Simone Nelson of Bay Area Women in Film & Media turned me onto the publication and party for “Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo,” a visual retrospective of local outdoor art. Editor Annice Jacoby captures the work of Precita Eyes Muralists and includes essays from Shepard Fairey and Spain Rodriguez, the author of “Che: A Graphic Biography.” You can celebrate the colorful body of work at the DeYoung’s free Friday Night series on Novemeber 6; it’s described as a “music, dance, visual and literary art extravaganza.” (I just call it can’t miss.)
Street Art SF: Mission Muralismo
Kiva Turning Four
Microcredit organizations’ efforts, GOOD Magazine and the Berkeley co-working center HUB Bay Area are no strangers to TheSanFranista posts, so I’ll get right to the point–international (and now domestic) lender Kiva.org is celebrating their fourth anniversary on November 3. The $20 tickets for the party at the Brower Center will get you organic treats and access to three floors of troublemaking (for a good cause, of course). I’m especially looking forward to headlining band Baba Ken and the Afrobeat Connection after they played a can’t-stay-in-your-seat show at Elbo Room earlier this year.
Make a Joyful Noise: Music National Service
I have a massive amount of respect for a new nonprofit, Music National Service, that currently has its first class of MusicanCorps fellows in public schools, hospitals and community spaces around the US. (And not just because I’m tone deaf–the work that the fellows are doing to introduce digital arts instruction and music therapy is too often underfunded). Local musician Kiff Gallagher started the organization with seed money from the Hewlett Foundation, and fellows are now serving in Chicago, Seattle, New Orleans, and the Bay Area (not a bad roster, especially considering the model carries over some AmeriCorps themes).
The music service will be playing at tonight’s Latino Heritage Month Celebration at the City Hall rotunda in honor of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts and other organizations. The attire? “Ethnic festive.”
Like Cake for the Ears
I like seeing pals you believe to be absurdely creative show it to the world; in this case, I’m cracking up over burgeoinging SF band My First Earthquake’s Antoinette-esque video for “Sweet Frown.” In October you can see the foursome (possibly sans wigs, but it’s hard to say with this group) at Hemlock Tavern, the Bernal Heights Fiesta on the Hill, and the Stanford Co-Op in their “virgin rocking of Palo Alto.” A perfect way to celebrate their first full length recording of indie pop enjoyment.
Bone Marrow and Music
I’ll be en route to Austin today for my first Austin City Limits music fest, and I was glad to see that there’s a large international charitable component (beyond Bon Iver being there, of course). While musicians including Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms, remember?) are hiking to raise funds for cancer research in East Africa as part of the Kilimanjaro Rocks trek, domestically the Love Hope Strength Foundation will be hosting bone marrow registration in Zilker Park for people potentially interested in being donors to the 30K people in need of a marrow match. The cheek swabs usually cost $65 a pop, but the Foundation has partnered with LIVESTRONG to make them free to concert-goers. It coincides with LIVESTRONG Day tomorrow, a commemoration of the 13 years since Lance’s cancer diagonosis. Timely, eh?
Pop-Up Magazine, Vol. 2
Pop-Up Magazine, the local visual and auditory extravaganza, will feature its second live event on September 25. Radio, newspaper and online magazine contributors will present highlights of their work for this installment to be hosted by the women-run theater Brava on 24th.
I’m bummed to miss what should be another story re-telling-worthy evening, but it’s for a good cause: the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program’s annual fundraising ride benefiting athletes with disabilities takes place in Sonoma that weekend (and, yes, you can throw a few bucks their way if you feel so inclined). As for Pop-Up Magazine, tickets go on sale on September 10, and you’ll want to scoop them up before they’re sold out.
