Sunday, October 28, 2007
Sushi and the City
How do we find good sushi? You go searching for it, that's how!
Here's my top five choices for sushi in San Francisco.
Ebisu, in the inner Sunset district is the catch of the day. This casual atmosphere and mildly expensive restaurant has tasty specialty rolls and is given the number one spot. The amazing seafood salad, tuna, and fried oysters make your mouth water but can easily be washed down with a shot of saki.
Located in the Western Addition, the second hotspot in the city is Tsunami. This hip urbane restaurant has an extensive saki list with a refreshing drink called Tsunami’s Wrath: a saki/sangria mix with cranberry and limejuice. With a live DJ, sushi aficionados can indulge into the party atmosphere and fresh fish.
Walking through the Haight Ashbury district you cannot see the sign for Hama-Ko, but the line that wraps around the corner will give the secret away. This Mom-and-pop sushi restaurant has fish that melts in your mouth. The line can get long but the food is definitely worth the wait.
Blowfish sushi is a name that easily heard in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and Hollywood. This well-known restaurant has a modern flair to traditional Japanese sushi with Putterfish, Ostrich, and Duck. The atmosphere is filled with a San Francisco grungy chic crowd and fashionable chefs. The service is welcoming and friendly with sushi to die for. The forth spot to grab a bite of sushi is handed on a silver platter to Blowfish.
Even in a city full of great Japanese restaurants, the last hot spot is Kabuto sushi. The small spot stands out with the mouth watering Japanese tapas. There are many rolls that cater to vegetarians including Grilled eggplant with spices. The chef selection is the reason many customers flock. Try the Stewed Tripe topped with Peppers and the Japanese Egg Custard.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Something for Nothing: Reviews and Previews of Everything Free in San Francisco
Saturday 10/20 at 8 p.m.: Boxcar Theatre's "Big Co."
"Big Co." is a two hour play that reflects the reality of living in a consumer culture with humor instead of preaching.
The set resembles a small downtown deli with genuine props of freshly made soup and sandwiches shielded by a glass display case while handwritten menus and signs hover above them. Nick Olivero, still in character as the deli owner, serves refreshments from this theatrical prop to theater goers during the intermission.
In one scene, the characters toss around Fast Company magazine, and discuss an actual article about the former Sierra club president who now works as Wal-Mart's green strategist. Actor Peter Matthews expounds the true crimes of Proctor & Gamble in a game show sequence.
Olivero, one of four actors and writers of "Big Co.," credits much of the play's appeal to its authenticity. Each actor feels at least one character mirrors their personality. Onlookers can gather their own predilections as well, whether they are the consumer who goes nuts over the latest iThing or one who finds comfort in the purchase of biodegradable trash bags.
"There's a lot of our personality that went into the characters," said Olivero. For instance, Olivero is on a personal boycott against the rental chain Blockbuster like his character is in the play.
Although "Big Co." shows a family-owned deli being driven out of business by a corporation, it is not strictly an attack on corporate businesses; it is more an exploration of how people earn and spend money.
"We want our audience to realize that it's not as clear cut and dry as we'd like it to be," said Olivero.
"Big Co." began when Olivero started writing a series of scenes about customer service. The cast began to mold the story around consumer dependency to fit the company's season theme: dependency. The script then became focused on four main characters: Sonya and Nikolai, the siblings who own the Borisov Deli, Sonya's corporate-ladder-climbing boyfriend Mr. Man, and Jenny, the do-gooder who accepts a public relations job at the big company to change it from the inside out.
"We fell in love with the characters," said Olivero.
"Big Co." is the first play the Boxcar group has performed in its location in South of Market. Last season, the actors performed on a bus, beach, and borrowed theater spaces.
"A big hitch has just been getting audience in," said Olivero.
"Perhaps people think that if shomething's free, it's not good," he said.
Still, the free shows this Friday and Sunday are booked. The cast will perform "Big Co." for two weeks after that at a sliding scale fo $14-$28, according to the Boxcar website. Olivero said students can buy discounted tickets at $10.
To find out more about Boxcar Theatre, visit their website: http://www.boxcartheatre.org/
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Real talent is underrated
Talented musicians don’t get enough recognition these days in the United States. Americans are swallowed up by crappy pop music like lip syncing Britney Spears “Gimme More,” which by the way is the most annoying piece of crap song in the world. What kind of role model is she for kids when she can’t even take care of her own?
Now lets talk talent. Patrick Wolf, a 24-year-old British indietronic singer-songwriter, plays many instruments including ukulele, harp, autoharp, violin, viola, accordion, harmonium, organ, guitar, clavinet, autoharp, mountain dulcimer, harpsichord, clavichord and singer. Talk about talent, eh?
His songs are extremely different from one another as well -- Electronic, folk, indie, pop—etc., he does it all.
