Laura Albert (l.) with Savannah Knoop, who appeared as JT LeRoy in public events, at a Los Angeles event earlier this year.

The fraud trial of San Francisco writer Laura Albert, who hoaxed everybody from famous writers to the New York Times to NPR to HBO in her guise as author JT LeRoy, continues in New York. (Courtesy GalleyCat.) Albert herself took the stand yesterday, and her version of the hoax has now developed into an implicit claim of split personality.
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To the man who shared my lane in the “Medium” speed of the Embarcadero Y pool last night, around 7:30PM. I’m sorry I grabbed your ass.
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The immersive photography method Google employed for it’s new streetview mapping technology is profiled in the latest issue of Business Week, but ironically, it turns out that despite their contractor’s unique cameras, Google actually shot it’s SF area maps all by itself…

Passersby take note of a makeshift memorial to a 15 year old San Francisco boy, Edivaldo Sanchez, who was shot from a car at 24th and Harrison and died on this spot, a few feet away from the entrance to the famous Balmy Alley. Chronicle story; Examiner story.

Police were asking for help in finding the shooters’ car, a gold or coffee-colored 1990 Honda Accord with a license plate number of 5JCF637.

Greg over at N Judah Chronicles was sent this amazing video of a Prius attempting to drive through the Sunset Tunnel at Duboce Triangle. Brilliant.

North Beach was alive with music & festivities over the weekend as the 53rd annual North Beach festival took over the hood. Aside from the officially sanctioned entertainment on outdoor stages, there were other little combos working indoors along the streets. The usual blues bands were rocking SF’s self proclaimed oldest bar, The Saloon where barflys buzzed around the doorway, and the unofficial beat community center Live Worms gallery even had a band playing for the art show. Amongst the other spots where bands played was the legendary corner bar the Condor, who recently were granted a permit from the entertainment commission. Of course, rumor has it, the benign live oldies band featured over the weekend, will soon give way to yet another adult themed strip/topless entertainment theme.

Meanwhile down a long lonely & empty stretch of Broadway, across from a boarded up pizza joint and shuttered Afghan eatery, a for lease sign hung on the spot formerly known as The Crow Bar. In the 60’s this location was called Basin St West where the likes of Ike & Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Ramsey Lewis and other jazz & soul greats once played, but now, much like the rest of fabled North Beach, is just a faded shadow of it’s former self.

Giants pitcher Matt Cain was betrayed again by Giants hitters today. After pitching yet another unsupported gem, in which he allowed just a walk and three hits in 7 innings — a solo homer accounting for the only run scored by Boston — the Giants lost 1-0. Boxscore; log.

It’s nothing new for the hard-luck kid, who is becoming a legend for brilliant pitching performances that are unsupported by runs scored by his teammates. After the jump, a look at Cain’s season so far, showing how a pitcher with the excellent ERA of 3.15 could be 2-7 in mid-June.

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phare de la baleine

Originally uploaded by bourget_82

Cranky disabled person report on San Francisco stuff! Warning!

Accessibility for Sugarlump on 24th St. is fantabulous. No stairs, low counter, couches, tables you can wheel up to, and a big bathroom with grab bars and with its door not blocked by junk or narrow passageways. A+ on their access! It is a nice neighborhood to wheel around in. The only criticism I have is that some of the curb cuts are not well maintained. They are steep and have enormous potholes.

The LGBT Center is great. A+ for wide corridors everywhere, very accessible bathrooms, big signs set high up near the ceiling so that people low to the ground can navigate. I like hanging out in the 3DB Cafe there, the only problem is I run into too many people I know and don’t get any work done!

Philz Coffee on 4th and Berry is another A+. I’m loving anywhere that has big spaces. It’s like the wide open prairie, don’t fence me in. There is something great about that section of town, the smooth sidewalks, the tall buildings and bridges, that had me high as a kite. That plus coffee meant that I hung out on the sidewalk outside Philz popping wheelies and spinning around at high speed. A good place to skateboard too, I bet. The wireless, breezy open feeling, interesting coffee, good music, and nice people didn’t hurt.

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These reports from last week’s blotter were are noteworthy to me in their total lack of identification. The suspects in the cases are just so run of the mill SF, like how do you ever really find a suspect if the description is: dark clothes, bike messenger bag? Asian girl with short haircut, black shirt and creme pants? Or a tall guy wearing a grey shirt and tan pants. And yet in the last report, the cop was tipped off by earrings made of gun shells. What attention to detail, and what stupidity, yet again, on the part of the criminal element.

Police summary after the jump.
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The case of the JT LeRoy literary hoax — perpetrated by San Francisco couple Laura Albert and Geoffrey Knoop, with Knoop’s half-sister Savannah playing the part of the supposedly HIV-positive transgendered writer-victim — has wound up where you always knew it would: in court, with some pissed-off company suing the bejeezus out of the hapless Albert.

A film company that paid a large sum for the film rights to the novel “Sarah” is saying that since JT LeRoy, as a fictional person, could not sign a contract, they want their money back. Albert’s lawyer gave an entertaining, psychologically complicated explanation of her motivation.
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