Event: Replace the Bass Extravaganza

Joe Lewis—super talented upright bass player, friend of the shop, champion of the neighborhood and proprietor of Bluesix—sadly witnessed his beloved bass get smashed to pieces recently, and that’s just not going to stand. If ever there was a man who loved his instrument as part of his self, that man is Joe.

Tomorrow, Sunday, August 31st, help Joe replace his mamma jamma bass, while helping yourself to some serious merriment, at a fundraiser throw down at Amnesia (Valencia Street between 19th and 20th Streets). There’s a $10 donation requested at the door, though no one will be turned away for lack of a contribution.

The line-up will be as follows:
7pm: Craig Ventresco + Meredith Axelrod (old time acousti-duo)
8pm: The Potholder
8:45pm: Ed Masuga
9:30pm: The Ferocious Few
10:30pm: Os Beaches

And big dance party finale…
11:30pm: The Jelly Roll Souls

The Ladies of Gravel & Gold are gallavanting across the pond—with updates forthcoming—but we totally raise our pints to a new bass for Joe!

Rock Make Street Festival: Sunday, August 24th

Yip-Hip-Hooray! Block party right on.

We are super dooper stoked to let you all in on the incredible Rock Make Street Festival happening in front of the shop this upcoming Sunday, beginning around noon. It’s all being organized by our incredible, indefatigable shopstress neighbor Helen of Whiz Bang Fabrics, along with Tartufi and the good people at The Bay Bridged and it’s all totally free. There’s so much to tell you! Take it away, Helen:

The countdown to the Rock Make Street Festival has begun! If the idea of a San Francisco street fair conjures up tired images of funnel cakes, hemp necklaces, and guys playing didgeridoos, prepare to be blown away by the FIFTY amazing independent local designers, artists and craftspeople and TWELVE great indie rock bands at this year’s Rock Make event. It’s a great chance to get some great bargains on high-end pieces from nationally reknowned artisans while enjoying some great music. It’s a free, all ages, totally DIY event and an excellent way to spend a warm Sunday afternoon!

Starting at noon, twelve of the Bay Area’s best indie bands will grace Rock Make’s two stages, showcasing a great mix of indie rock, folk, and experimental pop music. Set times will be posted to the festival’s MySpace page soon, but the full confirmed list of bands is: Tartufi, Trainwreck Riders, Silian Rail, Emily Jane White, Low Red Land, Maus Haus, Rademacher (Fresno), French Miami, Settler (San Jose), Man/Miracle, The Harbours, and Dame Satan.

With fifty vendors offering their wares, Rock Make will offer a cross-section of the best of the Bay Area’s cutting edge crafts scene. Participating artists include: Leah Devine/Yuka, Booty Boutique, Ida Lauren, Ezme Design, Chi Cheng, Invisible Hero Industries, Squink Industries, Paula Lopez & Brook Baird, Tedda Hughes, The Handstitchery, Tuckymama Designs, Little Marlow, Honeycomb Jewelry, Cara Lyndon, Laura Marie Walker, Shelly Brown & Charys Hayden, Chrysiliou Accessories, Amanda Archer Collection, Kaching Design, Pollyannacowgirl Designs, Nous Savons, Beyond Wonderland, Doubleparlour, Indie Industries, Honey Pie, Malkeeta, Sarah James, Squishy Sushi, Lucky Space Monkey, Tessa Kemp Jewelry, Secession Art & Design/Colleen Mauer Jewelry, Baby Leo Designs, Bdru Design, The Girl and Rhino, AC Clothing and Bags, Daria Salus Jewelry/Kelly Mann, Ofina, Hambone & Jennicakes/Angelfish & Co., Offbeat – Handmade Jewelry, B. Vann Originals, Mama’s Little Babies.

Good Woody

This one goes out to Wendy Van Wagner, who loves a good Woody better than most.

