I'm really dragging this out ... my last post was two weeks after the event and now here I am a month and a half out and still haven't finished my tale! So to remind you, I'm describing my four-day journey to San Francisco May 7 - 11 to attend the fantabulous Gala Event at the SFJazz Center honoring the Great Joni Mitchell for her career and influence on jazz music. At the time this event was scheduled, Joni Mitchell was scheduled to attend and be the guest of honor with seats at the dinner at $100,000 a plate, and tickets to the concert starting at $1,000 up to $25,000 a seat. This is the yearly fundraiser for the Jazz Center and although lowly people like me and probably you would have to dream about being able to afford such extravagances, there are obviously A LOT of people in San Francisco who can afford such a thing. When I heard about the event, I contacted my great friend, Les Irvin, webmaster of JoniMitchell.com to say, that if for any reason he got comp tickets to this shindig, I would like to be first on the list. I was even willing to cough up a $1,000 for a seat in the balcony, if possible.
Well, much to the sadness of all who adore Joni, on March 31 she fell gravely ill and there was obviously no way she would be in attendance. When the call came from Les that he indeed did get comp tickets, I thought, well even though she won't be there, I've never been to San Francisco, and I just got a nice tax return that can pay for my hotel and plane ticket. So I started planning the trip. I called a couple of Jonifest friends who live in the San Francisco area and we started forming a mini-fest around the event.
So after Day One of walking around the general area of Market Street, I woke on Friday, May 8 and walked down to Starbucks which was off the lobby of my hotel. There was a long line of people, obviously on their way to work (the hotel was a couple of doors down from Twitter corporate) and I waited on line craving coffee, still trying to wake up. All of a sudden a very tall barista ran from behind the counter and out the front door after a culprit who had just grabbed a bunch of drinks and whatever he could fit in his pockets ... the barista guy came back calling to his manager "well at least that time I got two drinks back!!" Clearly this grab and run tactic is an every day occurrence.
Twitter Corporate, Market St, San Francisco
And this brings me to a sad fact about Market Street, and many other of the streets I walked down in San Francisco. The homeless. My God, they were everywhere. There was one elderly lady who I saw several times standing near the subway entrance just yelling at people as they walked by "I'm hungry, I'm hungry, please give me money, I'm hungry." There were several people laying on the street, some with signs, one fellow who seemed blind, sitting with his dog on the curb, playing a boom box and asking for money. A very very drunk sad woman crying with her friend who was also very drunk or high on something sitting right in front of Twitter. Wow. I did throw some money in baskets but not much I'm sorry to say. I found out later that San Francisco has a very liberal view of homelessness, and sleeping in the park in front of City Hall seemed to be something that people did on a regular basis. You can find out more about this here: The Homeless of San Francisco.
City Hall, San Francisco
I got a text from Les, who had just arrived at San Francisco airport asking if he could stop at my hotel room so he could get ready for the Gala there. Of course! Les Irvin is another one of my best friends I met with a mutual adoration of Joni Mitchell. Les and I go way back to the origins of JoniMitchell.com and the Joni Mitchell Discussion List in the mid-1990s. We've attended many Jonifest gatherings in the years since then and he has graciously given our guitar and piano transcription database a home on JoniMitchell.com. He should get all the credit for the comprehensive presence of Joni Mitchell's legacy on the internet. Although, a more humble person you would never meet. Case in point ... when he arrived he took his tuxedo out of his suitcase (the dress code for the event was Bohemian Black Tie) and told me that the jacket cost 99¢ at his local Goodwill. He had brought the jacket to a menswear shop in Colorado Springs and asked one of the gentlemen there if he could get away with wearing it. He was assured that it was a great jacket that fit him to a T and congratulated him on the great bargain!!
Les and I went to a great diner across the street from the Hotel Whitcomb and had some cheeseburger deluxes and gabbed for about an hour and a half. Good Friends, you and me!!
Les Irvin
Les informed me that there was a good chance that we could get into the rehearsal for the SFJazz event that was starting around noon. After lunch we walked over to the SFJazz Center and talked to a woman who was at the side entrance who escorted us to the security desk. Les talked to the security guard and it turned out Les was on the access list. The guard called the SFJazz PR manager, Marshall Lamm. Marshall came right out to introduce himself and was very cordial, and happy to escort us around the facilities. He brought us to the auditorium and the band was already out getting ready for rehearsal. Marshall said we could sit and listen but asked us not to take pictures. We thanked him and sat down, looked at each other and high fived! We were in! Not so fast, Marshall walked up again about a New York City minute later and said "I'm sorry, you have to leave right now!" Oh well, I guess somebody was not happy with us being there. As a consolation prize, Marshall showed us the dressing rooms, hoping we could talk to Laurie Antonioli, the jazz vocalist, who had just released a critically acclaimed collection of Joni Mitchell songs called "Songs of Shadows, Songs of Light." Joni had hand selected Laurie to perform at this event and Laurie had emailed us several times before we arrived hoping to get to meet us. Laurie wasn't there yet so we ended up back on the street walking past the grand memorial to Joni, eventually ending up at a cappuccino bar. It was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the Big Event! More about the big night in Part Two!
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