I went to San Francisco (aka "What A Wonderful World")
I'm back at work sitting at my desk listening to GameDay on mlb.com since there's no TV here. The Red Sox just suffered a humilating loss to Toronto. I've got the Oakland/Los Angeles game on now, basically to kill time and because I had a great time at the A's/Yankees game on Sunday. More on that later, though. But goddamn, GameDay is pretty cool. You can listen to any game, with either the home or away announcers. I can thank "Mr. X" for the login.
The week was a pretty fun one on the whole, but my back problems seemed to come back to me on Friday night, most likely due to walking around so much on those damned hills that make up most of the landscape of San Francisco. I muddled through, and had a great time.
Wednesday's flight was not too bad as I had brought enough Ambien and Vicodin to knock myself out for the majority of the trip. I was slightly surprised to hear "Welcome to Detroit" when the plane was due to transfer in Chicago, but it was only a couple of hours of delay and i was in Oakland by early evening. Wednesday night was pretty low key as it was a work night for my hostess Liz, but we had a nice dinner and had a good time catching up.
Thursday was spent enjoying the sunshine (something which has been lacking around here as of late), and going to Liz's birthday dinner. I got to meet a lot of the cool people she works with, had a delicious meal, and finally meet the legendary Jim Marshall (probably best known for taking the famous picture of Johnny Cash flipping the bird at San Quentin). After dinner, we headed across the street to a local bar, and continued the libation and conversation. I had a great time reconnecting with Liz's fiancee Z (a legend in his own right) and talking to her friends, especially Marin, Brian, and Angie. Cool people over there at Wolfgang's Vault.
Friday is the day I made the fatal mistake of doing too much walking on those hilly bay area streets. I got over to Aeomba Records and picked up a used copy of a Nick Cave CD I'd been looking for (with his and Shane MacGowan's cover of "What A Wonderful World", one of my favorites). I met Liz on upper Haight, we had a drink or two and then cabbed it down to an upscale-ish pizza place to meet Mike and Christina. It was good to catch up with Mike and meet Christina. After dinner we headed to Molotov's, a low rent, punky kind of place with a cool atmosphere. The Z man met us there, and we had several great hours of conversation and a great jukebox I hogged for the majority of the night playing Pogues, Clash, and Rolling Stones songs. I was pretty stiff by the end of the night despite alcohol's loosening effect, and I slept about 10 hours that night, I believe. I did make an early-morning call into "the show" back east, where I got some comments out about the whole Imus thing. I wish all of that had not gone down while I was on vacation. It's infuriating situations like that which make radio so interesting and invigorating to be a part of.
Saturday afternoon after I finally woke up was spent with Liz trying to get transportation downtown to the movie theater. After no luck at the Muni train stop, we eventually just walked to the underground and made it downtown, but not in time to make the showing of "Blades of Glory" that we wanted to catch, so we grabbed some late lunch and some beers at an Irish pub downtown. My burger was good (hard to screw that up, I guess) but Liz's fish & chips were pretty greasy. The movie was very funny. Very stupid, but very funny in an "Anchorman"-ish kind of way. Will Arnett was great in it, as was John Heder and Jenna Fischer (who I admit to having a "thing" for). At this point my battery was dead on my phone and I was incommunicado to the rest of the world. Pretty annoying, but it is what it is.
Saturday night Liz and I met for dinner with her friend Ally, and (although I don't remember the name of the resturant) it was a good meal. We went back to Ally's house after that for them to get ready for the evening, and I watched the A's lose to the Yankees after 13 innings. That pretty much sucked, as you would imagine. Ally's roomate and her friend came out with us to a place called "Shine" which was kind of, well, "shiny", with lots of happy west coast people bouncing around to electronic beats. I actually had a good time despite myself and had a great time talking to Liz, while watching the lecherous euro-trash guys fawn over her friends. Got a kick out of that.
Someone had the idea to go to a place called "Garage-Mahal" for some kind of warehouse party the likes of which I've only experienced back east with such luminaries as Storm Davis. The eurotrash was enlisted to drive us, and we split into two cars. The car I was in was a tiny Mustang with more Armour-all on the dashboard than even most '86 iROC Z's in Cranston. There were 4 girls packed into the back seat and some of them were loud and annoying. We finally found the place, and were denied entry because the place was "too packed". We regrouped at a bar across the street with a jam-band playing and banners celebrating a bluegrass festival. All 4 eurotrash guys promptly headed for the men's room where they packed themselves into the same stall, no doubt their systems were running low on Bolivian marching powder at this point.
Anyway, they left us there, taking the most annoying girl with them. Ally, her roommate, Liz and I ran into a friend of theirs who took us to another party in another part of town. The car ride was actually pretty fun with tons of picture taking and a much better vibe than the previous ride. This was some sort of house party that was frequented by "Burning Man" types. This is not really my scene, to say the least. We got to wait in line on the stairs as some St. Peter-like bearded hippy dude personally interviewed everyone to make sure they "brought the correct vibe" with them or something. I was pretty sure I would fail this test, so I planned on telling the guy I voted Republican (locally, anyway)in the last election, listen to Michael Savage and Howard Stern, and don't buy into his reverse-elitist bullshit program.
