M

Mission Bar

Yelp

L

Local

http://www.sf-local.com/

K

Kate O'Briens

http://kateobriens.com/

J

Jade Bar

I

International Cocktail Lounge

Yelp Review: here

Dylan

Together Through Life:
Dylan as the best Texas bar band in the world weathering the oncoming apocalypse at the edge of the earth.

Check it out: Amazon

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

I heard Dylan on his radio show say this woman would blow my mind.






I do believe he was right.

H

Hi Dive

http://hidivesf.com/

G

Grand View Hyatt

Yelp Review

Bumped for Boston

So, I've been living out of a backpack for the past nine months and waiting for an opportunity to return to Boston and gather my personal belongings and get them to San Francisco.

Last weekend coming back from New Orleans, I voluntarily got bumped from my connecting flight in return for a free round trip ticket to anywhere in the continental US. Single.

While I waited languidly in LAX for six hours, I started calling around to friends. Turns out one good friend was planning on going to Boston the end of May for a Phish show at Fenway Park. Call it fate, but he had an extra ticket. Double off the Monster.

Talked to my boss; got the time off work. Contacted a couple friends in Beantown; got a place to stay and the green light to get my things out of storage. Triple down the line.

Booked my free flight. Grand-f*ckin-slam over Williamsburg into the Ted seat.

Sweet Caroline here I come.

So good! So good! So good!

French Quarter Festival / Stu's Wedding

Music from Big Pink

Like a phoenix rising from the pink styrofoam peanut shells & bubble wrap, my external hard-drive was resurrected.

Nearly nine months without, it's finally been reconnected. Hallelujah, I have access to all my music again!

Let the good times roll.

Easter

I won the egg hunt.

The Long Now

SALT: Seminars About Long Term Thinking

From the Long Now Blog:

Sustainable cities

Mayor Newsom began with how moved he was by hosting the UN’s World Environment Day in San Francisco in 2005. For that event, which was called “Green Cities - Plan for the Planet!”, he invited 120 mayors from around the world. Days of intense discussion led to the publication of 21 policy principles for building permanently sustainable cities, in the areas of energy, waste, design, nature, transportation, health, and water. Cities, Newsom said, consume 75% of natural resources and are responsible for 75% of pollution.

He became determined to help make San Francisco the Greenest city in the world.

That can be accomplished only with a plethora of highly specific programs. The city’s renewable energy portfolio, for example, includes highly demanding Green building standards (LEED); conversion to biodiesel and the recycling of “fats, oils, and grease;” generous rebates for solar; and plans for collecting energy from tidal-flow turbines below the Golden Gate and wave generators off of Ocean Beach.

He wants San Francisco to be the world leader in electric vehicles, starting with plug-in hybrids and moving to fully electric. They have half the moving parts of gas vehicles and much higher efficiency. The batteries can charge in off-peak hours, and gas stations can convert to “switch stations,” where you simply swap in charged batteries in less time than it takes to fill up with gas. The way cellphone time is sold in minutes, vehicle charging can be sold in miles.

He would like to see parking meters used for charging, and San Francisco is developing congestion-price parking meters that cost more during peak congestion hours, and that sense and can broadcast when they’re empty.

To encourage urban density, which is inherently Green, the city is building more highrises, and California’s coming high-speed rail system will leave from the heart of downtown.

Newsom noted with glee that there is now intense competition between cities to out-Green each other. Portland, San Francisco, Manhattan, Amsterdam, Vancouver, Singapore and countless others vie in the quest for Green bragging rights. They borrow ideas and deploy comparative shame: “How can sunless Berlin have more solar power than any American city?”

–Stewart Brand

F

Fireside Bar

Too tired to think

Debbie Gibson neon fire

North Carolina

E

83 Proof

April Fool

D

District

Delicious brussels sprouts

Muddled was the theme this day

Hesitant return

Yelp Review:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/district-san-francisco

C

Cresta's

Just down the hill from Bachhus. Average run of the mill dive bar. PBR on tap and free peanuts.

Yelp review:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/crestas-twenty-two-eleven-club-san-francisco

Neighborhood: Russian Hill

2211 Polk St

B

Bacchus

A bourgeois wine bar in Russian HIll named after the Roman god of debauchery. Lots of lilies in the window; cable car passes out front.

