I’ll ask you, have you ever been to a bad Cirque du Soleil?
Now, supposedly we had a bad one blow through town a few years back down at the Cow Palace. Your local MSM Arts crew was non-enthusiastic – not all of them wanted to go review it, see? So comped tickets made it all the way down to people involved with lesser blogs, such as your truly.
And I’ll tell you, C du S in that ugly, ugly Daly City concrete blockhouse was awesome. They had like 17 bits to do and 16 of them were very impressive or better. And keep in mind that this was an older show that was put on not under the big tent.
So now we have a brand new show coming to town starting November 15th, 2013.
The time to buy tickets for it is right now. You’ll thank yourself later on.
All the deets:
AMALUNA UNDER THE BIG TOP ACCESS TICKETS BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE
Bonjour. Time is quickly running out for the pre-sale ofAmaluna in Northern California — tickets will be made available to the general public on June 14.*
Mind you, Burger King has enough trouble in the notoriously high cost 415 without worrying about delivery, but read the news and turn the pages, below. (Looks like Oakland’s going to beat us, once again.)
Wonder if BK’ll accept EBT Electronic Benefit Transferfood stamps as payment the way some San Francisco Burgers King do already, you know, gladly.
Anyway:
“Burger King® Expands Its Delivery Service To Chicago, Los Angeles And San Francisco
Innovative Packaging Technology Delivers Hot, Freshly Prepared BK® Meals Directly to Guests in more Regions of the U.S.
MIAMI, April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Burger King Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: BKW) invites guests in greater Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles to discover why TASTE IS KING(SM) from the comfort of their home or office as the BURGER KING® brand expands the BK(®) Delivers program. With as many as 20 participating restaurants in Chicago and Los Angeles and 15 more in the San Francisco Bay Area, guests can now enjoy their favorites, like the WHOPPER(®) sandwich and hot, crispy fries, delivered to the address of their choosing.
“BK(®) Delivers is already performing well in New York, Miami, Houston and greater Washington, D.C. As its popularity has grown, we have seen an increasing demand for the program in other markets,” said Alex Macedo, President of North America, Burger King Worldwide, Inc. ”Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago have some of our most loyal guests and the BURGER KING® brand is excited to offer them the opportunity to enjoy the food they love, delivered to them in the comfort of their home, dorm or office.
BK(®) Delivers allows guests in the delivery zone to customize and order their BK® favorites simply by visiting BKDelivers.com from a computer or mobile phone or by calling toll free to 855-ORDER-BK (855-673-3725). Guests receive hot food that is hot, and cold items which stay cold, thanks to BK(®) proprietary thermal packaging technology, all without leaving the comfort of their home or office. Best of all, the system remembers guests’ orders for simple, one touch ordering with each subsequent order.
BK(®) Delivers plans to continue to expand and be available in even more locations in the Chicago metropolitan area over the next several months, serving Lincoln Park, Evanston, Skokie, The Loop, Cicero, Downers Grove and Logan Square. In Southern California, BK® Delivers will be available across a wide area, including Central LA, Echo Park, Glendale, Burbank, Hollywood, Eagle Rock, Anaheim, Covina, Garden Grove, La Puente, Chinatown, Koreatown and Santa Ana. In the San Francisco bay area, service will be rolled out to Oakland, Union City, San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, San Leandro, San Jose, Milpitas, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Alum Rock shortly.
There are a wide variety of markets in which guests and franchisees have shown tremendous interest in receiving BK® Delivers. The company is looking to expand and would like its’ guests to have input on its’ direction. For those guests, whose cities aren’t mentioned above, that would like to see BK(®) Delivers come to them, please visit BKDelivers.com and log your zip code to let BURGER KING(®) know where you live; then simply add your email address to get alerts once BK® Delivers arrives in your area.
BK(®) Delivers is currently available in New York, Miami, Houston and greater Washington, D.C. It has shown wide scale traction since its inception, including the ability to attract and maintain loyal customers with an amazing loyalty program that offers up FREE sandwiches and exciting news surrounding the BK® Delivers program.
