San Francisco Bay Guardian

Inside the Occupy Oakland protest

01.30.12 - 2:12 pm | Yael Chanoff |

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An Occupy Oakland march that turned violent Jan. 28 led to the arrest of 400 people, including me.

The march, which peaked at about 2,000 protesters, was organized with the intention of entering a vacant building -- the Kaiser Convention Center -- and turning it into a new “Social Center” that participants in Occupy Oakland hoped to use to gather, teach, and organize.Read more »

Live Shots: Decentralized Dance Party

01.30.12 - 11:41 am | Ariel Soto-Suver |

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Decentralized Dance Party, 01/27/2012. Photo by Bowerbird Photography

All photos by Bowerbird Photography

When Sam Love and I finally arrived at Union Square on Fri/27 night, we were surprised by the mass of boomboxes perched on peoples' shoulders, like a thousand John Cusacks in Say Anything, heading down Powell Street. Somehow, we found our friends (Ickles and Eckles) when the party descended at the Powell Street BART station. The music blared and tourists careened their heads over the banisters of the station to see what the heck was going on. It was a Decentralized Dance Party (DDP), where strangers get dressed up, gather with their old boomboxes, and wait for the organizers to hijack a radio frequency, where they send out the jams on long antennas, for some major noise and wild Friday night dancing.

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The college tuition problem

01.27.12 - 5:33 pm | Tim Redmond |

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President Obama wants to solve the horrible problem of college tuition costs and student loans by offering tax breaks and telling schools to keep their costs down. Memo to the prez: Holding the line on tuition increases won't do it. Tuition is already way to high. Student loan requirements are already way too crippling.Read more »

Burning Man ticket requests far exceed supply

01.27.12 - 5:22 pm | Steven T. Jones |

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Burners' worst fears are about to come true: they'll be denied tickets to Burning Man when the results of the new lottery-based system are announced on Wednesday. But organizers say if everyone stays calm and relies on their community then they'll probably still get tickets.Read more »

Live Shots: Fitz and the Tantrums

01.27.12 - 1:44 pm | Ryan Prendiville |

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Fitz and the Tantrums at the Regency. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.

A steady backbeat. The swirling organ. Lots of saxophone. Two singers who double as dancers. One skunk striped haircut. Without a doubt, Fitz and the Tantrums have their act together, and worked it Thursday, the first of two nights at the Regency Ballroom. Read more »

Meister: So, what about the state of the unions, Mr. President?

01.27.12 - 1:30 pm |

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By Dick Meister

Dick Meister, former labor editor of the SF Chronicle and KQED-TV Newsroom, has covered labor and politics for more than a half-century. Contact him through his website, www.dickmeister.com, which includes more than 350 of his columns.

Unions? Organized labor? The AFL-CIO? Those words were nowhere to be heard in President Obama's State of the Union address, despite labor's vital role in the economy and strong support for Obama. The continued support of the labor movement is essential if the president is to carry out the bold plans he outlined and if he is to be re-elected.

The president's failure to mention one of the country's most important economic and political institutions was unfortunate. It was perhaps understandable, however, given the anti-union climate stirred up by attacks on public employee unions and their allies.

Obama's failure to mention unions and their leaders was ignored in the post-speech pronouncements of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other major unionists. They in fact proclaimed the speech a victory because of its endorsement of policies widely supported by labor. Read more »

Live Shots: Paufve Dance's So I Married Abraham Lincoln

01.27.12 - 12:16 pm | Ariel Soto-Suver |

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Paufe Dance at Dance Mission Theater. Photo by Ariel Soto

This weekend Paufve Dance is winding its way through all the rooms at Dance Mission Theater, making the audience follow, as it performs So I Married Abraham Lincoln. There are only three performances left for the production, so snag those tickets quick before this little gem passes you by. Read more »

Headshots for the homeless? Photographer Joe Ramos connects art and social work

01.27.12 - 9:23 am | Ali Lane |

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"Lacretia, Jannine, and Tacora" by Joe Ramos

Images of homelessness are not hard to come by. These scenes are often pathetic, clichéd. In the worst cases, the homeless are portrayed as inhuman heaps of blanket and facial disfigurement, people reduced to their time spent sleeping on the streets or begging for money. But in “Acknowledged,” photographer Joe Ramos’ exhibit at the Main Library that opens Sat/28, unhoused subjects are shown in a way that’s truly radical: as people just like us. Read more »

Mayor Lee's call for more hearings gets wary reception

01.26.12 - 9:19 pm | Steven T. Jones |

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Labor and the Left came out strongly against Mayor Ed Lee’s proposed charter amendment to require all city legislation be delayed and subjected to hearings by the Small Business Commission and other commissions if it might cost private sector jobs, putting its prospects of making the ballot in doubt.

“This legislation is one, unnecessary; two, unbalanced; and three, divisive,” Mike Casey, president of the San Francisco Labor Council – whose executive committee voted unanimously to oppose the legislation – said during today’s Rules Committee hearing on the measure.Read more »

“So this will really be a doggie disco.”

01.26.12 - 5:03 pm | Emily Savage |

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Let’s just get this out of the way immediately: there’s going to be a doggie dance this Sunday at the Stud. I could say no more about it and there would still be a segment of people, myself very much included, that would need to go, no questions asked. I mean, it’s a dance for dogs. Read more »

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