Burning Man just ended and in case you missed it, there are plenty of pictures on the interwebs for you to check out the various art installations that were planted around the Playa (and yes naked people as well). We’d like to highlight one in particular, since the local Gray Area Foundation for the Arts participated in its creation. Named Syzygryd, it’s a massive 2.5-ton interactive musical sculpture that allows 3 people (regardless of musical ability) to collaborate and make beautiful music together.

At night, it’s alive with lights and fire, showing a visualization the music being created.

You can check out a few more photos by Daniel Garcia here.

Yesterday, Burning Man finished up another year. For those that attended, they are undoubtedly already starting their plans for next year while nursing sun and other anatomical “burns”. For those who did not attend, the once-a-year opportunity to try out Mission & Haight hot spots has passed (Steve should have realized.)

Amidst all the articles that are bound to come this week about how it “changed my life” or “I’m so totally moving to San Francisco now” or “I’m so totally moving to New York now because my Burner roommate won’t shut up about it and the apartment is full of this shit Playa dust” there on the Burning Man blog was an interesting article entitled, State of the Man. Most people are focusing on the fact that Burning Man LLC is finally going to shift to being a non-profit enterprise, which is one of those, “it’s about time” kind of moments. Something that really hasn’t been hit upon (yet) is the location of where they plan to be based in the future, which is somewhere along the 6th Street, Mid-Market corridor.

Obviously, most people outside the area would ask, “Why?” but it makes a good deal of sense due to it being a neighborhood in San Francisco that is in pathetic shape and is currently being locked down by the homeless/advocate industry to create the stagnation in development that you see. A Burning Man arts center would add a stabilizing element that would bring an interesting, eclectic flow of people to the area, albeit a mostly white one initially.

Short of tossing out the current residents of the Mid-Market area, this is one way to improve the area and bring in non-charity based money, that would branch out to grow other businesses. I’ve said it before, but the only way that the Tenderloin is going to grow is a break-out of the lock these certain groups have has upon it for the last two decades. And while I don’t really believe in Burning Man, I do believe in this.

So, the day is here and our inaugural Tendernights event kicks off this evening at 8PM at Edinburgh Castle. We’ve got folks lined up to tell their Loin stories as well as give performances loosely related to the Tenderloin. If you’re thinking, “Dang, I guess I missed out on that call…” think not as you’re welcome to come up and join in the fun if you catch one of us Tenderbloggers to make it known you want in.

But now you’re thinking, “Beyond the fame, glory, and the incredibly powerful adoration of ‘Loiners with drinks, what’s in it for me?” Well, we’re glad you asked, because at the end of the night, the crowd favorite will walk home with this cuddly fellow:

He’s on a print happily-named, San Francisco is for Carnivores by the awesomely meat cut-obsessed Alyson Thomas who blogs here and sells her really super cool prints, here. And if she wasn’t awesome enough, she agreed to donate this print for the TenderNight party because she loves the Tenderloin.

We love meat (sorry, vegetarians!) and we love piggies, but maybe you’re wondering what in tar-nation does this have to do with TenderNights? Well, this piggy is a meat cut diagram of San Francisco and maps of San Francisco are always cool, but more importantly, this is the Tenderloin – a cut of meat (duh!). Lastly there is the fact that the Tenderloin is actually included as a meat cut/district on the map which [ahem] some publications all too often don’t like to do.

Don’t worry if you don’t win this particular prize though, as there will be other Loin-centric (and legal, although not these) goodies so that everyone can go home a winner. Or you can buy ‘San Francisco is for Carnivores’ online.

Really looking forward to seeing everyone tonight!

There are those of us who drive around getting one million dollar speeding tickets because we were born lacking in certain areas and thus have something to prove. Then there are those of us that drive around a used moving truck with a freakin’ shark (laser beams optional) painted on the back of the lift gate. Oh, wait, but it gets better as this guy dressed up the side with even more aquatic glory.

I’ve heard that in between getting mad ass for his truck at Sutter & Leavenworth, this guy also mentors disadvantaged inner-city kittens as well. He’s a class act through and through.

We heard about the Tenderloin National Forest winning a beautification award a while back, but somehow we forgot to report it. These awards, that apparently have been around since the early 1970s, honor projects that “have improved the City’s physical environment and has enriched the life of the community”. We love the TL National Forest, and one of our first posts at the Tenderblog were about its creation.

While it’s just a little alley transformed into a community garden/public art gallery, it’s one of the coolest places in the Tenderloin. So if you haven’t seen it yet, they’re located on 509 Elllis street (at Leavenworth) and open from Wednesday to Saturday between 11AM to 3PM (often later or on other days for special events). Check it out!

In the meantime, you can watch this video by NENtv:

Via our friends over at The Tenderloin Geographic Society, we received this Call for Art to go to the new Tenderloin Art Lending Library (TALL). Yes, this means art that can be borrowed as one might do with a library book, although probably not making the pages sticky.

TALL, the new Tenderloin Art Lending Library is seeking donations of original art. The donated works will be framed, cataloged and placed into circulation. The new Tenderloin Art Lending Library is a free service, building connections between tenderloin artists and their neighbors

What is TALL?
The Tenderloin Art Lending Library, (TALL) is a project for lending and borrowing artwork to Tenderloin residents, free-of-charge. It is a trust-based program where artists provide artwork to be checked out by any member of the Tenderloin Community, all in the spirit of sharing and celebration.

