Mission Mission

The first bar I ever went to (besides with my dad as a kid) was the Uptown. It was a great experience, just what I always thought a bar would be like: Dark, damp and a little scary. I felt totally at home. Last week the owner, Scott Ellsworth, passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. I didn’t know Scott that well, but the couple times we talked he was always really friendly, and very supportive of the weird artsy place my buddies and I were building across the street. He ran a bar that didn’t have a cocktail program or a dress code. He ran a bar where you could sit down, have a shot and a beer and chat with familiar regulars. Inside the Uptown I’ve stored paintings during a scavenger hunt art show, made business deals, broken up fights, maybe gotten in a fight, tried in vain to get up the nerve to talk to a girl, watched my team dominate the World Series, and seen Sean Penn close it down.

[via Facebook]

The Bold Italic has a great tribute to him today, which would have been his 60th birthday.

In 2011, when I posted a picture of “KiTOS”, the letters on the back of the bar, Scott wrote in to tell us that it stood for the previous owner’s names, Kim and Tony. Let’s just say now it stands for “Keep in Touch, Ol’ Scott.”

I’m DJing this party tonight in the Lower Haight! Like the poster says, nothing but Ramones all night! Also, you get in free if you wear a Ramones t-shirt!

It’ll be plenty of hits (probably at least five albums in their entirety, right?) and a helping of lesser-known stuff too. Let’s rock:

P.S. “der Nutzeffekt” means “the effect of the nuts” in, I think, Chinese.

For a few months now, whenever it’s rained, our pal Angela May Chen has been hard at work on a lovely photo series in which she takes pictures of stuff all over the city — reflected in puddles. It’s fucking beautiful and the Bold Italic just published the whole lot of ‘em.

That signature ‘stache, getting down during that signature sax solo! Two local karaoke legends, shredding as one!! What a sight!!! (Paul elected to perform “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” last night at Purple’s regular Thursday night gig at Slate, and together they nailed it.)

Btw check out the line to get into the party last night (at 12:45 no less!):

Our pal Paul (of the “Drink of the Week” segment on BFF.fm’s “Weak Ledes” show starring Nick Pal, formerly of the “Drink of the Week” column on Mission Mission) points out that Trick Dog has some kind of Malort!

(Somebody on Twitter points out that it’s not actual Malort, so to Malort lovers it’ll probably be like when I order a Fernet at some weird bar and they give me the “Fernet” that’s made in Colorado: it’s fine but it’s not Fernet.)

In any case, possibly really good news for Malort lovers probably? And also, does anyplace in this town have actual Malort?

Check this OUT:

Happy birthday, Pal’s! Can’t wait!!

(Thanks for the tip, Simon!)

Reader Amy Y. has been following a little spat being played out on the facade of Linea Caffe (which houses the waffle shop Lt. Waffle). It started with a little promotional signage featuring the visage of some Belgian guy from history, which begat an angry flyer:

Here’s the rant up close:

And the response from the Lt. Waffle crew:

Gotta love that Anthony Myint. (And daaaaaaaaamn, those waffles.)

(Thanks, Amy!)

But was it awesome?

(Be sure to follow the legendary Jane Parton on Instagram.)

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3D City is a year long stereoscopic photography project by Doctor Popular

There’s been a growing pile of not-yet-scanned 35mm film piling up in the corner of my studio. As I finally began the lengthy process of scanning and editing, I was instantly taken back to the one good rainy weekend we had this season. Wandering in the rain with my Nimslo 3D camera, stepping over discarded umbrellas, hanging out by Yamo watching the can-kicking-dude nail a trick shot, and trying to capture the rare SF lightning storm. Good times.

More shots after the bump.
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Got a note from our pal Jocelyn:

My bike was stolen (not news, not unique, I know). The real story is when I saw two guys with it on Market/12th. I went up to them, looked at the bike and one of them said “Nice bike, huh?” And I was like, “yeah, it’s mine.”

I picked it up, and started walking away with it. The guys chased me. One knocked me to the ground grabbing the bike, the other fucking pepper sprayed me in the face. EMTs and SFPD (eventually) showed up.

The only bright side to the story is that (hopefully) the police are taking it more seriously because of the felony assault. So, if someone spotted the bike they could contact me or SFPD.

Wow.

Here’s the bike (since this photo was taken the saddle was replaced and is now brown):