With a minimum food order of $10, guests can choose from a wide variety of established favorites, as well as popular new limited time menu items. These include the brand’s signature WHOPPER(®) sandwich, as well as the new Loaded Tater Tots(TM)and its line of real fruit smoothies. Orders can be placed during delivery operating hours of 11 am until 10 pm. Delivery must be to a physical address that falls within a delivery zone of a participating restaurant. Delivery times and prices vary by location.
Please visit BKDelivers.com to see the complete menu or for a list of participating restaurants.
Follow us on our BK® Delivers Facebook or visit our Twitter page for exciting promotions and to see when it will be available in your area.
ABOUT BURGER KING WORLDWIDE, INC. Founded in 1954, BURGER KING(®) (NYSE: BKW) is the second largest fast food hamburger chain in the world. The original HOME OF THE WHOPPER(®), the BURGER KING(®) system operates in nearly 13,000 locations serving over 11 million guests daily in 86 countries and territories worldwide. Approximately 97 percent of BURGER KING(®) restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees, many of them family-owned operations that have been in business for decades. To learn more about Burger King Worldwide, please visit the company’s website at www.bk.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
I’ll tell you, Mavericks used to be something, man. But now it’s all corporate and shit, man.
Sort of.
Hey, isn’t the Mavericks surf contest just like the Burning Man? Just look where they got started – same beach, different county:
Click to expand
I’ll you, ten years from now, you’ll hear about some underground event what’s been gaining in popularity and I’ll bet you it will have gotten its start on one of these Bay Area, Pacific Coast beaches that you can see in the photo.
Anyway, Mavs is on, once again, this coming Sunday, January 20th, 2013.
Now back in the day, to see Mavericks you’d just park you ride on the Pacific Coast Highway and then ride your bikes to the beach. Easy peasy.
And then they’d let you climb up on the bluff for a good view (even though people fell off of it all the time).
This thing:
(Mmmm… why do these rocks a “breakwater”)
And then they didn’t want people on the bluff so they put up an “event village” or something on the beach below.
This’ll take place mostly in the San Hoser area, but they’ll have stuff up here in the 415 as well.
All the deets below and after the jump.
And here’s the highlight of the show:
San Francisco designer known as ISHKY is creating a spectacular public artwork called Pi in the Sky. Sending five synchronized skywriting planes on a two hour journey across the Bay Area – over a pantheon of mathematically inclined institutions: NASA Ames, Livermore Labs, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Apple – Pi in the Sky will fill the blue expanse with streams of numbers, 3.14159265… The planes, which will be released sometime during the opening weekend of the Biennial when the weather is optimal, will be equipped with dot-matrix skywriting technology that produces numbers nearly a quarter-mile tall.
Look to the Skies for Signs and Wonders
ZERO1 Biennial Seeking Silicon Valley September 12 – December 8, 2012
August 2012, San Jose, CA – ZERO1: The Art & Technology Network is pleased to announce schedule highlights for the 2012 ZERO1 Biennial, one of the world’s only Biennials to focus on the convergence of contemporary art and technology, taking place in Silicon Valley, around the Bay Area, and beyond this September 12 to December 8.
Inviting more than 150 artists from over 13 countries, the 2012 ZERO1 Biennial will present works at the forefront of media art – collaborating with local, regional, national and international cultural institutions and iconic Silicon Valley companies to showcase three months of exhibitions, events, and performances – in museums and galleries, in skywriting above San Francisco, in the streets and storefronts of Silicon Valley, on iPads and smartphones, and across the World Wide Web.
The 2012 ZERO1 Biennial theme and the core Biennial exhibition, Seeking Silicon Valley, was inspired by Silicon Valley’s globally renowned reputation as the hub of high-tech entrepreneurial innovation and networked creativity, as much as from the region’s conspicuous lack of publicly accessible features including borders, a defining architecture, a singular culture, and a cohesive sense of place. Biennial artists and the Biennial’s partnering organizations have been charged with articulating the2012 theme Seeking Silicon Valley in all of the showcased performances, exhibitions, events and panels.
