When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage. Finally, it’s a good core workout. If you’re sold on the idea, schedule an intro SUP lesson, free with board and paddle rental, and you may find yourself riding the waves like a Polynesian king.More
Many of us remember coming home from our elementary schools with freshly glazed pinchpots, cups, or whatever else our young imaginations could conjure up. Saturday mornings at the Randall Museum can bring that memory back, or create a new one for the youngsters. Ceramics make great gifts — especially on Mothers' and Fathers' Day. Hop on board for the Randall's once-weekly class, and for $6 and two weeks to have your work fired and glazed, you'll have all the materials you need.More
December is almost over - the New Year is coming up and everyone is busy drying off from the rain or holiday shopping. Let's take a look at what's happened this month.
According to Indian thought, we have seven centers of spiritual power on our bodies called chakras, starting from our reproductive organs all the way up to the top of our heads.
The world nearly stopped last year when rumors that this well-graffitied, deeply historied Market Street rock 'n' roll bar would be knocked down and turned into condos started circulating.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 7:04 PM
Following a marathon negotiating session with the mayor's office, the SEIU last week agreed to a series of concessions that could save the city scores of millions of dollars. The details of those concessions were not released to the public, but SF Weekly tracked down an inside SEIU source who explained what was going on.
The city and county agreed to work with local 1021 members and other community allies to put a measure on the November 2008 (sic) ballot to increase revenue and save jobs and services.
What's that mean? "It appears to be a tax hike," notes an inside source at SEIU. "Whether it's a sales tax increase or a property tax increase or they might call it a carbon cost increase -- something fashionable -- it comes down to asking the taxpayer to pay a little more money."
The amount of this tax as well as the name have yet to be determined. "That is going to take a while to work out," says the SEIU worker.
Messages left for the mayor's office have not yet been returned. And while Gavin Newsom has long bandied about the possibility of a November election, he has never truly thrown his support behind raising taxes (or, perhaps, "carbon costs" or some other revenue-raising measure) as the SEIU now claims.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 11:30 AM
'Dan-O, let's blame this one on those damn San Franciscans'
Honolulu police chief Boisse Correa -- who has probably endured his fill of "Book 'em Boisse" jokes -- would like to append the old ditty "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." He'd like visitors to his fair city to leave their Coke and Ecstacy here, too.
"A gang that's come in from San Francisco, Calif. and they're fighting
over turf on who will distribute certain type of drugs and who will
take control of certain types of activities in the downtown area,"
Correa was quoted as saying on KITV Hawaii television (it is unclear if the chief actually said "Calif." or if this was an addition from a copy editor on the station's Web site -- who didn't bother to correct Correa's ungrammatical sentence).
PostedByPeter Jamison
on Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 10:47 AM
Peter Jamison
Parking Lot of Dreams
The above photo was snapped at 8:18 a.m. this morning -- the San Francisco Giants' opening day. As you can see, the parking lots behind AT&T Park were filling up early. While the workaday world was still reading the newspaper (!) over its cereal or crowding into commuter trains, Giants employees, serious fans, and an industrious gaggle of scalpers were crowding the Embarcadero, waiting for the season to start.
One of them was Jeff Little, a Stockton resident who had awoken at 4 a.m. to travel to the city for the Giants' opener against the Milwaukee Brewers. Decked out in a home jersey, Little paused to offer his anticipatory thoughts on the season as he crossed the Lefty O'Doul Bridge over the Mission Bay canal. What does he want? "A better season than last year. A little excitement. After the last three seasons, it's been a little disappointing," Little said. "I think they've got a shot at third, possibly second, depending on how the young guys play."
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 7:06 AM
Mayor's office
According to Willie Brown, Gavin Newsom won't be taking the road to Sacramento anytime soon
It remains to be seen whether Willie Brown will mention any $340-a-plate dinners on his recent trip to Merced as he did recounting his richer-than-foie-gras birthday bash in Paris. It may not even be possible to spend $340 at an eatery in Merced without downing numerous meals or walking off with armfuls of restaurant paraphernalia.
