Posts Tagged ‘war’
Friday, May 10th, 2013
This is it. This is your San Francisco Theatre Performance of the Year.
It’s Black Watch from Scotland.
It’s down in the Armory, in the Mission. If you show up late, they won’t let you in. 110 minutes, no intermission. And, oh yeah, all the tickets cost $100.
But everyone seems to love it.
Get your tickets now if you want to go.
Look, it’s getting attention already:
Chad Jones of the San Francisco Chronicle
Karen D-Souza of the San Jose Mercury News
Georgia Rowe of the San Francisco Examiner
A shot from yesterday’s press preview at The Drill Court:
By Brenden Mendoza – thanks!
All right, see you there!
Handy Guide: How to listen to Scootish People.
Here’s where it’s at:
The Armory Community Center
333 14th Street (between Mission and Valencia)
San Francisco, CA 94103
View a larger map and get directions
Use the Bay Area’s 511 TakeTransit Trip Planner to get public transit information.
For more information about public transportation and parking lot options please visit the Black Watch show page.
All the deets:
National Theatre of Scotland’s Black Watch
May 9–June 16, 2013
A Revolutionary Theatrical Event
by Gregory Burke
Directed by John Tiffany
Performing in the Armory Community Center, located in San Francisco’s Mission District at 333 14th Street (between Mission and Valencia).
THERE WILL BE NO LATE SEATING!
Please plan appropriate travel time when making arrangements.
Running time:
1 hour and 50 minutes with no intermission
The internationally acclaimed hit—named “#1 Theatrical Event of the Year!”
by the New York Times
After transfixing audiences across the globe and receiving unanimous critical acclaim worldwide, National Theatre of Scotland’s revolutionary production of Black Watch makes its highly anticipated Bay Area premiere. Inspired by interviews with soldiers who served in Iraq with Scotland’s nearly 300-year-old Black Watch regiment, this hauntingly powerful depiction of war is so inventive and groundbreaking in scope that it demands a completely unique performance venue—and will take over the long-dormant Drill Court at San Francisco’s historic Mission Armory. Splicing together exquisitely deployed stagecraft, from choreographed marches and Scottish ballads to searing video news footage, Black Watch captures the layered state of being at war, from moment to gripping moment. A transformative theatrical event you don’t want to miss, Black Watch delivers a visceral, unforgettable experience.
Performances of Black Watch will take place in the Armory Community Center, located in San Francisco’s Mission District., located at 333 14th Street (between Mission and Valencia). Click here for directions.
“Thrilling . . . a necessary reminder of the transporting power that is unique to theater.” —The New York Times
“A genuine spectacle that revels in its own theatricality and comes replete with music, marching, explosive effects and its own piper.” —Chicago Tribune
“Magnificent” —New York Observer
“Enthralling” —Washington Post
“★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ! The world must see this play. Immediately.” —The Herald (Scotland)
“★ ★ ★ ★ ★! Fierce, passionate, and unguarded” —The Guardian
“A landmark event” —The Independent (London)
“A glorious piece of theater—raw, truthful, uncomfortable, moving, graceful and dynamic” —Scotland on Sunday
“Stirring and absorbing” —The West Australian
“A pulsating epic” —Daily Mail
Tags: 16th, 2013, 333 14th, 333 14th Street, 94103, a.c.t., Act, armory, Armory Community Center, bay area, black watch, california, Community Center, court, distric, district, drill, Gregory Burke, iraq, John Tiffany, june, mission, National Theatre of Scotland, play, previews, reviews, Revolutionary Theatrical Event, San Francisco, soldiers, street, theatre, valencia, war
Posted in theatre | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013
1. Here’s the news of the day:
“Anti-missile systems sent to Guam to counter North Korean threat“
2. Those systems are called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
3. THAAD was developed using the former USS Tripoli (LPH-10), an Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship that’s basically a mini aircraft carrier.
4. The USS Tripoli was based at Pier 80 in Dogpatch as recently as last year and it’s still there right now, for all I know.
That’s the connection.
That’s San Francisco’s contribution to the war effort.
