Mission Mission

Lauren wrote in to tell us about all about it:

I realize you’ve run a few “lex is closing” posts – but we wanted to let you know about our project – part of which is a short documentary about the lex which is premiering at the San Francisco International Film Fest on April 30th, which also happens to be the last night of service at the Lex! AFTER PAAAAARTYY!! Just kidding, we will be working after the screening documenting the last night for the feature length that we are developing (by “developing”, we mean “fundraising”).

The short screens tonight at the Kabuki as part of a multifaceted program about a changing San Francisco. Get tickets and info here.

And check out the Lexington Club Archival Project for more.

Local art collective Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club presents a very special group art show tonight at local comics and art shop Mission: Comics & Art…

The show takes an intimate look at the domestic lives of roommates Henry Rollins (from Black Flag) and Glenn Danzig (from The Misfits) with over 60 paintings, drawings and original pages from the “Henry and Glen Forever and Ever” comic book series curated by by indie-heavyweight Tom Neely (Image Comics) and featuring San Francisco notables Ed Liuce (Wuvable Oaf / Fantagraphic Comics), Beth Dean, Fred Noland, Gabrielle Gamboa, Geoff Vasille and Justin Hall, along with indie comic heroes Alex Chiu, Banjamin Marra, Bruno Guerreiro, Chuck BB, Grant Reynolds, J.T. Dockery, Jeremy Baum, Jeremy Owen, Josh Bayer, Mark Rudolph, Megan Hutchison and Scot Nobles.

The opening reception will be on Thursday April 30th from 7pm to 10pm at Mission Comics & Art at 3520 20th St, suite B (between Mission and Valencia St), San Francisco, CA 94110, and will run through Saturday May 30th.

RSVP and invite your friends.

You know that moment when Valencia is quiet? Early before all the shops open? I show up to work and there’s a woman out front knitting quietly on a little folding stool. A real live yarn bomber.

I wasn’t expecting her to be so open or charming. I thought yarn bombing was done anonymously in the shadows. I started asking questions and here’s what I learned.

Emily Stauffer (fogknits.com) has been doing this since 2010. As sweet as she is, she started out of snark. “All my friends kept sending me this yarn bombing story that had gone viral. It got kind of old saying ‘Yeah, I saw it. Thanks.’ So I decided to yarn bomb something so that I could say yeah, ‘I’ve done it. Thanks.’”

“5 years later, this is probably my 200th bike rack.”

Emily has bombed pansies in a garden, statues, fences, mail boxes and pink flamingos in a neighbors yard (the only time she’s yarn bombed on private property). But her favorite thing to bomb is bike racks.

“I’m so opposed to yarn bombing trees. Trees are beautiful. They don’t need improving. Let’s add some color to something that needs some help. An ugly fence. A steel bike rack.”

“It took me by surprise that the bike community appreciated it,” Emily said. “I used to just cover the very top of bike racks – the most visible part. But I kept noticing that people would slide the yarn down to one side. Eventually I figured out that bikers were doing that to protect their paint from getting scratched by the rack. Since realizing that knitting racks was actually functional, about 95% of my yarn bombing has been on racks.

Emily’s work tends to stay up anywhere from 24 hours (in the Castro) to a year.

When strips get boring, Emily throws in an Easter egg like this Charlie Brown stripe.

Do you recognize this pattern? Take your best guess in the comments below.

So how long does it take to yarn bomb 5 circular bike racks? Emily does most of the work in what she calls “found time.”

“10 minutes while waiting for the bus. Another 10 minutes because the bus was full and it just passed me by. 20 minutes on the bus. I don’t really sit at home and work on a project like this.” When pressed, Emily confesses, “I probably spent 60-70 hours on this one.”

I thanked her for her contribution and with a smile she corrected me, “my egregious act of vandalism.”

Just a reminder that control is an illusion and we’re forever at the mercy of nature’s fury.

[via Kayla and Brenna]

(The Kayla link is a video btw if you wanna click on it and watch.)

Pretty similar to the real thing (seeing as how the real thing is STILL mostly fenced off.)

[via Denise]

P.S. Be sure to click on some of these related Safeway posts, especially the “how do you feel about Safeway” one…

Southern cookin’ at 23rd and Bryant.

Here’s what it looks like:

Here’s the dinner menu:

The fried chicken was legit.

Hot!

[via Christian]

UPDATE: A behind the scenes shot by Val…

Remember Andy from the Cuts and the Time Flys? If so, you’ve been hanging out at the Knockout for a looooong time now, man.

Anyway his new stuff is still retro, but a little more ’80s than ’60s or ’70s. The press release contains the phrase “faded VHS glam punk hangover.” Give it a listen:

The album is out in late May on Ss Records out of Sacramento, and the band is playing a couple dates in SF in the coming weeks:

05/23 – Parkside with Violence Creeps, tbd
06/04 – Record release at Knockout with MUSK, Stalls, and The Rays

[Photo by Danny Goldshtein]

Local rapper Ticklefight penned this little jam about life in the city this week:

Week of Four 2wenty RAP-up

420 once again, GG Park a big pig pen

Drought gets worse, Jerry Brown’s got the purse

The Elbo and the Lex, what’s gonna be next

Van Ness Micky D’s re-rising high, 13 floors of yuppie french fries

Blue Bottle, Tartine, the hype machine gonna bust your spleen

Earth Day is here, and now it’s gone, same old tired recycled song

[link]

I was at Pop’s late last night and the bartender was playing this EP by a friend’s band. I was super into it at the time, and now, in the sober light of day, I’m still really into it: