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Minneapolis, Minnesota
On Tuesday, on one of the rare occasions she has done so during the past 30 years, Dianne Feinstein spoke about the events in San Francisco, Nov. 27, 1978, that started her on the path to national prominence as a United States senator from California.
In an interview with Rachel Gordon of the San Francisco Chronicle, Feinstein, who in 1978 was president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, recounted how she had found the bullet-riddled body of her colleague, Supervisor Harvey Milk, and checked for his pulse by placing a finger into one of the bullet holes.
Milk had been murdered with five shots fired at close range from the gun of former Supervisor Dan White. Minutes before killing Milk, White had used four bullets to kill Mayor George Moscone in his City Hall office.
Moscone was a progressive figure, intent on opening up San Francisco's political culture to a host of groups who had not been part of the city's power structure. Milk had been elected in 1977 as the first openly-gay official in California, representing the Castro neighborhood. White, who had represented a more conservative district, had recently resigned his seat on the Board and then changed his mind. Moscone, who had stated publicly that he would reappoint White, was persuaded not to do so by Milk and others.
The murders capped a tumultuous period in San Francisco's history. Nine days earlier, Leo Ryan, the area's congressional representative, was one of 900 people – many of them from the Bay Area – who died in a wave of homicides and suicides at the People's Temple cult community in Jonestown, Guyana. Even earlier, the city had been the scene of the Patricia Hearst kidnapping, the Zebra killings, and the Golden Dragon restaurant massacre.
Feinstein became interim mayor and later won election to the post in her own right.
White's conviction, May 21, 1979, on two counts of voluntary manslaughter – instead of premeditated, 1st degree murder – prompted the White Night Riots by San Francisco's gay community. His trial gave rise and national prominence to the "Twinkie defense."
White's release on parole after a mere five years in prison occasioned a protest rally on Castro and Market Streets. Live entertainment was provided by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Dead Kennedys band, and the folk singer Blackberry. James Davies and I were in San Francisco at the time and attended the January 1984 event.
White asphyxiated himself, Oct. 21, 1985.
Three weeks before the 1978 assassinations, Milk and the nascent, national gay and lesbian communities had celebrated the defeat of California Proposition 6, The Briggs Initiative. The initiative would have banned gay men and lesbians from teaching in California's public schools. Sponsored by John Briggs, Orange County's representative in the state assembly, the measure received overwhelming initial public support. Milk helped lead the statewide opposition. Opponents included Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Voters defeated the measure by more than a million votes.
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On Wednesday, my reading about the Chronicle's interview with Feinstein prompted a visceral sadness that brought tears to my eyes as I recalled the turbulence of those days. Consciously, we may move on in life, but feelings stay with us. However, at the same time this emotion surged, the instant realization that fully 30 years had passed gave me a mental image that felt as though an intellectual file drawer had slammed shut on those events. The passage of 30 years suddenly had relegated them to a more objective and non-present lens of history.
I was startled to read Feinstein's comments that Milk and White had met weekly as colleagues, if not friends, for morning coffee in the Castro neighborhood. This information is confirmed in an essay for the Chronicle by Willie Brown, a former member of the California Assembly and a former mayor of San Francisco. Somehow, this bit of history has not been part of the popular myths and legends that have evolved surrounding the life and times of Harvey Milk.
Milk, a film by Gus Van Sant about that life and those times, opened nationally on Wednesday. It received its world premiere showing at the Castro Theatre, Oct. 28. It features Sean Penn as Milk, Josh Brolin as White, Victor Garber as Moscone, Emile Hirsch as Milk confidant Cleve Jones, and James Franco and Diego Luna as Milk's lovers.
San Francisco, California
Although both locales attract global travelers, one could never mistake a walk along the four miles of San Francisco's Ocean Beach on an August afternoon for a morning stroll next to the dunes of Miami's South Beach in July. The brisk breeze, overcast sky, and wind-whipped waves of the Pacific Ocean contrast sharply with the blazing heat, diamond blue horizon, and sparkling waters of the North Atlantic. In Miami, one finds a sensation of arrival, of settled repose and personal security. San Francisco confronts with the possibilities of challenge, risk, and adventure. Metaphorically, one needs little clothing for protection on Southern Florida's shores, while sweat shirts and bonfires may provide at least psychological comfort on the beach sands of Northern California.
