Outwester.com

What's On: San Francisco LoveFest

San Francisco's best street dance party is one of its newest: the San Francisco LoveFest AKA the SF Love Parade.

A mobile carnival, with DJ's parading by on floats, spinning house and dance music that ripples through the vibrating, dancing crowds, LoveFest owes its origins to the Love Parade in Berlin.

  Lovefest (Loveparade) San Francisco 2006 
  Originally uploaded by dr. motte.

The parade pulls into town Saturday, Sept 23, with the parade route running from 2nd up Market to Hyde and Grove Streets, and convening at the SF LoveFest Event Grounds at Civic Center, with 20+ stages, food and drinks.

San Francisco Zine Festival 2006

Fine Print Revisited: Way back in 1994-95 I worked at a small- & independent-press distributorship down in Austin, TX; Fine Print Distributors, long R.I.P.

I still pine for the days we'd pull down a new pallet with the latest Temp Slave, Hate, or Punk Planet aboard. Many hours spent soaking up information from far-flung outposts, valuable stuff in those final months before Mosaic upended the forklift.

King of all? Factsheet Five, the Sears Catalog guide to the small & alternative publishing world, reviewing hundreds of titles on all subjects, many available for price of postage or fair trade.

Back in the days of DIY innocence before the web leveled economies of scale and relandscaped publishing, the 'zine scene was the way for indie media voices to get word out. It was the punk rock parallel to big journalism, niche creators of content unbeholdened to corporate interests, typed at temp jobs and stapled by fellow travelers with Kinkos gigs.

Nostalgic? Shit yeah, for zines had little if any monetary prospects, so the scene was pure.

But the problem with nostalgia is it implies something is over, when in fact, 2006, its becoming the year that 'zines came back.

No surprise, really: the publishing platform that usurped zinemaking has evolved into the mainstream itself, so a natural reaction would be for indie print publishing to return, price inefficiencies and all.

Two great indicators. First, the return of the San Francisco Zine Fest, held this weekend, Sept 9-10 2006, at CELLspace. A two-day conference of indie & underground publishers, the show offers workshops, film screenings and opportunities to connect with nearly 1,000 like-minded creatives and creators. Bonus: costs our favorite price - free!

And in news that warms our media dork hearts, 2006 also sees after an 8-year hiatus the return of Factsheet 5. Plans are for FS5 to continue covering the small & alternative/independent zine and media world, branching into other publishing platforms including radio, blogs and DVDs. Currently they're ramping up their editorial staff, and are wide-open to contributors, so if you've got an itch for this, start scratching.

What's next? The Meat Puppets reuniting to tour?

What's On: San Francisco Arts & Culture Sept 2006

  Golden Gate Bridge Sunset 
  Originally uploaded by mattiasgrillet.

This week we're starting a new feature here at Outwester: monthly roundups of San Francisco's varied Arts and Culture scene.

The city, justifiably famous for its range of arts offerings, remains as progressive, independent and adventurous as always. You'll find heaps of info on what's on at SF Station, to whom we bow humbly and offer mad props and that hyperlink.

We'll aim to highlight some choice morsels that grab our eyes, which we'll focus on lesser-known trends and events that may be flying under the mainstream media. Each month we'll profile several cool happenings, any of which we'll give the Outwester guarantee of good stuff. Here goes:

Snap Your Hands Say Yeah: Never know what a walk down mid-Market will reveal. Today we came upon Fingersnaps, a self-proclaimed DJ and Arts Collective that offers 8-hour DJ training workshops. Cueing, beat mixing, equipment tips, audio engineering -- all are covered in lessons adaptable to beginners or advanced DJs. One on one consultations, all gear provided (though you may wish to bring your own CDs.

With opportunities in audio/video amplifying throughout the media world, all boosts to your skill sets and terminology bases are more than welcomed. Impress HR at your next potential gig with you offline creativity.

Start Your...Installations?: Art and autos converge on the Bay Area Sept 14-17 for ArtCar Fest 06, the 10th annual California road rally/pilgrimedge for the most American of mobile public art forms. Elaborate sculptures-slash-canvasses on wheels, ArtCars are exactly that: cars recrafted as mobile artworks.

If you've never seen an ArtCar parade, head to Amoeba Music on Haight Street, Thursday at 11am (or Amoeba on Telegraph in Berkeley around 5) for the Amoeba to Amoeba Caravan, winding its way across the bay. Or check the Pyramid Brewery Kick-Off Party, the staging point for the first evening's festivities. For the full weekend calendar, click here.

  The Illustrated Car 
  Originally uploaded by schmeebis.

Bikes, Birds & Madelline Kahn as the Bride: Just in time for September, San Francisco's best weather month, Film Night in the Park has a winning schedule for winning evenings, convening in shared public spaces.

On Saturday, Sept 9, Hitchcock's The Birds takes flight at Union Square. Saturday Sept 23 signals The Bicycle Thief in Washington Square Park (don't hate them cause it's spelled wrong.) Wear black or white for Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein ("that's fran-ken-steen"), screening on Saturday, Oct 7 at Dolores Park.

More films are screening at sites around Marin County. For photos of past events, check here.

SXSW

March roars like a lion in Austin, Texas, but don't blame bad weather for the hubbub. Rather that noise eminating from around the River City is the cumulative cacophony of music, film and multimedia known as the South by Southwest Conferences and Festivals, aka SXSW. For ten days in mid-March, would-be players and real shakers descend on the city, touting wares and working rooms, pubs, stages, clubs, airport longues, street corners, everywhere.

In a mix of mediums all clamouring for their moments in the sun, the digital media world has jump started 2006 SXSWeek with a message of hope and futurespeak that's downright ninetiesonian. Web 2.0? Why not when the big boys are speaking the lingo of tags, community and user-generated content, and snapping up smaller companies like Flickr, Del.icio.us and upcoming.org.

In a side note, props to Charles Attal of Stubbs Bar-B-Q and the Austin City Limits festival, who landed the coveted Bill Graham Award for Promoter of the Year at the annual Concert Industry Awards last month. And to think, I used to crash on his cousin Kenny's couch for weeks on end. Charles, I hardly knew ye. But good for you.