San Francisco News

Fray Day Photos

Fray Day 6 San Francisco rocked! Now, I know, I say that every year, but this year it's is especially true thanks to Dealership and From Monument to Masses, our two bands that literally rocked the house. I'm working on getting some photos online, but in the meantime, check out photos from Matt, John, and Robin.

Did you put up some photos from Fray Day 6 San Francisco? Post a link below!

– Derek   7 comments   15 Sep 02 @ 7:29PM

FD6SF in Today's Papers

There's a fabulous story about Fray Day 6 San Francisco in today's Examiner: 'Fray' to be you and me. I had no idea I was so foulmouthed around reporters! The event was also mentioned on the front page of the Chronicle Datebook.

Shout outs to the wonderful David-Michel Davies, our Minister of Information, who sent out all the press kits to bring us to the attention of the mainstream media. This is the first year the SF event has gotten any local ink, and I'm stoked.

– Derek   12 Sep 02 @ 2:11PM

Open Mic Info

Part of what makes Fray Day special is that YOU are invited to tell your story in the open mic. If you're interested in signing up, read on....

how it works

To sign up for the open mic, come early. Signups will only be taken between 7 and 8pm.

Open mic storytellers will be brought onstage throughout the evening - not just at the end like in previous years. So if you sign up, stick around!

Open mic slots are five minutes long - no more. So you might want to practice with a timer before the event. Please be considerate of your fellow performers! Our goal is to give as many people a chance to get onstage as possible.

open mic guidelines

The goal of the Fray Day open microphone is to create a safe space where people feel comfortable telling their stories. Here are some tips to make your performance the best it can be.

1 Be personal.
Fray Day is all about personal stories. As long as you're speaking from the heart, what you say will be welcomed. You don't have to be funny and you don't have to be serious (though you can be either, or both, if you want). You just have to be yourself. Easy, right?

2 Be true.
We've got nothing against fiction, but that's not what Fray Day is about. It's expected that the story you tell will be something that really happened to you.

3 Don't talk about the web!
This is about storytelling in Real Life. We all know what it's like to be on the web. Tell us what it's like to be in your shoes.

4 No rants.
Got an axe to grind? Do it in the garage. This is a place for stories, not kvetches.

5 Five minutes.
We're asking everyone to tell their story in under five minutes. But don't worry, five minutes is longer than you think. Just take your time and tell your story. You'll be fine as long as you stay on topic. If you see the emcee looking at you and tapping their watch, wrap it up quick. You'll only get one warning before we pull the plug.

6 Get into it!
Try to avoid the words like "um, uh, well, yeah." Be confident – no one else knows the story you're about to tell as well as you do, so own it! Have energy. Resist the urge to stare at your feet, no matter how interesting they may seem. And above all, enjoy yourself! If you're having fun, so is everybody else.

Thanks again for participating in the Fray Day open mic!

– Derek   11 Sep 02 @ 10:37PM

Local link

A fantastic writeup of Fray Day San Francisco (and Fray Day in general) is now appearing in local city site SF Station: Storytellers Leap into the Fray. I love any article that includes the phrase "adrenaline aftermath."

– Derek   9 Sep 02 @ 11:09PM

Marquee tag

We put the letters up on the Victoria Theatre marquee today. Get ready San Francisco!

They ran out of Ys on one side, so if you approach the theatre from the east, be on the lookout for FRAY DAV 6!

– Derek   9 Sep 02 @ 8:50PM

FD6SF poster updated

Hey San Franciscans! We've updated the Fray Day 6 San Francisco poster with all the names of the featured performers, and even corrected a typo or two! So if you'd like to help spread the word about Fray Day 6, please download a copy of our updated poster (456k pdf), print it out, and put it up in your favorite cafe, office, bathroom, or wherever. What are office printers for, anyway? Fray Day is a community event, so we're depending on you. Thanks for spreading the word!

– Derek   8 Sep 02 @ 6:38PM

Final Featured Storytellers

I'm totally stoked to announce a few final featured storytellers, including internet superstar Justin Hall, Oprah's buddy Heather Champ, bestseller Laura Fraser, and retired bank robber Joe Loya. Read on for the nitty gritty....

Justin Hall rocked the house with tales of Japan at Fray Cafe 2 earlier this year. Justin describes himself as a "long fingered talker, back bent by digital stimulation and chin thrust forward into love. Soon he will be based in Japan again, paying bills as a journalist and websmith, eating salted cartilage on a stick, spending time with his breathing teacher." His favorite Muppets are Waldorf and Statler.

Heather Champ has been essential to the last three Fray events, performing at Fray Cafe 2, creating interactive art installations at FD5 and FD4, and generally acting as Fray Volunteer Number One. This year she'll be performing a story called "Penis Envy," and she says there'll be props. Heather is a non-resident alien who used to live on Mars and the proprietress of Oprah's favorite website, The Mirror Project. Her favorite Muppet is Beaker.

Laura Fraser will perform at her first Fray Day this year, telling a story about "a blind date that went very, very weird." Laura is a San Francisco-based journalist whose last book is An Italian Affair. She has no favorite Muppet.

Joe Loya will perform at his first Fray Day this year, telling a story about his former career as a bank robber. Joe is an essayist and associate editor at the Pacific News Service. His memoir, The Parole of Buddha Lobo, will be published by Harper Collins in fall, 2003. He also has no favorite Muppet.

– Derek   7 Sep 02 @ 6:51PM

More Featured Storytellers

Three more featured storytellers have signed on to perform at Fray Day 6 San Francisco, including Bay Area troublemaker Jack Boulware, slam poet Justin Chin, and last year's open mic emcee Brad Graham! Read on for more info....

