Photo Diary: A week in San Francisco, Part 2
Hours after my sister Barbara flew back to Colorado, Keith Hennessy arrived home after a teaching gig in New England, so I got to hang out with him for a few days, always a rich full experience. First thing Monday morning we took a “gentle yoga” class in Precita Park. It was still unusually warm for San Francisco in October, so the class went “slow and low.” In the afternoon, Annie Sprinkle came by to return some crutches she’d borrowed, and we hung out on the stoop of Pigeon Palace.
Annie showed off her new election-season swag.
Jeff Mooney dropped by on his way to visit.
We joined him and his brother Greg for tasty sausages and beer on Mission Street before taking BART out to Oakland for a fun event featuring Patti Smith and Lynn Goldsmith. It was a book launch for a new volume of Lynn’s photos of Patti early in her career, Before Easter After.
They had an old-friends conversation loosely moderated by Emma Silvers (who could barely get a word in and wisely gave up at a certain point), Lynn narrated a slideshow, and Patti brought out her guitarist Tony Shanahan and sang three songs (“Dancing Barefoot,” “Because the Night,” and “People Have the Power”).
My friend RJ and his husband Howard told me about the event; they’d bought books to be signed. Celebrity book signings are such a ordeal these days. Whatever fantasy fans might have that they’ll get a minute to chat with a beloved pop star flies out the window as they rush you through the line. I did give Lynn a copy of a snapshot I took of her and Stephen Holden at Laurie Anderson’s 40th birthday party in Central Park in 1987.
And RJ got to show Lynn a Frank Zappa piece of hers that hangs in their home in Novato.
I brought three of Patti’s books for her to inscribe (two early poetry books, Seventh Heaven and Witt, and her latest memoir, Year of the Monkey). But Patti looked so unhappy, like she’d rather have her teeth pulled out her ass than autograph books. “I’ll sign one,” she said, and my time was up. Next!
Tuesday night Keith had dinner with his old pal and collaborator Stanya Kahn, a filmmaker and visual artist in Los Angeles now. I used to participate in crazy art performances with them back in the early-to-mid- ‘90s, and it was great to see Stanya in person after admiring the beautiful, deeply personal films she’s been making.
I hung out with my NYC buddy David Zinn, who was in town working on Craig Lucas’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol at Berkeley Rep. He took me to a couple of his favorite South of Market dive bars, the Lone Star Saloon and the Hole in the Wall, where the graffiti is always sexy, political, and up to date.
Wednesday Eli Ramer took the ferry from the East Bay to meet me for lunch. We met at the first Gay Spirit Visions conference in 1990 and have been friends ever since.
A born teacher and storyteller, Eli has a substantial publishing history and is always working on something a new book – currently, as the author of the gay-spirit classic Two Flutes Playing and a sequel, Two Hearts Dancing, he’s putting together Our Hearts Chanting. Always great catching up with old friends.
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