It's honestly interesting to think about how, 10 years ago, almost every city-backed initiative had some kind of Benioff fingerprint on it, and then like since 2019 or so it gradually shifted to the Chris Larsen show (neighborhood security cameras for CBDs, music fests...)
If I got a letter of recommendation like this I would look into moving to a different planet
for @theflytrapmedia.com today, I wrote about how the fascist fuckos want to us to be spectators to our own lives, isolated from each other and literally throwing money and time away
The Columbine massacre was on this date in 1999. Instead of energizing our country to get gun violence under control, it kicked off a new normal. One of the best explanations ever of journalism's destructive impact on mass shootings came from Roger Ebert in his review of Gus Van Sant’s “Elephant.”
ICYMI: I wrote about the elephant in SF's arts scene. Founded by the mayor and backed by a crypto billionaire, the Civic Joy Fund is propping up a disproportionate amount of the city's cultural life — and forcing musicians to make some tough decisions. www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
In which @soleilho.com visits a queer art gallery in SF and wonders how transmasculinity might be about more than just being a dude. www.coyotemedia.org/queer-transm...
For fuck's sake, sign up for The Onion, and get a free limited edition IW tote.
A share of merch sales will go to the Sandy Hook families, which will be the first time they get any money since they filed this lawsuit eight years ago.
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With the help of the Sandy Hook families, The Onion has reached a long-awaited deal to take over InfoWars.
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Bottoms?
for @coyotemedia.org, I did a deep dive on the growing artist backlash against the Civic Joy Fund, an initiative founded by the mayor & backed by a crypto billionaire to use free arts & entertainment as a means of "economic revitalization" for SF
www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
thanks Damin!
Great job by EmmaRuthless here. As always, the correct thing for cities to do is tax the billionaires and decide what to do with that money through the political system rather than relying on billionaire largess. www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
Salute to an all-time tweet
"The end of Marine World Africa/U.S.A. in Redwood City, like the beginning, sounded completely made up."
Where I pay tribute to the bonkers theme park of our youth, and how its move cemented a Silicon Valley takeover.
Gift link for the Peninsula kids 🎁 🐬 🐯 ⬇️
www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf/arti...
Let them eat block parties In February, at the “Music Industry Summit” — the conclusion to San Francisco Music Week, another Lurie project — I watched as the mayor strode to the stage at the Swedish American Music Hall. There, before an audience of struggling artists, engineers, and small venue staff, he triumphantly reported that the last summer of concerts in Golden Gate Park resulted in “$150 million worth of economic impact,” and that, according to new data, “our independent music venues generate $1.4 billion in economic impact annually.” Lurie paused for applause. “That’s because of all of you in this room.” We clapped dutifully, but the people in that room did not need to be reassured that they had contributed to $1.4 billion in “economic impact.” They would have preferred to hear that any of their favorite clubs might exist next year. The people in that room could use health insurance — and they might be able to afford it if Lurie’s billionaire buddies were taxed appropriately; say, with a one-time 5% excise tax on net worth exceeding $1 billion to save Medi-Cal. But hey, that sentiment doesn’t make for great social media content.
www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo... via jwz
Very important new piece by @emmaruthless.bsky.social
for @coyotemedia.org. Love and respect for all the artists asking hard questions. Let's work on it. www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
A new immersive exhibition called "Mind of a Serial Killer" opened today in New York City and runs through the end of June. No one will be surprised that I did not care for it, but somehow it was even worse than I expected. My latest at @flaminghydra.com:
keeping this one on your feeds
I think my story leaves room for the fact that these events are fun, and many people enjoy them. That can be true and the CJF can still be problematic — many, many artists have issues with it, for a variety of reasons, and have been saying that for a long time
In case you missed it yesterday, @emmaruthless.bsky.social gamely tried to answer a question that pretty much every SF culture person is grappling with right now: how the fuck am I supposed to think about the Civic Joy Fund? Boycott worthy? A necessary evil? www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
🥁
In which some of the most tedious rich blobs in San Francisco seek to cast themselves as half-assed Medicis.
folks i pubbed the biggest story I’ve written in months on a day bluesky was broken, if you think i am not gonna repost it all day today, well www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
COYOTE is a Bay Area publication through and through, but I think this piece probably has corollaries in a lot of big cities struggling to figure out how to fund the arts.
Under what conditions do you accept tainted billionaire money to stay alive as an artist? www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
“You’re not thinking about how to develop or support artists who come from the city … it's a slap in the face to put up some [barricades] in the street and say, ‘Look how wonderful this all is.’”
www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
guys I really, fully lost my mind reporting this story over the last 10 days, that feels like important context for all my behavior both online and off for the foreseeable future
Let them eat block parties In February, at the “Music Industry Summit” — the conclusion to San Francisco Music Week, another Lurie project — I watched as the mayor strode to the stage at the Swedish American Hall. There, before an audience of struggling artists, engineers, and small venue staff, he triumphantly reported that the last summer of concerts in Golden Gate Park resulted in “$150 million worth of economic impact,” and that, according to new data, “our independent music venues generate $1.4 billion in economic impact annually.” Lurie paused for applause. “That’s because of all of you in this room.”
We clapped dutifully, but the people in that room did not need to be reassured that they had contributed to $1.4 billion in “economic impact.” They would have preferred to hear that any of their favorite clubs might exist next year. The people in that room could use health insurance — and they might be able to afford it if Lurie’s billionaire buddies were taxed appropriately; say, with a one-time 5% excise tax on net worth exceeding $1 billion to save Medi-Cal. But hey, that sentiment doesn’t make for great social media content.
this is the subhed of which i am the most proud, i know you were wondering www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
Dang straight. Pay people, have healthcare, support venues.
I appreciate the kind words!
