Mission Mission

Just now.

Stepped out from behind his podium to join his boy Brex on the solo during “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” Dig that golden jumpsuit!

DJ Purple takes the stage again tonight at Singin’ & Pingin’ 2.

[Photo by Stella]

Even if the world ends today, there still probably won’t be as much fire in the Mission as there was when the Giants won the world series.

Tomorrow night, as part of SF Sketchfest‘s pre-festival events, director Terry Zwigoff (of Crumb and Ghost World fame, swoon) will be presenting his director’s cut of Bad Santa (2003) at the Castro Theatre. After the film, Zwigoff will be holding a Q&A with actors Tony Cox and Lauren Tom. Tickets are available here.

We had the opportunity to chat briefly with Zwigoff, where we talked to him about Robert Crumb, Dan Clowes, the ties between comics and old-timey things, cynicism, and San Francisco’s changing landscape. Read the rest of the interview after the jump.

MM: You lived in San Francisco in the 70s, can you tell us what it was like and how it’s changed over the years?

TZ: [Laughs] I laugh because I hardly leave my house. I’m probably not be the best person to ask. But I’d say it’s more gentrified. In my neighborhood, anyway.

MM: What was the Mission like then?

TZ: It was a working class neighborhood. It’s strange to see it it now, especially Valencia Street. It’s like restaurant row now, like the Village. Mission Street still feels the same, especially around 16th Street. With the check-cashing stores and drug addicts and homeless people. Now, the homeless are being pushed towards Market Street. The skyline has changed, I liked it so much better before, it used to remind me of the San Francisco in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Now there are all of these awful skyscrapers and condos.

(more…)

I’m pretty sure the first time I ever had a whiskey smash was at Slow Club, about five years ago. Now it’s my all-time favorite brunch drink. The mint and lemon make the drink crisp and refreshing, but the unmasked malty bourbon reminds you that it’s really irresponsible to be ordering drinks like this in the middle of the day.

Slow Club calls their version the Sunday Smash, and it’s still the best one I’ve ever had. Even after making several at home, I haven’t been able to capture the magic. Slow Club sweetens theirs with maple syrup instead of honey, which is maybe what pulls it together so nicely.

It’s the perfect drink for resigning yourself to the fact that you’re not taking Sunday easy this week and you’re just going to have to tough it through Monday with a hangover. Try one this Sunday (they’re open, I checked), although that’s kind of cheating because you have two days off.

Drink of the week is brought to you by Poachedjobs.com.

They’ll serve their last meal on New Year’s Eve. Mission Local reports:

The restaurant at 16th Street and South Van Ness Avenue serves Northeastern Italian and Central European food and wine has been highly rated since its opening in 2006. But Losa said the saturation of new restaurants on Valencia Street has impacted the foot traffic on 16th street and drawn customers away from Bar Bambino.

“Our location is being left out of this vortex of transformation on Valencia Street,” Losa said.

Yet, Losa has faith that 16th Street will see its own transformation in the future – even if it will be too late for Bar Bambino.

Sad beans! “Vortex of transformation!” Read on for more, including Christopher Losa’s letter to his employees.

Our pal TK of 40 Going on 28 had a great time:

[S]uddenly I was 17 again and seeing REM at the Mosque in Richmond Virginia and never had been in an unsuccessful first marriage and 9/11 had never happened and the only thing I had to worry about was how much Milwaukee’s Best cost and whether this girl I knew liked me.

[...]

You see, back in the 80′s, growing up far from any kind of “scene,” music seemed kind of stale and lifeless.  What you got on the radio was lots of classic rock (and country, I guess, if you wanted that). When we discovered REM, it seemed like a revelation – here was somethingdifferent, something interesting.  And it was like our secret!  We were in a special club.

Of course, REM, and what was then called “alternative music,” blew up after that.  REM went on to become huge and maybe The Most Important American Band of All Time (there can be a debate, but seriously? Who else?).  But you know what?  REM will always remind me of a certain time when I was growing up and figuring out how to be an adult and the world was full of promise and things didn’t seem as shitty all the time.

Read on for more on REM, and TK’s feelings.

From Mission Connections:

24th and Mission crotch staring – m4w (mission district)

You were crossing 24th street at about 6pm wenesday night.<19th. You walked at an angle directly toward me. Me a tallish older black male in fitted jeans grey sports coat knit cap talking on cell next to tree.At first you looked directly into my eyes and as you got closer you gave my crotch a long hard stare and then you were pass me. Want to stare some more? Reply with descriptiion. You were dressed boyish with a short boyish hair cut. Tell me your height approimately and color of your slacks. [link]

“Want to stare some more?”

It’s in the same building as Mission Bicycle, behind a locked door. To open the door, you have to check in using Foursquare or Instagram. (Or just ring the doorbell, I guess.) The door opens, you go inside, up a flight of stairs, and then you’re in Photojojo‘s secret store surrounded by lots of great gifts for the pro and amateur photographers and photography enthusiasts in your life.

[Photo by Photojojo]