Thankfully, Liz caught on as well and suggested we get the hell out of there. Everyone else was in the door by this point, so the two of us just split from the line without having to deal with this dude's bullshit. We found a chill bar on Haight St and had a couple of beers before heading over to the Zman's house to crash for the night. I got to sleep in the guest room, which was packed with baseball stuff, and there were some cool Red Sox things mixed in there. It was impressive.
The next morning Z presented me with a print of a Rolling Stones photograph he had taken at the show at Winterland in San Francisco from ther 1972 tour. It's a shot of Keith taking a big swig of Jack Daniels with Mick flailing about and Charlie in the background. I can't wait to get this framed and hung up in my place.
Liz and I made our way to brunch before meeting up with her friend Brian and heading over to "Oaktown" for the A's game. We had fantastic seats that Z got for us from Lenny DeNardo (formerly with the Red Sox, now with the A's) in the section where the player's wives sit. It was a beautiful day to watch baseball, and it was great to watch the Yankees lose in the 9th inning to a walkoff 3 run homer from Marco Scutero. After the game, we got to exit through the tunnel where the players leave from, as we met Z who was shooting the game.
Sunday night would be a mellow one as I was leaving from Oakland Airport at 8am the next day. I set up service with SuperShuttle, which was a pretty cool airport service which meant I didn't have to deal with BART and MUNI at 5:30 in the morning. Liz cooked a delicious chicken dinner, and there was great conversation as always with Liz, Z, and Brian.
I got out of Oakland with no problems, but at the change in Las Vegas, the scuttlebutt in line was that TF Green Airport was closed thanks to part of the wall falling down. That was pleasant news to hear while waiting in the Southwest cattle line. A quick call to the newsroom at WPRO aleviated my fears when I was told that the airport had reopened to incoming flights.
All in all it was a great (but all too short) week. There's always more that I'd like to do (hang out with Mike more, for instance), but the fantastic times I've had the last few times I've come out west (going to Napa in November is something I won't soon forget) really make the trip something special.
I can't thank Liz and Z enough for the hospitality that they show me when I come out. It makes me want to move out there. It was lucky for me that Liz's roomate was in India, so I got my own bedroom for the week, too.
Here are pictures.
And here is the aformentioned video for Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan singing "What A Wonderful World":
The week was a pretty fun one on the whole, but my back problems seemed to come back to me on Friday night, most likely due to walking around so much on those damned hills that make up most of the landscape of San Francisco. I muddled through, and had a great time.
Wednesday's flight was not too bad as I had brought enough Ambien and Vicodin to knock myself out for the majority of the trip. I was slightly surprised to hear "Welcome to Detroit" when the plane was due to transfer in Chicago, but it was only a couple of hours of delay and i was in Oakland by early evening. Wednesday night was pretty low key as it was a work night for my hostess Liz, but we had a nice dinner and had a good time catching up.
Thursday was spent enjoying the sunshine (something which has been lacking around here as of late), and going to Liz's birthday dinner. I got to meet a lot of the cool people she works with, had a delicious meal, and finally meet the legendary Jim Marshall (probably best known for taking the famous picture of Johnny Cash flipping the bird at San Quentin). After dinner, we headed across the street to a local bar, and continued the libation and conversation. I had a great time reconnecting with Liz's fiancee Z (a legend in his own right) and talking to her friends, especially Marin, Brian, and Angie. Cool people over there at Wolfgang's Vault.
Friday is the day I made the fatal mistake of doing too much walking on those hilly bay area streets. I got over to Aeomba Records and picked up a used copy of a Nick Cave CD I'd been looking for (with his and Shane MacGowan's cover of "What A Wonderful World", one of my favorites). I met Liz on upper Haight, we had a drink or two and then cabbed it down to an upscale-ish pizza place to meet Mike and Christina. It was good to catch up with Mike and meet Christina. After dinner we headed to Molotov's, a low rent, punky kind of place with a cool atmosphere. The Z man met us there, and we had several great hours of conversation and a great jukebox I hogged for the majority of the night playing Pogues, Clash, and Rolling Stones songs. I was pretty stiff by the end of the night despite alcohol's loosening effect, and I slept about 10 hours that night, I believe. I did make an early-morning call into "the show" back east, where I got some comments out about the whole Imus thing. I wish all of that had not gone down while I was on vacation. It's infuriating situations like that which make radio so interesting and invigorating to be a part of.
