Mission Mission

Two Thursdays ago our team from BAYCAT (Bayview Hunters Point Center for Arts & Technology) brought our video, audio and animation students to Dolores Park to run around and have fun in the sun to celebrate the end of our summer classes. Soccer, baseball, water balloon toss and a three legged race. Pretty much making them the only people actually standing up in Dolores Park.

Here’s the music video for the song they wrote and produced with San Francisco rap producer Andre “Herm” Lewis and BAYCAT’s Will Hammond, Jr, Invisible. They wrote all their own lyrics.

Check out some more of the videos they did this summer, including a gross McDonald’s parody, RagDonald’s.

Hey, remember the 90′s? Remember Puck from the The Real World SF ’94? Well times are hard, even for homophobic bike messengers named after hockey equipment.

Puck’s own ZO messenger bag is for sale on Ebay, along with a bunch of his other junk collectively called “Puck’s Treasures“. They don’t come with certificates of authenticity, so who knows if they are legit. I guess that sorta fat guy posing with the gear could be him; I don’t really remember what he looks like. But then again, if you’re actually interested in buying this crap, maybe I don’t care if you get ripped off or not.

Suddenly, I feel the urge to have a Real World ’94 marathon at Bender’s. Does anyone have these on tape?

[Thanks to Millie Castro for the tip]

Sources say that after he was turned away due to the +1 hour wait, his entourage proceeded to Arinell, the best pizza in the city.

[Photo by ladylexy, via SFoodie]

I saw this terrorist wanted poster in front of La Rondalla last night. The problem is I can’t tell if it’s:

a.) Viral marketing for a new action-thriller

b.) Street art

c.) Ex-boyfriend revenge

d.) Legitimate

Can anyone shed some light on the subject? Or if you see this cartoon lady, rat her out at (857) 334-4676 and do fill us in.

Marina people: we sure love to hate ‘em, what with their clean neighborhoods and surfer-influenced fashions. Well here’s a shocker, maybe they don’t like you so much either.

But what’s the problem? We like drinking lots of beers too! As for sports? The World Cup was cool! Good, expensive food? Yes, please! Didn’t you also go to a good college? Uh-huh!

Somebody other than myself was also disturbed by this, and chalked this up on Valencia St. over the weekend:

Thank you, anonymous Mission chalker. The olive branch has been extended. Bros and hipsters… living together… mass hysteria.

Anyone who commutes down Valencia or Market on the regular no doubt has come across this fellow at one time or another.  How could you possibly miss his grey grizzled flowing beard and locks, or his duct-taped battletank of a Schwinn Sapphire that he pedals around so furiously?

This morning I finally decided to say a little more than “what’s up?” and managed to have quite a nice rolling conversation with the guy (I’m sure the fact that I was wearing the exact same jacket helped too), starting on Valencia at around 17th and lasting all the way to the end of Market.  Here’s a paraphrased transcript of our “interview” while in motion:

On how long in the biz:

I’ve been a bike messenger in SF for 35 years.  The last 28 of those years have been on this Schwinn Sapphire, except for about 3 months when it was stolen in the Mission.  Luckily, a friend spotted it about 3 months later at Bay and Gough.  The jerks couldn’t even get the U-lock off (they had cut through a skinny pole to which it had been attached to get it), so they just dumped it!

On Critical Mass:

It all started when a bunch of drunk bike messengers got tired of SF police handing out $20 tickets to cyclists all the time for bullshit minor offenses, like not putting your foot down at a stop sign.  $20 was a big chunk of your take home pay way back then, so they decided to shut down some key intersections around the city and show the cops they couldn’t just fuck with them.  Seems to have gotten their attention.

(more…)

From the comments thread of the previous post, Christopher F. Smith‘s fine tale of a 16th and Mission original.

Mission Local this weekend has a fun Q&A with Radio Africa & Kitchen chef Eskender Aseged in which we learn why one would end up in the Mission after leaving Ethiopia, why Cafe La Boheme is the hottest spot in the neighborhood, where to get the best fish in SF, why illegal restaurants are the jam, and why you don’t want produce from Mexican markets. Read it!

(Thanks, Meli!)

Previously:

Edamame Hummus and Tartine Bread at Radio Africa: What a Way to Start a Meal

I saw this post just now and I started thinking gosh maybe Jane (above) is a window into what Daisy (below) was like as a teenager. Maybe. I always wanted to know what Daisy was like as a teenager, so I hope so.

Has anyone better capitalized on the “so drunk that everything I eat right now is the best thing I’ve ever had” market better than Virginia? She’s definitely saved me from more than one night where it seemed like sucking on old ketchup packets in my empty fridge at 2am would have been “dinner”.

The Tamale Lady celebrated her 57th at Zeitgeist two weeks ago and SFGate brings up this enlightening interview full of such gems as:

Is it still a surprise when you show up in a bar, or can people follow you on Twitter now?

I am all kind of places on the Internet. Face … Face … what’s that Face thing? I don’t know it, but my son put me on there, yeah. He does the Twitter, too.

Read on at SFGate.