Here’s a nice ballad “Blue Bells.”
It’s one of the most powerful songs he plays live.
Wolf played a show at the Mezzanine on Monday, October 16th, and only about 200 people showed up. “What did I do wrong—Isn’t the Mezzanine a club?” he asked the crowd drunkenly. He sold out two shows at Café Du Nord in May, but wasn’t as successful this time around. It’s probably because it was a Monday night, and most college kids have midterms this week.
Wolf isn’t afraid of making fun of pop artists. Back in July 18th after he supported British Pop artist Mika in London, he posted a myspace bulletin that stated that “Mika was a twat” and “Please let’s put an end to over-marketed, expensive, heartless, tacky rubbish, autotune, airbrush.. I demand justice for good music and firebrands who refuse to compromise to be popular
Patrick, you’re not the only one who doesn’t understand most people. We true musicians and real music lovers need to stick together.
Nightlife with Saira
Trader Sam's (Richmond district)
In the Richmond district, at 26th avenue and Geary, there is hole in the wall dive bar with drinks that have big kick.
You won’t miss Trader Sam’s because of it’s neon red lights that line the windows and the crowd of smokers grouped together outside.
The first thing I did when I got there was buy the infamous scorpion bowl. It is a mix of five different types of alcohol, champagne and tropical juices. This tropical wonder is served in a large bowl with several straws and is meant for sharing. So bring a few friends unless you want to be singing into toilet at the end of the night. The bar is Indonesian themed and is pretty lively for a dive bar.
This bar caters to a not-so-rowdy crowd, who wants to have a strong drink at the end of a hard day.
I had to stand for a while when I first got there because all of the table were taken. The bar has bar minimal seating of a few tables and couches for patrons and of course bar stools. There is also a jut box that plays everything from J.Lo to Journey. I of course chose some Journey to spice things up a little and get the crowd singing.
The bar is crowded on most nights and always promises a good time. Dancing is reserved for those who have had one too many, but it is not looked down upon. I think that Trader Sam’s is a perfect dive bar to meet some locals and relax in the Richmond.
Ruby Skye (Union Square/Downtown)
There is a place, in the middle of a busy square, amongst perfect strangers where you can go to dance and drink for a little too much money
Ruby Skye is located at 420 Mason Street in Union Square. It is a place to bring out of towners or to celebrate a party or just to have an excuse to dress up and go out and spend some dough.
When I got to this club I had to wait in line for a considerable amount of time. Unless you know the bouncers plan on paying a twenty dollar entrance fee or you can get around it. I went on line a few days ahead of time and put my name on the list!
After crossing the threshold, I stepped into the club world, where everyone is half naked and bumpin’ and grindin’.
Pink and purple lights flash against circular, plush white couches, and spotlights focus on trapeze artists that are somersaulting above the dance floor.
Upstairs there is a V.I.P. section that is almost impossible to get into, unless you are famous or have enough money to buy a hundred dollar bottle of alcohol for each of the five tables in the room.
The upper level also caters to a smoking box and the room has one window for fifty smokers. Also, there is a D.J. playing more house music.
The club does have a good selection of house music and brings in different D.J.’s from all over the country to mix and spin.
I thought that Ruby Skye had a good clubin’ atmosphere and lots of people come there to dance and meet strangers.
The house music can be tiresome after a while and I found my self trying to dance, but really just jumping up and down. I had trouble holding a decent conversation without getting humped across the dance floor.
Drinks are also hard to get because there is only a few bar tenders and everyone is fighting for their attention. If you do manage to score a drink, don’t be surprised when the tab turns out to be ten dollars a drink.
All and all it takes a certain party lover to appreciate Ruby Skye… If there is nothing else to do I’ll go, but I’m not paying the cover.
The San Francisco loner gene
Forbes.com recently rated San Francisco to be the best city in the U.S. for singles. The ranking methodology included coolness factor, determined by a Harris Poll, cost of living alone, based on the price of, for example, a six-pack of Heineken and a Pizza Hut Pizza, culture, how many people were signed up for online dating and the number of restaurants and bars per capita, etc.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 65 percent of the San Francisco population over 15 years old is unmarried. Even if some people of that percentage are in an unhitched relationship, the number of folks who are still looking for love is still quite large.
Why are there so many single people? Is it the best city to be single or best city to for those who want to keep being single? Are people flying solo by choice? Or are there microwaves activating the loner gene when you pass the city limit? It doesn't make sense.
It's seems as if people in San Francisco are so over stimulated by the museums and pro sports teams that there's no reason to settle down with a mate. All the options of recreational activities filter away for the human need of monogamy.
Perhaps the Harris Poll should have included questions about best city for casual hook-ups or the average number of dates people go on before deciding to stop because obviously, people in San Francisco are against long term love.
