Today was my first visit to Haight/Ashbury. I walked in from the panhandle side. The first sound I heard out from a delivery truck at the cross-section of Haight/Ashbury at the red traffic light was from → Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Déja Vue. Not Eminem but Déja Vue. Such coincidence was powerful, one of my favorite albums. Their song is better than any masterly directed opera. This is a true live opera without any Verdi influence or Modzart, performed just for me with many coincidences coming together at the right time. This invisible director staged a perfect welcome opera party for me. Without paying a steep opera style priced admission, this opera was my private own opera in full public view. Oh, man. Me as an ex hippie and still an old true hippie in my heart with sometimes very long silver hair, in my age politically not correct, out of a truck comes the orchestra playing a time correct soundtrack. I don't know if it was from a radio or a Cd. Right on I felt good and like at home, the good old days. What a welcome the original hippie town gave me, a better script than any from Hollywood. I walked the whole Haight on both sidewalks, up and down. I noticed a dog groom store, with heavy-duty black dog collars and tons of the sharpest steel spikes on them, in the window display. It turned out to be not a pet store but a sado Sade maso sex store.
The best vintage clothing stores you find here, next to London in Camden Town. I had lunch at the *All You Knead*, i sat in a sumptuous leather covered booth in brown all by myself, my neighbor an old man in my age with a black t-shirt with huge green marijuana plants screened on it, lot's of plants, many posters on the wall, like the famous *the night birds* by Edward Hopper, or the *the runaway kid* by Norman Rockwell, out of which the ski brand K2 made a good advertising version for fat skis. I had the daily special: vegetarian burger with salad, and a root beer, it was very delicious, the greens very fresh, the burger tasty and rightly grilled, the salad dressing to my taste, all this for a bit more than 8 dollars. I have a very good time in San Francisco, this was another highlight.For dessert i walked into the music store *Amoeba*, now this, for a music lover like me but tired of mega hits, this is heaven. Huge, and so pleasantly designed, unlike these super commercial music mega store filled with the newest billboard shits.. Amoeba has music culture, the mega stores have capital culture. I wanted to make a test with a music group i haven't seen for 30 years stacked live in a shelf as a lp or Cd in a music store. Now listen to this, this blew my mind, although i didn't let it show in my facial expression: i walked up to the information booth at Amoeba and asked the young guy: “where can i find *Pearls Before Swine*” ? This is a group from 1968, unknown even in 1968. As if this is the same question the tourists ask over and over again, year in year out, at the tourist information next to the turning point of the cable car at Market, he answered calmly and very well assured, without first much reflecting, without thinking who is this weirdo band, without checking first the data base in his computer, he just said: down there in the Rock section. Hey, are you still with me ???, hey thank you, and there was *Pearls Before Swine*, and many of them, Musicalicous! The staff at Amoeba must be very well trained, must have a big musical brain. I was impressed. I'm going back, i hope D.... is joining me.
hANS bOLLI :: pAINTER
