Day 33: San Francisco, CA
Welcome
Yesterday we played a show at The Fillmore, and I turned 34 years old.
The message had come through overnight from Beths Command: I was to be ready to leave the bus at 8.45am for a morning activity. Golden Sparkle Face was enjoying the chance to get a good hurtle on as Rob took us down a steep, terraced street on the way into the San Francisco city centre, loudly cussing every time he crossed an intersection. I hopped out of bed to have a look at the view and had to brace myself every step of the way into the lounge. We were out of well out of bus country now.
We had been parked outside the venue for about ten minutes and I was in the process of getting ready for our mystery outing when a box of breakfast arrived in the capable and generous hands of Tristan Deck. He had secured an assortment of pastries from the nearby Jane The Bakery, and from this lovely collection I put together a plate for myself and added a freshly baked Chai Espresso cookie baked by none other than Rosie Tucker.
Then the outing began. A cab dropped us all off to Pier 33 where there was a watercraft awaiting us, the Alcatraz Clipper. It was a calm day in San Francisco Bay, overcast with barely a swell and a pleasant lack of fog. The ride to Alcatraz Island was smooth and shorter than I expected, barely more than two kilometres from the mainland. Our fine ship was equipped with the latest and greatest in electrical generation technology, the Omni Flow, which uses a direct drive ironless-start permanent magnet and a wind generator to generate enough power for all of the onboard cell phone charging ports. I had charged my phone overnight, so I gave it a miss.
The Omni-Flow, mounted above the stern deck of Alcatraz Clipper.
The author enjoys the ferry ride to Alcatraz Island. The two suspended spans of the Bay Bridge can be seen in the distance.
This island that was once a United States military base, once a US Military prison, once a US maximum security penitentiary, and once a Native American occupied territory, is now owned by the National Park Service. We were met by a ranger on arrival who delivered a quick briefing before we headed up the hill to begin the tour. It was an audio tour, so we were issued headphones and a player. The voices that accompany you on your journey are those of former prison officers, and a lot of the instructions given are in the gruff commanding tone that is presumably to provide a level of immersion in the prison experience.
As I expected, the prison tour was fairly bleak. Some of the stories of escapes are quite fascinating though, and I enjoyed learning about the history of the island. My favourite thing about Alcatraz though, is of course Michael Bay’s 1998 film The Rock. Once we were finished with the prison tour we walked around the island, taking in the stunning views of the San Francisco, and trying to find the spots where Ed Harris hid the VX Gas rockets.
One of the more famous escapes took place when three prisoners drilled through this concrete wall with steel spoons and escaped through a maintenance space.
Demolished apartment buildings left where they once stood, housing Prison Officers and their families.
In 1969 the island was occupied for 19 months by an activist group, the United Indians of All Tribes, to protest a series of federal policies related to Native Americans.
An Alcatraz breakfast in 1963.
We got back to the mainland in the afternoon and while everyone else headed back to the venue for a rest, Tristan and I decided to continue our day of sightseeing. From the pier we could see the prominent Art Deco landmark Coit Tower standing tall at the top of Telegraph Hill so we set off in that direction, climbing the 387 Greenwich Steps to get a closer look. We ended up paying the $10 elevator fare to take us the to the top of the tower and the panoramic view from the top was worth every penny.
From the top of Coit Tower we spotted this race happening in the Pier 27 carpark.
Our final stop was Lombard Street, an unusual collection of tight hairpins and beautiful landscaping that has turned into a great tourist attraction to attend in your car. We watched as a procession of cars slowly wormed their way down the steep hill, often with arms stretched out the window holding cell phones to capture their experience.
At last we returned to the venue to find the load-in happening and it was quite a complex affair. The loading dock is a couple of stories higher than the street and the solution has been to park up a forklift and convert it into a cargo lift. Luckily there were professional loaders in charge of this whole situation, so we stood back to enjoy the spectacle as our gear was taken from trailer to stage.
After sound-check I discovered that I had another birthday surprise awaiting me. In the green room was a cake, and not just an ordinary cake, a photo cake. The photo in question was a profession portrait of my cat Bernice, playing with a tiny pinecone. We all enjoyed a brief celebration, and I received some fantastic gifts from my pals.
The Fillmore is a room with a lot of history, having been one of San Francisco’s premier music venues since the late 1960’s, back when music was still good. The walls of the upstairs lounge are a colourful mosaic of posters with names all the way from Led Zeppelin to Liz Phair. Two lines of very handsome chandeliers hang above the audience, and they provide the room a warm ambience when they are lit up.
My first impression upon walking out on the stage was that there were so many more people in the room than I expected. A sea of heads stretched from corner to corner.
I think that this was my first Beths birthday show. People in the audience yelled happy birthday a lot. Liz got the crowd to perform the New Zealand birthday chant, where the words ‘happy birthday’ are rapidly spoken five times by a synchronised crowd of people. Right near the end of the show the crowd sang me the happy birthday song of their own accord. I was embarrassed, but also very touched.
I was not the only person with a birthday yesterday. It was Sidney Gish’s twenty sixth special day, and we decided to surprise her in the middle of her set by rushing on stage with a festive collection of helium balloons. She definitely was surprised, and hopefully also felt celebrated.
As well as a day of happiness and celebration, this was also a day of sadness, for we had to bid farewell to Rob, Golden Sparkle Face, and Jake. We left the Fillmore after the show and Rob drove us to our hotel where we had our last chance to go through the bus with a fine-tooth comb, trying our best not to leave any possessions behind. Then it was hugs from Jake and firm handshakes from Rob before they headed off for the drive back to LA. We also said goodbye to Mia, who has been doing an incredible job as merch manager on this run, but sadly won’t be able to accompany us while we fly to Minneapolis to play our missed show.
I wanted to showcase some stunning watercolours that artist Melody Adly gifted us after the show. We are all native birds from Aotearoa! You can follow her here.
