Berkeley Opera's 30th Anniversary Concert

In these "interesting times" Berkeley Opera is just the kind of arts organization that should be getting your support. Opera companies around the country are folding left and right and Berkeley is definitely one worth keeping around. Who else would stage Die Fledermaus as Bat Out of Hell, condense the entire Ring into a three hour performance and reconstruct Italiana as Riot Grrl from Mars? Besides these off the wall treats, they do lesser-known works, the tickets are reasonable and it's a local company made up of your friends and neighbors.

I don't get over to my old stomping as much as I'd like, but tonight I got on BART and made the trip, in no small part motivated by Ruth Ann Swenson's name on the list of appearing artists. Side note: Ruth Ann, I love you, I really do, but it is time to update your publicity photo. Don't worry- believe me, you still got it going on, but that picture of you from long ago has got to go.

The concert was held at the First Congregational Church, which for some reason was as hot as hell tonight. I was comfortably seated in the front row of the balcony but I had to go downstairs because I just couldn't take it. So I sat with all the old Berkeley kevetchers who babbled all night, saying this and that and saying nothing at all while foaming at the mouth. I love Berkeley- you see the same people there all the time who were old when you were in school and they're still around and don't really look any older than they did a long time ago. Must be the water.

The orchestra opened with the overture from Luisa Miller just to remind us of why this is second tier Verdi. This rarely programmed Verdi will soon be out of the standard rep because like Stiffelio, there is simply not a good reason to stage it when you can do a Boccanegra or Traviata instead and you're also trying to program Handel or Britten on a regular basis. It's not bad, but if it never saw a stage again no one in the world would truly care.

There are fifteen singers on the program and seventeen scheduled numbers. I won't bother with a breakdown of all there was to see- if you cared that much you'd have been there yourself. So the highlights are:

The 2nd trombone player taking the stage while the Luisa Miller overture is underway, barreling down the side aisle, seating himself and then putting on his bow tie. Nice entrance dude. Can't make a 7 O'clock curtain? Now everyone knows at least one reason you're working on this side of the bay.

Duana Demus-Leslie performs "Doretta's song" from La Rondine- yes the one good tune from this Puccini opera that starts great and then is a two hour bore which Angela Georghieu keeps foisting on companies around the world. Duana has a decent voice, a little shrill at the top, but she may just be the most beautiful and striking woman I've ever seen sing an aria. I'm won over, but I can be shallow like that.

Everyone else on the first half of the program is fair to good, but at the conclusion Ruth Ann comes on and sings "Deh Vieni, non tarder" from The Marriage of Figaro and it's at once obvious that it is really just unfair to have her onstage with everyone else. There is just no comparison. She has a warm, lustrous and smooth as butter creamy voice that just takes over the entire church and two minutes later the audience is eating out of her hand.

The second half worked better for the other singers. SFO regular Catherine Cook did better on her own with Berta's aria from Barber than she did with the "Flower Duet" in the first half with Marie Plette.

Plette is Berkeley Opera's utility player. Appearing four times, she did Puccini, Wagner, Dvorak and Offenbach. She was more convincing with each number, perhaps doing her best as Sieglinde during the Walkure sample and with Rusalka's "Aria to the Moon."

Jillian Khuner unfortunately only appeared once during the Meistersinger quintet and stole the number away with her beautiful and restrained soprano. Phillip Skinner shined during his two appearances and Benjamin Bongers must be the opera world's Bo Bice. Same hair, same biker look, but I'd have to say Bo may have done an equally good job with Siegmund if given half the chance.

Ruth Ann came back again and made everyone else look bad with "Endless Pleasure" from Handel's Semele to close the show. Peter Gelb, what the hell is wrong with you, anyway?

In the orchestra, a special shout-out is due for Jonathan Goldstein on the timpani, who did a great job without ever once getting a visual cue from the conductor all night on where to come in .

The evening had a warm and easy aura to it- people supporting a company they love and with good cause. This July Berkeley Opera is staging Thomas Moore's Ballad of Baby Doe- get yourself a ticket, and if you can, make it a point this summer to also see Festival Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera and Pocket Opera. Let's make sure these companies survive these "interesting times."