One thing you can do in Merced, though -- in addition to visiting the town's Agricultural Museum at 4498 E. Highway 140 -- is continue to denigrate the political future of your protégé. And Brown did do that. Queried about the gubernatorial race, San Francisco's former mayor and Speaker of the House ruled himself out -- "I don't want to do those things. I want to go to Paris."
Well, Gavin Newsom does want to do those things (or at least put out press releases about things he would do if he did things). But Brown still doesn't see it happening.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 6:30 AM
Will this be the Giants' year? Or will it be another season resembling Andy Dufresne's crawl through 500 yards of shit-smelling foulness?
I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope. -- Red, closing lines of The Shawshank Redemption.
Sports is the blanket we toss over the tattered couches of our lives. And yet, on opening day -- and, weather permitting, today is the 51st in San Francisco Giants history -- the blanket seems, if only temporarily, luxuriant and plush to the touch.
Today is a day that lifelong Giants fans can blithely forget that, when you follow this team -- and I have since I was too young to know better -- joy, like life itself, is only a temporary condition. There is a dark side to every sun-soaked Giants memory; in San Francisco, the other shoe will always drop. Recalling Mike Krukow gutting out a complete game victory in Game 4 of the 1987 NLCS will always be coupled with the sickening memory of Jose Oquendo launching a three-run home run off Atlee Frickin' Hammaker in Game 7. Fond Memories of Will Clark hitting over .600 two years later to drown out the Cubs will always be tempered by the team essentially walking into the propeller vs. the A's -- and, you know, the Bay Bridge falling down.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 5:30 AM
Unlike the contents of a can of Pringles, this card is entirely made of corn
For a product that most often makes its way into San Francisco's attention span due to tortilla tossing, attacks on trans-fats, and, of course, unfortunate fecal jokes, corn is damn near ubiquitous. The good folks at Corn Products International boast you can use the tooth-jamming vegetable for everything "from fruit juices to frozen foods ... antibiotics to adhesives ... baked goods to beers ... paper to pet foods." Garrison Keillor, meanwhile, has declared sweet corn to be more pleasurable than sex.
And yet, no one has ever had the bright idea of making library cards out of corn -- until now. The San Francisco Public Library will start handing out compostable corn "EcoCards"; put that in your (corn cob) pipe and smoke it!
Our landfills are not overflowing with plastic library cards -- San Franciscans are neither that literate nor wasteful -- but, in an effort to be more environmentally responsible the library will next month kick off a test program featuring a run of 15,000 corn cards (the library usually hands out 60,000 cards yearly, so these may last a little while).
Fans of plastic need not despair -- you'll still have the option of getting regular cards (mine has crayon lightning drawn on it and was designed by a fourth-grader named Wing). But, if you agree to answer a few question over the next six months or so, the librarian will hand you the rather nondescript corn card.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Joe Eskenazi
Shaun O'Sullivan, co-owner and brewmaster at the 21st Amendment, has crafted 372 gallons of his special "Spring Tweets" Twitter beer.
Twitter -- the now-ubiquitous San Francisco-based messaging system media outlets are struggling to mention as often as possible -- combines the unfortunate characteristics of enabling people to communicate more and more while saying meaningful things less and less. It may change society or it may end up being Northern California's least welcome gift to society since the word "hella."
But, apart from confirming once and for all that Gavin Newsom is handsome and popular among smitten co-eds, Twitter hasn't done much for the kind of folks who can't tell a fail whale from a whale tail -- until now. SoMa's own 21st Amendment brewery and restaurant on Monday debuted its "Spring Tweets" Ale, a tip of the cap to the many Twitter groups who have packed the bar (Incidentally, media types such as your humble narrator who ran like hell to make the event because of the Twitter announcement that "Sully" would be there -- thinking that hero pilot Chelsey Sullenberger would be hoisting pints -- instead were greeted by affable brewmaster Shaun O'Sullivan).
Joe Eskenazi
Like the 140-character "tweets," the spring ale is unfiltered -- and in brewmaster O'Sullivan's words "a little rough around the edges." Sounds Twitter-like to us!
And yet, the beer's disarmingly light initial offering is bolstered by a surprisingly strong and pleasantly hoppy aftertaste. No doubt about it, O'Sullivan's creation is more substantial than its namesake.
After all, Web trends come and go. But good beer is timeless.
Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"
