San Francisco Weekly May 2, 2012 : Page 5S F C ucka ree NASDAQ 451 BY BENJAMIN WACHS Otto von Danger’s friends wanted him to blow up a bank. “They were upset about what the banks are doing,” the Oakland artist (real name Otto Ewen) explained. “We all are.” But von Danger is famous for blowing stuff up on an epic scale, like the city façade Megatropolis at 2010’s Burning Man. “Just a bank is kind of blasé,” he says. s. So, he’s aiming g bigger: Burn Wall Street . The project (estimated estimated cost: $100,000) will erect Wall Street’s treet’s major landmarks s in the Black Rock Des-ert for Burning Man, let partici-pants interact with ith them for a week, and the blow them em up. It’s von Danger’s first s firs st foray into political al art, and he empha-ha-sizes that it is not simply t simpl ly a left-wing statement: ent: Burning Wall Street reet may be the one thing most Americans agree e on. “Wall Street is s manip-ulating the political cal parties s to divide the Tea Parties and the Occupiers when they both want the same thing,” von Danger says. “They think of themselves as enemies when the real enemy is the thing that got them both mad in the first place.” Burn Wall Street will be anchored by the New York Stock Exchange, which Burners enter by trampling an oversized version of Un-the t e Bill of Rights; the next door Bank of Un America tower will have volunteers who glue g gl ue actual foreclo-sfweekly.com ity | CONTENTS An Oakland artist plans to fi nd the temperature at which Wall Street burns. sure statements to the façade; the Goldman Sucks building will house a giant jungle gym, allowing the ambitious to climb over each other to reach the view 72 feet up. Perhaps most delicious is the replica of Zuccotti Park (renamed Tecate, after the beer) where von Danger expects Burning Man participants to camp and hold meetings. Since Burning Man forbids camping in the main art area, Burn Wall Street will periodi-cally encourage actual federal agents (of the real Bureau of Land Management) to clear protesters out. It will take a crew of about 50 people over two months to build. Spots are still available on the crew, and tax-deductible donations (under the auspices of Veterans (Find out more at for Peace) are needed. (Fin BurnWallStreet.net.) the entire Then, after five days on display, d structure will be destroyed on the night of Sept. 7. Von Danger Dan says it will be a success if it encourages people sides of the political on both side spectrum to at least consider uniting against again a common foe — and do the difficult legwork to found and support third parties. “ “You need to real-that bringing your ize th AK-47 or your bongo AK-drums to a protest is dr not going to change n the world,” he says. th Also, “When it blows up I want people their pants and grin to shit th from ear to ear.” | LETTERS | SUCKA FREE CITY SINGLE PROCESS COLOR & CUT $ 99 415.362.6403 haute415.com 760 Market, suite 949 sf | NIGHT+DAY | BOOKS | FILM | EAT | MUSIC Fred Noland O CCUPIED PIED D B BY YT THE HE 1 P ERCENT WILLIE BROWN-BROKERED BANQUET ANGERS COIT TOWER’S COTERIE BY JOE ESKENAZI In the most overtly political of Bernard Zakheim’s Depression-era Coit Tower mu-rals, a man reaches for a copy of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital . How funny, then, that a dozen swells last year enjoyed a candlelight banquet just beneath him, a hookup for one of the state’s biggest right-wing political donors ar-ranged through a call to a city department head from Willie Brown. Das Kapital , meet da kapitalists. Thomas Coates’ elegant Coit Tower dinner for a dozen has become the latest flashpoint between neighborhood activists and the Rec-reation and Park Department, which oversees the e tower. to o we r. A letter l et te r from f om the Telegraph fr Teleg eg gra r ph p Hill Dwellers, claiming the Coates dinner violated city rules by shutting the public out of the landmark during business hours, spurred Su-pervisor David Chiu to call for a hearing. While the Dwellers have put Proposition B on the ballot to “prioritize” money generated by Coit Tower for sustaining the tower, the Rec-reation and Park Department would rather the tower — a cradle of workin’ man’s WPA art — serve as the city’s champagne room, and then spend the money as it sees fit. SF Weekly obtained e-mails and receipts generated by the April 2011 dinner, a $20,000 charity item Coates purchased to benefit the Parks Alliance, which supports Rec and Park. They reveal an admirable and alarming dedi-cation to meeting the donor’s whims — “I just need every part of the bldg, inside and outside, to be sparkling!” wrote one Rec and Park em-ployee. Informed that the Coateses “only like Chardonnay” and “Tom is a vodka cocktail guy … up w a twist,” the organizers responded “Buttery Chard and vodka cocktails will be plentiful.” As the organizing was on par with, say, launching amphibious invasion, the sa ay, l au nching an amphibio Parks Alliance’s Jane Scurich chalked it up to “the very casual manner in which the dinner was initially secured through a phone conver-sation between Phil [Ginsburg, the head of Rec and Park] and Willie Brown.” Ginsburg has written to the Elections De-partment that Prop. B “could likely result in the severe restriction of public access to Coit Tower” and “severely reduce the department resources used to maintain nearby parks and playgrounds in lower income and underserved neighborhoods.” It would certainly cut into the ability to auction off Coit for private events, something the department notes it wants to do more of in the request for proposal for the tow-er’s next concessionaire. Cordoning off a city landmark for private events by the politically well-connected “flies in the face of what Coit Tower is all about,” says Telegraph Hill Dwell-ers president Jon Golinger. “It was donated for all the people by Lillie Hitchcock Coit.” It was also donated in memory of the city’s firefighters — so be careful during those can-dlelight banquets. | SF WEEKLY M AY 2-M AY 8, 2012 5 Sucka Free CityNASDAQ 451 <br /> <br /> An Oakland artist plans to find the temperature at which Wall Street burns.