Another night, another shooting in the TL

It is now 2:00 AM and I just heard the gunshot. Someone just fired a gun. One shot this time. Clear, distinct. Someone just got shot. Again. Less than a block away. I'm now listening to the sirens of the police cars. Again. Now I hear the ambulance. Why can I now differentiate between the two? When does this stop? Who can stop it?

Ashkenazy and the SFS: Fail.

Wednesday night's San Francisco Symphony performance conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy was pretty much a failure by every measure. I can't recall the last time I left Davies with such an overwhelming feeling of disappointment. This was particularly acute because the last performance of the SF Ballet's very well received last performance of Program 4 was taking place across the street at the War Memorial and the only thing that kept me from changing my ticket and going across the street was the extremely long line to get tickets and the ridiculous 7:30 starting time for the ballet. Once again, I made the wrong decision based on hope and convenience.

Was there anything good about this evening's performance? No. For the entire evening Ashkenazy seemed out of sorts, as if he had just gotten off a plane an hour earlier and really had no idea wtf he was going to do with this mess of a program. Who put this program together? More importantly, wtf was I thinking when I bought a ticket? Oh yeah, I remember now- the idea of Ashkenazy conducting Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto along with two other pieces, both of which I've never heard, one commissioned by Ashkenzay himself, at one point held the prospect of a great evening of music.

Sometimes life disappoints us, no?

The evening started with a train wreck by Steven Gerber called Music in Dark Times. Has there ever been a more appropriately titled new piece to premier? I think not. Sadly, the most memorable part made me think of Bernard Hermann's score for Psycho set to a shuffle beat. I'll bet my 401k that after Saturday this piece will never be heard from again.

Next up was the Beethoven, featuring young pianist Yevgeny Sudbin as the soloist. Friends and acquaintances had previously told me this young man was a terrific talent. Not tonight. He gave a leaden, pedestrian account of this most beautiful of Beethoven's piano concertos and turned it into something mediocre and worse, uninteresting. Sadly, there was absolutely no assistance coming to the audience's rescue from the orchestra nor Ashkenazy.

During the intermission I met SF Mike, who told me the next piece, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, was fun in a kind of ridiculous way. Unfortunately tonight it was just ridiculous. Based on the performance I heard, I cannot even fathom why this work was even programmed. Poor John Relyea, the lone soloist, who sat there forlornly on the stage and from my vantage point in the first tier wore a constant expression on his face that said "what the fuck did I just do to my career when I agreed to sing this piece of shit?" Friends in the orchestra later suggested he was wearing his "character face."

Even the orchestra looked bored. One of the French horn players sat with her elbow propped against her instrument and her hand to her face- with an expression and body language one expects to see from someone waiting for a bus, not their cue. Other members of the orchestra looked around at each other with looks of disbelief and ennui, as if to say, "Damn, we blew the doors off this place three weeks ago when Argerich and Mutter were here and what the hell is happening to us now?" I have never seen this orchestra look so bored and confused and play so poorly.

As for the chorus, Walton's piece, or at least this performance of it, was so sub par I won't even bother passing judgement on their contribution to the whole, unmemorable as it was. All of this is especially disappointing in light of the SF Symphony's recent run of extraordinarily great and even thrilling performances over the past month.

The evening wasn't a total loss however. I did run into the Opera Tattler and her very charming friend Stephanie D. The Tattler also introduced me SF Mike, author of the Civic Center blog, and the Belgian gentleman behind the erudite Summer is Coming In, who will soon be returning to Europe. Check them out, but skip this show.

Paris, je t'aime

Today the Opera Tattler posted the schedule for the National Opera of Paris 2009-2010 season and it represents the kind of programming I would like to see return to San Francisco.

There are twenty productions, fifteen of which I would definitely attend and only one I would stay away from (even Villazon and Netrebko couldn't get me to try Idomeneo for a third time).

It's a schedule that has something for everyone and probably a few things for everyone.

Mr. Gockley- take a good look. People say San Francisco is the most Parisian of American cities, but San Francisco Opera's conservative programming choices for next year make us look like Detroit.

The site is in English if you want to take a look for yourself- click here.

A different night, a different WAR

For the last gig of their three night stand at Yoshi's, the Low Rider Band, aka WAR, offered a completely different level of quality than the first night's mediocre and sloppy late set.

Maybe it was the cameras filming them (absent on Thursday) or perhaps they just finally found their groove after three nights, but on Saturday the band showed up to play, and they seriously got down. Offering an hour and a half of solid funk, this was a completely enjoyable show which made me happy that I decided to go another night after Thursday's disappointment.

