Mission Mission

This week, Mission Mission brings you a recap of the top 5 posts of 2010. Can you guess the number one post of the year?

Hey, I already told you it’s not BART Boner. Is it Details on the American Apparel Hearing (NSFW)? Almost. That was the number one post in terms of traffic. But dude, that is so 2009. American Apparel was already chased out of the Mission by an angry mob who was probably wearing their stuff the whole time. Not that you care, the real reason you looked at that post was the hot pixxx of Sasha Grey when it popped up in Google. That’s ok, we wont tell.

3. San Francisco Has Banksy Fever!

Right before Banksy’s first film “Exit Through the Gift Shop”  premiered across the US, all sorts of Banksyesque street art started popping up in all the major cities including NYC, Detroit, and San Francisco. The Mission was hit a couple of times during this promotional surge at Mission and Sycamore (see above) and Valencia between 19th and 20th above Amnesia.

Initially, there was doubt about whether or not the pieces were authentic. Commenters battled it out while other pieces popped up in Chinatown, North Beach, SoMa, and even Alcatraz. Everyone suddenly thought graffiti was just swell. Camera clutching tourists loitered in the middle of Valencia street. Reports came in that he had a private shopping session Self Edge and had stayed in the Mission for 4 days. So apparently Banksy likes Mexican food, gentrification, and really expensive uncomfortable jeans that you’re not supposed to wash for a year.

Inevitably, the works were augmented, defaced, and mocked by other local street artists. Local business owners saw the tourist potential of keeping the pieces pristine and inadvertently got themselves in the art restoration field. This brought up the tired debate as to what constitutes legitimate street art and petty vandalism. Meanwhile, Banksy watched it all go down from his luxury secret lair and LOL’ed.

Banksy’s film is now on Netflix, by the way, and he insists it’s not a prank.

2. Lady Gaga Causing a Scene at Rosamunde

We’ve had our share of celebrity sightings in the Mission this year. To name a few: Glee lady, Molly Ringwald, Margaret Cho, Dave Chappelle, and Steve Jobs.

The one that topped our charts was Lady Gaga’s unexpected appearance at the new Rosamunde location in the Mission. It started as a rumor, but was pretty much confirmed when pictures and first hand accounts came in. She was allegedly in search of an authentic Mission burrito, but got sidetracked when she saw a sign advertising “sausage”. This amused her enough to stop in, confirming that the pop star is, in fact, a 12 year old boy.

L. Gaga ordered white wine and did not actually stuff a sausage in her mouth. She bullshitted with the staff and admired homemade jewelry for over two hours while being reminded by her bodyguards about her dinner reservation at somewhere fancy. The Rosamunde staff urged her to check out El Farolito for that burrito she craved. With that she left. Perhaps to go to El Farolito where, if it’s anything like Flour and Water, she was told wait in line like everyone else.

Previously:

Top 5 of ’10: #5: Livin’ La Bebida Loca; #4 KKKontroversy

We finally managed to track down the actual photographer from last Friday’s Gaga-fest and had a chance to chat and set the story straight.  Everyone, please meet Claire, the Rosamunde-employee-turned-paparazzi, whom we last observed being a real scooter hero.  I’m just going to do my best paraphrasing what she told me, so let me get out of your way here real quick.

“It was Wednesday at about 1:30pm.  There were only two people or so eating in the restaurant when Lady Gaga came in accompanied by three Secret Service style bodyguards and her boyfriend Luc Karl (of drunkdiet.com) while another bodyguard waited in a car.  They had been driving up from San Jose after playing a show there Monday and had six hours to kill in San Francisco before they continued on to Portland for a show on Thursday night.

Gaga had been harboring a craving for Mexican food, so the couple made a quick stop in the Mission because they had heard it was the place to be for burritos.  However, the pop superstar saw the word “Sausage” on the Rosamunde sign and thought it was soooo funny that they just had to stop in.  Despite his belief that beer is the new chocolate cake and is bad for his abs, Luc nonetheless ordered a Unibroue Blanche De Chambly while Gaga settled for a nondescript white wine [pictured--the Zinfandel perhaps?  Also, this unfortunately means that Lady Gaga did not in fact stick a Rosamunde sausage in her mouth as previously believed].

