San Francisco is My Home

24
Mar

Photo show at the Legion of Honor

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Events, Museums

If you need more eye candy in your life, then…you probably don’t live in the Castro. Anyway, the solution for this is a trip to the Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990–2005 exhibit at the Legion of Honor. This show is padded with images of all the loveliest celebrities in famously sexed-up poses; the perfect thing to spice up a dreary work week. Check it out any time between now and May 25.

14
Mar

Star Gazing and the Zoo

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Landmarks, Nature

I’ve been feeling interested in celebrity sightings this week. Maybe it’s because my fellow is going to New York on business, and everyone has a story about how they ran into some celebrity they love and adore while they were in New York.

If you too are interested in fame-spotting, you might want to check out this list:

“San Francisco is home to a host of lovable local characters and celebrities, but if you want to spot famous faces with a wider appeal there’s no shortage of movie stars in this town. Whether you want to haunt a film set or stake out a celebrity-attracting eatery, this list will help you hunt down your favorite stars.”

Don’t worry, you’re not losing your daily dose of me me me. I wrote that list too.

In other news, I wound up going to the zoo yesterday rather than the photo archive. If ever you find yourself at loose ends on a weekday in this town, you really should check out the zoo. It’s calm and quiet during the week, so you can just sit and watch the animals in peace for a long time. And here it is, your moment of them (because moment of zen is trademarked, and I don’t want Viacom to sue me):

27
Feb

SF loses a character

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Food, News, People

Famed restaurateur Tommy Toy died. He was known around town, and catered to several local celebrities including Coppola. His food was art (so I’ve heard), and the fact that his haberdasher described him as “outgoing” is way less telling than the fact that he had a haberdasher at all.

(If you are wondering, haberdasher = a retail dealer in men’s furnishings, as shirts, ties, gloves, socks, and hats.)

You can read the full article here, but I especially liked the ending:

“Mr. Toy is survived by his wife, Veronica, a son, Darrick, and a grandson, all of San Francisco.”

19
Feb

Monday roundup, still on Tuesday

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Events, Movies, Music

Once again, I find myself red-faced on a Tuesday, writing the Monday Weekend Roundup. Can I help it if Monday was a holiday? Ah, well. At any rate, here are some weekend plans you might make:

Friday, February 22

You know how art is great, but really slow? Warhol famously had a problem with that, telling an interviewer that he wished he could make art on an assembly line basis, churning it out double-time. Warhol would have loved the Monster Drawing Rally, a five hour free-for-all where more than 130 artists pack into one room and create art as fast as they can. The art is immediately put up for auction. This only happens once a year, so don’t miss it. I myself would be there except I am planning to be sitting around with friends, watching a movie about Jane Austen. What a gripping life I do lead, eh?

Saturday, February 23

Speaking of staying in, local rockstars The John Francis Imposters will be performing on the radio on KALX Live at 9 pm. The show will be hosted by everybody’s (by which I mean my) favorite KALX Live DJ, Concrete Skyline and will be followed by an interview with the band. Grab some takeout food and curl up with your radio to enjoy the show. (Also note: you can listen online, if you don’t happen to live within signal range of the station. Just click “Listen now” at the top of the page.) Staying in on Saturday night: it’s not just for big nerds anymore.

Here, The John Francis proves he can grow a mountain man beard nearly as well as he can sing.

Sunday, February 24

The Castro Theatre is showing Brokeback Mountain as a memorial tribute to Heath Ledger. If you read the headlines and have half a brain, you’ll probably be feeling horrified by anything Ledger-related at this point, and thinking to yourself, come on, guys, give the kid a break already. However, the Castro tribute promises to be sincere and non-ghoulish, paying respects to an actor whose sensitive portrayal of a gay man helped bring gay issues into the mainstream. If you attend only one memorial tribute to Heath Ledger this year, let this be the memorial tribute to Heath Ledger that you attend.

And another thing…

As you have no doubt noticed, I’m listing just one event for each day. Obviously, there’s a lot more going on in this city. If know of an event, a performance, or just something fun to do, please feel free to share with the class in the comments.

29
Jan

Filming at the Castro

Author: kris, Category: Castro, Celebrities, News

One morning many years ago, long before I moved to The City and became Cool, I spotted Adam Duritz (lead singer of Counting Crows, a band some of us cut our teeth on thanks very much) out the window while breakfasting at All You Knead. My friend, who did live in the city and was and always will be Cooler than me, stopped me from leaping up and running shrieking into the street after him. Apparently, that is not very Cool.

Now that I’ve lived here for a while, I know better than to chase celebrities down the street. And that’s good, because there’s yet another movie being filmed here in the SF, and specifically in the Castro, a block away from my house. This one stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold political office, a local hero. They’ve seventies-ized much of the area around the Castro Theatre, where filming is currently happening. Head down and check it out if you’re interested, but remember to only stare out of the corner of your eye. That is how the Cools do it.

Other movies filmed in SF include So I Married an Axe Murderer, Dirty Harry, and The Pursuit of Happyness. Check out my friend and neighbor’s amusing tales of running into the props from the last film here and here.

Do not run after this man, cools.

11
Dec

IS everything fine?

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Movies

Crispin Glover, whom some of you may know as George McFly, will be appearing for three nights at the Castro Theater this weekend, December 14-16. He’ll do a live presentation of The Big Slide Show, an audience Q&A and a book signing. He’s visiting for the SF premiere of his new film, It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE!

As an added bonus, on Saturday at midnight the theater will run Glover’s directing debut, What Is It? From the Castro program: “Featuring a cast largely comprised of actors with Down’s Syndrome, the film is not about Down’s Syndrome.” From Glover’s description: “Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are snails, salt, a pipe and how to get home as tormented by a hubristic racist inner psyche.”

This is not the first time Glover has made an appearance at The Castro, and I think that synopsis tells you everything you need to know about why we love him so.

Visit the theater website for details and tickets.