Mission Mission

And you thought this week was cold. Check out Shotwell and 20th around this time in 1887:

[via SF_Historian, who you need to follow now]

The suspect is described as an Asian or Hispanic male, 25 years of age, 5’10”, 160lbs, with a buzz haircut and slight beard growth. He was wearing a dark hooded shirt and dark pants.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact San Francisco Police anonymously at (415) 575-4444, or text a tip to TIP411 with SFPD typed in at the beginning of the message.

[via SFPD facebook]

First of all, the Red Poppy on 23rd and Folsom is one of my favorite places to see shows in the city. There are not a lot of venues where you can recline on a bed of fluffy pillows while taking in the sounds of a local musician’s electro-jazz interpretations of Radiohead or a modern Turkish and Balkan folk ensemble. Noisy, crowded 500-seat rock shows with $6 beers served out of plastic cups are swell, but these shows are small, intimate, and raw. The Poppy’s calendar is diverse and always interesting. The audience is always enthusiastic and engaged. The shows wrap up at 10pm so they don’t tie up your night.

On top of all this, they pay musicians really well… like 70% of the door well. As a musician, I have consistently made more from a performance at the Red Poppy than at any other music venue in the city and had a better time performing for the smaller and more enthusiastic crowds there. At those rates, musicians could, I don’t know, maybe make a living doing their good work. It makes you wonder: why aren’t there more places like this?

Last year, the city of San Francisco passed legislation for Limited Live Performance Permit which allows small venues to host live performances for a one time fee of $385, without paying the exorbitant cabaret license that is meant for larger concert halls, which costs in the thousands. The Red Poppy is applying for this permit and there will be a hearing about it tomorrow at City Hall. This hearing will be a large factor in determining whether or not they will be able to continue their programming.

The staff expects some opposition from the neighbors, but request that supporters can be respectful and non-combative about their concerns. So if you’re a fan of the Poppy, like I am, consider showing your support at City Hall tomorrow at 5:30pm. There will be a debrief at the Red Poppy 3-4pm. More details on facebook.

Last night, there was a march for solidarity in response to the rape attempt reported on January 8. Participants marched to 24th St. BART at 5:30pm and stopped to let volunteers speak and share their thoughts.

While some of the speakers talked about ways for potential victims to stay safe, such taking self defense classes, carrying mace, and not walking home alone, I was moved by some of the more idealogical issues about the surrounding community that were discussed. Some of my takeaways of that kind were:

• If someone says she was sexually assaulted, believe her.
• Don’t ignore cries for help.
• Get to know everyone in your neighborhood.
• Don’t blame the victim.
• Don’t joke about rape.

The reason these things hit home for me is because I, like many of you, read comments on this blog. I know that a few commenters fall under these categories when we post about these incidents.

If your first reaction to sensational reports that don’t show up on the news first is to think that they are a hoax, then please consider that some rapes go unreported because victims are afraid they won’t be taken seriously and that they will be shamed in their communities. In fact, I just heard about someone who still thought that the recently-convicted Mission rapist of last year was an “internet hoax”!

No, we aren’t seasoned reporters, but we are members of this community and if we don’t take it seriously, how do we expect anyone else to? It starts here, folks.

We live in a crazy neighborhood where wild stuff happens all the time. We can get numb to it. But we should never turn a blind eye to people in danger. There are so many different people living in the Mission who are invisible to one another. Stopping and getting to know your neighbors can go a long way in knowing when something isn’t right.

Stay safe everybody, but also keep others safe.

[Top photo via Adrian Arias]

In response to the recent assault and attempted rape this week, there will be an organized march for solidarity this afternoon starting at 4pm at 16th St. BART. It is being organized by Rupa Marya, doctor and bandleader of Rupa and the April Fishes.

Judging from the facebook invite with over 500 participants, it’s gonna be big. Here are the details:

Last Saturday January 5th, a young woman was assaulted in an attempted rape on 23rd and San Jose streets in the Mission–the first reported attack of this nature in our neighborhood in 2013. She narrowly escaped by fighting off her attacker.

