it's high... it's deeeeeeeeep ... barry's... outta there

the moon looked like one of barry's amazing shots into the bay,
walking from the ferry building to the ballpark on the embarcadero last night.



we knew it had to end sometime, the reign of barry bonds in
san francisco, these were great great times for giants fans,
for baseball fans. we could only get standing room tickets for the
very last game barry'd play in as a giant, but we had to be there.
one last time, we had to be in a crowd of 43,000 people standing
on their feet cheering barry! barry! and be there for the very last at bat.
we picked a spot in the left field stands, by that legendary
left fielder, number 25, barry bonds. they had painted his name
and number on the grass in his spot, in black and orange.



the last AB


barry waves goodbye and leaves the game, and the ballpark, and his days among us
as a giant, in the bottom of the sixth.



and he's really gone, goodbye and thanks! BARR-EEEE !!

interested persons apply within

so, if you change the first line, making it 'extraordinary man for extraordinary woman,' and you think you fit the bill, don't fax or email your resume to megan dickerson,
get it to me. i'd love to hear from you.

tribal rituals

yesterday was yom kippur. from erev yom kippur starting at sundown friday and on into the next day, till the sun went down again, i spent nearly all my waking hours in temple: reading, praying, fasting, singing, hanging with the heebs; and then all the day today, hanging with the heads. for deadheads, one of our temples is certainly the outdoor ampitheater on the campus of the university of california in the people's republic of berkeley, california,
the greek theater. we deadheads did gather there today to see what phil lesh was up to these
days and to see each other. this tribe also has great rituals, great traditions, ones that uplift
and sustain us year after year, come what may. it's true.

and so it is that another sweet, sublime, sunny sunday afternoon show at the greek theatre is in the books, we boogied with the band today, and such a splendid time it was. all my friends were there, just about. the ones that weren't, they were surely missed.

it definitely felt like a family reunion, the music wasn't like the old days but it reminded me of them, and it was good both to remember and to feel so glad we're mostly all still here, still having a real good time. if you were there, you know; and if you weren't, i wish you could've been. it was so good. "in the land of the night, the ship of the sun is drawn by the grateful dead."

when you get it wrong, just start over

it probably wasn't so bad that you can't somehow fix it or re-do it.
atone if you need to, and also accept forgiveness; but do go back,
or even better: go forward, and start over.
so, in keeping with yom kippur, here's an eraser, a sharpener,
and a good stout faber-castell pencil. go for it.

everything is illuminated

hallway light fixture, hotel roosevelt, hollywood

jonathan safran foer is right.
everything really is illuminated.


underwater swimming pool mural by david hockney; hotel roosevelt, hollywood


hearts desire, tomales bay, point reyes


same day, same place; hearts desire, tomales bay, point reyes


one sunny afternoon at home in san francisco, in a simpler, sweeter time.

well it's just a box of rain

i'm at a complete loss for words, the going is weird. and
the weather's weird too, on every possible level. the clouds
and a cold front rolled in dramatically last night (see
below, i shot the two sunset photos of it from the window of
my car, as i was leaving work last night) then it rolled
away again this afternoon. but whether you're in new hampshire,
new york city or the napa valley, you can feel it, summer's surrendering
to fall, and i am feeling tossed and lost, windswept and weary.
time to flan up. yeah, i'll put on my dancing shoes and i'll
new speedway boogie; because one way or another, this darkness got to give.



so then, just this, here's some of my photos,
but the words are robert hunter's, you've heard the song:
box of rain, from 1970's timeless classic: american beauty (the grateful dead)



look out of any window
any morning, any evening, any day
maybe the sun is shining, birds are winging
or rain is falling from a heavy sky



what do you want me to do
to do for you
to see you through?
this is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon
long ago



look into any eyes
you find by you and you can see clear to another day
maybe it's been seen before
through other eyes
on other days
while going home



what do you want me to do
to do for you
to see you through?
for this is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon long ago

such a long, long time to be gone

it's just a box of rain
i don't know who put it there



believe it if you need it
or leave it if you dare



but it's just a box of rain
or a ribbon for your hair


such a long, long time to be gone
and a short time to be there


(shop window, main street st helena, very late last night-
here's what to get for the deadhead who has everything. )

these little town blues

little town reds, actually: this is stags leap, the legendary terroir along the silverado trail,
not far from where i live now, home of amazing reds that stunned the french at the judgement
of paris and turned the wine world upset down, tout le monde.

it's beautiful, it's paradise; but what you see here is about as exciting as it gets. you
can't drink ridiculously great wine 24/7, and that being the case, there really isn't a
whole lot going on, not much to do here.


and then, looking the other way down yountville cross (west, toward highway 29 -
at upper left, the tiny sliver of a crescent moon)




madison ave- yountville, california; today

are melting away

madison avenue- new york, new york; yesterday

i did some transcontinental daytripping- napa to new york and back;
12 hours of magic in manhattan.

