Tag: san francisco

  • Día de los Muertos in the Mission

    Music from a live band echoed over the hill to the park entrance, incense wafting in every direction, the crowds of attendees illuminated by the warm glow of candles and string lights. Revelers — many clad in elaborate costumes, faces painted in detailed calavera makeup — strolled through the winding paths lined with altars honoring…

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  • Chell from “Portal” Halloween costume

    Burlesque dancers performed on stage while sweaty crowds danced to the thumping rhythms, spun by a pair of DJs dressed in banana costumes. As the room filled with artificial fog, one costumed attendee after another came up to me and shouted one of the following questions over the music: Halloween 2026 was a day of…

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  • Bay Curious, AroMa, and Frightwig at The Chapel

    As guitars wailed and the band belted out vocals in the dimly lit venue, I wondered if I might see a ghost. Would the spirits from the great beyond be disrupted by the earsplitting noise? Spoiler alert: I did not see a ghost. The “Haunted Riot” show at The Chapel last night was a quirky…

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  • Every Thing Computer

    As my fingers slid over the rubberized computer mouse anatomically shaped like a vagina, a disquieting thought crossed my mind: did I accidentally walk into a David Cronenberg film? No. I was at The Intersection of Art and Technology (tiat) for the opening of their latest exhibit, Every Thing Computer, which explores a uniquely artistic…

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  • Small Change Arcade: New arcade in the Excelsior District

    Working my way through the crowds of kids, dancers, and street food vendors at Sunday Streets, I looked up and there it was, like a giant shiny coin floating in the sky: Small Change Arcade. This small shop on Mission St. near Persia Ave. in the Excelsior District contains twenty or so classic video and…

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  • The Civic Joy Fucks live punk show

    Mayor Daniel Lurie, crypto investor Chris Larsen, and disgraced former district 8 supervisor candidate/cafe owner Manny Yekutiel took to a small Tenderloin stage to perform a boisterous punk set about how much they love the police and the surveillance state. They are known as The Civic Joy Fucks. In reality, this group of pseudonymous punk…

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  • Humanoid robot deathmatch at Rek Arena

    “California was worried that our robots were too dangerous — so we decided to PUT FUCKING SWORDS ON ‘EM!” the announcer screamed from the cage as a stagehand removed the sheaths from the blades on the pair of 6-foot tall humanoid robots. As the fight started and the robots exchanged quick jabs, Terminator-style robot T-REK…

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  • The Metreon: Upper floors

    As the elevator doors slid open, I came to a place I’d never explored: the semi-secret upper floor of The Metreon — the floor above the movie theaters, a private event space known as The Aviary (formerly City View). Last month I wrote about the “backrooms” of the Metreon’s movie theater on the third floor.…

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  • Full Queer Wrestling at Folsom Street Fair

    Aye lads and lassies, let me tell ye a tale o’ the wild land of leather, rope, and displays of depravity I encountered while sailing… oh, sorry. I went to the 2026 Folsom Street Fair dressed as a pirate this year. As one does. It’s been years since I’d been to Folsom, and the tone…

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  • Immersive art…?

    Why or why not? I know I sound like a broken record on immersive art sometimes, questioning what the term means when it’s been stretched so thin as to become meaningless. So imagine my surprise when I came across the above. What started as a Mission Street ad has succumbed to a type of (accidental?)…

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