Don’t get me wrong,I am so excited about the private opening today at HANAhaus at the beloved and historic Varsity Theater, 456 University Avenue, even if I put about 500 hours into trying to wrest the lease from Chop Keenan and give it to someone like the former Bill Graham Presents of San Francisco.
Chop told me “this will rock” and I believe him. For at least six months. Until Labor Day.
But it is funny to order a cup of Joe and see this in the bottom of your cup: Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
Mayor Karen Holman, who I endorsed and voted for, is more politique about this:
“We’re thrilled that SAP is opening HanaHaus in our community,” said Palo Alto Mayor Karen Holman. “It is a reflection of Palo Alto as both a steward of the past and an entrepreneur for the future. We are one of the world’s centers of innovation, and HanaHaus aims to create a place to spark creativity and community. I encourage everyone to spend time in the space after it opens to the public later this week.”
It’s so good to be back at Bates [applause], and I want to congratulate all you graduates. I know what it’s like to struggle for something you really want, to start out and be in a sea of people. You don’t know who’s going to be your friend; you don’t even know if you’re going to get along with your roommate.
I remember the first time I came to Bates it was spring of my junior year of high school, and my mother and I took a plane from Boston up to Lewiston on Bar Harbor Airlines. The plane was eight, nine, 10 seats. We came up here, and I remember thinking that it was an outpost. I felt I was somewhere near the North Pole [laughter]. I come from Colorado; that’s where I was born and raised, so it was so far to travel.
At the time, I just wanted to get out of Colorado and see the world. It’s funny that I chose Bates to see the world [laughter]. But then, when I look at all y’all, I can see that you are the world, and even more so than when I was here. When I was here, there was a flavor of international students, there were different people, different ethnicities walking around. But as I see Bates today, I see that’s intensified and there’s even more of you out there; there’s a real mosaic. So I want to congratulate you on that as well [applause]. The second time I came to Bates was during a minority student weekend. I was a senior in high school, and I remember being so excited to come here, to meet all these other black and Latino students, and to dream about coming to a place like this.
I traveled after I left Bates, and I realized that I wasn’t a minority. In fact, there’s no such thing as a minority. You can box off a place and count off the people and say, “You’re the minority.” But if you’re looking at the whole planet, I don’t like to talk in those terms. And I feel that Bates really helped me to expand my view of the world. It was at Bates that I got to interact with people I never thought I’d interact with: people from Africa, people from the Caribbean, people from East Asia, from West Asia, from all over the world. This was my jumping-off point to discover the world.
As I said before, I’m from Colorado. I was saying this last night, so I’ll just be frank. When we would leave Colorado and go other places, people didn’t still have Jerry Curls. We would come back home, and we were still rocking the old styles. There was always a sense that I was always behind the times. But when I came to Bates, I got to meet different people, see different viewpoints, and really get into discussion with other people. I am just so grateful to Bates for giving me that opportunity to expand my mind.
I would like to give some advice. I would like to say that as you leave Bates, that you be careful how you spend your money. I remember when I got here; I never had a credit card. And I got to my mailbox the first week, and there were all these credit card offers. I thought, this is great! Luckily, I didn’t take up on all that. But looking at the state of the economy, looking at the housing market, looking at the high amount of debt that Americans carry, I think it’s very important that the young people start to endow themselves, and not go out and get a new card and pay a high note. Don’t go out and buy the new clothes and new technology. Don’t go out endlessly and spend your money with your friends.
Use your time wisely. I’m 38 years old, and it seems just yesterday I was sitting where you all are right now. Take your time and use it well. Use well the money that you make. Save your money, because you’re going to need it in the future. Always remember that education doesn’t ever stop. It always keeps going. I remember after I left Bates — I had spent a whole year writing an honors thesis — I was tired. I thought, I don’t want to go back to school for awhile. I started playing music, and here I am. I would tell y’all it’s very important to always educate yourselves. Always think of others. And always nurture your intellect and your soul.
