Jack Davis Birthday Party

Notorious SF: Jack Davis Birthday Party

Jack Davis with former Supervisor Sue Bierman at the Great American Music Hall in 2002.

The Jack Davis Birthday Party was one of the City's most talked about scandals of the 1990s. Its infamy might seem surprising for a story in which no one is cuckolded, killed, blackmailed, bribed, or kidnapped. But this is San Francisco. In May of 1997, Davis was on top of the world. The political consultant was credited with having elected two consecutive mayors of San Francisco and had just been hired by the San Francisco 49ers to help sell legislation to voters that would issue $100 million in revenue bonds for a new 49ers stadium complex. Because the Raiders' return to Oakland in 1995 had lead to so much public and legal rancor over loans and payouts to team owner Al Davis, the 49ers and owner Eddie DeBartolo wanted Jack Davis, a big gun, to help smooth the waters with San Franciscans. On May 6, friends of Davis threw him a 50th birthday bash at the San Francisco Mart complete with open bar, live bands and performers, and more than 300 guests including Mayor Willie Brown, Sheriff Mike Hennessy, City Attorney Louise Renne, District Attorney Terrence Hallinan, then Supervisors Barbara Kaufman, Susan Leal and Leland Yee, former Supervisor Annmarie Conroy, Assemblywoman Carole Migden, and, unfortunately, 49ers president Carmen Policy, his wife, Gail, and members of the press. Enter Rev. Steven Johnson Leyba, aka the Trickster Satanic Clown, a follower of Anton LaVey, and Leyba's roommate, Danielle Willis, a former Mitchell Brothers stripper.

"The Apache Whiskey Rite"
Leyba and Willis' entertainment portion of the evening went as follows:
Backed by Leyba's band, the United Satanic Apache Front, Leyba is adorned in a loincloth and headdress and is bound. A dominatrix carves a pentagram on Leyba's back. As blood trickles down Leyba's back, a woman urinates on the open wound. The woman then catches a bowl full of urine and blood and makes Leyba drink it. Leyba denounces the use of alcohol by Europeans to subjugate Native Americans and for the continuing devastation of alcohol on Native American lives. Leyba later wrote, "I put a curse on every politician at [Davis'] party, the stadium/mall idea, the mayor, the 49er team, and every crooked politician or asshole that has ever soled (sic) out the people of this great land."

But Wait, There's More!
Following Leyba's remarks, Willis appears, dressed like Pocahantas, wearing a bottle of Jack Daniels in a dildo strap. Willis then sodomizes Leyba with the open bottle in front of what Mister SF's grandmother used to call, "God and everybody." For a finale, Leyba, Willis and others drink from the bottle.

Aftermath
The phrase "talk of the town" was made for events like the Jack Davis birthday party. Many were disgusted, some were outraged at what was painted as another hedonistic notch on San Francisco's bedpost of freakdom. Native American leaders denounced Leyba. The story stayed in the media for weeks. San Franciscans were simply revolted by the story they couldn't get enough of.

With the vote on the 49ers bond initiative, Proposition D, less than a month away, the public and City officials alike speculated as to whether the scandal would sink the legislation. It did not. On June 3, 1997, the voters passed Proposition D. However, the legislation and the entire election itself have been the subject of litigation and allegations of fraud, which include names of the dead being used on voter rolls. Leyba credits his curse and says, "The curse is working because the asshole who owned the 49er football team has lost it and not a single grain of sand has been moved for this silly project."

As for Jack Davis; at this writing at the dawn of 2003, he was still on top of the world.

More about Prop. D and the 49ers Stadium

mistersf.com home