Plastic Alto with Mark Weiss

 I was thinking that if Mrs. Leland Stanford had done nothing but build a church in memory of her child that would’ve been an incredible gift to the community.

FlashForward 150 years or what not and Aleta Hayes cocreated the Sunday worship community by having a dozen of her disciples performing a gesture chorus that covered ecumenical grounds including Judaism blessing the Torah although at first I was thinking She hacked tai chi with a banjo Aleta and her group are approaching their tenure anniversary as the chocolate heads

The troupe includes Aviva Klein Meyers, Anika Benons,  and Amber Levine who deserve Straight A’s

Edit to add this is kind of a weird Segway but after going to church with Aleta so to speak it changed my world and it change the way I looked at Michal Rovner at pace Gallery in Palo Alto and Israeli  artist who create images and video boards that are based on a fabric of human form. Aleta’s work was much more exquisite but Rovner  or is a serious artist.. HERE  Terry and I had our portraits taken at the gallery and a composite image that looks like a dog and then I shot a close-up the following week of 12 figures a detail of a different Rovnerbpiece and texted it to Aleta

Robbers show is called “evolution and continues another week

And then for payback or to reciprocate when you got up and let the audience I took the Q and reach back and grabbed her hand and suede although we are separated by the pews in different rows

Aleta’s birthday was April 26 and coincidentally I texted her that day because I received notice by email of a cd by her friend the jazz bassist William Parker.

As Say Ray fixed his Volvo, Jeff Carleton sat beside the Szabo water sculpture at the apex of Cali Ave Tuesday enjoying the misty ions and dry spring sunlight. I happened upon him en route by bike to North Venura Area (?!), stopping more because my wife Terry Acebo Davis was an arts commissioner during our negotiations with Michael Szabo than that I recognized Jeff.

I met Jeff on Earth Day April of 1993 and only a handful of times since then but we swapped stories of our overlapping circles of these last four decades here.

He showed me via webpage and smartphone the planet-Earth-themed sculpture he had created for that event 25 years ago

He sent via text, for Plastc Alto Blog, his photo of Annie Dog in her characteristic “top of the world/hood” pose.

A transcript of our talk might run 10,000 worlds or more .

But I left thinking, or a short time later of John Cage’s famous yet often misunderstood or mocked “4’ 33” “ composition for prepared piano and ambient hall   (Sometimes known as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence).

edit to add, seven hours later:

this is America

Doggie lover w. Donny Glover

ffA peek moment of my concert series was the opening notes of cake live at Cubberly Auditorium the cafeteria in fall of 1995 and although the gear was falling apart the band was playing the songs I was starting to appreciate in San Francisco and they sounded even better here in Palo Alto the video above features the same original lineup and repertoire

 I stopped Stephanie and Steve and their dog as they were leaving the Cobblery and ask them if they missed Go Mama Or were upset that the piece was removed from kitty corner to their CalibAvenue establishment.  She said that when she heard it was in doubt she went out and verified that it was wobbly and potential he dangerous especially since kids climb on it. Or we could go at the jetty Chicago lecture at Stanford a reputable arts Lamented the loss especially because in her opinion the doll with the face in the chest represented motherhood and birth The staff report from several months ago claims plausibly that the technical problem and not aesthetic reasons caused the removal. There was some discussion as to whether artist Martha hall could arrange for the piece to be bolstered rather than moved or destroyed but the city decided audio Samego’s

Further up the block near El Camino I verified that Susan Leibowitz Steinman piece talking bricks remains in tact even with the improvements to the sidewalk and narrowing of the street I like the one about Amy tan Vita blue and Willie Brown

In a completely unrelated matter I spoke to Kim are KCSM AR at Graham Greene your gallery in New York and probably will not make it to see this Jamie quick to see Smith show in this piece 50 shades of brown

skillet state 1, 9:30

Skillet state II, 10:05

(Expresso, two states, not shown. Next: menemen v shoshaka)

Or, getting to “———-“.

What is obviously and painfully missing from Gen’s story is the context, The Downtown Cap, or THE DOWNTOWN CAP, Program L-8 on Page L-8 of the Comp Plan: Limit new non-residential development in the Downtown area to 350,000 square feet, or 10 percent above the amount of development existing or approved as of May, 1986. Reevaluate this limit when non-residential-development approvals reach 235,000 square feet of floor area. The point of this is that We The People thru our General Plan or Comp Plan promised ourselves to say “no” to the developers once they had 25 million plus square feet in the city, and this amount total downtown. There’s also an additional Policy L-8, under sub-heading Commercial Growth Limits, after Maintian and Strengthen City Character in Goals Policies Programs Local Land Use and Growth Management Goal L-1 (a Well-designed compact City, providing residents and visitors with attractive neighborhoods…) “maintain a limit of 3,257,900 square feet” for new development in the nine planning areas.
Yesterday’s meeting was supposed to be The New Residentialist majority saying “ding dong the witch is dead” and we are regulating, as we have been promising for years, and five months after being elected, the real estate cartel, not um, gee, staff will find a magical way to soften the blow of us saying we do not have the courage to say no, or enact a moratorium. See also: we are gutting the Comp Plan, in favor of the developers and not updating or revising or improving it. Last night was council capitulating to power and agreeing to not enforce the law of the land, literally.

If Council, or GS or Dr. Levy make it sound like progress, I see it as a sad defeat. Meanwhile I was somehow surfing the web during the meeting and found Ben Page of Northwestern article co-written by a Princeton professor about how America is now more of an oligarchy than Democracy. And I have to admit I missed whatever it was that cleared the room (Doria Summa, Jeff Levinsky, Emily Rentzel, Lydia Kou) because I was bored and frustrated and was chatting up KZSU analyst Vince Larkin and doing a Marcel Marceau by putting on a cap, pulling it down over my head, down to my hips, wriggling it to my feet and stepping out of it. Take a bow. Maybe I will reprise that during the next 3 Minute Drill.

History repeats itself, tragedy, face and now mime.

I wrote the above three years ago, March 25, 2015, on the Weekly comments board. Last nite new council voted 5-4 to extend the problem forever. Allison Levitsky of The Post makes it sound like Liz Kniss tricked Lydia Kuo into supporting her motion and breaking a tie 5-4. Dissent were Fine,