Mission Mission

And just what exactly is a Rock and Roll Carnival, you ask?  Well, allow our pal Broke-Ass Stuart to explain:

There’s 4 bands, DJs, a magician, comedians, burlesque, face painting, fortune telling and Skee-Ball.

Woah there, you had me at Skee-Ball! Not to mention the free whiskey for the first hour.  And the date is 10/11/12!!!  It’s all going down at Public Works, and you can check out all the details here.

Instead, it’s being transformed!  So says Andrew McKinley, the proprietor of Adobe Bookstore:

Looking ahead to the New Year, there are basically two options for the Adobe Bookstore.  I choose to be an optimist and believe that the store can be saved, providing enough people band together to contribute labor, sufficient funds, and creative energy to transform Adobe Bookshop into a viable cooperative business entity. The cooperative strategy must be realized in a short time frame to enable a successful transition phase.  By the beginning of 2013, a new lease, new stock and reorganized staff need to be put into place.

Check out the full report as well as an informative FAQ after the jump, and be sure to join this Facebook group to stay up to date on all things Adobe.

(more…)

Well, it’s going to be quite the shitshow this weekend what with Fleet Week (where you learn what it’s like to live in Afghanistan with American warplanes thundering above you while you try to live, work, and poop); Hardly Strictly (no need to worry about lines or tickets–just ride your bike to the park and lock it to a tree); America’s Cup (as if Larry Ellison hasn’t already demonstrated to everyone how big his dick is by blocking traffic and making everyone late for work downtown with Oracle World); and of course, last but not least, your own San Francisco Giants attempting to recapture the magic from two seasons ago (but hopefully not the riots).

Remember how rad that was? Everyone was so nice to each other and you could defuse an argument in a second with just a timely “Go Giants!” comment. Maybe we should try to be like that all the time?  I suppose I’ll simply settle for not trying to set any MUNI buses on fire.

Our pal Idiot Temper recently got his hands on some contraband Sriracha unlike anything we’ve ever seen:

My friend Jasmine moved to Mexico today. The first thing she did was go to a “Mexican Walmart” to buy Sriracha. LOOK AT THAT SHARK! WHY DO WE HAVE A ROOSTER! CAN WE ALL GET SRIRASHARK TATTOOS?!

Indeed.  I mean, just LOOK at that shark.  The only downside is you won’t be able to say, “Hold on a minute while I wipe all of this hot cock sauce off of my face.”

There’s a mystery afoot, and Ros, a resident near 25th/Folsom, wants to know if anyone has any idea what’s going on:

I wanted to see if you knew what the deal is with the lone parrot outside of what used to be The Wing Foundation (http://www.thewingfoundation.org).

This one-foot-plus long bird seems to have been squawking a whole bunch more as of late. It’s in a large white cage, on Folsom St, with a sign attached telling passers-by that it bites. This biteyness, combined with the endless squawking have led to my workmates and I to nicknaming it ‘Jerk Bird’. Sorry Jerk Bird, I’m sure you have a nicer name.

In a way, I don’t blame it for being a jerk – I would be too if I were left alone in a cage with no shade, on Folsom St, for two 90-something deg days consecutively. Secondly, it looks like The Wing Foundation has closed up shop – the house is for sale, the site has an apologetic message and all the other birds seem gone.

My neighbor tells me that the bird is worth $20,000. I don’t know where he got that figure.

Perhaps this injustice is what all those wild parrots have been squawking about for god knows how long?  And seriously, nobody better get any clever ideas about getting cashing in a $20k feathered payday….

Another day, another rad show at Brick and Mortar!  This place has quickly become one of the most reliable music venues in the Mission, and tonight is no exception:  Permanent Collection and Jesus Sons join rapid up-and-comers Big Drag, featuring Josh Cobos from our periodic Bad Blood series!  So go ahead and enjoy the amazing heat in the park this evening, and when the last Tecate has run dry, head on over and kickstart your rocktober with some rad tunes.

Check out all the details and don’t forget to RSVP and invite your friends here.

Looking for something to do on a hot Indian summer night?  Once the sun sets in the park and the last beer runs out, head on over to Brick and Mortar for the inaugural show of a new music series taking place the 1st Monday of each month this fall, featuring a bunch of local musicians like Luke Sweeney, among others.

Check out the details and RSVP here.

In case you haven’t heard, Critical Mass is celebrating its 20th anniversary tonight at 6pm in what is sure to be an epic ride featuring cyclists from all over the place coming to the city to participate.  Regardless of how you feel about the movement, you really have to appreciate the fact that it galvanizes so many people.  Allan seems to love the good-natured fun of the whole spectacle, while I on the other hand (as someone who commutes 20 miles on my bicycle each day) usually already have to deal on a daily basis with tons of shitty, angry motorists who I would prefer to not further piss off lest they proceed to hate me so much that they try to hurt me while I’m riding.  Especially with that riding circles in busy intersections nonsense.

In any case, what allegedly all began as “a bunch of drunk bike messengers who got tired of SF police handing out $20 tickets to cyclists all the time for bullshit minor offenses, like not putting your foot down at a stop sign, so they decided to shut down some key intersections around the city and show the cops they couldn’t just fuck with them” has now become quite the thing, and it’s not going away anytime soon, so you might as well just forget about what you were planning on getting done today and check it out yourself!

Also, non-cyclists?  Perhaps this might be a good day to avoid Market St and take BART instead, alright?

Previously:

• Black Friday Critical Mass Meets Baton-Wielding Riot Police in Union Square
• When Critical Mass rides circles in busy intersections
• Critical Mass Debate: Opposing Viewpoints
• Critical Mass Sacramento
• Critical Mass Seattle
• Critical Mass Salt Lake City
• Critical Mass with Instruments
• Meet Junior: Bicycle Messenger Warrior of the Mission

Cardboard Castles may not have has many sick beats as Crystal Castles, but one thing it does have is something rad happening this weekend to fulfill pretty much every childhood fantasy you’ve ever had:

Hundreds of cardboard boxes have been painted to look like giant Lego pieces and strategically covered with velcro. At 12 PM in Dolores Park on September 29th, you can build anything you can possibly imagine with them.

The event will be free and open to the public, and will last until people get bored (never) or the authorities intervene!

Or until the gutter punks hold a mosh pit inside one!  But seriously, this sounds like a pretty awesome way to spend an Indian summer Saturday and you can find out more about the project here.

Don’t forget to RSVP and invite your friends!

[Photo of a bunch of amateurs--Saturday will be way cooler!]

Ever feel like these days people are too closed off in their own world (or phone) to notice not just what’s going on around them, but also who?  Ever read some pitiful Missed Connections post about someone who supposedly met the love of their dreams but either couldn’t muster the courage or just simply couldn’t think of anything to say to them?

While a pre-emptive resolution to Craigslist Missed Connections is probably not the original inspiration for the project, it’s nonetheless one of the many applications for this populist experiment dubbed “Public Prompts” - Meaningful Conversation for the Masses.  One of the creators of the project, George, recently gave us the low-down:

It consists of publicly-placed conversation starters that inspire fun interactions between strangers. We’re pasting em all over bus stops, BART and Muni, especially in the mission since thats our hood. In fact the templates are all on the site, so anyone can put up their own as well!

Ooh, sounds like fun!  I wonder how many Public Prompts we can come up with?