Amazing night. I saw Neil once before at The Bridge School benefit in 1999. All acoustic then and not a full on Neil show. This. This was beautiful. Hearing the warble of his voice on the first song just brought an immediate feeling of calm. A set full of sweet acoustic melodies and raw slashing guitars that every grunge act owes a debt. I certainly spent a lot of time with Rust Never Sleeps spinning on my turnable in ’79.
First time to Deer Lake Park and it’s a natural amphitheater that slopes down to an old Irvine Meadows type stage. All surrounded by big beautiful trees. Colorado’s got Red Rocks, but we’ve got Green Trees.
Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) was just so brilliant (oh that guitar) and Old Man being sung by a now old Neil Young seemed even more beautiful. Both are on the video. Also, I’m always so impressed by the audio quality of my iPhone. Dang man, I wish I had this for concerts of yesteryear. He was so good though and he’s in good shape voice wise compared to a lot of his contemporaries. Attended the show with my show bro Craig. On the second song he leaned in and said, “This is waaaaay better than I thought it would be.” Indeed, indeed. The show finished at a reasonable 10pm.
Get a load of that setlist! Southern Man! Ohio! Mr. Soul! No Heart of Gold tonight but heard that in ’99. You can have your sports games, cinema, blah de blah but nothing better than a concert with a legend who can still bring it.
Occasionally i have to make my way down to Richmond. Where? Yeah, exactly. It’s in the out in the middle of nowhere part of Richmond. There’s an old radio station transmitter out there for CJOR which was in operation from 1926 to 1988. It just sits now. It always reminds me of the film American Grafitti. One of my favorite scenes is when Richard Dreyfuss goes to a small radio station outside of town to get the “Wolfman”, Wolfman Jack, to dedicate a song to the mystery girl. Amazing scene. I love the random ice cream bit and of course twist at the end where Dreyfuss sees he’s been lied to.
Sometimes when I pop down to the States I hit an antique mall in Bellingham. After a visit with my sister I went to Penny Lane Antiques and had a mooch around. A few sellers had some cameras but I found an old Brownie Flash Six-20 with the actual flash unit. I played around with a bit and everything seemed to work. There were even batteries still in the chambers and they hadn’t leaked. Check out those old Eveready’s with the 9 lives cat on them! $20, why not?
I found out later I’d need a little adapter to be able to use the flash and tah dah thanks ebay! I have a box of vintage flashbulbs and I popped one in to test it. Snap crackle pop the flash fired in that glorious vintage way as smoke and the smell of something burning rose up. So cooool!
But, the most intriguing thing about the camera is it still had a roll of film in it! I checked to make sure it had been fully shot and I wound it forward and then nervously opened the camera! Success! The roll was rolled up tight and I sealed it off to get it ready for development. I toyed with the idea of developing it myself because rarely after all this time are there usable images. I’ve seen many a Reddit post about disappointing results after all these years, but I thought I’d take it to the lab and let them do it properly. I got the roll to The LAB and they were cool with attempting to develop some old film on 620 film and I went back the next day to pick it up. I didn’t receive a call from them saying nothing was on the roll so all seemed to go well. As I unrolled the negs on the light table the most amazing set of images lit up below me. All perfectly exposed and perfectly developed! Wow! Amazing. I couldn’t believe what I’m seeing. After closer inspection I could see all the clothing was probably early 60’s or late 50’s. The camera itself was made between 1946 and 1955 so I’m betting the roll was shot early 60’s and then forgotten about. Most people would have replaced a five to ten year old camera that is no longer made but they probably finished the roll and then forgot about it. For years and years and years and years. What’s trippy to think about is this camera has been sitting around somewhere with this roll of film in it for almost 60 years! Kennedy was assassinated and this roll of film might have already been shot. I was born and this roll of film already had images on it. The Beatles came and went. Men walked on the moon and this roll was sitting in this camera. The Vietnam War came and went and all of the 70s went by. Star Wars came out and so did Grease. Then the 80s decade came and still this roll of film sat in this camera in some house somewhere. I was sitting in Mr. Roger’s math class thinking how much I hated him and this camera was sitting somewhere with this very roll in it. Nirvana, 9/11, and here we are today with this undeveloped roll of film from yesteryear. Then very recently (it wasn’t there last time) someone decides to take it to the antique fair not realizing it’s actually a little time machine. Fortunately black and white film handles time very well compared to color film. Until I looked at the images on that light table no one had ever seen these images before. Not even the owners of the camera. So bizarre to think about and down below are the images the owners never even saw. A real life Don Draper right there.