this stretch of madison ave between E 61st and E 64th is seeing a
burst of growth of high-end retailers and a cluster of jewelers. ivanka trump
is in the diamond jewelry trade now as well as being in the family business. she
opened her first boutique last week, right here. the eponymous little boutique
is absolutely lovely and her designs are classic and sublime. i wish her great success
with it. chanel, barney's, hermes, and other luxury retailers are making this
little stretch of madison rival fifth for jewels, threads, rare books and antiques.


the man, the myth, the legend - icf, saturday style in front of his office on madison.


the signature medusa of versace

isaac pointed out to me the medusa of versace, prominent in gold leaf on the
doorway of gianni versace's crib just off fifth near the park.
every detail of this home is pure beauty, in that singular and classic versace style.


into the park, isaac took me to his favorite spot for lunch, this little glade.



it was so great to see isaac and to take in the magic of indian summer
in the city, in the gorgeous golden hour before the sunset.


i love new york.


the corner of fifth and 59th
at far right is the pierre, famed for its elegance,
behind it rises the GE building, scorned for its lack of it.



bucolic amid the bustle

no, this is not a painting in the metropolitan museum of
art, not a constable, not a gainsborough, not a turner;
not a lush verdant composition in oil by jacob van ruisdael
and not the dramatic but delicate sky of an aaelbert cuyp.
i didn't get the chance to visit the met this trip, decided instead
to take in the masterpiece of landscape architecture that is central park.
this is The Pond, late afternoon yesterday, central park just off 59th and
5th.


thank you, frederick law olmsted, by the way; for all you did to create lasting
beauty in the landscape architecture that you put in place in new york and in the
city of boston in the last half of the nineteenth century.

FLO lived from 1822-1903, and spent his last senile days confined to the
mclean hospital at waverly mass- whose grounds, ironically, he had designed.

this grand view of central park, the mansions of fifth ave,
the metropolitan museum of art center left, and the fashionable upper east side-
one of the greatest views in new york, right? scroll on for the 360 degree
sunset panorama, seen from the roof atop the penthouse level of the trump international
tower at 1 central park west, columbus circle.


a little further down fifth-
the other gigantic twin towers cast their long shadow across the cityscape-
those twin towers would be A and B of the enormous time warner center at columbus circle.


5th and central park south, looking down 59th st

the essex house is at lower right- see why i love to stay there?
great neighborhood!! the plaza and the pierre flanking the corners,
the distinctive architecture of the citicorp center, the top of the
bloomberg tower fading into the sky at 59th and lex, and, if you
enlarge the photo, look straight down 59th to the 59th street bridge -
that splendid cantilever bridge connecting midtown to queens
for almost a century- since 1909. it's grand. kickin' down the
cobblestones, lookin' for fun and feelin' ... groovy.


still the view from the top of the trump international, looking southeast to the forties

classic architecture of midtown manhattan, from left to right:
at far left, you can see the grand twin spires of the waldorf-astoria hotel.
rising above the waldorf to the right is the metropolitan tower, just a dark sliver
visible beside the carnegie hall tower. they stand *close* together, separated
by only ten meters distance with the russian tea room set between them at
street level. beside the carnegie tower is the dome-topped cityspire center;
at center of the shot is the spire of the chrysler building; beside that rises
the old pan-am (now metlife) building, with grand central station bustling unseen
beneath it; and the old RCA building, now with the red GE sign atop it,
is 30 rock, the tallest building in rockefeller center.


upper west side story

looking up the hudson at the span of the george washington bridge-
that building in the foreground- 15 CPW- is incredible- that stone facade
is gorgeous up close. check it out, if you find yourself in new york at
west 61st and the park. it's really quite extraordinary. like some of new york's most
grand and glorious buildings, this high-rise (you see the penthouse, here)
is clad in limestone, as is the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 834 fifth avenue, and 740 park ave. you may have
marveled at one or more of those yourself, some time in your life.
i have. like those buildings, 15 CPW is stunning in the beauty of its stone facade.
it's no coincidence, the stone for those well-loved old manhattan buildings,
erected in a bygone era, was taken from the empire quarry in indiana.
it was reopened just to provide the limestone for this building.

there's two wings- a 20 story building on central park west and, fronting
broadway, this 43 story tower with its set-back terraced penthouse- yeah.
right at lincoln center. nice if you love opera, ballet, jazz and the phil, right?
the two buildings connect via a private interior courtyard. i can only imagine
that the penthouse is just about as rarefied an atmosphere as you can get.
then there's the single buyer who bought the entire 39th floor.

