Life. Is. Good. That has been my mantra for 2014 and I have to say I have not been disappointed. I just attended the Many Faces, One Dream conference for Small LGBTQ business owners and I can tell you I am so inspired! So much out there for those of us who own and run small businesses. I am really grateful to the National Black Coalition, the SBA, Black Enterprise and the NGLCC for putting it on. It was a lot of great information, one on one time with different orgs and great panels. There so many folks who I know run small business that weren’t there (hey we run small businesses and sometimes that means we can’t get away to attend events like this) so if you are interested in a knowledge share hit me up and I can send you some great resources really invested in helping small LGBTQ businesses be successful in the market.
Now time to move on to the bangin’ weekend. This week I interview artist Push, review mac and cheese haven Homeroom and tell YOU everywhere you should be this weekend.
Miz Chris [MC]: Where are you from?
Push: Hawaii & The Bay Area.
Miz Chris [MC]: When did you start your art career?
Push: Career? It’s not quite my career yet.. but it’s been my favorite hobby since I was a kid. I’m hoping to be tattooing full time before the end of the year.
Miz Chris [MC]: What is the inspiration behind your art?
Push: Freedom, music, women, irony 
Miz Chris [MC]: What medium do you prefer to work in and tell us about your large scale work?
Push: I love spray paint, acrylics, sharpies and charcoal. I just finished my second mural in the Sunset District in SF. Also on the walls of Pandora Karaoke (Union Square) you can find mural paintings of Selena, Prince, Madonna, Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston and several more.
Miz Chris [MC]: Where can people find your work? Where can they buy your work?
Push: To find me and my work visit
www.artbypush.com
Facebook
Instagram @artbypush
Right now you can catch some of Push’s work hanging inside Somar Art Bar in Oakland.
Classical Revolution
Awaken Cafe
1420 Broadway, Oakland
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
FREE
$5-20 suggested donation
Classical Revolution was founded in the fall of 2006 when several former and current San Francisco Conservatory of Music students met at Revolution Cafe in San Francisco’s Mission District for public chamber music reading sessions.
In the 7+ years since, Classical Revolution has presented more than 1000 chamber music events in venues all around the SF Bay Area, with the goal of presenting high quality performances in locations that are publicly accessible.
Program to Include:
Medius Terra Horn Duo
Janis Liberman + Heidi Trefethen, french horns
Zoltan Kodaly Duo
Mia d’Augelli, violin
Lewis Patzner, cello
Mendelssohn String Quartet in f Minor opus 80
The Town Quartet
Bach Concerto for oboe d’amore, strings and continuo, BWV 1055
Moses Lei, viola
Vivaldi Piccolo Concerto in C RV 443
Rebecca Kleinmann, flute
A Civilized Adventure
supperClub
657 Harrison, SF
7 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Buy Tix
Kick your evening off at 7pm In Bed with Red Hots Burlesque. Dinner and a show has never been so laid back!
Cast includes:
Daft-Nee Gesuntheit
Bunny Pistol
Feather Pistol
Hunny Bunnah
Kitty Von Quim
Polly Pony Girl
Ruby Vixen
Snatch Adams
Mojo Deville
Buy your tickets here: partyearth.com/redhots
For questions please email rhbreservations@gmail.com or call 415-348-0900
Then grab another cocktail before 10pm to toast the fine fashion of the Steampunk Emporium! Watch as the hottest mercenaries in the Bay strut their stuff on the runway featuring pasties by A Randy Johnson… The best dressed breasts wear pasties by A. Randy Johnson!
Interactive Art Popup
Folsom Street Foundry
1425 Folsom St, SF
6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
FREE
Come to the Folsom Street Foundry for an Interactive Art PopUp on April 23rd! Support and meet local artists as we curate art-inspired workshops, live art demonstrations, artist showcases, for-purchase art, music and food into one night.
Jean Grae
The New Parish
1743 San Pablo Ave
Oakland
9 p.m.