I’d like to end with a brief quote from Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia. He said, “The key for betterment and completeness of modern living is education. But, man cannot live by bread alone. Man is also composed of intellect and soul. Therefore, education in general, and higher education in particular, must aim to provide, beyond the physical, food for the intellect and the soul. That education which ignores people’s intrinsic nature and neglects their intellect and reasoning power cannot be considered true education.”
I remember the poet Yeats once said, “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” So, I encourage you all to keep the fire burning.” Bless you; thank you.
(Corey Harris address at Bates College, 2007, the year he also won a MacFound Grant)
I am reading the New York Times on a computer and wondering where to see an American movie about a Japanese woman who freezes to death in Minnesota looking for treasure lost in the movie Fargo.
The other night I was thinking about “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and how it does or does not describe the greed to which we have agreed.
I also want to see that Russian movie, but it’s based on a Colorado story.
Saturday I saw a dude at Peninsula Creamery wearing a Navajo Stanford shirt and wondered whether he himself was in the Coen Brothers remake of “True Grit”. I was mistaking him for the son of Cody Sanderson, who made me two cuffs, one that I definitely think is silver and one that I worry might be “coin silver”.
I have a hard copy of the same article about Kumiko.
My favorite clan of musical Cajuns and wanna-be, write a book about, marry and divorce Cajuns the Savoys are coming to Down Home this Sunday, March 22, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m prompt.
I started stalking the Savoys only after I started stalking the Blanks, Les and Harrod. Les Blank made famous film “Marc and Ann”.
Ann also played Palo Alto Lytton Plaza a few springs back as Magnolia Sisters.
Cool things might be swing by Just For You in Dogpatch SF for beignets then on to El Cerrito for Down Home. I wonder if they still have those signed Charlie Musselwhite CDs. I note that the newsletter references for sale 2 discs by Pasatono of Oaxaca, of of near Oaxaca.
Bon temps roulet. This is good auspice, like finding turtle eggs, for the opening of the 456 University, formerly the Varsity now SAP HAHAhaus. Private opening 4 to 8 pm. today, Tuesday but say “turtle egg” to get past the door man. I guar-an-tee.
ned Kahn is a 2003 MacFound genius grant winner for his work at SF Exploratorium and he is so far eye-candy for the team from HNTD design, who want to build our $10 M Adobe Creek bridge over 101
Not that guy, this guy:
actual Ned Kahn, who was only at podium for about 2 min, at 9:45 Monday, March 16, 2015 in Palo Alto
and I: Ned Kahn was MacFound class of 2003 along with visual artist Karen Tze, future president of Dartmouth Kim Jim and composer Oscar Golijov.
This team is also responsible for the Mary Avenue / Homestead High bridge over 280, that I’ve never been on but looks nice when you whiz by.
and more than once, including Judy Wasserman, at 9:55 people have referenced jokingly the line “to sell us a bridge” — referring to the competition process — which I learn references the urban dictionary meme “I’ve got a bridge to sell you” which is Brooklyn Bridge, circa 1936 a con man named George Parker if I can believe what I read, who would sell tourists, his marks.
18 public speakers, cut to 2 minutes each, and 100 letters on this, at 9:55.
nest day: I was gonna update this: Birdbrains, 1 Geniuses 0
I played two seconds of “The Crunge” from “Houses of the Holy” because of the tossed off line “where’s the confounded bridge?”. The song they say is a James Brown homage.
Phyllis Wasserman a former commissioner turned around and I muted. There was a five minute break, before Mike Sartor public works director started the discussion.
I spoke previously claiming the thing, at $10 M, is a pork feed.
The song in this post, the “she” in the song is the bridge:
She’s my baby let me tell you that I love her so and
And! She’s the woman I really wanna love
And let me tell you more, oooh!
She’s my baby she lives next door
She’s the one a woman the one a woman that I know.
