san fransisco

[stumped.]

hey, my girlfriend and i are taking a vacation to san fransisco in a few months, anyone know of neat places to shop or eat or cool things to do? obvs amoeba and hopefully therell be a good show at gilman but i thought i'd inquire here

[Hollow]

Funny, I'm in San Francisco right now. Where have I been so far this trip:

Went to Hemlock, saw Clorox Girls, drank way too much.
Ate at Fellini's, got vegan eggs benedict, drank screwdrivers and mimosa's.
Got into the SF Beer week wrap party (for free, seriously the best part of this trip so far), all you can drink craft beers, drank a shitload
Went to Saturns, a vegan diner in Berkely, got a vegan cheeseburger with chipotle sauce and a vegan mint chocolate chip milkshake

Tomorrow I'm gonna hit up Amoeba Records in San Francisco (apparently it's better than the one in Berkely) and 1,2,3,4 Go! in Oakland, and do some serious record shopping. Go to Mission Ave and get some burrito's. Check out Maggie Mudds and get a vegan banana split. Check out the back of the Slingshot daily planner and check out the bookstores there. 826 Valencia is a pirate themed gift shop run by Dave Eggers, the author who wrote A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and all the proceeds from the shop go towards literacy programs for kids that are run in the store itself (going there when the classes are in session is awesome, rad little kids running around and writing short stories) and is awesome in and of itself. Mission Ave is actually a lot of fun to just walk around on, a lot of great stores and art galleries to check out.

I love this fucking city.

[Human-Demise]

like i said on facebook, go through japan town, super cool.

[officespace]

you saw the Clorox Girls???/ Fuck so jealous amazing amazing band.

[wolfgang]

Hey...who'd the Clorox Girls play with, Willa?

[Hollow]

Clorox Girls were amazing:

We got there around 9:30, and the first band was one of those groups that decided the best way to really put themselves forward was to be "wacky". The lead singer was blonde, really blonde. Like "Holy shit did she dump a peroxide bottle on her head?" blonde. She wore a vest over a one piece bathing suit and a pair of tights. She had a tiara. She also had a really good rack, but that's neither here nor there. The guitar player was wearing a vest/scarf/wacky hat combo. I went back to the bar for drinks.

There were two other bands. I was busy getting drunk. Five dollar tall cans of PBR? Why the hell was I paying five dollars for a PBR? Jesus.

Clorox Girls finally went on at 12:30. We were drunk by then. Everyone was drunk by then. The small room in the back of Hemlock was half filled with kids who could barely stand. The band was stumbling on stage. I got ready for a shit show, and felt it would be worth the $7 admission price to watch a power-pop band completely implode on stage.

And then they started playing. Holy fuck, these guys were tight. Like, beyond tight. They played perfectly, despite the fact that their lead singer/guitar player was so hammered that he jumped on the table we were all keeping our beers on, slipped off, and fell on his back in a pile of broken glass and beer. He didn't drop a single note.

The crowd was amazing. I haven't seen a group of people going that nuts since Head Hits Concrete played the Red Door. Beer was going everywhere, people were dancing like crazy, people would finish their drinks and just throw the glass on the floor as hard as they could, people would come up and give my friends a kiss on the cheek for no apparent reason, people were having a seriously good fucking time.

Clorox Girls ran out of beer two songs in, and started demanding beer in different languages, then started saying they wouldn't play anymore if they didn't get any beer but of course they kept playing because I don't think they knew how to do anything else and then the lead singer knocked over the drums but the drummer didn't give a fuck and kept playing and the bass player just stood in the back looking drunk and awkward and the other guitar player was dressed like Woody Guthrie but fat and the lead singer looked like Lloyd Christmas and then they did their encore and it was Aneurysm by Nirvana and holy shit the entire crowd blew up I didn't think they would blow up I honestly didn't think they had anything left in them but these kids, these 22 year old bike punks and hipsters reached somewhere deep inside themselves and found something, I couldn't tell you if it was drugs or beer or maybe something more deep than that but whatever it was they went nuts, they went fucking ballistic and there wasn't anyone who kept their drinks in their hand and Max did a forward flip stage dive off the monitors and landed on his back and everyone was screaming "Gotta get away" and then it was over and we were outside and some German guy was trying to do a handstand and I was laughing so hard I couldn't light my cigarette.

That was about seven hours after I got here.

[Hollow]

Hey...who'd the Clorox Girls play with, Willa?

The first two bands were no-names I've never heard of before, the band right before Clorox Girls was Midnight Snaxxx and they were pretty good. Only caught a few of their songs but I enjoyed them. Crunchy power-pop.

[shakehurst]

in addition to Amoeba, you should hit up Rasputin.

Golden Era is also a sweet place for vegetarian/vegan eating.

Go to Berkeley and hit up the Rasputin and Amoeba there as well, and go to Herbivore for even more sweet vegetarian/vegan eating. While in Berkeley go to a show at Gilman.

[Hollow]

Went record shopping today. Goooooot:

Ampere-All our Tomorrows End Today 10"
Doomsday 1999-Maniac on the Floor 12"
Phobia-Get Up and Kill! 12"
The Holy Mountain-Here is No Exit 12" picture disc
Spitboy-S/T 12"
planesmistakenforstars-Fuck With Fire 12"
Asunder-Works Will Come Undone 12"

I've also been promised an original pressing of Jane Doe on the rootbeer float vinyl. I'm incredibly stoked on that one, but these things have a habit of not happening. I'm hoping, though. Man, I'm hoping.

[destroy]

lots of good things in Willa's list.

the pork store on haight is my favourite place to eat breakfast in the bay. one of the last times I was there I sat down beside this GQ black dude and we bonded over our bennies.

the Albany Bulb out kinda on the border of Oakland/Berkely is a cool place to see some street art and creativity. check out some of the parks in the city, lots of them have great views. free stuff is best stuff. it's not too far from gilman, as well.

there's a place that has vegan philly cheesesteaks if you're into that. I think it was called Jay's or something.

have a dude threaten to stab you with a rice krispie square, scope babes, watch freaks, take note of how nice everyone is, eat In-N-Out, wear jeans and a hoodie because it's cold. sleep under the bridge on Mission. get a wake up call from the SFPD, find out a gremlin lady was going to eat your skin while you were asleep.

[Hollow]

Oooh, good call on Albany Bulb, think I'll go out there on Thursday.

Went and hung out with my buddy Max tonight. Got high, went to a place called Homesteaders that sells $1 PBR's on Monday. Serious bro time, got trashed for less than $20, and got not only that OP Jane Doe, but also his copy of The Poacher Diaries. It's the repress, but I honestly don't give a fuck.

I'm trashed, awesome night. Gonna do Vegan Soul Food and homework tomorrow, then going to see Rocky Votolato do the entire Makers album with a full band.

Sorry guys, you may have lost me to San Francisco. I seriously wanna move here.

[Human-Demise]

Sorry guys, you may have lost me to San Francisco. I seriously wanna move here.

i think that to my self at least once every day since i was there.

[wolfgang]

Live there for three months, and you won't need to go back for 10 years!