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The culture of the Ming dynasty, spanning the years from 1368 to 1644, is the subject of Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty, an exhibit running through Sept. 21 at the Asian Art Museum. More than 200 treasures from the old Southern capital of Nanjing and the Northern capital of Beijing include porcelain objects, ink and colors on silks and papers, garments, and jewelry.
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The year 2008 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the San Francisco Ballet, the oldest professional ballet company in America. Its 2007 operating budget of $38 million also makes it one of the largest. Russell Hartley, one of the company's designers, created the costumes for the country's first, full-length Nutcracker in 1944 and, in 1947, founded the Museum of Performance & Design. The museum's exhibit, Art & Artifice: 75 Years of Design at San Francisco Ballet, runs through Aug. 30, featuring original sketches for sets and costumes, set models, costumes and accessories, photos, programs, and videos.
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Visual Aid, an organization that assists and encourages Bay Area artists with life-threatening illnesses to continue their creative work, is presenting TREASURE, a solo exhibition by Jerry Lee Frost, through Sept. 11. The exhibit features 13 of Frost's abstract, oil-on-canvas paintings from 2007 and 2008, at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street.
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The Hotel Union Square, 114 Powell Street, offers many perks: windows that open, free phone calls, free internet access, free newspapers, free morning coffee, and free California wines at afternoon happy hour. Its unadvertised and better-kept secrets include regular cable car runs and a constantly surging sea of world travelers viewed from its second floor windows. The chaos generates many gem-like surprises, such as a perfectly harmonized, sidewalk serenade of Down by the Riverside by an un-miked male quartet, delivered on a gloriously balmy Sunday afternoon!
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Most evenings, singing along with an international assemblage can be done downstairs at Foley's, 243 O'Farrell Street, where dudes Chris and Jerry hold court and take requests with their dueling pianos.
San Francisco, California
The prospect of a choral program comprised of five Te Deums might leave one asking "How interesting could that be?" The answer, as provided by the San Francisco Lyric Chorus, was "Quite." The ensemble presented five settings at an afternoon performance, Aug. 24, of its summer concert at Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco.
Originally sung in Latin and translated into English during the 16th century, Te Deums are Christian hymns of praise and celebration that date from the fourth century. The Te Deum consists of 29 verses of prose divided into three sections. The extensive list of composers who have contributed settings includes John Taverner, Jean Baptiste Lully, Henry Purcell, Mozart, the Haydn brothers, Verdi, and many more. Prior to reading Helene Whitson's fabulously detailed program notes (references fill 1-1/3 pages of the printed program), I had no idea that the form filled such a niche in the musical canon.
Housed at Trinity since its 1995 founding, the San Francisco Lyric Chorus is an auditioned ensemble of 40 that performs music of all periods with an emphasis on lesser-known works.
To open the program, tenors Kevin Baum and Benjamin West led a procession of the chorus while singing Te Deum Laudamus (Latin rite, solemn tone) a cappella. Keyboardist Robert Train Adams with Trinity's 1924 Skinner organ and timpanist Allen Biggs accompanied the balance of the program, which was directed by Robert Gurney.
The Te Deum in A Major, composed by George Frideric Handel in the 1720s for the Chapel Royal, featured Jennifer Ashworth, soprano, Daniel Cromeenes, countertenor, Kevin Baum, tenor, and William Neely, bass. Generally, I am not a fan of the countertenor voice, but am happy to make exception for the sweet, haunting quality of Cromeenes's upper register. All of the soloists were in perfect voice throughout the program.
The setting of Te Deum in C used in the performance was the second composed by Joseph Haydn, and was commissioned by Austria's Empress Marie Therese in 1799.
Benjamin Britten wrote his Festival Te Deum in 1945 for the 100th anniversary of St. Mark's Church in Wiltshire, England. Ashworth sang the soprano solos.
