the dolls trip
12:53 p.m.

ok, here we go!

got to sheila's before 8:30. we gassed up and hit the road.

sheila drove for about an hour and a half, then asked me to take over. breaking up the drive like that made it seem like we got to the city in no time at all!

arrived around 1 pm. got the room that i wanted, overlooking the back yard.

sheila's view:

and mine:

got settled in, then walked down to the bashful bull and had some awesome hamburgers. they tasted like your dad just grilled 'em up in the backyard!

then we walked over to the beach. was a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky.

walked up to judah, then up to the park.

sheila took these next two:

saw some cool houses, of course. this one looked so out of place...just a few blocks from the ocean...

you can't miss this place!

i had my new moccasin slippers on, i didn't know we were gonna walk so far! my dogs were BARKIN'!

headed back to the motel, hung out and relaxed.

"dear diary...":

got ready to leave around 7pm.

rock and roll queen:

we took portola down to market so i could show sheila that incredible night view going down the hill...all the lights of the city and the bay bridge all covered in little lights...it's breathtaking!

got to the garage in japantown, walked over to the fillmore, got halfway and realized the tickets were still in the car. maybe i was distracted by the cold metal of my camera which was tucked in my underwear?

got inside, had a drink (odoul's for me). heard the bartender say they only sold 600 tickets, but it seemed much more crowded later. well, it was a wednesday night, people have to work in the morning, etc. so we were able to get right up front.

the opening band, we are the fury was really good. lots of energy, kinda power-pop but with very interesting songs. check 'em out on myspace. after their set the singer was in the crowd selling cd's, so i bought one. sheila had me take her picture with him:

before the dolls came out, she asked me "do i look old?" i said omg, look around! there were young and old, all kinds of people. some cute boys seemingly by themselves. there were two guys behind us and sheila asked them if she could get a picture with them. they were confused, they thought we wanted them to take a picture of us, haha!

i'll take the young one with the wet, juicy lips, thank you very much.

oh, what can i say? the dolls were great! it was different from last time. that show felt like they had to prove themselves, coming back after 30 years. this time was more relaxed, looser, etc. i got some great videos i'll post next time.

we were all singin' along, having a blast! here's a few pics:

this one is my favorite of the night:

sylvain was throwing picks out in the crowd all night. this guy in front of us got one, and when david was throwing flowers into the crowd at the end of the show he got some of those...he gave sheila a palm frond:

the boys say goodnight:

sheila made an attempt to get upstairs after the show to meet the band, but the security gal was all like, nope sorry. later i composed a note in my head: "dear david: we drove 300 miles to see you guys. we are in our fifties and we ain't gettin' any younger!"

oh well.

hung out outside by the band's bus for a bit, saw a few groupies. talked to the guy who gave sheila the palm, he said he had come down in the afternoon, got a few autographs. also he thought he broke his rib during the show reaching over the barrier..OUCH! that's rock and roll, baby!

grabbed some mcdonalds on the way back to the motel. recapped the show, looked at the pics and vids on the camera. i had a great time, but sheila had a GREAT GREAT time! it wasn't the religious experience for me the second time, ya know? but i LOVED it!

went to my room, read heim's book for a bit. conked out about 3 am i guess. a long, fun day! had a dream about a hot dog stand at the zoo (2 blocks away) that was out of hot dogs. no killer tigers in my dream.

woke up pretty early. sheila crawled in my bed for a bit and we got philosophical i guess.

then i went outside and did a video tour of the motel. we got our shit together, packed up, and walked down to the bull again for a very tasty breakfast. i had an omlette with tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach. sheila's had avacado and cheese.

drove out to the haight, went through some parts of the city i hadn't seen before, that's always fun. looked around. i bought a cool little scarf at a place called pink lilly for a table i have in the living room. i didn't care about going to amoeba, i'll be back down there a week from tomorrow.

headed to the park. went to the de young. omg, that building is amazing! we didn't go see any of the exhibits, i mainly wanted to go up to the observation tower. here's the entrance to the museum:

the tower:

me up there:

the view is....wow. nine stories up, right in the middle of the park. i have a video of that i'll show you.

when the elevator arrived to take us up there, the door openend and all these little kids came out..like maybe 15? it was funny, cuz when we got in it was like, wow they must have been packed in there.

there were kids everywhere you looked, actually.

when we were up there, sheila was looking at an umbrella in the gift area...all of a sudden she came over to me and said she was bleeding...and she was! she cut her finger on the umbrella somehow. it was so weird. we went back down and a nice old gal at information gave her a bandaid. i went to the big gift shop while sheila went to the loo to wash up. she joined me, and we saw the same umbrella there. we looked at it and saw that there were these twisted wires at the base of the stem which had sharp edges. she showed someone there, and i'm gonna write a letter soon, not a nasty one, but damn, it's dangerous!

so much cool stuff in the gift shop. the had books downstairs. i found a cool book of 18th century paintings of roses, got that for dylan, he likes to do artwork of flowers when it's slow at work. the book was really beautiful. i got a few books, and saw this little bracelet with gold beads and these little reddish/amber beads that looked like pommogranite seeds. i was only 10 bucks. i figured if dyl doesn't like it, i'll wear it.

got a peek at the gilbert and george show through an open door to a gallery, damn those pictures are like billboards...huge! it runs till may so i think i'll go see it next week. i think i can spend an afternoon at the de young, no problem.

got this cool pic looking up towards the ground floor level...

and i saw this exhibit, didn't catch the name.

HA! what a perv, i know...

left the park, headed to clement street cuz dylan wanted me to bring him some dim sum. saw this on the way, the whole building is covered in plastic sheeting:

fumagating? asbestos removal? dunno. it looked cool.

got to clement, damn, dim sum places on every block, takeaway places.

went in one, ordered some stuff off the menu, i didn't really know what to get. saw something wrapped up in a big leaf, it had rice and chicken in it. got two of this, two of that, etc. went to another place, they had more food on display, so it was easier to order. got potstickers, buns with bbq pork in them, all kinds of stuff. those pancakes with the veggies in 'em. got two big bags worth. sheila bought some stuff that we noshed on in the car while i called dylan and told him dinner was on its way! and hell, we had just had breakfast, but, mmmm, that stuff was yummy!

was about 1:30 maybe when we left town. i drove about half way home, then sheila took over. stopped for gas, and a smoothie.

got to fortuna about 6 maybe. got all my shit into my car and was home in 20 minutes. dyl came over after work with his steamer and we had a great dinner. he loved the book. i kept the bracelet.

oh...the bracelet. on the way home sheila was trying to get the tag off it, so i could wear it. she looked at the receipt and said "HOW much was this?" i said 10 bucks. "uhhh...this receipt says 40!"

well, the tag DOES say 40, i just didn't look closely, haha! i mean, the total at the gift shop was 100 bucks but i had 3 books...i didn't think anything of it, oh well.

well, it's 24k gold plated at least, the little gold beads...whatever.

ok, whew, i'm exhausted! so...videos in a few days. and after that some arty pics from the trip i'm working on.

xoxo,

MK