Not a Genuine Black Man
San Francisco at Studio 250 at the Off-Market Theaters 965 Mission Street 800-838-3006 Not a Genuine Black Man by Brian Copeland Wow. Ouch. I walked into Not a Genuine Black Man expecting a comedy monologue. And, the show is very funny. But it is also painful. Difficult. Icky. Brian Copeland drives a two-hour roller-coaster solo performance full of fun, fear, and Issues. He acts and mimics just fine, but the power of the performance is in the story. It’s Brian’s story of growing up in 99.99% white San Leandro. Purer than Ivory Snow, he notes, getting us to laugh. And, [...]
Contrarian News Judgment
Would it be wrong to suggest that Michael's death is not likely to be an event important in our lives? Iran is in insurrection. Obama is fighting seemingly everyone trying to get meaningful health care reform into a system plagued by nay-sayers. California is about to stop helping very poor people survive because its politicians won't compromise. And on and on and on. Michael is/was a troubled man with great musical talent which he hasn't used since probably 50% of people alive on the planet were born. Bread and circuses are nice. How about freedom, reform, and good public policy? [...]
Free the MUNI Data
My favorite iPhone application has been Routesy (see http://www.routesy.com/ ). The app figured out where I was, and would tell me arrival times for the MUNI routes I choose. The information was presented in an incredibly useful and clear way. The Routesy app was even featured in the iTunes store as a staff favorite.Suddenly, Routesy stopped working. Apparently NextBus Information Systems claims that they are entitled to a prohibitively expensive fee of $1 per download for the MUNI data supplied it by our public transportation system. The app developer, Steven Peterson, says he is continuing to try to get [...]