Whatever the reason is for this high single population, it seems to be that San Francisco is a transitional city. It's a place people come from all over the U.S., and the world for that matter, to build a career, be independent and live in a Victorian house for a while. They work 70 hours per week, watch games, go to a couple of movies per month, drink their six-pack of Heineken and when they're tired of it, they go on Match.com, find someone and move somewhere where it's easier to park the Volvo.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Fleet Week in retrospect...
by Timothy Henry, [X]press Online
I was sitting in traffic and crawling toward the bay bridge on Thursday when I saw four jets screaming toward the San Francisco skyline. For a split second, I was terrified, and thought we were under attack. Then I remember . . . it must be Fleet Week.
What red-blooded American male wouldn’t drool over the sight of fighter-jets roaring across the sky (I’m sure there are plenty of females digging it too . . . it just seems to be more of a dude thing). Overcome by some boyish adrenaline, I pump my fist as the jets go by again, and flip through the radio in the hopes of finding “Rock you Like a Hurricane.”
Fleet Week is the Armed Forces open house – numbers of Attendance vary from ten of thousands according to NBC, to over a million, according to KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle. This years Fleet Week began on the fourth, and will end tomorrow at 4pm.
The 2007 San Francisco Fleet Week occurred during a time of stark polarity in American foreign policy, and during a long and increasingly unpopular war. Do politics prevail during such a time honored tradition (if tradition always prevailed, then we would continue to celebrate Columbus Day vs. Italian Heritage or Caesar Chavez Day)?
The Chronicle’s Carl Nolte wrote: “It is a paradox: On the one hand, there is widespread perception that San Francisco and the Bay Area are opposed to the military and all its works; on the other, the citizens of the Bay Area . . . gather in huge crowds to welcome the Navy.”
Led by supervisor Chris Daly, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors considered banning the Blue Angeles this year, sighting safety concerns stemming from an Angels crash in South Carolina in April. Daly also said immigrants from war-ravaged countries were terrified by the air-show, a claim that was confirmed on the KQED’s “Forum” on Friday. One listener E-mailed a comment saying that she used to love the Blue Angels, but that nanny from Nicaragua was terrified, because they reminded her of war, bombs, and destruction.
Daly’s measure was defeated 7-3 in September, but the debate was sparked.
Is fleet week innocuous? According to their website: “The Blue Angels’ mission is to enhance Navy and Marine Corps recruiting efforts and to represent the naval service to the United States . . .”
Military recruitment has become a contentious issue in the wake of the Iraq war – many college campuses tried to ban recruiters outright, but the supreme court ruled that schools had to allow the military, or loose federal funding. Further, the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps was eliminated in san Francisco last November by the Board of Education.
And then there’s the F/A-18 Hornet, the current vehicle of the Blue Angles – the average coast of an F/A-18 is $21 million, according to the Blue Angeles website. While the Blue Angeles are painted bright and beautiful colors, the F-18 is still an implement of war.
But a different war. Fast jets are the vestige of wars against super-powers. In the current so called war on terror, the enemy’s weapon is simple and ghastly, and the entire fleet, with all it’s firepower, has no obvious and discernable target.
Back on the freeway, the planes disappear toward the mouth of the bay, then reappear, flying parallel to traffic and dipping beneath the city while leaving a wispy trail of smoke, and describing an undulating snake as they go. The sound follows . . . a distant, window shaking rumble that consumes the air before fading, fading.
Most Iraqis, Afghans, and Bosnians have never seen an air-show. A jet flying over-head does not mean pump your fist and wave the flag . . . it means run for your life.
Links
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin
On Board of Supervisors:
http://www.sfgate.com/cg-bin
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Me and the Gang (No, really, they’re in a gang)
Last May, for my reporting class, I authored a story on the possibility of a gang injunction in the Western Addition, which was my neighborhood beat. I knew it was an important issue, but at the time I would never have guessed it would become an obsessive quest of mine.
Instead of abandoning the beat after the semester ended, I dutifully went to Fillmore Street, where one of my most reliable sources could usually be found. I wanted to see if there were any worthy stories to pursue, and I found one. Two days before I went to Fillmore to see Minister Regnaldo Woods at his non-profit, Up From Darkness, seven people had been shot in a hale of gunfire at the Friendship Village housing complex and nearby Plaza East. I couldn’t just walk away from the neighborhood that welcomed me with open arms, especially now.
The shootings were a result of a dispute between youths from Friendship and Eddy Rock, from Plaza East just five blocks away. Eddy Rock, I had learned, was one of the more menacing gangs in the area, and I knew they were likely to be named in the looming injunction. Sure enough, when City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced in July that he would seek injunctions in the Western Addition and in the Mission, Eddy Rock was on the list, along with its rivals, Chopper City and Knock Out Posse.
