Saturday in the Hood 1: Breakdown

The largest tow truck I have ever seen was stretched across McAllister and Van Ness on Saturday morning...



...unavoidably looking like a visual metaphor for San Francisco's beautiful and dysfunctional City Hall.



A 49 Mission/Van Ness Muni bus had died and there was no restarting it.

Aquamarine Construction

The roof construction on the Veterans Building across the street from my living room has suddenly become colorful, possibly in an attempt to cheer us all up during a typical fog-bound San Francisco summer.

Gorgeous Deities

My Tibetan Buddhist witch friend forgot to renew my birthday membership to the Asian Art Museum which was just fine because I can visit on Free First Sundays of the Month...



...and also at press previews of new exhibits where we are allowed to take photos.



Their current show is a mashup selection of the Asian's permanent collection and SFMOMA's permanent collection under the collective rubric of Gorgeous. It's amusing because the Asian art is mostly so quiet and spiritual while the SFMOMA selections are in many ways the opposite. It would be interesting to see this concept turned upside down with spiritual and serene art selected from SFMOMA's collection paired with the Asian's wildest pop art from their collection. Neither culture(s) has a monopoly on spirituality or materialism.



On one wall, the exhibit tries to explore "What is Gorgeous?" through videos with people on the street, so let me offer my contribution here. Above is Avis who I saw on the same Sunday afternoon as the museum visit. Avis inhabits and transcends both gender and race, and she's been through hell over the last five years with the death of her mother followed by three strokes of her own. Watching her struggle and return to public life recently made me realize what a powerful Buddhist deity she actually is. As for the Gorgeous connection, it speaks for itself.

Scenes from the SF Symphony Concert in Civic Center

Due to Dolores Park being torn up this summer, the San Francisco Symphony held one of its free community concerts in Civic Center on Sunday afternoon, July 27th.



The conductor Edwin Outwater, who led most of the Summer Pops concerts this year, started off with the overture to Mozart's Magic Flute.



This was followed by Benjamin Beilman above playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, which sounded fine except for the sketchy amplification.



I didn't stay for the second half because I neglected to follow my own advice which was to bring a blanket for the hard-packed dirt of the Civic Center and adult beverages to enhance the afternoon.



Looking forward to the 2014-15 San Francisco Symphony season which opens in September, not to mention cellist Peter Wyrick's delighted grin above.