Howard Scott could play his guitar tonight and wisely handed off almost all the vocals to B.B. Dickerson, who has a great Frankie Beverly-style voice. All the songs were tightly performed, there were no lame sing-along attempts except for the obligatory "Low Rider" segment, which was much shorter and well-played last night.

Opening with a straightforward burn through "Galaxy," they then turned "Cisco Kid" into an extended jazz-infused jam, featuring nice guitar work from Stone. Next was a monster funk version of "Get Down" in tougher version than offered Thursday. "Low Rider" had a nice sax solo, and this time the sax player didn't try to follow along on the cowbell and mess things up, like he did on Thursday.

"The World is a Ghetto" features a burning solo from harmonica master Lee Oskar who just tore it up all night long last night. He was really the source of the band's heart during this great gig. Though he incorporated bits he did during other songs on Thursday, he really made the song into a soulful groove while Stone played a mean wah-wah guitar behind him. Also in the set were "Why Can't We Be Friends," "Slippin' into Darkness" and "Ordinary Man," which has the potential to become a hit for these guys judging by the audience response to this new song.

Yoshi's tried to end the set at that point, claiming something about "overtime after midnight"- what kind of policy is that for a jazz club? Anyway, the band exited the stage and then came back on a couple of minutes later while people were starting to file out. Harold was essentially saying "Fuck it, we're gonna play one more!" and the band gave an encore of "City Country City" that was terrific.

Last night- A+. Glad I was there. Three fingers and a smile- definitely.

One more thing- Yoshi's was totally packed for this show, and our cocktail server was taking care of the entire back tier, and she was awesome. Whoever you are, we really appreciated your service. Stupid corporate overtime policy aside, I think Yoshi's SF is a great venue.

WAR at Yoshi's

There were a few seminal bands from the L.A. area whose sound represented Southern California as a particular place at a specific time. In my mind's rearview mirror I would list them in chronological order as the Beach Boys, The Doors, The Eagles, War, X, Motley Crue, NWA and Guns 'n' Roses. I know I'm leaving literally hundreds of great (and shitty) bands out of that short list, but these bands sound like Southern California. One hears them and thinks of cars, the sun, the beach, Hollywood, grit and glamour. My favorite was always War.

As far as rock/pop/funk goes, I still listen to War more than any other band except maybe Patti Smith, Enanitos Verdes or Shakira at this point. They are constantly in my cd player at home or at work. There is a two-disc compilation that has 34 of their songs on it and I usually skip only 3 of them at the most. I think the fact that they were passed over for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year is a joke. War was an incredibly talented and influential group.

Now there are two versions of the band: one is called War, led by keyboardist Lonnie Jordan, who tours around with the name and a bunch of other guys who never played on a single record. A couple of years ago I spent an hour and a half travelling to some stupid county fair to see them and it was one of the most disappointing and lame gigs I have ever attended. Completely disheartening. The other version, called the Low Rider Band, has four original members in it: Lee Oskar on harmonica, Harold Brown on drums, B.B. Dickerson on bass and Howard Scott on guitar. There are also three others guys on sax, keyboards and percussion. This band is doing a three night stand at Yoshi's this weekend. This band is War. I wish I could say they were still great, but at least last night they weren't even close.

I went to the 10 pm show, and as the crowd from the first show came out, everyone was smiling and saying how great it was. A significant percentage were getting back in line for the later show, work the next morning be damned. As one would expect at a War gig, the crowd was diverse beyond description. Let's just say pretty much almost everyone was represented. I was pretty excited- it was going to be good- they wouldn't suck. Maybe they could still jam? Maybe this audience filing out wasn't full of those ignorant boobs who'll love anything that makes them feel like they did back in the day and the show's gonna be great as long as they hear their favorite song right? Damn.

So the band comes out and heaves up a sloppy-ass "Cisco Kid" and Scott is immediately trying to get the audience to sing the ooh ooh ooh ooh ooooo ooooo oooooh part pretty much right off the bat. Bad sign. Very bad sign. His voice is totally shot, the band has no tightness to it at all and I'm thinking to myself "fuck- they suck!" Then I calm down and think it's just the first song, let them warm up, rationalizing to myself that the first set didn't just do that. Next up comes "Slippin' into Darkness" and it too, is another mess, one of the all-time best songs about paranoia played without any tension at all. Okay, so sometimes it takes the P-Funk All-Stars an hour plus to get warmed up. Let's see what happens.

