A Night of True Colors

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"We should all have the right to live with the same dignity, opportunity & safety. It shouldn't matter what anyone's sexual orientation is."

- Cyndi Lauper

The ringmistress put together a collection of artists and went on the road for the month of June. Acts included Margaret Cho, Rosie O'Donnol, Erasure, Debbie Harrie, The Dresden Dolls, and more.

During a coffee run, I learned that a friend of mine at work was also an Erasure fan. From there it was only a matter of getting tickets. Frank was unavailable to join, since he was picking up his friend Sylvia from the airport. It was a perfect opportunity to see if Michelle and I could have a little one-on-one time and the stars aligned ... the kids weren't sick ... Francisco was not working ... and Michelle had the time! Excellent.

A Taste of True Colors

Cyndi Lauper - True Colors (1991)

You with the sad eyes

don't be discouraged

oh I realize

it's hard to take courage

in a world full of people

you can lose sight of it all

and the darkness inside you

can make you fell so small

But I see your true colors shining through

I see your true colors

and that's why I love you

so don't be afraid to let them show

your true colors

true colors

are beautiful like a rainbow

Miss Kris Gets Hitched

There are people in this world that deserve to have good things happen to them. Kris and Jason are both those kind of people and it is great to see them both so happy with each other.

Miss Kris is an old dear friend from college and has been a great support over the years. The wedding took place on the shore of Lake Tahoe with a bag pipe playing in the background.

It was a little windy ... but the ceremony went off without a hitch ... except of course for Jason and Kris. The ceremony was just a short drive away.

Check out the short video for a taste of the day's events.

Congratulations Miss Kris. May you and Jason have the happy life together. We wish you all the best.

Love D&F

House Warming Dinner

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Hair 2007 - The Mountain Play

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This year's Mountain Play was a presentation of Hair. 40 years ago, before I was born ... the summer of love took place. It seems a logical choice for the timing but an odd choice for the typical audience who attends the Mountain Play.
“The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,” as it was known, is a distinct product of its time. The score by James Rado (book/lyrics), Gerome Ragni (book/lyrics) and Galt MacDermot (music) feels more authentically show tune and everyone walks away having spent an afternoon in the sun and humming "Let the Sunshine In."
Reviews compare this production with the original.
"There’s something a little quaint about Hair now, especially its Act 1 finale, which takes place in dim light as most of the cast disrobes. Naked hippies, it turns out, are cute. Not rebellious, not edgy, not counter-culture. Cute. Bay Area audiences can see a cleaned-up, no-nudity Hair on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County as the Mountain Play, the official harbinger of the summer theater season in these parts, “mounts” the musical.
The production was fun and it was a welcome change from the errands and house projects. Jeff was in from Sao Paulo and picked up Alfonso, Frank and I. The drive was quite entertaining since Jeff shared music from a group he'd recently discovered ... The Wet Spots. The Wet Spots (Cass King and John Woods) sing smart, catchy tunes about sex. Inspired by Cole Porter, Monty Python, and Tenacious D, The Wet Spots are known for their lively shows, which feature spankings, singalongs, and bawdy sex-ed.
We met Randy and Paul and the rest was history!

A Taste Of Hair

State of the Neighborhood

Good news from the Castro Courier, our neighborhood paper. According to the headlines, the Park Station Police Captain says that crime is down in Duboce Triangle!

Not to get too giddy, this means that compare to last year at this time the number of burlaries, robberies, and larcenies dropped from 79 instance to only 50 this year! And while robberies have dropped by 75% a local liquor stor was recently robbed at gunpoint. The only crime area that had an increase was auto boosts, which I doubt is an indicator of people randomly waxing others vehicles out of the kindness of their hearts. So far, the Focus has not been disturbed, which considering we drive it once a week could have occured already, and we're just unaware.

Where in the World is Duboce Triangle?

The Internet is such a great place to find information. Frank sent the following from Wikipedia. on our neighborhood, Duboce Triange.

The Duboce Triangle Neighborhood, San Francisco, California

The Duboce Triangle neighborhood is located near the center of San Francisco, just below the hilly slopes of Buena Vista between the neighborhoods of the Castro/Eureka Valley, the Mission District, and the Lower Haight.

There is some disagreement as to what streets form the boundaries of Duboce Triangle:
According to the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association, the neighborhood is bounded by Market, Castro and Waller Street and therefore includes Duboce Park and some blocks to its north.

According to the San Francisco Association of Realtors, it is "District 5J", a simple triangle limited by Castro, Market and Duboce. (The SFAR considers blocks to the north of Duboce Park to be part of Hayes Valley, although they are more popularly considered part of the Lower Haight.)

In either case, it is well served by Muni Metro, historic streetcars and buses. Sheltered from the fog by Buena Vista and Twin Peaks to the West and Alamo Square to the North, the area is one of the sunnier districts in San Francisco.

Duboce Park and several smaller "pocket" parks provide attractive public green spaces, but the Duboce Triangle is most notable for its lushly landscaped sidewalks and well-maintained Victorian flats and apartment buildings. These are the direct result of San Francisco's rejection of the wholesale demolition of Victorians and their replacement with slab-like public housing that marred the Western Addition in the 1960s. The city used the federal government's slum clearance dollars to renovate the mostly-19th century housing stock instead, and also to plant street trees, bury utility wires underground, and to widen sidewalks and narrow streets. With its now-mature trees and rejuvenated homes, the Duboce Triangle's distinctly residential and yet urbane feel is more remarkable given its proximity to busy Market Street, the city's main thoroughfare.

The official Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association map excludes the point of the triangle at Market and Waller. This area is sometimes known as Mint Hill, after the United States Mint, an imposing building on a steep rocky cliff overlooking the intersection of Market and Duboce streets. However, most of the homes in this area are similar in character of the rest of Duboce Triangle.

What's New Pussycat?

On the Miss Kitty front ... she is docile with a touch of senility and now loves to have her belly scratched ... for hours. She has dropped from 12 pounds to less than 6 and is still practicing to be an Opera Diva at 5:00 in the morning, either that or she's reverting to her kitten-hood and letting us know that she's pooped.

< I'm not sure but this may have been when my cholesterol started to sky rocket.

Apathy

We're crossing the mid-year point for 2007 and as projects close for this year it is only a matter of days before we start to ramp up for the 2008 projects. Just like the seasons there is an ebb and flow of expectations and a few surprises along the way.

Frank is on his way to Washington DC for work and I'm taking a much needed R&R day. I have errands to run, packages to mail, and then a visit with my new Doctor who is supposed to put me on new medication for high cholesterol. Oy vey. I'm still feuding (one-sided) with the MUNI woman at the Church Street Station who knits and provided me with a mini-lecture on how I should use my pass in the machine instead of waving it for her to click the button and let me pass. Granted, I know it sounds like I am too lazy to pull out my Fast Pass (which is partially true), but when my hands are full and it is 7:00 in the morning and the train has just arrived, it would the be the nice thing to do. She chose lecture instead of love, so I refuse to acknowledge her. No smiles. No "good mornings." She has burned her bridge and a bright spot in a day where everyone maligns MUNI and it's workers is now over.

I asked the Super 8 ball if I was going to have a good day, response? You may rely on it! So I'm off!