The Wigg Party and Con Brio are teaming up to bring you a night of music, dancing and community at Madrone Art Bar this Wednesday at 9 pm.

Give money to the Wigg Party = Get this CD

This is the Wigg Party’s very first fundraiser. Yes, it’s true – we’ve been operating for over a year on exactly $0! Just imagine what we can accomplish when we have a little bit of money to make use of!

The cover at the door will be $5 and that money is going to go to Con Brio and Madrone. Once inside, you’ll have an opportunity to donate money to the Wigg Party, and in exchange you’ll receive a Con Brio CD, generously donated to the Wigg Party by the band. We’re thinking $8-15 will get you a CD but we’re open to creative offers! All the money we raise will be going towards our upcoming Local Currency program, which we’ll tell you all about on Wednesday night.

So come out to Madrone (500 Divisadero St at Fell) on Wednesday to get your dance on with the Wigg Party!

UPDATE: If you can’t make it to the event but would still like to contribute to the cause, you can use our brand-new PayPal account by clicking the button below!

As we engage with a wide-array of community members in our work to build a broad-based coalition supporting the transformation of the Wiggle over the next year, we hear time and again that pedestrians who live in the area are continually perturbed by the behavior of bicyclists on the Wiggle. While we here at the Wigg Party feel victimized by undue guilt by association (it seems many people allow a bad experience with a single cyclist poison their opinion of all cyclists – blatant “transportationism”), we are beginning to take more seriously the opportunity we have to communicate to our fellow Wigglers about proper bicycle etiquette. Our ultimate goal is to make the “Wiggle cyclist” renowned as the most considerate and polite species of cyclist in all of San Francisco. The first step towards that goal comes in the form of a plea from our own Ian “Earthwind” Heid to our fellow cyclists, that’s been sitting in our inbox since November. Take it away Earthwind!

Who blasts through stops signs faster than wha…!?  I do for one.  But I’m guilty of my number one vice doing it, hypocrisy.  Why am I guilty?  Well, because I believe in traffic laws, safety of streets,  for one for all, etc.  Truly I do.

The aforementioned are all things I believe we can agree on.  Where we all disagree is with automobile owners.  Being one myself (full disclosure) I can’t say I always like bicyclists either.  There needs to be common ground.

we could all learn a thing or two here...

Part of gaining respect on the thoroughfares of any fair city is giving that respect right back.  We as urban and suburban and rural and universal people use it with each other every day for the most mundane interactions, yes?  Why don’t we use it when we are also at our most vunerable (site every study on traffic related deaths ever)?

Another aspect of integrating bicycles and vehicles is pure space.  I understand that fully.  Until that space is defined we need to keep in mind that while many of us use our bikes because we must/can/love to, the same applies to automobile owners (see! hypocrisy.  guilty as charged), and unfortunately for many people it’s the musty option.

So here is what I propose advocates of city bicycling take up as MUST DOS!

LEARN YOUR HAND SIGNALS. – You ever been pissed at someone who didn’t signal their car?  They feel the same, and often they are late or something, so they will run you over for an appointment, which they then will miss.  But you are the one missing out…  If you need help learning to guide your bike while riding with one hand you know the people to ask (hint: SFBC). » Read more: Use Your Brakes: An Opinion on Bicycle Etiquette by Ian “Earthwind” Heid

Another year, another 365 days to wake up and smell the compost. 2010, we hardly knew ye. 2011, we need you to be big for us.

Drawing by Brandon Loving

The turning of the calendar is always a great time to reflect on the past year and to look forward to what’s about to unfold. 2010 was a great year for the Wigg Party. It honestly seems like yesterday we were ringing in the new decade with all our friends at the Sunshine Castle. 2010 brought us the very first Wigg Party Party (February, 10th 2010 – for posterity’s sake), the birth of our self-preservation series of re-skilling events, thousands of pounds of food rescued from the waste stream through our Fresh Produce Share-With-Alls, two Carrotmobs, many a local-food sharing event, 10.10.10, the advent of wig-wearing (pretty sure we invented this), Sunday Streets, (PARK)ing Day, BP/ARCO protests, many moments of merriment and about 100 boxes of chalk applied to our beloved Wiggle. In 2010, the Wigg Party grew from a small group of friends with an idea to a bona fide movement in our little corner of this beautiful city of San Francisco. If 2010 marked the birth of a number of key elements of the growing sustainability movement (Hayes Valley Farm, Underground Farmers’ Market, the Hub SoMa, Fix Fell, Fix Masonic, SFBC’s Connecting the City, SF Urban Agriculture Alliance, I Bike SF, I Helmet SF, SF Bike Party, to name *just* a few!), 2011 will be the year many of these elements get together to figure out how to create some major victories for our city and our society.

