Mission Mission

Hey, at least they’re being honest! The worst is when someone writes a gleaming account of their domicile, and everything looks good when you check it out, but then you find out about their midnight trombone rehearsals a week into living there.

And now that I think of it, I bike by this apartment every night on my way home from work, and I’ve definitely heard a band practicing, so story checks out.

[Link]

(Thanks Charlie!)

Tonight the Mission’s only dance nite devoted to dark dirges and subaltern urges returns to Sub-mission. Here’s what they’ve got to say -

“For our April edition, Warm Leatherette is firing up its body machinery for an all-DJ night of recorded synth bedlam. Your Warm Leatherette Resident Selectors will present mixes of the finest minimal electronics and synth punk, while inviting you to gaze long and hard into the inky depths with a guest DJ set from BIXU, Chief Curator at kindred spirit party H O LES.”

Rsvp or something if you want right here.

After 35 years of the annual celebration in the Mission, the neighborhood cultural institution is in danger of not happening this year.

[pic by Keoki Seu]

[pic by David Yu]

We all know the Mission is changing. Rapidly. It’s annoying to talk about because it seems like it’s the only conversation we can have these days. We’re all part of the change in some way. I know I am, in more ways than one. As we build new traditions and landmarks, and find new ways to celebrate our various cultural heritages (I’m looking at you, midwesterner drinking a PBR in the park) I think it’s worth taking a little time to consider aspects that we love about this neighborhood that we may be losing. I moved to the Mission before I knew what it was, but I fought hard to stay here because of what I discovered. One element that made this neighborhood so desirable and infinitely adventurous to me is that it had such a varied history, and it carried pieces of all times with it. Looking around, block to block, building to building, I could see the marks left by all the different people to come through here. And I felt like there was room for me to leave my mark too.

[pic by David Yu]

[pic by Todd Lappin]

I could go on, but I’ll spare you this time. All this is just a way to say that for many people, myself included, Carnaval is the Mission. As are burritos. As is street art. As is whatever your favorite thing about the Mission happens to be. Carnaval is expensive to put on and it may not be able to happen anymore. El Tecolote has a good article about the recent struggles here. To learn more there is a community meeting tomorrow night (3/19) at Brava Theater.

UPDATE: The Examiner says it will happen this year.

In an essay titled San Francisco: Creep City, web celeb Mills Baker lays out an epiphany he’s had about what can make SF really tough:

Creeps are everywhere, but in San Francisco the variety of creeps makes it hard to have a settled method for dealing with them; they are not demographically uniform. In some cities, the natural segregation of social groups means that one infrequently encounters behavior that defies the conventions one favors; in SF, it is not some civic love of diversity that changes this but the fact that social groups are often so recently-composed. As a city of aspirational arrivals, SF has a populace that never shakes out the jerks; there’s too much churn for standards of normalcy to be achieved.

Too much churn! It’s true! You work real hard to forge friendships with the folks you like best, and suddenly they’re off to Brooklyn or LA or Oakland or Detroit and you have to start all over again, shakin’ out a whole new crop of jerks.

(Confidential to my friends: Are we in agreement about Jarid yet?)

[Migration map by Forbes]

As we transition from crystal based bands to marble based bands, Brooklyn’s hypnagogic heroes, Black Marble head over to Warm Leatherette tonight for some synth driven post-punk, perhaps reminiscent of SF’s early 80s Voice Farm. Catch them this evening at the SUB/Mission venue on Mission and 19th.

‘Cause my sinuses and this tree seem to think so.

Javier sends this in, adding “…found on Valencia St a few nights ago. I don’t even know what to say.”

I think this poop speaks for itself.

UPDATE: Commenter KC points us to Bernal Heights occurrences a couple of weeks ago, via Bernalwood.

Yeah, I know, Valentine’s Day is dumb, blah blah blah. But, maybe it’s a good excuse for a scavenger hunt. Something to inspire you to look at the stuff you see every day in a new way. Where around the neighborhood do you see hidden VD or anti-VD messages?

The SF SPCA is holding its annual Be Mine adopt-a-thon, and kicking it off with a cocktail party on Friday, February 8. This is pretty much the best Valentine’s Day thing you can go to in the city.  Not only is there an open bar (last year, a friendly volunteer poured a VERY generous whiskey on the rocks in a plastic cup for me), but you can also get a $40 tattoo and adopt a new furry friend! All adoption fees will be waived all weekend (Feb 8-10) for animals from the SF SPCA, SF Animal Care & Control, Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, and Family Dog Rescue. Last year I got a little TOO much plastic cup whiskey and got verklempt over the existence of cats and how wonderful they are. Be careful. You might get weird.

You can also bid on the next tattoo to grace the skin of two SF SPCA employees. One of these employees is Daniel Quagliozzi, the Mission’s resident cat behavior specialist. Bidding is now open! What will Daniel end up with? A satanic Hello Kitty?  ”CAT LYFE” in Olde English across his neck? Find out on Friday! The party starts at 4:30pm and goes until 9pm.

The Be Mine adopt-a-thon has events throughout the weekend including free workshops and a freakin’ Smooch the Pooch kissing booth on Sunday. Visit the SF SCPA Be Mine event page for more details.