Saturday afternoon after I finally woke up was spent with Liz trying to get transportation downtown to the movie theater. After no luck at the Muni train stop, we eventually just walked to the underground and made it downtown, but not in time to make the showing of "Blades of Glory" that we wanted to catch, so we grabbed some late lunch and some beers at an Irish pub downtown. My burger was good (hard to screw that up, I guess) but Liz's fish & chips were pretty greasy. The movie was very funny. Very stupid, but very funny in an "Anchorman"-ish kind of way. Will Arnett was great in it, as was John Heder and Jenna Fischer (who I admit to having a "thing" for). At this point my battery was dead on my phone and I was incommunicado to the rest of the world. Pretty annoying, but it is what it is.
Saturday night Liz and I met for dinner with her friend Ally, and (although I don't remember the name of the resturant) it was a good meal. We went back to Ally's house after that for them to get ready for the evening, and I watched the A's lose to the Yankees after 13 innings. That pretty much sucked, as you would imagine. Ally's roomate and her friend came out with us to a place called "Shine" which was kind of, well, "shiny", with lots of happy west coast people bouncing around to electronic beats. I actually had a good time despite myself and had a great time talking to Liz, while watching the lecherous euro-trash guys fawn over her friends. Got a kick out of that.
Someone had the idea to go to a place called "Garage-Mahal" for some kind of warehouse party the likes of which I've only experienced back east with such luminaries as Storm Davis. The eurotrash was enlisted to drive us, and we split into two cars. The car I was in was a tiny Mustang with more Armour-all on the dashboard than even most '86 iROC Z's in Cranston. There were 4 girls packed into the back seat and some of them were loud and annoying. We finally found the place, and were denied entry because the place was "too packed". We regrouped at a bar across the street with a jam-band playing and banners celebrating a bluegrass festival. All 4 eurotrash guys promptly headed for the men's room where they packed themselves into the same stall, no doubt their systems were running low on Bolivian marching powder at this point.
Anyway, they left us there, taking the most annoying girl with them. Ally, her roommate, Liz and I ran into a friend of theirs who took us to another party in another part of town. The car ride was actually pretty fun with tons of picture taking and a much better vibe than the previous ride. This was some sort of house party that was frequented by "Burning Man" types. This is not really my scene, to say the least. We got to wait in line on the stairs as some St. Peter-like bearded hippy dude personally interviewed everyone to make sure they "brought the correct vibe" with them or something. I was pretty sure I would fail this test, so I planned on telling the guy I voted Republican (locally, anyway)in the last election, listen to Michael Savage and Howard Stern, and don't buy into his reverse-elitist bullshit program.
Thankfully, Liz caught on as well and suggested we get the hell out of there. Everyone else was in the door by this point, so the two of us just split from the line without having to deal with this dude's bullshit. We found a chill bar on Haight St and had a couple of beers before heading over to the Zman's house to crash for the night. I got to sleep in the guest room, which was packed with baseball stuff, and there were some cool Red Sox things mixed in there. It was impressive.
The next morning Z presented me with a print of a Rolling Stones photograph he had taken at the show at Winterland in San Francisco from ther 1972 tour. It's a shot of Keith taking a big swig of Jack Daniels with Mick flailing about and Charlie in the background. I can't wait to get this framed and hung up in my place.
Liz and I made our way to brunch before meeting up with her friend Brian and heading over to "Oaktown" for the A's game. We had fantastic seats that Z got for us from Lenny DeNardo (formerly with the Red Sox, now with the A's) in the section where the player's wives sit. It was a beautiful day to watch baseball, and it was great to watch the Yankees lose in the 9th inning to a walkoff 3 run homer from Marco Scutero. After the game, we got to exit through the tunnel where the players leave from, as we met Z who was shooting the game.
Sunday night would be a mellow one as I was leaving from Oakland Airport at 8am the next day. I set up service with SuperShuttle, which was a pretty cool airport service which meant I didn't have to deal with BART and MUNI at 5:30 in the morning. Liz cooked a delicious chicken dinner, and there was great conversation as always with Liz, Z, and Brian.
I got out of Oakland with no problems, but at the change in Las Vegas, the scuttlebutt in line was that TF Green Airport was closed thanks to part of the wall falling down. That was pleasant news to hear while waiting in the Southwest cattle line. A quick call to the newsroom at WPRO aleviated my fears when I was told that the airport had reopened to incoming flights.
All in all it was a great (but all too short) week. There's always more that I'd like to do (hang out with Mike more, for instance), but the fantastic times I've had the last few times I've come out west (going to Napa in November is something I won't soon forget) really make the trip something special.
I can't thank Liz and Z enough for the hospitality that they show me when I come out. It makes me want to move out there. It was lucky for me that Liz's roomate was in India, so I got my own bedroom for the week, too.
Here are pictures.
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And here is the aformentioned video for Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan singing "What A Wonderful World":
posted by Doug MacGunnigle at 4/17/2007 10:22:00 PM
1 Comments:
Good for you for being able to summon the energy to document the whole weekend. I'm zonked. Bring a spare battery next time! You missed some fun laughs at 12 Galaxies. The Saloon was your kind of place too. Extra strong drinks, ancient place (one of the oldest in SF), funny bartender, and "Dead Flowers" was in the Ramblers' set.
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