Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Monday, Monday 3: Mayoral Men in Black



At the Ferry Building on "Spare The Air" Monday, we prayed that the overloaded craft to Sausalito didn't sink like one of those Philippine ferryboats you read about on page B-20 of major newspapers.



The rehabilitated and retrofitted Ferry Building, with its many pricey gourmet food offerings, can often look a bit like a ghost town on weekdays, but on Monday the place was hopping.



The place seems to be finally coming into its own as a public square.



At about 2:30 PM, there was a sudden entrance into the complex of media, politicians and bodyguards.



Mayor Gavin Newsom was conducting a photo-op tour with the Mayor of Chicago, Richard E. Daley, Jr., son of the infamous old ward boss himself.



Newsom is a master at photo-ops and interacting with crowds, so he stopped to talk to a little girl...



...and then to an aggrieved woman who needed something, which he referred to one of his staff.



On a day where the temperature was in the 80's, and just about everybody was in shorts and T-shirts, it was amusing to see this phalanx of Men in Black Suits...



...looking like traditional gangsters.



Frank Chu, in the right foreground in the photo above, had managed to make it from the Israeli consulate over to the Ferry Building.



He can smell unexposed video better than any person in San Francisco...



...other than Mayor Gavin Newsom.



After their quick tour of the interior, the Men in Black went outside and speechified a bit in front of the temporary Burning Man sculpture, "Passage."



Note to Leslie at the Black Rock Arts Foundation: You should be asking for more arts grant money from the mayor, since he keeps using your pieces as major photo props.

2 comments:

AlbGlinka said...

You're becoming master of the Photo/Vid Op yourself...!

Have you ever considered carrying aroung a sign about aliens along with your great camera? ;-)

Good to hear from ya yesterday, but it was a wise choice not to come to ZEN last night-- we are still working out the bugs. You missed me bumping into a wall on an exit, not pretty! --Grove/Alb.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to see the Ferry Bldg so busy and trendy-- wish they would have lefit alone--- I used to like the peace and solace of the OLD one... the benches behind it a perfect miditating place, now ruined... NICE to see men in suits in public, sure beats all this slobby sloppy t-shirt sh"t people wear nowadays... reminds me of the class SF once had.. sorrily SLOB has over-taken the fashion world... were any hairs out of place on HIZZONERS head???