Wonderfest 2009, The San Francisco Bay Area Festival of Science, takes place on November 7th at Stanford’s Hewlett Teaching Center and on November 8th at UC Berkeley’s Stanley Hall. Admission is free, here’s how to register.

Through public discourse about provocative scientific questions, Wonderfest aspires to stimulate curiosity, promote careful reasoning, challenge unexamined beliefs, and encourage life-long learning. Wonderfest achieves these ends by presenting series of scientific events to the general public. At most of these events, pairs of articulate and accomplished researchers discuss and debate compelling questions at the edge of scientific understanding.

via Susie

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City Arts & Lectures presents John Hodgman in conversation with Merlin Mann on Saturday, November 7th at Herbst Theater in San Francisco. Here’s more info.

American author and humorist John Hodgman has appeared as the Resident Expert on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” “PC” on Apple’s “Get a Mac” TV ads, and was the headline speaker at the 2009 Radio and Television Correspondents dinner in Washington D.C. After graduating from Yale in 1994, he toiled in the trenches of the publishing industry. The experience led Hodgman to write an ironic advice column for McSweeney’s entitled, “Ask a Former Literary Agent.” In his first book, The Areas of My Expertise, Hodgman explores topics from the idiosyncrasies of famous detectives to Colonial jobs involving eels. In his role as Resident Expert on “The Daily Show,” Hodgman has offered insight and commentary on art authentication, presidential candidate style, hurricane season, and mixed martial arts. Hodgman’s latest book, More Information Than You Require, deals with more of the esoteric, charming and just plain eccentric topics that catch the author’s fancy. From tips on buying a computer from a street vendor to get-rich-slow schemes, John Hodgman’s humor revels in a culture saturated with experts of every stripe.

Creator of the website 43folders, Merlin Mann seeks to help ordinary people find “the time and attention to do your best creative work.” Mann’s forthcoming book Inbox Zero, will be published by HarperStudio in 2010.

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photos by Scott Beale

A few photos from last night’s Halloween Benefit for Ace Auto’s Bill the Junkman at CELLspace in San Francisco.

Photo Gallery: Ace Auto Halloween Benefit

UPDATE: Here are more photos of the event by Helena Price.

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photo by Luke Sharrett

photo by Jewel Samad

New York Times’ The Caucus reports on Halloween at The White House, where Barack Obama dressed as a casual President and first lady Michelle Obama in a cat woman outfit, greeted over 2000 trick-or-treaters at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

So what kind of loot did the president prepare?

A white-and-blue box of M&Ms — imprinted with Mr. Obama’s autograph — and a sweet butter cookie made by the White House pastry chef. And in keeping with the theme of healthy eating inside the White House that Mrs. Obama has promoted, the children were also given a dried fruit mix of cherries, apricots, pears, apples and papayas.

photos by Jonathan Ernst & Kristoffer Tripplaar

United States ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice dressed up as Goofy and The White House press secretary Robert Gibbs came as Darth Vader.

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photos by Scott Beale

Here are a few photos from last night’s Pre-Halloween party hosted by Violet Blue and Ben Metcalfe the Blogger Bungalow III.

Photo Gallery: Pre-Halloween at the Blogger Bungalow III

UPDATE: Here’s Violet’s write-up and photos on the Pre-Halloween shenanigans.

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photos by Scott Beale

Here are a few photos from the first night of the Tom Kennedy Art Auction to benefit the Ripper Journey Foundation. On November 7th there will be a Rock Star Hat Party, followed by a Closing Night Party on November 12th.

Photo Gallery: Tom Kennedy Art Auction

Here are some more photos and video from Emily Duffy.

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photos by Scott Beale

A few photos from last night’s Full of Win Happy Hour with Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh at Citizen Space to celebrate the release of the three new books based on their blogs I Can Has Cheezburger?, FAIL Blog and GraphJam.

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Spider Ball, an annual fundraiser for the Black Rock Arts Foundation takes place on Halloween, this Saturday, October 31st at The Bently Reserve in San Francisco.

