richmond juke hunt for sf weekly

On the Hunt for the Best Jukebox in S.F.'s Richmond District
Thanks partly to the diversity of its residents, the Richmond District has a lot of great bars and restaurants. The neighborhood is a confluence of Russian bakeries, Chinese markets, and Irish pubs, and the songs available on the few scattered classic jukeboxes reflect this diverse blend [...]

j. column: ska and torah study for j. the jewish news weekly

After a fall from grace as queen bee, I found solace in Torah and ska
Sometimes I think that an amalgamation of ska music and Judaism saved my life. Not to be overly dramatic. But looking back at the events surrounding and leading up to my bat mitzvah, now 15 years later, I can’t help but point to those two parts of my life as rescuing me from junior high hell [...]

tofu dearest: vegan love for poor taste magazine

How to Make Culinary Love to a Vegan
Confession time: I live with an adorable meat-eater. I throw in the adorable because he really is, despite our surface-level divergent eating habits. He may devour roast chicken or fried calamari when we hit local food establishments, but at home he mostly keeps it vegan with me — another reason to throw in the complimentary descriptor [...]

north beach juke hunt for sf weekly

Which Bar Has North Beach's Best Jukebox?
There's something so classic and romantic about San Francisco's own Little Italy: North Beach. Despite the sometimes-obnoxious crowd it seems to attract, the hood itself exudes a warm, old-timey charm, with vintage architecture and jukeboxes that hold swing and blues songs written and recorded before many of today's bar hoppers were born. On dreary, rain-soaked afternoons, swarms of tourists and locals still flock to its dark, wood-paneled taverns, with fragrant plumes of Italian cooking wafting through the bustling streets[...]

[Juke Hunt archives]

sway machinery for sf weekly

The Sway Machinery Captures Malian Adventures on Its New Album
Barreling down the dusty roads of the West African country of Mali in January 2010, Jeremiah Lockwood and his Brooklyn-based band the Sway Machinery felt elated. They had just left an impromptu gig jamming with local musicians at a bumping riverfront juke joint [...]

tofu dearest: vegan myths for poor taste magazine

We’ve all heard it a thousand times before, from the nosy friend of a friend, the second cousin, the ex-co-worker, what have you. They’ve read some unfounded study somewhere in the wilds of the Internet and henceforth decided that vegans can’t possibly get all those juicy meat-based nutrients, or they lack protein, or vegans are at elevated risk for heart disease. Untrue, untrue, and double untrue.[...]

michael showalter for j. the jewish news weekly

Michael Showalter is the kind of guy you know all about — or you’ve never heard of him.

The Jewish actor-writer-comedian has written and starred in a slew of sleeper cult hits since the 1990s: the MTV sketch comedy show “The State,” the 2001 parody film “Wet Hot American Summer” and the Comedy Central series “Stella” and “Michael and Michael Have Issues,” to name a few [...]

tofu dearest: hangover scramble for poor taste magazine

There’s nothing greater after a night of heavy drinking than a steaming plate of scrambled tofu. This may be the first meal — the hangover breakfast — that worries new vegans. Fear not, tofu scramble is delicious and probably the easiest dish you’ll ever make. The main part to get right is the breaking up of the tofu itself, after that you can add any number of fun and exotic ingredients to the oil-sizzling mix [...]

mission juke hunt for sf weekly

The divide among Mission dwellers is strong. There are the older families that have lived in the area for generations, then the hip twenty- and thirty-somethings who moved in more recently.

The latter half are the ones who can often be found crawling from bar to bar, dance party to live show. And in the haunts of this colorful crowd comes a variety of music choices -- though not one quite as diverse as one might assume. There are definitely standards on all the old music boxes of Mission bars, but each has its own musical twist. Let's explore this large and mythic San Francisco neighborhood [...]

tofu dearest: valentine's for poor taste magazine

A few years back the live-in boyfriend surprised me on Valentine’s Day with a small, white take-out box full of cocoa-dusted vegan truffles [...]

bay area girls rock camp for sf weekly

Thao and Mirah Perform at Bay Area Girls Rock Camp Benefit This Friday
You may not know Chixx Mixx or Poison Apple Pie by name, but they're bands formed by Bay Area tween and teen girls, and they don't sound like what you might be picturing. As much as we all would like to think gender divides do not exist, it's the sad and simple truth that most bands are still made up of dudes [...]

peter himmelman for j. the jewish news weekly

Jewish Americana: L.A. musician will hum a folksy new tune in S.F.
Peter Himmelman recorded his last record on a dare he made with himself: to make an album in two weeks. The result is true-blue roots Americana: "The Mystery and the Hum" [...]

haight juke hunt for sf weekly

On the Hunt for the Best Jukebox in the Haight
The heyday of authentic jukeboxes is long over. With many bars installing those nasty touchscreen digital Internet boxes, the old school record-flipping kind of jukebox is a dying breed. And this is in the town that originated the concept of jukeboxes back in 1889. So what denotes a quality juke these days? It's subjective, but there are some key signifiers: diversity of the records and mood-setting capabilities. In this column we seek out and celebrate the remaining machines. We also measure their success with a one to five drinks scale, based on how long you'll want to linger and listen [...]

tofu dearest for poor taste magazine

Hello, Meat and Cheese: Veganize This!
I’m not a person who typically enjoys mock duck. I don’t often try to imitate meaty taste and texture when home cooking like many vegans do, and when faced with faux meat versus gold standard-but-simple tofu dishes at restaurants; I’ll always choose the latter [...]

monotonix for sf weekly

Monotonix Explains Why They Dump Trash on You at Shows
At any given Monotonix show, you will see three hairy men crowd surfing with their instruments, throwing trash on the crowd, spitting beer on the crowd, leading group sing-alongs and, possibly, pissing [...]