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!

Moving IN

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Where to begin? Packing? Unpacking? In which order?

What have we been up to?

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This is the last Penthouse flat in this fantastic building, mirror image of the one in escrow. It is huge! I'm not one to gossip but the mirror image that is referred to ... is ours! Major top to bottom remodeled with permit. High quality with soaring ceilings, beautiful medallions, crown molding, chandeliers, in unit laundry, gourmet custom kitchen for your enjoyment.

Tourist Update - December

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It took twelve months and at the last minute

and with the last guest of 2006 visiting ... we took a tour on a motorized cable car. To my surprise, the body is an actual cable car that been mounted on a bus frame. With our Triple A discount, we toured down Lombard, The Palace of Fine Arts, The Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio, Nob Hill and finally a quick spin through North Beach.

Our next day, we headed North to Muir Woods, snacked in Healdsburg, had dinner in Calistoga and then welcomed the New Year with fireworks from the roof of Frank's building.

New Year Message 2006

New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.

~Hamilton Wright Mabie


Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.

~Thomas Mann



The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year's Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you're married to.

~ P.J. O'Rourke

I hope your new year is filled with joy and that you have family and friends to share it.

Cheers,
D

Christmas Day 2006

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Here are a few highlights from our Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve on California Street.

One of the success stories of 2006!