.All the subway riding and walking I did in New York reminded me that there are many other ways to get around the Bay Area, too. While I walk a lot in Alameda, I usually drive to get off of the island, falling back on the usual excuses (It takes more time! I might have to sit by a stranger!), even though we’ve got plenty of buses and ferries and we all know we don’t need more cars on the road.
On Sunday, some friends were playing an afternoon show at The Lost Church in its new North Beach location. After imagining my usual drive over the Bay Bridge, and then the possibility of circling long minutes for parking in the tourist destination, I chose to catch the Transbay O bus. A two-block walk from our doorstep, and voila, a chauffeured ride to Salesforce Transit Center for $5.50.
From the number of other bus riders that day — two — it seems I wasn’t the only person who has gone to sleep about public transportation. Salesforce Center felt nearly empty, too. I could have taken another bus from there, but it wasn't that long a walk through the Financial District and onto Columbus Ave with its Italian cafe, bars and restaurants.
When I lived in the city, I'd sometimes “get away” by walking from Hayes Valley to Chinatown and land at Cafe Trieste to scribble in my noteboo. I felt happy to retrace some of those steps on Sunday: City Lights was packed with tourists, the twin spires of Saints Peter and Paul Church shimmered in the sunlight and Washington Square was full of artists showing large paintings. As I was checking out some of the artwork, I ran into my old friend and San Franciscan Matt, who I worked with many years ago at The Pacific Sun, who was out on a walk, which surprised and delighted both of us.
On to the show, it was great to find the new Lost Church in fine form — bigger, shinier and yet still as intimate and cool as its Capp St. predecessor. And it was excellent to see and hear songwriters Jim Bruno along with Claudia Russel and Bruce Kaplan perform. One is in dependably good hands with these folks — check out Jim’s and ‘They All Remind Me of You’ and Claudia’s “ode to a pencil” ‘Black Wing Palomino’ — who do the trick of entertaining, enlightening and inspiring one to strive to write that much better songs. It was no accident that much of the audience was comprised of other songwriters. In all, the afternoon had the feeling of a small, and happy, reunion.