My top 10 SFBG articles of '10

2010 was the year of the tiger and them kitties are supposed to keep away three things in Chinese lore: fires, thieves, and ghosts. I avoided all three! Almost. I did grill this sandwich on a fire:

Que stellar, no? And that's not all! I also logged some magical hours at the Republic of San Francisco Bay Guardian, who has given me a cubicle, grammar lessons, and an editorship (uh-oh, job as an editor? Oh wait, no copy chief here).

I can prove it too. Here's 10 of my most favorite articulates I wrote for SFBG, proof of epical and oftentimes ridiculish voyages about the City by the Bay, all.




1. How they're sitting (10/19)

To date, this story has 180 comments on it, which makes it one of the most bitched-about sfbg.com stories ever. All I know is, getting paid to write a cover story about kicking it with Haight Street kids for three days (with all the Four Loko, hash, and general fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-ness that that implies) isn't half bad. Plus, I got in an altercation with the po-lice! This is why I write. Too bad sit-lie passed though, wtf is up with that SF?



2. Festie lovin' up in the High Sierra (7/6)

A slideshow (thanks Allen!) online piece-moment when life and work came into beautiful synergy. I'm pretty sure I didn't even plan on writing about the High Sierra Music Festival when we trucked up there for the weekend, but I guess something in the mountain air (or was it in the Millenium Faulkner RV?) compelled me to get it all on digital paper. Plus, I met some really cool people who got in touch with me after reading this. Hippies...



3. Test of the Tenderloin (9/28)

When I first started working in the Tenderloin (as a RESTAURANT HOST, don't get crazy on me now), it was a real change of scenery -- which in my reckoning is nearly always a good thing. It is a weird neighborhood tho, and during the four months I researched this story I realized that weird had a name: art-based gentrification. Bizarre. Anyways, this was my other cover article of twenty ten.



4. What I remember of my interview with Yard Dogs Road Show (11/22)

This isn't an actual photo from the article, but it is of Miguel and I the next time we saw each other. Note the satisfied looks of delinquency.

Writers write because they have something to say and stuff -- but they also write because sometimes by virtue of being a writer they get stuck in especially bizarre and wonderful situations. Sometimes (many times) these involve inebriation in the name of your art. Yard Dogs Road Show has always been kind of an aesthetically miraculous explosion of a band for me, but it wasn't until I met their song and dance man Miguel Strong at the Rite Spot Cafe on Folsom and 17th that I began to seriously consider running away with them gypsies. We decided to see what happens to an interview when you get too drunk to interview. Enjoy.



5. Free crystal grass! (4/21)

A white girl explores the city's Asian dessert cafes. Truly, my most incisive piece of food reporting to date.



6. Radical diplomacy: an interview with Guillermo Gomez Peña (11/17)

San Francisco is any million of things to me, but one of them is the path locus of every brilliant crazy in the known universe. Performance artist Gomez Pena was good enough to sit down in anticipation of Galeria de la Raza's 40th anniversary in his baroque bordello on Mission and Cesar Chavez and talk esoteric mumbo-jumbo about art and artist and activism. I love that shit, and his chihuahua Babalu made me believe in chihuahuas again.



7. 360-degrees muralismo (5/11)

This article was part of an ongoing series in which I try to figure out what the hell is going on with this street art-fine art monster mash and includes my favorite Jay-Z misquote of 2010. See also Chor Boogie and endless feedback loops of nostalgia.



8. Sunny Sunday smile (9/14)

Sometimes it's hard to think of relevant things to say about famous people. But sometimes that famous person is Michael Franti and that matters not as much because he just hugged you. Also, commentors on Franti posts are the most warm-inside feeling-makers ever, and for that I say heyyyy I love you. Another piece in this vein was my interview with Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, before he sold all his songs to car commercials.



9. Si se puede: El Tecolote turns 40 (8/11)

I've come to realize that not all of the pieces that I think are killer will get any attention at all by "other people." This is my heavily researched, culturally significant (I think) blog post on the history of El Tecolote, which is the vanguard bilingual community newspaper in the Mission. I think maybe nine people read it online -- we can double that number here!



10. Rapera rules everything around her: Ana Tijoux rising (3/15)

Ana Tijoux is a Chilean rapper, so that'd be enough to make me think she's awesome. But there's more! And she's playing the Elbo Room again on Tuesday, Jan. 18th, so read this and shall we?



That's all. Stayed tuned for my next post, which will be the ten hip-hop R&B videos I chain watch at work but minimize quickly if I think I'm in danger of anyone seeing me.



And I xoxoxoxoxo you,
Caitlin