Pre-Weekend Rundown
Writing about fun things for an upcoming sunny weekend on a cold summer night in SF may be similar to planning Christmas in July, but few can fault you. I’ll keep it quick and dirty in thinking about to do’s this Sat/Sun, but there are some lovingly promoted events to plan for:
Saturday
While it’s better known for a festival of another sort, Folsom St. between 25th and 26th will play host to the San Francisco Street Food Festival from 11 to 7. The feeding freenzy includes bites from Poleng, Delfina, Absinthe, and the like, and a silent auction and scavenger hunt should buy time between courses. Flavorpill SF described it best: “Proceeds benefit La Cocina — which helps low-income women start their own food businesses — and you’ve got a scrumptious event that pleases both your conscience and your palette.”
Mission Bicycle Company starts selling their new apparel line on the 22nd. The items they’re carrying have gotten good reader response so far, and I’m pining for a pair of B. Spoke Tailor arm warmers that cover half the hand.
Although it opens the day before, The Sausalito Film Festival’s Saturday programming looks the most enticing. Screenings include Milking the Rhino, a documentary about Kenya’s Maasai and Namibia’s Himbra tribes vying for portions of the “wildlife tourism pie,” and Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story, a (potentially humorous, potentially startling) look at a frighteningly competitive all boys camp for kids determined to become professional athletes. I’m looking forward to Tease & Screen, the event that film startup and pals IndieGoGo are throwing to show works-in-progress and host discussions with filmmakers that night as well.
Sunday
The Rock Make Music & Art Street Festival (another 11 to 7 event, this time on Treat Street between 17th and 18th) sounds like free fun all around between 50 artists and 12 bands. I can’t speak to the music, but with names like The Psychotherapists, Music for Animals, and The Don’ts, there may be more irony than one block can hold.
Sunday night is the second Blog Out Loud panel at curios and dress shop BellJar on 16th. It will be my first one, and the local co-founders describe it most completely as a “networking event for creative people to gather inspiration and information” from each other and experienced bloggers, most of whom focus on style (coco+kelley) and desirable things (The City Sage).
Wanderlust Weekend
I was impressed with the first Wanderlust Festival last weekend–the Squaw Valley venue was spacious and scenic, the yoga classes were well planned, and the concerts ran like clockwork (I can’t think of the last time I thought that about a show with artists the caliber of Sharon Jones and Girl Talk).
Co-founders and couple Jeff Krasno and Schuyler Grant said that last year they started looking into ways to combine holistic programming with performers they’d actually like to hear (“It’s not just chanting like lots of yoga festivals, but it’s not Slayer either,” Grant explained). In this brief overview about the motivation behind the festival, entertainment exec Krasno describes the yoga retreats he used to attend with Grant, the founder of New York’s Kula Yoga Project, and what he wanted to do to round them out:
After a snowmobile trip to explore potential stage locations the top of the mountain in February, the couple sought out instructor partners from John Friend to Shiva Rae and put a decent amount of their own money into the festival. The turnout didn’t seem to be what it could have been given the current economy, but the fact that local food and yoga are both growing in spite of the recession should be promising for the regional and European-based festivals that Krasno and Grant said they’d like to host. And the fact that nearly half of the 1,500 yoga pass participants donated money to the purchase of carbon offsets when purchasing their tickets demonstrates that there’s a passionate (and pocketbook-ready) audience for their idea.
Krasno described it as “wanting to show that yoga is appreciated by young people living active lives and trying cultivate some sense of spirituality between emails.” Reason enough for me.
RiP and Remix Culture This Thursday
I’m a big fan of the SF Film Society’s innovative (and sometimes off-the-wall) programming, and Thursday’s documentary RiP: A Remix Manifesto with a live set by VJs Eclectic Method should be top notch. Mash-up programming seems appropriate for the topic of copyright issues in our digital days. The film features sample maestro Gregg Gillis (Girl Talk, who I’m excited to see at Wanderlust this weekend) and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig (whose “Remix” book was a good recent read and my favorite of his work). The best part? The activist creator of the film, Brett Gaylor, has made his raw footage available to all for remix.
Treasure Island Music Madness
I’ve written about the Treasure Island Music Festival for the past two years and haven’t yet made it to the shows halfway across the Bay Bridge, but this year’s lineup may give me reason to between The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Beirut, and Brazilian Girls (October weather permitting).
IMOW
