the X trip
8:05 p.m.

hope y'all got a chance to check out those links for my pics in the last entry...i'm really proud and excited about 'em :)

ok, let's see if i can do this without writing a novel!

got to sheila's at 9am friday. she rented a camry, it was way comfy. nice weather all the way down. we listened to iggy, lou reed/john cale, roxy music, X of course...it was really nice to be a passenger for a change. it's so great maggie went with...she's 17, i can hardly believe it.

we stopped in windsor at the standard station, they have an aztec grill in there, that was a new thing for me. we all had the veggie burritos. i saw the most perfect little mexican man. about 5-3...just...perfect. everyone was speaking spanish in there, it was cool.

from there it was an hour to the city. of course i had to play "lowdown" by boz skaggs as we came out of the gay tunnel and swooped down to the ggb, it's my talisman, my good luck song. shit, the toll is 5 bucks now, but i always look at it as paying admission to get into SF!

took some pics of people walking on polk street. right before we got to the hotel, somehow maggie deleted like 500 pics that were on her camera. she was pretty upset, i
would be too.

when we got to the triton, the room wasn't ready. and when it was...well, i'm not gonna go too into this...but...ok. i reserved a room with 2 king beds. i was told they overbooked and they had 2 rooms we could look at with a king bed and a rollaway. they explained their side, blah blah blah, i wasn't following. we went for a room that was pretty cool, right on the corner, 3rd. floor, right by the neon sign on the bush st. side. they feel they delivered what was promised, a room for 3 people. i say they didn't. i reserved TWO king beds. anyhoo, the price was the same which i don't understand either. the rollaway was fine, but that's not the point. i'm gonna write a letter later this week and see what i can get out of 'em. i love the triton...

we got settled and went walking around. went to urban outfitters, so much fun stuff there. sensory overload was kicking in, but i love it! hit the disney store on union square and a very cool gallery with some great art. called doug, he was on the bay bridge. hmm, let's see...i guess we walked around a bit more cuz when we came back up grant doug and griselda (WHY i was thinking her name was esmerelda last week i have NO idea!) were outside the hotel, they had already checked in. everyone got aquainted, chit chat, etc. the we all went to our rooms.

i called steve, and he talked to sheila, that was cool.

a bit later we met up in the lobby. walked down to bangkok best on bush. man, did i ever luck out! i randomly picked out 2 items, a beef salad and a soup with prawns...lots of lemongrass, yum! everyone tried my soup.

after that we walked several blocks up grant into chinatown. found a really nice shop called asian renaisance, great silk table runners, pillows, clothing, lamps. went a bit further and turned back. maggie spotted a cool sorta toy store, we checked that out, amazing stuff, all those bobble head dolls, etc. more sensory overload. at least i wasn't stoned looking for cockroach costumes like i was with leesa that time, haha!

oh, and god, the weather was so nice, it was dark, but it wasn't cold, it was just right. the city is so pretty at night

we went back to get ready. i tried on the girls' net top with the little holes for your thumbs, omg, that looked funny! also tried on maggie's little kilt skirt (over my jeans), but, umm, i went low key!

ooh, and sheila gave me an excellent back massage, i was screaming and moaning a bit. she always hits the good spots.

got 2 cabs, the passenger limit is 4 :( BUT, ok, doug and griselda got the first one, and ours was like a minivan, which COULD have held 5, oh well.

the great american music hall isn't very far, but doug didn't think we should walk through the tenderloin. got there, got the tix, went in. it's a beautiful place, nice and small. balconies upstairs, where you can have dinner and see the show. that would be great for a band you wanted to just casually watch, but i planned on getting up close!

went outside for a bit before the show, i ran into my freind bandon and his wife amee, they came down too. they were gonna go see cat power but it was cancelled, so last week he said they were going to x also.

the opening band, the johns, were ok. nothing too exciting, but fun...and loud! i was surprised how low the stage actually was, maybe 2 feet?

what can i say? X was awesome. it's been over 20 years since i've seen them. they're still one of my faves, they've always meant a lot to me. sheila and i interviewed john and exene for our little magazine back in...82, 83? haha, i have no idea.

i was off to the side with everyone at first, then i got right in the middle of the crowd. had a pretty good view for pics. it was a bit rowdy in there, nothing too wild, you just go with the flow.

i felt so alive...the people all together, the sound, the lights, the heat, the smells (i didn't see any weed, but i could sure SMELL it! oh, and someone farted...bad!)

