My day started with an early Morning walk to Chinatown.
And following the reds in Chinatown I found these orange chairs – there are dozens of them – in Mint Plaza. Would be interesting to do a timelapse from a bird’s eye view of the plaza and seeing the orange chairs move around… maybe just one photo per daylight hour, over the course of several months… 
Last night’s performance went well and I had a great time. The slide show might need fine-tuning, but it is working. The audience enjoyed the combination of guitar-playing, the visual imagery and the Q & A. I think it is a pretty original concept and it keeps getting better. I could not see the screens which are in the corners of the room, but Jon said there was plenty of nice synchronicity happening between the music and the visuals… ah, the brain always wants to make sense of things, find an order to things… so predictable and wonderful. I feel relieved, because it’s a totally new slide show and I am using a different program (((Apple’s Keynote instead of Adobe Lightroom))), but it is working well and, I think, creates a nice step forward.
Did not enjoy Caffe Greco on Columbus yesterday morning, so when Jon suggested a new place he found near the hotel I was ready. It’s called Blue Bottle and here is the page for the cafe, which is near the old mint just SoMa – South of Market. After a cappuccino we also had to try the siphon coffee – see this explanation I found on the interwebs. Very nice. And a nice show, something of a tea ceremony, but with coffee. Perhaps more chem lab than bamboo hut, but highly recommended.
Link to New York Times slideshow about this siphon bar. Blue Bottle sells a set up for $140, but amazon seems to have a similar siphon pot for about $50. And Matt, you can find lab coats here. You should be able to get the whole enchilada, siphon pot plus lab coat for around a hundred bucks. Hm, maybe you should also consider lab glasses to safeguard your eyes? Please do send a photo!!
Put my hoodie on to keep my head warm in the cool San Francisco Morning air. Walked to Columbus Avenue for my morning coffee. The tip of the Transamerica Pyramid was in fog and I found a nice angle for a photo. 
Now back to the slideshow, which is still not finished… and yes, I am adding those two images.
Saw this ad a few days ago. Hey, that’s an almost poetic advertisement…
Maybe not PC… but…
We arrived in San Francisco. I read for most of the flight… Confucius said:
By nature, men are nearly alike;
by practice they get to be wide apart
Now working on slideshow, which is still not finished, and guitar-playing, which will never be finished…
History – Samovarlife
Per the request of the City of San Francisco, Samovar Tea Lounge Yerba Buena opened April, 2006, enlivening the shuttered and defunct space that had housed a failed Starbucks. Samovar Yerba Buena is a garden oasis, resting above an urban waterfall in the heart of the city. Nested beneath the city’s skyscrapers, Samovar satisfies downtown workers, tourists, and convention-goers with an escape from the city’s frenzy.
…enlivening the shuttered and defunct space that had housed a failed Starbucks.
Nice!
Locations
