Mission Mission

Whadda ya think? Anyone want to get this idea kick-started with me? Maybe it qualifies as bespoke. We could market to the dudes in line to get the haircuts on 18th and Guerrero, they’ll spend money on anything. Hats might not be as cool as mustaches (yet), but at least it’s not more ridiculous looking.

For the this installment of Drama Talk & Drinks, Katie & Brittany went saw some live storytelling at the Verdi Club after I had to forfeit my own ticket because of work. Here’s their drama talk:

Porchlight has been going on for ten years, but we hadn’t reviewed it yet. We figured you might not have seen it yet either, so we did what any dedicated reviewers would do: we sacrificed our Monday night Mahjong to kick off our week the most raucous way late 20-something non-profit employees can, with bawdy stories, Drama Talk & Drinks.

Brittany: I was really into storytelling shows, like The Moth and Mortified, maybe 2-3 years ago. So I went to a bunch of them. For the first half dozen I was all wide-eyed and like “real-life people are more funny than professionals.” And then I went to enough of them and realized there’s a reason to have professionals. There can be really funny, really talented people who aren’t professionals, but not always, and that’s what came to mind tonight.

Katie: I’ve never been to Porchlight. I’ve only been to a few storytelling events and they can be awesome but they can also not be. They are very hit and miss events. I love stories, but I am very particular about how they’re told. The idea to me is great, but the execution rarely is. But when you hit a good night it’s so, so fun. Have a little party, have a drink, have people who live in your community tell some funny stories . . . But it just fell short to me.

B: Das Eigene Wallet von eToro and Verdi Club are such old man spaces. It feels kind of dingy, like you said earlier, it looks like a Lions Club. If you’re a performer you have to realize it looks like you’re at a retirement party, so you need to bring the energy to make it feel young, hip, edgy, fun, and that first storyteller kind of retirement mixer-ed the whole thing, even though she was young.

K: It was just a hard start. Especially after that bizarrely beautiful musical opening. I didn’t really understand it, but regardless I was very entertained. To go from that to the soft spoken, low energy “Um, hi guys, so uhhh . . . I used to be a writer . . .” was rough.

B: Yeah, it started well with the musical performance, but then the bottom fell out and it killed the momentum. The second act was pretty funny, I mean I LOL’ed. But the fact that the first act was low energy, then they started the second act with someone who didn’t even know she was going to tell a story that night, it made it that much harder for the 2nd act storytellers, who were really talented, to pull it up. They tried, they had some really funny points, but they had a lot to work against.

The Verdict: As a friend who saw the show with us said, “The point of Porchlight is to tell a funny story. In order for a story to be a story there should be something like a fucking story arc.” To put it simply, some of the storytellers fell short, but there were some funny moments, and the MC’s were fun. Maybe with a better prompt, or different performers it could be great, but Monday night was not.

The Drama Talk: Tickets were $16 once you paid the processing fee. You can find tickets on Goldstar to watch professional comedians do a show for $10, so part of the high-expectations came from the high price (I know, we’re cheap). We couldn’t find discount tickets to Porchlight anywhere, so it looks like you’re stuck with the full-price ticket. The Porchlight “Open Door” night, their open mic night which happens monthly, is only $5 and is arguably as funny, if not funnier, than these more curated performances. That may be a good place to start if you want to give Porchlight a shot, same funny MC’s, lower prices and expectations.

The Drinks: We went to Mission Hill Saloon, which was formerly The-Bar-With-The-Long-Name-Involving-Some-Chick-Named-Evelyn. It’s old school Mission [Ed. note: Maybe on the Potrero Avenue side of Potrero Hill, unless you go by 101 boundaries, but feels like old school Mission just the same], a little too far for Mission gentrification to reach, so it still feels a little like a real dive, despite The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and other black and white movies they’re screening. We imagine this is where the old men from Verdi came after their Lion’s Club meeting to get sloshed, so it seemed like a good fit. After a super strong daiquiri at Verdi Club, Brittany opted to slow things down with a hard cider. Katie, never one to call it early, stuck with her signature rum and coke.

Porchlight has two shows monthly, their curated show and their Open Door night. Themes change monthly so check out their website for their upcoming show topics and dates – Heck, if you’re feeling ballsy you can even tell your own story at one of their Open Door events. If you know what a story arc is you just might win $50.

Formerly called “The Untitled Michael Lannan Project”, HBO’s new series about a few gay men who design video games and hang out in Mission bars is now casting for background extras. They have a “constant need for 20s-30s Hipsters/Mission Neighborhood types & LGBT Community”. And you “must be able to pull off Hipster vibe with your own clothes or style”. Make of that what you will.

[random Mission file photo by me]

Quit waiting around for the Real World narcissists to come to your neighborhood bar and get out there and get on this show! Then send us back some reports from the set!

UPDATE: Doc Pop notices that they’re shooting at Doc’s Clock today.

@eviloars looks like they are shooting at Doc's Clock today. pic.twitter.com/Kdcod5ihJF

— Doctor Popular (@DocPop) September 17, 2013

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Media Relations Manager, Paul Rose, wrote in regarding our post about the utility box holding mural artist Mona Caron’s artwork being replaced and then later found in a lot. He writes:

Hi,

I saw your post on this issue and wanted to pass this info on:
The controller box was replaced after the completion of the Church & Duboce Rail Replacement project, as part of a system-wide upgrade of various electrical sectionalized switches and associated controller boxes. The urgency of replacing the switches was made apparent after the nine day shutdown at Church and Duboce, when one of the switches failed shortly after it was re-energized. To upgrade the switch at Church & Duboce, the associated painted box also had to be replaced. We are working to have the box re-painted by the artist. We anticipate this process will be complete within the next 3 months.