Buy Tix
Critically acclaimed lyricist, producer, writer, director, cinematographer and all around consummate entertainer- Jean Grae has been challenging the boundaries of artistry since her debut in 1996. Whether creating music with imaginative narratives that immerse the listener in a dark world of Grae’s design, or spilling her most personal stories of love and life experiences, she always delivers an honest performance that strikes the most vulnerable parts of her audience and keeps them wondering, “what will she do next?”
Well into an almost 20 year long career that maintains not only relevancy, but continues to push the envelope of perception, marketing and branding. Grae has worked alongside Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Pharoahe Monch, and a list that this very small bio cannot contain. Sorry, bio.
Grae recently made her directorial debut and created her company, “KAGD.” With videos for The Hellpit Faeries, Talib Kweli and herself under her belt, she created “Life With Jeannie” a half hour sitcom, written, directed by and starring Grae. “Life With Jeannie” premiered on 12/25 on JeanGrae.com and Grae’s latest releases: Gotham Down cycles 1-3 is available on JeanGrae.bandcamp.com
fucking different xxx
Center for Sex and Culture
1349 Mission, SF
7 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Buy Tix
C L E V E R Media Arts in collaboration with the Center for Sex and Culture
present FUCKING DIFFERENT XXX
on April 24th, 7:00 PM at the Center for Sex and Culture
In “Fucking Different XXX,” eight prominent international filmmakers got together to make short films about the “other” sex and their erotic adventures.
This month guest JIZ LEE (Crash Pad Series), SHINE LOUISE HOUSTON (Pink & White Productions), will join host Cheryl Dunye (Mommy is Coming) on stage.
Sex & Creativity, CreativeMornings Oakland
Pandora HQ
374 21st St., Oakland
8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Free
An entrepreneur of her own brand, Nenna takes pride in knowing and being a part of Oakland, while doing what she can to turn the sex industry on its head. From setting good examples in small business etiquette to educating the town on their safe sexual exploration, she has made a mark in several creative ventures. She is a two-time Feminist Porn winner, has been appointed by the mayor as commissioner on Measure Y Oversight Committee for Oakland, and has a new book coming out in May, Faith, Flesh & Finance. Catch Nenna making films, curating galleries, or doing her own version of the Vagina Monologues with an Oakland spin. But most importantly hear her speak on the topic of Sex in Creativity at our upcoming CreativeMornings Oakland.
Fresh Jamz
The Night Light
311 Broadway, Oakland
5 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Free
The last Friday of the month is on its way so let the celebration continue with a very special guest Sake Onederful
Sake 1 was born and raised in the culture of hip-hop, DJ SAKE-1 has been looking for the perfect beat since 1989. A founding member of California’s (((Local 1200))) Sound System, DJ SAKE-1 has utilized a combination of advanced science and Bay Area hustle to genetically alter the hip-hop idiom into a 360 degree circle of soul. You can find DJ SAKE-1 kickin’ up dust and making 5,000-person venues feel like neighborhood house parties from San Francisco to New York City to Atlanta to London and beyond. Bay Area folks you can find him every Thursday rocking one of my favorite parties, Ultrawave, at Somar,
Resident DJs
Dj Odiaka www.djodiaka.com
Dj Delgado http://www.reggaedelgado.com/
Mint Condition
Yoshi’s
510 Embarcadero
Oakland
8 p.m. & 10 p.m.