Countdown to the new Woody Allen movie. First The New Yorker got all rhapsodic about “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” which made me very very excited—especially the bits about “natural-born lover” Javier Bardem. But then, the confusingly separate New York Magazine just offered up a swipe-slash-homage to the top Ten Woody Allen Sex Scenes Better Than the Ones in “Vicky Christina Barcelona” that seems to denegrate the new offering. Though I generally frown upon veiled Woody disses, I have committed every detail of this essential video montage to memory. Besides, how can anyone be expected to top the excellence of neurotic flight suit wearing, harmonica playing, bespectacled spermlets over 35 years after the fact? Clearly, what’s done is brill and that man’s a hero. I can’t wait to see what he’s got next.

Road Trip Right On

I just got back home from a whirlwind road trip with my man posse—we caught friends + babies in Tuscon, a pack of bloodthirsty coyotes in New Mexico, heat lightening in the West Texas hills, Olympics on TV, maddening heat overall and family in Austin. We sadly left Leif to hook ’em horns, cowboy hats kept on for breakfast, pillow toilet seats, and word of dinosaur tracks in Boise City. Caught more friends in Denver/Boulder, torrential rainfalls, an incredible human keeping the pump alive in Echo, Utah who had to lock up early so that he could get home to wash the dishes, a shocking number of hipsters and a great vegan restaurant called Sage’s Cafe in Salt Lake, and it’s back across the Bay through the fairy fog to surprise the Ladies manning the shop this fine Saturday.

Totally Taco X-Press Totem Pole. The look of a mega pie enthusiast who has just discovered credible pie milk shakes at the most amazing roadside stop ever, Charlie Brown’s, somewhere in Arizona.

MATCHING! They lurv it.The hands-down Dark Master of Texas. Road love.

This western country is good and vast. We have road tripped many years and it suits us. The road is the same, but more spendy.

Klibanarama

So I’m finally jumping onto the blog scene! Here’s a nice little Gravel & Gold story for ya.

Last Thursday the lovely Jeff Bowers, here at Wholphin for the summer, stopped by the shop for a visit. We were having a bit of a brainstorm about his wonderful new project, “Somethings” a hand made magazine, full of great folks’ artwork, songs and writings.

I politely inquired if he had heard of the amazing cartoons of B. Kliban.

Jeff got excited.

There were two reasons for that:

Reason #1. B. “Hap” Kliban’s work is expertly drawn, hilarious, weird and astounding political. He took no prisoners and was ruthlessly silly about all peoples. Correctness be dammed! He was also a psychedelically mined loon, which mostly explains this drawing he did for Playboy:

More Kliban would be good for us all. The kind of crazed, leg slapping laughter it provokes always improves things.

Sadly, 18 years ago, Hap moved onto the next dimension. I, though, am lucky enough to have his right hand lady, Judy Kamman Kliban, as my most fantastic special Auntie. Judy “La Duchess DuBois” was also drawing the famous Kliban Cat, which leads me to…

Reason #2. Jeff Bowers happens to have a Kliban tattoo on his forearm. Yup. What a guy.

Through the magic of Skype we got Judois herself into the mix. Turns out she drew the so called “How They Do It” cat which now is indelibly inked into Jeff’s skin.

Tonight I’m thinking of Hap and hoping there’s a load of really brilliant coo-coos hanging out with him in the great beyond.

 

At the moment you can get Kliban Cat shirts at Crazy Shirts, but hold your breath long enough and we’ll have our own special edition here at G & G.

Ciao for now!

Lisa

Hello Friends!

Yay!  This is Nile, with my very first blog post.  I would like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to some things that we Ladies of Gravel & Gold love.  

Besides stripey shirts and awesome musician friends and YouTube videos that make us laugh and perhaps feel a bit uncomfortable, I would like to include the overarching category of RAINBOWS.  

Cliché you say?!  Nonesense.

Just because we live in SF, the city whose rainbow burns brightest, do not be so foolish as to discount the awesomeness of red-orange-yellow-green-blue-purple.  