Woods told me in June that he and a few others had a grand plan: reach out to the gang members and convince them to attend a summit, where they would call a truce. Once there, they would receive access to mental health services, employment guidance, and hear from inspiring African-American men. I wanted to write about that, and knew if I hung out long enough, I would likely be able to get exclusive access to the event. In other words, I would be able to interview the most elusive of sources – gang members.
The summit never happened. So I -- in a bit of a panic -- asked Woods if I could interview the gang members anyway, and tie it into a story about the injunction. He agreed to take me down to Plaza East, where I would be able to sit down with a few of the “shot callers” and just, you know, chat.
I can’t say exactly why I was so eager to talk to reputed gang members. Perhaps it was morbid curiosity, perhaps just innocent intrigue -- a hope to gain insight into a world that I’ve never experienced. One thing I decided early on, though, was that I wouldn’t just use this opportunity to further my own agenda to get published. Sure, it would help; but I realized that was the wrong mindset.
I’ve interviewed grieving mothers, multiple sclerosis patients, and anti-social pack rats in the past, but these interviews would easily be the most challenging.
After interviewing four of the guys, I was in a bit of a daze and had to finish up so I could digest what had been discussed. The matter-of-fact tone in which they explained what it was like to have six of their friends killed less than a block away was a bit mind-numbing. But they all sounded a common theme: They wanted to change -- really. They just didn’t know how and needed the guidance of Woods and other elders. They seemed sincere.
But was I simply going to be an apologist for these guys? Could I just ignore the thousands of pages of evidence stacked against them? No, I couldn’t. And I realized what I had gotten myself into – a neglected community about to be caught up in the middle of ambitious political policy.
I went back to Plaza East four more times despite my personal reservations. I was curious to see how things were evolving with Eddy Rock -- and evolve they did. They no longer call themselves Eddy Rock. They were now calling themselves Open Arms, named after a non-profit they started with the help of Woods and others. Whether or not their Arms will remain open remains to be seen. For the sake of the neighborhood, let’s hope so.
See xpress.sfsu.edu for a reprint of the full San Francisco Bay Guardian story.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
CYHASY, a group of goofs
Brooklyn’s Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah have successfully become known as the do-it-without-a-record-label musician guys. Their goofy musical personality is layered with fresh pops and surprises and topped off with whiney yet attractive vocals.
CYHASY played the second day of the first Treasure Island Music Festival on September 16 and were quite titillated by the fact that there was water all around them and possibly a bit afraid of sharks.
As keyboardist, Robbie Guertin, said, “I wasn’t really sure of the concept until we got here, but it’s pretty cool now that I’m here.”
Though the band members mentioned that they thought perhaps people would be better off being on the beach “instead of being caged in watching music on an island,” they warmed up to the idea after arriving and seeing the festivals overall set up. “I love it. I love the ocean and the boats, I also love the puppets that our outside right now-they’re fantastic,” said drummer Sean Greenhalgh after Guertin mentioned the beach idea.
Posted on the Treasure Island Music Festival website is an article about the islands history. The event has people thinking about what the island is and it seemed like the festival was not just promoting itself but the island as well, “I went on the website and it shows the history of the island being build, it’s pretty interesting how it was made. It just use to be this little mound of dirt and now it’s a whole island,” said Guertin.
The dangers of the having a large event on the island would be that during earthquakes, fires or other natural disasters a quick evacuation would be virtually impossible. Though, Guerin remained optimistic about the turnout of the event. “If there was an earthquake, would the whole island just open up? I would start screaming. Well, I would just go for a swim.”
CYHASY are going to be touring in California and are hitting up the Independent in SF on September 25th and 26th, “We have ten days to sell it out. You’re the only place we’re announcing this, we need your help.”
In addition to selling out three L.A. shows in the end of September CYHASY are soon to be featured for their film debut alongside John Malkovich and Tom Hanks.
Cavemen, Nitro and Turbo...Dear God!
I’m not sure I know where TV is going. And I don’t think TV knows either.
In approximately 10 hours, the first episode of Caveman will premiere on ABC. He’s originally the spokesperson for Geico auto insurance. I think we have all seen the commercials.
Just in case…
I’ll admit the commercials were funny, but a full blown TV show?
NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios has decided to bring back American Gladiators in midseason. Recycling what now? I really hope people aren't looking forward to this. Athletes participating took stage names like Turbo, Nitro and Laser and competed in competitions named the Joust, the Wall or the Eliminator, said Variety . The original series premiered in 1989 along with Baywatch, Family Matters and the Simpsons.
Through the sitcom era, into the times of reality TV… where does that put us now? Personally, I think this is exactly what American needs. Washington's corrupt, the Middle East is a powder keg and the world is melting.
Who knows? Maybe both shows turn out successes. Flava of Love on VH1 is "successful" too. It's all garbage.
Although you can’t help but imagine...
Urkel, Gladiator and Hasselhoff… that's utopia.