Spider Ball is an annual fundraising Halloween extravaganza hosted in tandem by The Bently Reserve and Playa Love, a Burning Man camp dedicated to promoting local organizations and communities both on the playa and at home. Thrown at the historic Bently Reserve, it is a halloween celebration with an underground approach of decadence and elegance that is all freak and funk. There is the main banking hall hosting the main stage performances, beds to chill around the perimeter, a separate chill room and 6 bars.

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guest post by mikl-em

photo by Scott Beale

Saturday, October 31st more than a dozen bands, performers and DJs will sing swan songs to everybody’s favorite junkyard in San Francisco and the world to raise funds for the Junk Man who has run it for a quarter century as a selfless patron of all those who turn mere ‘dumpster diving’ into the art of divining precious obtanium.

Ace Auto Dismantlers will itself be disassembled by the last day of 2009. Meanwhile there’s a Halloween night ruckus planned at CELLspace to raise spirits and funds for the man behind the yard. All the artists, musicians and metal-reanimators will return 2.5 decades of favors, and throw a party to scare away the bill collectors scratching at Bill the Junkman’s chamber door.

photo by Scott Beale

YOU can come and put some much needed cash in the till, and get rocked, amused, bemused, and dance your junk off. The likes of Extra Action Marching Band, Mark Growden, Attaboy and Burke (they’re back!?!), Los Banos, SEEMEN and many more. All hosted by the singular duo of Dr. Hal Robins & John Hell.

The show is on Halloween Night, Doors are 8PM, show starts at 9–and what a show, full details below. Ticket price is $10 sliding all the way up to how much art and culture mean to you. Please be generous–Bill has tens of thousands in legal fees in trying to fight eviction and related costs.

Dress like as a junkyard zombie, a piece of haunted junk, the ghost of Power Tool Drag Races past, a homeless trash pile, or a nuclear irradiated pirate on a garbage skiff. The Bill the Junkman lookalike contest is sure to be a hoot (girls and guys both encouraged to enter!).

photo by Scott Beale

For me, ACE was one of THOSE PLACES. One of the place in my life that I count on the fingers of one hand. You know what I mean; we all have those places and regardless of our luck in life, good or bad, there are only a handful of them. These places are where the good things happened. Where we met or really got to know our real friends. Where we made the memories that we will take to our graves. The good times. The stupid time. The places where, perhaps, we did really dumb and embarrassing things, and, wonder of wonders, no one cared. Ace was that place for many of us.

During these 25 years, Bill Kennedy (AKA: Billy the Junkman, Junkman, Belinda, William Kennedy and “Ed” among other nom de plumes) evolved into one of the most atypical, generous and best loved art patrons and philanthropists in Frisco.

From the early days of SRL (Survival Research Labs) scrounging big engines and other industrial strength gadget from Ace for use in cobbling together various demonic robots, thru the later era of Burning Man Burnoids picking through the junk in search of just the right widget to make their Playa blinky thing work, Billy has given away more junk (the good junk he could have sold for $$) to starving artists than any fancy schmancy grant council could even imagine.

I hope you will all come out to support William Kennedy in this very difficult transition to the next phase of his life. I KNOW, that without The Junkyard he will still be The Junkman. It won’t be easy to convince him of the truth of that statement, but I think we can do it. See you on Halloween.

-John Law

photo by Scott Beale

Billy is out tens of thousands of dollars from paying an attorney to fight his evil landlady. Let’s help out & raise some dough for a guy who never hesitated to help others when in need. This night, Halloween, 2009, we will conjure the Spirits of the Junkyard long gone. We will usher out the age of ACE and, hopefully help the Junkman ease into his future, whatever that may be.

Here’s the lineup I’ve been bragging about…

MC’s Dr. Hal Robins & John Hell

Attaboy and Burke (who’s first performance ever was at the Junkyard in 1998)

Extra Action Marching Band (in action)

Los Banos

The Turks

Mark Growden

Esmerelda Strange

Marisa Lenhardt

DJ Stradivarious Rex, aka our own zombie lover Big Daddy

Kal Spelletich (SEEMEN) (SEEMEN in action)

K r © B

David Apocalypse

Paul Cesewski

Hammer Horror Classics

Mr. Mark (of Lifesized Mousetrap) & Madame Rose (of Baxtalo Drom), former reigning champs of Halloween with The Haunted Barn, will predict your future

…and loads of archival footage, art, and assholes!

