Thursday Dillon and I were still trying to find apartments and filling out applications for housing and wandering around. We decided to check out of the Best Western because it's not cheap to live in a hotel, and technically at this point we are homeless. One place i looked at was on top of a hill that I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from one side,
and the ocean on the other...speaking of the ocean,
that was the first time I had ever been to the beach, and saw the ocean. It was such an amazing experience and it made me rethink what I had previously. Before it was such a dreary prospect, but being there, it made me realize that no matter what happens that night, if i have to sleep outside or in my car, that I was finally out, I have done it, I broke free of Wyoming, and it was so so so rewarding.
The night started out in the Castro meeting Melissa for drinks at the blackbird. it was a gay club, like the lucky 13 the night before, but I never felt uneasy at all. I know so many people in Wyoming see this town as just flaming, and while yes, it is more open then Wyoming, it is because people don't have to be afraid of who they are here, and that is something so amazing. After parting ways with Melissa, Dillon had to stop at Safeway to pick up cigarettes and I got a nice 24 oz molson to brown bag and walk around in, in true bum fashion.Bumming along the streets of San Francisco,we were on our way to the Encore Karaoke Lounge by the Tenderloin, and that is always a bit of a weary area. We arrived intact and feeling loose. I put my song request in, and the wait was on. I knew it would be at least an hour, but hey the place was busy, songs were good, and the pool is cheap, and this was the first night I finally found girls that were up to my standards in the looks department. I wait and wait and wait, so I had a few beers and a double gin and tonic i have to go outside with Dillon to smoke. So we are outside, its beginning to drizzle and then I hear Cade being called, I run up the stairs, feeling pretty tuned both vocally and in alcohol, but he literally waited 2 seconds and then skipped me. The dj called the next guy up, and like that, I had been skipped. I had to wait to talk to him about my injustice. I explained what had happened and was wondering if I could just go after this man, and because I wasn't tipping (I will view it as that and not because I wasn't a woman, which was highly apparently going on, but I feel no need to blame sexism on this one, he was, but anyway) I'm pissed.
Seeing as how DrunkCade mode has been turned on and I have been wronged my, thought process turns into "fuck this night! I'm leaving now! fuck everything!" I storm out and leave Dillon, I figure I will go back to the hotel, buy a room for myself, and pay the price monetarily instead of sleeping in the rain, which has increased quite a bit. I don't care though, I'm on a mission to get to the hotel! Dillon tries to get me back to the bar, but I'm not having it, even with the intrigue of his friend Thomas "Beard" Landerman getting there soon. I decided it was better to walk through the T.L. by myself in the dark, cold, rain. (yeah I know fucking retarded. made even more so by the fact that when I got to the hotel there was no vacancy so I had to walk back through the T.:. again)
When I got back, I met Beard. He bought me a drink when he saw I was clearly in a shit mood. He is a great man, he ended up taking us back to his place to watch some dvds and crash for the evening, So we are 1-1 in the couch surfing front.
The next afternoon when we wake up, we meet Beard's roommate Chris, who has just unreal clay sculpture that he designs. He is working on the melting Nazi from Indian Jones right now, and the process he describes, with the angles he has to construct things for the molds to peel out correctly, makes what he does even that more impressive to me. The four of us went out for coffee at a little shop with outside seating. We chatted for about a hour and a half, just talking about things from Gary Busey being a serious actor to Dillon's purposed rape photography series, i won't release details since its his project, but it's not rape in the normal sense, it's more of a role reversal.
After we got done with coffee, we went back to my car, which was parked in the Richmond since we didn't have a parking spot anymore, to get a new set of clothes and other such amenities one needs when living homeless out of your backpack. After everything had been gathered, we set off to the Burger King for a snack and more apartment applications, then to FedEx to fax it over to the rental company. We had heard from Chris and Beard that there was a gallery opening featuring sweet street art installations and the art collective Antistrot that I had mentioned earlier, you know the ones that draw like this
I got to talk to two of the guys in the group, who were in town for the debut and they were very nice. We also met Charles...and he was in charge...of security, honest. Charles reminded me a ton of Jeff from Surfside in Ft. Collins, with his yeah I'll talk to you but never look at you, I'm just making sure of everything else around you type talker, and one to give you shit, he got me with essentially whats that on your shirt nose flick...bastard.We headed out in search for this art gallery called The Secret Alley down in the Mission and what happened next was just insane in the best way possible.
On Capp Street I think it was called, we picked the right side of the street,as in direction, not correct, which led us to a door with people watching it and balloons. Dillon asked if this was the secret alley show, In good fashion the doorman replied "Well if I told you it wouldn't be a secret would it" Then went back in forth in this manner for a few rounds and we finally found out that no this wasn't but they too were having a gallery walkthrough and we went in figuring we had nothing to lose, and this time we made the right choice, as in correct, not direction.
We met Johnny Hwin and Alex Greenburg, two of the tennants of this amazing loft. We looked at some of the photography, like you can do here www.alexgreenburg.com
They were playing great music and as we started talking we saw what they were trying to do, was start an artistic group of people and use this loft as a meeting space to do so. This space was to have evens of all kinds and get a kind of artist collective going. They had just moved into the place in June, and this brought Dillon and I back to a Craigslist ad I had found about a similar place and scenario. It was back in June when I found the ad, and after asking if there was a recording studio downstairs we found out that this was indeed the place we had looked at!!!! It is crazy to me that we were standing in one of the places that we wanted to live in. We talked about their projects and they found out we were a band, so we played songs of each others back and forth, and it was crazy how much Johnny's stuff sounds like Dillon's solo stuff, it just clicked and I think all us sorta know that this was the beginning of something. Something epicly cool. Dillon and I by chance while now succeeding on the home front, were established bonds that I have a great feeling will last for a long time. These guys just seem rad, and are talented in what they do, and I feel like I can get in on this thing , its not too late, oh for the people in places like Laramie, or Cheyenne, or Ft Collins, Clovis, Rifton, etc...
After being here, meeting the people, and hearing of what is on the horizon, I highly recommend thinking about making an attempt to get your art out here. It doesn't matter what your talent is, be it music, or acting,or making clothing, photography, painting, ro making big installations, now is a great time to be here. Everyone is so accepting and wanting to help you out in your craft. The networking here has come so much easier then I thought and people are just nice here. I'm feeling a little typed out, but wait until you hear the conclusion of the night, and the next morning...
(hints: it involves another art gallery, a loft with a treehouse/skate park inside, and me going to church...and agreeing with things they say...and maybe even thinking about going back??? OH MY??? I went to the big city and maybe found religion??? stay tuned)
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