The Prigs

I did a show at Piano’s the other night, and this band played after. Todd Barry watched them for two songs, and told me that they were really really good, and that they were going to be huge. So I had to go in and see for myself, and they were indeed, incredible. These videos don’t do them justice, and unfortunately, there’s no recording of my favorite of their songs: “San Francisco Girl.” But they’ll be at Piano’s again on March 7th. I’m an official groupie.

Friendship=Magic Life Force

Thanks for sending this Citadella!

What Are Friends For? A Longer Life

By TARA PARKER-POPE

In the quest for better health, many people turn to doctors, self-help books or herbal supplements. But they overlook a powerful weapon that could help them fight illness and depression, speed recovery, slow aging and prolong life: their friends.

Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age.

“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’t terribly well appreciated,” said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. “There is just scads of stuff on families and marriage, but very little on friendship. It baffles me. Friendship has a bigger impact on our psychological well-being than family relationships.”

In a new book, “The Girls From Ames: A Story of Women and a 40-Year Friendship” (Gotham), Jeffrey Zaslow tells the story of 11 childhood friends who scattered from Iowa to eight different states. Despite the distance, their friendships endured through college and marriage, divorce and other crises, including the death of one of the women in her 20s.

Using scrapbooks, photo albums and the women’s own memories, Mr. Zaslow chronicles how their close friendships have shaped their lives and continue to sustain them. The role of friendship in their health and well-being is evident in almost every chapter.

Two of the friends have recently learned they have breast cancer. Kelly Zwagerman, now a high school teacher who lives in Northfield, Minn., said that when she got her diagnosis in September 2007, her doctor told her to surround herself with loved ones. Instead, she reached out to her childhood friends, even though they lived far away.

“The first people I told were the women from Ames,” she said in an interview. “I e-mailed them. I immediately had e-mails and phone calls and messages of support. It was instant that the love poured in from all of them.”

When she complained that her treatment led to painful sores in her throat, an Ames girl sent a smoothie maker and recipes. Another, who had lost a daughter to leukemia, sent Ms. Zwagerman a hand-knitted hat, knowing her head would be cold without hair; still another sent pajamas made of special fabric to help cope with night sweats.

Ms. Zwagerman said she was often more comfortable discussing her illness with her girlfriends than with her doctor. “We go so far back that these women will talk about anything,” she said.

Ms. Zwagerman says her friends from Ames have been an essential factor in her treatment and recovery, and research bears her out. In 2006, a study of nearly 3,000 nurses with breast cancer found that women without close friends were four times as likely to die from the disease as women with 10 or more friends. And notably, proximity and the amount of contact with a friend wasn’t associated with survival. Just having friends was protective.

Bella DePaulo, a visiting psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, whose work focuses on single people and friendships, notes that in many studies, friendship has an even greater effect on health than a spouse or family member. In the study of nurses with breast cancer, having a spouse wasn’t associated with survival.

While many friendship studies focus on the intense relationships of women, some research shows that men can benefit, too. In a six-year study of 736 middle-age Swedish men, attachment to a single person didn’t appear to affect the risk of heart attack and fatal coronary heart disease, but having friendships did. Only smoking was as important a risk factor as lack of social support.

Exactly why friendship has such a big effect isn’t entirely clear. While friends can run errands and pick up medicine for a sick person, the benefits go well beyond physical assistance; indeed, proximity does not seem to be a factor.

It may be that people with strong social ties also have better access to health services and care. Beyond that, however, friendship clearly has a profound psychological effect. People with strong friendships are less likely than others to get colds, perhaps because they have lower stress levels.

Last year, researchers studied 34 students at the University of Virginia, taking them to the base of a steep hill and fitting them with a weighted backpack. They were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise, while others were alone.

The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. And the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.

“People with stronger friendship networks feel like there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen A. Roberto, director of the center for gerontology at Virginia Tech. “Friendship is an undervalued resource. The consistent message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”

Brief NY Update

I’ve only been here for 3 weeks but it feels like way mas.

I miss Vietnamese food, Golden Gate Park and Mexicans in general.

But I’m extremely busy, happy and growing.

Moving here is one of the best decision I’ve ever made.

For those of you in NY who want to come see shows, please be patient as I’m working on producing my own show, similar to that of the SF Onion Comedy Series at the SF Punchline. Since I pick the line-up, it’s better for peeps to attend these extra-special events. Only these particular shows get posted on my website. Stay tuned because once I secure a date, I expect the shows to sell out like they done did in SF!

Dating Tips for Grown Ass Women: Part 8

Race shouldn’t be a requirement.

I used to think that it was super important, to be with another Asian-American person…more specifically someone who was also JUNGLE Asian (Cambodian, Laotion or Emotion).

What’s great about dating someone of your own race, is that you can go home, and be racist together. And isn’t that true love? When you can go home and just say whatever you want?

