Jeff Adachi's Brilliant "You Don't Know Jack"
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Nov. 20‚ 2009
SF Public Defender by day, family man by night, Lord knows how the talented Jeff Adachi finds time to make phenomenal documentaries. His award winning "The Slanted Screen: Asian Men in Film & Television", won at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival and the Berkeley Film & Video Festival respectively. His latest is the aptly titled, "You Don't Know Jack".
Last week, following rave reviews garnered at the recent SF Asian Film Festival and venues around the globe, the Asian Pacific Democratic Club held a screening at Dolby's state-of-the-art theater in Potrero. No one has captured the life and times of the man known first as Goro Suzuki perhaps as well as Adachi. From Suziki's humble beginnings in the East Bay; his family's internment at the Japanese camps at Tanforan during World War II; his escape in Ohio and the origin of his new moniker, "Jack Soo", Adachi takes us on Soo's most improbable journey. A journey that would in fact, pave the way for many Asian Americans in the world of film and entertainment today.
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The 2009 World Series of Poker
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Nov. 13‚ 2009
Last year, relative unknown Peter Eastgate eclipsed Phil Helmuth to become the youngest champion in 10 years. Now, a little over a year later, Joe Cada shattered the record again to defeat Maryland's Darvin Moon to win the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. In the process, the 21 year old Cada, who actually turns 22 next week, became the youngest WSOP Main Event champion ever.
I first wrote about the poker phenomenon back in 2004. Since then, the WSOP has become a mega-event for the poker world, especially since a string of amateurs have taken the title the last several years: Robert Varkoni, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang and Eastgate, with Australian pro Joe Hashem being the exception. Coupled with the success of poker on TV, particularly shows like the "World Poker Tour", anyone and everyone; celebrities, amateurs, housewives, sports stars and musicians have gone poker crazy.
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Steve Gadd & Friends Coming to Yoshi's
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Nov. 06‚ 2009
A well-respected drummer who has appeared in many types of settings in many genres, Steve Gadd's impressive technique and flexibility have been influential during the past 20 years. He started playing drums at the age of three, sat in with Dizzy Gillespie when he was 11, and after extensive study and a stint in the Army, Gadd became an important studio drummer beginning in 1972. Among his more significant jazz associations have been with Chick Corea (starting in 1975), Bob James, Al DiMeola, Tom Scott, Grover Washington Jr., David Sanborn, the group Stuff, the Manhattan Jazz Quintet, and his own impressive band (the Gadd Gang) which recorded for Columbia in 1986 and 1988. Next week, Gadd brings an all star line-up to Yoshi's in San Francisco with keyboardist Joey DeFrancesco, saxophonist Ronnie Cuber and guitarist Paul Bollenback.
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"9500 Liberty" Comes to the Sundance Kabuki
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Oct. 30‚ 2009
Last night at the Sundance Kabuki on Fillmore, saw the premiere of "9500 Liberty", a compelling documentary by filmmakers Annabel Park and Eric Byler. Hosted by Citizen Hope, NDN, Netroots Nation and DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas, 9500 Liberty chronicles the immigration culture war that tore apart a wealthy suburb of Washington DC. The filmmakers capture the escalating conflict as it unfolds in the streets, in online forums, and in the halls of county government. The film provides a cautionary tale of the devastation that may unfold at a national level and a blueprint for how to avoid the same tragic social and economic consequences. Before the film, Moulitsas, Supervisor David Campos and Human Rights Commissioner Michael Yaki, shared their views on immigration at the state, local and federal level.
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Astro Boy 2009
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Oct. 23‚ 2009
Astro Boy was a Japanese manga series created by the famed Osamu Tezuka, (1928-1989), revered in Japan as the "God of Manga." First published in 1952 and appearing as a television program first broadcast in Japan in 1963, Astro Boy was also the first Japanese TV series that embodied the aesthetic that later became known worldwide as "anime". Tezuka's story follows the adventures of a fictional robot and a collection of villains and other characters along the way. In August of 2007, I had the pleasure of seeing "Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga" at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum. It was the first time that anime took its rightful place in the world of Asian art as well as an exhibit that toured the globe. No one deserves the honor more than Tezuka. Now comes his creation's latest epic, "Astro Boy", a 3-D, computer generated film that would likely have made Tezuka smile.
