the landlord

FINE FART

It's still pretty cold in San Francisco. Although the torrential storm has technically passed, SF's nipples are still so hard that we could cut glass with them.
Ipso Facto, two of our brainy members from our VASF brotherhood took a winter break trip to Los Angeles this month to avoid the frozen tundra that is our city. Luckily, one of them is Sandy Kim, who documented their expedition through these awesome pictures. Resident Fithmonger, Jason Feinberg, and his family (complete with really cute dog) made it pretty easy on the eyes.

FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH

tomorrow night:



It's pretty sweet when you don't have to pretend to like your boyfriend's crappy band anymore and start dating someone with taste. (at least in flyers)

Also, Master Slash Slave is playing Sunday, March 27th at Kimo's in the Tenderloin if you miss this gem of a show.

COME ONE COME ALL

first off:

The Dan Deacon Ultimate Reality Tour hits S.F. at the Great American Music Hall on the Thursday 17th. Sweet.Not only do you get to see the magical Dan Deacon, but you also get to see Health (one of my favorite bands right now) and the ever amazing KIT, featuring the positive-energy-spreader Vice Cooler.
This show will be the Electric Light Parade meets Kumbaya.

Sorry that I forgot to tell you, but we had an in-store show on Friday. The big plan is to have a band play in the gallery once a month or so. We're going to alternate acoustic and electric sets (out of respect for our "SUPER NICE" neighbors). Just another reason for you to stop by and see what we're up to.


After Friday, all of us here at VASF are really proud to know our coworker, TY and his band Traditional Fools. I talked it over with this dude John and we decided that their vintage punk diction is proof that they listen to all the right albums. Most excellent, dudes.




So if you're sad you missed it, or if you just wanna see more:
TONIGHT! 11/16/08 around 8pm
3285 22nd St at Valencia
Noise In My Kitchen/Club Sandwich presents
The Traditional Fools
Sic Alps
and Greg Ashley

JUST SAYIN

Man, last week was super fun.

The Hamburger Eyes show "Dust Ward" was a real hoot. Observe:


Ray Potes, co-founder



Our very own Sandy Kim in a babe sandwich







Not Pictured: A big mirror pyramid in the middle of the floor and an after party that was like eating hella twizlers and going on a slip and slide, but for grown-ups.

DUST WARD

Tomorrow night at Hamburger Eyes


check out their rad youtube.com invite:


More information about Hamburger Eyes, this show and the artist can be found at
http://www.burgerworldchronicles.com/

You will also be blessed with the presence of:
VASF staff, Ray Potes, Prince, Arthur Evens, Ricky Martin, River Pheonix and Michael Jackson, and possibly even (if you're lucky) the glorious Josh Lazcano!

VACATION WONDERLAND

Here are some photos of this "tropical paradise" we call home. Our doors are ALWAYS open.

2008 PEOPLE

Inoculation and an antidote: That's all we needed in our survival kits for NYE 2008. This year it was time to take New Years Eve in to our own hands to guarantee fun. No more epic yet anonymous parties. We can take a cue from our very own Patric Fallon (of Pish Posh of North America) who threw his own party at Hotel Utah that totally destroyed.
I'm glad we found out how to have fun because you’ve got to admit it’s one of the only holidays worth celebrating this time of year. No glorifying the slaughter of Native Americans, it’s nondenominational, you get a day off to recover, and you get a chance to reflect on the past year. We decided to do some interviews with the VASF crew (and a wild card!) about their New Years resolutions as a chance to get acquainted with us.

contestants


Questions:
1. What’s your New Years Resolution?



2. What are you going to leave behind in 2007?



3. Favorite animal?



4. Did you have fun on New Years Eve?



ANSWERS
Q1               Q2                Q3                Q4
A.3 D.2      A.5 D.3        A.6 D.1      A.1 D.4
B.5 E.1       B.6 E.4        B.4 E.2      B.2 E.5
C.6 F.4      C.2 F.1         C.5 F.3       C.3 F.6

There you have it folks. The hardest question seemed to be “What is your favorite animal?” and New Years Eve gets a fairly unanimous So-So.

happy 2008 people,
Jen Snyder

THE PAST AND THE PRESENT

Our consignment section boasts a righteous collection of great literature and music and one of our favorites is the infamous 80’s LA based music magazine No Mag. This week, fashion designer and photo contributor from days of yore, Chris Sullivan, came into the store and stumbled upon our original issue collection. He picked up an issue which showcased his own accessory line of bondage-style pieces made of bicycle tires, copper wire and crystals. His line was Vivienne Westwood reticent, tattered, delicate yet harsh and totally vintage punk. Nostalgia is awesome.



ALSO, from our new spring line, a very topical shirt for San Francisco.



In case you didn’t know, a 300 pound TIGER escaped from the San Francisco Zoo and totally killed a 17-year-old boy with a “Slash to the throat” and mauled two other people before the San Francisco Police were forced to shoot it to death.
I don’t know if our RVCA headquarters is unnervingly lucky, or if they are psychic, or if maybe they run the whole underground tiger/mafia deal or what, but I really think everyone should get this shirt to commemorate this crazy event. I mean, imagine being killed by a tiger!

Something local to check out: NRSZ.



You know how sometimes you go and see a friend’s band and their actually really good? Well that happened to me on Friday night.
They’re playing on February 2nd at Thee Parkside with Conspiracy of Beards and the Enablers. I’ll remind you again when that comes up. Until then, you can listen to them at myspace.com/nursesrehearses

HOLLY DAZE

Did anyone do anything this week besides holiday stuff? Not me.
Although personally I could just as easily get into celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Easter Bunny, whatever, this year I celebrated Christmas once more.
Which is not to say I don't LOVE the holidays. The VASF Holiday party was the best Holiday party ever in history, and I've been listening to my favorite Moog record of all time:



I think it's good every year because we never really expect much. Generally, I'd say you're guaranteed food, a present, and to hang out and be kinda bored (in that good way where you don't feel all guilty) all day with your family and friends. Low expectations always equals a decent time.
That said, I don't think we're the only ones dreading New Years. Not only does everyone have high expectations for this epic and literally time altering night, but these expectations are rarely met. Plus some of us have really bad New Year's Karma because last New Years was so awesome (because we planned on it being really bad).
So good luck out there people. I hope you find fun and warmth during these darkest, shortest days of the year.

Mistletoe is poison,
Jen Snyder

LUGGAGE STORE ANNIVERSARY