The Joans in San Francisco! or, I Didn't Leave My Heart, But I Left My Sunglasses, Pt. 3

Finally, the morning of September 28 arrived...Steve, our bass player, and I walked down to the stage where we would be playing in a few hours. There weren't a lot of people around at all at that point, so we went back to the hotel to dress and get ready.

While we waited for the elevator, I had to go back to the room THREE times to get things I'd forgotten: My change of shoes. My drum sticks. My drum pedal. (In that order.) I was seriously contemplating picking up some nursing home brochures when the elevator arrived and carried us downstairs where Taylor and Jennifer were waiting...

We took a taxi back to 7th Street and Folsom and went to the backstage area:





While in FRONT of the stage, the merchandise table carried our T-shirts:





Finally, at 12:45, it was time to go on! We had a great set, and Sparky and Ben, our stage managers, couldn't have been more helpful. Here are a few selected songs from our set--Gary's friend Dave was recording this with my hand-held camcorder, which has a small microphone, so the sound isn't professional quality, but it's still not too bad:

This Is Your Life




Mad At The Dirt


Our new friend, Horehound Stillpoint, from the cultural blog Inverte, can be seen in the foreground dancing (he's in the red flannel sleeveless shirt). I got to talk to him after the set, and he's a really nice guy. The blog is great too!



And our encore, Trog:



Note the wonderful Sister Roma's remarks at the end. My favorite part: "We're here, we're naked...we are NOT ashamed, we are proud!" She's amazing.


After we finished our set, Steve and I went back to the room (forgetting my sunglasses--oh well) and changed clothes, then came back down to Folsom to grab a beer and watch The English Beat. I've always loved Dave Wakeling's voice, from English Beat to General Public days, and their set was wildly energizing. Here's a small excerpt:

Hands Off, He's Mine:



Although my view was occasionally obscured by the head of the man in front of me, I got really involved in the music, as did Steve (in the white T-shirt) and Gary (you can see them right around the 1:57 mark).

After The English Beat, we walked down Howard Street to get back to the 7th Street stage to see Berlin (Folsom was jam-packed). I didn't stay for the whole concert (I was tired and sun-fatigued), but I did catch a few songs and enjoyed them very much. I also enjoyed Terri Nunn's candor:



I caught about half of "Matter of Time" before the crowd pressed in and I had to give up. But she looked fantastic and they sounded great!

Then, it was time to do some more sight-seeing (my last for this trip). I caught a cab down to 18th and Castro, to a bar that I was referred to called The Edge (a former Cell Block bartender is now a bartender there). Do any of you recognize him? (Sorry, it's a little dark):





My sightseeing over, I walked out to catch a ride home. But not before I make one last documentation of the area:




And that was my trip. I caught a flight the next morning (Monday) at 10:55 (which actually took off at noon), and got back to Chicago at around 6:00PM. I took Tuesday off to decompress, try to upload these videos(!) and do some laundry. And sleep.

I really enjoyed my trip--I hope you enjoyed watching some of it! I look forward to going back again...