There’s actually more people here at Council now than for the Comp Plan review.
It seems a little late to say “kill this” based on price.
edit to add: Joshua Redman, who has cousins the Shedroffs in this community, or did, Nathan and Daniel my Gunn classmates, covered this 1973 jam in 2005. I tell you what, I nominate Josh to play that song here if the confounded bridge gets guilted. Josh Redman will be in the area April 7 a one-off with Kuumbwa Dream Team band (roy hargrove, christian mcbride) and then parts of the west in june with Bad Plus. Here is slink with impressive doings re our new bridge.
and1; i am tempted to stand up in public and make a fool of self in that to my mind I would rather provide rent relief to 1,000 Palo Alto families than have a fancy pants bridge here. Ten million dollars I guess is worth $5 per ride for 2 million future riders, how long would that take? or for families already here, who are being forced out by rising rents –mine has gone up 40 percent since 2008, or about $800 — I am counting $500 times 20,000, or a thousand families for almost two years, to figure out if they can stay or can go. Or as a more humanistic transition out of our middle class. (I know that the buckets are not the same buckets, but this stinks like pork).
(For some reason, I post things to my blog that I don’t actually follow up on in real life. I was going to write to Will Bernard, then thought better. If any friends of fans of Will read this, tell him I say hey. This offer semi-expires. )
Hey, Will.
I have this project where I pay musicians to busk at Lytton Plaza, in Palo Alto.
I have $XXXX budget.
Ben Goldberg and Taylor Ho Bynum recently played here on a similar basis in September, 2014.
Your website gig archive claims you last played Palo Alto in summer 2007 with Baguette Quartet. (Not sure if I’ve seen you since!!)
My recollection is you also played here WBQ opening for Charlie in 1997 and with TJK in 1995.
It’s about time, yo.
mark weiss
650.GIG.!!!!
i also am doing monthly or less showcases at a little cafe in Menlo Park, Cafe Zoe, ticketed, at the door, also pays $XXXX per performer, I charge about $10 at door, so far it’s been unplugged singer songwriters more than jazz or instrumental.
Some day there may be a real venue here, but it is getting worse not better in terms of the rent.
(I’m also wondering if the HanaHaus thing will pan out, for the benefit of emerging and underpaid musicians, as distinct from Foreigner even at a benefit rate at Menlo Circus Club. Ninety nine percent of what I’ve done in the arts is targeting the middle class not tapping the rich for nobles oblige or what not — or I’m a hater).
In 1920 the first event at what is now known as Menlo Circus Club of Atherton was a pony ride that raised $500 for The Convalescent Center, the forerunner to Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital. A century later — and countless pony rides, polo matches and other posh pits — the rock band Foreigner is playing a benefit there May 16, 2015 for $500 per ticket, and sponsorships in the $100,000 range.
day on the green prototype, menlo atherton circa 1920
I saw Foreigner in 1977 at Day on The Green when they and I were more “Hot Blooded” or was it “Cold as Ice”. In fact, that song was inspiration for the title of my column at Gunn High Oracle, “Cold as Ice” by Mark Weiss. I also saw Foreigner at the Cow Palace on my birthday in January, 1982, with three friends and a bag of weed.
(we read somewhere that smoking a little dope in the presence of strangers while listening to loud music would ward off colorectal cancer for at least 30 years).
Not sure what I think of the 1 Percent producing rock concerts with $500 tickets, even for new facilities at El Camino Hospital. How about paying a fair share of your taxes and not obstructing single-payer health care universally here in the U.S.?
If I was producing a benefit for a hospital, not sure how I’d land on Foreigner other than the fact that one of their keyboardists, Michael Blaustein was treated for colorectal cancer recently. A sussing around of the facts of this case landed me on the notion that former Palo Altan Gregg Rolie is overdue for a show here. (And there is something about the Ringo Starr All Stars, of which he is a member, canceling some local shows, so there is a whole, in theory in his schedule. Andrew Bernstein gave a talk recently about producing concerts at Homer Street Warehouse and that Greg Rolie was his producing partner. When Leo Herrera did a Santana Tribute show on Cali Ave last summer I mentioned to mayor Greg Scharff that the actual Santana founding keyboardist Rolie should play here, perhaps when they re-open the streets.
