Indie Day Lobs

1. 1976. The Haight had run aground, listing on a pile of rocks waiting for the right set of waves to take it under. Quit the teaching job in the outer Mission, broke up with the first girlfriend, piled my VW bug with belongings and sauntered across the less glamorous bridge to Oakland, the city Gertrude Stein savaged, penning, 'that there's no there there.' Working first at a women's press collective and then a printing shop in West Oakland, where the first sounds I heard was a razor blade in the middle of the day chopping up the contents of a 1/4 packet of coke on a light table, I eked out an existence with misfits just like me. My sister having packed her bags too was in LA working the record industry. Good music always rolled through the print shop; KSAN, the old underground FM flagship station of choice rolled out tasty moments such as, the Blue Plate lunch special. My sister then hooked up with Arista records sent me a couple of large posters (the Mapplethrope album jacket) and tickets to see a NY artist, whom Clive Davis had just signed, perform her first album in SF. Feb. 1976, the Boarding House which was located on Bush St was SRO. Patti Smith walked out on stage. I think she was barefoot. Her voice was bigger than she was. High fuckin' fidelity. It was the most electrifying performance I have ever seen. Yesterday, I finished 'Just Kids.' In the book, Patti Smith writes about being a part of certain events not knowing that they would become 'moments' in time. I knew as people stood on tables roaring for encores, and the lights dimmed again, that I had seen a concert which would become seminal, a benchmark... and for some reason that night, I was cognizant enough to recognize it as a 'moment' in my life; my very own personal Idaho, a lovely silver thread that would always connect me to my past.

2. Angie's Shiloh. Everyone. Give it a rest. So, Shiloh wants to dress like a boy and be a boy. Who cares? She's four. Thank the goddess Angie indulges her. I had the same desires too when I was her age. It could all blow over soon. Or not. Whateva...

3. 750 million. Elin Woods magic number.

4. 140.6 million gallons of oil. 2 1/2 months. The BP tar pit continues.

5. 'I am Love.' Tilda. Tilda. Tilda.