I say this every year but it’s not what it used to be. Of course it’s not as the show floor has shrunk massively since the late 90’s but the conference itself with talks and demonstrations seems pretty robust. It still holds a place in my heart. The second photo above is where the registration was. You used to have to wait in massive lines or go the weekend before to pick up your badge. We were the only ones in there and got our badges in about 1 minute. My first taste of Siggraph was in Los Angeles ’95, but the 1996 New Orleans conference I think we can all agree might have been the best Siggraph ever. My gawd the parties, the attendance, and show floor were huge and I nabbed an interview with Disney Feature Animation and my career jump started there. Everyone else turned me down. Ha! I had to sit on my job offer for almost 7 months because the job didn’t start until 1997. So I plugged away at my other jobs while I waited to start. Crazy times. I took my son a few years ago to his first Siggraph and he got to play some of the games that students had made at their University and he seemed intrigued by it all. I got him a pass this year and we walked the show floor together at lunch and it was cool to see him light up about certain things and shrug at boring things. Oddly enough not a lot of A.I. wording around. I didn’t see a single mention of it on signs or from presenters although a lot of software is just integrating it.
Gaffigan is pretty damn popular in Canada and he brings a lot of Canada-centric humor that he tailors for the shows. I hesitated getting tickets and then he sold out 2 shows. Then he added a matinee and I hesitated and it sold out. Then he added a new day and it sold out. Then he added another matinee on that third day and I just barely got a ticket. How barely did I get a ticket. That’s my seat below. Last row, last seat in the row in the farthest corner of the theatre. LOL But, I’m in the building! I can relate to Gaffigan. The parent humor is spot on it’s painful but good to know someone can laugh about it. So weird to think bands tour and set up this big show and have tons of people around. A comedian just walks of stage and has a stool and a bottle water and charge the same price as a band. There’s no way they’re not making bank next to a band. And they usually only do an hour. AND he did two shows back to back! Making bank I tell ya! The woman next to sat with one of her children while the husband sat on the other side because they couldn’t get four seats together. You’re in demand Jim!
I’m coming up on five years at ILM but it’s been a bit of a harrowing 5 years really. 2019 had MPC pulling out of Vancouver, then the pandemic, then the utterly brutal hit by the strikes. So, the bit of good news is the opening of our new offices in a swanky new building called The Stack.. Yeah that’s great and all but you know what’s the best thing…? It’s literally a 6 minute walk door to door for me! Uh-maze-ing!
We had a big media day and some politicians came by and said some politiciany stuff. Mando and R5 showed up. The droid that blows up when the Jawas are trying to sell him to Luke. Poor R5. CBC must have sent the D team reporter to the event because she could even get the company name right. Come on at least send someone that would have been excited to be here. She even had that giant light up ILM sign right in front of her!! RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER! Ugh. Anyway try to watch the video below without getting second hand embarrassment for her. Are there even journalism schools anymore?
The rooftop terrace is amazing! Most of the ILM studios have a Yoda statue out front but since we’re in a hirise we have a little Grogu in the reception area. Awww. So that’s that.