Buy Tix
“Sounding just as energetic and commanding as ever, Mint Condition can still do it all, from writing and producing…to shifting seamlessly among R&B/funk, hip hop, jazz and rock-all without falling into the formulaic abyss. Mint Condition is proof positive that it’s OK to keep doing your thing.” -Billboard Magazine
Once upon a time there were great funk/R&B bands like Earth Wind & Fire, The Meters, War, Kool & The Gang, Slave, and numerous others who constantly broke down musical barriers. Their musicality was superior – they could rock or funk out as easily as they could move the crowd with a tenor soulful ballad. The rise of electronic music gradually undermined self-contained bands but in the 90s, a dynamic, young, new band emerged that took the R&B world by storm—Mint Condition. Two decades on, Mint Condition stands in a class by themselves. The dynamic ensemble along with The Roots as the only high-profile examples of a self-contained, hit-making band in R&B and hip hop. Mint Condition has rightfully taken the throne as the greatest R&B band of our time. “We’re headed in the right direction. It’s kind of strange to say this after two decades but we feel it’s our time now,” reflect the band members of Mint Condition. “We’ve paid a lot of dues, been schooled in the business and honed our craft. We’ve gone to the ‘puppet show’ and seen the strings!”
Daylight
Mercer
255 Rhode Island, SF
9 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Left Coast Heavyweights Vikter Duplaix (Kiss’n Grind), J Boogie (OM Records) & Sake One (PST) join forces w/ special guest dj heyLove* (thePeople) to shine daylight on Bay Area nightlife. Hosted by Olaywa of Town Logic.
Top Ten Social (Good Folk) + Scout Model & Talent Agency ensure maximum vibes. It’s time to play.
DIS·CO·THEQUE
A Tribute to Disco and Disco House Music
Mighty
119 Utah St, SF
9 p.m. – 2:30 a.m.
Buy Tix
FREE BEFORE 11:30PM w/ RSVP at: http://mightydiscotheque.eventbrite.com/
Mighty Presents “DIS·CO·THEQUE”, a special tribute to disco and disco house music. We have assembled one incredible lineup of DJ veterans from the Bay Area to rock disco classics, edits, remixes, nu-disco, and disco house records.
OPEN BAR 9PM-10PM
DJ lineup:
9pm-10:30pm – Ren the Vinyl Archeologist (True Skool)
10:30pm-11:30pm – Derek Hena (Pink Mammoth, SF) – all vinyl set
11:30pm-12:30am – Miguel Solari (Housepatality, SF)
12:30am-2:30am – David Harness (Mighty Real, Harlum Muziq)
thePeople: RE:KNEW
The New Parish
1743 San Pablo Ave
Oakland
9 p.m. – 3 a.m.
$5 before 10pm/$10 after
Spring, when the days lengthen and nights shorten. The air warms and the very earth on which we sit awakens. Winter seeds burst open to reveal the fruits of its work: sun, leaves, flowers. The plants release there song to the air like an orchestra timed by the conductor’s wand. Indeed, all life plays in rhythm adding itself to a single song.
The dance floor is our small way of honoring this song, our musical origin. It is, like a prism, a refraction of that greater light, that melodic voice that sang the whole damn thing into existence. And, like that voice, the dance floor is a harmonic blend of the lows and highs, the divine and the earthly, the sacred and the sexy. We come together again, on our dance floor, for our ritual, our rites of spring.
BEATS BY:
CALI, CECIL, HEYLOVE* & ORFEU NEGRO
The New Black
Sistah Sinema
SoleSpace
1714 Telegraph, Oakland
7 p.m.
The New Black is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar—the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.
The New Black takes viewers into the pews and onto the streets and provides a seat at the kitchen table as it tells the story of the historic fight to win marriage equality in Maryland and charts the evolution of this divisive issue within the black community.
SupaStar Erotica
Center for Sex and Culture
1349 Mission, SF
8 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Doors: 8pm
Show: 9pm
Cover: $10-$25, sliding scale
(No one turned away for lack of funds)
Burlesque! Striptease! Performance Art! Spoken Word! Poetry! Music!
Come join us for an evening of RAW, UNCENSORED, IN-YO-FACE, IN-YO-PANTIES, IN-YO-BOXERS, UNDER-YOUR-SKIN, DEEP-IN-YO-SOUL EROTIC ENTERTAINMENT! It’s gonna be church up in heyah!!!
Bay Area SupaStars bring “Erotic” Performances to the stage for YOUR PLEASURE!
