Chinatown
We arrived in Sacramento on Saturday only to find that the airline had lost our luggage. Fortunately it arrived on the next evening flight and made it to our hotel in the middle of the night. Sunday we drove to San Francisco and spent the afternoon shopping in Chinatown.
Long Time No See
Mark Stock (L) was a drummer bandmate of mine in 1971. At the time he was not only a great drummer, but a scratch golfer and a talented artist. He chose to go into art as a profession and has been very successful at it. We visited him after our Chinatown afternoon. While there he put me on the phone with our old sound man, Craig Jenkins, who still lives in the Clearwater FL area.
New Tricks
Mark played me some old band rehearsal tapes that I'd never heard, featuring me playing on songs I'd forgotten all about. Then he took his guitar and played a version of "Bluesette" that I'd taught him long ago. Did I mention that he's also the leader of the Mark Stock Trio, performing in the Bay Area for the past 10 years?
Message From Houdini
All over Mark's townhouse are paintings that he's done. He even painted the drywall to look like fine wood paneling. This particular piece looks like an old piece of paper taped to a wall. The "tape" even has the textured feel of masking tape. The message is written backwards and is a reproduction of an actual piece of correspondence by Harry Houdini. I forgot to mention that in addition to being a drummer, guitarist, golfer, and artist, Mark is also an extremely good closeup magician. Click the picture for a video you won't believe.
Gift For Diane
While we were at Mark's home, he treated us to music and memories I hadn't thought about in years, an excellent meal, and an evening of magic that was meant only for us. Before we left he gave us a signed copy of a book of his artwork. It was a night we won't forget.
Lunch With The Girls
Oh yeah. The reason we were here in the first place... Diane went in to work on Monday and immediately felt right at home with the friends she made on the last trip. From L-R: Karla, Erica, Shirley, Joey, Diane, and Danielle. At the Sunflower!! This is Shirley's favorite place to eat (and possibly everyone else's!) It's a little vegitarian place in an artsy neighborhood with chickens and roosters running around like squirls do in Georgia. Guess they feel pretty safe there! Agi is taking the picture.
Meanwhile in a city far far away...
I decided to drive down to Yosemite this time around. It was about a 4-hour trip through middle California - nothing but flat farmland for as far as you can see. Then you get to the other side of Merced and when you reach Oakhurst the view is something like this.
Giant Sequoias
The main reason I wanted to go to Yosemite was to see for myself the giant sequoia trees. So after 4 hours of driving and paying $20 for an entrance fee, I find out that the road is closed. The only way to see the trees is to walk the 2 miles from the entrance all the way to the parking lot at the sequoia forest over hard packed snow.
And I Made It!
About and hour and a half later, there I was, looking at these monster trees and just being in awe;.not only at the size of them, but also at the fact that it felt like 60 degrees outside and there was snow on the ground. Here I am at the base of one of the trees not far from the parking lot. Click the picture for a view of me at the base of the Grizzly Giant - the largest tree in the park.
Half Dome
After visiting the big trees I drove thru the park for another couple of hours and saw some magnificent views, even if it was winter and most of the roads were closed. In the center of this picture is Half Dome, and to the left is El Capitan. This is just before you get to the big tunnel. Click on the picture for the view of the other side.
Green Is Good
Driving out of Yosemite is just as good as driving in. The trees covering the mountains go up just about as far as you can see into the sky. For perspective, this picture was taken with an oncoming truck in view.
Agi at her desk with hairdo of the hour
Another Project Coordinator pal!! Doesn't she look sneaky?
Alcatraz
Another San Francisco attraction that I missed last time was the tour of Alcatraz prison. If you've never done it, the stories told by former inmates and guards are what it's all about.
Darwin Coon
On this particular day, former inmate Darwin Coon was at the prison signing the book he had written about his life. His is one of the first faces (inset) and stories you hear on the audio tour. He looks like your favorite uncle. That is, if your uncle used to be in prison for armed robbery.
Pier 39
After the Alcatraz tour, I needed to kill a little time before meeting up with Mark at the art gallery, so I walked around Pier 39 for awhile. First thing I see is this great hammered dulcimer player, Glenn Morgan. Then it was lunch at Bubba Gump's. Yum.
Sonja shows off new office configuration.
Yet another Project Coordinator pal. She and I now work on the new Georgia deals together. Bless her heart!
Modernism
Mark's work was currently being shown at Modernism, a gallery in downtown San Francisco. Here we are in front of his painting, Reverie. The painted string, 3D looking envelopes, masking tape, are all trompe d'oeil. It makes you want to reach out and touch the canvas.
More Artwork
Notice the way faces are depicted. The face at the bottom left, the paper cutout with two shadows, and the nude outline with no face, but a bump in the curtain where the head would be. While we were visiting, Mark met with David Arquette to finalize a deal for a short film based on his painting, The Butler In Love, sponsored by the beverage company Absynth. Not only is the movie based on the painting, but Mark appears in the movie as - (ready?) - the magician.
Pierre Picot
From the gallelry we went to a lecture by another artist friend of Mark's - Pierre Picot. Pierre's style has evolved from hypnotizing patterns of geometric shapes to modernist fantasy landscapes - almost sci fi in appearance.
Current Work
At the end of the lecture, they unrolled a current piece of work that spanned two 6-foot tables. Afterward, Mark and I went for a drink at Bix to see the painting that inspired the movie and there we met and talked briefly with David Arquette. Then on to the Hunan Homes restaurant in Chinatown for dinner and more of Mark's magic for some of the dining guests there. That was a full day!
Folsom Suzie
The last day in Folsom is always weird for me. I check out of the hotel by noon then kill about 5 hours waiting for Diane to leave work so we can catch the plane home. I wanted to record some stories by the volunteers at the Folsom Prison museum, so I brought along my little Zoom H2 recorder and chatted with Suzie for about two hours. That particular day, the entire California prison system was on lockdown because of an incident where four guards were attacked. So there was a lot to talk about.
The Knife Collection
On the wall behind the desk is a collection of weapons actually used in Folsom prison. Some of the volunteers know them very well because they were used on THEM. Click on the picture to hear the story of how Crop was stabbed with the knife that's highlighted here.
Big Job
After my visit with Suzie it was time to pick up Diane at work. While waiting in the front I noticed that the receptionist, Vanessa, may have felt a bit overwhelmed by the sheer size of her desk. I couldn't resist the shot.
Hate To Say Goodbye
The last person we saw was our friend Shirley, who was so kind last time to let me spend the afternoon with her family. David insisted on not cropping this shot because he thought it was priceless. And, YEP, I cried saying good-bye. Frank has some mighty fine people working there, and I love being around them. Shirley's the absolute bomb of all bombs, too!!
