Culture

Doormat Division: A huge upset …

By
Erik Walker
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MASSIVE UPSET: 49ERS 26, SEAHAGS 23 (OT)

A monkey got off everybody’s back in Santa Clara yesterday. The 49ers, against all expectations, finally beat the Seattle Seahawks after 10 straight losses. They flipped the Thanksgiving spread! Whiner fans remember all too well the infamous 2014 Thanksgiving Day defeat to the Seahags, because of the turkey and dressing spread at the 50-yard line, right on top of the 49ers logo, set up by NBC with Michele Tafoya chatting it up with Russell Wilson and the hated Richard Sherman (now a 49er! they love him!), and Sherman gnawing on a turkey leg. It’s been gnawing at 49er faithful ever since.  I watched that game, and honestly was stunned that nobody came out of the 49er locker room and flipped the table. I sure would have. It would have been great theater, as well.  

Those of you in an East Coast bubble, the Seahawks and the 49ers is a juicy rivalry, and yesterday was massive for the 49er psyche. They celebrated like they’d won a playoff game.  And it might as well have been for this team with a season of dashed expectations. 

49er practice squad QB Nick Mullens has another solid game, and the 49er defense turns in the second straight game of tough D. The Seahawks were playing for their chance to clinch a playoff berth, but instead came up with 148 yards of negative yardage on 14 penalties. 

Whiners fall out of first place tie with Arizona, and now have four 5-9 teams barking at their heels.

DOORMAT DIVISION WEEK 14


NFC              W-L        PF       PA       DIFF

 

Arizona         3-11        192     367     -175

Santa Clara    4-10       301     373      -72

Tampa Bay    5-9         344     403      -59

Detroit          5-9         284     333      -49

NY Giants      5-9         307     348      -41

Atlanta          5-9        356     381       -25

 

AFC              W-L        PF       PA       DIFF

 

Oakland         3-11      260      418      -158

Jacksonville   4-10      225      289      -64

NY Jets          4-10      292      359      -67

Buffalo          5-9        215      333      -118

Cincinnati      6-8       337      413       -76

 

GIANTS 0, TITANS 17

After two straight wins, and faced with the possibility of becoming relevant outside of the Basement, the Giants turn the Flounder Factor up to 11 and drop a goose egg on the unsuspecting Titans, who must muster on in the terrible vortex of playoff aspirations.

BROWNS 17, BRONCOS 16

The Blank Helmets scrape out yet another victory, this time against a dubious opponent who consistently make dubious coaching decisions that seem really…what can I say? The Brown Bombers ooze to 6-7-1, and eliminate any chance of their spending the winter in the Basement, where 10 losses is the pre-requisite. GOOD GOD, they could end up with a winning record. But let us not be hasty, as a guy named Treebeard once said.  Fill your pipe with Southfarthing leaf, and ruminate on the magical thinking of another Brownie victory over the Bengals next week.  A sweep on Cincy hasn’t happened since cheese was invented.

LIONS 13, BILLS 14

No stiff is too boring to make more of a stiff for the Lions this season. Even when your opponent appears to be wearing red pajamas, and sipping hot cocoa, the Lions can find a way to lose, so matter how low the score. Fourteen first downs, seven punts, and another day at the Freezer in Buffalo results in the Pajama Men winning their 5th game.  Both squads now 5-9, and teetering on the TEN CLUB membership.  Two weeks to go.  Who can achieve greatness?

CARDINALS 14, FALCONS 40

The Cardinals, that’s who.  Greatness awaits this collection of self-inflicted wounds and miscues that masquerades as a football club. The Moldy Carpet is there for the taking. 

Breathe deep, the gathering gloom (cough what’s that smell?)

Watch lights fade from every room (hey Marge, the TV is broken)

Bedsitter people look back and lament (if only we’d played better on 50 or so snaps, we woulda won)

Another day useless energy is spent (do we really have to play this game?)

Yes, they did, and they thrashed the Falcons, a team in major tailspin mode, and spun them right back to thinking they are achieving victory and greatness!  The Crudinals didn’t score until it was safely 40-0, and no one was looking. Seven punts, seven sacks, six geese a laying this egg, five golden opportunities completely bungled, four mis-called plays, three french fries (cold), two cigarettes and the Moldy Carpet on the wall.

UNDERDOG OF THE WEEK!

BAGUARS 13, REDSKINKS 16

The invisible man, Josh Johnson, got his first ever win in the NFL, after seven years of waiting for another chance.  Josh!  You won!  And who else but the Baguars could provide the opportunity. Take it and run, Washington footballers!!  Jacksonville does it again in front of their slack-jawed home fans.  What a slide, what a debacle, and they still have a shot at winning the Doormat AFC. Wow.

CHARADERS 16, BUNGLES 30

What do you do when the worst defense against the run, and rather suspect defense all around comes to town?  You do the football limbo and see just how low you can go.  Rushing yards for the Oakland Tankers: 68, with 1 first down by the run.  Thirtenn total first downs. Five sacks by a team that can’t sack groceries (boy was that original), and two lost fumbles.  3-11 and looking like Doormat Champions.  The Kairse O’ Chucky lives on…right on the sidelines.  Very unique curse.

BUCS 12, RAVEN-POES 20

The Bucs are still coming on hard, checking in with yesterday’s low in first downs, 12, tied with Miami, and assiduously avoiding the end zone after the opening TD, sticking to field goals, and sticking the Ravens with a win.  5-9 and in the hunt, but let’s be realistic. Nobody will catch the Cardinals now.  Not even if they wear Barney pajamas and helmets that look like gummy bears.  Don’t tell the University of Oregon’s uniform designers I said that.  Please.

THE TEN CLUB

So, far only a select few, but the Jags got there this week, as did the Jetskis.