Yes, the rainbow can signify the wonderful sentiment of gay pride (described here by the fine folks over at Wikipedia as “The movement [that] has three main premises: that people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity, that diversity is a gift, and that sexual orientation and gender identity are inherent and cannot be intentionally altered”), and has been associated with the University of Hawai’i’s Rainbow Warriors sports teams.  

But most importantly and most recently the rainbow has popped up in my very own neighborhood in the most fantastic way.  Some brilliant family has had the good sense and the good taste to paint the entire face of their house in a phenomenal rainbow display.

So, I say, wonderful people at Clipper and Diamond, well done!  As I can never get enough rainbow in my life, I Nile, Lady of Gravel & Gold, encourage everyone to not only paint more rainbows on their own houses but also to send along photos of rainbows that make you smile.  Maybe I’ll just have to plaster the walls of our tiny shop with shiney-happy-colorfulness.  

By the way, come by the shop to see our rainbow Mexican papel picado, or just be jealous of our fabulous auntie Betsy, who was swift enough to scoop up a magnificent handmade rainbow flag with matching painted rainbow base situation.  

LOVE!

nile anne mary sennett nash

Stripey Bandit

Yikes! Nile recently received word that one of our satisfied customers is saving up to buy a new stripey shirt for her boyfriend, who tragically lost his to a rascally raccoon who ate it off their laundry line. Now, oh constipated masked bandit on the loose, I ask of you: Is this the thanks you have to offer a sweet, energy-conscious citizen of this fine city? Look, we all struggle with positive body image issues, but a life of crime never solved low self-esteem. I’m certain you were born with all the stripes you’ll ever need.    

Procyon lotor evilus

Reverse-Birthification

Doing only what is good and just in this world, watch this superstar kid reverse-birth herself into the rip-off claw yourself a toy machine and then attempt to grab everything that has eluded the rest of us.

And here’s some tips for those of us who are too tubby for the toy tunnel, but still really really want one of those plush thingys. 

World Hoop Day

HoopGirl Allstars, yes ma'am

The countdown is over, World Hoop Day has arrived! There is sure to be an event near your hometown. If you live here in the Bay Area, I highly suggest you make your way out to the Great Lawn on Treasure Island to join the hordes hooping to their hearts delight. There, you’ll happen upon incredible performances, including one from the incomparable HoopGirl Allstars in Peter Pan costumes, as well as lessons, giveaways, and music. Plus, this is your big chance to hoop for the greater good—organizers of the event are dedicating all donations toward their effort to provide hula hoops for underprivileged kids in Haiti, Sri Lanka, and other hoop-impoverished communities. Hoop-Hoop-Hooray!

I Call Copycat, But Not On You Gertie

It’s a big job keeping up with all the cultural references, namesakes, and identity thieves of Gravel and of Gold—but we’ll continue to do it until our teeny tiny shop is 100% synonymous with those two words.

Let’s start out with this fellow from Las Vegas calling himself desertout on eBay who makes it his business to auction off miniature gold mining kits featuring zip-lock baggies of Real Placer GOLD gravel (no need to waste your time searching for the stuff yourself!), a pan, suction tweezers (which look like huh?), a 1/2 oz. vial to contain your newfound fortune, and instructions—all for a mere starting bid of $9.95, or $10.95 if you But It Now. Sneaky! And cool, but not as cool as our shop.

Then there are the too little, too late pack of 100 gold Mike Gravel ’08 refrigerator magnets, which could still be yours for a measly $149.99 + shipping and handling from JQdesigns. Of course, buying them would probably do very little to help out Mike, less to help rectify the blight of ’ems in that there product description, and may prove a distraction from purchasing something actually rad from our shop.