Bill The Junkman himself will take the stage at some point, handing out ceremonial Junk of the finest quality and pedigree to lucky members of the audience.

See it all on Saturday, October 31st at 8pm @ CELLspace

Some of the many folks helping with this Tip O’ the Hat and expression of Love and Respect for Billy The Junkman are: Katy Bell, Simone Davalos, Mark Perez & Rose Harden, Dave X, David Durand, and Linda Lagunas

photo by Scott Beale

Though hundreds came and went over the years, there was a very rare breed who were actually EMPLOYED by the Junkman. So respect and recognition for the special few who pulled a paycheck (or cash or buds or…) at the finest Junkyard in San Francisco’s long, gleeful and sordid history. They including, in no discernible order:

Dave Durrand (#3), Julian Xu, Mark (Einstein) Hampton, Justin C. Atwood (Jarico Reese), Rob (Pervert) Hampton, Simone Davalos, Tym (Circus Boy) Simpson, Sue Glover, Joe Dean, Cheri (Rat Girl) Brugmann, Michael Lyons, Kim Knight, Samantha Campos, Jillian Iva, John Castro, Michael (Flash) Hopkins, Phil Sanchez, Kevin Mathieu, and Nick.

Ace Auto is Dead! Long Live Ace! — Video by Dave (Number 3) Durand

Maybe it’s not surprising that scrappy artists and a scrap yard owner find mutual benefits and common cause, especially in the colorful and costly city of San Francisco. But please come enjoy the creativity and contrariness of some fantastic performers, and also celebrate and help support a guy who has been pouring fuel on that fire for 25 years.

photo by James Sime

See Simone’s earlier post for more on Ace, and don’t forget to READ THE COMMENT THREAD to get bludgeoned even harder by how important the man and the ‘yard were for the SF art community.

This John Law post was channeled through mikl-em.

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photo by J. A. Ellingson

In April our friend the amazing artist Tom Kennedy died in a tragic downing accident at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. The Ripper Journey Foundation has been established in his memory and a three-part art auction fundraiser will take place from October 28th through November 12th at the Jellyfish Gallery in San Francisco.

Friends and family of the legendary San Francisco artist Tom Kennedy will host a three-part benefit and art auction to benefit the Ripper Journey Foundation beginning October 28 and running through November 12 at the Jellyfish Gallery in San Francisco. The public is invited to participate and attend free of charge.

Tom Kennedy passed away April 12, 2009 while body-surfing off Ocean Beach in San Francisco. He left behind a legacy as a pioneering sculptural artist, social agitator and builder of more than twenty art cars. As a founding member of the art car movement, his works of art work evolved into symbols of political protest and peace keeping. Tom envisioned his beloved and most recognized art car, Ripper the Friendly Shark, traveling around the world with a crew called the Friend Patrol. Together they would inspire and support friendship and peace in conflict zones where people perceived as enemies live and work together. The art auction will raise money to send Ripper the Friendly Shark on this mission at least once a year.

The three-part fundraiser will kick off on October 28 with a silent auction and live performances and wrap up on November 12 with a live auction. An ever-growing list of artists have donated artwork to be auctioned with all proceeds to benefit the Ripper Journey Foundation.

Featured artists include Tom Kennedy, Haideen Anderson, Margot Duane, Karen Cusolito, Michael Christian, Brian Goggin, Dan Das Mann, Jon Alloway and Kal Spelletich.

The event will also showcase photos, art and videos about Tom Kennedy and the Ripper Journey Foundation created in his memory. All pieces in the silent auction will also be online at tomkennedyart.com.