Fuuuuuuuuck. Watching these fires from Vancouver made me realize how much I’m an outsider to my home town now. I’ve been watching the news live like anyone outside the L.A. area would. I’d been around for all the previous fires, earthquakes, landslides, natural disasters but this one made me really feel the distance and time. There’s nothing I can do but watch in horror from afar as friends are evacuated and this time some have lost their homes. I’ve never had friends lose their homes before. Seeing their Instagram posts, or whatever, slowly get more horrific until they had to flee and then a final shot of their return to a burned out home. Devastating. My coordinator had to leave work to get things from her Altadena home and find a place to stay but she was a lucky one.
Describing the small amount of things people could take with them was heartbreaking and all I can do is watch. It was the same when my parents evacuated the Fallbrook fires in 2017. Very fortunate outcome from that but I could only sit and wait for updates and couldn’t help. One thing I heard over and over is most people grabbed their passports and important documents first before prioritizing personal items or photos. I do have that sorted in case of a fire. Important documents, 1 camera, and the three hard drive arrays with all my photos on them. They’re all within 3 feet of each other so it’s a quick job. Considering the building outside my window lost 4 apartments to fire a few months ago I’m ready and organized and have a good reminder staring me in the face looking at those apartments. This is all well and good having worked from home the past 5 years but now that I’m heading back to the office in a couple weeks I won’t be able to grab anything. Fire talk is not fun. Every single person I know or have known in L.A. has been affected in some way by these fires and I’ve thought about them all this week. Some I can check on some I can’t. Driving around L.A. this past summer was surreal, so much has changed and so much just the same. It’s been a decade since I left. A decade. A freaking decade. I miss home. Hugs to all.
So, the van. The now iconic surviving van. That’s a 1977 Volkswagen Bus in New Reef Blue. Exactly like the one we had growing up! I loved that thing. I even drove it for a bit when I got my license. It did drive like a bus with its flat steering wheel and long stick shift. After buying it in 1977 we drove across the United States in it all the way to Boston. Threw some fake tea off the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor and then drove back. It was great. My mom even made curtains for it. Because that’s just what you did. I remember driving through Manhattan in it thinking oh boy us Californians have arrived. Good on ya little blue van, you must have been very frightened.
Welp, she’s here, finally. It’s been Taylor Swift madness here in Vancouver nigh on a year. Tickets went on sale over a year ago and it was a slow burn until about 6 months ago when everything turned Taylor. Large lighted signs of song titles all over the city, advertisements hinting at the shows, sparkly dresses in the windows, etc. Am I a fan? Well no, not exactly, but I am a fan of her. I do like a few of her songs for how well crafted they are for pop songs. Pretty great on that metric. What I really love is the sheer phenomenon of her at this point of time. It’s pretty exciting to see a musical artist at their peak popularity absolutely ruling the world. We won’t see this again because it’s so very difficult to do these days. And she seems on the correct side of politics. Good on her. I walked around the city at lunch a few weeks ago and just shot pictures of everything Taylor. Truly amazing how much of an economic engine she is. Let’s compare. In August of 1964 The Beatles came to Vancouver 6 months after the Ed Sullivan show. A watershed moment in pop music that started the British Invasion. They played one show, 11 songs, 35 minutes to 20 thousand people and then just left. Went to the airport and immediately flew to L.A. at 3am. And that was it. Beatlemania. This now, this is on such a massive worldwide scale that it makes me oddly happy. Grumpas will say, well, she won’t last, etc but she’s been doing this now for 20 years. Growing and growing her base so she’s hella paid her dues. She’s hardly a bottle rocket. Burning hot and fast and then gone. She’s a raging bonfire and that is great. On the last night of her three concerts I went food shopping near the stadium and the streets were eerily quiet. The grocery store was also a ghost town. Just me, the Musak™, and the squeaky wheel on the cart. The concert hadn’t started but everyone was in there waiting as they probably didn’t want to miss a thing. Since I was out I thought I would go get the car washed and I was the only one there too. This is great! On the way back I thought I’d get some shots of the stadium across the water with it all decked out in pink and green. It was a beautiful crisp night and what was truly magical was standing by the water edge hearing the absolute massive roar of the crowd spilling out of the arena. All quiet by the water and then the huge wave of crowd noise would rise up and down. Incredible. So this is all amazing, but you know what is just as amazing? This week 4 of us got tickets for AC/DC at BC Place. The same place where Taylor is currently doing three nights. The show sold out immediately! Tickets were selling faster than I could select them but I finally got some that stuck and at face value. I’m not a huge AC/DC fan but I do like them. I’ve never seen them but they’ve been on my I better go see them list. Here’s a band that is now 51 years old, far past their peak, but still able to sell out a 50K seat arena in minutes. That is AC/DC’s hold my beer moment. It’s going to be pretty pretty great. I might even buy a concert Tee! So let’s see where Taylor is in 2055. Hopefully she will be out there doing it, but most likely not so this is her era to shine. Funny to think there are 50 thousand people cheering on a billionaire in there. Oh and pssst… I actually prefer Olivia Rodrigo to Taylor.
