Mission Mission

Last weekend we ventured out to Fort Mason’s Cowell Theater to see the premiere of Max Understood described as “The musical adventures of a precocious child with autism”. We love checking out new works because they always provide new and out-of-the-box approaches to story telling. This show definitely met that expectation.

Photo by Mark Palmer

Katie: I came into this show with high expectations since I’ve known of Nancy Carlin (the writer) for a long time and she does amazing work. The opening really grabbed my attention and I was like wow, this is going to be an in-your-face newschool type of musical. The minute the actors playing the parents came out I was taken out of it because they started acting and singing as if it was an old school musical. The transitions in those first few scenes were very awkward. I felt the world of this show didn’t have a strong foundation so the style seemed misplaced.

Brittany: I had really mixed feelings about the show too. I thought the design was really cool with the white set pieces being used for projections. Everything was very visually interesting. Definitely the sound design was awesome, really amazing surround sound. Having sound move across the stage and come from different areas is really neat. And they took advantage of the fact that the space can do that…which is cool.

K: The music of the whole show was amazing, and I agree, the sound design was maybe the best I’ve ever heard. However, some of the lyrics and melodies were kind of corny and didn’t really match the music and sound design for me.

B: The kid was ridiculously good. He was tiny and he was on stage the entire time and he was really acting. Not acting like a kid “acts” but was actually acting. I’ve never seen a kid have that big of role and pull it off. Maybe he’s actually 18 and looks like he’s 8 or something because that was crazy.

K: And his singing was also really good. Sweet and haunting, and so precious.

B: Yeah, and the parents…I think you hit it on the head in terms of when it started I was like okay, this is going to be a more straight forward musical about how parents cope with an autistic child. Then it wasn’t that and I was happy it wasn’t that because I don’t think that would have been as interesting. But I don’t feel they set up expectations in the right way. So when stuff started getting weird and we started getting in the autistic kid’s head I kept having a bunch of moments of  “what the hell is going on, are we in his head or not?” Maybe that’s part of the director’s intention, they want you to be questioning the strange things that are happening, but as an audience member I found that really jarring. It made it more difficult to sit through than if they had set it up right in the beginning. Obviously it’s hard to know what it’s like to be in an autistic child’s head so it was an interesting interpretation.

K: It was definitely interesting and I can take a little bit of experimental theater but there were moments I felt I was making this face…how would you describe this face I’m making? (Katie shows Brittany her face)

B: That’s a “What the fuck face”.

K: Yeah. There were also moments when I was thinking “Wow, this show sounds so cool, wow, that little boy is so good, wow, this set – I love the moving projections”.  So I kept bouncing between “Wow” and “WTF”.  For whatever reason, it’s so hard to put into words for me, I just felt disconnected and not fully invested in the story and not taken away. So that’s why I’m left feeling mixed.

The Verdict: If you have an open mind and if you can swallow a certain amount of experimental theater, this is good experimental theater to chew on. You will experience an innovative set and sound design and a very different kind of new play where you really don’t know what is reality and what isn’t, told through a very talented child actor. In fact, one of the most talented child actors we have ever seen. However, if the thought of experimental theater would make you want to shoot yourself in the foot – don’t go because you will shoot yourself in the foot.

The Drama Talk: This is a well produced, extremely interesting piece of experimental theater about autism. Autism is something people are starting to talk about a lot more so it’s nice to have theater contribute to the conversation and create narratives around it. It’s a really important conversation to be having. This isn’t a show that everyone would love, though. Being in an autistic kid’s head isn’t the most coherent or relaxing place to be and the story reflects that, which is most likely intentional. We did appreciate how the show didn’t overstay it’s welcome. It was 70 minutes with no intermission.

The Drinks: We are so happy that now there is an awesome bar at Fort Mason just down the way from the Cowell Theater called Interval. It’s a “bar, cafe, museum, and the home of The Long Now Foundation” and definitely worth checking out even if you don’t have a show to go to at Fort Mason. We both ordered from their fun list of specialty daiquiris, and were glad we did…so good!

Max Understood runs through this weekend at Fort Mason’s Cowell Theater. Tickets are available through City Box Office for $30-$40. At the moment Goldstar also has tickets for sale for $13.50 – $21.25. Also, get to the show early so you can check out Sound Maze for Max: An Interactive Exhibit of Invented Instruments at the firehouse at Fort Mason Center, which will be on display from April 4th – May 3rd.

Here’s the official word, via Facebook:

Hey Everyone
There is finally news.
Dennis and Susan Ring had a meeting with the powers that be and they seem quite confident that their condo project will be able to move forward.
As a result, they have decided not to renew our lease which expires Nov. 1st, 2015.

Yes, we are in shock.

What’s next?
We will be looking for a new space to continue what we are doing. With hopefully as little lapse as possible.
We own the liquor license, the business and all contents inside (except for pinball/pacman).
Hopefully we can find something soon.

If you have any leads on a space for us, or wish to help… please email mattshapiro@mac.com

Thank You for your ongoing support

Matt Shapiro/ Erik Cantu
and the staff of Elbo Room

Sooo, better check out the Elbo Room calendar of events, or just pop in for happy hour.

[link] [via Capp Street Crap]

In 1894 the Pullman Strike cut San Francisco off from all physical communication.

From the San Francisco Examiner on July 7, 1894:

“An enterprising citizen of Fresno has organized a bicycle mail relay from that city to San Francisco to carry letters only. The route taken is west to Gilroy, then north through San Jose to this city.”