TALL recognizes the importance of multiple literacies: it is as important to understand the beauty of a musical phrase or the composition of a drawing, as it is to learn how to read or compute numbers. TALL is based on the belief that each person in the Tenderloin community can appreciate and understand paintings, prints, drawings and all forms of visual arts expression, TALL provides that opportunity.

Art Guidelines
No hate art. Art that denigrates any group of people will not be considered for inclusion in the TALL collection. Let’s keep it light hearted and pretty. This will be many patron’s first piece exposure to fine art at home, let’s make it an awesome experience

TALL is outreaching to several communities, living in SRO hotels, supportive housing or
small studio apartments. With this in mind, preferred image sizes are 4”x6”, 5”x7”, 8”x10”, and 9”x11”. 11”x14”. If you have a larger piece that you feel is a good fit for TALL, let’s talk about it.

Compensation
TALL appreciates beyond words the generosity each that an artist makes when donating work. TALL will provide a receipt for your donation, certifying your have made a tax deductable donation to a no-profit organization. Furthermore each artist will be listed in the catalog and all promotional material.

North of Market / Tenderloin Community Benefit District (NOM/TL CBD) provides a wide range of support services for TALL; professional advice,
501c3 fiscal sponsorship, some funding and assistance with outreach.

For more information contact:
TALL Coordinator: Rick Darnell
tenderloincommunityartprojects@gmail.com
415-756-2325

Our t-shirt/print shop of choice is, of course, the loin. And even if you don’t live in the Tenderloin, it should be yours too. They not only print t-shirts, but also skateboards and anything that has a flat surface (watch out top of Bill’s head). And basically, they’re all kinds of awesome. For example, on Thursday they gave a free paper printing workshop at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art. Apparently, this museum has a Craft Bar every first Thursday of the month.

You can buy the loin’s designs online or personally at these shops. Or you can make them print your own.

Photos courtesy of Megan Wolfe

Quoting Kevmo over at Uptown Almanac, I’m not big into Etsy but I’m big into this. I love the Orpheum Theatre.

Pillow by NestaHome

You can buy it here, made by an artist from Arizona that goes by the name of NestaHome. She also has it in a print format, as well as a whole collection of pillows and prints of San Francisco. Including this one of the Renoir Hotel, just a few steps away from the Orpheum Theatre:

The surprising thing about this series is that not a single one of the pieces is of the Golden Gate bridge. Shocking.

For some reason, all the opening parties for new gallery exhibits seem to happen on Thursday. Um, there are some of us who don’t do much on Fridays and Saturdays… but, take tonight, for example. Just randomly, we came across three different events while going about our business. At Café Royale, every first Thursday of the month they have one. Tonight was Edward S. de Leon’s Departed Animal Spirits, partially pictured below.

Departed Animal Spirits exhibit at Café Royale

Almost next door to Café Royale, Time Zone Gallery was also having an opening for Andrew Romanoff’s new drawings and paintings. And just a couple of blocks away, Space Gallery on Polk was having a big party for the Grain over Noise group exhibit, “A collection and celebration of analog photography” (apparently they even had a walk in Camera Obscura!) which must have been mighty fun once hitting up the bar they have there.

I don’t know if art galleries are unaware of this (as some of their media outreach is lacking), or if they just think that having tons of parties happening on the same day attracts more people overall. But personally I find Thursdays overwhelming. So many appetizers… so little time…

There are no monthly visual archives for our streets yet, so I have no idea how long Space Gallery has been around, but I’ve been meaning to check it out for quite a while without much success. The first time I saw it walking down Polk I thought it looked interesting, but their website didn’t have much information besides this sentence that really made me want to go to one of their events:

Space Gallery combines an art gallery with a beer, wine, champagne and soju cocktail bar to bring you a great atmosphere in a creative environment.

Unfortunately, their Twitter account is not active, their website claims to be “under construction” and thus only lists very few (random) events but not all. And I couldn’t find a Facebook page (only a personal account). Which is too bad because we hear that they have a lot of cool stuff going on besides art shows, of course. Such as movie nights the last Sunday of the month, or a vintage clothing sale last night according to Kayla (aka @kaybythebay) who is obviously much cooler than us. Check out the photos she posted on their blog Glitter for Breakfast.

And apparently she even bought communal, shiny, feathery hat complete with blue netting (pictured above):

Somewhere between the glasses of glorious sangria, epic bar conversations, and her purchasing a pair of to-die-for leather boots, we got the idea to buy a hat together. Like poor, bohemian best friends do. It’s sparkly and feathery and draped with netting. I have custody this month. I loved the art on the walls, the easy music, and the horchata flavored cupcakes I sampled. Just a lovely laid-back event at a fabulous gallery & bar.

So, dear Tender Readers, can convince Space Gallery to start promoting their events a little better so we can all start enjoying them in the not so distant sooness. I mean, I want to find out exactly which award their sangria has received and double check the certifications on that sangria award giving commission!