X are only doing songs from the first 4 albums. they haven't released anytihng new in ages. a cynic could say, ok, it's basically an oldies show. but they all have their side projects, the knitters, sol stuff, etc. and billy has said that he's only doing it for the money. maybe they all are, i dunno. i'm looking at it like a painter's work from a very productive period...and X is very, very high art to me. "johny hit and run pauline" is my #1 favorite song ever...so there!

about half way through the show i thought i might go upstairs and take pics, but no, i was having so much fun...and later doug said it was so hot up there his glasses steamed up!

so i made my way up to the very front, right in front of billy...and his amps. oh fuck, it was loud! i couldn't hear john's bass much...and his and exene's vocals weren't as loud as i would have liked, but haha, we were all singing along anyway. they have made a few changes here and there in vocal parts, keeps 25 year old songs fresh, i guess.

one goofy guy in the crowd was yelling some off the wall stuff between songs..."now that is a very unusual rock song!"...whatever.

i was right in front of billy during the last half hour or so...he's doing his silly grin thing more than ever now, it's a funny contrast to the intensity of the music. he DID sweat, just a trickle down the side of his face. john was drenched, he was really rockin'.

ohhh...and during that last part of the show, there was the cutest tall skinny punk boy behind me. occasionally his crotch was right against my ass as the crowd ebbed and flowed. i think i felt his hipbones against me a few times...i mean, ok, i wasn't complaining, haha! and when i would bend down with my elbows on the tables in front of the stage to get pics of john and exene...well, it must have totally looked like doggie-style...i had to relay that image to cooper in his blog today. it's funny. i used to see jasons everywhere...then tonys...now i see dennis cooper type boys everywhere. the boys in his books, i mean.

here's an excerpt from what i wrote to cooper:

"it was funny, i was there at the front, there were lots of young kids in the crowd. a gaggle of high school boys all watching billy, i think they're all aspiring guitarists. i saw this roadie at the back of the stage looking at me smiling, singing along, and generally rockin out, and i thought...i'm 48, am i too old for this? nawww, i'm the band's age, if they can do it, so can i!"

X did a few encores, a cake was brought out for john's birthday, exene handed out candles, i didn't get one. i tried to ask billy for a set list, but that didn't work out either.

billy took pics of the crowd.

we got a minivan cab back to the hotel. doug was talking and it sounded like he was inhaling helium, i was getting no lower register sounds to my ears. AND i was hoarse from singing along. i was exausted but so high on the whole night.

ok this IS turning into a novel, what can i say?

got back to the hotel and doug and griselda and i walked up bush looking for a bar. the tunnel top was rockin! we decided to walk down to union square and hit the gold dust lounge, doug and i went there like 20 years ago. it's a cool totally untrendy place. a band was doing johnny cash in the back. i had 2 tonics with lime.

back at the hotel i laid on the bed with the girls and we looked at pics on the camera. i slept good in my little baby bed!

got up in the morning, oh but i was awakened around 7am by some fool hammering across the street, but i went back to sleep for a bit. when i got up i ran down to our store on market to pick up a few things. met doug and griselda in the lobby, and we headed out to the haight. had pizza at escape from new york, the same place steve and i tried out in the castro. i had the one with potato slices and garlic cloves, it was really good, and then i had the veggie with artichoke, yum yum! the boys working there are all heavily tattooed, some cuties.

oh...when we were heading out there we saw a huge line of people at a shoe store, and then the same scene on haight, i guess some new nike's must be out...SHOES! that's so alien to me.

walked down to amoeba, i bought the first 2 gang of four cd's, iggy's new values and soldier, nico's chelsea girl a william burroughs spoken word thing, that new new york dolls dvd with all the old old footage that bob gruen shot...that's gonna be amazing, have to take that to rob's...and umm, what else? oh, i found a cool book of interviews from punk planet magazine, good good stuff. a few things i didn't find...bill nelson's red noise, that rare dubcheck cd i really really want..oh, and sheila bought me nick cave's the first born is dead...i totally forgot to look for that, OF COURSE i didn't get around to making a list...amoeba is so huge, it can be overwhelming..so that was very sweet of her!

we headed out to the park, but maggie was pretty worn out so we decided to head home. got a smoothie in ukiah, and a chai in garberville. i grabbed another veggie burritto at the aztec grill in fortuna when i left sheila's...i'm HOOKED!

i got home, hmm, maybe by 7...sheila called me cuz maggie was so sure she knew john doe from somewhere, then she figured it out...he's on that show "roswell", he plays the dad...doe's done a lot of acting. PLUS maggie is a huge viggo mortensen fan, cuz of LOTR...and he was married to exene at one time, and it was their son henry who convinced viggo he should take the part!

the circle of life, sigh... :)

ok, time for pics! this might be a bit random, order wise...

cole street, out in the haight

doug, at amoeba.

vista point.

"no, sheila, THAT button!"

can't hit the triton without an elevator pic!

the sign on the bush street side...chinatown gate below.

"damn paparazzi!"

a good one of me and doug, i think.

sheila took this. i'm eyeing the waiter, no doubt. i LOVE thai...food!

i should have bought one of these.

doug says something amusing and witty to the ladies.

doug and griselda in the other elevator.

the johns warm up the crowd.

one of my favorites from the show.

exene: "i said...TURN IT DOWN A NOTCH, BILLY!!!"

i find it so sweet that 2 people who have been divorced for years can still work so closely together.

a classic shot of BZ..and ME! a nice girl took this for me.

headin' home :(

ok. damn. i should have known this was gonna have to be a big one. now i need to go correct a few typos, HA!

oh, two ladies posted on the X myspace page about being at the show, so i posted a comment with the link to the show pics, and also sent it to those gals. they both wrote back and thanked me, how sweet!

"the world's a mess, it's in my kiss..."

- M.