(And, just saying, THAAD could come in handy when dealing with NK’s big buddy China…)
All the deets:
“She was decommissioned in 1995 and as of 2004, she was on loan to the Army, but remained laid up at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. In December 2006, the ship was towed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where it now has a high-tech role as a launch platform with the nation’s developing ballistic missile defense program. Three times the ship was towed some 100 miles off shore and used to launch small ballistic missiles, which are then intercepted by Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Missiles, test-fired from the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The last test in the series was performed 26 October, when the ship fired a “Scud-like” missile, which was successfully intercepted. The ship will be towed back to the San Francisco Bay Area for the winter. Kaua’i lacks a suitable land-based launch site, and the costs of building one would far exceed the approximately $600,000 per year it costs to use the old warship, so the vessel returned to Pearl Harbor for a second series of tests in late spring 2008.[1] As of 16 June 2012 she berthed at Pier 80 in San Francisco, CA.”
From 2008:
Well, look what just got towed in from Hawaii. Fresh from testing of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, San Francisco’s favorite former helicopter carrier, the former U.S.S. Tripoli (LPH-10), had its ups and downs in the Aloha State.
Read all about the post-retirement adventures of the USS Tripoli at Telstar Logistics.
Under the Golden Gate Bridge:
Who knows what the future will be for this old ship. Probably more missile launching.
And from 2010:
Now I could tell you all about the supr sekrt USS Tripoli (LPH-10 (Landing Platform, Helicopter)) but that would be MUY PRO HI BI DA DO (I say that in Spanish because that’s how not allowed it would be).
Suffice to say the old girl has been chilling in the Dogpatch lately, right next to ridiculously hilly Potrero Hill. See?
Click to expand
Where, oh where, will it get towed to next?
What, oh what, will it next launch into the Heav’ns Above?
Courage.
The Trip as seen off of Kauai in the 808 State (or somewhere else in the wide Pacific) during the sum, sum, summertime. Whoosh:
E komo mai. Nou ka hale, USS Tripoli
Tags: 2010, 2013, Ballistic Missile Defense, bmd, bvessel, california, China, chinesese, crisi, Dogpatch, Golden Gate Bridge, guam, hawaii, hawaiian, island, kauai, korean, lph-10, missile, north, north korea, pearl harbor, pier 80, San Francisco, sbx missiles, ship, south, south korea, summer, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, THAAD, tripoli, uss, war, winter
Posted in vessels | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Editor Jon Brooks of News Fix, “KQED’s bay area news blog,” has this today:
“So our morning anchor, Joshua Johnson, was doing a story on the Clorox earnings report, and in the process of finding exactly where their headquarters is located, came upon this:
Click to expand
Try it yourself – type ”Oscar Grant” into Google Maps:
Oscar Grant Plaza, of course, is the name that the Occupy Wall Street people have given to their tent city location.
KQED has made a call down to Mountain View saying, “Hey Google, what’s the deal?”
We’ll see.
(I’m sure no one intended any dis for Frank H Ogawa.)
Great catch, Joshua Johnson.
Great post, Jon Brooks.
[UPDATE: Get more details right here. "NAParish" took steps to change the name back to Frank Ogawa Plaza at 8:44 AM this morning but that action is still pending. (It's like a Wikipedia editing war. Remember those, back in the aughts? Just like with that tiresome "Violet Blue" woman - I guess you can do the same thing on Google Maps. See below.)
[UPDATE II: Oh no, now, per Google Maps, Frank Ogawa Plaza has two names. See?
I imagine that "Oscar Grant Plaza" won't be on Google Maps at all in the very near future.]
[UPDATE III: And now it's back to normal, back to plain old Frank H Ogawa Plaza. "Google Reviewer Sanjeevi" has, once again, put the big DENIED stamp on the idea of any political name-changing. Google's "Local Names" feature is being abused no longer. Case Closed.]
“Negative note 38 mins 24 secs ago by NAParish
Reason: The edit could be misleading
This is not an “official” name, and this edit should have been denied. See commentary on previous edits.”
