by Gene Mahoney
America
Freaks Out
SAN MATEO, CA. December
2001 -- Everyone's really going crazy
over this anthrax scare. My printer in Sonoma mailed me a package of newspaper
boards and accidentally sent it to a wrong address. The guy who got the package
was so paranoid he called the cops and they took the package to the police station.
Last I heard my printer called them and San Mateo's finest are going to UPS
the thing to me. I guess the guy never figured to write "Return to Sender"
on the envelope as it had a return address....
As I write this there are armed National Guardsmen patrolling the Golden Gate
and Bay Bridges. Restaurants are empty, hotels are half-full. Even the roads
seem to have less traffic on the weekends. Hell, I was in Los Angeles the weekend
after 9/11 and traffic was so light I made it from Beverly Hills to San Francisco's
Ingleside district in less than 5 and a half hours. I wasn't even driving that
fast....
When 9/11 happened I thought to myself, This is so tragic yet I'm amazed it
didn't happen sooner. My dad worked for American Airlines so as a kid I flew
a lot. I know it's very chic for seasoned travelers to be blase about air travel
and never marvel at it, but to this day I'm still astounded that you can travel
from New York to California in less than 6 hours. I always thought that security
was not that tight, considering all the people that fly. "Seasoned travelers"
would often yell at security people because they had to take a whole extra minute
to have a metal detector waved around them while they chased that flight they
were running late for (never thinking of arriving on time to the airport). Most
people I spoke with said they were also surprised a 9/11 never happened sooner,
except for my friend John Saitta, an old high school friend from Long Island
who now resides in North Carolina. John feels that his fellow gun owners are
being unfairly maligned. After all, he says, the terrorists didn't shoot their
way onto the flight. They simply had box cutters. So if you think of it, what
good are all these National Guardsmen at airports? He has a good point. You
could kill someone with a spoon. I don't see any easy answers to this one. Before
you genteel Bay Area PC-types dismiss my pal John as being a right-winger from
the south, consider what else he says:
That we wouldn't have all these problems if we stopped bombing Iraq and these
other countries. That's why these people hate us. John's a strict Constitutionalist
and says we should stop supporting other countries. I won't commit to it, but
that may not be such a bad idea if you really think about it. He's got a point
about this new airport security, especially considering the next big attack
probably won't take place on an airplane. John and another ex-Long Island friend
of mine, Erik (now residing in Vermont) did some brainstorming and discovered
there are numerous ways, for not much money, to inflict nuclear warheads and
bubonic plague on America. I could go into it, but I won't. I'd hate to be the
guy that gave some nut his master plan....
New and notes, this and that....
Oh, I forgot to mention this, but I got Anthrax in the mail. Not that kind of
anthrax, but the new CD from the old ë80's death-metal band, which is now
out via Beyond Music. I actually got it in the mail just after issue 23, so
by now you've read Rob Morse in the Chronicle and numerous other columnists
joke about it. That's what happens when you have a monthly paper. Issue 23,
the last one with a color cover, was probably the least picked-up SF Herald
edition yet. It came out right after 9/11, so the cover story about stem cells
really wasn't an attention grabber. Anyway, back to Anthrax; the members of
that band have emailed us to announce:
In light of current events, we are changing the name of the band to something
more friendly, "Basket Full of Puppies"....
Kimberlye Gold emails that there is a "fascinating guy" who lives
in Berkeley and has a web site, www.robnilsson.com, which is about this underground
film movement he started out of San Francisco's lovely Tenderloin district,
which apparently has gotten national attention. He had a film titled Scheme
C6 in the recent Mill Valley Film Festival, has won awards at Cannes, and has
this whole wild story about his homeless brother being his muse....
South End Press emails me of a new release: Power Politics, by Arundhati Roy, the internationally acclaimed author of The God of Small Things, explores the politics of writing and the human and environmental costs of development. Roy challenges the idea that only experts can speak out on such urgent matters as nuclear war, the privatization of India's power supply by U.S.-based energy companies, and the construction of monumental dams that will dislocate millions of people. For more information on this title: www.southendpress.org/books/powerpolitics.shtml....
This month the SF ALT Music Festival will present two evenings of music to raise money for the formal festival event, which will take place over 4 nights in May 2002. The fundraisers will occur on November 17th at TUVA (3192 Adeline Street in Berkeley, (510) 655-9642) and November 18th at the Musician's Union Hall (116 -9th Street in SF, (415) 905-4425). Contact the organizers to make a donation at sfaltmusic@topica.com....