Let’s examine. 2010, you brought us so many great things. And yet, when we stack up where we are against where all the people who don’t currently have their heads buried deep in the “grow the economy at all costs” sand say we need to be in order to stave off wholesale environmental and societal destruction, we’ve got a long way to go. Significant progress towards Zero Waste SF? Powerful binding Climate Change resolution? Creation of a sensible energy policy? Transformation of National Agriculture policy? Elimination of SF government red-tape so we can actually make sensible transit and other policy changes here in our own city? Yeah, not so much. Sometimes it feels like we’re trying to take down a giant monster with only a handful of tiny needles and none of us knows acupuncture. Sure, 2010 revealed a number of glimmers of hope for those who were looking for them, but where were the major victories? Where is the big public sign that says we’re seriously serious about this whole planetary crisis thing? If we don’t see some of these major victories in 2011, we at the Wigg Party might have to » Read more: 2011: The Year of Synergy in Sustainable San Francisco

The flyers got soaked but made for a pretty picture (photo by Hedda Brorstrom)

It is a relatively new sensation for me.  The mixture of anxiety and excitement that comes with planning and promoting a large event.  When the rains started to pour on San Francisco Saturday, October 23^rd at around 1:30pm, I swore more times than I’d like to admit but kept hustling.  In the back of my head, I chanted, “It’s alright, people will still make it out there…it’s alright, people will still make it out, right?!?”

Me, trying to create some rain coverage for the event (photo by Hedda Brorstrom)

Later in the afternoon as two of us set up rain structures, getting completely drenched in the process, a kind mother with her family approached me and asked if we could use any help. She said something akin to, “We’re waiting ‘til three to buy anything anyways. We’re here for the Carrotmob.” Usually my stubbornness would have protested but at that moment my ego was too soaked.  I smiled and graciously accepted the families help.  I learned the family had come from Berkeley to support our Mob because their sons had been involved in a Carrotmob through their school Prospect Sierra at a pizza shop in Emeryville.

I was humbled that this family had trekked form Berkeley and in the rain to support our local café. My friends that lived down the street hadn’t even shown up yet. Starting with this generous family and reinforced by the community which quickly “mob”ilized by 3:10pm, the warmth of confidence, empowerment, and simple fun began to spread through me that even the precipitous onslaught couldn’t wash away.

The Sufis warming up the cafe with tunes (photo by Hedda Brorstrom)

We drank, ate, joked, shouted and proudly donned our “1 [carrot] 2” name tags.  A local band, The Sufis, played a youthful blend of bluegrass, blues, and street jazz.  A solo act by Laucho followed with strong guitar rhythms, sharp harmonica riffs and gravely vocals that barely broke through the clamor of the swelling cloud of patrons.  By 5:30pm it was dark, wet and quiet on the surrounding the streets, but inside the café the San Francisco Giants had just began what would be the last game in their series against World Series Defending Champs the Philadelphia Phillies.

When the afternoon was over, all of our faces were glistening with as much good cheer as rain.  The gift raffle was a fun way to round out the day and the business owners, Lauren and Jason, seemed to have had as much fun as everybody else.

A few weeks later, Jason sent me the final tally from the afternoon. The total gross sales for the day were the highest in the young business’ existence: $1,311.50. Around $520 of the gross sales was profit which the owners generously matched before removing the cost of labor.  The finally tally including the Mob and the Matching Half (wow, this pun just never gets old) was $863.20.

Celebrating at the end of the event (photo by Hedda Brorstrom)

The money raised will be enough to purchase the Burely bike trailer and the owners have started hunting for large food storage bins. They’ve already placed their order for organic milk to start a trial run with their lattes and whatever remains they will invest in local foods.

I am deeply grateful for everyone that came out in spite of the rain to support a local café trying to do good works.  For those of you that couldn’t make it out there don’t worry because the Mob will be at again before you know it.  And we expect to see you out there.

I know I’m a week late on this but I can’t get it out of my head, and I figure better late than never.

I’ve had a number of conversations over this past week about the most recent election results. You remember last Tuesday? When everyone here in San Francisco was reminded that everyone else in the country is seriously pathological? I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that the House swung back strongly Republican and we almost lost the Senate or having the occasion to reflect on the past two years of supposedly having a mandate for “Change” and getting almost NOTHING accomplished. Seriously – Health Care? Sort of? WTF. Two whole years and absolutely zero significant progress in moving towards the way our society must function in 20 – fuck it – 10 years for us to have any hope of the biosystems not completely spiraling out of control. Or having a reliable energy system. Or having safe access to fresh water. Or life not being completely miserable and horrific and tragic in general.

So what do I think of the election results? I think if you think that getting out of your house once a year to mark some boxes on a piece of paper is the primary way for us to manifest the necessary societal transformation we are called to create, then you are dumber than all those people in the Tea Party who think God created the world in seven days 6,000 years ago and Climate Change is the biggest hoax since dinosaurs.

These people

Why do I think the political system is gravely impotent as a vehicle for transformation? » Read more: Politics is Bullshit

Matching Half Cafe owners Lauren and Jason (Photograph by Michael Helquist [http://ibikenopa.blogspot.com])

Live Music – Beer & Wine – Food &  Coffee – Prize Raffle – That Feel Good Feeling

Where can you get all of the above? Matching Half Café Tomorrow, that’s where.

Tomorrow afternoon from 3pm to 6pm, environmentally consciousness community members just like you are going to swarm the lovely Matching Half Café at McAllister and Baker.  Why are we going to mob this local café with as much business as we can muster?

