litpunk

11 Things: LitPunk

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Comparing late 1970s America with present-day America seems to become easier with each passing day. The downswing in the economy, the upswing in lawlessness, the seemingly nationwide post-traumatic political disorder, the DIY-direction of music and media allow comparisons to one-up contrasts almost effortlessly. This weekend's LitPunk event provides us with another one-up victory for comparisons. What is it? An alternative to LitQuake. Why now? We contacted the LitPunk creators and asked them to explain:


John Shirley (author and former punk-rock front man)

1. "Local literary festivals seem too mainstream and not inclusive enough of genre - and festering deep in my brain is a lesion, or possibly a memory, of the vital intensity of punk rock and how it can be fused with words on the artistic level; anger mated with satire giving birth to irony that mates again with anger, giving birth to ... LitPunk!"

2. "Richard Kadrey, Charles Gatewood, Rain Graves, Blag, Michael Layne-Heath, Johnny Strike, Charlie Anders and I know perfectly well that it is completely impossible to shock San Francisco, especially with literature and performance art, but somebody has to try. The edge is out there somewhere. We're blindly feeling our way along the pavement, looking for it."

Blag Dahlia (The Dwarves)

3. "The new Youth Brigade movie - how did a punk band no one wants to listen to wind up making the best documentary of the year?"

4. "Franz Kafka - he died miserable and alone with nothing published, sure that his existence had no value whatsoever. Sounds pretty punk to me!"

5. "No one bought my records or my books, yet young girls from all over the world still insist on sleeping with me just to infuriate their parents. Long live the Dwarves!"

Charlie Anders (author and "Writers With Drinks" impresario)

6. "Literary peeps and punk rockers totally belong together because we have wacky hair, hate bathing and can't dance to save our lives."

7. "Writers are born crusty! And just get crustier!"

8. "If the staff at Dog Eared Books and Modern Times and Borderlands formed a band together, I would go to all their gigs and let them pierce whatever part of me they wanted. It would be that hard-core."

Johnny Strike (author and Crime front man)

9. "I consider my short stories like punk rock songs: short, raw and at times ending in sublime chaos. They're collected in 'A Loud Humming Sound Came From Above.' "

10. "I'm a crime writer. It's all the same to me."

11. LitPunk takes place 7:30-9:30 p.m. Sat. $5. Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. (415) 647-2888. www.makeoutroom.com or www.johnshirley.net.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/26/NSM6161UFI.DTL

This article appeared on page F - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

homelessness

11 Things: Homelessness

Thursday, February 19, 2009

"Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness From the New Deal to the Present" opens today at the California Historical Society. We asked several of the exhibition collaborators to share 11 thoughts on the subject of homelessness. The following were kind enough to participate: Paul Boden, executive director, Western Regional Advocacy Project; David Crosson, executive director, California Historical Society; Art Hazelwood, exhibition curator and contributing artist; and Adrienne McGraw, executive director, California Exhibition Resources Alliance.

1. Humanity: "Economic parallels between the Great Depression and today are seen everywhere, but in this exhibition, the human experience is portrayed." (A.M.)

2. Adversity: "Once they were called hobos and tramps, now they are called street people and homeless. The treatment of the homeless in the arts reflects how society has thought of its poorest members. You can see this in the 'noble' portrayals by WPA artists of the 1930s and in contrast how the artists of the 1980s tended to portray the homeless as degenerates unworthy of the government's interest. Contemporary California artists, however are witnessing, documenting and commenting on today's poverty in ways more akin to the artists of the Depression era. This is what this exhibition is about - where we are now, and where we were then." (A.M.)

3. Tranquility: "Shelter is one of the most fundamental of all human needs and often commands very powerful reactions. This exhibition explores artists' reactions to the issue, from the 1930s to the present." (A.M.)

