San Francisco Bay Guardian

Mark Growden's solo show and variations on a theme with Hand to Mouth 

There’s something so charmingly unassuming about the Red Poppy Art House -- a by-now venerable institution on the Mission District’s quirk-centric music scene -- it makes you want to invite it home for a Hangtown Fry and mimosas. From the mismatched chairs to the frayed curtains, the whitewashed walls to the cramped toilet, the Red Poppy’s overall ambiance is that of a sort of ramshackle country parlor, right down to the upright piano.

Though you’d never mistake him for a church lady, Bay Area bard Mark Growden does exude a touch of the rustic — a down-home demeanor rooted in his rural Northern California upbringing. From the moment he opened his set on Friday night at the Red Poppy with a haunting, desert lament played ingeniously on his signature set of bicycle handlebars, it was as if he were unfolding a map of the hidden pockets of America and inviting us on an introspective journey through them.

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Yogis love the New Year. It’s not that we love to party till 4am and then vomit on the neighbor’s front stoop, or sing Abba songs in a frighteningly loud bar as the timid January sun makes its way above the horizon. Most of us are actually in bed early on NYE, after some Indian chanting and a decaf chai. The reason yogis love the New Year is because of the resolutions. The ultimate goal of yoga is transformation, so what yoga devotee doesn’t love the opportunity to make a positive change? There is even a term in Sanskrit for a heartfelt resolution or intention: sankalpa. 

You can make an intention or sankalpa around anything: your health, your money situation, your love life. So, on December 31, just after midnight, sitting around two tea light candles and a bundle of sage in my friend’s LA apartment, I made an intention for enthusiasm. 

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Party's over, people. Read more »

In a slight departure from his job as founder of the Noir City film festival (coming up at the Castro Theater Jan. 25-Feb. 3), Eddie Muller pays homage to a dark auteur of a different medium with a talk at the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Thu/10. The object of Muller's affection is famed crime scene photographer Arthur Fellig, a.k.a. Weegee. Weegee introduced artistry -- often by way of extra-journalistic manipulation -- into the documentation of extra-legal happenings during the 1930s and '40s, so perhaps Muller's fascination with the subject should come as no surprise. We caught up with Muller via the Interwebs to find out more about why he wants to draw upon Weegee's dark arts in this week's presentation. Read more »