Paul
SFMTA

So, you know, if they hadn’t done this quickly, maybe there would have been a major Muni meltdown and we would all complain about that instead. Let’s hope we get another piece from Caron on the new box.

[Market St. Railway Mural by Mona Caron]

I just want to clarify for a moment, my feelings on public art (I wasn’t aware that anyone cared!). Of course I understand the temporary nature of these kinds of pieces. Everything everywhere is temporary. That doesn’t mean we won’t mourn the loss of something that we enjoyed. Am I going to hold a vigil? No, but I’ll post about it. Public art is also important as a way to get artwork out of galleries and let it live among the people. Caron’s work, specifically, is great at doing many things at once, telling stories, offering visions of a hopeful future for urban life, challenging us to look at everyday surroundings in new ways, etc. Oh, and also they’re beautiful. I appreciate her views and that she shares them freely with the rest of us. I want it to be around us as we move about our days. I also want the SFMTA to be efficient and effective in getting us all where we need to go. Let’s hope both parties are willing and able to continue to bring us pieces like MANIFESTATION STATION.

UPDATE: Here’s Mona Caron’s response (updated for MM readers) –

Hey San Francisco friends, I GOT THE STORY! …It’s long.
As a preface, I wanna say I’m amazed and moved by all you people appreciating the artwork and caring about it. I’m feeling truly blessed and re-invigorated about the work I do – THANK YOU <3 .

Now, about this incident:
There's no malice, and no stupid people involved in this. I still love MUNI . Even the folks who removed the box (which they left in the yard of the MTA traction power station at 2502 Alameda Street) who refused to believe this isn't illegal graffiti, are holding that belief for a pretty good reason: they simply cannot believe MTA would have artwork put on a box that has been slated for replacement for a long time. Makes total sense to me. So the goof-up goes further back, and if anything, this story is showing me that there is a reason for the lengthy bureaucratic process when the entity has as many hands at work simultaneously as MTA, and attempting to shortcut it can feel empowering in the moment, but leads to the proverbial left hand undoing what right hand just did.

-- So, for those San Franciscans who care about the minutiae, here is what happened, as I understand it:

MTA needed to install 2 new boxes as part of Church and Duboce Track improvement project of 2012. The community complained of additional sidewalk clutter. Under pressure, MTA softened the pill by agreeing to beautify the 2 new boxes with art, wrote that into the budget. Cool.
THEN, another neighborhood group, (Wigg party?) wiggle and bicycle enthusiasts, put further pressure, asking for a pre-existing old box to be included in the beautification project. This was a last minute addition, pushed for by well-meaning, community-oriented people, and nice people at MTA shooed that in. I repeatedly asked about the projected longevity of that old box, and was reassured. *That* is where the goof lies.
That 3rd box became the Manifestation Station. The head of the department in charge of its contents, about to retire, apparently gave the green light.
Now, the contents of that box needed to be replaced so badly, that a while back a sectionalizing switch inside it actually blew up, and caused a 9-day mess at that corner affecting J and N train service. I remember seeing the white smoke sediments beneath the box's vents.

The new, modern switches apparently come with taller-format boards, requiring, alas, this new, narrower but much taller box.
Violà.
Yeah they could still have given me a heads up at least, but that no longer matters now. In the scheme of things, a well-functioning, not prone to explosions public transit seems more important to me than my painting.
The box they removed was site-specific to the extreme, down to the 1/4 inch, so once it is moved, near of far, it looses its whole point to me. So I don't actually want it back in the street in some random place that doesn't make sense.
But hey, maybe if you tell MTA you really want it, they could have me paint the new one?

A dude on mission street sporting a real cap' american shield… pic.twitter.com/TPypZ9UxVw

— The Secret Alley (@TheSecretAlley) September 14, 2013

Maybe it’s a sign of the times that dog owners and new parents are outspent by “techies” and “hipsters”.

I guess it makes sense for the coolest shop in Noe Valley. Unless they just keep the AC on blast all the time. Then maybe it’s ’cause dogs and babies might get too chilly in there. I dunno.

Thanks, Jesse!

The current piece:

Caron’s work:

Let’s hope she is able to do something new here, and that her amazing piece that was there has been somehow salvaged.

[both photos via Mona Caron's Facebook page]

UPDATE: Uptown Almanac noticed that Hugh D’Andrade found the original work held captive in a Muni yard, it’s future uncertain.

Or is he . . . ? He deleted this tweet shortly after he tweeted it. Maybe because it could be seen as criticizing Twitter on Twitter? Maybe because he would seem hypocritical to be concerned about San Francisco’s shifting demographics? Who knows, maybe he was hacked. Maybe he meant it in a positive way, that the Twitter IPO could finally clear out any remaining undesirables. Wait, wait, maybe I’m being too harsh on ol’ Newsom. It was just an ellipsis with an extra dot. Who can know what meaning lay beneath that fourth little dot . . . . ?

Local band Hot Lunch have a sweet new music video out for a sweet song, “She Wants More”. In it they use Sutro Tower to broadcast their song all over the city, shred all kinds (musical instruments and skateboards) and rock it at El Rio.

[via Gran Towrismo]

Click the bottom right to make it big.

[By Mission Sunsets, via Jonathan Foote]