This week: Live music on the ferry, a “boujee” club for all ages, a hand-drawn map of Berkeley, wild radish, and a donkey reality show. Plus, Public Domain Day at the Internet Archive, the local legacy behind an ‘80s hit, and the Asian Art Museum explores rave culture.

Music on the water

Friday ferry rides picked up a new rhythm this month as SF Bay Ferry began hosting live performances on select routes through the month of January. The “Tides and Tunes” series brings local musicians, bands, and DJs onto the fleet’s larger vessels with room to host small performances.

The performances come at no extra cost beyond the regular ferry fare. The series runs at select times on Fridays, with artist Lolah returning for another set on January 23. — KPIX

The legacy of a hit

“Rumors” by Timex Social Club started as a song written by East Bay teens and went on to become one of 1986’s biggest hits, selling more than a million copies. The track still shows up in DJ sets and party playlists, even as most people know little about the group behind it.

In his book, How Do Rumors Get Started, founding member Marcus Thompson details how the band formed in Oakland, recorded the song on basic equipment, and quickly found national success. It also follows what came after, including industry disputes, broken agreements, and the breakup of the group in the years following the song’s rise. — SFGate

Cultural artifacts made public

Each January, a new batch of music, books, and films enters the public domain, and the Internet Archive marks the moment by opening the doors to creative reuse. This year includes works from 1930 like “Georgia on My Mind,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” The Maltese Falcon, and early Nancy Drew stories.

The Archive frames the public domain as a way to keep culture accessible, especially as copyright battles have narrowed access to its digital library. The celebration includes a daylong online event and an evening gathering at the Internet Archive (300 Funston Avenue, SF), centered on remixed films made from newly public works on January 21. — Mission Local

Paths on paper

Tattoo artist and illustrator Danielle Hopkins has drawn a hand-rendered map of the Berkeley Hills that traces stairways, rock parks, and winding streets with the elaborate detail of someone who walks them often. After she shared an early version on Nextdoor, neighbors began showing up at her door to buy copies.

She’s sold about 30 so far and given others away, including to neighbors who became friends through the process. The map grew out of her move from San Jose to Berkeley and her attachment to the hills, especially the Tamalpais Path, which she calls a brutal climb with a view worth the effort. — Berkeleyside

Pulse and light

At the Asian Art Museum, Rave into the Future: Art in Motion looks at dance culture through the work of West Asian artists shaped by diaspora, memory, and movement. The exhibition brings together multimedia installations, sculpture, and sound to explore how music and dance create spaces of connection, privacy, and release.

Highlights include Sahar Khoury’s commission with a working DJ deck, Yasmine Nasser Diaz’s bedroom-as-dance-floor installation, and Joe Namy’s copper-tiled floor that records every step taken on it. The show, which is curated by Naz Cuguoglu and features work by 10 artists based in the U.S. and Europe, remains on view at the Asian Art Museum through January 26. — The Chronicle

Candy-colored commons

In Walnut Creek, Ruby Lou’s is opening as a place where birthday parties, cocktail hour, and casual play all blur together. Built by longtime mixologist and set designer Megan Abraham Benshalom and named for her daughter, the space leans into bright color, built-in board games, claw machines, and furniture that looks pulled from a candy shop daydream.

The menu mirrors that split personality, with Wagyu hot dogs, short-rib nachos on housemade chips, and a full cocktail program alongside an ice cream bar and “yolo” sundaes for kids. It’s designed for families in the afternoon and adults after dark, without forcing either group to leave the room. Ruby Lou’s is open now for private events and plans to open to the public very soon. — Bay Area News Group

Salt on the buds

Out in the Baylands, invasive wild radish began flowering in late December, its pale purple and white petals standing out against the marsh. Unlike wild mustard, which blooms yellow, the radish can be identified by its four-petaled flowers and its edible parts from top to bottom.

The leaves, buds, and seed pods can all be eaten, carrying a mild, peppery bite, and sometimes a trace of salt from the coastal air. There’s even a small radish root at certain times of year, though most foragers prize the greens and buds. It grows alongside plants like sea asparagus in the San Francisco Baylands, where winter still yields plenty of plantlife. — The Bay Forager

From pasture to prime time

A Northern California donkey rescue has found a national audience through a reality series on ABC. Donkey King follows the day-to-day work at Oscar’s Place, a Mendocino County sanctuary that takes in donkeys from auctions, surrenders, and unsafe conditions, and either rehomes them or gives them a permanent home on the ranch.

