HappyFt Travels

The YES MEN and GLOBAL EXCHANGE

present a Special Screening of

The Yes Men Fix the World

on its San Francisco debut weekend with Yes Man, Andy Bichlbaum & Global Exchange’s Chevron Program Director, Antonia Juhasz

November 1, 2009
5pm
The Roxie Theater
3117 16th Street, SF

Question and Answer Discussion following the film with Andy Bichlbaum and Antonia Juhasz

Protest Chevron with The Yes Men!
6:45pm

After the Q & A, Andy Bichlbaum will lead the entire theater of moviegoers to the Chevron station at Market and Castro for a colorful, ruckus, creative, protest of the kind only the Yes Men can offer!

Even if you can’t join us for the film, show up afterwards to take on Chevron Yes Men/Global Exchange style! We hope to see you there!!

Tags: Culture Jamming, politics
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Sunday at the West Fest, a free concert in Golden Gate Park, I threw a new line in my carny spiel: “Just like the SF Diggers gave it all away in the Summer of Love, our games are free. There ain’t no line, and it don’t cost a dime!” The SF Diggers have inspired me many times over with their mad, creative urge to make the word “free” the real deal. They gave food away to the wayward runaways that flocked to Upper Haight, inspiring the Food Not Bombs campaigns. They hustled landlords to get living space and then crammed in as many homeless teens as possible to get them off the streets, and the Huckleberry Youth Programs is a reminder of their work. The SF Diggers threw free concerts in the Panhandle, the West Fest was a quasi-unsponsored (they did have logos all over things) example of that legacy. Finally, the SF Diggers created free stores, where money wasn’t considered. The Really Really Free Markets and Clothing Swaps stand as 21st Century Examples of this idea.

The SF Diggers, for good or bad, were tied to the San Francisco Mime Troupe. On top of all that free culture listed above, there were also many puppet performances, spontaneous art happenings, and wild, tripped out parties. The Mime Troupe gave their shows away for free in parks across the City, and they had to fight for that right, inspiring the SF Diggers (and bringing on the hilarious arrest of some of their giant puppets). On the East Coast, Peter Schumann’s Bread and Puppet Theater also began to throw free performances in New York, Vermont, and beyond. And Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino also began free, radical performance from a Mexi-Cali Latino perspective.

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Tags: free, Politics, Puppets
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How often does one have the chance to give a fool a ride back to his house sit in Lower Haight? Before my eyes, in the dark of a sliver moon night in late October, stood Rumpel the Aussie fool. I couldn’t stop staring at his vest, all full of ridiculous shiny things that idiots like me can’t help but look at. I tried to avoid the man’s pointy shoes and the mouse nose that forced Greg Mooney to ask “is that nose your real nose?” Rumpel dodged the answer, saying he has 300 noses, and I believe him.

Poor Rumpel, not from San Francisco and way too stoned to find a direction home (sorry for the Dylan/Hendrix reference, but Jimi Hendrix was the patron saint of West Fest today. His signature even blazoned the label of an energy drink, most likely licensed by the guitar great’s brother. That same sibling was on stage when a rag tag group of guitarists “played” Purple Haze in an attempt to break a world record. I don’t think they pulled it off). Mr. Rumpel was cold, in the dark of Golden Gate Park, and looking for the after party “where some of the bands were going to hang out.” He heard an address and was too high to remember it. Or too foolish to write it down.

But he found me and Greg in the middle of a field chatting. I played with a broken branch and Greg toyed his lit-up unicycle. Rumple showed up and fell in “with the folks you need to meet tonight” (Greg’s words), getting a ride home from Jonathan and the Wonder Truck. We dropped the fool off at the corner of Fillmore and Oak, still unsure about what he was going to stumble into next.
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Tags: carny
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AsiaAlive

Burmese Puppet Troupe

Tuesday through Saturday, October 25 through 31

12:00 noon – 4:00 pm

North Court

FREE with general museum admission

Mandalay Marionettes Theatre from Burma demonstrate their culture’s traditional puppet-making process. Watch them manipulate puppets, and create your own artwork to take home. The Mandalay Marionettes Theatre also presents short performances on Target First Free Sunday.

In conjunction with the special exhibition, Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma.

Performance: Mandalay Marionettes Theatre
Sunday, November 1
12:00 noon and 2:00 pm, Samsung Hall
Free admission sponsored by Target.

Enjoy puppet shows filled with Himalayan adventures, love stories, and dance.

Tags: Puppets
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October 28 - November 8, 2009
8PM, Oct 28 - 30, Nov 4 - 7
2PM, Oct 31, Nov 1 & 8

BRAVA Theater Center
2781 24th St., San Francisco, CA 94110

Ticket Prices
Wed,Thur, Sun: $20; Fri & Sat: $25
*Opening Night (Oct 28): $35 includes performance + post-show reception
*Thursday, Oct 29: Pay-What-You-Wish ($5 min. donation suggested)
*Student, Senior & Group discount available via phone & in person

Box Office: 415 647 2822 | 24/7 Online Box Office

More Info: www.shadowlightghosts.org

Tags: Puppets
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The Treasure Island Music Fest had a good vibe. Not too big (about 10,000 people), not too corporate, and the music was ecclectic enough to not get boring. Only two stages so things didn’t get too loud at Recycle Swish and the GMO Freak Show. Figured out that we had backstage access on Sunday so finally got to find Erminio Pinque of Big Nazo (Providence, RI) and say a quick hello. Wanye from Flaming Lips wandered by me too while I was back there! TIMF did pay a group of artists to create a great, Dust Bowl-era Midway of games for the event, so we got a second-rate placement stuck amongst the vendor tent row. And only had room for one game instead of the contracted two. We made do with what we got and had a good time giving it.

Here’s a pic an official photographer took of me being silly with the Corn Dog. It made it on the festival’s main site!

Tags: carny
Posted in Puppets | | No Comments »