RAIDERS      3-11

CARDINALS  3-11

49ERS         4-10

JAGUARS    4-10

JETS           4-10

And a veritable flotilla of 5-9 teams, teetering out on the patio, trying to survive another night by the dying embers of the grill.  Buck up!  There’s another game to play next week!

aaaAAAAAAnd That’s the View From the Basement!!!!

Doormat Division: Our local teams could still be the worst ever

By
Erik Walker
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Three and 10? 3-10!??  With just three weeks to go in the run to the Moldy Carpet trophy, the worst our gridiron losers can offer is a possible 3-13 record. The Raiders and the 49ers both won yesterday, right after the local rag, the SF Chronicle, chronicled how their combined 4-20 record had a shot at being the worst of all time in the Bay Area.  It still does at 6-20, but they have to lose all their remaining games. Should they both win again, horrors, the worst the Doormat Division can get is 4-12, which hasn’t happened since 2003, when the Giants, the Cardinals and the Chargers all went 4-12.  Clearly, teams just aren’t bad enough this season. Where’s the tragedy, the pathos, the misery?


DOORMAT DIVISION WEEK 14

NFC              W-L        PF       PA       DIFF

Santa Clara    3-10       275    350        -75

Arizona         3-10        178    327        -149

Atlanta          4-9        316     367        -51

NY Giants      5-8         307     331       -24

Tampa Bay    5-8         332     383        -51

Detroit          5-8         271     319       -48

AFC              W-L        PF       PA       DIFF

Oakland         3-10      244     388      -144

Jacksonville   4-9        212     273      -61

NY Jets          4-9        270     330      -60

Buffalo          4-9        201     320      -119

Cleveland      5-7-1     292     397      -90

FALCONS 20, PACKERS 34

The Failcons just keep on losing, five straight now, climbing into a solid third place in the Doormat NFC with a complete game of non-competitiveness. Losing to the Packers takes some effort these days. You can’t just waltz out there and get creamed. Falcons five-game skid started with a loss to the Browns (28-16), the kind of loss that starts losing streaks- losing to what you think is the worst team in football. But guess what?  It’s YOU.

Packers win first game under new coach. Packers will now fire the head coach every week until they lose a game. Then, they’ll fire the GM.

BAGUARS 9, TITANS 30

Doormat Perfection: The Bags scored their first points on a safety (muffed punt by the Titans), took the ensuing punt-off and drove to the Titans 4-yard line, where they killed the motor, and left the pigskin on the 1 for the Titans.  On the next play, Titans RB Derrick Henry galloped 99 yards for a touchdown.

And we’re done here.

GIANTS 40, REDSKINS 16

Break up the Giants!  Winners of two straight, the Giants, at 5-8 have a mathematical shot at the playoffs, however difficult that math may be.  The Skinnies, without Alex Smith, have Doormat Finish gleaming on their team bus.  Basement All-Star March Sanchez started at QB for Washbag, and guided the team to:  punt, punt, punt, pick-six, punt, punt, interception (resulted in TD in 3 plays), punt, punt, punt, somebody stop this.

QB Josh Johnson- remember him from Tampa Bay?- came in and ruined the shutout, bagging two TDs in the 4th quarter.  Redskinks (6-7), losers of four straight and a clear shot at 10 losses, have to contend with the plummeting Baguars next week.  Be there.

BILLS 23, JETS 27

The Bills and Jets split their season series, keeping a cordial relationship going out on the Basement patio, burning a weenie, dumpster diving in the alley, and sharing the last stale can of Busch Light. Not that the Jets didn’t try to lose this one. After their halftime brainstorm (ow!) the Jets deftly fumbled the kickoff, planting the Bills firmly at the Jets 13-yard line. The Bills saw through that, and killed the ‘momentum’ and escaped with a FG, keeping the Jets within a TD (20-13). The Nyets countered with an interception, but the Bills refused to take the bait, and punted. The Jetskis couldn’t stop the downhill effect, and scored a TD, but promptly got the Bills downfield, only to be thwarted when the Bills shanked a field goal attempt. 20-20.  One more Jets three-and-out produced a grinder drive for the Bills and they got a 3-point boot hung on their necks. 23-20, Bills.  With the game clock dwindling down,the Jets then got guided masterfully down the field, with the golden play the 37-yard bomb by Jets QB Sam Darnold (darn old what?) to the Bills 4.  Bills burn a time out contesting the completion. It takes four tries, but the Bills get the Jets into the end zone ozone. Bills finish up with long bomb interception by Josh Allen.  Jet and Bills tied at 4-9 and still have a shot at winning the Moldy Carpet.

49ers 20, BRONCOS 14

I don’t know…Broncos coach Vance Joseph just looks unhappy. Like he has no friends. He needs to work on his grouchy look. Just doesn’t look ‘coacherly.’

The Greg Kittle Show, brought to you buy a clueless defensive strategy and execution by the Bronco defense, came up four yards short of the all-time record for a TE receiving yards. ALL IN THE FIRST HALF. 49ers botch getting Kittle just one more five-yard reception.

Broncos off-sides specialist Von Miller stacked up THREE of them yesterday. Not to worry, the 49ers tackles practiced for it all week, complete with the ‘whoa there’ effect after the refs blow the whistle.

For 3-10, the Whiners looked like a defensive brick wall yesterday. With top Bronco receiver Emmanuel Sanders sidelined, the Whinos played man-to-man tight D, bumping the young Bronco receivers at the line of scrimmage on every play. It worked and nobody gets fired this week.

RAIDERS 24, STEELERS 21

Holy Crap, the Raiders won a game. Pittsburgh QB Ben Rothlisberger had to leave the game with an owie, and that tilted the whole field.  Ben’s pretty hefty. Great game that brought back some memories of the incredible rivalry these two teams have had over the years.

