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.
When day drinkers just could not stop pissing along the train tracks at Dolores Park, where every weekend tons of revelers gather to partake in booze and other inebriants, the city came up with a great idea to make public urination acceptable: install an outdoor urinal.
Making the less-traditional transition from brick-and-mortar to mobile pop-up, A16 is finally offering its hearty Monday meatballs and signature wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas without the inconvenience of needing to book a table.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Why was Willie Brown -- that's him on the left -- involved in sponsoring an Assembly bill the city's Board of Supervisors is madly hoping to derail?
It probably wasn't really Mark Twain who said "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over." But until the day 80-proof distilled spirits begin rolling in via the tunnels from Hetch Hetchy, it seems the city of San Francisco will have a hard time winning any water wars when one Willie L. Brown, Jr. is on the other side.
This story is a wee bit complicated -- maybe a spot of whiskey would be just the thing. It starts with the city's multi-billion dollar Water System Improvement Project to the Hetch Hetchy system. A $26 million contract for a portion of the program last year went not to the truly behemoth engineering corporation Parsons Corp. but its partner company AECOM (a deal that had disturbing elements of its own). The reason Parsons didn't get its share of the pie was due to a city attorney's decision: Since Parsons was instrumental in designing the scope of the project, the city felt it would be a violation of state law to pay Parsons to do work it essentially drew up the specs for. The result: AECOM, which had joined forces with Parsons for this venture, took sole possession of the city contract.
So it came as something of a surprise for city officials when a state bill aimed at retroactively undoing the city attorney's decision and landing Parsons its supposedly rightful loot sailed through the state Assembly last month with a 66-7 vote; two of those ayes came from San Francisco legislators Tom Ammiano and Fiona Ma. The bill was penned by San Jose's Assemblyman Joe Coto, but the real eye-opener was its sponsor: Willie Brown. San Francisco's former mayor had gone behind the city's back to spark a water war.
Naturally one begins to wonder: Why is Brown carrying Parsons' water?
PostedByAndy Wright
on Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 2:59 PM
Text Reads: Gavin for Governator Says Say Hasta la Vista to Your Wife, Baby!
After graffiti and body paint, the
sticker is every San Franciscan's favorite vehicle for communicating with the public.
It's usually a hit or miss affair. Conversations about this sticker, spotted on the waterfront near the SF Weekly offices, go like
this:
"I don't get it. 'Hasta la vista to your wife?' Like, his wife is going to leave him after he becomes governor?"
"Is he supposed to be stealing Arnold's wife? He knows Maria Shriver doesn't come with the office, right?"
"I think it's about how he had an affair with his campaign manager's wife, so if he becomes governor, he'll steal all our wives"
Yeah, it's not only not funny it's kind of confusing. If you're going to take the effort to design, print, and distribute a sticker with a vaguely political message, surely it can be done better. Especially when Gavin has given us somuchgoodmaterial.
I'm not sure how I wound up on the listserv of the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Web news (I certainly didn't sign up), but it comes every day -- and occasionally I read it. Last week, I was particularly drawn to a news item by editor Tim Redmond entitled, Why Homicides Are Down (Hint: It's Not All The Police).
Redmond begins his editorial item claiming to have been fascinated by the idea that homicide numbers in San Francisco have decreased while what he calls "near-fatal" shootings have remained the same. "While the mayor trumpets the falling murder rate, the number of people shot in the city isn't dropping at all," he writes. (Actually, that's not true, which I'll explain later).
He goes on to say he agrees with Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who is quoted in a recent San Francisco Examiner story pointing to San Francisco General Hospital, the city's only trauma center, as "the unsung hero" in regards to the falling murder rate.
Finally, Redmond worries that the looming budget cuts could affect the trauma center. "At that point, will the homicide rate go up?" he wonders.
It's hard to know where to start on this lazy, throw-away piece of non-journalism, but here are the main issues I have with it:
Controller Ben Rosenfield released his audit yesterday, and it was tossed onto the desks of city officials this morning. And if Elsbernd was hoping to embarrass the public defender -- that didn't happen. It could be argued that Rosenfield's report bolsters Adachi's much (much, much) repeated claim that cuts to his budget will result in cost overruns in the near future, as cases would have to be farmed out to private attorneys who earn more, work shorter hours, and insist on drawing overtime pay. (that's certainly the argument Adachi wasted no time in making via a press release -- but never forget that the public defender is both a shrewd attorney and a politician). In summary, here's what the audit found:
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 8:30 AM
What if you had a pro football draft and nobody came?
