Our Exquisite Corpse Soap Opera LIVE on April 8 & 9 -- two nights only

Exquisite Corpse Theatre is BACK and this time it's a Soap Opera!

We're at Stage Werx in San Francisco once again: 2 nights - April 8 & 9

Get your tickets to our Soap Opera show here

Read the Hardashian family history here

 

A Sci-Fi Play written by the Audience - Live - December 20-21 in San Francisco

My main creative project right now is producing an event called Exquisite Corpse Theatre: a party/game/performance where the audience writes a play and then we perform it live.

Here's the poster for our next production, on December 20 & 21, top half by Doctor Popular, lower half by Cameron Eng

Like the play the poster is a blind collaboration a la Exquisite Corpse. Neither artist sees the other's work, they have a few constraints, and only know half the title. And then something this amazing this comes together! The play is like that, too, it's unpredictable and a ton of fun.

The event has some remnants of Surrealism (inventors of the cadavre exquis form) and much Cacophony (the jokers who came up with this theatrical application). I have a cast of incredible comedians and improvisers who are ready to go with whatever the audience throws them. Each show we choose a genre that's fun and everyone is familiar with. The first time it was Film Noir and the last 2 have been Science Fiction.

Our next shows are December 20 & 21st in San Francisco.

A few more pix below... You can get tickets or find out more here.

Announcing Long Now's Salon Social Space

Long Now Raises Funds & Spirits and Further Opens the Long-Term Conversation

I've been helping the Long Now Foundation with their plans to raise half a million dollars to redesign their San Francisco museum space into an incredible social venue: a bar, salon & gathering place for Long Now members and the general public. The campaign is now live, take a look.

Offering major donors the opportunity to participate in a "bottle keep" purchase of singular Long Now spirits and support a new social step in Long Now's admirable mission ...

Help us build it... from The Long Now Foundation on Vimeo.

We would like to invite you to help The Long Now Foundation build our new event space...

More information at http://www.longnow.org/salon/

We opened our small museum and bookstore here in Fort Mason in 02006 to show some of our long-term projects. Since then, we have seen some of the best connections and conversations about long-term thinking at our receptions and gatherings.

So in collaboration with our partners here at Fort Mason, and the amazing design-build studio “Because We Can”, we have designed a salon space that will not only house our prototypes, and a hand curated library, but also serve locally roasted coffee by day, and inspired cocktails by night. The goal is to build a social place to help make long-term thinking more automatic and common rather than difficult and rare. But now, we have to raise the funds to build it.

We would like to engage you, our friends and members, along with some amazing local artisans in a campaign that is hopefully as compelling for you participate in, as it has been for us to create.

St George Spirits in Alameda has created two exclusive spirits for us. Each one is truly a distillation of long-term thinking. The first is an aromatic gin made with juniper berries harvested by hand among the five-thousand year old bristlecones from our site in eastern Nevada.

The other spirit is a whiskey with a specially tailored grain bill. It will be fermented and distilled in such a way that it'll be delicious without aging, and grow more intricate and complex with every year. We will bottle a small amount, each year for the next 15 years, allowing you to taste its annual progression.

Each of these spirits will be kept at our space for you in the Japanese “Bottle Keep” tradition. They are stored on permanent display in a custom vessel by Adams & Chittenden. When you arrive the bartender will lower your bottle for you to enjoy it straight, or mixed in a cocktail of your choice. We are offering two levels for you to participate, the Founders Bottle, and the 15 year Whiskey Club.

But to be clear, this space is about more than just coffee and cocktails. The goal is to build a social place to help make long-term thinking more automatic and common rather than difficult and rare. We are excited about bringing you all together in a new space, and a new conversation. Please join us and help us build it.

We do realize not everyone can afford to help us at these donation levels. If you can’t afford to donate at these levels, but would like to participate, we encourage you do so as a group of friends. We are happy to list several people as owners of any bottle club membership.

Where I am these days: updated Fall 2012

I'm blogging more than ever, just not here

If it looks like I've gone quiet, that's far from the case. Check out my tumblr blog where I'm posting daily. You'll find me there talking about art, San Francisco, animals, theater, comedy, and other things that I love.