EVENT DETAILS

Venue: Jellyfish Gallery at 1286 Folsom Street, San Francisco

October 28th ~ Opening Night
6:00 pm until Midnight

Wine, Cheese, Music – Silent Auction begins.
A special performance by Mark Growden and Phat Mandee

November 7th ~ Rock Star Hat Party
6:00 pm until Late Night

Everyone MUST wear a hat.
Main Act: Tom Jonesing + more entertainment to be announced.

November 12th ~ Closing Night
6PM until Midnight

Silent auction ends at 10:00 pm
Live Auction featuring Hal Robbins and Chicken John

About Ripper Journey Foundation

The Ripper Journey Foundation was created by the friends and family of Tom Kennedy to make his dream come true: to send his first art car Ripper the Friendly Shark around the world inspiring and supporting friendship and peace. By raising money the Foundation will make it possible for the Friend Patrol to accompany Ripper the Friendly Shark on at least one journey per year to conflict zones where people perceived as enemies live and work together in the name of friendship and peace. For more information go to: tomkennedyart.com

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guest post by RICK!

This month’s Tweed Ride concluded with a match of wits and brawn amongst ladies and Gents, the Chap Olympiad!

Events included:

Umbrella Jousting!

Cucumber Sandwich Toss!

Mustache Tug-’o-War!

3-Legged Pipe Smoking Relay!

Get on the Tweed mailing list to learn about the next one. Special thanks to Joseph Hren for conceiving and organizing the event. It was all quite silly.

photos by RICK!

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Art of Bleeding presents a remix of one of those classic Halloween Safety films.

At of the height of the razors-in-apples hysteria, films like these ruined Halloween in classrooms everywhere. (Or did the fear make the holiday more exciting?) Now it’s Art of Bleeding’s turn to slash and adulterate these questionable cinematic treats.

Art of Bleeding will be premiering their special Halloween show “The Spirits of Safety” on October 25th at the California Institute of Abnormal Arts (CIA) in Los Angeles.

The Art of Bleeding presents the LA PREMIERE of special Halloween show, “The Spirits of Safety,” the latest installment of Magic Ambulance Theater, in which Abram the Safety Ape and RT the Robot Teacher discover Halloween’s connection to True Safety Consciousness through the unnatural use of a CPR mannequin, ectoplasmic mishaps, and the siren charms of the Art of Bleeding nurses. The evening also features a squirmy Breast Cancer Awareness Tutorial and the burn ward comedy of Art of Bleeding’s resident “funmaker” Dr. Sunshine. Guest internCreekbird contributes his unique brand of musical quackery, and Polly Peabody stops in with a burlesque tribute to the good old days of mail-order morphine. The evening will begin with a sneak peek at “GORY DETAILS” our YouTube video series based upon first-person medical emergency stories recorded in the AoB ambulance. Each episode recreates a different true-life story with the help of costumed characters, puppets, and animation. (Doors 7pm, Videos 8pm, Live show 9pm).

At the show they will be giving a preview of the new Art of Bleeding YouTube series “Gory Details”, based on true medical emergency stories.

The “Gory Details” videos are based on true medical emergency stories solicited on public streets from random passersby and recorded in the group’s “magic ambulance” or via the Gory Details hotline. Each episode recreates a different account with the dysfunctional kid’s show characters and a cast of inappropriately clad cast of nurses. Art of Bleeding also performs lives shows featuring these same and similar characters.

Here’s the Art of Bleeding performance “Crawl Away Kids” from How to Destroy the Universe Festival 6 which took place in Oakland back in April.

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Fright Night, a fundraiser for our friends over at Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda, takes place this Saturday, October 24th.

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flyer by Hal Robins

Our good friend and amazing artist Hal Robins, of the Ask Dr. Hal Show, is having a solo art show “The Productions of Time” at the Mercury Cafe in San Francisco. The opening party for the show is this Thursday, October 22nd from 7-10pm.

ART SHOW OPENS OCTOBER 22ND IN S.F. at Mercury

A party and performance will highlight the opening of a new art show by Harry S. Robins, a.k.a. “Dr. Hal,” Thursday, October 22nd at the Mercury Café, 201 Octavia Street at Page, evening from 7:00 to 10:00 PM.