After I served them, the couple chilled out with their drinks for a bit while messing with their phones.  At one point, Gaga asked me how to spell “Diarrhea,” presumably for her Twitter or Facebook or something.  As I spelled it out for her, she noticed my jewelry and asked me where I got it.  I told her I made it all myself (I have a degree in Metalsmithing) and she got excited and said she wanted me to make her a necklace for the MTV Music Awards.  After a few OMG’s I realized I didn’t have any other samples with me, but she told me not to worry and to just stop by Waterbar (where she was having dinner later that evening) after I finished my shift to drop some off.

Anyway, my coworkers still didn’t quite believe that it was really her, and my buddy Goose (the other guy in the picture) who was hanging out at the time was completely oblivious.  He asked her, “So, uh, do you have a band or something.”  “Oh, so is it your band, or are you just in the band?”  “Really, what’s it called?”  Gaga was surprised but amused, and just said, “Lady Gaga,” causing Goose to do a double take and stammer an apology or something.

She ended up hanging in the nearly empty Rosamunde for around 2 hours, just chatting away with me and some of my coworkers.  It was a pretty awesome experience–she’s a rad lady!  Her bodyguards kept reminding her that she had reservations at Waterbar at 7pm, but Lady Gaga was determined to get a real Mission burrito before she left San Francisco, so she asked us where she could find the best one.  We all agreed that she should check out El Farolito, which was of course located just kitty-corner to our spot.  With that, Gaga bade farewell, headed across the street with Luc and her bodyguards, and probably shoved an Al Pastor Super into her face about 15 minutes later.

Of course, I ended up having to work a double shift and by the time I made it all the way down to the Embarcadero, they were gone.  So if you see this, Lady Gaga, roll over to clairehummeldesign.com [the site isn't functional until next week, but here's the Facebook link in the meantime] and make me famous!!!”

Previously:

Lady Gaga Causing a Scene at Rosamunde

MEGA UPDATE!!!  We talked to Claire for the whole story!

SUPER UPDATE!!!  CREDIT CLAIRE WITH THE PHOTO!!!  ROCK STAR!!!

UPDATE!!!!  WE HAVE A PHOTO!  THANKS RACHEL!!!

Truthfully, our buddy Aaron gave us the scoop back on Saturday, but due to a hectic schedule we were only just able to follow up on corroborating the rumor.  Anyway, we finally spoke with the staff and confirmed that Lady Gaga herself did indeed indulge in a sausage from Rosamunde on Mission at 24th when she happened to be in the Bay Area last Thursday for a show in San Jose.

The pop sensation was in a playful mood, possibly due to imbibing several signature beverages along with her bratwurst [ed. we actually don't know what kind of meat she was eating, but we could ask if you care enough].  She was with her “boyfriend” who also kept reminding her that they had dinner reservations at 7pm at some fancy restaurant downtown.

We have no idea why Gaga insisted on a sausage right before dinner, or how no one thought to snap a picture of her during the duration of her stay (Nice work, CLAIR).  For what it’s worth, only one member of the staff recognized her at all, with one coworker for instance simply dismissomg her as just another “professional.”

We do however know for a fact that Lady Gaga picked up one of those charming Rosamunde t-shirts, so look for her to be wearing that at her next TMZ reveal.  We’ll have accounts from more people who were there coming up soon, so stay tuned if you feel the need to get your paparazzi on.

Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong (disclosure: he is my awesome bro) did a series of comic strips detailing what they experienced at Lady Gaga’s SF appearance at the Billy Graham Civic in December. Crotch lifts, machine guns, and gyroscopes? Count me in next time.

The rest of this series will be a part of a crazy Gaga fanzine put together by a bunch of indie comix guys based in SF: Prison for Bitches. Be sure to pick up yours when it debuts at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival on Monday. What, you’re not going? Ok, well order it online, I guess.

Previously:

Helllllen Does Lady Gaga

Mission-based artiste, Hellen Jo drew this portrait of singer, songwriter, fashion-troll Lady Gaga. I’m not particularly hip to the music of today, but I think it’s pretty bitchin’. On her site you can see the whole “making of” process.

Hellen is pictured below, to the right.

LOVE this. Who else is pumped about Lollapalooza?

Thanks for sharing, Jess!