Antonín Dvorák's Te Deum closed the program, and again featured Ashworth and Neely. The work was commissioned in 1892 for the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America and was performed that year at Carnegie Hall for the first time.
Trinity's acoustics and 19th century architecture contributed a special richness to the sound and ambience of the chorus's lovely presentation.
San Francisco, California
The hillsides and flatlands of California's Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley, north of San Francisco, have become home to hundreds of vintners known throughout the world for the variety and quality of their wines. It is impossible to visit all of them but, I am told, some folks are determined to try!
One of the best ways to learn first-hand about how grapes are turned into wine can be found at the Sterling Vineyards in Calistoga at Napa's northern end. There, one can fly 300 feet above the valley floor in a cable tram to the hillside winery founded by Peter Newton in 1964. Sterling features a self-paced, self-guided tour of its wine-making facility. Posters and flat-screen televisions relate the processes of harvesting, crushing, fermenting, and aging grapes. One can come away knowing how to "toast" wood for barrels and how soil type, air, vine, sun angle, and other factors affect the characteristics of various wines. Admission tickets also provide a five-wine tasting of whites and reds. The breath-taking panorama of the Napa Valley should not be missed!
Castello di Amorosa is situated just down the road from Sterling. Reservations are required for the 50-minute castle and winery tour followed by 35-minute, private tasting. Castello specializes in Italian style wines which can be purchased only in-person or online.
Noted for its distinctive Red Barn, the Frog's Leap Winery in the Napa town of Rutherford has been family-owned and operated since 1981. The land was a commercial frog farm in the 1800s. Half of this winery's annual production becomes Sauvignon Blanc.
A terrific lunch spot may be found at Bistro Jeanty, a French restaurant in Yountville, a charming community in the Napa heartland.
Count Agoston Haraszthy established Buena Vista, California's oldest premium winery in 1857. The original site in Sonoma is a California Historic Landmark, built into a wooded hillside. Its longevity makes it a romantic and nostalgic favorite for many regional residents.
The Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery is the oldest, continuously family-owned winery in Sonoma. Although the history of its vineyards dates to 1825, it was acquired in 1904 by Samuele Sebastiani, an 1895 immigrant from Tuscany.
Sonoma's The Olive Press produces and sells a variety of olive oils, citrus and infused oils, Balsamic vinegars, and olive oil soaps and salves.
The Rodney Strong Vineyards and J's are two of many wineries located on Old Redwood Highway near Healdsburg in Sonoma County's Russian River Valley.
A perfect dinner stop at the end of a touring day is Boca, an Argentine inspired steak house in Novato. Take the Ignacio Boulevard exit off of U.S. 101 on your way back to San Francisco!
San Francisco, California
The West Wave Dance Festival 2008 showcased the work of more than 45 Bay Area dance and digital media artists, Aug. 16-24. Dancers' Group and DanceArt presented the 17th annual event in partnership with the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
The curated festival divided participants into three programs (waves) of dancemakers for live stage performances and one for performances on film. Each live program featured the work of a dozen choreographers and was presented twice over four evenings at Yerba Buena's Novellus Theater. Choreographers were challenged to create segments of at least 4 minutes, 32 seconds, and no more than 5 minutes.
DanceWave 2, which closed the festival on Friday evening, Aug. 22, presented many interesting and striking images but little of lasting consequence. With a couple exceptions, major choreographic voices do not appear to be emerging from this group.
Kara Davis, who involves her dancers in her creative process, excelled at showing how much material can be presented in 4-1/2 minutes – and how well – with one Tuesday afternoon..., set to sound by Gustavo Santaoalla. Although her performing and teaching background is primarily in ballet, this work had a distinctly contemporary coloring. Danced beautifully by David Harvey, Daniel Howerton, Alex Jenkins, Nick Korkos, Erin Kraemer, Adam Peterson, Alicia Pugh, Sierra Stockton, Dinah Walker, Sarah Wenzel, and Jenna Wozer, one Tuesday afternoon... was the most cohesive, complete, and satisfying part of the program.
