opening night review
I didn't get started till almost 10pm tonight but I read until 2:15, with one short break to run back to the house for hand warmers and food. I made $7! not bad for the first night. I'm hoping to make myself a fixture. it will force me to write new stuff, hearing myself read the same thing over and over. and maybe more people will give me more money!
in any case tonight was a success in that I read for almost four hours without losing my voice, my nerve, or anything else I needed and I made money for reading for the first time ever, even if only a little. I might go buy myself something special with it. what can I buy for $7 that is special? bet I could find a nice little notebook at flax or pearl.
here is what I learned:
a handwarmer kept in each front pants pocket will keep your whole body warm when combined with adequate clothing.
many young women in san francisco will go out on a 40F night wearing a little black dress and no wrap of any kind other than their boyfriends (I didn't see anyone wearing a little black dress with a girlfriend trying vainly to keep her warm with her suit jacket).
tonight at least, the crowd at foreign cinema was not interested in what was going on around them but preferred to drink way too much and then stagger from the door to the curb yelling at the top of their lungs while taxis and limos pulled up to whisk them away from the mission with all possible haste. I hope they enjoyed their stay..
thus
the better venue might be the wells fargo between doc's clock and the make-out room which is fine because the atrium offers a nice chamber for natural amplification of one's voice.
and standing there observing drunken couples trying to deal with each other at closing time I got a really bad vibe: from far too many I discerned either full-blown fight or one party trying very very hard to explain themselves to the other pissed off party. bunch of mean drunks. I didn't really want to be there among them but I had laid out my little spot and did not want to roll it up again until 2am had come and gone.
I understand now why the shoeshine folks on market street charge $1 for information about the neighborhood. and for photos. I might need a larger sign.
foot traffic on Mission Street is a little thin when it gets cold. we will probably get used to winter in a few weeks' time though. about the time it starts to warm up.
I could use a time lapse movie of foot traffic on Mission Street for that matter. predicting it seems more difficult than I expected it to be. 11-12:30 seems to be peak hour but it is hard to hit it so that people are not rushing to meet their party nor rushing to the next drinking hole nor rushing home to catch some zzzzz's. why does everyone rush in order to relax?
my voice, after twelve years, can finally take several hours of projecting without vanishing completely, although I do sound a bit like johnny cash right now. there are worse things. :)
in any case tonight was a success in that I read for almost four hours without losing my voice, my nerve, or anything else I needed and I made money for reading for the first time ever, even if only a little. I might go buy myself something special with it. what can I buy for $7 that is special? bet I could find a nice little notebook at flax or pearl.
here is what I learned:
a handwarmer kept in each front pants pocket will keep your whole body warm when combined with adequate clothing.
many young women in san francisco will go out on a 40F night wearing a little black dress and no wrap of any kind other than their boyfriends (I didn't see anyone wearing a little black dress with a girlfriend trying vainly to keep her warm with her suit jacket).
tonight at least, the crowd at foreign cinema was not interested in what was going on around them but preferred to drink way too much and then stagger from the door to the curb yelling at the top of their lungs while taxis and limos pulled up to whisk them away from the mission with all possible haste. I hope they enjoyed their stay..
thus
the better venue might be the wells fargo between doc's clock and the make-out room which is fine because the atrium offers a nice chamber for natural amplification of one's voice.
and standing there observing drunken couples trying to deal with each other at closing time I got a really bad vibe: from far too many I discerned either full-blown fight or one party trying very very hard to explain themselves to the other pissed off party. bunch of mean drunks. I didn't really want to be there among them but I had laid out my little spot and did not want to roll it up again until 2am had come and gone.
I understand now why the shoeshine folks on market street charge $1 for information about the neighborhood. and for photos. I might need a larger sign.
foot traffic on Mission Street is a little thin when it gets cold. we will probably get used to winter in a few weeks' time though. about the time it starts to warm up.
I could use a time lapse movie of foot traffic on Mission Street for that matter. predicting it seems more difficult than I expected it to be. 11-12:30 seems to be peak hour but it is hard to hit it so that people are not rushing to meet their party nor rushing to the next drinking hole nor rushing home to catch some zzzzz's. why does everyone rush in order to relax?
my voice, after twelve years, can finally take several hours of projecting without vanishing completely, although I do sound a bit like johnny cash right now. there are worse things. :)