Work-wise I'm consulting on advertising UX, social media marketing and optimization, strategic site design, and other in-demand expertises. See my LinkedIn page for more. I'm in the market for the next full-time step in my career, too. So get in touch if you know something that seems a good fit. I want to work on a truly great product with really smart people. I'm happy to play any number of roles from marketing to product or project management to writing and strategy. Or a little bit of all of those.

I also continue to write regularly for LaughingSquid.com and you'll find me in Hi Fructose magazine (print only, not online). My writing appears in the third Hi Fructose collected edition and the amazing Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society both soon-to-be-published by Last Gasp. My "Can Haz DJ" radio show and blog on RadioValencia.fm are on hiatus, but podcast archives of the show are online and I keep a Facebook page for the show going like a slo-mo-radi-o-show.

And you'll find me on the usual social places: @mikl_em, flickr, and if you're clever Instagram, Path, etc.

Final episode of Can Haz DJ Tonight 8pm-2am

mikl-em's Can Haz DJ goes on hiatus after tonight's marathon 6-hour show

Yeah, I'm calling it quits on my weekly radio show for now. Busy with other things which have to take priority. While I love it, it takes up a lot of time to do it right.

I love radio. It has been fantastic to be back at it for the last year and a half. And I'm proud of all these podcasts (which you will continue to be able to listen to if you like).

So how to say goodbye and sign off for the foreseeable future on curating my favorite art form every week? Well cutting out a 6-hour slot, for starters. I'll start 2 hours earlier than usual, at 8pm, and I will go until 2am. That's a full 1/4 of a day that I will be playing music. I can't wait, and I hope you'll tune in for a little bit at least. Don't worry, we'll record and podcast it as well. But it will be special live. I'm working a lot to prepare for it. Tune in tonight at 8pm or any time until 2am on RadioValencia.fm

It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. But that doesn't mean there won't be 20+ songs shorter than 2 minutes to try to maximize the time. I'll also feature about an hour of my favorite cover songs of all time, including a bunch that should surprise you. I also have a special set planned of songs that you'll hear on Radio Valencia, some college radio, or other rare musical outlets that choose freedom and quality and controversy over mass product, advertising and driving in between the lines.

Fucking A. It's going to be a good night. Join me!

All Can Haz DJ photoshoots

All Can Haz DJ photoshoots, a set on Flickr.

Here's a compilation of all photos I've shot of my music and cats to accompany Can Haz DJ these lo many months. Pretty fun (I think anyway).

Via Flickr:
All the images for CanHazDJ featuring my cats (Anime & Astrophe) and the music I play on the show. Some of these images were used as "album covers" for the podcasts, which you can find here: rvpods.com/canhaz

Like CanHazDJ on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/CanHazDJ

Inspector @de11e asks: "did anyone see what happened here?"

Inspector @de11e asks: "did anyone see what happened here?"
Originally uploaded by mikl-em

Inspector @de11e asks: "did anyone see what happened here?"

Danielle inspects the treefall crime scene

Danielle inspects the treefall crime scene
Originally uploaded by mikl-em

Danielle inspects the treefall crime scene

Left-Handed Darling featuring mikl-em

The brand new play that I'm in is called Left-Handed Darling. We've been working on it for months, there is an incredible team around this project, and it is a wonderful, dark & twisted story, set in the carnival sideshow world of early 20th Century America. It has a Twilight Zone-esque feel (coincidentally), or maybe more Creepshow-esque. Esque anyway, definitely esque. I'm very proud of the show as a whole and my part in it. I hope you can check it out....

Set in the rural 1930's American "Dust Bowl" era and centers on [a young girl] with a very unusual upbringing and a unique sense of beauty [...] the audience are transported from the macabre environment of her family's home to the surreality of a carnival sideshow, an equally bizarre court room, and more strange sights [....] With creative staging, a versatile cast, theatrical puppetry, original music, and a lot of mason jars, LEFT-HANDED DARLING will thrill you, surprise you, make you laugh and transport you back to a colorful era when Vaudeville ruled and a nickel was really worth something.

Produced by Foul Play, who brought us the Attack of the Killer B-Movies (I & II), a rock opera Wicker Man and the runaway smash hit Stale Magnolias. They have started a Kickstarter campaign to help fund Left-Handed Darling. I hope you will take a look and consider donating.

It's a great show, your support helps make our play possible and future shows under Foul Play's "New Writers Program". Click the links for more info.