Joe M. Pelayo, C.E.O. and founder of Joseph Michaels, Inc. has numerous positions available at numerous companies (President, CFO, VP of Finance, Treasurer, CPA's, etc.). Send resumes for immediate consideration to: Staffing@josephmichaels.com.... Want to keep the SF Herald alive? Then use the coupons in this issue!!!...
There's
a relatively new trendy women's clothing store on 248 Fillmore (@ Haight) called
Sugarpuss. It opened on August 1st. Sugarpuss boasts designs by Lip Service,
Tripp NYC, Space Cowgirls, Porn Star, Fine, and Exotica. By the time you read
this you will probably have missed it, but they're having a fashion show at
Justice League on November 18th with a live performance by Thunderpussy....
Mission Trail Mural Walks are cultural and historical walking tours along Mission
Street and the 24th Street corridor in the heart of SF's historic Mission district.
Saturdays and Sundays, 1:30pm: Meet at Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors
Center at 2981- 24th Street @ Harrison. Tour includes a brief slide presentation
on the history and process of mural art and tour of over 70 murals within a
6-block walk. Admission $12 general, $8 with a college I.D., $5 for seniors,
and $2 if you're under 18. Other tours available. For more info contact Michelle
M. Barnett at (415) 285-2287 or email pem@precitaeyes.org....
A fundraising event for the San Francisco Education Fun (Ed Fund) takes place
at the Hyatt Regency (Market @ Drumm). The Ed Fund annually provides over $200,000
in grants. The grant awards are used to support professional development efforts
for teachers and innovative classroom projects. For ticket info contact Leslie
Murdock at (415) 912-2226 or email leslie@sfedfund.org.... Karney, a singer
apparently into "alternative rock and urban beats" keeps sending me
promo cards in the mail and sad to say, I've been to busy to attend her shows
at Tongue and Groove and elsewhere. Her CD is now available at Amoeba Records
and the Tower Records at Market and Noe. Hey, Karney, next time send me a CD,
too. I'd like to hear it.... Upcoming events at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for
Books (601 Van Ness at Opera Plaza): 11/26 - Local favorite Oakley Hall is back
with a new historical novel featuring that prince of San Francisco, Ambrose
Bierce.
The star journalist investigates the disappearance of a Hawaiian princess in
Ambrose Bierce and the Death of Kings. 11/27 - Abigail Adams was the matriarch
of America's first family dynasty, an ardent supporter of women's rights, and
the most influential woman in Revolutionary America. 11/28 - In Dearest Friend,
Lynne Withey captures all sides of this fascinating woman. Peter Kurth reads
from his biography of artist Isadora Duncan. 11/29 - Tom Perrotta, author of
Election, moves onto the university in his new novel, Joe College. All readings
start at 7:30pm.... An upcoming star is my new hairdresser! Qwen Majia, winner
of "R& B Artist of the Year" and "Blues Artist of the Year"
at the first ever SOS (Sounds of Soul) Music Awards treks all the way down from
Sacramento each weekend to cut hair at Yavar for Hair in good ol' Shallow Alto.
Qwen was honored with those awards by The Sacramento Observer, "the most
honored black newspaper in America". You go, girl!
John Waters and Tammy Fae (Bakker) at the Castro Theatre!
Thanks to local promoter Ian Brennan for getting myself and San Francisco's
hottest new artist Laurie Jacobs on the guest list to a truly surreal event
-- shock filmmaker John Waters and disgraced former television evangelist Tammy
Fae (she has since remarried and dropped former husband James Bakker's last
name) appearing together at the Castro Theatre on November 8th! On the guest
list line we ran into former Dead Kennedys lead singer Jello Biafra, whom I
asked to write a column for me. He politely turned me down, as he explained
he doesn't write good columns, but look for an interview with the spoken word
activist in this newspaper soon.
Jello was with artist extraordinaire Winston Smith. Sad to say, John Waters
and Tammy Fae didn't share the stage, which many of us thought would be the
case. Laurie was excited when fellow Baltimore native Waters walked on stage
wearing bright red shoes, a shiny gold suit, and his signature pencil mustache.