You have to love a panto. If you don’t you’re kind of a jerk. Actually I went into this one with much skepticism as it seemed a little too… local. Turns out it was amaaaaazing! I’ve never seen X so thrilled by a show so that was cool. His Gene Siskel rating was a thumbs up. Robinhood and his Merry-them, get it? They’re all woodland creatures that live in the local park, Trout Lake. Where I’ve actually been before. Hilarity ensues. So many great songs adapted for the story. Metallica Master of Puppets, Dolly Parton Jolene, Miley Wrecking Ball, ELO Mr. Blue Sky, Video Killed the Radio Star, Olivia Rodrigo’s Vampire, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother, and even Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club was about actual ponies and not stripping. So all in all the kids, and adults, had a great time yelling at the stage when prompted. I always think ugh, a panto, but then you go and they’re so fun. Then I stop being a curmudgeon about 5 minutes in and forget everything going on in the world. It’s a good night out.
It was at the York Theatre which I’ve driven by many a times but never really took notice. I’ve even been next door to shoot a photo. Weird. After attending I wanted to find out more about the theatre. It’s kind of small but much to my surprise and delight it used to be a concert venue back in the day. Starting in 1983 and running until 1995 it was a bit of a punk and metal venue. Black Flag, Meat Puppets, D.O.A., Dead Kennedys, Armored Saint, T.S.O.L., Skinny Puppy, GBH, Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies, White Zombie, Marilyn Manson all played here. Three shows caught my eye though. The first being Metallica in 1985 at the start of their career. Funny to think they played here and then hearing two women play Master of Puppets in a panto on piano and drums. Nice. The second show that was interesting was Nirvana played here in 1990 but it was two shows later when Dave Grohl actually joined the band. The oddball show in between all these heavy shows was neighbour Sarah McLachlan doing her second show ever! She was only 20. What? Awwww, amazing. As you can see below it’s quite small so those shows would have been amazing to see.
After getting home I immediately started looking up other shows in the area that might be fun. Dolly Parton’s Rocky Mountain Christmas? Yeah maybe actually. ha Cirque du Soleil is in town for a bit. I kinda got burnt out on them in L.A. and Vegas but now it’s been years since I’ve been to a show. Oooo The Harlem Globetrotters in January! I saw them when I was just a kid. Meadowlark Lemon, Curly Neal, and Hubert “Geese” Ausbie. The Globetrotter cartoon had a laugh track. WTF? Well, I digress. More entertainment needed.