CARDINALS 3, LIONS 17

STIFF OF THE WEEK: If they’d just lost at least one game to the 49ers, the Cards would be a shoo-in for the Moldy Carpet trophy.  As it is, they still look promising. Tied at 3-10 now with the Whiners, the Cards brought home the misery yesterday with a meagre field goal and a pick-six that decided the whole thing. Lions got a TD chipped in in the 4th quarter to round out the ‘scoring.’ Lions at 5-8 and teetering on respectability. They go to Buffalo next week, so watch out. Cards should lose all three remaining games: Falcons (no gimme), Rams and Seahags.

BROWNS 26, PANTHERS 20

Pretty soon, we won’t have to write about the Brownies anymore. Winning yet again with some late heroics, the Blanks have thrown more footballs into the stands after a touchdown than any other team this season. Guys, I know it’s new to you, but it really is a regular part of football.

aaaAAAAAAnd That’s the View From the Basement!!!!!

Capturing Harvey Milk’s martyrdom and living legacy

By
Marke B.
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An image by Leo Herrera of the suit Harvey Milk was wearing when he was assassinated, stored in the GLBT Historical Society Archives.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassinations of Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. (It’s also the 10th anniversary of Milk, the movie that immortalized that dark moment in San Francisco history.) 

More than a decade ago, filmmaker and photographer Leo Herrera ventured into the GLBT Historical Society Archives to record one of its most sacred relics: the suit Milk wore when he was shot to death. The bullet holes and blood stains remain. Herrera turned the images into a luminous, haunting 2008 short film, which was overplayed with Milk’s famous “last will and testament” recording, predicting his assassination.

Below are a selection of images from Herrera’s session, as well as an excerpt from  interview I did with him about the project 10 years ago, reprinted here from the Bay Guardian. (Herrera is currently working on a film called Fathers, which asks the intriguing question: What if AIDS never happened?)      

We still tend to tuck Milk into a martyr’s corner, trapped in the amber of eternal grief and a fixed monument to the gay struggle. But of course, like many heroes, Milk was a much more radical and relevant figure than myths embalm.

As one of our leading democratic socialists posted today on Facebook, echoing a surprisingly excellent 2017 essay in the Bold Italic: “One of the last pieces of legislation that Harvey Milk was working on before his assassination was an anti-speculation ordinance that, if it had been implemented, would have radically changed the direction of SF’s ongoing redevelopment by punitively taxing real estate transfers made for the purpose of house-flipping, often leading to the mass eviction of longtime tenants that is all too common a tactic in today’s affordability crisis. But it never came to be; the text of the proposed ordinance was not even known until recently. In any case, gentrification is here, and simply implementing the tax now would be far too little, too late; San Francisco has become a hotbed for speculators, developers, and their attendant profiteering.

Fighting gentrification, profiteering, and displacement, however, is a way to live Milk’s legacy. And those fights are still ongoing, all around us, every day. If you want to join the fight for San Francisco’s vibrant communities, organizations like Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, Tenants Together, San Francisco Tenants Union, Causa Justa Just Cause, and others that consistently throw down for tenants are a good place to start. We can still fight for each other. There’s always hope.”

harvey Milk suit by Leo Herrera

Leo Hererra: “Basically I went to the 2004 “Saint Harvey: The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Gay Martyr” exhbit at the GLBT Historical Society and saw the suit for the first time with my brother Allan and my mother. I was completely floored not only by the way the suit was exhibited but also by the humble surroundings of the Historical Society itself. I approached them and told them that I wanted to work with them in any capacity that they needed, and they let me know that they could use a lot of help, especially from people my age. I told them I wanted to do a series of images based on gay culture and they arranged for me to shoot whatever I wanted.

Allan and I arrived and shot a lot of the relics that they have there, and I finally got the balls to ask them to shoot the suit.

Soooo, imagine Allan and I opening up the box and there it was. The whole thing is really scary because the box had all of what he was wearing the night of his assassination, including his socks and tie. I shot some images but they weren’t coming out right, and our hands were shaking the whole time. Finally I told Allan that if we were going to do this right, we better not be afraid to touch it and we finally picked it up. And flakes of gore came off of it because it’s so bloody and gory and they fell on our arms and it went downhill from there, but I remember feeling this really intense creativity and really the spirit of gay culture in many ways.

We laid the suit on top of a light box and the bullet holes from the shots that went through his back shone through, we also put a lamp behind where his heard would be, and did all sorts of arty shit. The funny part was, I really didn’t relate to the images as I shot them and didn’t understand them because I was using a very different aesthetic. I put the images away for a couple of years and when I pulled them out, I realized that the aesthetic of the images was really something more sophisticated than I was used to at the time and that it really matched what I was working with now, they were somehow more mature. So in a way, I had shot the images to be used four years after the fact. It was all real arty hipster shit.”

Harvey Milk suit by Leo Herrera

 

Forget the Bezos Behemoth: Here’s where to shop local for the holidays

By
Marke B.
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Score beautiful holiday bouquet from the Flower Lady at 439 Cortland, Wed/21-Fri/23.

SHOP LOCAL ‘Tis the season to go shopping. (At least it will get you out of the house if you need to escape any Trump-voting family members at T-Day). From Black Friday to Cyber Monday—and hey, why not support your favorite independent media site for #GivingTuesday?—it’s a hamster wheel of sacred capitalism. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean you can’t support local artists, crafters, and businesses to show your seasonal affection, without clicking that Bezos Behemoth that shall remain nameless herein.

This Saturday is Shop Small day, so you’ll see lots of encouragement to dip into local businesses and snag some goodies. Here are some picks:

Three fun gatherings this weekend showcase local indie delights: 48 Hills sponsor the SF Etsy Holiday Emporium (Sat/24 + Sun/25) fills Pier 35 with more than 200 designers and crafters from the eponymous website, plus giveaways, refreshments, holiday cheer, demonstrations, and more. More info here. 

Meanwhile, in the Tenderloin, a couple dozen of our cutest shops are representing at the Phoenix Hotel for PARADISE Vintage Fair, “San Francisco’s first ever collective show of brick and mortar vintage retail shops” for the holidays. There’s a preview party Fri/23, 6pm-9pm, whose $10 ticket price benefits GLIDE Memorial. The main event is Sat/24, 11am-7pm, and it’s free. The stores are setting up in the hotel rooms on the bottom floor (cool!); browse selections from Vacation, Down at Lulu’s, Mod Lit Books, Groove Merchant, and more. More info here. 

Also rad? The Bayview Makers Mashup Market (Sat/24, 11am-4pm, free) at Public Glass,   “highlighting 30 local makers in an interactive and dynamic holiday marketplace on Small Business Saturday. The event will feature craft demonstrations, food and beverage samples, and a range of vendors from ceramics to soap makers and more.” More info here.

Don’t forget to hit up our Best of the Bay 2018 Shopping Readers Poll winners + our Last-Minute Holiday Gift Cheat Sheet (which can be used at any minute, really, and features some of our favorite retailers), and, for those of you who could really use a break from Uncle Frank’s Islamophobia, our Weed-Lover’s Holiday Gift Guide. So much!   

THIS JUST IN: Looking for some fabulous holiday centerpieces, or just a fragrant token of seasonal affection? The Flower Lady, aka Danhi, who sells lovely flowers from her spot at 439 Cortland, is having a Holiday Flower sale extravaganza, Wed/21-Fri/23. Sweet! Click here for more info. 

For tech pioneer, preserving SF’s classic vinyl culture is a ‘Family Affair’

By
Marke B.
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Family Affair's Freddy Anzures poses with the B+ photo used on the cover of DJ Shadow's 'Endtroducing...'—part of the 'Freaks of the Industry' show

What would possess one of the designers of the iPhone, a celebrated tech pioneer, to launch an art gallery in Lower Haight, focused on mostly local funk, hip-hop, and R&B musicians ? 

“I wanted to find a way to sustain the culture of my neighborhood that was being lost somehow due to the tech industry—that I was once a part of.” Freddy Anzures, owner of Family Affair Gallery on Haight Street, said in a recent interview. “It was a way of using what I had learned from my career in tech to give back to a scene I’ve loved and been a part of for so long.”

 Anzures’ gallery—a small, cleanly-designed, vibe-y space—opened with a bang in June with a show of early Prince photos by Robert Whitman, taken when the Purple One was recording his debut album at Sausalito’s Record Plant Studios. (The opening party was a banger that filled the street with fans.) That set the tone for following shows—paintings of Michael Jackson and striking photos of Eric B. and Rakim by Drew Carolan—that have celebrated the visual culture of black music, often with a local angle.  

Photo by Robert Whitman, part of the ‘PRINCE Pre-Fame’ show which opened the Family Affair gallery in June.

The current Family Affair show is titled “Freaks of the Industry: Bay Area Hip-Hop Shot by B+” (through November 17) and is my favorite yet. Leveraging his history with Wax Poetics, Anzures secured some ’90s-era photos of Bay Area hip-hop legends shot by photographer B+, who apparently got everyone in his sights. Panoramas of poses by The Coup, Latyrx, E-40, DJ Shadow, Invisbl Skratch Piklz, Dan the Automator, Digital Underground’s Shock G, Kool Keith, Souls of Mischief, the Hieroglyphics crew, Too $hort, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, and more line the walls. At the back is a huge, tiled-canvas version of the indelible cover of Shadow’s “Endtroducing…” For anyone who’s followed the scene, it’s both a celebration of history, and a reminder of one of the Bay Area’s recent musical golden ages, which now seems out of reach.      

The Coup, shot by B+, on display in Family Affair’s latest show, ‘Freaks of the Industry’

Anzures grew up in Maryland outside of DC and moved to the Bay Area in 1999. “It was the height of the first dot com rush,” he said. “I worked for Frogdesign, the firm that Steve Jobs hired to design the look and feel of Apple computers in the ‘80s. I was there for five years, and throughout the time that I was there, there was always this desire to be part of something outside of work. It wasn’t so much that I was feeling unfulfilled at work, I just didn’t want to be doing only one thing. While I was moving on in my tech career to eventually be on the team that designed the iPhone, I was going to a lot of shows and seeing this whole other exciting part of the Bay Area, and I wanted to be part of that somehow.”

His curiosity led him to Haight Street record store Groove Merchant, a 21-year-old staple for jazz, hip-hop, rare groove, and global soul music fans, but also accessible for newcomers to the scene. “[Groove Merchant owner] Chris Veltri makes it easy for people to discover the vinyl culture out here, and I could tell right away, too, that we had a similar kind of visual sense, with vintage art and design magazines and how he curates the look of the shop.” The two bonded over a stack of Straight No Chaser underground music magazines from the UK, and Anzures started designing flyers for various parties around town, often working out of the back of Groove Merchant. And then—in a pretty meteoric rise—ended up becoming the creative director for the bible of deeply-researched features about black music history and culture, Wax Poetics Magazine. 

All while he was still working full-time as a tech product designer in Cupertino, of course, because hey why not? “I was basically working a double life for 14 years, getting up at 4am  to work on Wax Poetics, and then going down to Cupertino for my other job,” Anzures said. He left Apple in February—which caused a bit of a stir in the design world—because he felt the culture had changed after Jobs’ death, and he was ready to move on. 

B+ photo of Hieroglyphics, on display at Family Affair as part of ‘Freaks of the Industry’

“I had absolutely no intention of opening a gallery or anything of that sort,” he said. But when the storefront next to Groove Merchant which formerly housed the plant store Cove opened up, he decided to take a chance. 

“I had always thought about doing something to continue to help support the record store and continue the culture of the neighborhood, and I was fortunate enough to have worked in the tech world to invest some funds. For me it was almost course correcting. Things kind of clicked in this new direction. I mean, I’ve never done this sort of thing before. I’m not hip to art galleries. But I am very sensitive to how tech has changed the city. And a lot of people naturally tend to be upset about that, but aren’t in a position to do anything about it. It becomes really frustrating.

“As a Filipino-American, I’m also really aware of the amount of people who look like me who have been forced to leave the city based on the tech stuff. Groove Merchant and Wax Poetics both feature music mostly by people of color. And the exodus has really just affected the fabric of the city in a way that what was once so common here, especially in the Lower Haight and the Fillmore, in terms of culture and music and just the way things look—it’s just really different. I want to do what I can to celebrate what was here and keep that spirit and community around this culture alive as much as I can.” (Family Affair has been distributing ‘Lower Hate’ window signs to local businesses and residents, as a counter to some of the country’s recent discriminatory policies.) 

Freddy Anzures

Opening and operating a gallery that doesn’t represent high-end artists is a risk, but Anzures says he’s enjoying learning about the business and starting something unique. He also told me about some incredible upcoming shows planned at Family Affair, although I’ve been sworn to secrecy. Let’s just say that he’s finding a way to meld old-school celebration with the contemporary indie scene, and keeping things colorful.

“Family Affair’s name came from the classic Sly and the Family Stone song,” Anzures said. “And music and art in the Bay Area is such a family business really, it takes everybody coming together and supporting each other to create so many legends and great music. I’m hoping we’re continuing that in this environment.”

FREAKS OF THE INDUSTRY: BAY AREA HIP-HOP SHOT BY B+
Through November 17
Family Affair, SF.
More info here.   

In ‘Parting Practice,’ greeting death with ritual and humor

By
Emily Wilson
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When you die you won’t overthink things

When you die you won’t break any promises

When you die you won’t contribute to climate change

When you die you won’t be alone

And 

When you die you will be whole

When you die you will not care about getting likes

When you die you will stop fearing the unknown

When you will have everything you need

Those are both from Lindsay Tunkl’s hypnotic and meditative book, When You Die, You Will Not Be Scared to Die, which uses much-appreciated humor to reframe death as something offering release rather than something to struggle against.

Tunkl says she wrote these lists every day when working on the book, creating a kind of ritual for herself in response to her own fear of death. Rituals have power, she says. 

“We put energy into them and invest into them, like every morning you get up and have your coffee in this specific place,” she said. “It’s important around death and emotional work to carve out space and consistency.”

Tunkl, who also created a Pre-Apocalyspe Co-Counseling Handbook and a divination book and card deck, Origins & Endings, is doing a free workshop at Adobe Books focused on “coming to terms with mortality and embracing ourselves as future corpses.”

These workshops are part of her performance series, Parting Practice: Rituals for Endings and Failure, inviting participants to explore their fears and experiences of death, dying, and haunting. The workshop session “incorporate methods of psychoanalysis, cognitive therapy, sound therapy, Buddhist meditation, somatic practices and humor as a tool for healing.”

Tunkl has done these both in groups and one-on-one, and she was looking for a place for another group one. A friend and someone who’d curated her work suggested Adobe Books. 

“I was trying to find spaces to do these kinds of workshops that don’t have kind of a sterile vibe,” Tunkl said. “Galleries can feel kind of white- wallish. I did a bookstore before, and it was cool.”

Photo courtesy of Lindsay Tunkl

It’s logistically a little harder to do this kind of thing with a group, Tunkl says. For example, the ghost meditation where she covers the participant with a sheet? She won’t be doing that. She plans to have some discussion in pairs and with the group and maybe going off individually to create rituals. 

And while group settings for immensely personal subject matter can take a lot of energy, Tunkl says, it’s totally worth doing. 

“The reason I’ve always wanted to make art is to be with another human and watch a new light turn on for them or them think about something in a new way,” she said. “It takes presence and investment, but the payback of getting to witness that is amazing.”

PARTING PRACTICE: RITUALS FOR ENDINGS AND FAILURE
Sat/3, 6pm-8pm
Adobe Books, San Francisco 
More information here.

You can also listen to Tunkl on some podcasts, including Expanding Mind with Erik Davis, where she talk about therapy as art, confronting death, humor and her book. 

She will also be on End-of-Life University with Karen M. Wyatt M.D, a hospice physician, talking about all aspects of end of life. Coming soon. 

Peaches Christ will scare your pants off with ‘Terror Vault’

By
Marke B.
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Anything from the darkly hilarious mind of our very own drag Mistress of the Twisted, Peaches Christ, is worth a peek at—preferably through your shivering fingers. But when I heard she was taking over the Mint for a giant, immersive haunted house experience, I had to know more. Despite my mighty trepidations! 

“Terror Vault” (through November 3), written by and starring Peaches, co-created with David Flower, and part of new production team Into the Night, brings Peaches’ trademark theatricality and love of classic spook-craft to the Mint’s basement vaults. It’s full of can’t-fail frights, but also some escape room delights, and all populated by local actors who you may recognize from previous Peaches productions—or not, since they’ve transformed into mutilated zombies, satanic nuns, toddler creeps, and more.

I spoke with Peaches about the excitement of haunting the Mint—and some of the terrifying secrets it holds. Beware! 

48 HILLS I love that this is a fully immersive narrative horror experience. The theatricality is so you! What were some of the influences you drew on for writing and creating the experience? 

PEACHES CHRIST Once I knew we were partnering with [venue management company] Non Plus Ultra and could actually stage the show at the old San Francisco Mint, I knew that the show had to be site-specific. The production value of The Mint itself is so incredible, especially the old vaults below, so I began researching the history of the building and discovered some creepy facts along the way that helped inspire the alternate history narrative for the show. I also really collaborated with David Flower, the co-creator, because even though I was writing the script and he was the production designer, we had to really be on the same page to know it could all be executed correctly. Once we’d come up with the concept that The Mint was once used as a secret prison, the influences really came from old horror movies and San Francisco history. 

48H Having your way with the Mint seems like a surreal dream—or a fabulous nightmare. Did you run into any ghosts while you were putting this together? 

PC That building is definitely haunted. I have no doubt about that. There were times I was there on a weekend and was assuming I was by myself, but would hear voices, doors would slam and when I would go to investigate I wouldn’t find anything. Most of us agree that the vaults are surprisingly the least active and it gets scarier the higher up you go. There’s an attic—it’s terrifying. 

Oh, Peaches.

48H You’re working with a crack team of ghouls and goblins both behind and in the scenes. Is this the team you’ve usually worked with? 

PC This is the first time I’ve partnered with David Flower: He’s a professional haunt producer I met in Provincetown about a year ago. And Non Plus Ultra activates otherwise shuttered buildings on behalf of the city. A big part of what they do is refurbish these spaces that would otherwise be closed, making them available for private rentals, as well as providing public-facing events and activities. So our partnership fit in perfectly with their charge. Once the three of us formed this new immersive theatre production company called “Into The Dark,” we knew our first project had to be a Halloween offering. For “Terror Vault”, we were able to hire many of my regular crew members, casts, and artists to help create the attraction. Most of them are now simultaneously getting started on the work for “Troop Beverly Heels”—our next big Castro Theatre show starring Trixie Mattel happening Nov. 17th. I hope that shameless plug felt natural!

48H I know you can’t give away too much, but how would you describe the wild ride of Terror Vault? What makes it unique from anything we’ve seen before? I’ve heard there’s some of your signature satanic flirtations… 

PC Well, I think the biggest thing that makes it unique to me is that the audience becomes fully engaged in the story. Unlike some other haunts where you passively make your way through while things jump out at you and scenes happen, this is a story and the story is about a tour group attending a “Spooky Mint Tour” wherein things go horribly wrong and all hell breaks loose. As characters in this story you are engaged to make decisions, take action, and be involved while you try to survive. And yes, of course, it’s all highly Satanic!

TERROR VAULT
Through November 3
The Mint, SF.
Tickets and more info here. 

Transgender rights battle continues, on Trump’s rocky ground

By
Emily Wilson
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Kris Hayashi

When Kris Hayashi was executive director of the Audre Lorde Project in New York City, a community organizing center for lesbian, gay, bisexual, Two Spirit, trans, and gender-nonconforming people of color, the organization launched one of the first advocacy projects in the country of its kind, the annual NYC Trans Day of Action, now in its 11th year. During Hayashi’s tenure, the organization also won a campaign to get the city’s welfare agency to adopt policies developed by the community on serving trans and gender nonconforming people. 

Hayashi, now the executive director of the Transgender Law Center in Oakland, has been an organizer and an activist for about 20 years. He wants to acknowledge the gains made, while finding ways to make more progress in the face of intense violence and discrimination. 

Hayashi’s seen a lot of changes, some good and some terrible, particularly in the last few years. 

Let’s start with the good. The gains include a case that the Transgender Law Center was involved in that resulted in protection from employment discrimination. In recent years, there have been cases affirming the rights of transgender students. And California is one of the first states to pass laws protecting health insurance for transgender people. Transgender people are also more prominent in pop culture—no small thing. 

“There have been wins at the legal and policy level as well as an increase in visibility,” Hayashi said. “Laverne Cox and Janet Mock have written books that are on the bestsellers list.”

Although there are more protections in terms of law and policy, discrimination, and harassment against transgender people remain at horrifying levels. 

“The majority of trans people in this country are still struggling to survive on a daily basis,” Hayashi said. “They have four times the poverty, and 80 percent experience harassment. In K-12 schools, one sixth of the students are pushed out of school because of it.”

At Uncharted, The Berkeley Festival of Ideas this weekend, Hayashi will be talking with John Caner, CEO of the Downtown Berkeley Association, about what gains have been made and how to keep making progress in such a repressive environment. 

“Ever since Trump was elected, it’s very clear there’s a relentless and strategic attempt to roll back the few rights and protections we have,” Hayashi said. “One of the first things Trump did was roll out the ban on transgender people in the military. Then one of the banned words at the Centers for Disease Control included ‘transgender.’ Transgender immigrants fleeing violence continue to face violence here. About one out of 500 detainees is transgender, but about one in five assaults are on trans people.”

Transgender leaders are organizing and fighting, Hayashi says. They’re not doing it alone. 

“We’ve been in this moment of being under intense attack, and we have powerful leaders and communities resisting,” he said. “We also have allies and people not part of the community who want to support us. We were flooded after Trump was elected with people who wanted to volunteer. I do have a lot of hope and see a lot of possibilities, and with our allies, we’re going to push back and resist and do whatever we can.”

“THE TRANSGENDER RIGHTS BATTLE WITH KRIS HAYASHI” 
Fri/5, 2pm
Roda Theatre, Berkeley Rep
Tickets and more info here

Doormat Division, Week 4

By
Erik Walker
-

Editors note: Our correspondent Erik Walker does the only thing appropriate to the NFL these days: Makes fun of a league in shambles.

RAIDERS 45,  BROWNS 42 (OT)

In a pregame full of fear and potential loathing, with the specter of losing to the Browns dangling over Mark Davis’ hideous hairdo, the Raiders and Browns put on a game of free-wheeling huge plays (could that be bad defense? Oh, come come!), bonehead mistakes, dropped balls, interceptions, fumbles and everything that should make for a fan crushing display of ineptitude, and turned it into the most entertaining game of the season.

If that’s Doormat Division play, then I’m all for it. New Brownie savior Baker Mayfield did his part, turning the ball over four times (though 1 interception and 1 fumble were not his fault), with a pick-six for the first score, but also pulling off plays of almost hilarious daring and speed. The Browns have a real QB.  Until just this moment the Browns have been like most rock bands — terrible lead singers.  After a while you just give up and go with whoever can stand in front of a mic and scream (or mumble), and maybe remember lyrics.  Just filling space, and always opening first on a bill with seven bands. The punk days, bless them, were Doormat Gold.  If you had a good singer, nobody trusted you.  So Baker Mayfield looks like a young Pavarotti right now… just ignore the low trajectory on the passes, shhhh. 

Raider QB Derek Carr responded with two interceptions of his own, and hurled 58 passes.  There were three runs over 40 yards, two for TDs, multiple big yardage pass plays.  It was like the old AFL. 

The teams still got off 13 punts, and how you score 87 total points when you keep bailing, well, you gotta have just the right combo of good and bad. These teams have it. For one day, and 38 total possessions. That’s an average of holding onto the ball for only 1:57 for each possession. 

The Browns really appeared to be robbed of a first down when Carlos Hyde’s knee touched down just shy of the marker (sure didn’t look like it to us!) at the end of regulation.  They would have run out the clock and won.  Las Vegas called the replay booth or something, there. Good grief.  The Raiders then scored the tying TD and two-point conversion.  TVs all over Cleveland are still stuck in freeze-frame on that spot of the ball.

Skinny rookie Raider kicker Matt McCrane, one of a chorus line of kickers rotating around the league right now, who missed twice when kicking from the 2nd base bag earlier, chipped in the last FG late in the OT to hang the win on Raiders, now 1-3 and no longer perfect. Browns return to having a losing record, and everyone can relax a little bit.

It is now proven that, despite having Brent Musberger as their new radio play-by-play man, the Raiders can win a football game.  I cannot tell you how off-putting and completely wrong it is to have ol’ Brent as the Raiders announcer.  So, utterly, totally WEIRD.

Let’s have a look at the standings:

DOORMAT DIVISION WEEK 4

 

NFC            W-L        PF      PA      DIFF

 

Arizona        0-4          37        94     -57

NY Giants    1-3          73       95      -22

Detroit         1-3           94       114    -20

Santa Clara   1-3         100      118   -18

Atlanta         1-3         116      122    -6

 

AFC            W-L        PF        PA     DIFF

 

Buffalo         1-3          50        106   -56

Oakland        1-3          97       123     -26

Houston        1-3          96       108    -12

Indy              1-3          94        100     -6

NY Jets         1-3          89         89        0

Pittsburgh     1-2-1      102      116     -14

Cleveland     1-2-1      102      104     -2

 

Lotta losing going on, here, something’s gotta give. 

 

THE GAMES

CARDINALS 17,  SEAHAWKS 20

It took everything they had, including shanking a winning FG with 1:50 left, but perseverance pays off.  The Cardinals lost a game they were in deep danger of winning, going right down to 0:00 to fall to the Seahags.  Let’s face it — the Crudinals wanted it more.  Last 0-fer team left in the league.  Cards engaging in too many close scores.  They need a blow-out loss.  Let’s see what they can dial up next week in Santa Clara. 

 

BILLS 0, PACKERS 22

The Bills have clearly righted the ship, and wiped the memory of that bizarre victory over the Vikes last week from the collective memory: 11 first downs, three turnovers, 87 passing yards, 8 punts, 7 sacks.  Wow. Only three penalties, but when you are just refusing to do anything, it’s hard to get penalties.  Still the early favorite to take the AFC.

49ers 25, CHARGERS 27

His name isn’t BeatHard for nothing.  SF QB C.J. Beathard takes another shellacking, with LT Joe Staley having to leave the game, but doesn’t seem fazed, as the Whiners barely escape Los Angeles with the loss. Neither team seemed sure about winning the game, but, ultimately, the worst kicker on the field kicked the winning field goal.  San Diego kicker Caleb Sturgis missed TWO extra points, but scraped in three out of four field goal tries, and juuuuust saved his job, and didn’t have to go back to the high-kicking unemployment chorus line.

DOLPHINS 7, PATRIOTS 38

The worst 3-0 team in the NFL met up with reality yesterday, and took their usual beat-down from the Patriots, who, for one week, returned to being the best team in the AFC East.  Which isn’t hard to do, when your competition is the Nyets, the Nils, and the Floppers. Woulda been a goose-egg, but the Patriots started playing fans from the stands (only ones with the best costumes!) late in the 4th and the Floppers got a pointless touchdown and 5 phony first downs on their last drive.  They had only SIX first downs until that tortured crawl down the carpet.  I hate when stats get skewed like that.

GIANTS 18, SAINTS 33

The Gnats score first.  And then pretty much stopped.  1-3 and right behind the Cards in the standings.  Still, NY fans (not the Mets fans) can just ignore all this until the Wednesday Wild Card game is over.  Football?

COLTS 34, TEXANS 37 (OT)

They gave the Colts multiple chances to win, but to no avail.  Another wild Doormat game goes in the books, and the Toxins have to take a win.  A total of 944 yards, 20 penalties, 11 sacks, two lost fumbles. 

Gotta love those porous defenses when they meet up. 

STEELERS 14, RAVENS 26

Our commissioner called on the red phone around 6:00 last night, and notified us that the Steelers were on the top step of the Basement stairs, an extremely rickety construction, and gingerly taking the next step down.  We could hear the tattered hulk of Big Ben looming up there, in the dark (the light burned out three years ago), fumbling with the light switch, hoping for some vision. The Shower Curtain?  The Reelers? 

BUCS  10, BEARS 48

The Bucs have not just come down to earth, they went under a steam roller yesterday.  It was 38-3 by halftime, it was so efficient.  The Bucs yank Fitzpatrick as daBears keep dynamiting every team they play, throw in Jameis Winston, and he delivers with a couple interceptions.  But…the Bears!  QB Michael Trubisky throws 6 TD passes, almost tying HOF Bear god Sid Luckman for most ever (7) in a game.  Bears are exiting the Basement.

Remember last year and ‘Orange You Bad’?  Our Orange teams this year have turned it around: Bears 3-1,  Bengals 3-1, Broncos 2-1 (not after tonight), Miami 3-1, and Cleveland 1-2-1. 

JETS 10,  JAGS 31

Jets QB Sam Darnold may well be the QB of the future, but, right now, he’s the QB of a Doormat contender.  Keep an eye on the Jets.  I don’t know if you should WATCH them, but…

FALCONS 36, BENGALS 37

Anotherwild game, and though they don’t play like it, the Falcons just keep on losing.  1-3 and who knows what wheels will come off in the next couple weeks.

Next week will clear out the standings, for sure. 

aaaAAAAAAnd That’s the View From the Basement!!!!!

‘Uncharted’ fills Berkeley with adventurous voices

By
Emily Wilson
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Helena Brantley and Lance Knobel of 'Uncharted: The Berkeley Festival of Ideas.'' Photo by Kelly Sullivan

Lance Knobel, co-founder of online news site Berkeleyside, and Helena Brantley, of Red Pencil Publicity and Marketing, sat down together in January to start talking about what kinds of conversations they wanted at this weekend’s Uncharted, The Berkeley Festival of Ideas (Fri/5 and Sat/6). Some things they knew for sure—they wanted a diverse audience, and to host conversations covering race and gender. And they looked for intersectional pairings and conversations, like putting a Rutgers professor of Women and Gender Studies professor, the author of Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, together with a male San Francisco Chronicle columnist.  

“There’s a whole conversation around #MeToo, and we wanted to make it more interesting,” Brantley said of the combination. “So we paired Brittney Cooper with Otis Taylor Jr,” an African American writer who covers Oakland issues for the paper.

Brantley also mentioned Kate Schatz, a founder of Solidarity Sundays and the author of the beloved Rad Women series, illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl. In their latest book, Rad Girls Can, they feature teen activist Eva Lewis, who co-founded Chicago activist organization Youth for Black Lives. In 2016, the group led a protest against police violence that drew more than 1,000 people.

“We wanted someone who could talk about gun control from a young adult perspective,” Brantley said. “Eva Lewis, who was in Rad Girls Can and did a TED Talk and she knows people affected by gun violence—her friends and family. She talks about feeling like you’re in a fishbowl full of dirty water. Eva is now at the University of Pennsylvania, and talking with Kate, she could go beyond what’s mentioned in the book and tell the story of her own journey.”

Chicago teen activist Eva Lewis comes to ‘Uncharted.’ Photo by Michael Brandt

Knobel, who founded the festival in 2013 and started working with Brantley as a co-curator last year, said he’s particularly looking forward to talking with political scientist and longtime Washington observer Thomas E. Mann, co-author of It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, in a discussion titled “Maybe the Constitution is the Problem.” 

“Now we’re all goggle-eyed at what’s happening, but in 2012—light years ago in our current political climate—he and Norm Ornstein, dared to say the unsayable and they wrote It’s Even Worse Than It Looks about what was wrong was Republican party, that they were getting so far extreme and doctrinaire,” Knobel said. “They had been Washington insiders and always on cable shows, but that was published, and they became non-persons. Now everyone recognizes our current situation is not something that happened in 2016—there’s been a long series of developments.”

Brantley says she and Knobel are constantly sharing ideas, through Slack, email, texts, and in person. When Brantley saw USC Professor of Clinical Business Communication Dr. Sharoni Little at the Los Angeles Book Festival, she immediately texted Knobel, saying she wanted her to be part of Unchartered. Little will be in a conversation with Kamar O’Guinn, manager of the African American Success Project at Berkley Unified to talk about effective strategies for dealing with the achievement gap.

The festival also includes a Salvadoran-American poet, a Science Slam,and discussions of marginalized history, creating vibrant neighborhoods, and hip-hop in America. 

Chef Cal Peternell of Chez Panisse

Knobel says he’s looking forward to something new this year: “Labs,” which are only open to 50 participants. One will be on cannabis and wellness, another on managing wealth from a mindfulness perspective, and in the third, Cal Peternell, who was a long-time chef at Chez Panisse, will lead people to the farmer’s market followed by a cooking demonstration. 

He’s sure about one thing, Knobel says: his favorite thing about the festival will be something unexpected. 

“I am certain that the most interesting thing will be something that I have no idea what it is yet,” he said. “It happens every year. We wouldn’t program things if we didn’t expect them to be good, of course, but there are always one or two things that surprise me.”

UNCHARTED, THE BERKELEY IDEAS FESTIVAL
Fri/5 and Sat/6
Berkeley Repertory Theater and the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse
Tickets and more info here

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