I bought a used cassette (for only a quarter at the old Foghorn Music) of the
Pink Flamingos director reading from his book Shock Value and really enjoyed
it. His monologue at the Castro was pretty much in the same vein. John finds
it bewildering that it's okay for people get offended at his offbeat movies
but it's not okay for him to get offended at feel-good movies like Forrest Gump
(he says he really hated the barn-raising scene in Witness). He says he loves
attending almost all movies, even children's films (which he attends alone and
isn't surprised to see worried parents staring at him as he's fully aware that
he looks like a child molester).
Regarding world affairs, he thinks the U.S. army should be led by militant lesbians,
because they sure as hell would track down bin Laden. After a brief question
and answer session with his adoring public, John exited and there was an intermission
as the stage crew assembled a bed and some furnishings on stage for the former
Ms. Baker. Tammy Fae entered through the cheering crowd, belting out (and flubbing
the lines to) some song (I should have taken notes). Taking the stage, she finished
singing, and announced to the audience that she needed a bed on stage for comfort,
because when she was a little girl her mamma and stepdad would fight and she
would hide under the covers, hoping that daddy wouldn't run away again. I didn't
see the recent movie The Eyes of Tammy Fae, but apparently the makeup queen
has become a big favorite with the gay crowd. She walked the crowd and guys
fawned all over her.
She held the microphone to a few of them (including one nut that stripped down
to his underwear) and received gushing compliments about how great she was.
(?????????) Shortly after that, I fell asleep, woke up when Tammy worked the
balcony crowd and then dozed off again. I awoke a second time to hear her belt
out that feel-good song about turning lemons into lemonade. People were walking
out on her performance. Laurie and I wanted to as well, but we started to feel
sorry for her. Then we thought of those nasty little scandals she was involved
in 14 years ago and realized that no desire for '80's nostalgia was worth this.
On the way out I wondered if she would have a question and answer session like
John Waters did. And if so, would Jello Biafra stand up and ask her anything.
Now that would have been worth sticking around for. Praise the Lord.
Help the women of Afghanistan
If you want to "sign" an email petition to the United Nations regarding
Afghani women, please contact: sarabande@brandeis.edu. Here is the info introducing
the petition she sent me, word for word:
Madhu, the government of Afghanistan, is waging a war upon women. Since the
Taliban took power in 1996, women have had to wear burqua and have been beaten
and stoned in public for not having the proper attire, even if this means simply
not having the mesh covering in front of their eyes. One woman was beaten to
death by an angry mob of Fundamentalists for accidentally exposing her arm (!)
while she was driving. Another was stoned to death for trying to leave the country
with a man that was not her relative.
Women are not allowed to work or even go out without a male relative; professional
women such as professors, translators, doctors, lawyers, artists and writers
have been forced from their jobs and restricted to their homes.
Homes where a woman is present must have their windows painted so that she can
never be seen by outsiders. They must wear silent shoes so that they are never
heard. Women live in fear of their lives for the slightest misbehavior.
Because they cannot work, those without male relatives or husbands are either
starving to death or begging in the street, even if they hold Ph.D.'s.
Depression is becoming so widespread that it has reached emergency levels. There
is no way in such an extreme Islamic society to know the suicide rate with certainty,
but relief workers are estimating that the suicide rate among women must be
extraordinarily high; those who cannot find proper medication and treatment
for severe depression and would rather take their lives than live in such conditions.
At one of the rare hospitals for women, a reporter found still, nearly lifeless
bodies lying motionless on top of beds, wrapped in their burqua, unwilling to
speak, eat or do anything, but slowly waste away. Others have gone mad and were
seen crouched in corners, perpetually rocking or crying, most of them in fear.
It is at the point where the term "human rights violations" has become
an understatement. Husbands have the power of life and death over their women
relatives, especially their wives, but an angry mob has just as much right to
stone or beat a woman, often to death, for exposing an inch of flesh or offending
them in the slightest way.
Women enjoyed relative freedom: to work, to dress generally as they wanted,
and to drive and appear in public alone until only 1996. The rapidity of this
transition is the main reason for the depression and suicide; Women who were
once educators or doctors or were simply used to basic human freedoms are now
severely restricted and treated as subhuman in the name of right-wing fundamentalist
Islam. It is not their tradition or ëculture', but it is alien to them.
And it is extreme even for those cultures where fundamentalism is the rule.
Everyone has a right to a tolerable human existence, even if they are women
in a Muslim country. If we can threaten military force in Kosovo in the name
of human rights for the sake of ethnic Albanians, citizens of the world can
certainly express peaceful outrage at the oppression, murder and injustice committed
against women by the Taliban.
If you wish to read more click here!
Gene can be emailed here