“I was doing a scene where my ex-military boyfriend gets in a fight, and it was scripted that I just stand there … I just got involved. I pulled one actor off of another and they loved it. They said, ‘Keep doing it.’ We did it 12 times and I didn’t realize on the first take I broke my finger.”
Here’s what the little monsters know – they know that if they tag a big old transformer box or what have you, then it’ll simply get painted over by the City or a property owner, sometimes with a quickness. But painting over a mural, such as the one called Gold Mountain at Romolo Place in North Beach near the intersection of Columbus and Broadway, well that throws all the stakeholders into paralysis and their scribblings will remain for tout le monde to see.
Ideally, you’d have the original muralist come over and do a touchup for free. Ideally. But the long-lived tagging on Gold Mountain has epoxy in it, so it’s really hard to take off of the wall without erasing everything. And then after you do a fix-up another tagger will come along, despite your use of anti-graffiti coatings and whatnot.
Now honestly, I’m not sure how much good putting up video cameras would do unless you had somebody to watch a live feed 24-7. I mean the value of showing the SFPD grainy night-time footage of some skinny, 5′ 8″, hoodie-wearing hood isn’t much, right?
For all I know these tags are still there today, with more added on, possibly. I’ll check it out the next time I’m in the area.
The Gold Mountain Mural is located at Romolo Alley, near Broadway and Columbus, on the side of the Swiss American building owned and managed by Chinatown CDC. It is the joint effort of Ms. Ann Sherry, the muralist, and Chinatown CDC depicting the lives of Chinese Americans in San Francisco. It was created in 1994, and once restored in 2004 due to heavy tagging. At that time, to honor her, we added the image of our local heroine, Ms. Betty Ann Ong. Ms. Ong is the American Airline stewardess who was the first one to contact ground crew informing them of the plane being hijacked on that fatal flight into the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Recently, this historic mural caught the eyes of the President of the National Museum of Murals and Mosaics in Philadelphia, and will be featured in their online museum website.
Once again, due to tagging, we will start restoring the mural in the near future. We have so far secured some funding to install surveillance cameras to safeguard the mural. Once restoration is complete, we will daily monitor the mural and assist the SFPD to apprehend taggers. (Volunteers interested to help can contact Cathie Lam at 415-984-1461.)
Take a look for yourself to see dude just drive off the Bay Bridge due to a moment’s inattention in last night’s episode of NBC’s Trauma serial. (Do you think you’d survive after falling so far inside a Jeep Cherokee Classic? I don’t think it’d be possible, but maybe the breast implants inside the car softened the jolt or something.)
“The problem started at 9 p.m., with the previously sorta-canceled “Trauma” (1.4/3) returning from the grave as a Nielsen zombie. It hit its lowest rating yet, falling 22 percent from its fall average and 13 percent from its last original. It wouldn’t be shocking if NBC decided to quickly replace “Trauma” in the timeslot. That’s because “Trauma” tainted “L&O,” which managed a third-place 1.5/4 at 10 p.m. — down 25 percent from last week, when NBC aired a double dose of the drama from 9-11 p.m. Worse, “L&O” was actually off 6 percent from what “The Jay Leno Show” had been averaging at 10 p.m. Mondays.
“NBC — which actually did quite well last week, given the fact that it had to fill 5 hours of primetime post-Jay– does not want to see any negative Leno-to-scripted comparisons at 10 p.m. Period.”
Not saying I would or could do a better job, but maybe the whole concept of shooting this kind of old-school TV show on location on the Streets of San Francisco was a bad idea? Is that possible?
On It Goes. How much longer will this Great San Francisco Nielsen Zombie last?
“I’m going to wear a powder blue fucking suit, and a white shirt and a red tie and a fucking breast cancer pin…”
Comes now the fight loser “Michael” (who appears to be on a first-name-only basis with DJ “JV“):
“First of all, I’d like to aPOlogize to AC Transit…”
It goes on and on, Black History Month, 5150, bygones, veterans, arthritis, murder, parole, apologies, brothers, stolen money, leaking, ass kicking, Strike Force(?) Showtime TV, 10,000 kids, cocaine - it goes on and on.