"Get Down" finally hits a decent groove, aided by the fun and funky chorus, and now the band is pumping it out for the first time. It's also apparent to me that part of the problem is that Scott can no longer play the guitar at all- he can really only do rhythm- his fingers are too slow on the leads, and the prior two songs required lead parts and "Get Down" doesn't. Maybe he has arthritis like Keith Richards. Rolling Stones shows now either live or die on whether or not Keith can actually play that night so maybe the same thing is true with War.

"Sun oh Son"- a track off the first album that was never a hit, is great. The band revels in not having to play one of the favorites and it shows- they cut loose and the funk is now hitting the stage. Next up comes a new song (!!!!), "Ordinary Man," and Dickerson sings the lead. It's a really good tune actually in the same mold as "All Day Music" except the lyrics are on the bitter side. This song, however, elicits what looks like real interest from the band for the first time tonight.

Then it hits me. These guys are "Ordinary Men." Some woman seated front and center is trying to get Scott to have a sip of her wine. He at first begs off, saying "No thanks, I can't do that anymore." She's insistent. She doesn't get it at all. Damn lady, the man can no longer drink booze. He almost loses his cool, then asks for an O'Douls. A guy brings out a bottle of Becks and sets it down in front of his monitor.

Scott looks at him like "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
The guy mouths "non-alcoholic."
Scott lifts the bottle, clinks the woman's wine glass and gets on with the song.

Yeah. Ordinary guys who lost a lawsuit to protect the only asset they probably had, living off royalties from samples and "Low Rider"s inevitable appearance in a movie every couple of years. They probably don't even practice regularly and that's why the groove is gone.

Sad? A little. Glory days long gone.

But I'm interested now in a different way and my focus shifts to what's lacking in the music and I notice what it is that really bugs me about the way they sound. War was great because they knew how to hold it back just enough on the beat. Doing so creates a tension- you anticipate the beat, where the bass is going to go, and the best funk makes you wait ever so slightly for it so that you can slide into it just behind the beat. Listen to James Brown's "Doing it to Death" for the ultimate example- especially when the key changes to G (which James lets you know in advance is going to happen so don't worry about figuring it out). These guys just don't have it tonight. Except for Lee Oskar- who can still play a harmonica better than anyone else on the planet. He's still fantastic.

The next two songs are "Low Rider" and "Why Can't We Be Friends," their biggest commercial hits and the only two songs I would have rather not heard. Again, they suck and of course they do- if I were these guys I would hate playing these two songs over and over and over again. But of course there is some asshole in the crowd yelling "Low Rider!" Maybe they should have called the band something else- like "Gypsy Men." Even the dude playing the cowbell if freaking off the beat.

The last song is "Me and Baby Brother" and this is the biggest disappointment for me. This song has a monster funk beat that comes down in eight nasty notes ending in a huge THWOMP! before repeating- and there's no THWOMP! at all- it's just played in a continuous rhythm. Sigh. Show's over. 8 songs, an hour and 20 minutes. I rate it a C+.

But I'll be back on Saturday just to see if it was an off night. Becuase it is, after all, War. Three fingers and a smile.

James Conlon's weekend in San Francisco

L.A. Opera Music Director James Conlon hopped on a plane to San Francisco in between gigs with the L. A. Phil and the L.A. Opera to conduct the San Francisco Symphony for three performances and address the Wagner Society of Northern California. If you think that sentence is confusing, imagine how it must feel to actually live it.

I should disclose that I am a huge admirer of Conlon, and thus predisposed to look on him favorably no matter what he does or says. I really wish we had him coming here instead of Nicola Luisotti. But I also wish Pamela Rosenberg was still here and that Runnicles wasn't going anywhere.

I also wish Conlon hadn't given so many musical examples and talked so much before leading the SFS through a rowdy and very loud suite he created from the music of Shostakovitch's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk on Friday night at the 6.5 performance.

