair of reasons of their own. Democrats love this, as it accelerates the "Bluing" of the Southwest with millions of new voters beholding and grateful to them, making a Republican national electoral victory mathematically impossible. The other reason they love it is because it replenishes their most loyal and organized base, labor. Republicans hate it for two reasons as well--newly legal workers will have more rights, bargaining power and higher pay, which means that a new cheap labor era is gonna take a while. The other reason is the one they vehemently deny but is as obvious as the honkers on their maps--their base's great unifier isn't economics or even social issues, but race. That the Dixiecrats of the last century are now almost entirely Republican. The glue that holds them intact, whether they'd care to admit it or not, is white supremacy. And a sea of legal Americans that are a deeper shade of soul galls them to the cores of their rancid selves. Were they serious about "sending all of these people back to where they came from", they'd boycott every and any business that employs them, which means they'd pretty much have to stop eating. I've seen what the average reactionary looks like--that ain't happening.

In fact, when the "illegals" are white, they say nothing.

Obama and Rubio both cry out that the system is "broken" but it isn't. Undocumenteds pour billions into the coffers of state and federal and don't get it back and whatever their costs are to health or schools, they're balanced off by what the public saves in lower food and service costs. They're a wash. Which means that any changes to the laissez-faire system only make everyone's life harder and more complex. If there is a solution, the easiest one would be a "seven year rule"--you prove you've actually been here 7 years, no criminal record, you take a citizenship test, that's it.

We have undocumented people in this very neighborhood. They want the same things we do. That's good enough for me.

JAW

“Privacy? Screw that.”

rebecca — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:45:28 +0000

Er, Google glass?

PHOTO BY PETER KAMINSKI VIA FLICKR

At a party the other night, somebody convinced me to try out Google Glass. I let curiosity get the better of me, succumbed to peer pressure, and put the frames on my face for a few seconds.

A floating, illuminated square appeared in the top right corner of my vision, containing a few lines of text. One said, “take a picture,” and when I spoke those words out loud (it took two tries), the tiny screen filled with the face of the person I was looking at, outlined by tiny camera brackets. My reality was instantly frozen in the tiny floating screen and, I can only presume, whisked off to the servers controlled by that increasingly ubiquitous presence in our lives, Google. Just like every other time I’ve ever snapped a picture on my smartphone, only with less effort.

Even weirder than donning a pair of the geeky gear myself was going into Vesuvio last night and spotting a normal looking, middle-aged man sipping his drink and sporting Glass like it was nothing. At Vesuvio! I began to ponder. What if everyone in the bar had been donning the wearable computers, and streaming? Would bits of my conversation have floated through electronic channels and reached the ears of eager listeners? What if, halfway through my whiskey drink, I had one of those moments: I didn’t know the mic was on. I didn’t even know there was a mic!

If you are fond of gossiping and drinking in bars in San Francisco, it is possible that you will encounter this problem some day. At present, there’s little to stop anyone from walking into a bar and streaming their surroundings directly onto the Internet with a smartphone. However, Google Glass blends our machines even more intimately with our realities, and further increases the ease with which an individual's experience can be instantly disseminated to the networked world.

Apparently, several members of Congress have taken an interest in Glass, sending a letter to Google to inquire about the privacy implications of the new wearable computing device. According to CNET:

“One question the group wants answered is how Google plans to prevent Glass for unintentionally collecting data about users without their consent. They also want to know what proactive steps Google is taking to protect the privacy of non-users when Glass is in use, as well as whether Google has considered refining its privacy policy. And they're curious to find out how Glass will use facial-recognition technology and how much privacy is considered when approving new apps.”

Privacy. It’s heating up as a focal point for activists, and evidently some of them have slick graphic design skills. Witness the international demo release of Data Dealer, billed as “the gleefully sarcastic game about privacy:”

According to press materials accompanying the release:

“A small team from Austria has developed the new online game Data Dealer which addresses issues of personal data security and privacy in a completely new, highly ironic and humorous way. At first glance the game looks similar to popular Facebook hits like Mafia Wars or Farmville. But in Data Dealer players face a very different challenge: the provocative goal of the game is to collect personal information about millions of people - and ruthlessly sell it to clients of all kinds. The game is targeted at both young people and adults. Data Dealer is an online game about collecting, combining and selling personal data – and therefore a playful exploration of online privacy issues.”

New designers show their stuff at this weekend's Asian Heritage Street Celebration

caitlin — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:07:55 +0000

Fashion designer Huab Vue brings her collection to this weekend's runway.

The annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration and fashion fever may not be automatically associated in the brains of Bay Areans. But then, most Bay Areans probably are unacquainted with the work of Runway Couturier -- the group behind this year's festival finale, featuring local designers from all across the SF fashion world, on Sat/18.

The show is what Runway's executive producer Fritz Lambandrake dubs a “little fashion show that could." But in actually, this is one catwalk that'll help small-scale fashionistas to realize large-scale dreams. Presenting various Bay Area designers, Runway Couturier promotes young hopefuls free of charge -- and even supplies them with fabric, courtesy of sponsor Linda Blake of Discount Fabrics. It is Lambandrake's goal to “to use fashion as a bridge between cultures and communities”, as he told the Guardian, which explains the show's presence at this weekend's Asian Heritage Street Celebration. The fair will also feature cooking demos, live musical performances, a car show, craft market, a blessing by Thai monks, and food galore.

Although Lambandrake's heritage lies elsewhere than the Asian continent, he says he feels honored to be a part of the event. San Francisco supervisor Jane Kim was the one responsible for hooking up Lambandrake and Asian Week Foundation, who produces the yearly street fair. "You should see her stiletto heels!” says Lambandrake of his well-shod politician connection.