I don’t speak Italian but it looks like my old friend Jack Walrath is out and about, for instance he is in Italy Ascoli with Gary Smulyan and friends. Go, Jack! Bravo!
JACK WALRATH & GARY SMULYAN QUARTET al CottonJazzClub di Ascoli C=Lounge / 6 marzo 2015 h 21,45 (circa)
A guardarli all’opera da vicino mi ricordano quei temerari ma tranquilli operai che costruivano grattacieli a Boston – Chicago – N.Y. negli anni ’30: l’arcinota e abusata foto in B/N (ma si dice sia un primordiale fotomontaggio) con loro seduti in fila sul braccio di una gru a cento e più metri d’altezza, a “riposarsi” in bilico, sicuri e apparentemente felici. Operai-Artisti. Sotto di loro il vuoto, ma anche il Jazz.
Certo, questi di stasera sono dei signori operai. Non vestono tute e caschi, non maneggiano chiavi inglesi, cazzuole e martelli. Ma non hanno neanche luccichii da palcoscenico, vezzi da star, arie da maestri. Non posano. Anzi, sono praticamente mimetici, si confondono col pubblico, bevono birra. Semplicemente “lavorano” jazz sublime. Con “arnesi” normali, quasi da mercatino dell’usato: la tromba color argento
Jack Walrath, my former client, is a jazz trumpeter from Montana who went to Berklee and played with Mingus and lives in New York.
Applejack Walroth is a bluesman from Chicago who played with Boz Scaggs at the 2009 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.
Jack Walrath also played with Willie Nelson in the 1990s which got my hopes up that he had snuck out to mean ol’ frisco for this hit.
he says he’s the bass player on Maxwell st circa 1966
and1: Bob Devine on Delmark blog:
A guy named “Apple-Jack” Walroth showed me how to pack the rare records so that they wouldn’t shatter in shipping. I later learned that he was a musician, played blues guitar and was picking up the blues harp from some of the players around Chicago — Little Walter, Shaky Walter Horton (also known as “Mumbles” Horton who had earned the “Shaky” nickname on the basis of his head movement when he played), Jr. Wells and others. Apple Jack made a point of telling me not to take any advice from Charlie Musslewhite, known as “Memphis Charlie”, another harp player who was deemed by Koester to be an excellent blues man, but one of the dimmest and least reliable workers at the store
here is video of Charles Mingus group doing “Sue’s Changes” at Montreux, 1975:
he is sometimes also known as Jack Zappa:
from TapeOps:
As a songwriter, home recordist, and musician who gigs frequently, sometimes on stage I encounter the ugly and dreaded situation where the AC power paths will be such that when I am holding my instrument [harp mic or electric guitar], and also touching the PA mic as I sing, I get zapped by the way-too-familiar 110 volt electric shock. Yes, after the fact, I flip the amp ground switch when there is one, or reverse AC plug on the amp otherwise. And yes, some amps have a grounded 3 prong plug and some just have 2 prongs. All amps are not created equal and all circuits are not always properly grounded, by any means. We are not at liberty to rewire every faulty circuit we encounter in the universe. Any musician who plays out frequently under many different scenarios is almost certain to be zapped once in a while. But I don’t want to get shocked in the first place, and don’t always have the luxury or desire of using a cordless mic to avoid the problem.
edit to add, February 26, 2024: I am a Jew, sitting on the porch of the Santa Barbara mission, staring at one of those rusted El Camino Real bells, with the Pacific Ocean in the distance— thoughts are with Walroth, who timed out this week.
Plastic Alto with Mark Weiss 