Can’t remember which morning-zoo / dawg-pound joint this screengrab came from. Oh yes, it was from WILD 94.9 FM:
“The characters weren’t developed properly at first.
We took a lot of creative license, but learned from it.
We listened to the audience and to critics, and were able to satisfy a lot of complaints about the characters.
We improved the humor and the action on the front line.”
It’s almost like they’re shooting a whole new show! Good on you, Rabbit. Remember how excited people were when gorgeous Jennifer Siebel Newsom was in the pilot episode? Maybe we can get some of that back.
NBC/Universal
Now, while we’re remembering last autumn, wasn’t that the time when co-star Aimee Garcia was spinning this tale?
“The actors, who have all moved to rented apartments to be closer to work, are now talking about buying homes, Garcia said.”
O.K., hold on to that one. Now, try this on for size, per a recent interview with Cliff Curtis:
Shooting for, what shall we call it, Trauma II: This Time We Mean Itmoves to the East Bay tomorrow. Actually, they were looking for extras with Pakistani heritage just the other day. But keep in mind that when you’re an extra working on Treasure Island you get paid $1.79 more per hour than when you’re an extra working in Oakland. Why? It all has to do with the minimum wage. Anyway, you might be too late for this, but there could be other gigs coming up:
Certainly, Trauma has been traumatic for NBC, but what about San Francisco? Would we have been better off without subsidizing this inchoate production? Did we really pay SFPD officers to just hang out around the set for the filming of twelve episodes instead of having the cops do their regular jobs?
How does the Scene in San Francisco scheme work? The TV people pay for the cops but then we turn around and give the TV people all the money back?
“What costs are eligible for refund?
Fees paid to City Departments for the use or rental of City property, equipment or employees including: Port, MUNI, SPFD [SFPD?], SFFD, DPT, DPW, Treasure Island, Recreation and Parks, and all City buildings
All daily use fees paid to the San Francisco Film Commission
All payroll taxes paid to the City and County of San Francisco.”
Certainly, Trauma was good for certain people in San Francisco, but was it good for San Francisco and San Franciscans overall? Is this the kind of thing we want to do again? Are there any Lessons to be Learned here?
Now, I’m not up to speed here – is Glenn the gay guy that just came out? Anyway, find out tonight on Channel 3.
“Glenn’s attempt to follow his heart puts his career — and safety — on the line. Meanwhile, Marisa gets a surprise visit from an old friend. Elsewhere, Rabbit helps a patient deal with his devastating loss.”
And guess what? Ratings are up a bit lately. If only certain judgmental people hadn’t been so negative, and if it didn’t cost millions and millions to film old-school, episodic, Hill Street Blues-style television in pricey San Francisco, well who knows, maybe Trauma could have gone a full season.
And see Aimee Garcia whenever you want, right here. (You know, some people were able to walk off the Hindenburg without a scratch - maybe A.G. will similarly escape Trauma without injury)
Leave us travel back in time to October 21st, 2009, when we last heard from NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin and NBC Entertainment chief Angela Bromstad:
Trauma? Don’t they film that in our little town, (the fourth-largest in the whole state, I’m proud to say)? Yes they do! Maybe NBC could commit to nine more episodes (the “back nine”) so we could have a full season of on-location shoots?
“NBC has picked up full seasons of Thursday night comedies “Community” and “Parks and Recreation,” as well as its Wednesday night medical drama “‘Mercy.’”
Well, what about Trauma? Hello-oooo, NBC? Hello-ooooooooo?
Uh oh.
No matter, twirlypopper pilot Aimee Garcia will still maintain her official websiteregardless of when Trauma gets cancelled. (You all seem to just love her.)
Click to expand
In light of recent developments, the unofficial NBC Trauma Deathwatch™over-under date has been officially moved up to: November 30, 2009.
Adjust your wagers accordingly.
Enjoy it while it lasts – a new show (the Halloween one?) is on tonight at 9:00 PM.
