HULA & TONY BENNETT: ANOTHER UNLIKELY DUET

The invitation for this year's San Francisco Symphony Black & White Ball fundraiser, featuring a performance by Tony Bennett and k.d. lang made me think of something I love running across on tv: the old Union Bank-sponsored short that KQED has recently started playing again between regular programming.  I know it's corny, but I really love this piece and the combo of hula, SF scenes, and the old standard; and when it comes on it makes me slow down, appreciate home, and I just get a warm, fuzzy feeling :-P...

The dancers are from the local hula group and school Na Lei Hulu who we've seen perform at the SF Aloha Festival in the Presidio, a fun annual event with great  performers and food.  I find the whole Bay Area-Hawaii connection really interesting: Did you know the Bay Area has the largest Hawaiian population outside Hawaii? And the reverse connection too: I have two  dear (non-Hawaiian) Bay Area friends who spent part of their childhoods in Hawaii, and that seems to be not uncommon.

We recently saw Tony Bennett perform on PBS when Obama presented Stevie Wonder with the Gershwin Prize at the White House.  Did you know Bennett was actively involved in the civil rights movement in the 60s?

(From) HAIL TO DARWIN

Hail, Hail, the Hail's All Here: We occasionally get the odd bit of hail, but San Francisco had a truly freak hailstorm today--lasting a good five minutes with hail the size of peas, accompanied by a ten degree drop in temperature, and bracketed by rain. In my quick vid you can see my window fogging up because the temp was dropping so quickly, and that's the sound of it bouncing off the windowsill, not popcorn popping:

Half an hour of rain later, the hail was still in drifts in the tree beds and in the corners of the garage doorway.


Evolving Darwin: Following in the natural phenomena vein, the Oscars hoopla reminded me about "Creation" a film about Charles Darwin writing and struggling with "On the Origin of Species," and based upon the book "Annie's Box" by Darwin's great-great grandson that my friend Tom and I saw last month. It was a well-done period piece with interesting insight into Darwin and his marriage and family, but the premise that the twenty years delay between his voyage on The Beagle and publication were due solely to internal and domestic (Unitarian!) religious angst and family tragedy seemed simplistic. So it was serendipitous to find an old Smithsonian magazine in my doctor's office with a great article on how it took that long for him to fully grasp evolution. One unbelievable thing is that the film got such a small U.S. release because of anti-evolutionist concerns.

A WILD STORY

I have another piece in another show: I created the hand-made book,"the seasons of point reyes" for the 2010 Wild Book Show on exhibit at Gallery Route One in West Marin through March 28th. The Wild Book Show was created by our friends Steve Costa and Kate Levinson at Point Reyes Books as a fundraiser for G.R.O.'s Artists in the Schools program.

This is the most recent in a series of handmade books I've created using my words and photographs; I'll do some short posts on some of the previous ones soon. The theme for this year was "Rain or Shine: The Atmosphere," and I decided to focus on the seasons and what created their distinctive weather patterns of wind, fog, sun, and rain. The design concept arose from one picture of Schooner Bay off of Drakes Bay that seemed to include all the seasons in one image; I used that on the frontispieces with windows cut into the cover showing different types of weather. From there I decided to create windows through the pages to tell the story. Here's a quick video walk-through:

These are some photos from the exhibit opening this past Sunday; there are many beautiful books to see if you happen to be up that way, and bids can be placed any time in person or by phone or email for the silent auction closing on March 28th.

...LOSING THE FEELING IN OUR EXTREMITIES...

No, not a post about cross-country skiing, but our recent adventures with absinthe. You know, that anise-flavored, wormwood-derived drink that supposedly made madmen of Wilde, Rimbaud, Verlaine, et al (wait--does its moniker as the "the green fairy" have a different meaning? :-P ).

After my recent photography opening, we went with Donna and Dan to Flora, a hip spot with a great room, food, drinks, and staff in a restored Deco building in Uptown Oakland.  As we toasted at the bar, I noticed this beautiful, Art Nouveau absinthe "fountain," and long story short, with just one drink shared amongst us four we ended up with numb arms and legs.  Did you know that absinthe can be up to 74% alcohol?  I swear even smelling the drink made me intoxicated...

But it was tasty and fun, with a special presentation and equipment, including ice water, a fountain, sugar, and a filigreed sugar spoon, as you can see in this quick vid I shot at Flora:

P.S.  Do you know what makes absinthe a spirit and not a liqueur?

Big Basin Getwaway: Part I

Make sure to click through and scroll down for a special added feature at the end of this post!  

Last weekend we took Friday off and made a little getaway down to Big Basin State Park. We completely recommend it: it felt like a real break even though it's only 65 miles south of San Francisco and about a 1 1/2 hour drive.

Big Basin: Route 9 signage, map, and what I call the "dirty RV sign" (you need to work backwards to the 'dirty dog' and then Black Dog Cafe t-shirts...)

We've gone before and loved it: there are great little tent cabins with woodstoves inside and firepits and picnic tables out front.  And the redwoods and nature are pretty incredible.  One of David's patients calls anything that's not backpack camping "glamping," but I really enjoy not having to worry about packing and pitching a tent, and getting to concentrate on being there, enjoying nature, having fun, and, of course, good campfire cooking (stay tuned for future food post!).  The tent cabins are $65 per night, so pricier than tent camping, but we find it a really happy medium as far as cost, comfort, and ease.  You do have to reserve way ahead for weekends, and remember to bring quarters for hot showers!

Big Basin: the tent cabin site with cabin, table, and firepit

The time before we'd been in the fall for David's birthday, and we'd said we wanted to come back in the spring when the waterfalls in the area were really running.  And we'd been talking about it for awhile with Donna and Dan, so this time we rented neighboring tent cabins with a path between, and split the cooking of meals with them.

Big Basin: Looking up through the redwoods and a burnt-out tree

We had a great time, took some good hikes, had some roaring fires, big laughs, and great meals. And it really felt like we were away and really had time to relax, breathe deeply, and sleep heavily.  Once you get off 280 the drive there and back is also incredibly beautiful and winding.

Big Basin: Looking up close at fallen trees, trunk rings, and spider webs

So here's the added value feature I hope you'll enjoy: I always buy myself a(n early) birthday present, and this year it was one of those Flip video cameras whose reviews, ratings, and price I've been following (very reasonable at Amazon at the time); I tried it out on this trip, and have been trying out iMovie, so...ta-da..here's my first 'flick' (please excuse the shaky hand and cut-off foreheads...it is a first effort!):

Big Basin: The Movie

Please comment and let me know what you think...I do want to try more multi-media and highlight more of my photography on my posts.  And remember you can always click on images in my posts to see a larger version.

Stay tuned for: Big Basin Getaway: Part II, the FOOD...