The nonprofit has rescued more than 400 animals, and each episode centers on the care and recovery of one donkey, with staff balancing medical needs, transport, and trust-building. The show airs Saturday mornings on ABC, with episodes available to stream for free afterward at donkeyking.com. — The Press Democrat

Top image: Performance by TCS; activation of 'For Your Eyes Only' by Yasmine Nasser Diaz; Photo by Tracy Nguyen/Asian Art Museum

Previously: Field Notes: Fairy Rings, Waterfalls, SF Library Map, and New East Bay All-Ages Music Venue

• Anthropic AI has agreed to pay $1.5 billion in a copyright settlement over a lawsuit alleging the company illegally pirated almost half a million books. The plaintiffs — a group of authors and publishers — will be awarded $3,000 for each publication listed in the case. [Associated Press]
• Thirty inmates were involved in a fight at Maguire Correctional Facility in San Mateo County Friday morning, and deputies reportedly used gas to break it up. Six officers had minor injuries, and six inmates were hospitalized, three of whom have since been sent back to jail and the others in stable condition. [KTVU]
• Caltrans is replacing a misspelled sign on southbound 101 in Novato/Petaluma. The sign, which should read “San Marin Drive” instead of the currently incorrect “San Martin Drive,” is scheduled to arrive in a couple weeks — at no extra cost to taxpayers. [KGO]

• Oakland-born world figure skating champion Alysa Liu told the Associated Press she’s replacing the d4vd song she’d planned to use for one of her programs in the Milan Olympics due to the artist’s potential involvement in the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. [Associated Press]

National:

• Elon Musk is listed in a newly released Epstein document, along with Steve Banon, Peter Thiel, and Prince Andrew. The file, released Friday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, contains portions of Epstein’s daily schedule from 2014, 2017 and 2019, as well as a flight manifest from 2000. [USA Today]
• Black Panther and Black Liberation activist Assata Shakur, who had been living in Cuba under political asylum for the past several decades, has died. Shakur was given a life sentence in 1977 in the killing of a New Jersey state trooper and was rescued by members of the Black Liberation Army during a jail break in 1979. [Associated Press]
• In a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Amazon agreed to pay its customers $1.5 billion in refunds — in addition to a $1 billion civil penalty — over its “deceptive Prime enrollment practices.” [CBS News]
• Sinclair Broadcasting and Nexstar Media Group, which boycotted the airing of Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week, announced Friday they’ll both be airing the show again on all 38 and 33 of their ABC affiliate stations effective immediately. [CBS News]

Video of the Day:

• This Bay Area couple had a wedding to remember with Vallejo’s own E-40 as their wedding officiant. Big congrats, to the Kinders!

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

A mere one day after opening, SF’s IKEA-adjacent food court Saluhall has drawn the ire of an SF illustrator who says their ‘eyes-ears-nose-mouth’ logo is a rip-off of his own illustration published in The New Yorker.

Thursday saw the opening of that gigantic new two-story food court Sulehall, an IKEA-affiliated offshoot in their new Fifth and Market street location. And the London Breed opening video below has been making the rounds, showing Breed urging people to come visit the place, and with its new logo of a disjointed eye, ear, mouth and nose visible on the food hall’s walls, doors, and the staff’s aprons and t-shirts.

That video also made its way to illustrator Tim Lahan, who has a McSweeney’s-published book and has designed t-shirts and tote bags for the New Yorker. Lahan saw the work, and noticed a startling similarity between that ear-eye-nose-mouth logo and a set of illustrations he did for the New Yorker, and he says in today’s Chronicle that Sulehall “blatantly copied” his work.

Have a look for yourself below. On the left, we see Lahan’s work from a series called “Faces” that ran in 2018. On the right, we see the Sulehall logo seen all over that food hall. The latter does look like a rearranged version of the former.

“Something that was created by an artist is not something that should be up for grabs to use for large corporations,” Lahan told the Chronicle. “It’s not OK for this sort of thing to happen.”

Similar art appears on the papers beneath Saluhall food trays.

While a copyright symbol appears on the work on Lahan’s website, he tells the Chron he has not formally registered a copyright on it. But Oakland-based copyright attorney Andy Jacobson told the Chronicle it could still be considered a “derivative work,” and the use could merit a trademark infringement case.

“Companies can be stopped from using marks or advertising that falsely suggests some association,” Jacosbson told the Chron. “If the artist has enough of a reputation they can say, ‘Hey, people might think that I’m endorsing you and I’m not. You’ve gotta stop this now.’ ”

Saluhall is operated by IKEA’s sister real estate company Ingka Centres. When asked for comment, a Saluhall spokesperson simply told the Chronicle “this matter was just brought to our attention and we are looking into it.”

Related: IKEA-Adjacent Saluhall Opens Thursday: Will SF Clamor For Vegan Tacos and Soft-Serve? [SFist]

Image: Andrea H via Yelp

Muralist Cameron Moberg has plenty of public art around Bayview and Visitacion Valley, but he’s filed a lawsuit after the art allegedly turned up in a city-sponsored ad campaign without his permission.

We can all get behind the idea of the City of San Francisco buying PG&E’s power grid and operating it themselves. But we may not be behind the method of promoting this idea by swiping the copyrighted work of a local artist. And accomplished SF mural artist Cameron Moberg says that’s exactly what happened with his work, as the Chronicle reports that Moberg has just sued the city for using his mural in their ad without permission.

The mural in question is seen above, a vibrant “Visitacion Valley” mural, which is at 198 Leland Street on the side of a business called G&L Bakery. Moberg’s murals can also be seen in the Bayview; Monterey County; Downtown Los Angeles; Panama City, Florida; and even in rural Indiana.