In My Shoes, the evening's one aerial work, the feet of choreographer and solo performer Alayna Stroud spent more time on the floor, stepping out of and into shoes, than they did either in the air or wrapped around a vertical, silver pole apparatus. The music, engineered by Austin Donohue, was too loud.
The dancers lifted Robert Sund's neoclassical offering, Our steps will always rhyme, beyond a pastiche of boring ballet cliches. Robin Cornwell and Olivia Ramsay provided en pointe window dressing for Ryan Camou in his bravura and emotional opening solo. He then served as engaged audience to their elegantly-danced duet. Both segments were performed to sound by Leonard Cohen. Minnesota's dance scene would be well-served by a male dancer of Camou's prowess, particularly if he was given regular opportunities to soar.
Gorgeous, green and orange costumes adorned seven dancers who performed with bright smiles but limited conviction in Vakratunda Mahakaya, a spiritual prayer in the Odissi style of Indian dance. Ratikant Mohapatra choreographed the work to music by bansuri artist Hariprasad Chaurasia. The dance was performed by Shradha Chowdhury, Akanksha Kejriwal, Rasika Kumar, Niharika Mohanty, Vasanta Rao, Divya Saha, and Lavanya Viswanathan. Bronx cheers for the gall of Audience Member A, who twice snapped flash photos with a cell phone during the performance; bravos for the gutsy, Audience Member B who stood up and told A to stop.
Long, sheer, and white head scarves and skirts lent a visually pleasing presence to There, a trio choreographed by Wan-Chao Chang to "Form 3" by Greg Ellis. Wan-Chao was joined in the performance by Hannah Romanowsky and Kris Sague.
A six-foot-high wagon wheel, harnessed to a dancer's lower back by an eight-foot-long axle, served as the primary prop of the Cocktail Hour, a cute diversion by Cynthia Adams and Ken James, with sound by Marimba Chapinlandia. Early on, dancers balanced empty martini glasses while ducking beneath the slowly rotating axle. Later, James and a woman removed, exchanged, and donned each other's black shirt and pants (his) and red dress (hers) while ducking the axle. Later still, a dancer pushed a vacuum cleaner from stage right to stage left. Pick your own choreographic metaphor(s). The performers – in addition to Adams and James, Fiona McCann, Shawn Oda, Kimm E. Ward, and Andrea Weber – also are known as the Fellow Travelers Performance Group.
The artist statement that Christy Funsch provided to the Dancers' Group newsletter about her solo work, Dapper Indiscretion Blues, was either incoherent or clear as mud. Either way, it aptly described her choreography and supports my preference to view more of her apparent strengths as a modern performer.
The dancing by Natalie Greene, Elizabeth Morales, and Wendy Rein in Deborah Slater's Gone in 5 was not so good, but the portions that did not partner with props (a table and three chairs of varying heights) were stronger and more interesting than those that did.
Carolena Nericcio and the other performers of her FatChanceBellyDance – Kristine Adams, Wendy Allen, Sandi Ball, Anita Lalwani, and Marsha Poulin – used a process of improvisation that left their performance of Lifting the Mist of Illusion lacking in focus. Including more structure in their work might make their dancing more compelling and at least as interesting as their multi-hued costumes and sparkling jewelry.
May bird poop someday crown the head of Audience Member C who took a flash photo during the FatChanceBellyDance performance. This is not mere contempt on my part. A pre-performance announcement stated that the practice was strictly prohibited. Furthermore, unexpected flashes can be dangerous for performers. Plus, one's ticket purchase entitles the holder to view a live performance and to carry away whatever sensations and memories one will. It does not sanction the theft of intellectual property in the form of choreography; costume, set, and light design; or music. Finally, it is just plain rude, crude, and socially unacceptable to interfere in this manner with the experience of other audience members.
The original and live cello, violin, and guitar music by Andy Eggleston, Fay Ferency, and Matthew Herz was, far and away, the best part of How many presents/balls/ chips/scarves/books/hearts/circles can you wrap/catch/win/throw/ read/ cut out/make in four minutes thirty two seconds? The work, choreographed by Amy Lewis, featured more than 30 performers and should have been titled How much crap can you cram on stage in 4-1/2? Lots!
