intersection of bush & grant
opera in the park
Free concert in Golden Gate Park this past Sunday.
I'd like it if they had all opera performances in the park.
interior
Butterflies on the ceiling @ Suppenküche
this did my heart good
J and I saw Crowded House play in Oakland last weekend.
I really like this band, and have for a long time. I'd never seen them play in-person before, and I was *relieved* that their show was -- not the nostalgic live-action scrapbook that I feared -- but a messy organic conglomeration. They played the old stuff, they played the new stuff, and, as Dr Seuss says, my heart grew three sizes that day.
For a few fleeting moments that evening, a familiar creative sparkle hung in the air, complemented by the buzzing exhiliration of seeing live music. The show wasn't perfect, and I didn't know or like all of the songs. (And note to self, while quite lovely, the Paramount isn't ideal for this kind of concert. Prohibitive for dancing.) But since that night I've had this lingering feeling of hopefulness, almost optimism. And a particular sense of excitement that I hadn't really realized has faded out of my life over the past few years.
What does this mean exactly? That I should cut my caffeine/sugar intake? See more shows? Hard to say. I'm feeling inspired, though. It'll be interesting to see what happens next.
(Please note that I've edited out multiple paragraphs of content here. What exactly I like about CH. Long, run-on sentences about their music and lyrics, packed with adjectives. About their place in my existential ipod. Much earnestness deleted to spare you, my readers...)
blue monday
Mildred Howard's installation "Three Shades of Blue"...
is found at the Fillmore Street Bridge, at the intersection of Geary and lower Fillmore Sts. "Two sets of colored and etched glass windscreens consisting of 20 panels of glass, approximately 5 x 8' each" (from the SFAC Public Art website.)
Based on a poem by Quincy Troupe, the piece evokes images of Fillmore's dynamic meeting/overlap/clash/mash-up of Japanese/Jewish/African-American/Jazz/Beat cultures and politics. (Read a short history of Fillmore here. Its very interesting; I had no idea how culture-rich this area was and is.)
Upon not-so-close inspection, you can see the installation has been vandalized: "It's been scratched. It's been shot." And graffitied. I thought the spiderwebbed glass was intentional at first. I believe I read something awhile ago about how the city is considering relocating it to avoid further damage.