Mission Mission

We’re huge Terry Malts fans over here at MM, but tonight’s show at the Knockout also features a special bonus that’s just too good to pass up.  Our pal Devon Williams happens to be making an appearance, and we haven’t seen him play since high school!

It all started one recess back in 1998 when Devon asked us if we wanted to hear his demo tape.  Casually aware that he was in some Crass-inspired outfit known as Roscoe, we dutifully donned the headphones and braced for the cacophony.  Instead, we were greeted with the most melodic yet tenacious pop punk this side of Pinhead Gunpowder, which you can hear here.  Dubbed “Osker” (Roscoe backwards, sort of), this launched Devon on the most unlikely of journeys, which eventually saw him getting signed by Epitaph, releasing an album, playing at Warped Tour, and in the process becoming one of the most reviled punk bands in Southern California mostly due to his brutal honesty on stage and crowd-taunting antics.  The Punk-O-Rama track remains one of my faves to this day.

He’s toned it down a little bit in recent years, but we still wouldn’t miss this show for the world!

This is just cruel.

It wasn’t that long ago that I predicted the demise of Thrill of the Grill due to Arinell Pizza’s brash extension of hours to 3am on weekends, figuring that the former’s monopoly on the after-hours bar closing crowd was the only thing keeping them in business.  Well, it appears that Arinell has finally had enough of dealing with all those folks who come to the Mission on Fridays and Saturdays and then get wasted before stumbling into the streets at 2am demanding pizza, burritos, and taxi cabs.  I wonder why?

They’ve cleverly rolled back their closing time to 2am on weekends, ceding the late night pizza title to their neighbors to the South, so now they don’t have to deal with that mess as much.  How are they getting away with calling this retreat “extended hours” you ask?  Well, in exchange for that extra hour on weekends, they’re now open till midnight Sunday through Thursday instead of merely 10pm.  While it may be particularly galling the first time you’re denied that delicious, cheesy slice at 2:20 am, I’ll take an extra 2 hours of Arinell the rest of the week over that anytime!

Last year's extended hours

Previously:

Breaking pizza news

Kink.com at Arinell (NSFW)

Biking in Palo Alto is confusing.  We don’t realize how good we have it here in the city.

Such a pretty mess.

How is that even though I pass by here almost every day, I only just now noticed this mystical birdman statue? The plaque says it was granted in 2004 in recognition of the original tribe on this land. Really? 2004?

Perhaps whenever I approach I’m too focused on navigating the gauntlet!

I’ve expressed my love for Hard French in the past and have been exhorting you all to see what the fun is all about for some time, and now you have the perfect opportunity:  The Hard French 2011 Pride Party at Public Works on Sunday, June 26th!  They folks behind this weekly afternoon party are kicking it up a notch for Pride with DJs and live performances by some of the fiercest acts in the Bay Area.

The best part is that we’re giving away two free tickets to whichever MM readers post the raddest Hard French photo in the comments below!  Include a link to the photo (and a caption if you’re clever) and we will announce the winner at the beginning of next week!  If you have a Facebook photo, be sure that it’s set to “public” so everyone can see it, or just post it on Flickr or something.

Oh my.  I almost forgot to mention that the special guest will be Erase Errata!  Check out the full press release after the jump:

[Photo by Keep Drowning]

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Uh oh.  You know what this means . . .

Previously:

So you wish Burning Man would go on all year?

Our customary SF loop bike ride was unexpectedly interrupted yesterday shortly after reaching the beach and turning South.  We were initially confused about the road closure–wasn’t Sunday Streets happening all the way down on 3rd Street in the Dogpatch instead?

Well, it appears that the wind and dunes here at Ocean Beach got a little jealous and conspired to have their own anti-car event by blanketing the roadway with enough sand to obstruct traffic. Check out all that it took to shut down the Great Highway this Sunday after the jump.

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A nice touch added to the bicycle ramp over the Gauntlet.  Or is it called the Hairball?  Regardless, it’s obviously the raddest intersection in the city.