hello here. nice to meet you.
i left my fair city with a bang. or with a boom- in the park and on the hazy haz-mat beach. then a smack, in the hip-to-help-you-on-your way mission. and finally a thump, a bump, and a pow, as i exited my old home.
strangely, ominously, auspiciously (?), my entry into my new home began also with a pow, bump and thump. i would that being in the midst of this orchestral orgasmic palindrome, both bedrooms alike audience to a san francisco oakland sandwich of sensation during my move, has some cosmic tidings of good fortune.
this morning i woke early, walked to the smiling counter man bakery, fresh juice and cheese roll while waiting for the bus that carried me over the sunbathed bridge, coming up fast on the skyscrapers coming up fast. a day in the city with trains and buses and papel picada, a quick wineglass stop to a home that's no longer mine, dinner with a dearie. it's not hard to hop on bart afterward. and downtown oakland is so peaceful, and the lights around the lake twinkle as stars to lead me and my bike home at the end of the night.
11.20.2007
11.17.2007
loveletter
joy & pain - it's like sunshine & rain
tonight it's dedicated to skip. skip, whoever you are, thank you for founding your tavern. instead of one more night at a crowded, hip mission bar, i suggested to my two friends we meet in the neighborhood i've been living in for the past year. good old bernal heights. hello, bernal heights, thank you for housing me.
after a drink at a fine establishment, stray dog, which only today i peeked into for the first time while fetching moving boxes, we headed to skip's. i have some distant memory of a night a skip's, with some of my oldest san francisco friends, and feeling like i really found something that night. for 4, 5 years, i've held skip's in my mind: the search for that jazz club in the sky continues ever onward, but in skip's i believed i'd found the blues club of my dreams. tonight i confirmed that supposition.
tonight at skip's, the subsitute bartender, long ponytail down his back and shirt broadcasting "atencion, gringos" poured a drink with 4 bottles in his hands at once. this quadruple feat trumped by flaming shots and more importantly the geniality that one wishes of all bartenders. but really, let's get down to brass tacks. the band. electric guitar, drums and bass. easy does it. the set we walk in on features shuggie otis and jimi hendrix. (not necessarily blues, but) the second set blows in with a woman vocalist, just ruling the bar. all eyes on her. an impromptu dancefloor develops. her skinny friend, in subdued collar shirt and zipper jacket joins her on backups. let's get it on. she's the cause for hootin' and hollerin'.
guitarists switch in and out. two drinkers hop on a mike to accompany a blues number. a glass is broken near the stage; a broom is requested. drummers switch in and out. all around the 360 bar, heads are bobbbing. the backup man steps forward to sing sittin' on the dock of the bay. we all know this one. we all know this one.
tonight it's dedicated to skip. skip, whoever you are, thank you for founding your tavern. instead of one more night at a crowded, hip mission bar, i suggested to my two friends we meet in the neighborhood i've been living in for the past year. good old bernal heights. hello, bernal heights, thank you for housing me.
after a drink at a fine establishment, stray dog, which only today i peeked into for the first time while fetching moving boxes, we headed to skip's. i have some distant memory of a night a skip's, with some of my oldest san francisco friends, and feeling like i really found something that night. for 4, 5 years, i've held skip's in my mind: the search for that jazz club in the sky continues ever onward, but in skip's i believed i'd found the blues club of my dreams. tonight i confirmed that supposition.
tonight at skip's, the subsitute bartender, long ponytail down his back and shirt broadcasting "atencion, gringos" poured a drink with 4 bottles in his hands at once. this quadruple feat trumped by flaming shots and more importantly the geniality that one wishes of all bartenders. but really, let's get down to brass tacks. the band. electric guitar, drums and bass. easy does it. the set we walk in on features shuggie otis and jimi hendrix. (not necessarily blues, but) the second set blows in with a woman vocalist, just ruling the bar. all eyes on her. an impromptu dancefloor develops. her skinny friend, in subdued collar shirt and zipper jacket joins her on backups. let's get it on. she's the cause for hootin' and hollerin'.
guitarists switch in and out. two drinkers hop on a mike to accompany a blues number. a glass is broken near the stage; a broom is requested. drummers switch in and out. all around the 360 bar, heads are bobbbing. the backup man steps forward to sing sittin' on the dock of the bay. we all know this one. we all know this one.
11.14.2007
loveletter
i've loved you for so long. even before we met, i knew. for years - times anear and times afar.
two fridays ago, you were celebrating - the aftermath of Your Holiday. on to dia de los muertos - somehow this one seems more yours than the one that is clearly passsing into shadow. castro streets gone quiet, from revelery to two-days-later death march. aww, i know, you are no morbid soul. i know you well enough to see it was a joyous observance. sitting on your concrete block, like so many time before, your willlingness to parade and get laid in full view. i watched the mixing of old and new, i witnessed the barefoot feathered ankle banded ancestors stomp and sway the pavement, with children green blue blackeyed looking on. i saw mourners and hopers of all stripes around the roots of your trees - we all know the end, don't we? it was a testament to your silent sensibility, the way all your lovers gathered that night, quiet and festive, somber and celebratory. thank you for counting me among them.
and three nights ago, how your sidewalks welcomed me and my dear companion, like you have, so graciously over and over and over and over again. when no interior would suffice, your balmy coat wrapped warmly around, encouraging us into your heart.
i'm leaving you for now. just a little ways away, i promise. for weeks i've cried to think of it, missing you already. everyone assures me we'll still be close, i'll visit you often. i know you'll have me time and time again. strung out on another one. you did it though - you really did, taught me how to love: the towering, the dirty, the unexpected snow patch, the streetcar, the crazy lady telling the truth,the sparkling, the stranger biting my back, the car crash, the lost in the park, the ocean lullaby, the whatever may come.
two fridays ago, you were celebrating - the aftermath of Your Holiday. on to dia de los muertos - somehow this one seems more yours than the one that is clearly passsing into shadow. castro streets gone quiet, from revelery to two-days-later death march. aww, i know, you are no morbid soul. i know you well enough to see it was a joyous observance. sitting on your concrete block, like so many time before, your willlingness to parade and get laid in full view. i watched the mixing of old and new, i witnessed the barefoot feathered ankle banded ancestors stomp and sway the pavement, with children green blue blackeyed looking on. i saw mourners and hopers of all stripes around the roots of your trees - we all know the end, don't we? it was a testament to your silent sensibility, the way all your lovers gathered that night, quiet and festive, somber and celebratory. thank you for counting me among them.
and three nights ago, how your sidewalks welcomed me and my dear companion, like you have, so graciously over and over and over and over again. when no interior would suffice, your balmy coat wrapped warmly around, encouraging us into your heart.
i'm leaving you for now. just a little ways away, i promise. for weeks i've cried to think of it, missing you already. everyone assures me we'll still be close, i'll visit you often. i know you'll have me time and time again. strung out on another one. you did it though - you really did, taught me how to love: the towering, the dirty, the unexpected snow patch, the streetcar, the crazy lady telling the truth,the sparkling, the stranger biting my back, the car crash, the lost in the park, the ocean lullaby, the whatever may come.
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