Posts Tagged ‘language’

OMG, a Sign Language Interpreted Performance of Beach Blanket Babylon is Coming Sunday November 18th at 5PM!

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

This should be quite a show:

“STEVE SILVER’S BEACH BLANKET BABYLON  PRESENTS SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE - SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18 – 5 P.M.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (November 6, 2012) – Steve Silver’s Beach Blanket Babylon, the world’s longest running musical revue, is proud to present a sign language interpreted performance for the hearing impaired on Sunday, November 18 at 5 p.m.  of the holiday show. Tickets for this special performance range in price from $25 – $130 and are available now at beachblanketbabylon.com, by phone at (415) 421-4222 or at the Beach Blanket Babylon Box Office (678 Green Street).  Tickets may also be purchased by fax at (415) 421-4817.  TTY users may call the California Relay System at (800) 735-2929.  Tickets are being held for hearing impaired audience members.  To ensure optimal seating locations for viewing of both the interpreters and the stage, ticket buyers should indicate that they or members of their party will be using this service at the time of ticket purchase.

Using their hands, bodies and facial expressions, American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters Michael Velez and Sherry Hicks will translate the spoken and musical parts of the show into signs and rhythms.  The interpreters will be placed on the main floor and will have separate lighting, which will enable the audience to see them during low light moments.

Packed with hilarious spoofs of pop culture & political characters, the holiday show also features a chorus line of tap dancing Christmas trees, special parodies of traditional Christmas carols and a gigantic Yuletide hat. Hailed as “A constant cascade of showstoppers” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Steve Silver’s Beach Blanket Babylon follows Snow White as she takes a fast-paced journey around the world in search of her “Prince Charming.”  Along the way she encounters a star-studded, ever-changing line-up of hilarious pop-culture characters, including Lady Gaga, President Barack & Michelle Obama, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, The San Francisco Giants, Prince William, Kate Middleton and the Queen of England, Hilary & Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, The Cast of “Glee,” Nancy Pelosi, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Grammy Award Winner, Adele and Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes.

Tickets for this special performance range in price from $25 – $130 and are available now atbeachblanketbabylon.com, by phone at (415) 421-4222 or at the Beach Blanket Babylon Box Office (678 Green St.).  Tickets may also be purchased by fax at (415) 421-4817.  TTY users may call the California Relay System at (800) 735-2929.  Tickets are being held for hearing impaired audience members.

Beach Blanket Babylon’s performance schedule is as follows:  Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 6:30 & 9:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2 & 5 p.m.  Due to our liquor license, persons under the age of 21 will not be admitted to evening performances.  Valid photo I.D. is required.  All ages are welcome at Sunday performances.  All performances take place at Club Fugazi (678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd. – formerly Green Street ) in the heart of San Francisco’s North Beach district.

Michael Velez is a mixture of actor, performer, writer, producer and interpreter.  The hearing son of deaf parents, Michael is a founder and active member of Half-n-Half, a musical sign language ensemble that blends ASL, music and choreography.  He has performed nationally with Half-n-Half and on his own abroad in Copenhagen, Sydney and San Juan.  As a concert interpreter his experience has enabled him to work with Elton John, Billy Joel, The Rolling Stones, The Dixie Chicks, Melissa Etheridge,Garth Brooks, George Michael, Cyndi Lauper and The Backstreet Boys.

 

Sherry Hicks is one of the co-founders and director of Half-n-Half.  She has been interpreting for over twenty-five years and has worked with Ani DiFranco, Van Morrison, John Denver, Indigo Girls, LL Cool J, and Run DMC.  She performed at the International Deaf Club at the World Federation for the Deaf convention in Sydney, Australia and recently at the 2nd World Mental Health and Deafness Conference in Copenhagen,Denmark.  Hicks earned her MA and MFA from New College of California in Writing and Consciousness.

 

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Waking Up to Find Eight Copies of China Daily on Your Stoop – Free Propaganda from the Red Chinese Government

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Uh, ChinaDaily what?

(Remember when the San Francisco Examiner used to deliver newspapers to your door every day whether you asked for them or not?)

Good morning!

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At first, I thought that this could be a house organ from our area Falun Gong, but it turns out that China Daily is an official “state-owned enterprise” of the People’s Republic of China.

This publication is like Radio Free Europe, but the opposite and in reverse.

Now, are these weekly papers being distributed in Mission District cafes nowadays as well? Apparently:

“Chinese soft power reaches the Mission cafe universe: China Daily, the PRC’s English language newspaper, now found in cafes in SF.”

O.K. then.

But don’t feel left out – you can always check out the Twitter feed.

So, it’s like Yuan legislation, O.K., and then cloud computing, O.K., and then Key people in the 1911 Revolution, WTF?

Look for a copy of  China Daily to appear on your San Francisco stoop someday.

Hurray?

“I for one welcome our new _____ overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted media personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves…”

(more…)

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Well, Those Oil Extraction Tax (aka “Oil Extraction Fee”) People are Trying to Get Half a Million Signatures

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

Here are the deets on an oil extraction tax / fee proposition that you’ll be able to vote for in 2012, if it qualifies with half a million signatures by next month’s deadline:

“Tax on California Oil Initiative (2012)

A Tax on California Oil Initiative (11-0004) has been approved for circulation in California as an initiated state statute. To earn a spot on the state’s 2012 ballot, sponsors of the initiative must collect 504,760 signatures by September 30, 2011. A letter requesting a title and summary for the proposed initiative was signed by Peter Mathews, Frank Dawoodjee, and Paul Garver, and was received by the Attorney General of California’s office on March 14, 2011.

