Two Meals and a Mechanic February 13, 2009

Bakesale Betty's Fried Chicken Sandwich - photo by e.t. under Creative Commons license

I was walking to the bus stop after dropping our car off at the mechanic’s.  Judy Mayne has been our mechanic for over ten years.  Cars are one of the many things that we – or I – really don’t want on a worry list.  Computers, kitchen appliances, cars: things I don’t want to put any thought into, I just want them to be there and ready when I am.  And when they are not, it always makes me philosophize about how complicated our lives have become, about our dependencies, and begin calculating how much of our lives we spend taking care of our stuff.  This is time and money that I don’t want to burn.  The best thing with cars is to have a mechanic who keeps your car running and makes the process effortless.  We have not had to give our cars a second thought since Judy became our mechanic.  They just keep running.  Our van is a 1997; our Nissan is a 1994.

Near the bus stop, I passed a restaurant that I want to try.  It is Sunrise Donuts in the Harbor Center.  I want to try the Chinese food here.  I do not have high expectations: there is just something that appeals to me about a donut shop/Chinese restaurant in Marin County.  There are a number of donut/Chinese places in San Francisco, and probably elsewhere, but this is the only that I know of in Marin.  The grease factor has me holding off on this place for a while.

Another restaurant I want to try is Bakesale Betty in Oakland.  Why Bakesale Betty?  All I can say is: look at the picture.

Judy’s Automotive, 155 Alto Street, San Rafael
Sunrise Donuts, 175 Belvedere Street, San Rafael, in the Harbor Center
Bakesale Betty, 5098 Telegraph Ave., Oakland

John Vanderslice at the Great American Music Hall February 4, 2009

John Vanderslice with the Magik*Magik Orchestra

So here’s a show, and it looks good – possibly great – and if you want to keep your “indie cred” up, especially at my age, you need to say you were there.  But I just couldn’t bring myself to leave the house on a Friday night and drive into San Francisco after a busy week, and there’s stuff going on with the rest of the family, and this, and that. . .  But then, then, I won tickets to the show.  How could I say no?

So I went to see John Vanderslice with the Magik*Magik Orchestra at the Great American Music Hall.  John Vanderslice is a nationally-known singer/songwriter of the indie rock variety.  Along with playing and recording, he records other musicians at his Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco.  This was a Tiny Telephone Studios 10th anniversary show with the Magik*Magik Orchestra, which is an orchestra that “understand(s) the indie rock and classical languages and aesthetics equally. . .”

John Vanderslice opened the show on guitar, with a keyboard player and a drummer.  I wasn’t really that familiar with his material.  It reminded me of Death Cab for Cutie – it had that kind of softer rock sound, with a good pop feel, and John Vanderslice sings in Ben Gibbard’s range.  His stage presence is quite appealing, just seeming like a regular and sincere guy.

After about the third song, the orchestra came out, packing the stage.  There were strings, horns, woodwinds, chorus.  And then the show got great.  The Magik*Magik Orchesta added an incredible dynamic and feel to all the music.  True to their word, they really did bring an indie rock sensibility into the playing.  It was not just an appendage to the music – the orchestra was really incorporated into the songs.

Walking down the street after the show, watching club-goers out on the street in their black shirts and short, short dresses, skipping by some of the hanger-onners outside the Tenderloin residence hotels, passing the restaurants with owners smoking inside and looking tiredly past their freshly mopped floors, I realized: I wasn’t just happy, I was elated.

So thanks, John Vanderslice; thanks Magik*Magik Orchestra; thanks to The Bay Bridged for giving me the tickets and the incentive to go.