Hicks and his Hot Licks rock Golden Gate Park, double the designers, carny art

Alumnus Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks will perform this Sunday at a free Golden Gate Park concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. They’ll take the stage at 11:40 a.m. in Speedway Meadow. Hicks, a radio and television major who once lived in Mary Ward Hall, joined the Charlatans after graduation and performed with them in 1965 at Virginia City’s Red Dog Saloon–a concert credited as the first psychedelic rock show.

 

And speaking of the sixties, it was back in 1969 when filmmaker Ralph Arlyck, then an SF State student living in the Haight, turned his camera on a free-spirited four-year-old who lived upstairs from him with two hippie parents. Little Sean had plenty to say about the counter-culture lifestyle–comments that shocked and intrigued viewers across the country. Arlyck catches up with his subject 30 years later in “Following Sean.”  Eastern Illinois University’s Booth Library is hosting a screening of the film followed by a facilitated discussion on Sept.12.

San Francisco movie goers have been flocking to the recent slew of Hollywood blocksbusters. In this San Francisco Chronicle  article, alumnus Gary Meyer, co-director of the Telluride Film Festival and head of SF’s Balboa Theater, comments on the recent trend and the record number of sales at box offices across the country this month.

 

Alumni Daniel and David Concepcion are impressing fashionistas with their 2008 spring/summer collection of “casual street wear.”  During their senior year at SF State, the identical twins  took top awards at the University’s annual fashion show. Their Dcepcion clothing label was the talk of  SF Fashion Week.

Renowned folklorist Archie Green, aka “the dean of labor lore,” will discuss his latest work, “The Big Red Songbook,” a compilation of songs and poetry of the Industrial Workers of the World at a special event hosted by SF State’s Labor Archives on the very appropriate Labor Day. The free event, Sept. 3, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at ILWU, Local 34, 4 Berry Street, San Francisco, includes food and music.  

Alumnus Dean Biersch, co-founder of Gordon Biersch microbrewery, told the SF Business Times that he is bringing beer to the wine country. Apparently he is striking out on his own to open a new tavern in Sonoma later this year. It will be called Hopmunk and “showcase craft beers made by small, independent and traditional brewers.”

 

Step right up, ladies and gents, and see alumna Linda Kramer’s “carny art” on display at Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek through Oct. 7. The exhibit offers a glimpse inside the “garish, glamorous, glitzy, and sometimes bizarre” circus and carnival world.  

 

The latest stage and screen happenings

Lianne Marie Dobbs, a 2002 drama graduate and former presidential scholar, has stepped into the role of “Emma” in a new musical adaptation of the Jane Austen novel, now onstage at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts–the subject of a review in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. Critic Steven Winn writes that while the play does not “conform to those burnished ideas of the 1816 English novel that Austen acolytes cherish,” it’s “a buoyant, very well-made new musical that succeeds on its own spry terms.”

 

Bring your lunch. SF State will provide the entertainment. The Brown Bag Theatre, a lunchtime series of free, student-directed works, kicks off the semester with “Week 42″ from Suzan Lori Parks’ “365 Days/365 Plays.” Directed by grad student Terry Beswick, “Week 42″ is part of a long collection of plays about the artistic life (the playwright wrote one per day for a year). 

The performances take place Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, August 29, 30 and 31, from noon to 1 p.m., in the Brown Bag Theatre in the Creative Arts building. We’re told “Week 42″ explores “questions of life and death, greed, human conflict, lust and betrayal.” How’s that for adding a little excitement to your tuna sandwich?

Alumnus Finn Taylor’s black comedy “The Darwin Awards” opens Sept. 7 at the Roxie Cinemas in San Francisco.  The film stars Joseph Fiennes as a San Francisco Police Dept. homicide detective who can second-guess perps’ actions and motivations–but also faints at the sight of blood. When he bungles the capture of a serial killer, he’s fired. He finds a new job at an insurance company, sussing out false claims with the help of a cynical field agent played by Winona Ryder. The film features the last performance of actor Chris Penn.

 

Finn studied poetry and playwriting at SF State before moving into screenwriting in 1994. Apparently he prefers working in SF over Hollywood. He told the San Francisco Chronicle, “I feel really strongly that I stay based up here… I see no reason to work anywhere else.”

A sax great, a search for a cover dog and a bribe from an editor

The best things in life are free. For example, two upcoming performances by jazz musician John Handy. Fans can see him in action at the Art and Soul Festival at the Oakland Civic Center Sept. 1, 2:30 p.m. and at a lunchtime concert at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco on Sept. 20, 12:30-1:30 p.m.  In 1963, when Handy received his bachelor’s degree in music from SF State, he had already played with Miles Davis and John Coltrane and recorded with bass legend Charles Mingus. Critics compare Handy’s mastery of the sax with that of Charles “The Bird” Parker and Benny Carter.

Film critic Jan Wahl, a recent inductee into SF State’s Alumni Hall of Fame, has lent her expertise to a new photo exhibit of fabulous female stars from the silver screen. Wahl wrote the accompanying profiles for “A Dozen Dazzling Dames” on exhibit at the Pier 39 Theatre in San Francisco through August.

Just heard that Wahl is hosting SF State’s annual “Taste of the Bay” in November. The evening of fine wine and dining at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco is a fundraiser for students in the Hospitality Management Program. For more information and to purchase tickets (this event sells out!), visit: http://cob.sfsu.edu/hm/tasteofthebay/

Does your dog have what it takes to be a cover canine? The Bark, a magazine edited by alumna Claudia Kawczynska, is seeking one special pooch for the cover of its upcoming 10th anniversary issue. For rules and information, visit: http://www.thebark.com/ezine/features_specialFeatures/coverdog.html

Filmmaker Arthur Dong will present his latest film, “Hollywood Chinese,” a visual and social history of the Chinese in Hollywood feature films, at the Toronto Film Festival.  Just two years after graduating from SF State’s cinema dept. in 1982, Dong received an Academy Award nomination for “Sewing Woman,” a documentary about his mother’s immigration to America from China. The film was co-written with his sister, Professor of Asian American Studies Lorraine Dong.  For more information on Dong’s films: http://www.deepfocusproductions.com/

Now for the bribe: Here at 19th and Holloway, we’re working on the upcoming fall/winter issue of SF State Magazine, and all is going swimmingly. Except we have one little problem: a blank letters to the editor page! We know you are busy, busy, busy but if you have any thoughts about the spring 2007 issue, please take a moment to e-mail them to: abee@sfsu.edu Tell us what you liked, what you didn’t, what you wished we do in a future issue. We’ll send you a SF State decal for your trouble or a watercolor print of the Golden Gate Bridge or a CD of the SF State Chamber Singers (while supplies last). Just note your preference in the e-mail and please include your address and degree information. Thank you–and please bookmark this blog/check back often!