Making their debut at the show three new designers: Sam Shan, Tina Maier, and Huab Vue. Shan, a 21-year-old Burmese political refugee, shows a collection inspired by the folktales of his homeland. Maier, a self-educated fiber artist, is a master manipulator of materials, and her collection is sure to be high-minded yet grounded, with a mishmash of thrift store finds, unique textiles., and re-purposed upholstery. Check out the AHSC site for a full list of designers.

A preview of Tomboy Tailors' highly anticipated genderqueer debut collection will stalk the catwalk, and there will be a competition for the best designs of the day, judged by a discerning panel including drag mistress Donna Sachet and Supervisor Kim.

Runway Couturier at the Asian Heritage Street Celebration

Sat/18, 3:30pm

Larkin and Eddy, SF

www.runwaycouterier.com

Behold! Highlights of ArtPadSF and artMKT

admin — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:27:19 +0000

In this week's issue, Guardian visual arts Matt Fisher singled out some highlights of the big ArtPadSF and artMKT shows, which open tonight and run through Sun/19. Here's a slideshow that shows you what he was talking about. Artist descriptions after the jump:

ARTPADSF:

Andrew Benson, Johansson Projects

Benson's sometimes gooey, sometimes crunkly digital video/experimental software work breathes some ragged, frenetic energy into the standard trope of "relationships between the body and technology." His piece is scheduled to be projected from the Phoenix onto the six-story building next door at 8pm, Thu/16-Sat/18.

Justine Frischmann, Unspeakable Projects

Frischmann's paintings look like something that one of those spiders on Benzedrine would make. If it lived inside an Etch A Sketch. And used neon spray paint. During a dust storm. Trust me, these are compliments.

David Hevel, Marx & Zavattero

Hevel makes collaged sculptures and sharp pop abstract paintings, usually riffing on American celebrity. His work at the fair will be very MTV 1983.

Scott Hove, Spoke Art

Will Oaklander Hove be showing one of his intensely drugged up fanged wall cakes, a knotted rope work installation, or a surrealism-on-meth painting? Yeah, it all sounds good to me, too.

Jason Kalogiros, Queen's Nails Gallery

Kalogiros makes edgy, dense, cerebral, photo-based works, lately by manipulating found commercial images. I'm hoping to see a couple from his series of Cartier and Bvlgari watches.

Ed Loftus, Gregory Lind Gallery

Loftus does photorealism pretty much the right way, by marrying intense attention to detail with an obsessive and neurotic subject matter that crawls under your skin ever deeper the more time you spend with it. While you're in Gregory Lind's space, also check out Thomas Campbell and Jovi Schnell.

Matt Momchilov, Unspeakable Projects

Momchilov queers punk and rock fandom in the traditional sense of the word, meaning his paintings and sculpture snatch and redirect standard accoutrements of punk fanboys and girls to point that hardcore laser focus in new directions and at more fey subjects.

Gregg Renfrow, Toomey-Tourell

I won't blame you one bit if you try to lick Renfrow's luminous, vibrating color field abstractions. His meticulous, precise, wondrous paintings are like visual everlasting gobstoppers, and I fully expect that by the time I see 'em, they'll have a layer of saliva all over.

Jonathan Runcio, Queen's Nails Gallery

Runcio makes incisive 2 and 3D work that takes traditional hardedge abstraction in the art concrete vein, shacks it up with remnants of urban architecture, and has a post-formalist lovechild.

ARTMRKT

Johnna Arnold, Traywick Contemporary

The fair's Collector's Lounge will be showing Arnold's video created to accompany the richly saturated, haunting landscape photos that will be showing offsite at the gallery.

Carol Inez Charney, Slate Contemporary

harney's complex photographs were the single most outstanding thing I saw last year at ArtPad. That's complex like a personality, not like your taxes. A year later, I'm prepared for the brainfreeze again.

Amanda Curreri, Romer Young

Curreri's precisely conceived conceptual color and abstract works are subtle in that they tend to yield only small nibbles at first pass, but they're deceptive that way, and usually end up smacking you around by the time it's all over.

Lauren DiCioccio, Jack Fischer Gallery

DiCioccio has recently been applying her super-meticulous needlework to fastidiously x-ing out individual letters in pages of books, as an act of both scrutiny and physical redaction of the received, mediated world.

Joshua Hagler, Jack Fischer Gallery

Somewhere in the Hamptons summer home where Glenn Brown and Lucian Freud are renting with Mark Tansey and Matthew Day Jackson, Hagler is stoned on the couch making fart noises with his armpits. That is also a compliment.

Claire Rojas, Gallery Paul Anglim

Sure Gallery Paul Anglim shows Barry McGee, but I'll be looking at the Rojas paintings, whose hard edge and off-kilter abstractions of interior architectural spaces are spot-on and mesmerizing.

Diane Rosenblum, Slate Contemporary

Rosenblum switches up hyperanalytical and conceptual works that incorporate research, crowdsourced interactions, and photography. I'm hoping to see images from a series of recent photos that work Flickr comments into the image.

Dana Hart Stone, Brian Gross

I can't wait to examine Hart Stone's paintings up close, which in the past have been made by repeatedly transferring or printing antique images in rows onto canvas. Also at Brian Gross are Bay Area stalwarts Roy de Forest and Robert Arneson.

Esther Traugot, Chandra Cerrito

Traugot combines found organic objects with crochet. I know what you're thinking, but this is not a Portlandia skit. She does it the right way, promise.