Micaya had a fun hip hop concept for To the Rear...March, set to music by DJ ACL. The performers, Stavroula Arabatgis, Daniel Derrick, Kim Dokes, Natalia Hellems, Meegan Hertensteiner, Clyde Lachica, Brandy Logue, Stephanie Lynn, Fumihiko Nishimura, and Christina Paoli, dived in and gave new meaning to "shake your bootie!"
Reuniting a host of characters in the aftermath of Pele's wrath might seem a daunting challenge for a five-minute segment, but it is one that Kumu Hula Kawika Alfiche pulled off reasonably well in Hi'iakaikapoli'opele. The choreographer and his students provided their own song and drum accompaniment to their dancing. This was my first exposure to Hawaiian dance in a concert setting; I would like to see more.
The opportunity to sample so much dance in a concentrated period is rare. The organizers, choreographers, performers, and funders deserve applause for making the effort. However, that the 757-seat Novellus Theater was not half full on the fourth and final night of the West Wave Dance Festival suggests that the enterprise may need more tweaking, with particular examination of scheduling, curating, pricing ($25), and location.
San Francisco, California
San Francisco's Grace Cathedral offers the service of choral Evensong on Thursday afternoons throughout the year. It is a particularly Anglican service that evolved from the monastic hours and combines features of the office of Vespers and Compline. It is sung regularly in many cathedrals and parish churches throughout the country, and daily in many places in England. At Grace, one is invited to sit in the choir for the service which draws just under 100 people, including members of the choir. Yesterday's anthem, with text from Ephesians 5, was composed by Thomas Tallis, a 16th century contemporary of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
Evensong happens four evenings a week at the General Theological Seminary in New York. I attended twice while staying there last October. The entire chapel on the seminary grounds would fit comfortably, with room to spare, within the choir of Grace Cathedral.
Grace is the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the U.S. and, like much of San Francisco, it has become a global icon. Situated atop Nob Hill, its construction was started in 1928 and completed in 1964. It is a successor to the Grace Church which was organized during the 1849 Gold Rush. Its French Gothic architecture shares many features with the National Cathedral in Washington.
The central, Ghiberti Doors of Grace Cathedral, were cast from the same molds used in the 15th century for the Baptistry of Florence Cathedral. James Davies and I saw the Italian originals during our 1986 visit to Florence.
Following the 1906 earthquake and fire that destroyed much of San Francisco, William H. Crocker, a Grace parish member, donated the land of his ruined home on Nob Hill for the construction of a cathedral, with the requirement that "Grace" remain the name of the new structure. In 1934, William's daughter, Harriet Crocker Alexander, donated the Alexander Memorial Organ in memory of her husband, Charles Beatty Alexander; the organ was designed by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company of Boston.
Crocker was a banker and civic leader, and a son of Charles Crocker, one of the four original investors in the transcontinental railroad. The other three investors, Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, and Mark Hopkins, also made their homes on Nob Hill. The Huntington and Mark Hopkins hotels stand today on what were the ruins of their mansions.
Before his days as a successful railroad man and merchant in Sacramento, California, Charles Crocker started life in 1822 in Troy, New York. After a falling-out with his father, he began working his way West. In 1849, he joined two of his brothers and a few other young men in leaving from Quincy, Illinois, to seek their fortunes in California.
The Peterson family lore relates that my great-great grandfather, William Peterson (b. 1815, New Jersey; d. 1899 Pineville, Missouri) joined his brother Dean and a few other young men to seek their fortunes in 1849 California. They would have departed from Adams County, Illinois where they lived, and for which Quincy is the county seat. The Petersons returned "busted."
Following Evensong, James and I located Johnny Foleys Irish House at 243 O'Farrell Street, a favorite from our previous visits. It is a mere block from our current lodgings at the Hotel Union Square, 114 Powell Street. The Powell Street cable cars run past our second floor window regularly.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
