Bay Area Chronicles, Part 3
Yesterday, we took Margaux for a walk. The weather here allows for that kind of behavior. Margaux allows for all sorts of peculiar behavior from both Tracy and I. This mostly involves baby talk or staring at her, or both, for extended periods of time.
We had, according to Shane, the 2nd best cheesesteak sandwich in America. It wasn't bad...but I'm now much more curious about #1. After lunch, we window shopped and ran a few errands. One of the places had a toaster that would actually make sure an image of the Virgin Mary appeared on your toast. It was sold out...and on back order.
More interesting people: Last night was a dinner party with Mitch, the higher-order barnstormers, and Todd & Robyn Spitzer. He's a pastor here in Oakland (Mitch went to high school with him, and attended his church before he moved to NYC) and she's a P.R. director/musician/activist...they met when they worked for Tooth 'N Nail Records many years ago.
I talked with Todd about his upcoming speaking engagement...and we had a great deal in common, as his topic was on the role of the Christian within the culture. He'd also mentioned he'd been on a panel at one of these conferences where he'd taken the position against some big name Christian leaders...and they kept inviting him back. He actually used the words, "Theology matters. Somebody's gotta stand up for the importance of sound doctrine." He and Robyn had actually done some work with the underground churches in various places around the globe...dangerous stuff, too. He'd recently been fishing for marlin and caught nothing, which gave Jilly and I the chance to talk about marlin tatoos, show him my dad's marlin, show the photo of him landing it as well as telling the story for the umpteenth time. It's a good story, though, for those who haven't heard it.
They'd recently been to see the Violent Femmes at The Fillmore...which led to a discussion of bands we'd seen and where--which you can learn an awful lot about people hearing that discussion. They'd also travelled extensively and had some fantastic stories, too. Mitch, of course, had great stories about both bands and travel...and being from Wisconsin he'd seen the Femmes early on in their rise.
What cracked me up was when I found out they worked for Tooth N Nail records (a Christian music label known for signing alternative bands), I mentioned that I was a big Stavesacre fan and even had a tattoo of some of their artwork, they kinda made eye contact and said, "Oh, yeah, we know all about Stavesacre." I was worried that something negative about the band's spirituality was forthcoming, but alas, it was nothing more than the reality that Mark Solomon had a crush on Robyn about the same time Todd & Robyn started dating. Nothing negative about the band, though. Whew!
When I asked them why they got out of the Christian music industry, Robyn replied, "Well, Christian music is, ummm, neither.
They also live in West Oakland. Shane seemed to think they lived in a neighborhood that is known as "the killing zone" because it's an 80-block area where some 85% of the murders that take place in Oakland are gang-related and take place there. The Spitzers off-handedly mentioned that it's kind of dangerous because, "You can get caught in the crossfire stuff." They also have had busy signals from 911, and also they've learned that the cops don't come to their neighborhood unless they have to...which, apparently, isn't too often. They're looking to move. Good thing Robyn's also a realtor.
The party wrapped up around 9PM as Mitch had work to do (it was lunchtime in China) and the Spitzers were preparing to head out to a speaking engagement in Montreal.
It was classic when Shane came downstairs as the clean-up was beginning and offering more proof that higher-order barnstorming is becoming re-defined: "Man! That was fun. Good conversation. Time with grown-ups. AND we're through by 9PM. Sweet!"
One last side note: In the San Francisco Chronicle they have a guide to the weekend's events in the Bay Area (much like Dallas' "GuideLive" that comes in Friday's paper)...but it's called "96-hours." Apparently, the nice folks in SF have just decided the weekend starts on Thursday nights and lets it roll from there.
I've also got a few good quotes from books I'm reading...but I'll save those for later.
Yesterday, we took Margaux for a walk. The weather here allows for that kind of behavior. Margaux allows for all sorts of peculiar behavior from both Tracy and I. This mostly involves baby talk or staring at her, or both, for extended periods of time.
We had, according to Shane, the 2nd best cheesesteak sandwich in America. It wasn't bad...but I'm now much more curious about #1. After lunch, we window shopped and ran a few errands. One of the places had a toaster that would actually make sure an image of the Virgin Mary appeared on your toast. It was sold out...and on back order.
More interesting people: Last night was a dinner party with Mitch, the higher-order barnstormers, and Todd & Robyn Spitzer. He's a pastor here in Oakland (Mitch went to high school with him, and attended his church before he moved to NYC) and she's a P.R. director/musician/activist...they met when they worked for Tooth 'N Nail Records many years ago.
I talked with Todd about his upcoming speaking engagement...and we had a great deal in common, as his topic was on the role of the Christian within the culture. He'd also mentioned he'd been on a panel at one of these conferences where he'd taken the position against some big name Christian leaders...and they kept inviting him back. He actually used the words, "Theology matters. Somebody's gotta stand up for the importance of sound doctrine." He and Robyn had actually done some work with the underground churches in various places around the globe...dangerous stuff, too. He'd recently been fishing for marlin and caught nothing, which gave Jilly and I the chance to talk about marlin tatoos, show him my dad's marlin, show the photo of him landing it as well as telling the story for the umpteenth time. It's a good story, though, for those who haven't heard it.
They'd recently been to see the Violent Femmes at The Fillmore...which led to a discussion of bands we'd seen and where--which you can learn an awful lot about people hearing that discussion. They'd also travelled extensively and had some fantastic stories, too. Mitch, of course, had great stories about both bands and travel...and being from Wisconsin he'd seen the Femmes early on in their rise.
What cracked me up was when I found out they worked for Tooth N Nail records (a Christian music label known for signing alternative bands), I mentioned that I was a big Stavesacre fan and even had a tattoo of some of their artwork, they kinda made eye contact and said, "Oh, yeah, we know all about Stavesacre." I was worried that something negative about the band's spirituality was forthcoming, but alas, it was nothing more than the reality that Mark Solomon had a crush on Robyn about the same time Todd & Robyn started dating. Nothing negative about the band, though. Whew!
When I asked them why they got out of the Christian music industry, Robyn replied, "Well, Christian music is, ummm, neither.
They also live in West Oakland. Shane seemed to think they lived in a neighborhood that is known as "the killing zone" because it's an 80-block area where some 85% of the murders that take place in Oakland are gang-related and take place there. The Spitzers off-handedly mentioned that it's kind of dangerous because, "You can get caught in the crossfire stuff." They also have had busy signals from 911, and also they've learned that the cops don't come to their neighborhood unless they have to...which, apparently, isn't too often. They're looking to move. Good thing Robyn's also a realtor.
The party wrapped up around 9PM as Mitch had work to do (it was lunchtime in China) and the Spitzers were preparing to head out to a speaking engagement in Montreal.
It was classic when Shane came downstairs as the clean-up was beginning and offering more proof that higher-order barnstorming is becoming re-defined: "Man! That was fun. Good conversation. Time with grown-ups. AND we're through by 9PM. Sweet!"
One last side note: In the San Francisco Chronicle they have a guide to the weekend's events in the Bay Area (much like Dallas' "GuideLive" that comes in Friday's paper)...but it's called "96-hours." Apparently, the nice folks in SF have just decided the weekend starts on Thursday nights and lets it roll from there.
I've also got a few good quotes from books I'm reading...but I'll save those for later.
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