Daily Affirmations from Tilden Park

Sunday trek.

 Sunday Sunday skip the gym, find a new path to get lost in...

 Odd random castles in the park...

 Apparently this is a monument to Moses... Moses was the one who saved the Israelites from the Pharoah.  Why would you build Moses a pyramid?  What would be a better shape for Moses?  Perhaps a tablet... perhaps a giant bread/manna basket...?  hmm??

 Overlooking Oakland...

The past in abstract.

Anyone want to guess what I was taking photos of?

Occupy

I am including this web news clip here because the main stream media is skewing what is going on in the Bay Area, this seems fairly well balanced;


Occupy Berkeley is pretty much a few dozen people camping out downtown, with no threats of police action or evction, I had a chat with a few of the occupiers yesterday.

Occupy San Francisco is (by my estimation) a couple hundred people camped out by the Ferry Building, and the police have been pretty chill about that as well, I haven't stopped there but drive past it on my way to one of my theatre jobs.

Oakland is not burning down.  The police haven't been dealing with the situation very well and there is a group of jerks that every protester I know is trying to figure out how to stop because these miscreants aren't helping the cause, but Oakland is clearly the Occupy to keep your eyes on at the moment.

  The general strike yesterday was huge and peaceful, and the vandalism didn't happen until late at night.  So there you go... it's not as bad as the television says, and it's not just a big drum circle full of hippies, there is the full spectrum representing.  More info as it unfolds, but don't trust the television completely, they are peddling entertainment more than they should.

How was the concert?

A: It was amazing.

That is how this exchange is supposed to go right?  It's like Q: How are you?  A: I'm fine.  It's a good way to ask a question that you don't really want an interesting answer to...

However; How was the U2 concert? 
Why I am so glad you asked!

Last week I went to my third U2 concert.  My first was in Louisville KY 2001, then in Oakland CA, 2005... Where to even begin about what it is like to attend a U2 concert?  I suppose part of it is linked to the connection I have with their music.  If you know me, you know that they are my favorite band and have been since about 1993.  Are they my favorite band because their concerts are so special or are their concerts so special because they are my favorite band?  I'd like to think that the two are not mutually exclusive.




The beauty of a U2 concert is unique.  U2 is not just about the music.  Each of the U2 shows I've been to, I've been far far in the back... they are usually a centimeter high from my perspective and yet they manage to make the place feel full.  The use of multi-media as a fifth member of the band helps. This tour features a giant 360º LED screen that expands and changes height.  The screen helps add elements that could not otherwise be achieved in mere reality.  What other rock group could/would integrate astronauts in their rock show?

Astronaut Mark Kelly did this for Oakland (and probably other cities on the tour... but we went crazy when this came up)


What other group could/would take down the audience to discuss matters of humanitarian importance?  I had no idea about the prisoners of conscience in Myanmar, now I do.  Every show is a teaching opportunity for the band who spend a lot of their non-rock-band time in humanitarian efforts.

U2 will build you up, will play you the greatest song you can imagine (yes this is a biased opinion I know), but then they want you to think about your privilege, to think about the suffering in the world and to do something about it.  Every show I see they are grateful for the crowd, grateful for their careers and mindful of others.  Every show, they thank the audience for being there.  They are not spoiled rock stars.  At this concert Bono thanked us for our patience (we did wait an extra year to see this because of Bono's injury last summer, it has been two years since the tickets originally went on sale).  Because of this thought provocation, every show is filled with happy, mindful and friendly people.

After the show, at least half of the Coliseum funneled back to BART (our rapid transit) in a sea of people... you will never see a happier mob in your life.  At the end there were people keeping others from loosing keys, clearing the way for those on crutches, fun banter with strangers and no panicked pushing (gentle pushing maybe). In any other crowd I would probably have been fully freaked out.

I do get out to see concerts whenever I can, but there is nothing like a U2 show.

A bleary sunset in the East Bay...

For the most part I've been driving Way too much this past month. One day last week I found I was too tired to drive and didn't have a truckload of costumes to haul, so I took BART.

The whole ride looked like an Edward Hopper painting...



... double rainbow...

Ooh ahh.

Election Day 2008

The day began with a knot in the pit of my stomach...

Berkeley was so covered in political posters it's shockingly festive and a big waste of paper.

I actually voted early but kept my sticker to avoid hearing everyone ask "did you vote?" "are you gonna vote?" "go vote" "vote no on this" "vote yes on that"
Dude! I did already... Ya Vote...


There is a movie theater in Oakland that always has Super-Liberal messages printed on the marquee this is what it said on election day;
I worked backstage for as long as I could, I kept returning to the computer as results came in, one state for Obama, one for McCain, electoral vote counts, hit refresh.... Obama's doing ok but I still think the Republicans own this country... finally I find that I am too much of a nervous wreak to stay any longer and head over to the election party in Oakland.  As I finally found parking John McCain began to speak on the radio... to give his... wha? 

I sat in my car rapt.  

Finally I managed to tear myself away from the radio with the thought that oh my G*d we just won... I entered my friend's house where I knew all of two people but it didn't matter.  I hugged every last stranger in the place...
A toast; To an intelligent president!  To Diplomacy! To Hope!




After dancing the electric slide in the street, we headed down to Lake Meritt, where the crowds of jubilant people were gathering. There was a lot of honking and shouting "OBAMA!"


The feeling was utter euphoria. There is No Way that the Presidency is going to live up to the hopes we all had glimmers of on election night... but after the disillusionment we've been having over Bush, racisim, the economy, our international relations, Iraq... this night was a warm relief.

Hey! I made that!

Tonight 11pm, exhausted and driving back from the 24hour Longs with a fresh batch of color remover I had to suddenly pull over when I saw this at the bus stop. I ran across the street to take the picture.

I made that dress!

Or rather; I worked on that dress.

There were five variations of it (including a men's jacket).

I sewed the white guy on the front, put the lining in and I think I remember doing the hem...

 

...not sure why this was as exciting as it was.  Maybe it's the sleep deprivation, but it is the first time I've seen my work show up on a bus stop in the middle of the night.

lost.

Somewhere in Oakland there is a building lost in time...

...rooms untouched by decades...

... it sits as the cogs that hold it together are forgotten in unknown rooms...

... those who enter dare not disturb objects that preserve the soft whispers lingering in the halls...

... and the building slowly becomes its own museum preserved by stillness.