For three months throughout the Bay Area the Biennial will feature installations, interactive media, sculptures, online works, videos and performances by artists who are utilizing technology to create contemporary art in original and provocative ways. The lineup of Biennial artists for 2012 include such notable art world figures as Lynn Hershman Leeson, whose new cinematic installationPresent Tense – examining the human effects of global water toxicity and including high definition videos of babies swimming under water – will debut as part of the Biennial’s main exhibition,Seeking Silicon Valley. Partnering with eBay Inc., Jer Thorp, the New York Times’ lauded Data Artist in Residence, and Columbia professor Mark Hansen have been commissioned to create a data-driven work. The public can view the piece – which ties excerpts from classic literature to eBay listings and transactions – as it is projected on the Internet giant’s North Campus entrance starting September 12, 2012 when the Biennial launches.
Like all of the artworks in this uniquely collaborative Biennial – a dynamic network of shows and events involving an established and esteemed group of cultural partners, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,Stanford University Institute for Creativity and the Arts,New York’s Eyebeam Art & Technology Center, Russia’s Ural Industrial Biennial, and the South Korean biennial Media City Seoul – the eBay Inc. installation was inspired by the 2012 Biennial theme Seeking Silicon Valley.
“Silicon Valley is an idea as much as a place,” says Biennial Lead Curator and ZERO1’s Director of Programs Jaime Austin. “Renowned globally as a hub of entrepreneurship and innovation, Silicon Valley is notoriously difficult to experience. More than a specific location it is a network of freeways, technologies, companies, and relationships connected in a complex physical and virtual web. Modeling this networked nature, the 2012 ZERO1 Biennial is a network of curators from different countries bringing a global perspective to the Biennial exhibition, a network of contemporary artists sharing and presenting work, as well as a network of Biennial partners presenting exhibitions, events and performances connecting Silicon Valley and beyond.”
It’s a great show. You (and your kin aged 12 and up) ought to go see it.
And oh, BTW, if you don’t already have tickets for The Book of Mormon, you know, the Best Musical of the Century (already!) per the New York Times, well, it’s time to start freaking out. You can’t buy tickets now because the only way to do that is to get a subscription for the 2012-2013 season (you know, Lion King, Wicked, etc.) but here’s the catch: SOLD OUT, baby! Already. So you’re going to need to move move move when individual tickets go on sale, whenever that will be. BoM, which is, fundamentally, a “love letter to religion written by an atheist,” however foul-mouthed it may be, will only be here for five short weeks. Every last show will sell out, just saying.
“Software Pioneer Leaves $10 Million Bequest To Five Leading Non-profits In Health And Drug Policy Reform
SANTA CRUZ, Calif., May 30, 2012 – This year, five leading non-profits at the forefront of health and drug policy reform will benefit from a generous bequest of approximately $10 million from the estate of software pioneer Ashawna (Shawn) Hailey. The gift will dramatically increase these organizations’ ability to reform government policies and public attitudes about health and drug policy.
Half of the total bequest–approximately $5 million–will benefit the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a non-profit research and educational organization working with the FDA and international regulatory agencies to develop psychedelics and marijuana into prescription treatments for patients with unmet medical needs. The gift will be the largest that MAPS has ever received, and will support research into MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This treatment is currently in Phase 2 pilot studies and is showing very promising results.
MAPS is conducting an international series of Phase 2 pilot studies into MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These studies are laying the groundwork for two larger multi-site Phase 3 trials, required to show the FDA that MDMA is a safe and effective adjunct to psychotherapy for patients with PTSD.
The rest of Ashawna’s gift–about $1.25 million each–will support the efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Drug Policy Alliance, the Marijuana Policy Project, and Second Harvest Food Bank.
Ashawna’s generous bequest is one of only a small number of such gifts to the ACLU. “Her bequest puts a spotlight on our nation’s punitive drug policies, which have failed to achieve public safety and health while putting unprecedented numbers of people behind bars and eroding constitutional rights,” said Vanita Gupta, Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU.
The Drug Policy Alliance will use Ashawna’s gift to strengthen its movement-building efforts. “Ashawna was generous to DPA in her lifetime and beyond because she wanted to build the strongest movement possible to end the drug war and replace it with policies that promote her values of freedom and compassion,” said Ethan Nadelmann, DPA’s executive director. “We’re honored by this bequest, and we will use it to sustain and strengthen the aspects of the movement that were important to her.”