We're not talking about players here, but the media. The NFL draft has turned into an all-day -- and we really do mean all-day -- bonanza for anyone who's ever toted a microphone to report from parts unknown and describe each player in one of three ways: "A natural athlete," "a big, strong kid who can manhandle the opposition when properly motivated," or "breathing a lot easier since the charges were knocked down to misdemeanors."
There was no similar fanfare for the San Francisco-based United Football League's "Premiere" draft of non-college, non-professional players it worked out at combines across the nation. Basically, these are guys a couple years out of college (perhaps very good, but you've almost certainly never heard of them) and older guys a couple years out of the pros; the UFL teams will stock up on players cut off NFL preseason rosters a few months down the road. In any event, here's the list of players chosen last week for the as-yet unnamed San Francisco franchise (majority owner: Paul Pelosi) which will play at AT&T Park:
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 7:30 AM
Janine Kahn
An artist's rendition of Jeff Adachi's dump truck
Answers are trickling in from our elected officials on how they plan on cruising at this weekend's Pride Parade. Starting at the top, Mayor Gavin Newsom takes the same approach with vehicles as he does with spokesmen -- if one is good, then more is great!
A letter from staunch Newsom supporter and District 6 supervisor candidate David Villa-Lobos disseminates info from the mayor's office to the hundreds of folks expected to march in the Newsom's convoy: Leading things off is the mayor's Lincoln town car, ahead of the mayor's convertible, and followed by marchers in "Mayor's pride t-shirts" which will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Stonewall. Since whomever fired off this material from the mayor's office seems to have copied elements of it from the 2008 release, it's possible that the infamous hybrid SUV will be the lead vehicle, not the town car.
Going in a completely different direction is Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who will be riding in a white Chevy big bed dump truck -- "We're too poor to afford a float," notes Adachi, who has been engaged in a long-running game of "budget chicken" with Newsom and his allies on the board. "We'll have 100 in our contingent with several banners," continued Adachi. "You'll know us because we'll be blasting 'Fight the Power' (by the Isleys) and John Lennon's 'Power to the People.' We'll also have t-shirts with our signature quote: 'Getting you off since 1921.'"
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 6:30 AM
'It's not you, it's me...'
What's more awkward than domestic arguments on public transportation? How about arguments on the Highway Transportation System -- carried out in separate cars via metal-on-metal violence.
San Francisco Police officers were called in on Saturday to settle a relationship dispute that may or may not have started with the ominous phrase "We've got to talk" -- but ended with a vehicular chase across the Bay Bridge and car-on-car action apropos of Stephen King's Christine.
As the no-nonsense writer of the police report put it, "A man and a woman had been arguing about their relationship with the woman following the man in a vehicle and continuously striking her vehicle against his." The SFPD put an end to this lovers' quarrel at Lincoln and Great Highway and arrested the Oakland woman on five counts of felony assault.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 5:30 AM
Bevan Dufty's sweet ride...
In case you missed the proliferation of rainbow flags and the huge influx of prideful people heading into our fair city, things are ramping up for the big Pride Parade on Sunday, June 28.
As the knives begin to come out behind the scenes in the city's simmering budget battle, the parade offers a chance for our city's elected officials to traipse down sunny streets and toss trinkets to adoring onlookers. You'd think a politician skipping the gay pride parade in San Francisco would be like going to Hawaii and skipping the beach -- but you'd be surprised.
Quick phone calls to every member of the board of supervisors revealed that, if just under half of them have plans for Sunday, they haven't shared them with their staffs. We'll give them time to get their stories straight -- but, in the meantime, some of the supes have grand plans indeed. Adorning this story is a photograph of Supervisor Bevan Dufty's impressive-as-hell pride float, which is well on its way to becoming a fully operational battle station. And he's sharing his ride.
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.'"