Stage Werx 446 Kickstarter: Down to the Wire!

Please help support this new and improved theater space

My friends Ty & Cory have just over 1 day left in their fundraiser.



Please help out if you can and help spread the word if you know other folks who might want to support this great small San Francisco small theater.

Please help me support San Francisco's next great theater venue--StageWerx moves to the mission

My pals Ty & Cory McKenzie are moving their theater space StageWerx from their current location near Union Square to the heart of the Mission—16th & Valencia, the former Intersection for the Arts space. The location is fantastic and so is their commitment to helping indie theater. They are unique in having a large space (4000 sq. ft.) with high ceilings and capacity of over 70 seats. There’s also a separate rehearsal space. Those are sensational additions to the SF local theater scene, and to the Mission in particular. Especially in a time when many small theaters are closing.

They need to raise a bunch of money to do this, and they’ve started a Kickstarter campaign to make it happen. There are lots of licensing fees and important upgrades to make to the space. And they really need your help to make it happen.

Ty has asked 100+ friends to each help bring in $200. Danielle and I are hoping that we can between us get at least $500 from folks in our network. Please take a look and give something if you can to help enable great theater in San Francisco.

Last Tuesday's Can Haz DJ: Legends of Punk & New Wave Past

Ah, Blogger is back up, that's nice.

Had a fun show on Tuesday night, featuring the then & now of some classic punk rockers. You can grab the mp3 podcast here. You will find the playlist for the show on my Can Haz DJ blog along with other good stuff.

Reminder: you can stream or download all the past Can Haz DJ shows and you should, you really should. Sometime soon, I will post a guide to these past shows, to point you to ones that you might particular like (or that I'm particularly proud of). Here's more on some of the music from the most recent show....


Well, good news first. A great new song by guitarist Ivan Julian, one of the original twin guns of Richard Hell's Voidoid arsenal. The Voidoids were an absolute punk revelation for me, even though it took me quite a while to find out about them. Blank Generation is absolutely one of my Top-5 albums of all time.

Perhaps my favorite punk band of the original era are Australia's The Saints. For a very long time I've said it's essential to have their 1976-77 era material and to avoid their later work with just as much determination. That's when Ed Kuepper left the band and lead singer Chris Bailey marched The Saints in a much poppier direction.

Here they are in their prime:


That said, the more recent Bailey-era stuff which is again in a power-trio format is the best since 1977. In fact I actually picked up (or rather down loaded) 2005's Nothing is Straight in My House before the show, and I'm pretty impressed with it. Another Saints album, the most recent, came out in '06 which I haven't heard yet. But the original lineup, Kuepper included, came back together in 2009 to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. Here's a lo-fi glimpse of that:



And here's a look at the video for the original version of that song, I'm Stranded which was their break through to the world back in 1977:



The sad news is that the great Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex recently passed away. She was incredible, a true original in her punk days. She dropped out of punk as it became more and more the music business as usual. And, sadly, after years away from music, she was just mounting a comeback when tragically she lost a battle with cancer.

Below are the title track from her brand new album, a feature on her from her X-Ray Spex days and a recent interview with her talking about the new record.

What I'm Putting On The Radio Tonight

Tonight on Can Haz DJ: Listening to an Electronic World

Tonight at 10pm Pacific on RadioValencia.fm, I'll be playing a bunch of great electronic music that incorporates various world musical traditions (Indian, African, Latin, to name a few). There's lots more on the show besides, but here's a taste of some of that "worldly electronic" that you are likely to hear:







And a whole lot more.... Details on the whole show & more videos on the CanHazDJ blog.

And remember all of my previous shows are in the Radio Valencia podcast archives which you can either stream or download as mp3s.

Really enjoying this Beats Antique album (funny cuz it's 4 years old) via rdio. I will be playing some on Tuesday's Can Haz DJ show

They are based in Oakland, and I'm realizing that I probably know some of the folks involved, or 1-degree away at most as there's an Extra Action Marching Band connection.

Here they are in action, looks like fun:

Earthquake in Japan: Footage from inside the CNN offices + Live Coverage

Here's the live stream from Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English: Live Stream - Watch Now - Al Jazeera English

I'm going to SXSW! And Califone Video from Last Year

I'll be in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest from March 12th to March 22nd!