“Our budget this year is only $5 million, so this bequest is turbocharging our efforts to end marijuana prohibition in the United States,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. “In fact, Ashawna will likely be our biggest donor this year, and we’ll be using half of her gift to pass the ballot initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol in Colorado on November 6.”
“This transformative gift from Ashawna will help to ensure that everyone in our community who needs a meal can get one,” said Kathy Jackson, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank. “She accomplished so much both in her professional life and through her philanthropy, and we are honored that she put her trust in Second Harvest Food Bank with this legacy gift.”
Hailey died on October 14, 2011, in her San Jose, Calif., home at the age of 62. She passed peacefully, and is survived by her children Neal and Nora, and by her twin brother Kim.
After graduating from Texas Tech University in 1970, Shawn designed the launch sequencer for the Sprint Antiballistic Missile System for the Martin Marietta Corporation and in 1974 designed the 9080 microprocessor for AMD. Shawn and Kim co-founded Meta-Software Corp. in 1979 and their HSPICE program remains the gold standard circuit simulator for the electronic design industry.”
Last night’s show at the huge Oracle Arena was 90%-plus full, so I imagine it will be the same thing tonight. The seats aren’t cheap, but this is the official show from Michael Jackson’s family, so there you go.
Fundamentally, this is a Michael Jackson show for Michael Jackson fans (as opposed to it being a Michael Jackson-themed Cirque du Soleil for a more general audience, if that makes sense.) For more on this topic, Chloe Roth does a good job of explaining things here in the Culture Blog of the San Francisco Chronicle.
SAN JOSE: From January 13 – 15 at HP Pavilion OAKLAND: From January 17 – 18 at the Oracle Arena
San Francisco, CA – The Estate of Michael Jackson and Cirque du Soleil are proud to present Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour™ in San Jose, on January 13, 14 and 15, 2012 at HP Pavilion, and in Oakland on January 17 and 18, 2012 at Oracle Arena. This once-in-a-lifetime electrifying production combines Michael Jackson music and choreography with Cirque du Soleil creativity to give fans worldwide a unique view into the spirit, passion and heart of the artistic genius who forever transformed global pop culture. Proudly sponsored by Sun Life Financial, the show is written and directed by Jamie King, the leading concert director in pop music today, and featured more than 60 international dancers, musicians and acrobats.
A riveting fusion of visuals, dance, music and fantasy that immerses audiences in Michael’s creative world and literally turns his signature moves upside down, Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour unfolds Michael Jackson’s artistry before the eyes of the audience. Aimed at lifelong fans as well as those experiencing Michael’s creative genius for the first time, the show captures the essence, soul and inspiration of the King of Pop, celebrating a legacy that continues to transcend generations.
THE IMMORTAL World Tour takes place in a fantastical realm where we discover Michael’s inspirational Giving Tree—the wellspring of his creativity. The secrets of Michael’s inner world are unlocked—his love of music and dance, fairy tale and magic, and the fragile beauty of nature.
The underpinnings of THE IMMORTAL World Tour are Michael Jackson’s powerful, inspirational music and lyrics—the driving force behind the show—brought to life with extraordinary power and breathless intensity. Through unforgettable performances Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour underscores Michael’s global messages of love, peace and unity.
Writer and Director Jamie King has been called one of the most influential “movers and shakers” in the music industry, and the “Jerry Bruckheimer of tent-pole concert tours” by Variety. A multiple Emmy Award® and MTV Video Music Award® nominee, he has choreographed some of the most popular music videos and directed some of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. For the past 12 years, he has served as Madonna’s creative director, and most recently directed world tours for Rihanna, Celine Dion, Spice Girls, Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne. King has worked with an array of superstars including Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Shakira, George Michael, Elton John, Diana Ross, Jennifer Lopez and even Ellen DeGeneres. This is Jamie’s first show with Cirque du Soleil.
Cirque du Soleil returns to the Bay Area with a new Big Top production! TOTEM from Cirque du Soleil opens in San Francisco on October 28, 2011 for a limited engagement under the trademark blue-and-yellow Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) at AT&T Park; and in San Jose as of March 2, 2012 at the Taylor Street Bridge. For more information please visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/totem.”