Well then. The bright, fresh coconut-laden island in this sea of copycat disaster has been the discovery of Gravel Gertie, an excellent lady character in the old Dick Tracy comics. Not just a character, she’s also a farmer widow! Cop fleer! Silver fox! Treasure map scalp tattoo haver! It’s all just too much good for me to paraphrase the Wikipedia paraphrase. I’ll serve it up for you whole:

Gravel Gertie – former criminal and now wife of B.O. Plenty. Introduced in The Brow episode. She is a widow for thirty years after her first husband sold her farm rights for a gravel pit and then died when his car backed into gravel pit. Tried to hide the Brow from the police after she found him in wrecked car; arrested when her hair from her clothes brush matched gray hair found near burning car. In a comic relief the Brow flees in terror when he catches his first glimpse of his guardian angel. In his struggle to escape an old fashioned lamp is knocked over; her shack burns down and her long hair is burned off. Later married B.O. Plenty and became mother of Sparkle Plenty. In a later continuity, it was established that Gertie had spent part of her childhood in an orphanage; while she was there, criminals shaved her head and tattooed onto her bald pate a treasure map showing the location of their buried loot, then allowed her hair to regrow to conceal the map … which was belatedly rediscovered well into Gertie’s adulthood.

Hero, right! Am I right! Amazing Aunite Gertie, come on over any time. Don’t be shy, we ain’t mad at you. We’ve got a stripey shirt with your name on it.

Graveland Gold Goods

Alright, y’all. The first round of limited edition, crazy-excellent Gravel & Gold T-shirts and tote bags are finally in!

In the face of this level of awesome, an explanation just seems like rainbow sprinkles on top of chocolate sprinkles. But since we Ladies happen to like that combination, I’ll go ahead and let you in on some of the things you see happening here.

So a while back, friend of the shop Joe Lewis let us know that when one looks at our name spelled out all at once, oh say when one scopes www.gravelandgold.com, one may be seduced into reading it Graveland Gold, which is creepy and super appealing at the same time, especially for a vintage store. This led me to compulsively doodle G & G gravestones with diamonds underneath, the celestial California poppy above ground,  and the hallowed ghost of Janis Joplin flying overhead, singing “Get It While You Can” with a winged bottle of Southern Comfort accompanying her. We sent one of these doodles over to the good folks at Ape Do Good, and a few days later, Ta-Dah!

Hottie Tino body and matching tank top NFS.

Word to the wise: Don’t double cross Janis. Get it while you can, in all the colors.

Oh Go On, Helen

Our brilliant, apparently psychic lady shopkeeper neighbor Helen, proprietress of WhizBang Fabrics, just contributed this situation to the homemade batman mask dialogue without even knowing there was a homemade batman mask dialogue going on. Incredible.

This is from Retales Botijero on Flickr. Yay!

Levon Helm, Musical Thrower Downer

Sev turned us on to Levon Helm‘s album Dirt Farmer when we were up at Dovetail Farm, and those songs have been churning through my head ever since. Levon was the drummer for The Band, and in my opinion, the best voice in their crowd.

Levon Helm in his original stud days.

Since those days, he’s whipped up quite a reputation as the gracious host of The Midnight Ramble Sessions, a monthly musical throw down in the barn/studio at his place in Woodstock that has seen the likes of Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Levon’s daughter Amy Helm of Ollabelle, lots of stoked attendees, and many other marvels. This release, his first solo studio album in over twenty-five years, was well worth the wait. It came out late last year, and I’m not the only one who thinks it’s really, really good. It won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. And Nile loves it, too. What better credentials need you?

Take It, T-Rex

Leif likes crazy lo-fi Dinosaur Comics: I like crazy lo-fi Dinosaur Comics. Today’s excellent offering on pesky weight losers is as follows. Yes.

Another stand-by on that old irascible pain predicament. Yes.

The Greenhorns Trailer

Figured I’d save you a few clicks and a few feverish moments of curiosity. As mentioned before, you can find out more about the The Greenhorns film by visiting their homepage.

