The Blog

I am coming close to the end (one month left) of my summer design internship here at The Bold Italic. While it's been a lot of work, it's also been a lot of fun! I get to work with people who are passionate about what they do and are endlessly enthusiastic about the fabulous city we live in. 

During my internship, I've had the opportunity to design several stories. The first one I worked on was called Life on the Corner, which spotlights Western Addition corner store owners, and the most recent story I designed was Tactile Domes, a feature on the beautiful wooden sculpture work by Jay Nelson. The next story I'm designing, called Southern Comfort, is a photo essay about Brenda's French Soul Food. It runs on Monday, so watch for it!

In addition to designing backstories, I am also responsible for blogging each Friday, which means I need to have something interesting to say once a week. This is a challenge, but I have managed to go out into the world and try some new things. My favorite of these was my post about the Urban Zipline! I got to ride the Ziptrek zipline at the Embarcadero for free (a nice perk of the job). I was also lucky enough to eat at some amazing restaurants. Yesterday, we ate lunch at Kokkari to celebrate Sarah and Nicole's birthdays (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!).

Sadly, my internship is almost over, and we are looking for a Fall design intern to start at the end of August or beginning of September. The hours are flexible, but you should be able to come into our brand new office in Hayes Valley (close to Smitten Ice Cream, yum!) two or three days a week. If you are interested in this paid position, send our art director Heath Kessler an email at heath@thebolditalic.com. Please include a link to your work online or a PDF of your portfolio and a cover letter explaining what you're looking for in an internship. Best of luck!

World on a Wire: This photo alone makes me excited

There's so much going on this weekend that there's no reason to get bored doing the same old crap. Not when there's stylish sci-fi, legions of free stuff, live shows on buses and in churches and hair salons, and a beard & whiskey throwdown. What do you say we go do something a little different this weekend?

The Art of Kicking Cancer (Fri.)

I have to give it to my good friend Kelly Malone. She sure knows how to organize fundraising events that are a blast for the general public. The Will Draw For Drugs art show at 111 Minna — pulled together by two amazing artists and awesome folks, Ferris Plock and Kelly Tunstall — is the latest round of benefits to help the owner of Workshop (and Bold Local!) raise the cash she needs to get rid of her cancer. They've pulled together more than two dozen artists, including Jay Howell, one of my faves, to do a power drawing session, where you can pick up affordable art on the spot from a ton of the Bay Area's finest. There will also be art available on auction, and of course, koozies and rockin' tunes. A $5-$20 donation gets you through the door and the fun starts at 9 p.m.

Funk It Up (Fri.)

I love the dedication of Sweater Funk. Their motto of so many wrongs ("wrong" dank basement venue, "wrong" night for their Sunday weekly, "wrong" boogie and old funk jams) make it so right. They're celebrating three years of so much fun this Friday at SOM with a guest set from Steve Arrington of Slave alongside all those funk-loving residents who help make this collective one of the best DJ crews in town.

The Return of The Wire (all weekend)

At a SFIFF screening a couple months back, I waited in line for an hour to see World on a Wire, a stylish sci-fi movie from 1973, and did I get in? Nope. Damn popular film fest! Fassbinder's dystopian epic (and by that I mean 212 minutes long) gets a rare screening at the Roxie this Friday through the following Thursday. I will not wait in line another hour, but I am so stoked to see this one. Who's in?

Bus Show (Fri.-Sat.)

I'm a big fan of making soundtracks for road trips. Soundwave Festival founder Alan So does me one better. He's been inviting local musicians to provide live soundtracks to the routes of their choice around the city. Grab a ticket to this series and you will be chartered around town in a private double decker bus with music from The Genie on Friday and atmospheric electronic wiz Christopher Willits on Saturday. Sounds amazing. More events in August as well...

Brilliant Party (Sat.)

Local dream pop act Brilliant Colors is throwing a CD release party for their new record on Slumberland at "a hair salon" on Guerrero St. at 14th. Also on the bill, a new band called Swiftumz, LA's Dream Homes, and Pamela (A lady and a band? Not sure). The show starts at 9 p.m., costs $5, and they are asking, please, "no jerks."

Wax On (Sat.)

There are a lot of great artists showing at YBCA's BAN6 showcase, but I found it really hard to pull myself away from Chris Sollars' Hairy exhibit. Quite the blonde mane. Such strange objects pulled outta that beard. Such odd noises made by rubbing things against that thick growth of chin straw. This Saturday Chris celebrates the art of "unruly facial hair" with a live event that features something that goes well with beards in this town — drinking whiskey! Between 5 and 7 p.m., you can get the growth on your mug sculpted, trimmed, and otherwise perfected while sipping brown booze cocktails crafted by Comstock Saloon. It's part of a daylong group of YBCA festivities, all of which are free. 

Free for All (Sat.)

In this economy, who can afford to pay for anything, right? How about bartering for goods and services? The Really Really Free Market lets you trade your skills or stuff to someone who has skills and stuff to offer in return. It's like that sold out festival they throw in the desert, but in Dolores Park and without all the body paint. Trades go down from 1 to 5 p.m.

Palm Sunday (Sun.)

Hands down one of my favorite local releases right now is Date Palms' new record on Mexican Summer, Honey Devash. The vinyl has one blissed out instrumental per side, and together they melt your mind like Alice Coltrane beaming down on Brightblack Morning Light. Droney, dreamy, and downright soulful, the record has been a mainstay on my stereo since I got an early copy. I can only imagine how this music sounds live, especially when it's performed in a church. Thanks to the folks behind EpiscoDisco, Date Palms' LP release show is going down at St. John's Church, with performances by Myrmyr and Danny Paul Grody. There will also be an art installation by Ross K. Jones and Varese Layzer. Performance starts at 6 p.m. sharp and they're asking for an $8-$20 donation. Quite the spiritual high happening here.

If you have been considering seeing the Tales of the City, the musical now running at A.C.T., I have two words for you – DO IT. The orchestra tickets are pricey, but I snagged two in the Mezzanine section for $55 a piece. They were worth every penny. I forgot how small A.C.T. feels, and how beautiful the space is. There isn't a bad seat in the house.

As far as the show goes... be prepared for a whirlwind of debauchery that is only fitting for a town like San Francisco. In fact, the whole affair is a celebration of SF and its freewheeling sex and drug disco era – afros, drag queens, transvestites, and all. You may remember Armistead Maupin's original books or the TV series being entertaining, but straightforward. The musical soundtrack by Jake Shears (of the Scissor Sisters) for the A.C.T. production adds a welcome layer of depth to the drama, questioning how we make our way in the world, broken hearts be damned.

The musical closes this Sunday (July 31), so there's not much time left to get tickets. Visit their online box office for show times.

Photo by Kevin Berne for A.C.T.