Well it’s about time. Sometimes the wait for a trailer to come out seems like forever. Here they are! Both look really great. I was on Skeleton Crew starting about two years ago but then it was extremely affected by the Hollywood strikes. It was really rough seas as the show went on hiatus and the strikes lingered on for way too long. Devastation all around. I was incredibly fortunate there was one spot on Electric State that opened up just after I was told they couldn’t keep me on which then allowed me a safe harbour in the strike storm. When the strikes magically wrapped up late last year, Skeleton Crew ramped back up. An uncomfortable fearful year for sure and I survived it but most of my close friends in the industry did not. I’ve been on that side of the fence so many times and it sucks so hard. So it’s nice to see all the production trucks around Vancouver filming away providing the eventual work for the post crews and hopefully my friends can get back to work. If you’re even remotely connected to the entertainment world at the moment you are affected in some way. Fecking awful. (edit 1) I’ve now watched the first two episodes on Disney+ and yeah it’s early on but I’m liking it. Lots of hidden references and very Spielbergian. And my tiny name in the credits at the end! My son loved it so I just go by what he likes as the zeitgeist of the kiddoes. Nice to see after The Acolyte which I hate with every Midi-chlorian in my body. Who hired those amateurs?
Skeleton Crew has been described as Goonies in Space (Disney’s own words) and there are tons of great things not shown in the trailer. For a Star Wars TV show I’m thinking we’ve got a hit on our hands. Fingers crossed. As for Electric State just look at that beautiful trailer and just in time for the Oasis reunion… But 5 months away? Ooof. Moving on, I’m currently… oh right I can’t say, but I’m currently working on a trailer shot for a huge summer film so watch this space! Don’t forget to like and subscribe!
(edit 2) Well then. Since we last spoke Lilo and Stitch has hit the World Wide Spider-Web with a teaser of sorts. Not much to see of the movie but look at that guy!? He looks amazing! For CG nerds he’s probably the best character I’ve ever worked with. Nothing breaks, fur is amazing, lights incredibly well, etc. He just works. Disney internals say once something hits this page I’m allowed to talk about it. Well, at least to say that I’m working on it. Beyond that, no details other than what’s offered up. So that’s now three freakin’ shows that are so far unreleased. Although Skeleton Crew as of this update starts tomorrow on Disney+!!! Sorry about The Acolyte, but I didn’t work on that. Stitch trivia: He’s the number one selling Disney character after Mickey. After hearing that, it’s not surprising. He is absolutely everywhere. Including blow up lawn Christmas decorations as seen at Home Depot.
Do you know Shannon and the Clams? I didn’t think so. First time seeing a show at The Rickshaw too! Divey and the worst part of the city with the skid row night crawlers all outside. I took a cab and met up with my Music Mates rather than walk it tonight. It’s a bit stabby in that area so better safe than stabbed. My concert bros. (we’ve added a new member) and I went to see Oakland’s Shannon and the Clams tonight. CB3 (Concert Bro 3) used to go see them when they played at small clubs in the Bay area. Now that they’ve gained a bit of traction they’re playing larger places. Earlier in the week at they played The Wiltern which is a pretty large space compared to The Rickshaw. Anyway good 60s vibes and they asked people to buy merchandise because it was a pain in the ass to get through customs at the border. Ha! I know your pain Clams. I had already bought the 2018 vinyl Onion album because it has The Boy (video below) and Backstreets on it. Also bought a sticker from the new album. Sometimes they seem like a John Waters soundtrack and not surprisingly he also happens to be fan. Well, no new concerts on the horizon so that ends the music detour for awhile. $400 for Springsteen in November? No thanks. I think I like The Rickshaw though, hand drawn schedule and neon light sign out front is a treasure. I also didn’t get stabbed so bonus! I’m tired and earlier in the day my software crashed and took with it half a days work. Normally there’s a crash file. Guess what? No crash file. Oh dear. Lots on offer right now. A new Cirque du Soleil show Echo? CDS feels played out. Maybe movie with orchestra? Elf, Home Alone, Empire Strikes Back? I dunno, missing L.A. now for the sheer amount of things to do. L.A.s a bit stabby too. Bah humbug.
