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Tobacco crackdowns target e-cigarettes, despite their lack of secondhand dangers, raising questions about the basis of current bans

This Week's Paper

Music Video Race, DNA rights, Jack Abramoff, Tablehopping, Seth Rogen, leather party, summer yoga guide, Ed Mock, more. Articles Online | Digital Edition (iPad, Android enhanced)

From the Blogs

Q&A: Vela Eyes on passing out in the studio, taping merch to the car hood, and becoming 'a real band'

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Vela Eyes is a relatively new indie-pop act right out of San Francisco that combines a huge, spaciously synthesized sound with the personality and camaraderie one can only find in decades-old friends. It’s a perfect fusion of the rawness of punk influences with the technical proficiency and sampling-song mapping of a DJ set.

The group has been playing packed shows throughout the Bay since its inception mere months ago, most recently an album release party for its first EP, The Pleasure Sunrise, last week at the Elbo Room. Get to know Vela Eyes before the band's next local gig (you’ve got ‘till July 26): Read more »

The Performant 150: We are the 99% (gay)

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Celebrating Pride Month in the the-ah-tah

We’re already halfway through Pride Month, but there’s no end in sight for the mad whirl of activities you could be availing yourself of. Proud or not, there’s no excuse for a blank social calendar at this time of year. Hate the club scene? Don’t overlook the très gay possibilities of a night in the theatre (Truman Capote wouldn’t). For starters, you might check out one of the ongoing shows over at the venerable New Conservatory Theatre Center, or one by queer theatre stalwarts Theatre Rhinoceros, but for campier fun, The Performant has a few favorites of her own to recommend (being gay not required).

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Republicans are just plain daft

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What do you do when your party is getting clobbered on social media and among a demographic that is getting locked in to vote against you?

Why, adapt to the new thing, of course. In this case, the snarky, pithy and glib lingo of Twitter and FB posts. And what do you goof and eyebrow raise over?

Abortion. Read more »

The Performant: (Somewhat) lost in translation

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"Infinite Closeness" was a little ways off

Reminiscent of Mission parlor-art space The Red Poppy Art House, Subterranean Arthouse in Berkeley, upon entrance, is a lot like entering the living room of an artsy friend. Comfortably mismatched chairs and a few scattered cushions, a kitchenette behind the stage curtains, inviting visitors to endless cups of tea, hardwood floors gleaming below a strand of primitive lighting instruments.

Just four years old as a venue, the Arthouse nonetheless gives off the vibe of a place that’s been around forever, lurking just below the radar, if not actually under the ground (unlike La Val’s Subterranean, it’s actually located at street level). In short, it’s about time I got around to attending an event there.

The piece, “Infinite Closeness” is a solo offering of Hungarian performer Csaba Hernadi, an entirely mimed evocation of the poetess Mari Lukacs, whose life spanned the horrors of the Holocaust, the communist regime, and the usual traumas and blessings of a life lived for poetry.

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Ultimate solution

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What would happen if all Americans simply paid cash for everything?

Can't afford it, don't buy it. And always pay cash for all day to day items so that your purchases do not go into a database.

You say you have had it with a power structure that puts you in debt and tracks your every move? And you don't wanna go through your life with a hook in your mouth and obligated to remain at a soul-starving day job you despise.

This would do it, wouldn't it? Of course, if you're happy being in hock, wage-slaving and a marketer's dream, carry on, by all means.

Tale of two cities

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Interesting piece in the LA Times a few days ago, Our new mayor, Eric Garcetti, wants to bring raves back to Los Angeles. After the death of a 15 year old that snuck into the Electric Daisy Carnival event at the Coliseum, the raves have gone to Vegas, where they're pulling in 100K in attendance. Read more »

Brighten your Monday with the awesome new trailer for "The Wolf of Wall Street"

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You just gotta watch it, and you'll agree: November 15 can't come soon enough. Can Scorsese do what Soderbergh couldn't and get Matthew McConaughey an Oscar nom? Plus: smarmy Jonah Hill in a polo shirt, a DeLorean (?), decadent yacht parties, DiCaprio cradling a chimp (and not uttering the words "Old Sport")...

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Crapitalism

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Happy Father's Day! Be good to your dad (assuming he's alive/you know who he is) and enjoy your kids (assuming you have any/know who they are).Read more »

Jerry Garcia Street

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This spring, me and the missus brought our kids up to the City from LA for the first time, via Big Sur, Monterey and Santa Cruz. It was our best family trip ever--wild turkeys and great hikes in the Sur, hanging on the boardwalk in Cruz and finally, SF. Stayed a few nights in Japantown, climbed Mt Tam, watched the fog envelope the Golden Gate--touristy stuff (I passed on the cable cars, however--they loved them).Read more »

Donald Trump, mega-chump

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The internet was all a twitter (pun intended) over the complete and utter destruction of one Donald Trump by one Danny Zuker. Trump, you know. Zuker writes for the show "Modern Family".Read more »

It's not the "law", it's racism.

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Twitter can be a blast and a half or it can be a nightmare. It was indeed the latter that reared its ugly head right after 11 year old Sebastien De La Cruz sang the national anthem at Game 3, NBA Finals in San Antonio.Read more »

A statement about the Guardian

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Today I named veteran Bay Area journalist Stephen Buel publisher of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

And following the resignation of Editor and Publisher Tim Redmond, I named longtime Bay Guardian editor Marke Bieschke interim editor of the paper.

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MySpace re-launch and Mayor Lee

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Big party in LA last night celebrating the re-launch of My Space. Justin Timberlake, one of the moribund personal networking site's co-owners (along with Specific Media) brought in some of his pals to rock the El Rey.

One can only imagine the reaction this fete got in San Francisco--wonder what Mayor Lee and his pals will dangle in front of MySpace to get them to leave Beverly Hills (and Irvine).Read more »

Guardian forum on Plan Bay Area draws big, engaged crowd

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San Franciscans who want to help shape how this city grows — rather than just leaving it up to regional planners and market forces — packed a large conference room last night for a community forum presented by the Bay Guardian: “Whose Future? What Does the Regional ‘Plan Bay Area’ Really Mean for San Francisco?”Read more »

The Return of the Replacements

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Word from somewhere outta the Midwest is that the Replacements--in many ways the quintessential American indie band--are reuniting for a trio of festival shows. In Denver, Chicago and Toronto. Whether or not the band will add more dates is uncertain, as is the band's lineup. The band's best known living principals, Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson are on board. Read more »