Well this is the view you can get from Buena Vista Park in the middle of San Francisco.
That’s world-famous* Candlestick Park, Home of the 49ers and the Gold Rush, in the foreground, and in the background camera left is the City of San Jose, California’s third-largest and the Capitol of the Bay Area:
Click to expand, of course
Now I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking, “Enhance that image.”
Anyway, I didn’t know San Jose had a skyline what you can see from the 415.
But don’t look for it to get any easier to spot in the future owing to the fact that that SJC international airstrip is right in the middle of it all and there’s a height limit of 87 meters (I think?) in the area.
So, San Joser has a big, domed City Hall and a tall Bank of America Building and whatnot. They’re just like us!
(Oh, and speaking of the Niners, enjoy our winning football team(s), Santa Clara County.)
*No, not “world-class.”
**Check it:
Eighty-eight (88) symbolizes fortune and good luck since the word 8 sounds similar to the word Fā (发, which implies 发财, or wealth, in Mandarin). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number of all in Chinese culture and prices in Chinese supermarkets can often be found containing many 8′s (see numbers in Chinese culture). The Chinese government has even been auctioning auto license plates containing many 8s for tens of thousands of dollars. The 2008 Beijing Olympics opened on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m. The shape of the Chinese character for 8 (八) also implies that a person will have a great, wide future as the character starts narrow and gets wider toward the bottom. 88 is used to mean “bye bye”; found in Chinese-language chat, text, SMS, IM. 88 is pronounced in Chinese Mandarin language as “ba ba” (“bā bā” to be precise), simulating the sound of the English language farewell “bye bye”.
And there’s this:
Eighty-eight is used as code among Neo-Nazis to identify each other. H is the 8th letter of the alphabet, so 88 is taken to stand for HH which in turn means Heil Hitler.For example, the number is used in the song “88 rock’n'roll band” by the neo-Nazi group Landser. The late convictedOrder terrorist David Lane wrote “Fourteen Words” and 88 Precepts, and the numbers are often found in combination (1488, 14/88, etc.). This form of the number has inspired the naming of the groups Column 88, Unit 88, White Legion 88 and Barselc88. Holocaust museum shooter James von Brunn often signed his writings as “JVB-88.”
“Redford tries to describe to Strathairn, who is blind, what he heard while in the trunk of a car. He remembers going across a bridge and being in San Francisco it means one of four possible bridges: Golden Gate, Bay Bridge, San Mateo, and the Dumbarton. They rule out the first two and then narrow it down to San Mateo based on the sound and frequency of the seams in the concrete.”
They used to have 15% and 20% discounts but I don’t know how those links are working now. Costco San Francisco will sell you a pair of Category 1 (good seats, but not the best) for like $157, I think.
Even the cheapest Category 3 seats for $50-something aren’t all that bad, actually. How happy you’ll be depends on the particular act and your particular seat, I s’pose. You won’t be far from the stage at all but you will be off to the side.
Parking is $20 but you can always park for free in the evenings on Channel one block to the west, just south and west of the 4th Street Bridge.
All right, on with the show.
Roller Skates:
OMG, this one‘s off the hook. Is she going to hit her head on the platform? And just how many RPMs is she spinning now? Check out Massimiliano Medini and Denise Garcia-Sortafrom a documentary here and don’t miss the start of their IRL romance at 2:30. This is the best act by far, IMO.
Fixed Trapeze Duo:
OMG, it’s Rosalie Ducharme and Louis-David Simoneau on the trapeze. Per Leslie Katz, “A trapeze duo cleverly plays out figurative as well as literal ups and downs of romance in a delightfully attitude-filled act.” Yep, pretty much.
So, you can figure out the rules of the game pretty quickly and then you can sit back and grade them on how they do. Very impressive. (What this has to do with evolution I have no idea, but anyway.)
Those are your top five acts in Totem.
All right, see you there!
Opening
Parallel bar and trampoline
Hoop dance
Rings trio
Clown act Chinese unicycle and bowls
Foot juggling Perches
Intermission
Devil sticks Fixed trapeze duo
Cone juggling
Clown act
Hoop dance Roller skate Russian bar
Finale