Tax on California Oil. Initiative Statute. Official summary:

“Imposes 15 percent tax on value of each barrel of oil extracted in California. Allocates oil tax revenue to non-capital educational funding: 30 percent to K-12; 48 percent to community colleges; 11 percent each to California State University and University of California. Prohibits producers from passing tax on to refiners, gasoline stations, or consumers. Prohibits loan of oil tax revenues to General Fund. Prohibits reduction of regular education funding based on additional revenues from tax.”

Summary of estimated fiscal impact:

(This is a summary of the initiative’s estimated “fiscal impact on state and local government” prepared by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office and the Director of Finance.)
“Increased state revenues from a new charge on oil extraction of around $2 billion to $3 billion per year, dedicated to education.”

Anyway, I didn’t know about this:

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But they’re out there, trying to finish up the huge job of getting all those sigs…

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Brandi Chastain Graces de Avila Elementary: National PTA + Jamba Juice = ?

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Well, it was on this morning at William de Avila Elementary School on Haight Street, where the Chinese language immersion students got to drink fruit smoothies from Bananaman and also got to meet soccer heroine Brandi Chastain. It all had to do with the National Parent Teachers Association‘s Healthy Lifestyles Month. All the deets below.

The Jamba Juice Bananaman must be channeling the ghost of Jeff Spicoli. Anyway, the kids loved him. Click to expand:

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And here she is, straight out of San Jose, Brandi Chastain herself:

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Parents, including knuckle-knocking DCCC member Tom Hsieh, Jr. (Mayor Gavin Newsom’s friend, camera left), were encouraged by Brandi Chastain to get up and start jumping around, to the delight of the students:

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Well, that was the medium, here’s the message, after the jump.

(more…)

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Mayor Gavin Newsom Opens New Chinese Language Immersion School in Haight-Ashbury

Monday, August 24th, 2009

This was the mise en scene today at San Francisco’s brand new Cantonese dual language immersion school on Haight Street.

It’s called the Chinese Immersion School at De Avila.

See?

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So, line up behind your new teacher…

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…and wait for your new principal to ring the school bell.

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It’s the first day of school.

Good luck!

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Posted in education | 1 Comment »

Language of the Birds in North Beach Recognized as One of America’s Best Public Artworks

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Have you seen this one yet? Read all about it, below.

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via Steve Rhodes

The San Francisco Arts Commission’s The Language of the Birds Recognized as One of America’s Best Public Artworks at the 2009 Americans for the Arts Convention in Seattle.

San Francisco, CA, June 26, 2009– Luis R. Cancel, director of cultural affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission, is pleased to announce that The Language of the Birds, a permanent site-specific sculpture by San Francisco artists Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn located at the intersection of Broadway and Columbus avenues, was selected as one of the best public artworks in the United States at the 2009 Americans for the Arts convention held in Seattle from June 18–20. During the annual Public Art Year in Review session, two independent art experts, artists Janet Echelman and Mildred Howard, presented 40 of their top choices for the most innovative permanent or temporary public artworks created or debuted in 2008. The Language of the Birds was chosen from more than 300 entries from across the country.

“Since its dedication in November, The Language of the Birds has brought excitement and poetry to a dense urban streetscape, transforming one of the City’s busiest intersections into a destination. The artwork also set a new precedent as the first solar power-offset public artwork in California,” stated Luis R. Cancel. “We are proud to receive this honor as it brings national attention to San Francisco’s community of pioneering local artists and exemplary Public Art Program, which is deeply committed to enriching our City by commissioning new artworks of the highest standards.”

In addition to Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn, San Francisco-artists JD Beltran and Scott Minneman’s recent project Downtown Mirror located in downtown San Jose and Teresa Camozzi’s Now Becomes Memories, Tomorrow Becomes Now at the Haggard Library in Plano, Texas also received recognition at the Public Art Year in Review session.

According to Supervisor David Chiu, “The Language of the Birds has become an iconic landmark for District 3 where locals and tourists alike stop to marvel at the installation. I congratulate Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn along with the other San Francisco-based artists on achieving such an honor. Their work has helped distinguish this City as a world-class destination for arts and culture.”  

For nine years the Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America, has recognized public artworks.  The artists and commissioning organizations involved in creating and citing the recognized public artworks will receive letters of recognition and congratulations from Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch.

For more information about The Language of the Birds, visit the “Press Release” section at www.sfartscommission.org/pubartcollection or contact Kate Patterson at kate.patterson@sfgov.org.

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISSION AND THE PUBLIC ART PROGRAM
Established by charter in 1932, the San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts in San Francisco. Led by the belief that a creative cultural environment is essential to the City’s well-being, the Arts Commission programs permeate all aspects of City life. Programs include: Civic Art Collection, Civic Design Review, Community Arts & Education, Cultural Equity Grants, Public Art, SFAC Gallery, Street Artist Licensing, and summer in the City Concert Series.
The Arts Commission’s Public Art Program was established by the City Arts Enrichment Ordinance in 1969, as one of the first of its kind in the country. The Public Art Program seeks to promote a diverse and stimulating cultural environment to enrich the lives of the city’s residents, visitors and employees. The Program encourages the creative interaction of artists, designers, city staff, officials and community members during the design of City projects in order to develop public art that is specific to the site and meaningful to the community.

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