Getting romantical with someone outside of the race, requires that you explain a lot of basic concepts, such as:

-The Costco coupon book is the most exciting thing ever to come in the mail

-Cheese and crackers is not a snack

-My mom dries her underwear in the shower

-Bun Bo Hue all day every day

-I never buy anything full price because I’ve been to CHINA

But it’s nice when you don’t have to explain to a dood, how to treat you well. Because if he doesn’t get that basic concept, then you’ll get really tired of telling him over and over how to do it.

Kevin Shea once told me that he has two requirements of a woman: that they have a connection and that he’s attracted to her. It sounds simple, but to find a person who fully embodies those qualities, is extremely difficult. So don’t make it more difficult, by limiting yourself to one race.

John Leguizamo's FREAK

It’s on YouTube!

The best one man show ever.

Just Finished this...

Loved every single page of this book. It’s FASCINATING and hilarious.

Mission Street Food

I read this article in the Chronicle today and am trying to figure a way out, for me to go as soon as possible!

Mission Street Food: low-down haute cuisine

Stacy Finz, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, February 19, 2009

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It’s Thursday night, and Karen Leibowitz is frantic.

“This really isn’t a good time to talk,” she says while clutching a couple of water bottles in her hands.

The UC Berkeley doctoral student/comparative literature instructor and her husband, Anthony Myint, throw a sort-of dinner party for a couple hundred strangers - and sometimes friends - twice a week in San Francisco’s Mission District. They used to do it just on Thursdays, but the lines were so long, “We didn’t want people to get mad,” Leibowitz, 31, says. So the couple has added a Saturday night service to their Mission Street Food events, held in a restaurant that they comandeer for the occasions.

The dishes are partly prepared by Myint, a former Bar Tartine line cook who wanted to stretch his culinary muscles and give other line cooks the chance to strut their stuff. Actual chefs who want to break out of their routine to experiment a bit are also welcome. Chris Kronner, former executive chef at Slow Club and Serpentine, was cooking on Valentine’s Day, but not many name chefs have taken up the offer.

The beauty of the concept: With no overhead, just the price of ingredients, aspiring restaurateurs or adventurous cooks can afford to take chances, and even go home with a little cash in their pocket. Diners get to sample haute cuisine for a fraction of the price (typically no dish is more than $12), and the founders say they make enough from the venture to donate a few hundred bucks each week to a different food charity.

It all started last year when Myint, 30, noticed that the Antojitos San Miguel taco truck took Thursday nights off. The market researcher-turned-cook, who has more confidence than experience, wanted domain over his own menu. And while he shuns formal training in way of culinary school - most graduates barely have the know-how to work the restaurant pantry, he says - he needed a place where he could challenge himself.

So he rented the taco truck and sent out a bunch of e-mails publicizing that he’d be parked at Mission and 21st Street, serving up his own brand of street food. People came en masse, happily shelling out $5 for a pork belly and jicama flatbread sandwich slathered in cilantro aioli. They kept coming. But the long lines and rowdy crowds ticked off neighbors, who called the police.

Three months ago Myint decided it was time for a venue change. He cut a deal with the owners of Lung Shan, a worn little Chinese restaurant on Mission Street with 1970s paneling, threadbare carpet and chipped plates, which only does a delivery business on Thursdays and Saturdays. They said he could share the cramped kitchen and make use of the dining room with its 15 tables.

For atmosphere, Myint and Leibowitz darken the room and turn on a few strings of Christmas lights. Dinner isn’t served until 6 p.m., but patrons start lining up an hour early. Some bring their own wine and pay a $5 corkage fee. . The food is cash-only. Menus are posted online a few days in advance.

Diner Chelsea Rose and a couple of friends wanted to make sure they weren’t left out in the cold. So they took a spot right at the door.

“I saw the Yelp reviews,” Rose says. “And I hear they sell out fast.”

Meghan Neal, a 25-year-old local, attended last week and was back with two friends.

“I liked what they had,” she says. “And it’s reasonably priced. And it’s really nice that they donate profits to charity.”

Emma Sullivan, who was busily prepping in the kitchen, says she can’t remember a night she worked when they didn’t run out of food.

On this particular night, the menu included celery root soup ($4 cup/$6 bowl), frisee salad with Marin Roots chickweed and Blossom Bluff gold nugget mandarins ($8), brisket sandwich with onion soubise, a contribution from San Francisco’s Broken Record restaurant ($8), goat stroganoff with chevre dumplings ($10), seis leches cake ($6) and Humphry Slocombe ice cream ($3.25).

In the dining room, a harried Leibowitz continued to get ready for the busy night ahead. There never really was a good time to talk.

Mission Street Food, 2234 Mission St. (near 18th Street), San Francisco; blog.missionstreetfood.com.

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My New Best Friend

Use this spray to waterproof and protect all your precious leather goods. You can buy it at any shoe repair shop, and frolick freely and fabulously in the rain.

New Fun Fact

I just found out that Jermaine Jackson’s son’s name is JERMAJESTY. With a name like that, you gotta wonder if the mama is Filipino.