Mission Mission

Our buddy Eric Ehler, who penned a very heartfelt review of the new skatepark for us, responds to the uproar over his recommendation that ambitious skaters hop the fence before the park’s 9am opening hour:

Thanks for publishing that review. Honestly, I didn’t think of the noise level that hard. I mean, as I thought about the problem, there was a construction crew jack hammering outside my door, at 7:00am.

Though that problem will go away (my construction), the skate park problem will stay. Maybe?

I think the piss problem can be solved, just need a public restroom, just like any other park, right?

But that noise. I was unaware that people were going in the middle of the night. I did it once, and its super hard to skate. Definitely the people going in the middle of the night are teenagers/kids. Not too many older skaters. It’ll all mellow during the school year.

Anyway, thanks for supporting the skateboarding community. I’ll urge folks to not skate after hours.

Thanks, Eric!

[Photo via a video by Luis Zavala]

Btw, for some Amos Goldbaum of your own, check out his online store.

[via Amos Goldbaum on Instagram]

This song should be all you need to know:

Nicholas Krgovich rules! (And seeing live music at Rite Spot rules.) (And being able to go see a show at 5:30pm on a Saturday and still being able to go out and do something else afterward rules.)

Here’s the tour info:

UPDATE: L.A. Takedown? Also rad…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38sUg5RT_Hw

(Thanks, A!)

Food trucks and karaoke!!! (And a beer/wine truck, duh.) What could be better??? Here’s the deal:

We’ll be covering 5 Saturdays for Karaoke KJPaul! Mark your calendars for July 26th, August 2nd, 16th, 23rd and 30th (we’ll miss August 9th)!

Karaoke will be 7pm-midnight! Get there early to enjoy the fabulous food! Food trucks start closing between 9 and 10! The bar truck stays open until midnight!

Food and Dance Karaoke! Who knew? Join us for fabulous singers, fancy pyrotechnics, great company, and FOOOD!

If you haven’t been, you should know SoMa StrEat Food Park is actually just right across the street from the Mission — very accessible. Their soundsystem is loud, and their beer/wine/sangria menu is pretty damn good.

And I promise, whether you really love karaoke or you only kind of love karaoke, this will be awesome!

RSVP and invite your friends!

In my early days living in the city, I liked to walk home from SF State like this: north along the Muni tracks into West Portal, up over Forest Hill and down into the 9th and Irving area (where I’d stop for a slice or a cookie or a loaf of bread at Arizmendi), past Kezar Stadium, down Haight Street to Toronado (where I’d stop for a pint or three) (they were $2.50 back then!), then down Church Street and up to the bench at the crest of Dolores Park (where I’d stop and do some homework), and then along some more Muni tracks to 21st or 22nd Streets (in what’s called “Dolores Heights” or the “Liberty Hill Historic District” depending on your map) where I’d turn left and head down into the Mission.

I had lots of favorite sights along that route, but this weird Muni-only thoroughfare with high walls between Liberty and 21st just really visually struck me every time I saw it. So after a while I started taking a picture of it every time I passed by, and I compiled them into a PowerPoint. (David Byrne popularized the idea of PowerPoint as art about 10 years ago; I was into it too.)

Soon after, I graduated and stopped walking that route, and then I got busy with work (and blogging) and forgot all about it. Some years later, I was visiting my sister at my parents’ house in Sacramento and she proposed we go to (and participate in) a “multimedia open mic night” at the Villanova House performance space in Davis. I dug through some old boxes I’d put into storage in their basement, found some SF State-era thumb drives and my old Minidisc player, and improvised this “multimedia open mic” performance:

Then Primo ‘grammed this photo the other day and got me reminiscing all over again.

(Oh and it was also along those tracks that I took the photo that became the first Mission Mission post ever.)

[Photo by Google Maps]

In the comments thread about the impending closure of Valencia Street vintage-by-the-pound outlet Clothes Contact, one commenter reminded us about this prescient Mr. Show sketch from nearly 2 decades ago. Keep an eye out for familiar faces:

Dang, Mr. Show sure is great.

(Thanks, Mikey and Morgan!)

First there’s the 3-year anniversary of American Tripps. I’m DJing!

But that’ll be over somewhat early, and then it’ll be time to go to the return of Haçeteria, which goes til 4am (and features real DJs):

My pal Chad is really into karaoke. (As am I.) Apparently he says so on his online-dating profiles, and here’s what happens when a nice young lady doesn’t heed his warning:

Done and done. Easy peasy.

Now, before you rip on Chad for being so quick to pass, and before you rip on this nice young lady for not branching out more at karaoke, think about it… Back in the old days, it might take you 10 years of marriage (followed by a bitter divorce) to figure out that it wasn’t going to work because the only song she’d karaoke was “Gangsta’s.” Modern romance cuts right to the chase!

(Also, be sure to check out DJ Purple’s debut at SoMa StrEat Food Park this Saturday night!)

Says Capp Street Crap, who published this pic just now:

Want to believe this all happened and he didn’t need the sign anymore. [link]

Holy cow yeah, oof, this is beautiful. It’s a Lee Hazlewood song just waiting to be written. Let’s rock:

http://youtu.be/g6JPd0G4IJo