We are the carrotmob – rewarding with the carrot, not disciplining with the stick. Matching Half has committed to match every dollar of profit that we can generate so that 200% of the profits from tomorrow’s three hour event will go directly to eco-friendly and energy-saving changes for the business.

The first purchase will be a bike trailer (a Burley Travoy to be precise) so that the owner’s of Matching Half Café (Jason and Lauren) can make local food and other deliveries by bike instead of by car.  If the carrotmob can raise enough money, the business will implement other changes as well.  They will buy large food storage containers to cut down on packaging wastes.  They will also do a trial run of organic milk for their lattes.

All of this is only possible if you come out and support Matching Half Café in making these important changes to how they operate their business. The power is in the mob. Let’s mobilize.

Coffee and Carrots: Get 'Em While They're Hot

You know where to be.  You know what’s going down.

Now is the time to tell everyone that you know!

Free raffle entry for anyone that makes a purchase between 3pm and 6pm!

Hey Cats and Kiddos,

Just a quick reminder that the Wigg Party Party is this Thursday night at 7:30 pm. What is this, our 9th?? I can smell that one-year anniversary bonanza brewing…

a more magical meeting place, there never was...

This installment is shaping up to be as amazing as ever, probably more. We’re going to be recapping our HUGE month, from PARK(ing) Day to the Self-Preservation Series to 10/10/10 to Sunday Streets (we’d recap the after-party but it’s all a little fuzzy to us… something about bubbles and bike racks, found and lost). After the whirlwind recap, we’re going to preview the upcoming and extremely exciting Carrotmob event going down at Matching Half Cafe on October 23rd from 3-6 pm (Clint is going to instruct everyone on what do with your hands when you’re on camera, cause PBS is going to be there filming), and we’re also going to hear about all the developments going down with the Wiggle Transformers, include the organizational debut of City Repair SF!

Once we’re done with all that boring stuff, we’ll toast to ourselves and get to know the amazing people behind the wigs. As always, we’ll cap the night off by getting out on the Wiggle and writing inspiring messages for all you beautiful people to enjoy until the cars ruin everything again.

So come on out! You know you’ve been wanting to… If you’ve been hearing about this crazy group of revolutionaries and want to find out what we’re all about, there is no better opportunity. Plus you get to meet a bunch of really awesome people and participate in some mild civil disobedience. What’s not to like?

The Wigg Party is proud to announce that the next incarnation of the global phenomenon known as the Carrotmob will be happening here in our own backyard at the Matching Half Cafe on October 23rd from 3-6 pm. During these hours, Matching Half will commit a whopping 200% of their profit to making their business practices more sustainable. Yes, you read correctly: 200%!

This should look familiar...

For those of you who are unaware, a Carrotmob is one of the most effective tactics for helping a local business become more sustainable. The idea is really pretty simple: local businesses, traditionally of one type (we chose cafes), bid against each other to win the mob of people who stand ready to » Read more: Dust Off Your Carrot Costumes

Fell Street Parking Day (photo from Brendan Pierpont)

I can’t tell which to be more excited about: the fact that PARK(ing) Day was a marvelous success or that Sunday Streets will prove to be even better. Yesterday,  The Wigg Party and Fix Fell took over five parking spaces on the hazardous stretch of Fell Street to encourage the community to think about and hopefully question how we use our parking space.  I’m incredibly proud of our efforts to reclaim the street and demonstrate the power of re-imagening (or more literally repurposing) public space. I need not remind most of you that parking spaces are OUR space, government owned but people controlled. We created an environment where mere participation in sipping a cup of tea equaled civic-minded engagement and transit activism, where the act of reading a book re-carved the urban landscape. Reactions came in many shapes and sizes. but most fell into two camps: celebratory appreciation or smile-educing confusion.

I could keep up a cerebral and pedantic ramble about public imagination and guerrilla architecture, but I bet you’d rather look at some pictures.

Plenty of room for people, pups, and plants. (photo by Booka Alon)

My only regret is that in the haste of organizing and planning for PARK(ing) Day, I forgot to update our plans with SPUR/REBAR who had been under the impression that we were going to transform the parking spots into a two-way cycle track. Sorry for folks out there that we disappointed, but it just wasn’t feasible for such a short track of pavement.  Maybe next year we can take over all the spots from Scott to Baker.  (Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to?)

One community driven action at a time, our streets will be reclaimed. (photo by Brendan Pierpont)

You can check out more great photos on my flickr stream.  (One of these days The Wigg Party will get around to making one these neat things.)

And just so we all remember that public space reclamation isn’t ending any time soon, be sure to come out to the Sunday Streets Western Addition tomorrow from 10am to 3pm. The Wigg Party will be holding down Central and Hayes. Get more information and check out the route here.   And don’t forget to check out The Wigg Party parade through the Panhandle and ending where else but the unofficial after-party at the Sunshine Castle.

If you can’t ATTEND THESE EVENTS, I only ask that you SPREAD THE WORD. Preferably both. Many of the people I meet yesterday had not before heard of PARK(ing) Day.  Think how many more people you can reach.