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For those who celebrated Gay Pride last weekend, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves! Ironically, I got clobbered with food poisoning and had to cancel volunteering in the parade. The culprit was a tainted jug of low-sodium V8 juice. I recovered very rapidly, but not in time to enjoy the parade and sprawling street fair. GYARRRRR! But considering that I've planted myself right in the middle of all the skin and sweat every year for ten years straight, it's hardly a heartbreaker. And, there is always San Francisco Gay Pride 2007 !
On Sunday night, a few thousand revelers returned to the Castro, where two transvestites were attacked by a few sociopathic maniacs. My camera's batteries conveniently died, but I watched out of my window as about 8 police officers converged on my intersection and sprang into action, arresting one of the two young African American men who attacked the ladies. This sparked more disorderly conduct, shouting, and chanting among a few dozen of the gang accompanying the suspect. Some of the trouble-seeking hooligans began pushing the police officers and tossing projectiles at them. This resulted in another arrest, and suddenly fire trucks, ambulances, and about 6 more police cars poured into the neighborhood, blocking off the area.
Many of the protestors were glued to their cell phones, summoning more friends to join them in the disorderly conduct. Soon, there were well over one hundred guys and gals in their early 20s, every single one of them African American, which stunned me, considering that we San Franciscans are normally a very cohesive multiethnic gang. They shouted and advanced upon the line of police, and some wielded sticks and poles. Then suddenly, a hulking riot van plowed into the intersection, and a riot squad of at least 30 officers emptied out of the van and marched into position. Magically, the crowd dissipated, leaving four of their "buddies" arrested and hauled away by police. Did the disorderly assholes deserve it? From my vantage point, they certainly did.
The transvestites who were attacked maintained their composure, did not fight back, and were very dignified. This is probably the most disrespectful and inapproriate behavior that anyone saw all weekend, but other than this, the weekend was a whopping display of pomp and circumstance!
I leave you with three photos from the parade and Civic Center festivities. Imagine that this is just our first weekend celebration this summer. More are sure to follow in the coming months!
 | | Ahhhh, Diversity! |  | | Instant Woody |
 | | My Dorky Gym Staff |
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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Join me and everyone 'round the world in celebrating Gay Pride! This weekend, the ultra-massive San Francisco Pride is here once again, bound to become possibly the largest ever, with about 250 contingents and floats registered for the parade, and with the street festival sprawling through more city blocks than ever before. The San Francisco Pride's website expects over 1,000,000 total spectators this year, but this is a bit of a whale story. Officials always seem to exaggerate crowd counts— have you ever noticed? Nonetheless, you must not miss it, and if you're standing along the parade route, make sure to scream like a queen when you see my caravan come plowing through! Actually, we're just the Hospitality Group, and there isn't much shock and awe to us. But generate plenty of noise anyway, as this may be my last year volunteering in the parade.
I have one suggestion to throw out there for spectators. KRON4 films the parade year after year, but the network prefers us to be decent and camera-worthy between Fremont and 1st Streets, where they will be filming the parade. Through this single block, let's refrain from stripping nude or engaging in oral sex on the streets, shall we? After all, there will be PLENY of time for all of that later!
With the fanfare out of the way, I wish to make an embattled plea to all gays and lesbians of San Francisco, and others in fair cities with their own Pride weekend. Do remember that there is a purpose behind the celebration of our pride. It's the ultimate expression of our sexuality, but equally important, our dignity. Let us hold true to those values by making this weekend a DRUG-FREE celebration. As boring and unyielding as it may sound, I ask all of you to please join me in my relentless march against drug abuse and enjoy the festivities (and each other!) the NATURAL way.
Granted, this request is usually not very well received, especially among the party hungry and tea dance crowd in my city. To some, I come across as an Amish reverend who finds any fun-loving activity detestable. Untrue! I can have one krunk of a crazy weekend just like anyone else. It's just that I have brought with me from the Midwest my frosty opposition to such self-destructive habits as drug abuse. Am I really the grim-reaper of modern-day frolic for my way of thinking?
Now that I've stepped down from my soapbox and out of the 1st Amendment ring, I demand that you all have a blast, have plenty of safe sex, and share your Pride photos with the rest of the world!
Parade Route of San Francisco Pride
Map of SF Pride's Massive Street Fair
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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 | | Many Contracts to Sign |
With those catchy glissando melodies, they totally threw us back in time to Paris in the '30s, back into the era of avant-gardism and snobbery! I loved every second of the concerto, and I could tell that the audience was surprised by all of its sudden shifts, along with Poulenc's frequent infusions of cabaret, jazz, and even some Mozart satire in all three movements. Both sisters were a little melodramatic in the finale of this concerto, thrashing their curly locks back and forth, but it all fit perfectly into the zaniness of the last movement. Katia's high heels were making a bit of a racket on the stage as she played, but it actually complimented the percussion section! I don't think that was intentional, but I love these hidden Easter eggs in every performance. And there is sure to be plenty of surprises in the next performance, which I will attend tomorrow...
Mahler's Symphony No. 8, also called Symphony of a Thousand! This monster of a symphony was originally scored for 1,066 performers, which is just too insurmountable for any symphony hall to handle. Tomorrow's performance is scaled back a bit, but this version still requires 280 instrumentalists, vocalists, and other choir members (photo above). And the tickets, as you might guess, are not cheap. Hundreds of seats that would otherwise go to spectators are instead lost to the choir. But this concert will be quite a monumental way to welcome summer to San Francisco!
 | | Dolores Beach |
I'll leave you with one more photo, taken last week at Dolores Park, situated next to the Castro neighborhood. We kings and queens of the Castro call this place "Dolores Beach," though there is no beach in sight (it's in the middle of the city). Any guesses to why we would do this? No spoilers from the locals!
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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