isaac pointed it out to me, we had walked through the park and emerged
right at this building. its beauty just really does stop you in your tracks
at street level so you can take in the perfection of the masonry, of the lines,
and the setting. thanks isaac. he knew i'd appreciate the excellence of this
project and its enduring beauty, an amazing cornerstone to the southwest edge of
central park, the green heart of the city.


straight up central park west to morningside heights

in the late 70s, up to the summer of 1980, i used to hang at w 72nd
and the park, hoping to catch a glimpse and say hello to john and yoko
and sean (always together) and get a snapshot. i can still hear that
friendly liverpudlian 'hullo,' and i got that snapshot, yes i did, of the
three of them. all we are saying, is give peace a chance- still.



central park looking from the west across to museum mile

in the larger view you can see the landmark boathouse to the far right, the
spire of the nature observatory in the center, the metropolitan museum of art along
fifth and the obelisk behind it; the lake in the center and the reservoir
(now named for jackie kennedy o) at the top; and in the center, the great lawn.

this concludes your trip to the top of the trump international tower, we hope you
had a great time. oh and by the way, 'you're fired.'

i want to be a part of it

auditioning in front of the new york state theater at lincoln center
(i'm sure they'll be calling any day now.)


a week till opening night 2007-2008 at the metropolitan opera house;
starting the season will be natalie dessay singing the title role
in donizetti's lucia di lammermoor. you'd be mad not to go.


lincoln center for the performing arts, on manhattan's upper west side

i went to 'la boheme' last night, and took this photo during the first intermission;
just after rodolfo and mimi fumbled with their candles, groped for her key, and fell in love.

this is just part of lincoln center: the metropolitan opera house and avery fisher hall,
home of the new york philharmonic; seen from the balcony of the new york state theater,
home to the new york city opera and the new york city ballet.

over at avery fisher hall, the patrons are also on the balconies for intermission.
this night, it was john williams conducting the new york phil in music from his
film scores. a long time ago, in a galaxy far away... i was a young and poor bohemian
barely scraping by in new york city. true story.

new york, new york

columbus circle at street level

just barely visible at the center, the gigantic steel globe;
the trump international hotel and tower to the right of it,
the shops at time-warner center to the left; and the
new hearst tower's angular facade rising above that;
and at far left, one worldwide plaza.



isaac's terrace view at night

after the opera, isaac picked me up in a town car and we stopped by his apartment
in chelsea, then headed to soho for a swanky midnight supper, sitting in the kitchen
garden of a classic french bistro, raoul's. it was a magnificent and memorable visit.

i couldn't be more proud, isaac, my dear one. if you can make it there, you'll make it
anywhere. i say once again: nicely done, wonder boy.

but be careful, because lest we forget:
somewhere in new york, luca brasi sleeps with the fishes:


aquarium at raoul's, 180 prince st, nyc

adio, prima

opera night and first class flight, today; the contents of my handbag emptied on my dresser

the lincoln center for the performing arts, the metropolitan opera and the new york city
opera remembered beverly sills in a tribute tonight. ana netrebeko and placido domingo
sang, and friends the likes of carol burnett, barbara walters, henry kissinger and mike bloomfield remembered her sense of humor and her strength of purpose. she was much-beloved by all who knew her, and countless numbers of people like me who didn't. she truly graced our age with her gift of song and her ebullient spirit. as friends and fellows said of her tonight, over and over: 'she was a force of nature,' and the new york city opera said the same thing here in its current playbill.

she will be forever missed. i'm so happy to count myself among those lucky ones
to have been there when she still sang on stage. because of all the joy she gave me,
i took myself to lincoln center this weekend to say 'thank you,' and what better way
to do it than to take a seat in the first ring and be transported by her beloved
new york city opera company back to la belle epoque of puccini's poetic opera la boheme.

if you click on the photo, you should be able to read the page in the playbill. i wish
you could have been there with me, it was tres jolie.

ferry land

leaving Baghdad by the Bay's embarcadero via ferryboat this morning
(another photo that's cool to click on to bring full screen,
move your cursor and you can see the details of SF's
waterfront today- before the finish of the rincon tower and
the transbay terminal building change the skyline forever)

' a bridge is only a bridge, a highway in the sky. the ferryboats were close to
the foaming heart of the matter... something to love.'

herb caen said that. he also coined both the monikers 'baghdad by the bay,'
and 'beatnik.' i never appeared in his column, but my brother robert
made it a mission to get in, and he did. i'm glad that herb lived to
see the dambarcadero freeway come down, he hated that eyesore
and the city is the better for loma prieta quaking and shaking that
thing into inevitable oblivion. hard to believe it's been more
than ten years since herb passed on. he also, famously, said:

'one day if i do go to heaven... i'll look around and say, "it ain't bad,
but it ain't san francisco." '


"god, i love this city ..." san francisco chronicle photo