Hey, did you hear? September 17th is Sarah McLachlan Day in Vancouver! Did you get your stamps? I certainly did! Look at that! I had no idea really, pure luck. I just mailed a ton of Halloween cards off at the post office and saw them. Am I now a philatelist? No, but it’s Sarah, so suck it. Anyway, as a fellow Vancouverite I’d like to support her home grown local talent. Bryan Adams lives in London and Elvis Costello recently moved to New York so we’re losing our big names! Bublé’s still around. My son got to play with Michael Bublé once. He was at the local mall midweek with his son who previously had been diagnosed with cancer. They were at one of those climbing castle places and “Mike”, as he introduced himself, played the role of Doc Ock and his son and my son (same age) battled him as Spider-men. Doc Ock lost as my son wailed upon him. LOL Sorry Mike. Bublé’s son has recovered and all is good but I thought very highly of him for having a little play with a total stranger’s kid.
Surrounded by fames… Every year at school they have a school uniform return and you can exchange sizes as your children grow up. Elvis Costello’s (right?) twins grew out of their clothes and donated them and we now have Dexter’s shirts in the daily rotation. Ooo also Jennifer Beals can be seen at school events. Shhhh… I Bette she’s a maniac, what a feeling seeing her. Also, she’s in the Mandalorian, so yeah we’ve also worked on the same show! We’re sorta bff’s and stuff. Alright, that’s enough name dropping for the day (or ever). What a funny little world to flit about in. So yeah, neighbor Sarah, still love her.
This is it. Last chance to see EL… Jeff Lynne’s ELO. So many great songs tonight but Turn to Stone was the best. Massive analog synths driving the song along. Ohhh maaan. I bet you wish you were there now! Listen to that! He’s never been the best stage performer as he really just stands there, but what he lacks as a performer he makes up for it with a great light show. So cool. A few other highlights were Mr. Blue Sky of course, Telephone Line, and Don’t Bring Me Down all at the end of the set. Oh and waaay too much time between songs Jeff! Come on pick up the pace! So I got to see two of the Traveling Wilbury’s live. Dylan and Jeff Lynne are now the only ones left. If Dylan sang Christmas Carols outside my door I’d probably watch but in his current mumbly nature I’d pass on anything else. I keep forgetting that I got to see Petty at The Gorge. So ding ding ding that turned out to be a worthwhile trip. Electric Light Orchestra. That’s a hefty name, but now they will fade into obscurity over the next few decades. The cutoff right now is the 1940s. No one actively listens to music from the 1940s. Within 20 years the 1950s will get left behind and then the 1960s music will fade. It will just be left to the music scholars who archive or teach history. Side notes to and era of music. I’d like to get to one of the final shows in L.A. but I think I get off the bus here. Oh and sign outside only ever said Jeff Lynne’s…
The Struts are my Taylor Swift. I just love them. Last time at the Commodore Ballroom they blew the roof off a 1000 seat theatre and tonight, just 10 months later, they’re now in a sold out 3000 seat theatre! My concert bro couldn’t join me tonight but we’re both at ELO coming up. I had about a 20th row seat and at one point Luke came down the aisle doing his Freddie hey oh, hey yey oh thing with the audience and it was hella loud. They spent so much time interacting with the crowd I think they lost track of time and they cut two songs from the encore. Pretty Vicious and One Night Only. Oh well. Good to see them again in such a short turnaround time.
What the hell John Fogerty? You’re acting like you’re in your twenties and it’s working for you! This was a shocking show at how amazing he was. The stories he told, the excitement and pure happiness he exuded were brilliant. Having his sons on stage playing guitars made it all look a little like a time machine of CCR from ’69. What the f is happening down there on the stage?! I’ve gone back and watched the Woodstock footage of CCR and it was amazing to think that those in audience at Woodstock were listening to a lot of these same songs I was listening to tonight. That guy right there played Woodstock… That is crazy. After all these years he got his guitar back AND his publishing rights so he owns his songs again and he was having such a good time. Opening with Bad Moon Rising and hearing Up Around the Bend, Who’ll Stop the Rain and Fortunate Son in the set was magic. I saw a six song set from Fogerty with a lot of other bands at the Forum in the early ’00s but this, this was a special night. Tom Fogerty, his brother, had back surgery in the 80s and was given an unscreened blood transfusion and died of AIDS complications in 1990. Damn AIDS, how feckin’ cruel. Amazing how far we’ve come.
