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Proof of life! Ange and Erin at SFFIlm's Essential SF Event in April
Oh, hello there, newsletter subscribers. Erin here. We are way OVERDUE on this communication to y'all and we apologize. As I've said recently—I'm not sure how time works anymore. The last time you heard from us, we were raising dough to help cover costs for our third visit to SXSW in March, and now it's September. So much has happened in the last six months that we'll just give you the highlights:
March We went to Mardi Gras for my birthday then drove to Austin for SXSW. It was an ambitious adventure to say the least—we definitely felt our age on this trip. When we got back to The Bay, there was a red carpet premiere in Oakland for the film Freaky Tales. We had been waiting for the film release since 2024's Sundance debut and Ange got to cover it along with part-time producer Jeff of Storied: SF. It's the biggest FOMO of my life TBH, but I'm so happy that Ange got to talk with all of the stars, including Ben Mendelsohn. She got legendary hip-hop artist Too $hort to say "BITCH." And her coup d'etat was getting to talk with our lord and savior, Pedro Pascal. There's even an iconic photo of him in front of the Grand Lake Theater marquee holding the BITCH TALK STICKER she handed him. You'll see it when you get to the bottom of this newsletter. Freaky Tales is streaming on HBO if you want to watch a fun film about Oakland and kicking Nazi ass set in the Eighties.
April BTP was included in SFFilm's 2025 Essential SF cohort. Essential SF is an ongoing project of SFFilm that shines a light on the region’s legendary, idiosyncratic, and multifaceted contributions to film culture in the Bay Area and a compendium of people and organizations most vital to the Bay Area film community. Our friend and multi-hyphenate filmmaker + composer and SF born and raised H.P. Mendoza intro'd us and made us blush. He called us a vibe. We also got to see one of our favorite films of 2025, 40 Acres, during the SFFillm Festival. We interviewed writer/director R.T. Thorne—he's a total sweetheart who has written a perfect sci-fi thriller that somehow captures a mixed Black and Indigenous family defending their farm from cannibals after a series of plagues and wars. It's a must-watch.
May We covered San Francisco's CAAMFest. CAAM is the Center for Asian American Media and it's one of the longest running AAPI-focused film festivals. We covered a handful of films and got to interview Daniel Dae Kim's cheekbones in person. He was just as beautiful IRL and cool AF. You can check out that interview here. May also brought something different for me. I was a fellow in a 9.5-monthlong audio academy with the West Coast's longest-running public radio station: KALW. Out of the academy came the new-ish podcast BOUNCE: The Valkyries' 1st Season in the Bay, a show the station asked me to host. BOUNCE is all about our new, kick-ass WNBA team—the Golden State Valkyries (who just clinched a playoff berth, BTW). It's been such an honor to cover the historical inaugural season of the newest team in the women's league in my backyard (right up there with creating, producing, and hosting Bitch Talk for 12 years, natch). Listen to Bounce here.
June adrienne maree brown. The balm to our jaded souls. We welcomed adrienne back to the show for a second time and with amb, it's always a mood-changing conversation. There's a little video cut from that interview just below if you're amb curious. We also covered the Frameline Film Fest, the longest-running and largest LGBTQIA+ film festival in the world. The timing of the festival landed as the Supreme Court ruled against gender-affirming health care for youth in 27 states, and you could feel the disappointment in the community. Nevertheless, the festival persisted and their Executive Director Alegra Madsen and her team put on a helluva film fest in the face of fascism. Oh, and we went to see our buddy W. Kamau Bell do stand-up in Berkeley. NBA legend Chris Mullin was in the crowd and we were introduced to him after the show by his cool ass wife, Liz. Ange is a big NBA fan ... well, really the Lakers. But instead of you know, a normal question, Ange asked Chris who was his least favorite player on the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. Classic. 😂
Watch amb soothe our souls here.
July BIG MONTH—Ruby Ibarra + 12 Years of BTP + Bridget Everett: Our Bay Area homie Ruby Ibarra was this year's NPR Tiny Desk winner and she celebrated with a Tiny Desk tour. We got pitched to cover her show at the Lagunitas Brewery up in Petaluma (an hourish north of SF). It was a time. The folks at Lagunitas know how to treat press, and for that we say thank you. We got to chat and catch up with Ruby, which we hadn't done since Sundance 2020. Then we got to see her perform with her intergenerational band, which included June Millington from the OG, all-Filipina female band Fanny! The headliner of the show was also a previous guest of Bitch Talk whom we had no idea would be there—Thao Nguyen of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. We raged. July also brought Bridget Fuckin' Everett to town. If you don't know Bridget from the HBO show Somebody Somewhere, please leave. No, but really, Bridget is the middle-age queen we need right now, and her live show is off the rails. She is unhinged in the best way possible. If she is coming to your town with her cabaret show, please treat yourself. Last but not at all least, July marked our 12th year of Bitch Talk Podcast. We celebrated by getting on the mic and recording a Basic Bitch at one of our favorite dive bars in The City: 540 Rogues in the Inner Richmond. We're finally starting our neighborhood spotlight series for BTP, so keep an eye out for those.
August We started working on a brand reset for Bitch Talk. Meeting weekly to talk through our logo, zhuzhing our descriptions, new pics, and how to talk about Bitch Talk. More to come on that and who we're working with. We also got invited to spend some time at the SFFilm Youth Filmmakers Camp. Yeah, they let us hang with the kids and it was a very good day. You can listen to that episode here.
We hope you're all hangin tough out there folks. Shop small, use cash, be in community, and STAY ANGRY. ✊🏼✊🏽
That's zaddy Pedro holding our Bitch Talk Podcast sticker under the Grand Lake Theater marquee at the Freaky Tales red carpet. He posted it to his IG stories.
You're welcome 🥵
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