For $0.25 you could have a letter carried relay style from a bike shop in San Francisco all the way to a bike shop in Fresno. From there, or 16 other cities along the route, the local post office could deliver your letter right to the recipient’s door.

This weekend the route will be recreated. All that’s left is to get some mail.

In 1894 each letter was carried on the backs of 8 different bike messengers over 210 miles. The journey took about 18 hours, riding single speed bikes on mostly unpaved roads.

800 stamps were produced so quickly that an glaring mistake was overlooked. San Francisco was misspelled San “Fransisco.”

Full story here: Ingenuity, Murder, Fraud and Fixies (San Francisco in 1894)

On Friday a small group of friends will commemorate this ride by departing from a bike shop in San Francisco and tracing the same route to Fresno. None of them are bike messengers, and in fact, this will be the longest ride of their lives.

All they need now is mail.

This is where you come in. Stop in Mission Bicycle Company any time between now and 6:00 pm on Friday night if you would like to send a commemorative postcard to anyone in Fresno.

Don’t have any friends in Fresno? The recreators will hand deliver a message to any of the following stops.

• Spokeasy Public House (bar)

• “Unnamed awesome little taco truck”

• Fresno County Bicycle Coalition

• Metal Mark Climbing & Fitness (where the crew will be showering after 18 hours on a bike)

After 121 years, the price remains $0.25.

[via Rocky]

Neighbor Natalia wants to know:

Any idea what is going on with the property/parking lot on Shotwell & South Van Ness between 23rd and 24th?

People there have regularly been burning trash there in what appears to be a metal barrel, creating a lot of flames, smoke and foul odor. The past two nights the Fire Dept has shown up.

Seems like a pretty cool club to me. (Bummer I got rid of my old Volvo.)

(Technically it’s still there, but it won’t be after next week.)

Project leader Rana Freedman wrote in to tell us about it:

When the Lexington announced it was closing, a few of us in the community who “grew up” at The Lex got together to figure out how to do this. We contacted Campos’ office, which was excited by the idea, and a plan was put into motion.

A couple of weeks ago the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution recognizing the bar’s cultural significance which gave us permission to install the plaque in the city sidewalk. So us community volunteers put the plaque into production and we’re now busy pulling permits, scheduling contractors, working with various city boards, etc. hoping to get this all done by the time the bar closes next week.

But this isn’t paid for by the city– it has to be done with private funds.

And thus, please if you’re inclined make a donation here.

I swear, renting a car in this city is one of the most inconvenient activities one can do.  You have to take BART all the way down to SFO ($10), deal with the airport crowds, and finally hope that you’re driving down south for whatever it is you’re doing because otherwise you’ll have to backtrack all the way back north to and through the city.

City Car Share and Zipcar are doing a pretty good job of filling the gaping hole left by the unpleasant rental car experience, but this entrepreneur has taken it one step further by cutting out the middleman entirely!  Just try to do a better parking job when you return it.

Eater SF has the details:

San Francisco’s beloved Tartine Bakery, which was founded in 2002 by baker Chad Robertson and pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt, has merged with Blue Bottle Coffee, the Bay Area-based roaster and retailer. According to the New York Times, Tartine Bakery plans to open locations in Los Angeles and New York City. Thanks to Blue Bottle’s footprint in each of these cities, the expansion will likely be smooth and swift.

In January, Robertson hinted at the possibility of opening a bread-only bakery in New York City. As of last September, Tartine had plans to open in Tokyo, where Blue Bottle recently opened a roastery and store. Notably, details of the merger state that the two companies will continue to operate independently, that Robertson and Prueitt will continue to oversee all bakery production and operations, and that Bar Tartine is not part of the merger. According to the Times, Bar Tartine will be sold to its head chefs Nicolaus Balla and Cortney Burns.

Read on for more details and speculation.

[File photo by Ariel's friend Jenny]

Every Tuesday Night at Pops, get a free Salsa Lesson at Tropicana! Stick around for an evening of quality latin bass with the best of Salsa, LatinHouse, Latin HipHop, Moombahton, DubCumbia, Merengue, Bachata, Dancehall, LatinReggae and more. Tropicana Nights strives to create a space for cultural diversity and environmental awareness. Jump in for the celebration of community, music and dance!

See what else is in store this week at POPS:

4/20/15 MONDAY

Motown on Mondays

It’s only Monday if you treat it like one.

M.O.M

9PM START, 1:30AM end

Hey!

Check out my

M.O.M.

Mondays at Pops

DJ GORDO CABEZA, TIMOTEO GIGANTE, THE CAPTAIN AND WEEKLY GUESTS

PLAY ORIGINALS, EXCLUSIVE REMIXES

AND CLOSE RELATIVES OF YOUR FAVORITE

MOTOWN SONGS…

4/21/15 TUESDAY

Tropicana Tuesdays

“Quality Latin BASS”

Every Tuesday at POPS BAR

Music: FREE (Local BayArea DJ`s)

Salsa Lesson: FREE (Instructor La Muerte)

Time: 9pm – 2am

Tropicana is BACK in town! Every TUESDAY night for the WINTER season. Bringing “Quality Latin BASS”, by playing some of the latest – up to date latino music genres.. of course respecting the classics…

Music by local BayArea DJ`s, such as Stepwise, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, Mr. E, J Boogie and more…

Salsa I LatinHouse I Latin HipHop I Moombahton I DubCumbia I Merengue I Bachata I Dancehall I LatinReggae I and more…

(more…)

[via Mr. Ariel Dovas on Instagram]