Well, that happened. First show of my Summer Night Concerts at the PNE Fair this year and 7th row! Daryl Hall, then John Fogerty and then Barenaked Ladies. He got through 3 songs and called it night. Maneater, Dreamtime and Foolish Pride. Ugh, the next song on the set list was supposed to be Rich Girl. So close, ha. Anyway the refund is forthcoming but yeah the time it took get there and the $25 parking is a little irksome. I saw Hall and Oates at the Hollywood Bowl in 2011 so no big loss. He’s looking terribly old now and I’m trying to get any classic rockers in while they’re still kickin’ the can down the road. Unfortunately the Pacific Coliseum only looked about 1/3 full so it seems Daryl on his own is not the concert draw that he might think he is. Not that Garfunk… Oates does much but back up vocals. A brand name will still draw in more than an ingredient. So, sorry Daryl the musical bell has tolled for thee. Gotta be rough and looks like he starts crying while walking off.
Here we are back in San Francisco! It’s good to be back I haven’t been here in like 15 years or so, and uh yeah it’s amazing! I love this city, but um I don’t know things have changed a bit, things have changed quite a bit you know so when you’re just chilling out a driverless car! It’s all good look at that we’re stopping for a bus, Move away bus! Oh a yellow light is it going to figure out what to do? Yes we’re safe, thank you Johnny Cab!
All right here we go! Hello hello. Check that out. Where’s he going? He’s going without me. Okay that’s what we do. Okay I’ve got to shut it off.
“…finally relax and thank you for riding with us.” Alright ain’t nobody driving this car. Right. So weird. Okay off we go. Arrival in 33 minutes okay it’s about a dollar a minute.
Okay well it let that, uh, ambulance go by. Pulled over and everything. It’s pretty trippy. It recognized, um, this feels like a rather normal experience, have to say. Doesn’t feel odd at all and it’s it’s overly cautious. So that’s good but I don’t feel like it’s a jerky ride like tapping the brakes.
Watch the wheel. Look, oh, it’s waiting for cars to go by so that we have room. Oh, I think we’re in the wrong oh no quick quick right yeah good. And now I should be turning left? You’re not going to get me copper! You can’t ticket me for speeding!
Oh there’s another one! I see you! I see you! Look at that they’re all over the place! It’s pretty cool! All right let’s go! Oh acceleration! Alright, one right in front of us! Do electric, uh, do driverless cars wave at each other? I don’t know and where do they go when they need to recharge? What do you do driverless cars?
Going through a nice area now. Oh here we go. Alright are you going to figure out we’re at a stop sign. It read that another stop sign. Where’s this car going? Maybe the same place. Oh yeah look Presidio. Oh yeah. Beautiful. All right curvy roads. Watch out cyclist there’s no one driving this car! Oh yeah. Ooh it noticed the speed bump, no way! Look down there there it’s the Palace of Fine Arts. Ah okay here comes the speed bump, is it going to do it? Look at that slows down, speed bump, nice. Look at that we’re following one. Speed bump. It’s rough that. Okay no car crash no car crash.
Okay here we go, let’s see. “Almost there get your phone keys or bag.” Right, see how it gets us parked. Got to roll up the window. “For your safety the doors will remain locked when we arrive. pull the handle twice to exit the first pole unlocks the second opens the door.” All right, okay. There we go, got the cyclists looking at us…. and where is the mystery destination? Where is it? Where is it going to drop me off? Okay here we go. Okay, it says we’re going to stop up here very quickly. What’s it going to do? Finding a spot to pull over. Guess this is it. It’s, you’re good. He’s worried about it… Okay. “You’re here, please make sure it’s clear before exiting.” Okay, pull the handle once, oh it did, okay bye Johnny Cab! Thank You!
