CypherTown, Bass Liberation, Sunrise Cocktail Club... there were plenty of ways to celebrate the coming of a new era this week - especially in the city that always loves a party, San-Fran-Freak-Show. I myself, being an Outlaw Dervish, saved it up , mostly , last weekend, knowing full well that I would be out on Monday and Tuesday, with plans for Wenesday too, and sort of recovering from the previous Thursday 'the new Staurday' - whew!!!
So it was, weighty with plans, that I shoved off on Monday to check the "Changing the Future" event, at Temple SF. This is one splendid venue, let me tell you, with a gorgeous atmosphere, replete with crystal lined stairawys to their 'Enlightenment Row Statue Garden' in the basement.
On my way in, a woman on the street greeted me, shaking like a leaf and asking for a ride for herself and her child to a shelter in the South Bay. She seemed totally genuine and also quite terrified of something, and stated that her partner had taken all their moola out of the bank. Supposedly, she had no means of paying for a ride and no ride of her own to get there with. Already a strange night things seemed to be getting stranger. On my drive over the Bay Bridge, everything except my headlights suddenly went dark, and after a few moments , I realized that the lights on the cables had gone out. This fact gave me a sudden glee when I realized it, and the fashion in which they sort of fizzled out was quite entertaining. At the same time, I had to pay an extra amount of attention to the direction I was heading - kind of like being on a country road at night. Of course, there were other drivers and headlights as well. Next, the lights came back on , and then went off again - all very equally 'dazzling'. So , now, here's this woman, and me having made arrangements to try and get into the venue early so I can set up a short Didjeridu Invocation and she is askng me for a transport at least an hour away, and is clearly in distress.
I ended up giving her some money - I know , yes, I know dear reader, perhaps a 'scam' of sorts... alas, I worked for 11 years in the Mental Health Field, and for 2 of those years worked in a Domestic Violence Shelter for women - the first male staff member, in fact, I was. My gut was telling me that this woman really needed some help and I gave it. Wait! What are we talking about here? Isn't this like, my week in review and aren't I meant to be talking about the new wave of Hip Entertainment that is sweeping over the Bay Area? Well, yes, and for me, often, going out on the town involves these kinds of interactions. So it's not lost on me that I was on my way to a party to celebrate the Exodus of you know who - and the Arrival of none other than our man, Barrack Hussein Obama. All that took place seemed quite fitting, and symbolic really. It also all fit quite well with the atmosphere of a Mercury Retrograde (for more on that , if you don't know what that is, check out www.aquariumage.com by Ralfee Finn, she usually gives a great breakdown on personal and planetary astrology and explains siad event very helpfully).
As it turned out, when I arrived at the door, the club wasn't even open yet, and there was more thrilling entertainment to behold while I waited to go into the venue. Some Hippie Hip Hopper characters outside decided to set up a table and serve drinks out of their van, which was quickly shut down by the perhaps all too power-driven security team. The erstwhile bar-tender of this festival-style refreshment stand got upset about it all and decided to query the bouncers , which they did not fancy - at all. They decided to threaten 'dude' with refused entry , and he kept insisting that he was only "serving Green Tea Man!" Well, let's just say that this was not the kind of entertainment we had gone out for this evening, that it was quite typical Bay Area fodder, of a sort - and appropriate to the evening, in a sense: people acting out the former political regime in order to say one final "Goodbye", for the time being.
All this already, and I hadn't even entered the place! Some nights, you know what I mean?!
In any case, I did eventually get my groove on, and even though the party took a while to ramp up, it truly took off to a stellar pitch. Jonathon Human started up towards the beginning, and having met him a few times, and also checked his vibe - Evolutionary Poetics - I really wanted to hear what he would pop with. Great stuff, reminds me of a crew from the late 90's Sweet Acidopholus and also Drew Dillinger , yet definitely has a voice all its' own, and very much a Hip Hop 'flava' ~ with a Cosmic twist. I bounced from the main room to the smoking patio and ducked into the basement off and on until things really heated up. I also very much enjoyed Mezmetics, who were a right and proper Hip Hop crew, throwing down some hilarious, fluid, provocative raps and also a killer multi-lingual (Japanese?) MC. Along with some political theatre and sizzling imaginative word-smithing by Mic Crenshaw and other crews, there was definitely a sense of the audience either not getting it, or not fully digging it, and it was my impression that folks were waiting for the Goddess Alchemy Project to come on and bust it and that this crowd is/was geared for their vibe - deep , spiritual , NorCal to the hilt, truly original and fresh, and as always , in my experience powerful and stirring...
Was another great night and there were loads of Fashionistas - the new? cross-over here in SF is in full swing - fashion with a social/spiritual consciousness all wrapped into one - 'One Love'! There was a bevy if photographers and videographers filling the place, but most , if not all , with a real atmosphere of kindness and willingness to connect with the dancers and other peeps about them. I hung on tight until about 2:30am when I felt I had to give in and go home, to rest a little , at least, for the actual Inauguration Eve Festivities! I didn't make it on for my Didjeridu Invocation, but had a grand night out anyways, and made a plan with Jonathon Human to collab in the near future.
So, Tuesday night came along and my Sweetness and I rolled over to Shine, where some great pals had planned a "Bass We Can" shindig , featuring their community of electronic music DJs and splendiferous gang members. We were met wearmly by a couple of dear and close pals and we spoke a bit about our feelings of relief and joy around the changing of the guard. For myself, the excitement has worn off, but the deep gladness is here, and it's fairly obvious that it's true that we all do have a lot of work ahead. By the way, this fits perfectly with the astorlogical assesment of this year - the Year of the Ox! Shine looked great with the lights on! Go figure... Shine, lights, etc... People arrived decked out in absolutely fabulous red, white and blue gear, as well as the token upstarts in totally unrelated colors... "I'm still an individual man!" No worries here, I get it. After the first DJ started, we thought o sort out when the Didj Invoke would take place and I smoothly and graciously landed it , with Ethan's help in the middle of his set. I really wamted to say something, because a) I am a wordy bastard and b) what happened in Australia last year was so totally cool and very much related to the Inauguration...
alas, "...sometimes words don't say enough, and sometimes they say too much..."
Goodnight my lovely New America... by the way, no matter what comes to pass , we'll always be partying our little booties off here in good ole' San-Fran-Freak-Show for one reason or another! If the last 8 years has shown me other things (and they hae , believe me), to be sure, it has shown me the indomitable spirit of Northern California, over and over again!
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