“In touch with the erotic, I become less willing to accept powerlessness, or those other supplied states of being which are not native to me, such as resignation, despair, self-effacement, depression, self-denial.” Audre Lorde
Cum celebrate the power of the “EROTIC” with us at none other than San Francisco’s Center for Sex and Culture! It’s gonna be a sexy-as-hell and empowering night you don’t want to miss! Dress up in your most come-hither outfit, grab a date or bring it solo and cum be uplifted and aroused, titillated and taunted, shaken and stirred. TIPPING IS ENCOURAGED, so bring XTRA DOLLARS!
Hosted by the Sexy SupaStar Recording & Performance Artist, Vixen Noir!!! Performing for the 1st time, her new single, Lusty Lady and more!!!
With Guest SupaStars: The Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins, Pippa, S Angelo Acevedo, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell & Roke Noir
Drtybtch
The Lexington
3470 19th St, SF
10 p.m.
FREE
On Saturday April 26th it’s your duty to shake your #bootie at the one and only Lexington Club for another DRTYBTCH party with Ms. Jackson + DJ Kidd Sysko. We’ll be getting real duurrrttttyyy starting at 10pm in the dirtiest place in SF, the Mission district.
Hosted by the sexy Madison Eker!!!
(_^_) DRTYBTCH DJs Ms. Jackson + Kidd Sysko spinning
(_^_) “Best Bootie of the Bay Contest” … come to show off your bootie
(_^_) DRTY girls + DRTY minds + DRTY drinks + DRTY beats
(_^_) FREE DRTYBTCH music + stickers
(_^_) ‘Like’ us at DRTYBTCH + Ms. Jackson + Kidd Sysko
We’ll see you dirty girls on Saturday the 26th!
Homeroom
400 40th St
Oakland
(510) 597-0400
I have a relationship with Mac and Cheese. As a transplanted Southerner, mac and cheese is akin to a spiritual experience. If you grow up in the South you have first hand knowledge of what heavenly delight mac and cheese can bring to your tastebuds. The satisfying cheesiness and the soft thickness of the noodle are key ingredients. When I heard that there was a place in the East Bay that banked most of its menu items on the art of the mac I knew it was a place I had to try.
My dining companions and I taste tested several items. We had the grilled asparagus, the Garlic Gilroy mac and cheese with bacon, the Mac the Goat with Chicken and the Grilled Chicken Sandwich with a side of plain mac. First let me start by saying that the mac and cheese was good, it was really good. The Garlic Gilroy was the perfect blend of garlicky goodness, creamy gouda, sharp pecorino and smokey bacon. Enough garlic to give it punch but not so much that you can’t kiss your girlfriend/wife afterwards. However, the Mac the Goat was actually my favorite, at first bite it was blander than the Garlic Gilroy but it had the tangy undertone that really got me in the end.
At Homeroom, it is really about your preference because they make such a variety of macs plus all the extra add-ons you really can make the dish that suits you. For instance although the Mac the Goat was my fave, one of my dining companions preferred the Garlic Gilroy, it is really a matter of what flavors you like. Please note this is not your momma’s mac and cheese, which depending on your momma is either a good or bad thing. This is definitely gourmet mac, even their plain mac is not plain mac. So go in knowing that the gooey yumminess of homemade mac and cheese this is not but it is still hella good mac and cheese.
As much as we all liked the mac and cheese, the hands down favorite of the group was the Grilled Chicken Sandwich. At first glance, it didn’t seem like anything special until you put it in your mouth and took that first bite. The crispy toasted bread and the savory chipotle aioli added just enough crunch and zing to it to make it the table favorite.
Will I be back? Yes I will but not for the mac (although their mac is tasty), I will be going back for this sandwich, it was so good we bought a second one to take home for lunch tomorrow. But to be honest it may not make it until then might just have to be a midnight snack. So my recommendation if you like gourmet mac and cheese this is the place for you. Go for the mac but order the grilled chicken sandwich too.