Day 14: Berkeley, Pt 3
Welcome
Yesterday we went on a science tour and played our final show at the Greek Theatre.
I headed back to Saul’s again for breakfast, thoroughly excited at the prospect of ingesting a plate laden with bright colours. This time I didn’t hesitate and went straight to the sharing menu ordering a falafel platter with houmous, tahina, babaganoush, tabouleh, feta, herbs, harissa, olives, and a pita.
Tristan and Liz were on logistics duty yesterday and completed the boring but important task of picking up our new van. They drove the Chrysler Pacifica out to San Francisco airport, saying goodbye to this comfortable and reliable vehicle that deserved far greater recognition than it received on this publication. The Bandago depot had a gleaming white Mercedes Benz Sprinter waiting, a strong and reliable vehicle that would carry us and our backline down to LA. We have been blessed with a good selection of vehicles on this tour and it’s going to be a tough call to make if I remember to do my vehicle rankings on the final blog post. If anyone feels like sending me a reminder email the address is breakfastandtravelupdates@breakfastandtravelupdates.com
Jon and I were on science duty; we had an appointment at the university to observe a technique called light sheet fluorescence microscopy. After breakfast we walked over to the campus, and met our host Brandon, a researcher who trained as a physicist but then developed a love for biology, a marriage that bore him into the specialised field of biophysics. If that metaphor wasn’t confusing enough the first ten minutes of Brandon’s lecture will flummox you but don’t worry because I was concentrating very hard, and I’ve absorbed everything he said. I’m sure if any of this explanation proves to be lacking or incorrect Brandon will be happy to dive into the comments and sort things out.
We start with a fluorescent fruit fly larva which has been genetically modified to radiate light when it is illuminated. The larva is infected with E. Coli and then left for a day to fight off this bacterial infection which hopefully it does successfully. Then we immerse the larva in gel and place it inside a light sheet fluorescence microscope, in this case a very big and nice looking one called the ZEISS Lightsheet Z.1. A very thin plane of light only 6 microns thick is shone through the larva from each side and the cells glow when seen through the microscope’s camera allowing us to see which cells in the fly larva’s body have responded to the infection. It was a fascinating experience getting to explore a real lab and getting a glimpse into the day to day work of a profession so different to our own.
The ZEISS Lightsheet Z.1
Jon operates the microscope.
The results of our 3d scan.
After saying goodbye to Brandon, we walked the rest of the way up through the campus, arriving at the venue to find our white Mercedes Sprinter neatly parked outside and continuing to gleam heavily in the warm California sunshine. The mood was relaxed in the backstage area with people sitting about in armchairs and conversing their way through the afternoon, a process assisted by cold cans of sparkling water and kombucha. We were fortunate enough to be given the stage earlier than scheduled and we enjoyed a lengthy soundcheck, using the extra time to dust off a few of the songs we’d be needing for our headline shows in Los Angeles.
As some of you might know it’s election season in New Zealand and all of us are keen voters. There has been plenty of talk about this in the van over the past couple of weeks but yesterday Tristan was the first person to successfully complete the process of casting an overseas vote. This is an important election for those of us who don’t wish to have a former airline CEO come into office and spend the next three years building our housing market up to glorious new heights so if you are an expat wanting to participate in this democratic process feel free to reach out and I’ll get Tristan to write you a detailed yet simple set of instructions.
We were feeling pretty relaxed by our third night at the Greek Theatre. Our set went by smoothly and it seemed that the extra rehearsal time had ironed out any remaining kinks. As usual we did a quick pack down afterwards but this time we had to load everything into our own van, ready for the drive down to LA. The bad news was that there was a concession stand doing a roaring trade in the path of our load out, so we had to wait until near the end of the Postal Service set for them to close.
Our lodgings for the night were in Livermore, an hour out of Berkeley; a late-night drive that would take some weight out of the next day’s trek down to LA. The van was packed quickly, and we managed to sneak out the gate of the Greek right before the post-show rush happened. With Tristan behind the wheel our sprinter carried us along I580, the white paint job gleaming in the moonlight as we cruised towards the comfort of our Best Western Plus hotel.
I’ll leave you in art corner with this still life from the second floor landing of our Best Western Plus hotel; a piece that pays tribute to life’s simpler pleasures.