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West Fest Comes to Golden Gate Park
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Oct. 16‚ 2009
On Sunday, October 25th, many of the survivors of perhaps the world's best known concert will return to San Francisco for "West Fest", the 40 year anniversary of Woodstock. Woodstock was not just an event, it was, according to the promoters, "a happening, or a concert with 400,000 people. It was a pivotal moment of realization for an entire generation, an epiphany, a moment of realization for the entire country. The hip movement started in San Francisco a couple of years earlier in the Haight Ashbury and the “Summer of Love” had spread across the nation. There were now millions of hip people with 400,000 of them converging on Woodstock. Woodstock was a statement to the world, “humanity had evolved”, coming together through peace, love and spirituality. An event whose original intent was to make money became the largest FREE event in history. The hip movement had come of age and was recognized by the world. The principles of love swept the country and we had become the 'Woodstock Nation.” Groovy.
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The Stanley Clarke Trio Comes to Yoshi's
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Oct. 09‚ 2009
This weekend, world reknown bassist Stanley Clarke brings his latest incarnation with long-time bandmate, drummer Lenny White and pianist Hiromi Uehara to Yoshi's on Fillmore for promises to be an amazing show. In a career that spans nearly four decades and includes gigs with Return to Forever, Rite of Strings and a variety of other solo and collaborative projects along the way, Clarke – one of the most prominent voices in electric jazz and fusion – had seemingly covered every possible corner of the jazz landscape. But there was one avenue he had yet to explore. “I had never done an acoustic bass record, ever,” he says. “There’s a long list of people on whose records I’ve played acoustic bass – Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Joe Henderson and many others – but I’d never done an acoustic jazz trio record of my own. So I wanted to record one that would just feature the piano and the acoustic bass in a way that you could really hear the bass.”
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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 9
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Oct. 02‚ 2009
This weekend, one of the Bay Area's best music festivals returns for a 9th time to Golden Gate Park, Warren Hellman's "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival". Unlike the recent, high-priced Outside Lands concerts, this perennial favorite is free folks, as most outdoor events should be. "HSB" as it is now affectionately known, began in 2001 as just "Strictly Bluegrass" and since its initial conception, the festival has been sponsored and subsidized by San Francisco venture capitalist Hellman. The first festival originally featured only bluegrass musicians. By 2003 however, artists from other genres were invited and the “Hardly” was added to reflect the expanded scope. Lyle Lovett's Large Band and John Prine will open the festival, and HSB regulars Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Ralph Stanley, Mavis Staples, Ricky Skaggs as well as Hellman's band, The Wronglers also return. Interestingly, actor Steve Martin and his Steep Canyon Rangers will also be on hand, as will Neko Case and MC Hammer.
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Joe Berlinger's "Crude"
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Sep. 25‚ 2009
Yesterday, San Francisco's Peak Oil Preparedness Task Force released their much anticipated report, a comprehensive and important tome that will hopefully serve as a primer, as well as a clarion call. Recently, films like Josh Tickell's wonderful "Fuel", "The Age of Stupid" and "An Inconvenient Truth" have also served as important reminders that we face real challenges in a world of diminishing resources.
Another fantastic film is "Crude", now playing at the Landmark Lumiere. Three years in the making, this cinéma-vérité feature from acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) is the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits on the planet. The inside story of the infamous “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life high stakes legal drama, set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film subverts the conventions of advocacy filmmaking, exploring a complicated situation from all angles while bringing an important story of environmental peril and human suffering into focus
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"Fuel" Comes to the Clay
by E. "Doc" Smith‚
Sep. 18‚ 2009
November 20, 2009