It was like an hour long spoiler alert. He literally had the orchestra sample all of the best parts, in hefty doses, during the pre-performance "talk." It kind of ruined a pretty hot performance for me because I wanted more. It was like a stripper who walks out onstage completely nude. I mean, what's the point of sitting through the rest of the show when you can see all the good stuff right up front? Where are going to go after that? Right- it's a bit boring. And that's too bad because the man truly knows what he is doing. The suite really does contain all the musical high-points from this great opera and if you've never heard it, it contains music you can never forget once you have, even though some sections always make me think of that crazy party scene in Citizen Kane.

Before the intermission, Jean-Yves Thibaudet performed the Liszt Piano concerto that has no movement breaks but does have that funny grunting-elephant-sounding section in the first movement. Thibaudet played with amazing speed, as if he was well aware Martha Argerich was up here last weekend and she was just phenomenal and how the hell was he going to keep up with her? I like Thibaudet, but I'm not that fond of Liszt, so even though I've heard many people (including Conlon) claim him to be one the three musical geniuses of the 19th century I just don't see it. Though I'll admit the duet between the cello and piano was gorgeous.

Thibaudet did look a little odd however, and I couldn't figure out if he was signalling with his wardrobe whether he wants to be the next Liberace or an American Idol. He needs some help on this front. His hands however, flew over the keys with incredible speed through this challenging work. Still, Argerich's performance from the prior week was much more memorable in another piece I think is also kind of second-rate as far as piano concertos go.

Saturday Conlon addressed the Wagner Society, and again talked for half an hour longer than he should have, but this time I was happy he did so. He offered his viewpoints on a number of topics, including regie, which he disdains and thinks is a terrible plague throughout Europe. He also wouldn't comment on the current production LA is mounting of Das Rheingold and it was fun/frustrating trying to parse out meaning from his words on what a lot of people may consider to be a Eurotrash-sort of production. However, Conlon emphasized that a production can be daring or challenging as long as it relevant and expands the meaning or our understanding of the work and just doesn't try to provoke or shock people. Based on that definition, my guess is Conlon is extremely pleased with Achim Freyer's production and he should be- it's excellent.

The next speaker, Dr. Katherine Syer, discussed the various Rings that have been or are currently produced in the 21st Century and if I understood her correctly, she gently suggested that we may be experiencing a golden age of Wagner in performance due to the sheer explosion and variety of Rings taking place around the world. I heartily concur with this idea and enjoyed her talk and accompanying videos quite a bit.

I was also very pleased to get to meet Patrick Vaz in person and to get an opportunity to re-introduce myself to the Opera Tattler, both of whom write blogs I enjoy and encourage you to read.

If I could have only dragged myself to see the remake of "The Last House on the Left" the weekend would have been perfect.

Video of LA Opera's Das Rheingold

This video gives you an idea of what the production that I am still thinking about and wish I could see again actually looks like.
LA Opera has their own channel on YouTube. There are interviews with director Achim Freyer, conductor James Conlon and Placido Domingo. I urge you to see one of the remaining performances- this is really an event.

The Sound of Death and Argerich's Musical Delights

The San Francisco Symphony's program last night was simply terrific on every level.

The first half featured two liturgical works written nearly 400 years apart yet sharing a common desire to break new musical ground. The second part was two pieces of romanticism played with brilliance, including a fantastic appearance by pianist Martha Argerich

The first piece, Giovanni Gabrieli's In ecclesiis from Symphoniae sacrae used minimal instrumentation and a chorus placed onstage and spread up the orchestra aisles. Using only the organ, three trumpets and three trombones, it beautifully resonated through the hall as the chorus, coming from three different parts of the hall, created quite a Gothic sound. It was conducted by Ragnar Bohlin.

Next was Gyorgy Ligeti's Requiem, being performed for the first time by the SFS in these concerts. Parts of this score are familiar from Kubrick's 2001- the music is featured during the obelisk scenes, among others, and has appeared in numerous horror movies. After hearing it in its entirety for the first time, I can understand why- this is probably the most frightening music I've ever heard. The chorus sounds like they are the dead themselves, giving their own eulogy. The orchestra accompanies them straight into the inferno without a trace of melody, just huge masses of sound, loud squeaks, weird shrieks and small plaintive cries from single wind, horn, bass or violin.

