Watching City Hall #466

Watching Krissy run for Kongress VI

(7-26-06)

“I wanna be the first one in my family
to die with a smile on my face.”

(Coy Caldwell of ‘Marshall Tucker’)

Hey, the quote doesn’t really relate to today’s story, but it’s a
great
line and I wanted to share it with you. I’ve been studying rock n’
roll
with Jens for years and that’s the line that stood out this week.
Most evenings I meander out of my SRO and work my way through the
drunks
and junkies and crackheads and hookers in front, move on down
McAllister
past the baby sharks at Hastings and on up Larkin to O’Farrell where I
weave through another block full of drunks and junkies and crackheads
and
hookers on into Jens’ psychdelic maze of bright paints, posters and
thousands of songs embedded in every format.

Then, I settle in with the usual suspects (Chuck Gonzalez and Luke
Thomas
and Doug Macabee and Leona Gonzales and a host of others) … and, as
James Gurley once described the preferred creative process of ‘Big
Brother and the Holding Company’,: “We get drunk and argue about rock
n’
roll.”.

We’re a little cult. Everyone has something to contribute. Luke
plays a hell of a piano, lead guitar and some woodwind or horn …
Chuck’s a lead guitar player and composer … Jens is a percussionist
and lyricist and I, of course, run for beer. Jens and I are the
first
in the district to answer our phones with: “Krissy for Congress.”.
… Hey, that’s a good spot to jump into the actual topic of today’s
column.

Gonzalez hosts Keefer campaign soiree

Power draws a crowd and Mike Farrah held the highest post of anyone in
the crowd tipping a glass to Krissy at Laszlo’s last night. We were
all there at the invitation of Chuck Gonzalez who DJ’s the last tuesday
of the month at the streamlined little Mission street bistro that leans
against Gus Murad’s, ‘Medjool’s’.

Keefer immediately steered Farrah to one of the prize sidewalk tables
when he arrived and I ran in to buy him a pint of the only beer in the
house he didn’t like. They’re friends, though often at political
loggerheads. Krissy’s a Mission icon and Mike’s Lebanese family had
a
tobacco shop with Indian product here before the Spanish arrived.
There are relationships like that all over the San Francisco political
spectrum. The crowd moved in around the most accessible member of
the
Newsom administration, some with petitions, some to simply bask in the
glow.

Michael Goldstein and Debra Walker pulled up chairs opposite Gavin’s
friend and adviser in the globally-warmed San Francisco summer night.
An off-the-clock Luke Thomas sat sans camera with date Hope Bryson who
dated Phil Bronstein and was once pursued by one of Joe Kennedy’s boys
at
another bar in Florida. It’s easy to see why. Hope works in an
upscale art gallery down by the Chronicle and gives a earthly
embodiment
to the scientific term: ’super hot, strawberry blonde’. (Eileen
Left
enters from stage left. She is inexplicably wearing a ‘Peskin for
Mayor’ campaign button in the center of her severely shortened bib
overalls.)

Eileen: “You shouldn’t have been so hard on that pollster.”

h.: (understanding) “You mean the one from ‘Wee, Lye, Fore, Yu’?”

Eileen: (smirks) “Hey, calm down. Of course she’s lying.
What
did she say? Pelosi has a 88% approval rating? You should have
just
laughed her off.”

h.: (shakes head and smiles) “I’m trying to smoke Pelosi out.
She’s ignored our calls for debate. Doesn’t even acknowledge them.
Daily Kos had her at 36% approval nationally and San Francisco is much
further to the left than Kos’ audience. It just pisses me off that
the
Democratic machine and Jim Sutton control all the business the local
pollsters get and keeps them under his thumb.”

Eileen: (stokes a bowl of pot laced with hash) “Forget it. Let
me
see you write a solid paragraph listing everyone you can remember who
was
there last night, then tell me why Matt Gonzalez didn’t show up.”

h.: (nods) “OK, I’ll apologize to the woman, but I think she was
just
trying to discourage my candidate and I won’t stand for that shit.”

Eileen: (shakes head, purses lips and shakes finger at me) “One
paragraph. Everyone there you remember. Why no Matt?”

h.: (takes deep breath and nods, then begins)

“Farrah’s table had Krissy and Debbie Lamman (her Dance Mission
friend
and operations manager) on one side of Mike and a blank seat on the
other side whose occupant changed constantly … I’ll call it the
’supplicant’s’ chair. I sat there and told him I was going to attack
Gavin at the next OES (Office of Emergency Services) meeting for not
marking, providing access and location, plus minimal buckets and ropes
and pry bars … for the City’s cisterns … and, that I was going to
challenge Gavin to support random drug tests for cops, looking
specifically for steroid abuse. James Chaffee sat there next and
Michael listened. Kimo Crossman filled the seat and Farrah’s
attention. … I can’t do this in one paragraph.”

Eileen: (smiles and lights her pipe) “Keep going. You missed
Eschelman’s ex-lover, Klane who was in from Texas and drawing a good
reception line on the other side of the two round, wrought-iron tables
that ended up pushed together.”

h.: “Oh yeah. Jane Kim sat there, I think. She’s a shoo-in for
School Board. Alix Rosenthal was there with the lady from the SF
Women’s Political Caucus, what … Sue Anne McNeal or something?
John
Rizzo who’ll win in his run for Community College Board was there.
Barry Hermanson looked great and his campaign consultant, Susan King,
who
also works for Krissy exchanged ideas out front. I walked over from
24th & Mission with Krissy’s brother, Andy who’s kind of amazed at the
attention his big sister is getting. I had 4 big sisters and I know
the
feeling.

All the women who run the campaign were there. Denise D’Anne who
counts the money. Erica Mc Donald and Sue Vaughan and Josalind Lord.
I mentioned Debbie Lamman, who speaks fluent arabic and choreographs
pro-Palestinian dance numbers. Christine McClintock.

Jens and Leona were there sitting with Chuck as he spun Bee Gee’s
numbers. Joe Lynn was bullshitting in the corner with Oliver and Max
and Chaffee and Kimo. Doug Macabee was talking to Marc Salomon while
I
was pointing out Julian Davis’ brother (another, ‘Oliver’) who just hit
town and was here after interviewing with Jeff Adachi for work.
Trust
me on this one; I’m straight, but I can see too and Julian’s brother is
the new hottest male in San Francisco. … Who am I missing?”

Eileen: (nods appreciatively and hands me a tall glass of red wine)
“Good. You missed most of the people there but you got most of the
shakers. That’s not surprising since you’re such a whore for power,
but I’ll accept it.”

h.: (ignores insult) “And, you asked ‘where was Matt?’. Well,
he
was invited. That’s about all I can say. I know that Krissy
would
love to have his support beyond an endorsement but he doesn’t
communicate
with us. I won’t hide our disappointment.”

Eileen: (nods) “That’s enough. Post this and get back to the
novel.”

OK,