Mission Mission

Reader Rob sent in this shot of a incredible new-ish mural up on 24th and Florida on what he calls “one of the crappiest buildings in the Mission”.

It is a phoenix, right? I was gonna say chicken, but that would have been offensive to people who care.

[Thanks Rob!]

Check it out! Backseat Beat featured a MM favorite, Social Studies, performing on top of some hill above the Cow Palace.

Social Studies was definitely the hottest band in the Berkeley co-ops in the early 2000s. I remember many nights watching them play in the Cloyne Court kitchen while munching on a vegan Chik Patty sandwich with Prego sauce.

Jesse, the bass player, was Cloyne’s maintenance manager, a total babe, and his signs always had excellent penmanship. In this interview, he details what it was like going to French high school. Wow, no jocks, no prom, just a bunch of skinny kids smoking cigs? What was there to rebel against? I probably would have ended up in a fraternity just to be “different”.

Anyway, their music rocks too. Check out Backseat Beat for more.

Update: I was audited by some notable co-op historians. Andrew points out that I probably mixed them up with Spunky Brewster, an ’80s cover band for which Jesse played guitar. Kat says Social Studies formed after we lived at Cloyne. Turns out my memory really was affected by all the drinking and contact highs.

I stumbled upon this clip from a public access show in the ’90s called San Francisco Live.

If you can get past the spazzy 2 minute intro (which I linked past), it’s pretty interesting. Kilowatt used to be a destination spot for for Japanese noise bands, Czech Gypsy punk was a genre, and people used to buy records from record stores. Crazy, huh?

This particular move is called the “downward pig”.

[Photo by Corntard]

This just in from reader Patrick:

getting money out of the ATM at US Bank on 22nd + Mission.

detective double parks some lady in and says “it might be awhile, we got a bank robbery.” sign on the door said “temporarily closed”.

Keep an eye out for people in masks carrying large sacks with “$” printed on them.

Allen Price sent us his latest video for the band Square Dance which takes place in the Mission.

The video is as weird as the song. I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s like the Shaggs meets Yo-Yo Ma or something. Does that make sense? Not really.

On an unrelated note, it has occurred to me that singer Mira Cook is also a classically trained ballerina, so she probably has an informed opinion about Natalie Portman’s academy award winning performance in Black Swan.

David is in Mermaid Bones, a band named after the secret ingredient in Clearasil.

He wants to give you, reader, two VIP guest list spots for his show at the glamorous El Rio bar this Saturday. This means you get into this girl-themed show for free, get to hang out with the bands “backstage” (aka that weird alley between the main bar and the show room where you put your drums between sets), and can play shuffleboard against the winner of the last game if you pay for the next round.

Ok, so you could do most of those things anyway. But still, free show.

Here’s the scoop:

My band, Mermaid Bones, is playing a show at El Rio this Saturday with Girls with Guns and Go Going Gone Girls. It’s gonna be the cat’s meow. Anyhoo, here’s an idea: could we have a contest on yer blog – best autobiographical story about almost drowning wins 2 spots on the guest list for the show…. whatdyathink? Here’s a link to the Facebook event.

So just leave a comment with your story about almost drowning and a real email address, David will pick the winner this Friday, and he’ll hook you up. It’s that easy.

Snapped on the wall outside of Bender’s:

“Stony”? I guess he didn’t wake up in time to get to work. On the bright side, he didn’t meet the cruel fate of his bros:

Part of reworking the site was combing through 4 years of Mission Mission posts. There has been some good stuff. Every 1st, I’m going to bring you this month’s posts of yesteryear!

2010

• SF Gate got its feelings hurt by Mission bartenders, cried to mommy about it
• It snowed last year, too! If you count white stuff falling from the sky as snow

2009

• Guy went to Safeway, watched asshole hit his girlfriend, kicked dude’s ass, and (probably) later slept with asshole’s girlfriend
• Magic Curry Cart got it’s start

2008

• Little Star Pizza tried to reason with taggers
• Two safety-conscious individuals got married in bubble wrap

2007

• We saw the earliest incarnations of viral sidewalk marketing

$2 a plate! And you think it’s expensive to eat here.

Ok, so you might have to eat some goose feet. Still, that’s a deal. Goose feet cost $10 each in Hong Kong.