The next day I slept in a bit and instead of trying to do too much I pared down my day. I had tickets for the Giants baseball game at 1pm so I decided to just hang about the area and go to that first. It was Star Wars day and they were giving out baseball caps with Yoda ears. Courtesy of Stub Hub of course but nonetheless it was amazing seeing a stadium full of Yodas. What an awesome stadium. Great views, great food, good vibes. I left at the 7th inning because I wanted get over to The Presidio.
So yes, I called in my friend Johnny. Separate post above. Anyway I got to the Walt Disney Family museum before they closed at 5pm and saw many amazing things. The very first drawing of Mickey Mouse I think was my favorite thing. I bought a couple of pins to add to my little collection. They also had some old 8mm footage of the Disney family on vacation in Vancouver. Familiar sights how weird. After that I needed to head back to Pier 39 because there’s a rubber duck shop called KWAK there and my son has a small collection after playing Placid Plastic Duck Simulator for ages. I found a wizard duck for him and a super hi-quality robot duck. Now, I’ve got three hours before my flight. I’m going back to La Cumbre! Grabbed a Deluxe Steak Burrito to go and then headed to the airport via BART. I put it in my bag so I could eat it in the terminal but forgot about it and the security scanner dude asked, “Is that a burrito?” LOL oh no I forgot! Yeah yeah it is! He just laughed and knew what was up. Anyway I got through security and ate my delicious Mission burrito while I waited for my plane. Easy flight back and in bed at about 1am. The two days seemed more like four as I was constantly on the go. San Francisco felt good. Really good. I could live there. Again.
Well hello San Francisco! Nice to see you. A few months ago, late a night, an email pinged loudly into my inbox. Actually it kind of startled me. It was a birthday invite from school chum Shelli for school chum Keith’s birthday. They’re married for clarity. The invite was complete with a picture of Keith from the 80s that I shot while we were in University! Nice. I didn’t even really read the email or the dates and time. I just clicked Yes because I’ve got nothing going on this summer and it’s a good excuse to fly down to San Francisco. Kind of my second home after L.A. and filled with so many memories. So, how can I do this sort of on the cheap? I can’t do it in one day because the party is on a Saturday night. Okay one night of hotel. Which leaves flying up Saturday morning and flying home Sunday evening. Rental car? No. So I have to stay nearby transportation. I want to stay in the city. You know what? Staying at the Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero has always been a wish list thing so why not? It’s the largest hotel lobby in the world by the way. Or was, or still is west of the Atlantic. Who knows. Oof though, $500 a night. Wait, let me check if Disney has hotel rates with partner companies. Buddy boy! Sho’nuff! $299, okay done! Flights? Magically easy, I found some good rates flying in the morning and out later on Sunday. More oof, I’ll have to head to the airport at 4:30 am though. Now, what can I cram in to two days!?
Saturday I flew into SFO. Caught BART in the wrong direction of course so lost half an hour. I got to Embarcadero and took in the scenery as I couldn’t check into the hotel yet. I only had a backpack. I tool a streetcar down to the wharf area and just did sightseeing. Sea lions, check, Pier 39, check, Ghirardelli, check. Cable Cars, check. Just the usual suspects. Headed to Boudin for some clam chowda’ of course. Some of the old school restaurants are closed now for not paying rent. Covid lockdown victims. Fisherman’s Grotto was kind of sad to see as I always went there with my family and grandparents. After a little walk around I headed back to the hotel to check in. Great room that looked out over the bay. After a short rest I headed to the greatest burrito place on the planet. My beloved La Cumbre. It was just as good as ever. Long live the Mission Burrito! After the early dinner it was time to head to Oakland for the birthday. Hopped on BART and got off in Oakland. Not going to lie I was a tiny bit hesitant to be walking though Oakland at night in an unknown area for about 5 blocks. All was good though! Had a fun party and a crazy cake as seen below. I was freaking tired though after leaving the house (in another country!) at 4:30am! I headed out from the party and thankfully got a lift to the station for the ride back to SF. Caught the second to last train though so that was close.