4. Diversity: "A wide range of artists' approaches to expressing their message is explored. From street posters to radical magazines, from graphic novels to WPA print shops and murals, the exhibition features a wide variety of cultural viewpoints, historical perspectives and positions, from photos by Dorothea Lange to artwork pulled from today's various homeless publications." (A.H.)

5. Equality: "The art in this exhibition is a reminder that despite economic hard times, in the past we were able to reach into our better natures and create a more just and egalitarian society." (A.H.)

6. Ingenuity: "Homeless people have been known to build more than just huts out of cardboard boxes, as demonstrated by the celebrated building projects of the New Deal." (P.B.)

7. Morality: "This exhibition will raise difficult questions with political and moral overtones concerning how society has viewed homelessness and what the government's role has been and should be. The complementary programs and lectures will be provocative and controversial." (A.H.)

8. Poverty: "Now, 75 years after the New Deal responded to the devastating impact of the Great Depression by creating powerful programs to assist those in poverty, people are looking to the new administration and asking, 'Will there be a new New Deal?' " (A.M.)

9. Integrity: "The artwork in the exhibition will make you think about how art can create change and how it may change you. It will prove once and for all that history is not about the past, but about who we are today and what kind of future we aspire to create." (D.C.)

10. Affordability: "The admission fee for this exhibition has been waived to make the exhibition accessible to everyone, regardless of the ability to pay, because the more we learn, the closer we get to a solution." (P.B.)

11. Community: "Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness From the New Deal toThe Present" runs through Aug. 15. Noon-4:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Free. California Historical Society, 678 Mission St. (415) 357-1848. www.californiahistoricalsociety.org.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/19/NSGJ15TTLA.DTL

This article appeared on page F - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

death by comcast

11 Thoughts: Death by Comcast

Thursday, February 12, 2009

It's 2:11 p.m. on a lovely Saturday afternoon and I am dropping off a modem at the local Comcast office in San Francisco. What could possibly go wrong with this scenario? Could it be having to wait a full 45 minutes for a transaction that should take approximately three seconds? Yes, that very well could be it! Forty-five minutes of grass growing, paint drying, water dripping ... and a writer's sanity not-so-quietly disappearing:

1. 2:11 p.m.: No chairs?

Even Greyhound bus stations have chairs!

In fact, when I sigh and look up, I begin to hear the Comcast ceiling tell me the following:

"We can afford this beautiful high-tech ceiling, but you can rest assured we will never consider actually springing for chairs. Nope, not even the cheap plastic ones you're thinking about right now."

2. 2:14 p.m.: No number system?

Even Kaiser has a number system!

Give us a number, or better yet, give us one of those handheld machines that buzzes when the staff is ready to make eye contact with us (so that we might do other things like gently wander off, eat, use the bathroom or go outside to weep quietly).

3. 2:17 p.m.: Sam Kinison's screaming face

After five minutes in line, I begin to see him.
After six minutes, he is right in front of me,
screaming at the top of his lungs.

4. 2:23 p.m.: Samuel L. Jackson's booming voice

By 2:27 p.m., I am replying to it.

5. 2:30 p.m.: Jim Morrison's shrieking vocal cords

He is telling me I "cannot petition the Lord with prayer" -
and I believe him.

6. 2:34 p.m.: Politeness

I strike up a conversation with the people behind me, but they don't reply. Who can blame them? It's as if we're all stuck in an elevator together and the doors won't open and we're not allowed to make eye contact and the elevator just came to a sudden grinding halt.

7. 2:38 p.m.: Dizziness

I begin to see those strange flashes you see when you rub your eyes,
only I'm not rubbing my eyes.

8. 2:42 p.m.: The magic cane

Someone with a cane just waltzed right in and sat down at the special counter by the entranceway. By 2:43 p.m., he is done and gone.

(Wall-size note to self: Next time, bring a cane.)

9. 2:48 p.m.: Proof

I've convinced myself I need to physically be here in order to identify my modem.