<br /> <br /> Otto von Danger’s friends wanted him to blow up a bank.<br /> <br /> “They were upset about what the banks are doing,” the Oakland artist (real name Otto Ewen) explained. “We all are.” But von Danger is famous for blowing stuff up on an epic scale, like the city façade Megatropolis at 2010’s Burning Man. “Just a bank is kind of blasé,” he says.<br /> <br /> So, he’s aiming bigger: Burn Wall Street.<br /> <br /> The project (estimated cost: $100,000) will erect Wall Street’s major landmarks in the Black Rock Desert for Burning Man, let participants interact with them for a week, and the blow them up. It’s von Danger’s first foray into political art, and he emphasizes that it is not simply a left-wing statement: Burning Wall Street may be the one thing most Americans agree on.<br /> <br /> “Wall Street is manipulating the political parties to divide the Tea Parties and the Occupiers when they both want the same thing,” von Danger says. “They think of themselves as enemies when the real enemy is the thing that got them both mad in the first place.”<br /> <br /> Burn Wall Street will be anchored by the New York Stock Exchange, which Burners enter by trampling an oversized version of the Bill of Rights; the next door Bank of Un- America tower will have volunteers who glue actual foreclosure statements to the façade; the Goldman Sucks building will house a giant jungle gym, allowing the ambitious to climb over each other to reach the view 72 feet up.<br /> <br /> Perhaps most delicious is the replica of Zuccotti Park (renamed Tecate, after the beer) where von Danger expects Burning Man participants to camp and hold meetings. Since Burning Man forbids camping in the main art area, Burn Wall Street will periodically encourage actual federal agents (of the real Bureau of Land Management) to clear protesters out.<br /> <br /> It will take a crew of about 50 people over two months to build. Spots are still available on the crew, and tax-deductible donations (under the auspices of Veterans for Peace) are needed. (Find out more at BurnWallStreet.net.) <br /> <br /> Then, after five days on display, the entire structure will be destroyed on the night of Sept. 7. Von Danger says it will be a success if it encourages people on both sides of the political spectrum to at least consider uniting against a common foe — and do the difficult legwork to found and support third parties. “ You need to realize that bringing your AK-47 or your bongo drums to a protest is not going to change the world,” he says. <br /> <br /> Also, “When it blows up I want people to shit their pants and grin from ear to ear.”<br /> <br /> BY BENJAMIN WACHS<br /> <br /> OCCUPIED BY THE 1 PERCENT<br /> <br /> WILLIE BROWN-BROKERED BANQUET ANGERS COIT TOWER’S COTERIE<br /> <br /> In the most overtly political of Bernard Zakheim’s Depression-era Coit Tower murals, a man reaches for a copy of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. How funny, then, that a dozen swells last year enjoyed a candlelight banquet just beneath him, a hookup for one of the state’s biggest right-wing political donors arranged through a call to a city department head from Willie Brown.<br /> <br /> Das Kapital, meet da kapitalists.<br /> <br /> Thomas Coates’ elegant Coit Tower dinner for a dozen has become the latest flashpoint between neighborhood activists and the Recreation and Park Department, which oversees the tower. A letter from the Telegraph Hill Dwellers, claiming the Coates dinner violated city rules by shutting the public out of the landmark during business hours, spurred Supervisor David Chiu to call for a hearing. While the Dwellers have put Proposition B on the ballot to “prioritize” money generated by Coit Tower for sustaining the tower, the Recreation and Park Department would rather the tower — a cradle of workin’ man’s WPA art — serve as the city’s champagne room, and then spend the money as it sees fit.<br /> <br /> SF Weekly obtained e-mails and receipts generated by the April 2011 dinner, a $20,000 charity item Coates purchased to benefit the Parks Alliance, which supports Rec and Park. They reveal an admirable and alarming dedication to meeting the donor’s whims — “I just need every part of the bldg, inside and outside, to be sparkling!” wrote one Rec and Park employee. Informed that the Coateses “only like Chardonnay” and “Tom is a vodka cocktail guy … up w a twist,” the organizers responded “Buttery Chard and vodka cocktails will be plentiful.” As the organizing was on par with, say, launching an amphibious invasion, the Parks Alliance’s Jane Scurich chalked it up to “the very casual manner in which the dinner was initially secured through a phone conversation between Phil [Ginsburg, the head of Rec and Park] and Willie Brown.” <br /> <br /> Ginsburg has written to the Elections Department that Prop. B “could likely result in the severe restriction of public access to Coit Tower” and “severely reduce the department resources used to maintain nearby parks and playgrounds in lower income and underserved neighborhoods.” It would certainly cut into the ability to auction off Coit for private events, something the department notes it wants to do more of in the request for proposal for the tower’s next concessionaire. Cordoning off a city landmark for private events by the politically well-connected “flies in the face of what Coit Tower is all about,” says Telegraph Hill Dwellers president Jon Golinger. <br /> <br /> “It was donated for all the people by Lillie Hitchcock Coit.” It was also donated in memory of the city’s firefighters — so be careful during those candlelight banquets.<br /> <br /> BY JOE ESKENAZI Haute Hair Studio |