Nice wine selection, although a little pricey. Good place to go for a pre-dinner date.

Yelp review:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/bacchus-wine-bar-san-francisco

Neighborhood: Russian Hill
1954 Hyde Street

Other B bars considered:

Bloodhound

http://www.yelp.com/biz/bloodhound-san-francisco-2

A

Amelie

Let's check "A" off the list shall we. 

According to Ethan: 

"It was a good place. Went for happy hour and got three wines for ten bucks. The bartenders have heavy hands, and the wine was good. Well worth it. Def'  go back."

Website:

 http: //www.ameliesf.com

Neighborhood: Nob Hill
1754 Polk St

Yelp Review: 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/amelie-san-francisco

ABC Bar Crawl

My friend, Ethan, recently hatched an interesting idea. Here it is in a nutshell: From now until whenever, he will start at the beginning of the alphabet and go to a bar whose name begins with that letter. Each time he goes out, he will move to the next corresponding letter.

This came about because he feels like he frequents the same places every time he heads out in San Francisco and needs to discover some new haunts.

The only rules are: he must go to places he's never been before, and he has to progress in alphabetical order. How far he'll actually get is anyone's guess.

Now, you may ask why I'm writing about here. No good reason. I just love harebrained ideas and  hope to document his discoveries because God knows I need something to get this blog rolling again.

St. Patty's Day

Walk in the Woods

Which way do I go?

Ooby Dooby

I'm not really into the 25 Random Things that's been floating around recently. This is more my style.

I think the rules are obvious - shuffle your ipod, answer the question (no cheating) and tag 20 friends including the 1 who sent this to you.

My excuse for doing this: procrastination.

----------------------------------------

1)IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OK?" YOU SAY?

Rocket, Smashing Pumpkins ('Rocket Sauce' maybe a better answer.)

2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

First Tube, Phish

3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

Wayfarers All, Dead Meadow

4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

Alphabet Pony, The Kills

5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

They Punctured My Yolk, The Flaming Lips (I think 4 & 5 are backwards)

6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

M79, Vampire Weekend (I have no idea what this means)

7) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?

Up Against the Wall, Peter Bjorn & John

8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

Dreamin' of You, Bob Dylan

9) WHAT IS 2+2?

Right Track Now, Roky Erickson

10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

3 Peat, Lil Wayne

11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Unfaithful Servant, The Band

12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

Love Dog, TV on the Radio (nuff said)

13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Diddly Daddy, Bo Diddley (awesome)

14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Getting in Tune, The Who

15) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

Step in the Club, Gangstagrass

16) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

Run Through the Jungle, Creedence Clearwater Revival

17) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

See You In My Knighmares, Kanye West

18) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

Life's A Gas, T. Rex

19) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

I Gotta Fire, Spiritualized

20) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

For Mods Only, Chico Hamilton

21) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

Ooby Dooby, Creedence Clearwater Revival

This Time Tomorrow

I received some unsettling news from my family earlier today that prompted me to buy a plane ticket home to Gainesville, GA for tomorrow.

As always, in times of sadness & distress, I seek solace in music. This ditty by the Kinks happened to come on my iPod while I walked home in the cold dark.

This time tomorrow where will we be 

On a spaceship somewhere sailing across an empty sea

This time tomorrow what will we know

Well we still be here watching an in-flight movie show

I'll leave the sun behind me and watch the clouds as they sadly pass me by

Seven miles below ma I can see the world and it ain't so big at all

This time tomorrow what will we see

Field full of houses, endless rows of crowded streets

I don't where I'm going, I don't want to see

I feel the world below me looking up at me

Leave the sun behind me, and watch the clouds as they sadly pass me by

And I'm in perpetual motion and the world below doesn't matter much to me

This time tomorrow where will we be

On a spaceship somewhere sailing across any empty sea

This time tomorrow, this time tomorrow

Sometimes music gets it just right.

1/20/09

In the wake of W's re-election in 2004, I posted on this blog an uncouth portrait of him made out of the faces of the fallen soldiers in Iraq. It captured my feeling of disappointment at the time.

Now, a little over four years onward, I'd like to post a hopeful contrast. 

Our 44th President's portrait made of 1000 Japanese origami peace cranes.

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." -- Barrack Obama