Offensive to Obama, Awesome to Me, All for Him

Just in case anyone out there hasn’t scoped the “Politics as Usual” Ludacris situation yet:

Now I know Barack is none too pleased about it. But I say, Can I make it my new Barack Obama ringtone? Besides, what does he expect? A whole lot of this:

For a more definitively positive roundup of Obama-inspired tunes, look to the reliably upbeat SuperForest.

The Full Tom

It’s an August Tuesday in San Francisco, mostly cloudy, 53°F, feels like 53°F.

Coldest winter, summer in SF, just like they say Mark Twain said—though they also say Mark Twain didn’t say it. It was somebody else’s witticism, but nobody knows who. Reminds me of one of my favorite Chris Rock lines from the 1997 MTV VMAs, “The Spice Girls are kinda like heroin. Everybody’s doing it, but NOBODY wants to admit it.” Totally.

On the bright side, our main man Tombo Waits has given NPR the go-ahead to share an entire recording of his July 5th show at Atlanta’s Fox Theater. Fully two and a half hours of oldies but goodies, along with some fresh from the studio delights, so that now you can really be there at the show, not only in spirit, but in ear as well. Not as good as we’ll have it in Dublin, but it’ll do for now.

My one complaint is that I keep reading, reading about how young master Casey Waits has been accompanying his old man on drums and percussion: “They play with racecar precision and they are all true conjurers,” Waits says of his backing musicians, therefore including Casey. “They are all multi-instrumentalists and they polka like real men.” Real men, you say. Real men. Well how come I can’t find any pictures of this Casey Waits real polka man anywhere on the Web? Lifetime supply of stripey shirts to the kind soul out there who gets me that pickie….

Dream Sneaks

I went to New York.
I purchased my dream sneakers—high-top Nike Dunks in the Wiltshire Berry Liberty print. Behold, on the right (though I changed out the laces to the red ones provided):

If you come by the shop, you will see me wearing these sneakers. If you visit me at home, you will see me wearing these sneakers. Say I’m taking a nap under a blanket, I’ll be wearing these sneakers. Taking a bubble bath, they’ll be hanging over the side but I’ll still have these sneakers on, damn it. Most likely, if you see these sneakers walking down the sidewalk anywhere in the foggy friendly city of San Francisco, trace your eyes up and you will see that they are attached to me.

I got them at the insipidly intimidating/irresistible trend den Opening Ceremony. They have a similar outpost in Los Angeles that you may have visited, and you can read more about them here. When I looked them up, I found that they have read deep down into the deepest footwear desire of Nile’s soul and will soon be offering these dreamboats (she will have the gold ones, of course):Put away the goldification spray paint, you’re covered Ni!

Like so many other tacky-but-we-can’t-help-ourselves situations going down this summer, these beauties honor the Olympics, and will be available exclusively at the Opening Ceremony shops as of 08.08.08. I suggest you jog yourself down there before Nile buys them all out.

The Library: Paper and Pins

Friend of the shop and excellent human David Wilson has recently installed a new landscape drawing at The Library, a gallery space over in Oakland (well, technically Temescal). David joins a stellar lineup of talents, including Meagan Donegan, Ryan Donegan, Kathleen Henderson and Dwight Mackintosh. If you find yourself in the area, go check ’em out! And if you don’t lurk Oakland often, but love really good art, make a point to get there for that purpose alone.

The Library
470 A 49th Street (behind ever-scrumptious Pizzaiolo)
Oakland

Touché, Mr. Banwell

If it’s the paucity of used paper bags, a pair of scissors, a sharpie, and some fishing line that’s holding you back from looking as awesome as we did when we went to see the new Batman movie, may I suggest an incredible ready-made alternative, courtesy of Etsy artist Tom Banwell.

Indeed, they’re for sale. And while you’re at it, might as well add a few other disguises to your repertoire. How did you ever live without:

a.

This leather Weed Man situation for only $35! or

b.

This leather Diving Swallow Lady situation?