The show comprises a number of illustrations, pages of comic book work and previously un-shown works, all for sale. In addition, the show intends to provide a limited number of “Dr. Hal’s” books for sale at the opening:

The Meaning of Lost and Mismatched Socks (which is becoming quite a rarity– Random House is out of them), Dinosaur Alphabet and Alien Apocalypse 2006, including autographed and dedicated copies.

This may, in the current state of publishing, be the last, best chance to get some of these.

Affordable Art Prints of many of the pictures can be ordered from Studio Reflex of San Francisco– forms will be available at the opening and for the duration of the show.

There will also be a live performance by “Dr. Hal” ably assisted by KrOB’s visual and auditory magic!

The Mercury, serving organic and fair trade coffees and locally produced foods, can be reached at (415) 252-7855.

Speaking of Hal, the Ask Dr. Hal Show has returned and now takes place Friday nights at the Chez Poulet Gallery-Cabaret in San Francisco.

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photos by Scott Beale

Here are a few photos I shot last night at w00tstock v1.0, a wonderful geekfest featuring Adam Savage, Wil Wheaton and Paul and Storm, Molly Lewis, Kid Beyond and Kasper Hauser. Tickets are still available for tonight’s October 20th show in San Francisco and tomorrow’s October 21st show in Los Angeles.

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photo by Bob Masse

West Fest, a free concert celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock, takes place from 10am-6pm on October 25th at Speedway Meadow in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The event will be live streamed via TodoCast.

42 bands, 3 stages and 26 poster artists. Solar domes, Alternative vehicles, Electric bikes, Native American Tipi Village, Sustainable Living Road Show, Conscious Art Gallery, Light Temple, Holistic Healing Section, Hooper Heaven, Rock’n Green Kids Zone and Eco Village vendors. Narada Michael Walden featuring Vernon Ice Black leading 3,000 guitar players and closing the show with the Hendrix Experience reenactment and Superstar Jam.

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Electronic Frontier Foundation presents The 18th Annual Pioneer Awards on Thursday, October 22nd during the Web 2.0 Summit at The Westin San Francisco. An annual fundraiser for EFF, this year’s ceremony honors Limor “Ladyada” Fried, Harri Hursti and Carl Malamud, along with a keynote by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.

Awarded every year since 1992, the Pioneer Awards recognize leaders who are extending freedom and innovation on the electronic frontier.

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Laughing Squid is headed to Dallas next week and while there we are having a two part Drinkup on Friday, October 23rd. We’ll be starting out at CoHabitat, an awesome CoWorking space in Uptown Dallas, from 5-7pm, followed by a drinks up the street at The Ginger Man from 7pm on. See the Facebook event listing for more info.

Special thanks to Blake Burris helping set this up and offering to host us at CoHabitat.

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The 8th annual San Francisco Documentary Festival takes place October 16-29 at the Roxie Cinema. Here’s this year’s schedule, features, shorts and ticket info.

Proving that truth is often stranger than fiction, the 8th SF DocFest presents 60 new documentaries from around the world October 16-29 at Roxie Cinema in San Franicsco. The festival visits rabbit competitions, cat ladies, war photography, obsessive artists, paper folding, crazy West Virginians, the early days of Burning Man, plastic surgery, Lucha Libre, Johnny Cash, personal stories of birth and family, rock poster art, Big Oil, indie record stores and much much more.

The Roller Disco Costume Party takes place at CELLspace on October 23rd.

What does Roller Disco have to do with documentaries? Absolutely nothing! But who doesn’t like dressing up, drinking cocktails, and skating around CellSpace to timeless disco tunes? Dig out your Halloween Costume early and join us Friday October 23, 8p-2a, at CellSpace. Tunes and skate rental courtesy of Black Rock Roller Disco. 21 up. Admission: $10, $5 in Costume, FREE with any DocFest ticket stub! IndieFest not responsible for alcohol influenced roller skating wipe outs!

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photos by Scott Beale

Here are a few photos from 24 Hour Comic Book Day which took place at the wonderful new San Francisco comic book store Mission: Comics & Art.

Photo Gallery: 24 Hour Comic Book Day

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