Tag Archives: San Francisco

San Francisco: Bridge School Benefit.

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This past weekend I headed out to San Francisco for the Bridge School Benefit show with Jack & Eddie.  Of course the weather was what one would expect when I travel to your city.*  We had initially planned to attend both nights but considering the weather, personal wellness and Jack & Eddies’ pre-dawn flight on Monday we skipped out on the second day.

The way the Bridge School is setup is each group/performer has about 20 minutes on stage which usually translates to about four or five songs and then they break to reset the stage.  The first band up when we got there was Modest Mouse which I’ve never seen before and I was really interested in how they were going to play their songs acoustic.  They just rocked.  Nothing more to it than that. We also got to see Billy Idol perform the closest thing he’ll ever get to an acoustic set.  Needless to say it was amazing.**  I think one of the first non Ice-T cd’s I have ever owned was Rebel Yell so there was a lot of fist pumping.

I thought Pearl Jam’s set was really good, a good portion of the songs I’ve never heard.  This is the entire setlist:  Last Kiss, Unthought Known, Santa Cruz, Nothingman, Dancing Barefoot, Better Man, Walk With Me, Just Breathe, and Black.  Santa Cruz I guess is a song Eddie Vedder has done on his solo tour and Walk With Me is from Neil Young’s new album Le Noise.  I thought those two were the best songs we heard all night.

Besides the rain and the $10 non-premium beers the only other complaint I have was Elvis Costello just dragging on his set.  I last saw Elvis Costello back in Columbus when he toured for his ‘When I Was Cruel’ album.  What he’s up to now is not for me.

Side Notes:

* Last time I went to San Francisco it was an unseasonal 90 degrees and I received one of the worst sunburns of my life.  This time around it didn’t stop raining for more than an hour my entire trip.  This is how I roll into your city, with blatant disregard for seasonal norms.

** The one issue with seeing a show like this with such a range of musicians is different people are in to different groups and they can be total assholes when some one they don’t care about is performing.  In other words, don’t talk when Billy Idol sings.

San Francisco Trip.

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Julie and I headed out to San Francisco to visit with Jack and Eddie and catch a string of Mets – Giants games.  The weather was hotter than one would have assumed.  We managed to find a couple really nice bars (Eddie Rickenbarker’s, 21st Amendment, and the San Francisco Brewery Company).  We had a really good dinner at Joe Dimaggio’s Italian Steakhouse.  James gave us a grand tour of the city and we spent an afternoon on Alcatraz.

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Mets – Giants:

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While in town Julie and I managed to see 3 games at AT&T Park.  All Mets victories and all offensive games.  We had different seats each game which gave us some interesting views.   I’m pretty sure during the course of three games I witnessed at least 3 uncalled balks.  Of course when we got home and watched the fourth game of the series on ESPN they actually called a balk.

If some one can actually explain to me what is a balk and what is not a balk with a straight face I’ll buy you a pitcher of beer.

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Travel Notes:

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Air Travel:
For once my flight was really good.  We actually had wireless internet for the entire flight for about $10.  There is really no reason every flight shouldn’t have this.  The network speed was great, the only limit was how much battery you had… I had a lot.

Of course upon landing a girl 4 seats up had to vomit on herself but I’ll take that for wireless internet any day.

San Francisco Public Transit/Cabs:
We took a cab to the hotel with out much problem, once we checked in we asked the front desk for the best way to AT&T Park.  The concierge directed us to the MUNI.  First mistake.  We walk the 4 blocks to the station which also has a BART stop.  To our utter amazement the MUNI only takes quarters.  In the year 2009.  Quarters.  OK, no problem we’ll just use the change machine.  The change machine that just gives $5 dollar bills.  So let’s recap.  The MUNI only takes quarters and the change machine only gives out $5 dollar bills.  OK, the clerk told use to use the BART ticket machine which can give you change if you hold down a secret button… except the BART ticket machine can only give you change from a $1 dollar bill.  Ok, so we need quarters for the MUNI, the change machine only gives you $5 dollar bills and the BART ticket machine that does give change only takes $1 bills.  All in the year 2009.  Perfect.

So after making quarters out air, we get on the train as directed by the concierge and head in the complete opposite direction of the ballpark.  Great.  We eventually get out somewhere and spend 20 minutes looking for a cab.  Once we do get a cab (the game has already started) we get about halfway there and the cab driver has a request:  Does he mind if we stop and so he can put in a dinner order at a Turkish restaurant?  Of course the reason behind this is that his wife is nagging at him and him and he doesn’t have the phone number.  Sure, why not.  So to recap, crazy train ride + amazing cab ride = late to baseball game.

*Side Note:
The rest of my photographs are here.