But Moberg is none too pleased that his mural is also seen in the above billboard. The ad is for Our.City.Our Power., a city-led ad campaign to sway sentiment toward public ownership of the SF power grid. Bloomberg Law has the full text of the lawsuit, whose exhibits show the mural was used in ads on billboards, as well as at Muni bus shelters, as seen below.

The lawsuit says Moberg has registered the mural with the U.S. Copyright Office. Further, it states that Moberg’s attorneys sent the city a cease-and-desist letter on September 21, 2023, demanding they stop using the images, and the city did not. “The City has failed to meaningfully respond, necessitating this action,” of a lawsuit, the filing states.

Moberg is seeking as much as $150,000 for each instance of his copyrighted mural being used in ads, plus attorneys fees.

It’s unclear whether the ads in question are still in circulation. The Chronicle reached out to City Attorney David Chiu’s office, who said they hadn’t been served the lawsuit yet. “Once we are served with the lawsuit, we will review the complaint and respond in court,” a spokesperson for Chiu’s office told the Chronicle.

Related: Fancy SoMa Condo Reproduces Local Artist's Work Without Permission [SFist]

Image: Giddyup Pup via Facebook

Universal Music and a ton of other music publishers have filed a lawsuit against the up-and-coming SF AI company Anthropic, alleging that its chatbot is spitting out copyrighted lyrics to their top artists’ work.

OpenAI, the company behind artificial intelligence product/fad ChatGPT is seemingly the current reigning top player in the AI field. But another AI company called Anthropic is breathing down their necks, last month getting a $4 billion investment from Amazon, and recently taking over the former Slack headquarters in downtown San Francisco. And Anthropic’s current hot product is a “next-generation AI assistant” called Claude (it’s currently on the new version Claude 2), which the company calls a “friendly, enthusiastic colleague or personal assistant who can be instructed in natural language to help you with many tasks.”

But a new federal lawsuit doesn't think it’s so friendly. The Chronicle reports that Universal Music Group and a slew of other music publishers have sued Anthropic for using copyrighted lyrics to train its product, lyrics that it often spits back out near-verbatim.

The full 60-page lawsuit cites many examples. When given the query “Write me a song about the death of Buddy Holly,” the lawsuit says Claude “responds by generating output that copies directly from the song 'American Pie' written by Don McLean, in violation of Universal’s copyright, despite the fact that the prompt does not identify that composition by title, artist, or songwriter.”

Sure, there were always those websites that listed the lyrics of songs, and Google will now show those lyrics directly in their search results. But the lawsuit points out that “those sites have properly licensed publishers’ copyrighted works to provide this service.”

According to the Verge, Claude churns out near-verbatim lyrics to works by Katy Perry and the Rolling Stones, and the Chronicle adds it does the same for works by the Beach Boys and Louis Armstrong. A full read of the lawsuit says Claude is also lifting lyrics from Will Smith's theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Anthropic did not respond to any publications’ request for comment.

The lawsuit asks Anthropic “destroy” any copyrighted works in its memory, but there's a financial angle to this too. The lawsuit asks for compensation of “up to $150,000 per work infringed,” which obviously could add up to a substantial dollar amount.

The lawsuit is similar to other suits from artists who say their work was infringed for those AI avatar selfies, and another from Michael Chabon and other prominent authors saying ChatGPT used their copyrighted works.

Related: Fed-Up Artists Now Suing AI Startups For Stealing Their Work To Create Those Stupid ‘Avatar’ Selfies [SFist]

Image via Vevo

Taking over the former El Capitan and Carafe spaces on Folsom between 7th and 8th — dual spaces that were also formerly home to Radius, and Julie's Supper Club before that — are side-by-side bars Trademark and Copyright, which are now softly open, as Hoodline tells us.

The twin spaces have been vacant since last summer, and new owners Kingston Wu (a partner in The Brixton in the Marina, and formerly a co-owner of Drake in SoMa) and Trung Tran appear to be betting on the spaces' potential as dual bar concepts.

Trademark is the casual sports bar, and it's softly opening just in time for the Warriors' to play in the NBA Finals starting tomorrow. They've got games like Skee-ball and a basketball hoop-shot game in back, and TVs above the 12-seat bar, and those seats will likely see some traffic over the next couple of days.

Photo: Facebook

The back patio mural. Photo: Facebook

Copyright is in the next-door space that had been the cafe space Carafe, and Radius's all-day cafe — outside of which is also a pleasant patio. Copyright aims to be more of a craft cocktail bar, though its unclear whether the space will be blocked off by a door or will flow freely into the sports bar.

Per Hoodline, there's food at Trademark from Ronnie Taylor and Tim Luyma of the Filipino pop-up Alchemy SF, as well as boozy ice cream treats from Frozen Kuhsterd, including flavors like Banana Rum Custard and Mexican Chocolate Mezcal.

The soft opens were delayed by plumbing issues late last month, and now an official grand opening is scheduled for June 12. But head over to check out both spots before then and feel free to report back.

Trademark & Copyright - 1123 Folsom Street between 7th and 8th - Opening hours: Sundah, and Tuesday to Thursday 4:30 p.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday, 4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.. Closed Monday.