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Published: September 16th 2005
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In my final week in San Francisco i went to jail for a day. Alcatraz that is, the ex-prison located on an island in the the bay near SF. Quite strange that in my 4 years of living in San Francisco i never went to it before, but i was working and the weekends require a reservation upto a month in advance, and i can't schedule my life that well. When i did have holidays i was more keen for backpacking in the mountains or on the coast or snowboarding at Lake Tahoe.
So Jace and myself went on Tuesday, got there late by one minute and our ferry had gone, so we had to wait in the standby queue for 2 hours, sheesh! In a type of prison already... Finally we arrive and we ascend the equivalent of 13 flights of stairs up the main ramp into the prison proper, not an easy feat for Jace who has had major surgery on one of his feet previously, but he's a stolid trooper and made it without needing mechanical assistance. Some of the more interesting things were the stories of various prisoners and the views outside. Jace also went into
Jace
Being extremely photogenic. Other people took photos of him before and just after me! one of the isolation cubes with a bunch of other tourists and they closed the door on them for pitch black. Sounded a little claustraphobic for me, if they put me in isolation i think i'd prefer it without so many tourists around. The funniest thing for the day was that Jace was probably more of a tourist photo magnet than most other things, people would ask for photos of him all day and some would even sneak or just take them anyway. He is very photogenic with his sheriffs badge, coat and dreds i think. He could've made a fortune at a quarter a photo just standing on Fisherman's Wharf where a hundred tourists pass a minute.
Later that evening after an excellent dinner with Kat, Richard, Jace and Scott, had an impromptu gathering of folks at The Noc Noc Bar which was really great since many i hadn't seen since arriving in SF. Thanks to all for coming: Allegra, Ann, Chris, Jace (and Jace's friend Scott), Kai, Kathleen, Lance, Ryan and Sam. Also ran into more friends (Jay and Krista) at the next bar, the Lower Haight is great for that since it has good bars with
Alcatraz
In the recreation area towards the main communal block area. reasonable prices and many friends live in the area.
Went to Il Pirata the next night. This venue has become the new regular weekly for psytrancers wanting to get their strut on and a little pre-weekend socialising. Again Ross Random and Hyperfrequencies were playing, i made sure i was there from opening to be certain of catching all of Ross' set, and i wasn't dissappointed, in true bliss was i. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole night dancing to some seriously great doof music!
Potluck again at Tapia and Mike's on Thursday, though this time more quiet and intimate. After the last time, i was careful not to eat too much of the dizzying chocolate brownies! Last time i brough wine, cheese, dip and crackers, this time i brought cooking ingredients (brocolli and stuff) and helped in the preparation much more, including crushing a whole clove of garlic into the oniony saucey thing. I'm still sweating the garlic odour out!
Seth, Murias, Christina and others have been running their own club night once a month (currently at Raw Hide - a most excellent venue) called Spin This, an eclectic mix of various genres of music, some of which i like a lot, some not so much. The overall enjoyment i had from the whole party was excellent especially with the mix of people some dressed in full mutant regalia (especially Murias who i got a wonderful photo of but am not publishing here without his permission :o). When something too noisy was being played i would just go into the other music area or upstairs for some socialising. Jonathan and Tish came to see me off since i wouldn't see them over the weekend since i had every hour fully booked at this stage, it being 36 hours till i fly to Ecuador.
I helped with some packup when Spin This finished at 2am and tried to get in contact with other friends who were going to a renegade beach psytrance party i'd heard about down near Daly City, the next city just south of San Francisco. Couldn't get a hold of them so i started walking expecting to catch a bus that would take me within 1 mile of the hidden location, and saw the bus leave the busstop as i approached, at this time of night it would likely be another hour before the next one. So i began walking the 6 miles always checking for a bus behind me, met a stranger who was walking home, chatted, and he decided to come with me to the party, only 4 miles away now. I told him he was crazy, especially since he had been partying for 2 days already... But who am i to say such things when i am already walking 6 miles to a beach party i am not sure i can find? Eventually arriving after getting the bus about 1 mile away from the end of the bus route and walking another mile, hearing the dull thud of the bass and zeroing in on the source by climbing an extremely rusty chain link fence and descending the huge tussocked dunes that could be found in this area. This area is beautiful, my photos (not shown here) don't do it justice since it was a little foggy, it is a vegetated dune valley with many flowers and a clearing for a little party at the bottom. We were literally arriving for the last song at about 6am. Friends greeted me, my new found crazy friend found another who he had met before, we all discussed various topics (some absurd) and i formulated a plan to walk up the coast to Golden Gate Park about 4 miles away, it would be fun, i had some nice mushrooms a wonderful friend had given me as a present that would sustain me.
Walking along the dunes and the coast in my soggy party clothes covered in rust and grime saying hello to the early morning walkers out with their dogs after eating the nice mushrooms was especially surreal and thoroughly enjoyable in such a beautiful place. Once i got to Golden Gate Park i had only 4 miles left to walk to get back home, and as always i love walking through this park, it still has surprises for me since it is so large and quite well designed and chaotic in parts. Something i had not seen before was a huge old catholic cross on top of one of the hills about a third of the way inland past the soccer fields, i think it was put there before California was relinquished by the Mexicans.
Finally i got back home around midday and again people laughed at me and my appearance (this happens a lot to me when i arrive home at this time after being out all night). Slept for a couple of very needed hours and it being now Sunday afternoon went off to Allegra's birthday bash at her house. Here i ran into a more people i hadn't seen since being back in SF and had a good chat and laughs even though i was still pretty tired from trekking earlier.
My energy all used up i went home to chill with my hosts Kat and Richard before catching the plane at 7am the next morning. Given how tired i was it seemed best to just stay up all night and ride the shuttle van at 4am.
The next time you hear from me i should be in Ecuador - South America.
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hughm
non-member comment
damn
sounds like you are having a horrible time and wish you were back living like us corporate rats :|