Interview: Ross Hogg

Name:
Ross Viator aka Ross Hogg (aka Duppy Ranks aka I'll stop now)

Introduce yourself in one sentence:
My name's Ross and I have a Texas-shaped waffle iron.
PS Lots of Texans hate Bush.
PPS Most of them live here.

Age and Occupation:
33/Writer/DJ

Home Town:
Groves, Texas

How long have you lived in the Bay Area and Where
I moved to San Francisco in April of '97 after spending seven lovely years in Austin, TX (I swear, there's a portal from Austin to SF and back that people get sucked into unwittingly). I moved into a nice one-bedroom apartment on the edge of the Castro and I never left it. Why did I move here? I fell in love with SF the first time I ever visited and I'd made friends out here. I also had a job offer and--oh, okay, there was a girl involved. We broke up and the last I heard, she's in New York, but I'd like to thank her for giving me the impetus to move out here.

Favorite website: When I really wanna kill some time, I head over to www.soulstrut.com and brush up on my music knowledge (read: talk shit with fellow record nerds).

Favorite local business:
Zebra Sound (formerly Zebra Records). Israel Mergerssa hosted the Zebra DJ battles so that kids would have a place to go and a goal to work towards. I hosted and judged those battles for years and it was an honor and a pleasure to watch some of those kids (like the Fingerbangerz) go on to win national titles. Israel has the biggest heart of anyone you'll ever meet--and he always comes correct when hooking up sound. Big up yourself, Iz!

What I'm currently Reading:
The Brothers K by David James Duncan (actually, I'm re-reading it) and Vinyl Junkies by Brett Milano.

Best Deal in San Francisco:
It's a toss-up between Chef Jia's and Naan & Curry. Both will leave your mouth tingling and your belly full--each at about $5 a head.

Favorite mode of transportation:
Private: My motorcycle. Public: The F-Market. If I can spare the time on the way to work, I like to catch one of the refurbished cars a block from my apartment. I'm near the end of the line, so I can always get a seat and read for half an hour.

Best Band or Musician to come out of the Bay Area:
Wow, that's tough. This is too hard because the Bay has such a rich
tradition of great music--from Dead Kennedys to Digital Underground, Sly Stone to The Skratch Piklz and more. Since picking the best is impossible, I'll go with E-40. His influence--from his rhyme style to his "slanguage"--is so far-reaching.

Favorite local hangout:
If Felicia (DJ Neta, my fiancee) and I aren't booked? Our living room couch! Oh, how time changes us.

SF has the BEST:
DJs! You can't swing a pair of headphones in this town without hitting one.

You've never lived in SF until:
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence walk by you, say "Hello, Darling," and nothing seems odd to you.

Favorite Bay area politician of past or present:
I love Tom Ammiano--voted for him early and often. But I have to say that even though I voted against Gavin Newsome twice, he's impressed me with his stance on gay marriage and his support of the striking hotel workers. But please stop posing seductively with your wife. I won't ask nicely next time.

You can tell someone is a local here IF:
They're not wearing shorts in July or you hear them say, "This 30-mph fog feels great!"

SF would be soooo much better if only:
The entire homeless population were properly taken care of. It's the number one issue for me as a citizen and voter.

SF could use imporvement in the following areas:
We had some killer NY-style pizzerias, real Texas BBQ joints, and affordable housing (I'm *not* moving to Portland).

Best Burrito:
El Castillito on Church. I love the carnitas, but lately I've been into the grilled veggie joint.

Best Restaurant:
Izzy's Steaks and Chops

Best movie scene filmed in or about SF:
I'll go lowbrow: I love "So I Married An Axe Murderer" from start to finish.

Favorite artist to come out of the Bay Area:
Marlene Angeja, my future mother-in-law. An amazing and relatively unknown painter.

Favorite author to come out of the Bay Area:
Vikram Seth, author of A Suitable Boy and The Golden Gate. Okay, so he's from India, but he lived in the Bay in the 80s and Golden Gate (a novel written completely in verse) is set here.

Place you always tell visitors to check out:
Believe it or not, Fisherman's Wharf. It's touristy, but you can't beat the clam chowder in a bread bowl (and the Bushman is hilarious). And if they have a car, I always advise them to drive across the Golden Gate and check out Muir Woods.

Favorite Bridge in the area:
Golden Gate, hands down. But it gets pretty windy on the north end,
especially if you're riding a motorcycle.

You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in SF, what are you going to do? Cross the Golden Gate three times? Nah, I'd go to Rooky Ricardo's Record Shop on Haight, chat with Dick for a while, and buy nine 45s.

I have found/sold/bought the following on craigslist:
Bought: Turntables and a mixer
Sold: TV, CD player

I want all the SFists out there to know:
It's a lot windier here than people think, so warn your friends before they visit. Tell 'em they'll be walking, too. A lot.

Tell us a San Francisco Story:
On a sunny summer day (file under "rare") a few months ago, I asked my
girlfriend if she'd like to go for a ride on my motorcycle. We ended up at Ocean Beach, talking about how good things were going and how happy we were. The next thing I knew, I was on one knee proposing to her! Totally unplanned (I didn't even have a ring), but the salt air will do that to you. (She said yes, by the way.)

Question you'd ask if you were doing this interview:
How many degrees of separation do you think there are in SF? Answer: 2, max.