I went and saw a couple of shows this weekend, which turned out to be a wonderful way to recharge my batteries. On Friday, M and I went to the Great American Music Hall in S.F. to see Dot Dot Dot (ex Ninewood), Faun Fables, and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. SGM's set included a ten foot, benevolent sun god puppet which swayed and danced its way through the audience. Shinichi was also on hand for some flawless butoh dancing during most of the set. Just beautiful. G, M and I even got to be part of the procession that forced its way through the crowd to the stage. We all chanted in unison with the strange christian cult blather coming over the PA system as we advanced through the bewildered crowd. Aim to confuse.

Saturday saw me in a park in Sunnyvale, making slime. This was in conjuntion with the Hands on the Art festival - some sort of child friendly city-centric arts/crafts festival. More than five hundred cups of slime were made during the morning and early afternoon. I left when we ran out of materials.
That night I drove up to the City again to see Om and Six Organs of Admittance. I got there early enough to wander up the hill under a waxing moon and get a tasty mocha at a little coffee shop called Farley's. The show itself was at The Bottom of the Hill, which is one of my favorite venues in the City due to the availability of parking and the fact that Farley's is up the hill. Pretty mellow neighborhood too. I ran into some old friends inside the club, including one who I went to high school with. We reminisced about getting into trouble and complained about getting old for awhile. Of course, the fact that he was both drinking and chain smoking wasn't helping him any. I think I've had my yearly allotment of second hand smoke now. In the distance, towards the bay, there was a massive fireworks display illuminating the sky and shaking the air. Not sure why. Soon afterwards, Six Organs put on a stunning set, which was much more varied than the one I saw in Toronto last year. The music ranged from delicate, fluid acoustic guitar to savage bursts of noise produced by electric guitar and drums. At several stages, the sound was either looped or provided by backing tapes, providing some interesting interplay of sounds. Their set ended in a massive, hypnotic chant that left me wanting much more. Soon Om hit the stage and I could literally feel the sound waves wash over me. The air vibrated. Pretty good for just bass and drums.

Today we're trying to clean up the house and yard. Almost time for another week to begin.