Two soloists are also in the work, Hannah Holgersson and Annika Hudak, added their distinct voices as tortured souls during the Kyrie and especially, the Dies Irae segments. Having seen Ligeti's Gran Macabre opera a few years ago, I thought I would be prepared for what this may sound like but I was stunned by how thrilling this work was. The overall effect is a beautiful yet terrifying chaotic wall of sound that swells into climaxes and the subsides into faint cries of protest against total silence.

During these near silences many members of the audience seemed to intentionally cough very loudly to express the displeasure with this work. Even Tilson Thomas shook his head in exasperation with them at one point. I cannot fathom why people are so rude. Even if one didn't like this piece (and I suspect many didn't), anyone could plainly tell this was an incredibly difficult score to play and it was being played to perfection. You could just sit on your hands at the end, not applauding, and not try to be a disruptive and disrespectful ass.

I think I read in the program that someone once programmed this with Beethoven's 9th Symphony. That would be an incredible pairing, a great representation of what can be expressed musically at both ends of the human emotional spectrum- but I would definitely want to hear the 9th come after this. I don't know if I would ever want to listen to this at home, but like the 9th, I would attend another performance of it at any opportunity. It's a bold, amazing work and it was played brilliantly. It was one of the finest performances I've seen this orchestra give in the dozen or so years I've been regularly attending their concerts. Absolutely thrilling.

And there was more!

Martha Argerich made a rare appearance to perform Ravel's Concerto in G Major for Piano and Orchestra. This isn't a great nor terribly original piece, and what's best about it was done better by Rachmaninoff and it borrows quite a bit from Gershwin. Though it lacks memorable melodies for the orchestra, it overcompensates with gorgeous solos for the piano.

Argerich is all fire and passion- there is nothing light nor "pretty" in her playing and thank god for that. It is full of feeling and exploration, but never becomes showy or histrionic. Where I was seated I could see her fingers flying over the keys with lithe dexterity but unfortunately I couldn't see her face. Her body moved as it followed her hands across the keys, her head bowed at times, but there was no exhibitionism or posing that is now so common with younger players. Just musical passion and extreme talent. In her hands the adagio sounded like a lament for a lost friend and it was some of the most beautiful playing I've ever heard, but never once did it become sentimental. The allegremente and presto were played with tremendous speed and fluidity, yet every note came through, one galloping on top of the other as if she couldn't contain them under her fingertips. In a word, Argerich was awesome.

The audience applauded for about ten minutes, she took five curtain calls, but didn't perform an encore, as she did the night before, which was the only disappointment for the entire evening (besides the boorishness of some of the audience during the Requiem).

With Anne-Sophie Mutter's appearances last week, Argerich's this weekend, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet coming to town next week (with James Conlon!), the Symphony is having a terrific run of guest artists right now that will probably be the highlight of the season until the Berg-Schubert concerts at the end.

The evening ended with Liszt's Tasso: Lamento e Trionfo. Liszt called this a "symphonic poem" and I liked it quite a bit on hearing it for the first time. It did however, strike me as sounding very Wagnerian. In fact, so much of it sounded to my ears like Tannhauser or Dutchman that I had to check my Kobbe's when I got home to see which had been written first, in order to figure out who was stealing from whom. For the record, as I suspected (because he is by far the inferior talent when it comes to composition), the thief is Liszt.

But it was an enjoyable theft.

If you missed these concerts- you truly missed out.

I'll have a vodka while I'm waiting for my lunch to be delivered. Actually, wtf- make it a Gibson.

Living in San Francisco, especially in the downtown area, allows one to observe first hand a range of human expression and behavior that is almost impossible to describe. Yesterday I saw two things I haven't seen before. I'm not quite sure what to make of either of them.

While I was taking a walk at lunch an old, banged-up amputee in a wheelchair barked at me for some spare change. I've long since stopped giving money to anyone in this town because I know you can eat at least twice a day, every day, for free as long as you're willing to stand in a line. Twice a month I see people selling the food they received for free from pantries. Maybe they need the money, maybe it's just another scam in a town that has hundreds of them. I don't know.

Anyway, a station wagon from the SF Fire Dept. pulls up and the bum, whose name happens to be Mark, immediately starts wheeling himself down Mission. Out get two guys who start pleading with him to come back. They want to give him some food. He doesn't want it. He tries to get away but one of the guys, who turns out to be a social worker, blocks the wheelchair.

The conversation then becomes about the quality of the food the SFFD want him to have, which Mark says "sucks."