We are joining together in an act of SOLIDARITY, women and men in the Mission district of SF, to alert the neighborhood of what has happened and to promote increased VIGILANCE by ALL for ALL so that these crimes do not continue on our streets.

Last year, several women were brutally raped on the streets of the Mission, some with broken necks. We must ensure that our sisters, our mothers, our daughters are safe on these streets.

Please bring any signs stating a clear message of NO MORE SEXUAL VIOLENCE ON OUR STREETS and MISSION SOLIDARITY TO KEEP STREETS SAFE. Please bring a drum or a pot and a wooden spoon to drum. Please bring puppets if you have them.

We will have bilingual flyers to distribute in the neighborhood, to post in every store front, to hand out to every household stating that WE ARE WATCHING–ESTAMOS ATENTOS so that no more people are assaulted and raped in our streets.

Meet up Friday January 11th–PROPOSED SCHEDULE

4pm Meet up Mission and 16th BART Station
430pm walk down 16th to Valencia, down Valencia across to 24th and Mission Bart
515pm Meet up MIssion and 24th BART Station
530pm walk up Mission back to 16th and Valencia

Read on for a copy of the bi-lingual flyer and manifesto that will be distributed.

(more…)

Tim League, of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, posted this update today:

Last night the City Planning Commission voted to approve the project, so we are off to the races. That said, we still have a long road in front of us. Seismic upgrades and the historic nature of the renovation we make this a challenging project. Nonetheless, I am ecstatic about finally being able to march forward on the New Mission. Expect many more updates here as we make progress.

The $10 million renovation will convert the dilapidated furniture storage room / roach crash pad into a 5-screen, 348-seat theater that will serve you beers. In addition, approval was granted for a 114-unit condo development which will replace the beloved neighboring GIANT VALUE building.

Opposition was light but, as expected, you can’t get through a community meeting in the Mission without some folks speaking up against gentrification and high rents. More over at SFGate.

This morning, I found the Higgs Boson. Didn’t have to collide any particles or anything. Suck it, CERN.

[29th and Mission]

Reader Tom asks:

Hi,  I live over by Jack’s on 24th.  The place has been closed since the new year, it was a shock to see it dark on a Friday night.  No sign or notice stating that they are on holiday.  Does anyone know what’s up?  I hope the closure is temporary, no updates on their Facebook page either.

Website is still up, but it has no updates.

Anyone have any ideas? Did they fall into financial ruin after DJ Purple’s departure? Did the city outlaw the sale of single-serving drinks out of mini-pitchers? Is the Jack’s crew at a 2-week a team-building ropes course retreat? We must know!

Update: Kevmo fills us in:

It was sold over the summer (I think, it might have been more recently). New owners are most likely just getting ready to gut the place for whatever renovations they have planned.

Our pal Xtinal got to tour the Kink.com armory and spotted an “upgraded” Johnny 5. Times must be tough, even for escaped sentient Nova robots. We know he can feel love, but can he feel… you know… pleasure?

BTW, have you seen the El Debarge video for “Who’s Johnny”? Total disappointment. They clearly didn’t have the budget to hire the robot or Steve Guttenberg, so they just put a cardboard cutout of Steve and a lame puppet robot arm into a few shots. The song still holds up and they did manage to cast the ultra-cute Ally Sheedy, though:

[via Xtinalrichards]

Ex-Mission stand-up comic Chris Garcia has done us proud and popped up on the latest episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. In the stand-up world, that’s basically like getting an interview on Letterman. Big things for this guy, I predict. One day I’ll proudly say, “man, I remember when he was working on that ‘homeless man who only speaks in early 90s song lyrics’ bit at the Dark Room.”

Apparently Chris isn’t only in LA to “make it”. His dad lives down there and has been struggling with Alzheimer’s so he moved to be closer to family. That totally sucks, obviously, but Chris manages to tell us all about it with the typical comic coping mechanism of hilarious jokes.

Here it is. Fast forward to the 30-minute mark for his segment, if you want to skip Andy Dick, who even sober manages to be a trainwreck.

[via WTF]

And here’s his bit on the Mission, because we like to re-watch it every couple of months: