I really like the idea behind this converted police parking ticket cruiser.
This would be perfect for tooling around the city. You could actually find parking in the Mission or Dolores Park and its far more energy efficient than driving around by yourself in an empty car.
Combine that with the art car aesthetic and I think San Francisco would really dig these. If I was a venture capitalist type of guy I would buy several of these at auction blocks and then commission local graffiti, Kid Robot, Giant Robot, and Burning Man artists to convert them into unique limited edition art cars, signed and numbered.
Is this really how you’re going to go about repairing a hole in The Choose Your Own Adventure Bus, by just shoving some cloth through it?
Couldn’t you put up a homemade “EAT THE RICH”, “DESTROY THE CAPATILIST STATE”, or “NAMASTE” sign? That would be more practical and would have worked with The Choose Your Own Adventure Bus theme.
Sorry, I don’t want to get all Tim Gunn on you, but this kind of judgment call worries me.
You’ve got a very distinct and unique theme going on here and to go from that to the Moltiv Cocktail School of Auto Detail is just lazy work, my friend.
Get it together people. Make it work.
UPDATE # 1
Again I maintain that this is one of the neatest SF perks about living in The Outer Sunset.
Free. Curbside. Parking.
I can see my car from my living room most nights. People can visit and spend the night or crash for the weekend without having to worry about their car being towed the next day.
And there’s MILES of curb without driveways if you know where to look.
I noticed the other day that the Choose Your Own Adventure Bus just got a new paintjob. Her new legal name is Rusty the Rodeo Whale by the Jugtown Pirates. They have a myspace with beats and everything.
The Spectre is a somewhat obscure reference, especially if you’re not familiar with DC comics, so this piece scores a few fanboy points for that fact alone.
If I was thinking of doing a “GO GREEN” theme from an aesthetic standpoint I probably would have gone with the Green Lantern Corps.
If I was thinking of doing a “GO GREEN” piece from an environmental perspective I definitely would have gone with Swamp Thing.
But putting a vengeance god in your piece changes the whole tone of “GO GREEN”
That’s not so much a suggestion anymore as it is a threat. When the Spirit of Vengeance, the deity that works as The Supreme Being’s hitman, the guy that guards the gates to Hell, has battles with archangels in Heaven, and just murdered Shazam is saying “GO GREEN” then you probably want to obey that command.
There are few really neat graffiti vans and art cars that are indigenous to the Outer Sunset. We have all of these great curbs along Golden Gate Park or Sunset Boulevard that don’t have driveways so it’s the perfect habitat for larger vehicles.
Here’s one that I’ve come to known as the Hall and Oats mobile.
It’s always standing guard and keeping a watchful eye on Noriega Street.
It’s been ages since I’ve checked out the Haight Street Fair, which is kind of odd considering I try and ride my bike to the Haight and back at least once a week so I’m somewhat of a regular on that street. We’ve had some great times here. Winnie went one year when Primus was playing and ended up hanging out with them in a local bar afterwards. I was there when DJ Tracy spun a set all day at Amoeba (The old raver store before the record store moved into the Bowling Alley) and then they locked the door and let the party go renegade after the Haight Street Fair ended.
We’ve both had good times there but lately I’ve just associated that block party with crowds and claustrophobia. I’m not sure what’s happened in the Bay Area, if there are more people here, more people going to events, or if it’s just my senile mind playing tricks on me. But it was a sunny day yesterday and my moods are a slave to the weather, so I decided to do the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair for the first time in over a decade.
This Mexican kid in the green shirt looked like he just walked out of a Jimmy Kimmel skit. This house was blasting Funkadelic records and the kid kept trying to crash the party. Without much success. Snoop Dogg looks happy to see me though.
Frank Chu was out on patrol.
We exchanged pleasantries and conspiracy theories.
The award for the third greatest rock shirt of the day goes to –
Misfits kid on Hippy Hill.
It’s the combination of the shirt, his antenna dreadlocks with the antenna goatee, the SF Giants hat, and the humpty-dance pose that makes it an all-around classic Haight street look.
The number two greatest rock shirt of the day goes to the 1991 Jane’s Addiction.
It was all pretty much a downhill ride from there, huh Perry?
If only all the rock shirts that I bought 18 years ago still fit me.
And the number one greatest rock shirt of the day goes to the straight edge dad with a kid in a stroller who zipped past me in a heartbeat.
I have no idea which band that is, but anyone wearing a California Straight Edge shirt and taking their kid out to the Haight Asbury Street Fair wins the contest, any contest, as far as I’m concerned.
My favorite band just played their first show in 11 years earlier today, just a few hours ago, on the other side of Planet Earth.
The sun hasn’t even set in California and we already have several videos online to check out.
Thanks for sharing, England!
I like this one.
Ladies and gentlemen, on the stage for the first time in 11 years, Faith No More –
Opening up their set with a cover of “Reunited” by Peaches and Herb as sung by Patton and Roddy.
Glad to see that you guys still have a sense of humor.
Here’s another cover of an old Bee Gee’s song that FNM is known for.
That’s another thing that’s unique to Faith No More that I really find myself respecting as time goes on.
When Faith No More covers a song they don’t tweak it.
They don’t do a “alternative” or hard version of the song.
They play the song almost exactly as how the original was written.
That’s a dead art form. No major label band does that.
I used to think that alternative covers of old goofy songs were pretty neat, but lately it’s just become a really offensive and cowardly marketing tool by shitty bands that can’t seem to make a name for themselves on their own merit.
Limp Bizkit became famous doing that horrible cover of a George Michael song.
Alien Ant Farm made a name for themselves doing a mediocre cover of a Michael Jackson song.
Orgy chewed up and then shit out a perfectly good New Order song.
The list goes on and on.
That’s why I find myself really respecting Faith No More’s covers. Even if they are covering goofy songs with a certain amount of sarcasm or dark humor, there’s also a hell of a lot of unspoken respect there.
Respect to the original artist, respect to the song itself that says,
“I don’t have to ruin your song to make a name for myself. I will play your song exactly as you wrote it.”
That’s a dead art form.
No other big alternative kind of band does that on a regular basis.
“And this one goes out to all the White rappers. Now that we’re all 40.”
I can’t wait to see the future festival crowds (70,000+ people) response too this song now that, thanks to youtube, we’re onto your game plan Faith No More.
48 hours later –
I had a hell of a time watching the Download festival online. Even if my stream was a bit choppy, I got to see a professional shot festival show for free, I had everything I needed within arms reach, and the bathrooms were clean with no line to get in. It was a great 21st century digital concert experience.
24 hours later in Italy –
You know, being fluent in Italian really does come in handy for a lead singer when doing a show in Italy.
Alright! Mike Patton at 41 still rocking the face-forward 180 degree stage flips.
And way to go FNM!
Fucking awesome jam during the Sun Dance ritual.
Evidence live in Russian (with audience participation).
Moscow. 2009.
I know he’s supposed to be all old & jaded now. But, Man.
Patton can still howl like some 19-year-old kid that REALLY wants that summer job to be the new lead singer of Judas Priest.
Closing out the show.
August 8th, 2009.
Portugal.
And………roll credits…
Budapest, Hungary.
Mike Patton eats a shoelace, finishes the song, throws the shoelace back up and then into the crowd.
Why? I have no idea.
The funny thing is that Patton is known for being a big foodie yet that guy eats and drinks the most horrible things on stage.
Fuck You.
Fuck You Very Much.
Chile has just officially smoked Israel to be the number one audience in the Midlife Crisis sing-a-long contest.
America, we’re all on notice right now. Chile just fucked up the curve.
And San Francisco, we need to bring our A+ Game on April 2010.
I’m talking Michael Phelps and Tim Lincecum, Marvel Team-Up, Gold Medal, A+ Game to the table on April 2010.
Director Patton putting on a little show for the folks down in Brisbane Australia. 2010.
Patton sure has been giving his mic a lot of head during this tour. I like how he handles the mic, he’s got this neat 45-degree angle for his lounge moments, other times he throws it around like a weapon, and here he completely engulfs it. What a great high-five moment.
San Francisco.
Warfield shows.
Amazing Mike Patton, the Tony Hawk of stage divers, picture courtesy of Jay Blakesberg
This was my outfit for the Warfield shows.
I was raving out during Evidence when Mike Patton pointed at me and said, “Show them what you got, Red!” and then the spotlight was on me and all of a sudden my life became and episode of Soul Train and all my years of training paid off.
It was glorious.
Best fan photo of all time goes to FNM2.0 OG Stubb
The encore with both Chuck and Mike on Introduce Yourself was odd and touching.
It’s like if your parents got divorced on really bad terms and then 20 years later you see the both of them shit-faced drunk at a family wedding and they are bouncing around with each other like they were the Beastie Boys.
My all time favorite San Francisco band is about to take the stage for the first time in over 11 years tonight.
At their peak, Faith No More were by far both the most unique and interesting major label band around. They took chances, bit the hand that fed them, made some amazing records that were mostly ignored at the time, and were the most unique stage performers I’ve ever seen. Mike Patton is one of the more accomplished vocalists of this generation and could even upstage GG Allin in terms of pure shock value performance art. You never quite knew what you were in for at a Faith No More show.
My favorite era was the 1997 tour. You never see that era represented on VH1 or MTV, but I really liked that band once they started getting haircuts and dressing up. I loved it when they would come out in matching suits, like a house band at a friends wedding, and by the end of the set Patton was a mess.
Check out the synergy between Patton and Puffy at the end of the Phoenix festival.
That bond between a lead singer and his drummer is a very special and sacred thing.
Not that many people can pull it off but Faith No More just nails it.
I gotta say, as an impartial bystander that doesn’t much care for either newspaper, this whole grudge match between the SF Weekly and the SF Guardian is more entertaining than any grudge match going on in professional wrestling or any grudge match going on in hip-hop combined.
It also follows in the rich tradition of San Francisco newspapers talking shit and making enemies. And then getting shot.
The late 1870s birthed one of the most infamous sex scandals in history, with all the trappings of power, lust and deadly gunplay.
It began when minister Isaac Kalloch moved here from back East to become a pastor. Tales of illicit sexual exploits trailed him, and when he ran for mayor, Chronicle Publisher Charles de Young went on an opposition warpath. “Driven forth from Boston like an Unclean Leper, his trial for adultery, his escapade with one of the Tremont Temple Choristers,” read one of the headlines. Kalloch railed back that de Young was, according to “The Magnificent Rogues of San Francisco” by Charles Adams: “The bastard progeny of a whore, born in the slums and nursed in the lap of prostitution.”
An infuriated de Young shot Kalloch in 1879, but Kalloch recovered and was elected mayor. Kalloch’s son was a better shot: He gunned de Young down in the newspaper office the next year, killing him.
***
And then, from Michael Henry de Young’s wikipedia page –
He (M. H. de Young) moved with his family to San Francisco, California while he was still young. There, he and his brother, Charles de Young, founded the Daily Dramatic Chronicle newspaper, first published on January 16, 1865. The Chronicle was the predecessor of the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco’s only remaining daily broadsheet newspaper. De Young was also the director of the Associated Press for many years.
In 1884, he was shot by an irate businessman, Adolph B. Spreckels, apparently due to a negative newspaper article, but survived.
Like most Navy housing units, the architecture is 50 years outdated and it feels like a pocket of earth that is out of step with time.
There are also several abandoned units; they look exactly like any kind of dorm you would see on any California college campus.
Eucalyptus trees grow like weeds and have consumed some patio areas or have fallen down dead and untouched on sidewalks. Amazing that there’s all this abandoned property on multi-million dollar real estate that also has a priceless view of the San Francisco skyline.
Perfect location for a Sunset party.
Hopefully we’ll be able to do this again next year.
This is another one that’s been sitting on my local San Francisco “to-do” list for over a decade that I can now finally cross off.
Every single drop off all Anchor Steam beer is brewed in their single location located in Potrero Hill. They offer free tours that usually book up 6 weeks in advance, although I cruised in without even having to show an ID so you might be able to crash this party if you’re feeling lucky.
After the tour there’s a generous sampling party, we got to take in
Some Anchor Steam beer.
Some Liberty Ale.
Apparently Anchor Steam also makes their own whiskey named after their Potrero Hill location?! I had no idea.
Sadly, they do not offer any tours or samples of that product… which is probably a good idea for everyone involved.
A Porter beer sample.
A Barley Wine beer sample.
A Small beer sample
And another Anchor Steam sample for the road.
Anchor Steam has a very clean and sheen tasting room. The protagonist from Office Space does the tours and seems a lot happier to be behind the counter instead of filling out TPS reports. Anchor Steam has been in San Francisco in one shape or another for well over a century, so they have more history than most museums put together. It’s a San Francisco institution that’s definitely worth checking out if you know you’re going to be in the city.
The Outer Sunset 