Jack Boulware will perform at his first Fray event this year. In addition to being an author and journalist, Jack is co-producing the upcoming Litquake literary festival. In a previous life he was a columnist for the SF Weekly and the editor of a snarky little magazine called The Nose. Now he limits himself to speeding in Yellowstone, writing books, and thinking about his favorite Muppet: "I think his name was Skrid. Or Skred. a grumbly father-type Muppet; part of the Muppets that were on the early early seasons of saturday night live. Really ugly dinosaur creatures, with a family sitcom kind of structure to their sketches. And not funny at all. But kind of mesmerizing in that they were a colossal failure as Muppets."

Justin Chin is looking forward to losing his Fray virgin status this year at Fray Day 6 SF. Justin is the author of two collections of poetry (Harmless Medicine and Bite Hard, available through Manic D Press) and two collections of personal essays (Burden of Ashes and Mongrel). Justin thinks of Muppets in terms of dating. "Animal is the studly sexy one, but he's probably not the best for any serious relationship. Kermit, though boring as cold boogers, is probably a better bet for a long-term relationship."

Brad Graham performed at Fray Day 4 and Fray Cafe 2, as well as emceed the open mic last year at Fray Day 5. He describes himself as a "writer, editor, soft-shoe dancer, singer of sentimental ballads, raconteur and bon vivant from St. Louis, Missouri, Gateway to the Rectangular States." Although possessed of a rapier wit, matinee-idol good looks and vast wealth, he is, inexplicably, single. Brad says his favorite Muppet is Beaker. "You have to root for the little guy, the hapless lab assistant who gets the butt-end of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's doomed experiments. He's the archetypal everymuppet who seems to have little control over his life and yet perseveres with his gentle, meeping dignity intact."

– Derek   6 Sep 02 @ 1:53PM

Featured Storytellers

Fray Day 6 San Francisco is thrilled to welcome back four performers who have both participated in past Fray events and contributed stories to fray.com. They were good enough to fill out our goofy questionnaire, so read on to see what they had to say....

Lance Arthur is the author of too many {fray} stories to list, and has performed at every Fray Day there's ever been. He spends inordinate amounts of time dwelling on himself and how much of his life he's wasted. At this Fray Day, he plans to tell a story about the winter of 1990, when something happened that would change his life forever. His favorite Muppet is Robin (Kermit's nephew).

Magdalen Powers is a fray editor, the author of Our Lady of Sorrows, and has performed at many a Fray Day. She has been a cook, journalist, teacher, folk-singer, and figment of someone's imagination. She lives in New York where she runs Fool's Paradise and reads too much. Her favorite Muppet is Animal.

Kevin Smokler is a Fray Day 6 organizing volunteer, the author of Counting Flags, and has performed at Fray Day 5, as well as Fray Cafes 1 and 2. He is the founder and publisher of Central Booking.com and a book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. What's left lands on Where There's Smoke.net. His favorite Muppet is Fozzie.

Shauna Wright is the author of Crumble and Enough and has performed at Fray Days 2 through 5 and Fray Cafe 1 in Austin. Shauna lives in San Francisco with her boyfriend and their gaggle of felines. She plans to enter law school next year, where her dubious talent of never losing an argument will come in handy. Her favorite Muppets are Kermit and the Swedish Chef.

– Derek   26 Aug 02 @ 2:21PM

Attention San Francisco Press

I've created a page specifically for the San Francisco Press to help explain who we are and what we're up to here.

– Derek   17 Aug 02 @ 1:07PM

FD6SF Postcards

The new Fray Day 6 San Francisco postcards are here! Check 'em out....

– Derek   16 Aug 02 @ 3:43PM

Dealership at Fray Day 6 SF

I'm thrilled to announce that local band Dealership will be playing Fray Day 6 San Francisco. The SF Examiner called them "the best representative locally of the quirky noise-pop sound." To hear for yourself, visit their music page. With Dealership and From Monument to Masses on the bill, this Fray Day is ready to rock.

– Derek   31 Jul 02 @ 8:33AM

From Monument to Masses

I'm very excited to announce that From Monument to Masses has just signed on to play Fray Day 6 San Francisco. They describe their music as "complex and hypnotic post-punk." They don't have a singer, using samples of revolutionary speeches instead. For Fray Day, they may even mix in a few stories from Fray Days past. You can check their sound here.

– Derek   24 Jul 02 @ 1:56PM

A peek at the Victoria

Curious about the future home of Fray Day 6 San Francisco? I snuck into the Victoria Theatre to shoot a few pics. Come take a look.

The marquee.

The ticket booth.

The foyer.

Inside the theatre.

View from the stage.

The stage!

– Derek   10 Jun 02 @ 2:14PM

Venue announced!

I'm stoked to announce that Fray Day 6 San Francisco will be taking place in the historic Victoria Theatre in the Mission District. The theatre was built in 1908 as a vaudeville house and is now a city landmark and the oldest operating theatre in San Francisco. Personally, I can't wait.

– Derek   25 Apr 02 @ 9:38PM

<<< fray day 6 news

Derek on stage.

Fray Day 6 San Francisco made its fifth annual appearance thanks to Derek M. Powazek and a motley crew of fantastic volunteers including kevin Smokler, Suzan Foley, and David-Michel Davies.

The San Francisco event took place at the Victoria Theatre, located at 2961 16th Street in the Mission District (map) on Saturday, September 14.

SF Press Info »

Photos from FD6 San Francisco »

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