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Up against intense market pressure, longtime residents and community projects fade from SF

This Week's Paper

Evictions sweep the city. Plus, Björk, Black Watch, a guide to summer's best fairs and festivals, Southside Spirit House, community basketball, and more. Articles Online | Digital Edition

From the Blogs

Promo: Enter to win tickets to see Prince (yes, that Prince)

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Enter to win tickets to see PRINCE at DNA Lounge!

DNA Lounge is proud to present seven-time Grammy Award winner and Multi-Platinum artist PRINCE!

Four shows!

• Tue Apr 23, 6:30pm;

• Tue Apr 23, 10pm;

• Wed Apr 24, 6:30pm;

• Wed Apr 24, 10pm!

This tour will introduce his brand new, all-female backing band, 3RDEYEGIRL, featuring acclaimed Canadian guitarist Donna Grantis, Danish bass guitarist Ida Nielsen, and Kentucky-native drummer Hannah Ford.Read more »

Delicious beginnings: Chocolate 101 at Dandelion

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Photos by Bowerbird Photography

"Hi. My name is ______, and I'm a chocoholic."

The rest of us took turns, going around the room, introducing ourselves and proclaiming our unabashed love for chocolate. We were all gathered at Dandelion Chocolate the bean-to-bar chocolate company on Valencia Street, for Chocolate 101, an introductory class which included comparison tastings, a tour through their manufacturing area, and a slideshow presentation on farming.

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Mayor Lee's trip to China raises questions of ethics and influence

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[UPDATED(x3)] Mayor Ed Lee barely had time to unpack from his recent political junket to Paris before he was off on his current trip to China – both of which were paid for and accompanied by some of his top political supporters and among the city's most influential power brokers. Read more »

The Performant: The sacred and the profane

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Putting the "good" back into Good Friday at “Sing-Along Jesus Christ Superstar” and Zombie Christ Haunted House

They might seem merely irreverent, or downright blasphemous, to conservative churchgoers, but I’m pretty sure the original JC Superstar would have dug the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence -- you know, the water-into-wine Jesus who supported sex workers and preached tolerance and respect for the marginalized.

The Sisters, who have been preaching the same since 1979, really get a chance to shine (and glitter) come Easter Weekend. One of SF’s most singular events, Easter Sunday in Dolores Park grabs the lion’s share of the attention, what with its iconic Easter Bonnet contest, the sainting of local community heroes, and the ever-popular Hunky Jesus competition, being rescheduled as we speak due to spring showers. But for those of us who find it difficult to get up early on a Sunday morning, hardbody of Christ or no hardbody of Christ, the Sisters have expanded their influence across the weekend, creating plenty of opportunity for the nocturnal among us to grab a little of the resurrection gusto for themselves.

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Live Shots: Keystone XL pipeline protest

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Photos by Bowerbird Photography

SFBG's Rebecca Bowe reported on the anti-pipeline protesters who greeted President Obama yesterday in the cold and fog. SFBG photographers from Bowerbird Photography were there as well. After the jump, Ariel of Bowerbird's take on the scene. 

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Local filmmaker's '50 Children' doc debuts on HBO

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San Franciscan Steven Pressman makes his filmmaking debut with 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus, an informative documentary about Philadelphia residents Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus — grandparents to Pressman's wife, Liz Perle — who hatched a daring plan in 1939 to rescue 50 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Austria. The hour-long film airs Mon/8 on HBO.

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RIP Roger Ebert

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A sad day for cinema fans everywhere today; veteran film critic, author, advocate, and (lately) blogger/Twitter master Roger Ebert has died after a long battle with cancer.

Below, some clips paying tribute to the man, the myth, the guy who co-wrote Russ Meyer's 1970 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

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The truth conquers all

Will a 25-foot buffer zone keep anti-abortion protesters from freaking out Planned Parenthood patients? 

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I was standing in front of what looked like a semi-vacant office building. I re-checked my maps app — it looked like I had the correct address for the Planned Parenthood clinic. If only this woman would stop shouting about killing babies, maybe I could think.Read more »

New life

Remembering SF psychedelic house pioneer Scott Hardkiss. Plus: Charlie Horse, Tensnake, V.I.V.E.K., Francois K., and more nightlife

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SUPER EGO This one's for Scott Hardkiss — the actually legendary local-bred DJ and producer who in the early 1990s, along with his Hardkiss brothers in music Gavin and Robbie, helped put the psychedelic-ecstatic sounds of San Francisco house on the underground map. He passed away last week at 43 from what is presently believed to be an aneurysm, leaving behind his wife Stephanie, his two-year-old daughter — and legions of fans who revel in his sonic legacy. Read more »

Promo: Lecture and workshop with Joy DeGruy

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Joy DeGruy, PhD, authored the book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Enduring Legacy of Injury and Healing, which addresses the residual impacts of trauma on African descendants in the Americas. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the discussion of how we can use the strengths we have gained to heal.
  Read more »

Obama greeted with anti-pipeline protesters

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Hundreds of protesters gathered in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood on April 3 to greet President Barack Obama with signs and chants opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. Nationwide, environmentalists have been pressuring the president in recent months to reject construction permits for the oil infrastructure project, which would transport oil to U.S. refineries from Canada's Alberta tar sands.

The president was in San Francisco for a $32,500 per person Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) fundraiser at the mansion of San Francisco billionaires Gordon and Ann Getty, preceded by a $5,000 per person cocktail reception hosted at the Sea Cliff residence of Tom Steyer, a billionaire former hedge fund manager, and his wife Kat Taylor. Steyer and Taylor are vocal critics of the pipeline and have donated to environmental causes.

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The hawk and the rat: Hugh Leeman's artistic 'social experiments'

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The artist talks about his upcoming exhibit, depictions of the homeless, and art-related capitalism
 
If you’ve walked through the Tenderloin, along Market Street, or around SoMa, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Hugh Leeman’s art. (He'll be showing new work Thu/4 at SOMArts Gallery as part of the "Dial Collect" show.) Leeman is best known for his drawings of the distinct and arresting faces of Sixth and Market’s homeless, which he used to wheatpaste onto billboards and buildings. His iconic work has been characterized as “street art,” but Leeman views his homeless art project through a more enterprising lens.

The power latent in billboards and marketing campaigns – both to make a statement and to expose vulnerabilities held by the viewer – inspired Leeman to plaster his friends’ faces around town. (Leeman met most of the homeless men he's depicted by engaging in street-side conversation, usually with the help of a trusty pack of Camel cigarettes.) He aimed to get as many eyes on his work as possible by giving away free posters of his drawings and by allowing people to download posters off his website for free. He also screen printed his drawings onto t-shirts and gave them away to men and women on the street to sell for a 100% profit.

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No progress in condo conversion standoff, despite the Chron's spin

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Perhaps it was just an unfunny April Fool's Day joke or some wishful political spin, but the San Francisco Chronicle's April 1 article about how tenancy-in-common owners and their political supporters are pushing legislation that would allow them to bypass the condo conversion lottery seriously misrepresented the city's biggest current political standoff.Read more »

Standing on streetcorners naked, and this week's sexy events

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Memories of a taxi driver desperately trying to flag Courtney Trouble into his cab popped up unexpectedly today upon hearing the BBW queer pornographer discuss how the Madonna-inspired Guardian cover shoot last year for my story following her and the rest of the queer porn clique down to Las Vegas for the AVN Awards has now inspired a movie of its own. Read more »