10. 2:51 p.m.: A scanner darkly

That is, until I see an employee scan someone else's modem,
which automatically tells Comcast who the modem belongs to,
which automatically tells me it is unnecessary for me to be here,
which automatically tells me I will be writing this column,
which automatically tells the entire planet how unnecessary it is
for a person to be standing in this line
for no real reason at all!

11. 2:56 p.m.: 11 things easily better than this

Root canals, colonoscopies, sigmoidoscopies, surgery, taxes, turnips, meetings, changing diapers, Muni, pigeons and death.

And yes, for the record, I am still in line at Comcast.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/12/NSQ915Q80K.DTL

This article appeared on page F - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

black history month

11 Things: Black History Month

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Because I still find the content of their character to be every bit as interesting as the character of their content:

1. Billie Holiday:

History: Eleanora Fagan Gough was born April 7, 1915, and died July 17, 1959.

Song to think about during Black History Month: Her version of Abel Meeropol's "Strange Fruit."

Random aside: When you're done with Holiday's version, listen to Nina Simone's version.

2. Screamin' Jay Hawkins:

History: Jalacy Hawkins was born July 28, 1929, and died Feb. 12, 2000.

Song to listen to on Valentine's Day: "I Put a Spell on You."

Random aside: "Jiffy Squid? Turn that damn thing off!"

3. Malcolm Mooney (Can):

History: Can's music always feels as if it's playing in a continuous vacuum somewhere. Perhaps this is why Mooney went crazy and left the band. He was replaced by Damo Suzuki.

Song to rediscover on YouTube: "Father Cannot Yell."

Random aside: Without Mooney and Suzuki, there is no Mooney Suzuki.

4. Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy):

History: The Thin Lizzy frontman was born Aug. 20, 1949, and died Jan. 4, 1986. His father was Afro-Brazilian.

Song to listen to on Fridays: "Whiskey in the Jar."

Random aside: The lyrics "musha ring dum a doo dum a da" can be written many different ways.

5. Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex):

History: Marian Joan Elliott-Said was born in the summer of 1957. Her father was Somali.

Song to listen to in the bathroom: "Germ Free Adolescents."

Random aside: "Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard but I think - oh bondage, up yours!"

6. H.R. (Bad Brains):

History: Paul D. Hudson was born Feb. 11, 1953. H.R. stands for Human Rights. His brother Earl is the band's drummer.

Song to rewind and replay and rewind and replay again: "Re-Ignition."

Random aside: The Beastie Boys' BB initials are meant to pay tribute to Bad Brains.

7. D.H. Peligro (Dead Kennedys):

History: Darren Henley was the DK drummer from 1981 to 1986. Sadly, the band is now history.

Song to dedicate to the governor: "California Über Alles."

Random aside: "Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death."

8. Chuck D (Public Enemy):

History: Carlton Douglas Ridenhour was born Aug. 1, 1960, the son of two political activists.

Song to believe in: "Don't Believe the Hype."

Random aside: Public Enemy deserves a much LARGER FONT on this year's Coachella poster.

9. Kool Keith (Dr. Octagon):

History: Keith Matthew Thornton has had more than 50 aliases over the past 20 years, including Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, Black Elvis, others.

Song to request at Mezzanine on Feb. 26: "Earth People."

Random aside: "Oh s-, there's a horse in the hospital."

10. Kele Okereke (Bloc Party):

History: Kelechukwu Rowland Okereke started the band with Russell Lissack in 1999 (but the band wasn't known as Bloc Party until 2003).

Song to listen to every morning: "Banquet."

Random aside: Bloc Party plays Oakland's Fox Theater on April 20.

11. Tunde Adebimpe (TVotR):

History: Tunde Adebimpe started TV on the Radio with David Andrew Sitek in 2001.

Song to listen to every night: "Wolf Like Me."

Random aside: TVotR releases a pitch-perfect cover of "Heroes" on Feb. 24 - a pitch-perfect way to end a column about a month that doesn't end at the end of the month.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/05/NSQA15LKU4.DTL

This article appeared on page F - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle