Brock Keeling just got his wish for a massive hog ride through SF: Papa Guardado’s funeral must be over, because at least five hundred (and up to one thousand) big guys on big bikes just rumbled down Market Street towards the Ferry Building. Wow. I was having lunch at Azteca on Church at the time and almost everybody in the place — staff and patrons alike — abandoned the place to watch the unending stream of motorcycles go by. Even most of the kitchen staff came out for a quick look before running back in. The only exception was one jaded soul, a San Francisco old-timer who has undoubtedly seen everything already, knew what it was, and probably thought “so it’s a bunch of guys on motorcycles, so what.”

It was such an impressive sight I completely forgot to take out my cell phone and shoot video; I forgot that I had a cell phone. I went back in and finished my lunch, and when I came out, the motorcycles were still going past.

I walked up to the corner of Market and Church, outside the bank there, to get a better look; the procession was followed up by a couple of awesome, low-slung 50’s convertibles, one glossy black and the other candy-apple red — don’t ask me what make or model, I’m not a car guy — and one poor soul in a red minivan who probably didn’t really mean to get ahead of the convertible and was probably just trying to get to Highway 101 before 12:30.

Once the whole procession had passed, I looked back down Church: people were standing outside of every business, still gaping. The people on my corner, mostly bank employees, looked worried; on the corner on the other side of Church stood the manager of Crepevine. In contrast to the bank people, he was smoking a cigarette and grinning the biggest grin I’ve seen on anybody’s face for quite a while.

Well, let’s hope that whatever they do downtown, it stays peaceful. I haven’t heard sirens yet.

[I'll post video if anybody uploads something to YouTube. Wait, did I say "if?" I meant "when."]

[Photo by Nate Enyedi for Wikipedia.]

A few years ago, the Port of San Francisco wanted to study parking-use patterns at a third of the 950 meters it controls along the Embarcadero, using a technology developed by the SF-based Streetline Networks Inc. — little sensors glued to the street that transmit a wireless signal to a central database when a parking space is occupied or vacated. Now SFMTA has picked up the idea for another purpose: to (hopefully) make free spaces easier to find on the fly, by transmitting the data to a service you will apparently be able to subscribe to, according to this NPR story. (An iPhone app, perhaps? Maybe by the time it’s ready Apple will be done hosing their own servers.) The same sensors will be capable of monitoring the speed of traffic past the spaces, and that data will be transmitted as well. SFMTA intends to analyze the data they collect from this network, and based on that, they will set policies to adjust the price of parking in response to demand, aiming for a vacancy rate of 15%. (Expect a glacial pace on that, with lots of legislative bickering once it comes down to choosing actual prices. Dynamic server-to-meter price adjustments are a distant dream.) Reportedly San Francisco is the first city to reach this stage with the technology.

(Unrelated, but the question occurs to me: why do I have to rely upon the New York Times and NPR to bring me local news of this potential significance? And then the Chronicle wonders why they’re losing money.)

Courtesy CurbedSF: The plan to fight an insect that state officials said could threaten crops is dead, officials said today. The aerial spraying of hormones intended to disrupt the reproductive cycle of the light brown apple moth — a 1/4-inch long pest that attacks both trees and crops — was loudly protested by groups representing parents, environmentalists, butterflies and pets.

Instead of spraying from helicopters, officials will fight the bugs by releasing sterile moths and “using other ground methods,” which sounds like one of those jobs it might be hard to hire people for. If you want to know what they are, read section 2 of this PDF document.

An Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) starts at Moscone today, and thousands of feverish geeks are gathering in anticipation of the usual announcements of new products. Expectations for a next-gen iPhone were so high that Twitter suggested a search string so breathless fans worldwide could vulture the news. But if you’d like your updates in English sentences, SFGate is liveblogging Steve Jobs’ announcement. Also liveblogging is Gizmodo.

Everyone loves Diesel Books, the independent store on College Ave. in Oakland [map]. Now they’re planning to open a branch in the L.A. neighborhood of Brentwood, replacing the Dutton’s that closed last year. They already have a foothold down there in Malibu (ooo!).

In other book retailing news, a local neocon blogger criticizes Green Apple Books in the Richmond District for not carrying a book by Douglas Feith, a DoD hack who was involved in pushing the country to war in Iraq and is now one of the Bush administration’s most mocked and discredited figures. (Googling “Feith +idiot” gets 92,000 hits, for example.) The same blogger elsewhere refers to Feith’s book as “a masterpiece of history,” and in another entry characterizes global warming as “hysteria” and says “the most absurd part of this hysteria is the idea that we should reduce the amount of CO² we produce.” So you can judge for yourself whether he’s credible on bookstore ordering policies.

Speaking of Green Apple Bookstore and the Bush administration, the Chronicle’s Kathleen Pender today quoted the store’s co-owner, Pete Mulvihill, as having a feeling customers were spending their Bush “stimulus checks” at the store, and Luan Stauss of Oakland’s Laurel Book Store said three customers had told her they were doing just that.

A couple weeks ago on the MediaBistro site Agency Spy, a blog about the advertising industry, there was a post about a mysterious (to me) booklet published by “an international trends-led publishing, events and consultancy business” called Piers Fawkes. The booklet, PSFK Snapshot, purported to be a sort of guidebook to San Francisco’s most cutting-edge culture, the places to find the real trend-setters, or “influencers,” which I think is the more current term.

Curious, I ordered the book (seen at left). It’s a square booklet about 4 inches on a side, and about 56 pages long. It lists a few cafes, restaurants, art galleries, community events and so on. The list is pretty standard hipster fare: Blue Bottle Coffee, Red Poppy Art House, The Crucible, Maker Faire, Burning Man. In other words, nothing you wouldn’t learn living in San Francisco for one week, or by reading this blog, SFist, and BoingBoing for a month or so.

I got through the whole book in about 90 seconds, and when I was done I understood even less what the book was for. Suppose it is absolutely essential to know that the most snobbish coffee fanatics go to Blue Bottle. If I’m in the advertising industry, what is that knowledge going to get me?

In fact, I was much more interested in the booklet as a product of the Blurb publishing website, where you can upload photos and text and have them print a pretty little book. If I were a photographer, or preparing a booklet for my mother’s 70th birthday or something, it looks like a great service.

more thoughts after the jump

This is a series- the first one was on Coit Tower

I had another visitor in town- from Belgium, and we were walking around Post St. on a Thursday night. She didn’t drink- and wanted to see something odd/unexpected, so I navigate to the front of St. Francis on Powell at Post St. entered the lobby, walk past Michael Minna, past the first set of elevators to the rotating door, and take a right before the door.

Description & but alas, no photos, after the jump

Californians continue to mount a significant opposition to the state legislatures decision to allow spraying for the LBAM (light brown apple moth). Tomorrow there is a vote scheduled at the state senate that could stop the spraying without the consent of the communities being sprayed. There is transport arranged (pavement reference for those paying attention) from the Ferry Building early am. Taking all interested parties right to Sacramento where you can make your presence felt on this issue.

Interesting the Governator is being quoted as saying that the spray is completely safe for humans. This taken from The SFBG Blog, “Q: Will the Spray Cause Erectile Dysfunction?“:

ABC: Will you comment on LBAM spraying?

Governor: It’s important we do everything we can because it can destroy our agriculture products and harm our environment. Other countries can cut off our agriculture trade. Public safety is my number one priority and there is nothing that shows this program is unsafe.

ABC: Senator Migden is proposing legislation to prevent spraying before an EIR is done. Do u have a position?

Governor: We have done all the studies in the world and nothing says it is unsafe. We wouldn’t spray if it were unsafe.

Ballsy considering that they won’t even disclose the sprays makeup. Duck! Here comes the Trade Secret claim to protect this vendors secret recipe they want to spray on us.

Details From the Flyer in circulation:

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THE SPRAY - Come to Sacramento: Wednesday 4/16 1:30 PM CAPITOL, Room 4202

Agriculture Committee hearing Support LBAM legislation: Five bills and two resolutions collectively correct a broken system in California by providing both the information and the process to enable communities to
protect themselves from the dangers posed by aerial pesticide spraying.

The AG Committee hearing is the main hurdle for these bills. Show your support and make your voice heard during the public comment period! Bring your kids!

Fax or call in support of legislation to:
Assemblymember Nicole Parra Chair Agriculture Committee
Fax (916) 319 – 2130
Phone (916) 319 - 2030

“I am in support of the package of aerial spray legislation, AB 2892, AB 2763, AB 2764, AB 2765 and AB 2760 and related resolutions SCR 87 and ACR 117. I support this legislation because Californians have a right to informed consent regarding pesticides sprayed by the state over homes and communities.”

Sample letter and more info on www.StopTheSpray.ORG.
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Related

• Sign the petition to stop the spraying
• Get Ready To Be Sprayed… But Will “Sexual Confusion” Be Enough?
• SFBG: Mirkarimi: Don’t spray on me
• HuffPo: Bush Administration to Blue-State California: Drop Dead!

I’m on my way out the door to catch Sugar Pie DeSanto at Yoshi’s on Fillmore. I’ll be the guy with the front row table on the right hand side of the stage hootin & hollerin’…

For those unfamiliar with Sugar Pie, she’s a local treasure who was raised on Buchanan street, as well as Etta James cousin and an R&B recording artist since 1955 when she got her start on Federal Records courtesy Mr. Johnny Otis.

Back in the day she recorded tracks with her cousin Etta and Willie Dixon that were hits on the Chess & Checker labels, and she’s still going strong today with her latest CD “Refined Sugar” (found on iTunes).

I caught her last year at the San Francisco Blues Festival where she stole the set she shared with the aged Jimmy McCracklin’. I was impressed with this diminutive lady’s feisty persona, with her seasoned & saucy sense of fun and frivolity.

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While I can hear the bagpipes & marching bands from the St. Patty’s Parade in the background, I know that fans of down n’ dirty white trash rock n roll should be heading over to the Alcoholocaust showcase at Thee Parkside tonight to catch a bad batch of musical acts yer momma woulda warned ya about if she’d ever heard of ‘em.

Appearing at this sordid soiree at Thee Parkside is Mark Curry’s group based outta the Sacto area called Hell’s House Band. Curry, a tall grizzled tatooed biker/model lookin’ dude, spent a few years on Virgin being pimped alongside labelmates like Janet Jackson & Lenny Kravitz, yet was found less on radio playlists, and more likely hanging out in bars at dawn with his pals in punk bands like NOFX.

I’ve thrown in an mp3 below for you to familiarize yourself with his latest musical direction…

Appearing after Curry’s band is a headlining set from Bay Area locals Sorrow Town Choir who are out supporting their second CD “Espinas de la Vida”. Their heathen blend of raw rootsy mid tempo tunes takes it’s cues from the garage rock greats & stadium seasoned sinners alike. If you don’t mind hearing a lil’ whiskey burned Skynyrd riff & a Nick Cave influence or two blended into your indie dirges, this could be a fine show to sit in the shadows & enjoy tonight.

Also on the bill Kemosabe & an acoustic set from Scott Quay of October Allied

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