Last year I got to see Califone one of my favorite bands at the festival. Parts of the video below were shot at a show I attended (they played several times, I was at the one that was under a tent outdoors).

better angels from Califone on Vimeo.

This year I'm sure there will again be both old favorites and new surprises. I'll be posting a bit more here during the fest, I hope. And also blogging about both SXSW Interactive & SXSW Music at Laughingsquid.com and on my Radio Valencia blog.

What Mikl-em is doing lately (circa 2011)

Until very recently, I hadn't written much here for a while. But I've been doing a lot elsewhere. So I wanted to post a quick summary and a bunch of links...

1. Blogging regularly at Laughing Squid on topics including but not limited to TV Nostalgia; San Francisco art, people, weather, and theater events; comedy of all sorts (esp. British and internet flavors); and odd soccer-related videos.
2. Playing music on the virtual air of Radio Valencia, San Francisco's newest and best pirate radio station. My show Can Haz DJ airs every Tuesday night from 10pm-12am. You can go to my blog on the RadioValencia site to listen live, or download mp3s of the show afterward and listen any time.
   
3. Being funny myself at places like The Dark Room (goofing MST3K style for Bad Movie Night or on-stage in Caddyshack Live).
4. Writing for Hi Fructose magazine (in-print only and with several features appearing in their just released second collected edition)
5. Um, other stuff.

That's a good overview, I will write up a list of recommended Squid posts in another post here. Also keep in mind that you can subscribe to my occasional email list if you'd like to keep up on what I'm doing and other SF-local things that I recommend.

How come Charlie Sheen and Newt Gingrich don't get the same punsihment?

Bill Maher as usual does incredibly funny and intelligent commentary with no punches pulled. The Sheen-Gingrich comparison is great, but the Gingrich-Edwards one is a really interesting one to ponder. And from there it slaloms through Ensign and Vitter and Spitzer and on and on. It is a strange old world that some people live in.

More on Unions, no really, you better watch out!

This joke is making it's way around Facebook, and it really nails it (which I think 'the kids' are saying again, right?)

So, a unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies. He looks at the tea partier and says, "Watch out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie."

Here is a very informative clip from The Rachel Maddow Show about the underlying motives and dynamics of the Wisconsin fight over public sector workers collective bargaining rights...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The unions in Wisconsin have already said that they are willing to make concessions, but the Governor's goal is not really to solve the "budget crisis" (which, per the clip above, might not have been so much a 'crisis' if he had not proactively passed a bunch of business tax cuts as his first act upon taking office). What he wants to do is to remove unions' voice, to neuter their ability to represent a large group of workers on their salary, benefits and working conditions. And in so doing to tilt the balance of power in the Republicans favor for ever more.

Wisconsin is not the easiest place for this piece of the GOP agenda to get across, it may be the toughest. And that's why they are doing it--they wanted to act quickly, sneak it in on a general positive wave of just-elected-governor vibe, and thus get it straight in as a mainstream national policy issue. But it's not. It's an attempt to radically retrench how employees are treated in this country, especially blue collar employees, and it aims directly (if much less intuitively) for the source of funding for the Democratic party. Which in a post Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission world is very dangerous for all of us.

My Radio Show and Music Blog on RadioValencia.FM

I have a show on RadioValencia.FM, San Francisco's latest & greatest independent non-commercial radio station (there are those who call us pirates, Arrr!).

My show is called Can Haz DJ, and it is on every Tuesday night from 10pm-1am. Here's a little bit of my thoughts on getting back to radio after 15 years or so (I unofficially majored in radio as an undergrad, meaning that I got no credits for it, even though I dedicated so much my time and energy to it). I started doing the show in August of last year, the same timeframe when Radio Valencia started up. You can download mp3s of my previous shows. It might help to review playlists of some of my shows to see what you are getting into--I also include videos in some of those posts.



Working in college radio was probably the most important experience that I have ever had, in terms of my personal development. It was practical experience for a real life work enviornment, and especially for one where a group of people are passionately dedicated to the task at hand. That's the way that I hope to always work, and it's something common to great startups, great small teams and awesome arts & theater groups, all of which I've been fortunate enough to find my way into ever since.

If you want to listen to Radio Valencia live, you can go to the website and click the play button, or tune in (in some parts) of San Francisco on 87.9FM.