-
“Denied on Oct 31, 2011 7:39pm by NAParish
Reason: The edit could be misleading
There are two problems with this edit. One is that Google doesn’t seem to allow this type of political commentary by “renaming” an official feature. The name that some Occupy Oakland protesters are using doesn’t fit into any of the categories Google allows (Local is for the name in the local language, like using La Tour Eiffel as the “local” name for what speakers of English commonly call the Eiffel Tower). See http://goo.gl/gCf78 for the types of names that are allowed. The other problem is that the official name is Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, not just Frank Ogawa Plaza — and the official name should not have been removed a few edits back.”
Tags: (BART), 2011, 88.5, 99, african, Alameda, American, asian, bay area, black, blog, Blue, california, City Hall, city hall plaza, commentary, county, edit, editing, editor, engineer, fm, Frank H Ogawa, Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Frank Ogawa, Frank Ogawa Plaza, google, google maps, gun, Japanese, Jon Brooks, kqed, KQED's bay area news blog, local, maps, media, misleading, mountain view, N A Parish, name, NAParish, news, news blog, news fix, newsblog, Oakland, occupy, OccupyOAK, occupysf, official, oscar grant, Oscar Grant Plaza, park, plaza, police, political, protest, public, radio, renaming, reviewer, San Francisco, Sanjeevi, shooting, taser, television, TV, violet, violet blue, Wall Street, war, wikipedia
Posted in paranormal | No Comments »
Friday, February 11th, 2011
Brace yourselves:
Click to expand
Tags: 19, 2011, answer, anti, bay area, california, civic center, international, invastion, iraq, march, march 19th, market, parade, protest, San Francisco, street, union square, war
Posted in protests | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Steve Rhodes has all the deets about this rally coming to town, the one that features Ron Paul, Matt Gonzalez and some Republican guy going after Nancy Pelosi’s job.
Now, after the rally, you’ll have three events to choose from. Shall it be:
The Cocktail Hour at $150;
The Exclusive Dinner at $1000; or
The West Coast Liberty Party at $25?
I’ve got to say that this one’s a shocker.
See you there?
Here are ever more deets, via Steve Rhodes:
Click to expand
Tags: 2010, 4, 4th, after, anti, bay area, california, civic center, congress, freedom, house, john dennis, Matt Gonzalez, nancy pelosi, party, pro, protest, rally, republican, ron paul, San Francisco, september, speaker, tea party, u. s., United States, war
Posted in politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
Isn’t superstition such a second-millenium, High Middle Ages kind of thing, don’t you think? Isn’t superstition the reason our foreparents named l’avenue betwixt 12th and 14th after Frederick Funston? I mean, why else would they have done that?
Let’s meet Freddie Funston, 13th Avenue’s temporary namesake:
“I personally strung up thirty-five Filipinos without trial… Impromptu domestic hanging might also hasten the end of the war. For starters, all Americans who had recently petitioned Congress to sue for peace in the Philippines should be dragged out of their homes and lynched.”
O.K. then. (Make that Filipino-killing super-cracker.) Famous Mark Twain even penned a mock-defense of Freddie-boy in a sarcastic essay.
Cheek by jowl – one frees you, the other kills you:
Now, what about this? Did Freddie-boy represent the feds after the 1906 Earthquake the same way Michael “heckofajobBrownie” Brown represented the feds after Hurricane Katrina? Well, this bit in the San Francisco Chronicle from four years ago certainly makes the case.
But, You Make The Call. Here’s Funston taking charge of San Francisco during the Great Fire of 1906, as if martial law had been declared (it wasn’t, IRL):
“Gen. Funston sends in the first military demolition squad. The incompetence by which they dynamite buildings causes the outbreak of four new fires.
“General Funston now attempts to encircle the fire in the heart of the city with systematic destruction of buildings. A drugstore at Clay and Kearny is blown up with black powder. A flaming mattress from the flat above is launched across the street setting fire to Chinatown.
“At 5 pm the next morning, the order came down from Mayor Schmitz that the dynamiting should stop. But the order comes too late to stop the exploding of a building on Green Street. The explosion ignites a previously untouched area and this new fire spreads along Green Street aided by a gale-force wind. 5 pm that afternoonFunston gives the order to resume the shelling of Van Ness Avenue against the direct orders of Mayor Schmitz in what seems to many to be senseless destruction. There are mounting reports of the excesses of the troops, including rape, indecent assault and grievous bodily harm.”
Heck of a job, Freddie! Actually, he screwed up so bad he had to try to defend hisself in the pages of Comso (I’m seriously, freaking Cosmopoliton “77 Positions in 77 Days” Magazine.)
So, now you’re armed with two good arguments for changing the name of 13th Avenue back to 13th Avenue.* We’ll get the City take down the Funston signs post-haste and then we ought to let the residents continue to use the name Funston as long as they want. Somebody’ll even write a memo to the USPS to keep things straight with mail delivery.
D’accord? D’accord.
*In the alternative, other substitute names like Genocide Avenue or Triskaidekaphobia Avenue could also be acceptable.
Tags: 13, 13th, 1906, army presidio, avenue, earthquake, Filipino, Filipino-Killing Cracker, Frederick, frederick funsotn, funston, general, islands, Mayor, Philippines, powder, renamed, San Francisco, superstition, war
Posted in crime, streets | 2 Comments »
Monday, June 29th, 2009
Once a month, like clockwork, you’ll see the folks from Iraq Moratorium at the corner of Fell and Masonic, doing their part to help you “THINK PEACE.”
This hula hoop is new though:
Click to expand
See them every third Friday of the month.
Tags: corner, evening, hula hoop, intersection, iraq, iraq moratorium, peace, protest, rish hour, signs, think, war
Posted in protests | Comments Off
Monday, April 6th, 2009
The San Francisco Ballet just premiered Program 6 on Friday and the way things work with its Rep Program, you only have three more shows this week to check it out. Janos Gereben has a glowing review of Friday’s show, as does Rachel Howard.
And you can get a behind the scenes view from Shannon Roberts (who was so happy being able to “talk and yell” onstage) and from Ballet Master and City Lights Luminary Ricardo Bustamonte.
The Stravinsky Violin Concerto:
San Francisco Ballet in Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto © Erik Tomasson
Within the Golden Hour. Some people gasped when they saw this bit:
Sarah Van Patten and Pierre-François Vilanoba in Wheeldon’s Within The Golden Hour. © Erik Tomasson
And West Side Story Suite, about as close to Broadway as ballet can get, with Jets and Sharks and rumbles, oh my:
San Francisco Ballet in Robbins’ West Side Story Suite © Erik Tomasson
So there you have it, Program 6 is quite the spectacle. You might go for one reason and then find something else you like more. And if you sign up for the SF Ballet’s Twitter, you can get a discount April 7-9.
Expected casting, after the jump.
See you there!
(more…)
Tags: 2009, Ballet, civic center, concerto, golden hour, house, memorial, Opera, program, program 6, rep, repertory, San Francisco, san francisco ballet, stravinsky, suite, van ness, violin, war, west side story, within, within the golden hour
Posted in events | Comments Off
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition organizes a lot of protests here in the Bay Area, as is their right. And they seem to consistently exaggerate the number of souls who participate in their marches, as is their right. O.K. fine. But Saturday’s march down Market Street on the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War had such small numbers compared to the big antiwar marches of 2003 that a person could have easiy tallied up an accurate estimate, if only to see how much the ANSWER Coalition exaggerates.
The “answer” is this: they overestimate by 200%. It’s the Rule of Three, just like in the movie American Pie 2. So, take the “official” estimate of 4000 marchers, divide by three to get 1333 and there you have it. Bingo bango.
Here’s Saturday’s march from above. The 440 or so people marked with white circles represent a third of the total number. (It took about 4 minutes to tally this shot and another ten minutes to tally folks in other photos.) Click to expand:
(Of course lots of people want to give President Barack Obama some time to have a chance to deal with matters, and it was raining, and yada yada yada. The point is that it shouldn’t be so hard to say that the crowd was slightly bigger or smaller than last year – there’s no reason to lie about it, is there? Moving on…)
Kudos to the Socialist Worker, which came a bit closer with an estimate of 2500 people. Perhaps they use the Rule of Two.
Double kudos to local journalist and photographer Josh Wolfe, who came in with “maybe 1000 people” as his honest estimate. Bay City News kept it conservative with “hundreds,” which is literally true, but that word could also suggest 200 or so. Oh well. The San Jose Mercury News played it safe with no estimate at all.
And SFGate / San Francisco Chronicle? Well, they originally went with “massive” as a description of the masses (which was particularly inappropriate given that similar marches six years ago had numbers about 50 times greater), but then pulled back a bit later to just talking about the “crowds.” All of this is ably documented by Robert B. Livingston here on the IndyBay.
Check it, before:
And after:
Originally posted by Mr. Livingston, I presume.
Robert Livingston is also correct in stating that writers Heather Knight and Steve Rubenstein produced a bit that was “well composed, accurate, and captured much of the essence” of the event, so that’s a good thing. It’s not clear who came up with the boner “massive.”
Chronicle Editor-at-Large Phil Bronstein has recently opined on these kinds of issues – here’s a re-hash of a count controversy back in 2003.
Anyway, the correct estimate is 1330 marchers, mas o menos, depending whether you include the cops, the undercover cops, the people who didn’t have the chance to march because they were setting up in Civic Center, the people who left early, the people who arrived late, the marchers without signs who happen to be on the sidewalks, the photographers, the videographers, etc.
The Rule of Three has been tested and proven. Would certain people have more credibility if they didn’t spin so much? Yes, yes they would.
Jessica: “If a guy tells you how many girls he’s hooked up with, it’s not even close to that. You take that number and divide it by three, then you get the real total. OK, so if Kevin is saying it’s been three girls it’s more like one or none.”
Vicky: “None?”
Jessica: “The rule of three. It’s an exact science. Consistent as gravity.”
Tags: 2, 2009, 6th, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, Afghanistan, american pie, anniversary, answer, antiwar, arrests, bitten, black block, civic center, coalition, code pink, codepink, cops, crowd, Embarcadero, estimate, indybay, invasion, iraq, israel, jusitn herman, Labor Against the War, march, marchers, market, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars , national lawyers guild, nlg, observer, officer, palestine, parade, peace, plaza, police, Progressive Democrats of America, protest, rock, rule of three, San Francisco, Sarah Carlson, SFPD, size, street, three, times, U.S., Veterans for Peace, war
Posted in protests | 2 Comments »
Saturday, March 21st, 2009
Well, of course, it wasn’t actually like nobody came, but the crowd at today’s International Day of Action on the 6th Anniversary of Iraq War had an unexpectedly low turnout, even considering the spates of rain. Was the crowd “massive,” as indicated by the San Francisco Chronicle? No, not at all. Do some people at the Chron have a “massive” problem estimating crowd size? Yes, apparently.
Did 4000 people march? No. Did at least a couple thousand march? No. Not to belabor the point, but you don’t need to hire a helicopter to accurately estimate the size of a march. Moving on…
Where’s Waldo? Sadly he wasn’t there. But, where’s Code Pink and the Black Block? Click to expand and you’ll find them. This was the bulk of the crowd just after the speakers stopped speaking, with the insular International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) camera left, out of frame.
So yes, there were other groups around the Ferry Building area but they were much smaller. Oh, here’s Code Pink:
One of the speakers was a San Francisco Chronicle employee(!) From her, the crowd learned that “health care is free and will always be free in Cuba.” She urged listeners to defy the current ban on travel to Cuber by visiting this year, specifically July. O.K fine.
Heading up Market Street in light, on-again-off-again rain:
And here’s el bloque negro:
The 911 Truth crowd was there as well – it handed out varying denominations of Truth Bucks, sadly disintegrating in the wet.
A terrorist is “what the big army calls the little army.”
“Jail Greedy Bankers”
“Queer Israeli” vs. “Queer Palestinian”
Speaking of which, you had a good 50 or so counterprotesters with Israeli flags penned in right in front of City Hall.
The Green Line of Polk Street. There was a scuffle between these groups later on, resulting in a handful of arrests. See the “Footage of Chaos,” if you want.
This green-hatted NLG “observer,” avec “Specs” brand goggles, was briefly enthralled by an exchange between the blonde and the cop, who wanted her to stay on the sidewalk. She could probably get the Lieutenant for battery and maybe even false imprisonment, if he weren’t an on-duty, uniformed peace officer. See? There’s always a catch…
So there you have it.
Tags: 2009, 6th, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, Afghanistan, anniversary, answer, arrests, bitten, black block, civic center, coalition, code pink, codepink, cops, Embarcadero, invasion, iraq, israel, jusitn herman, Labor Against the War, march, market, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars , national lawyers guild, nlg, observer, officer, palestine, parade, peace, plaza, police, Progressive Democrats of America, rock, San Francisco, SFPD, street, U.S., Veterans for Peace, war
Posted in protests | 1 Comment »
Occupy Oakland Update: Google Maps Now Shows Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza as “Oscar Grant Plaza”
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011Editor Jon Brooks of News Fix, “KQED’s bay area news blog,” has this today:
“So our morning anchor, Joshua Johnson, was doing a story on the Clorox earnings report, and in the process of finding exactly where their headquarters is located, came upon this:
Click to expand
Try it yourself – type ”Oscar Grant” into Google Maps:
Oscar Grant Plaza, of course, is the name that the Occupy Wall Street people have given to their tent city location.
KQED has made a call down to Mountain View saying, “Hey Google, what’s the deal?”
We’ll see.
(I’m sure no one intended any dis for Frank H Ogawa.)
Great catch, Joshua Johnson.
Great post, Jon Brooks.
[UPDATE: Get more details right here. "NAParish" took steps to change the name back to Frank Ogawa Plaza at 8:44 AM this morning but that action is still pending. (It's like a Wikipedia editing war. Remember those, back in the aughts? Just like with that tiresome "Violet Blue" woman - I guess you can do the same thing on Google Maps. See below.)
[UPDATE II: Oh no, now, per Google Maps, Frank Ogawa Plaza has two names. See?
I imagine that "Oscar Grant Plaza" won't be on Google Maps at all in the very near future.]
[UPDATE III: And now it's back to normal, back to plain old Frank H Ogawa Plaza. "Google Reviewer Sanjeevi" has, once again, put the big DENIED stamp on the idea of any political name-changing. Google's "Local Names" feature is being abused no longer. Case Closed.]
Reason: The edit could be misleading
This is not an “official” name, and this edit should have been denied. See commentary on previous edits.”
Reason: The edit could be misleading
There are two problems with this edit. One is that Google doesn’t seem to allow this type of political commentary by “renaming” an official feature. The name that some Occupy Oakland protesters are using doesn’t fit into any of the categories Google allows (Local is for the name in the local language, like using La Tour Eiffel as the “local” name for what speakers of English commonly call the Eiffel Tower). See http://goo.gl/gCf78 for the types of names that are allowed. The other problem is that the official name is Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, not just Frank Ogawa Plaza — and the official name should not have been removed a few edits back.”
Tags: (BART), 2011, 88.5, 99, african, Alameda, American, asian, bay area, black, blog, Blue, california, City Hall, city hall plaza, commentary, county, edit, editing, editor, engineer, fm, Frank H Ogawa, Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Frank Ogawa, Frank Ogawa Plaza, google, google maps, gun, Japanese, Jon Brooks, kqed, KQED's bay area news blog, local, maps, media, misleading, mountain view, N A Parish, name, NAParish, news, news blog, news fix, newsblog, Oakland, occupy, OccupyOAK, occupysf, official, oscar grant, Oscar Grant Plaza, park, plaza, police, political, protest, public, radio, renaming, reviewer, San Francisco, Sanjeevi, shooting, taser, television, TV, violet, violet blue, Wall Street, war, wikipedia
Posted in paranormal | No Comments »