The Social Worker (SFSW) says, "But yesterday you had the vegetarian meal and you liked that. Today we have chicken and it's the best. You'll really like it. We're heating it up for you now."

Mark says, "Fuck you. I don't want it. Fuck you, lemme go."

SFSW replies, "Come on Mark, I just want you to have some food. If you don't eat this you know you can get a meal at John's Grille (a Union Square restaurant). I talked to them about you."

Says Mark, "I can get a meal there anytime I want. Fuck you. I want some
coffee."

SFSW: "You want some coffee? Okay. There's a Peets at the corner. I'll get you some. Cream and sugar? You want to come with me? Come on. I just want you to have something to eat. You know I have a nice room for you with a kitchen where you can make your own food."

Mark: "I'll take the coffee. I don't want no room."

SFSW asks his partner if he wants some coffee too, but the partner declines since he just had a cup and off goes the Social Worker to get Mark some coffee from Peets.

All along, I've just been standing there watching this scene. The partner looks at me and smiles. I ask him what this is all about.

It turns out they are an outreach team for the San Francisco Fire Dept., trying to get street people to eat well and into housing. They are the only team, and they are working on a constant population of about three hundred hardcore drunks and addicts who are constantly ending up in ambulances anywhere from two to six times a day. I asked him to repeat that, just to make sure I heard him correctly, which he does, and I did. He tells me most of the SFFD and ambulance activity involves calls about these 300 who are constantly calling ambulances or having people call for them. I can't even begin to wonder what that costs the city- no wonder we're broke.

I have to say these guys had amazing patience and compassion for this work. I had to leave to go get my lunch (which I paid for), so I don't know how the afternoon ended up for Mark, but I saw him today in the same spot. Sometime in the last 24 hours he had acquired a blanket, a pint of vodka and a friend with a pint of vodka. Here is a picture of Mark enjoying the sunshine and his cheap vodka as he waits for his lunch to be delivered.

The other thing I saw for the first time was a tranny peeing in the street. Standing up! At least the bitch could have gone into Divas (http://www.divassf.com/) and used the bathroom. It was only a half block down the street.

People have no respect. No respect at all.

SF Symphony's 2009-2010 Season

After several increasingly safe and unexciting seasons, the San Francisco Symphony got me excited this year with programming that compelled me buy tickets for more than half the season. Berg, Ligeti, Gubaidulina, Lutoslowski and a whole lot more made the current season significantly more interesting than the past few and so far there have been many great moments in Davies this year.

So it was with a real sense of excitement that I waited for the announcement for next year's programming. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. It looks like they tried- lots of premieres, lots of new commissions, some really great guest artists, but compared to this year I don't see too much to get excited about.

I only see two or three subscription concerts- including the Lulu Suite and Yo Yo Ma playing Shostakovich's 2nd cello concerto that I consider "must see," and about another 1/2 dozen that I want to see, along with the special appearances by the L.A. Phil and Berlin Phil that I will try to see if tickets are available.

There are new commissions by people I'm unfamiliar with (my fault, no doubt), guest orchestras and artists I have zero interest in seeing (the Mariinsky, Lang Lang) and overall, the programming just seems tired and predictable.

But all my kvetching aside, there is little in life that leaves me feeling more exhilarated than a great symphony performance so I'm still going to buy my tickets, and I'm sure there will be moments of great surprise in store. I think I'm just feeling bitter that Los Angeles' programming is much more exciting than ours, and they have Dudamel and Disney Hall to boot.

Ever the optimist, here are the concerts I plan on attending:

September 16-20 2009: Susan Graham sings Rückert-Lieder, Mahler's 1st
October 22-24 2009: John Adams' Slonimsky's Earbox, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák
November 6-8 2009: Rachmaninoff's The Bells, Rachmaninoff's 2nd
November 12-14 2009: Detlev Glanert, Schumann, Sibelius' 5th
November 20-21 2009: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
January 14-16 2010: Ravel, George Benjamin, Messiaen
January 20-23 2010: Yo-Yo Ma plays Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 2
April 1-3 2010: Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, Shostakovich's 8th
April 29- May 1 2010: Schumann's 4th, Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony
May 10-11 2010: Los Angeles Philharmonic
June 10-13 2010: Mozart, Berg, Beethoven

If the symphony discounts tickets again mid-season, as they have in the past two years, I will probably attend more.