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5 days of adventures in food, drink, art, and all things human on the streets of the Bay Area...

Just got back from my trip to the Bay. As you might expect, I had a lot of fun, and got a lot of work done. Here's a run-down.

Tuesday:

Arrive OAK, first stop: visit Tiffany Bozic's new studio in the O. She's got a rad loft with a fantastic view of the freeway. Her new shit is bananas. You're gonna love it. I believe her next show is at Blackmarket, so keep an eye out for that.

Spent Tue afternoon chillin with friends in the city. Ran into my buddy Anthony P. Morris...

He was extolling the virtues of "Beef and Cheese". Scored some stickers from Kelly Tunstall on the same spot right in front of Everlasting, a neighborhood hub of sorts.

Hit Casanova Tue night. My buddy Diego was working the bar...

Got pretty ripped on flourescent blue drinks.

Wednesday:

Slight hangover. Spent the afternoon working on Rebel8 stuff and putting my bike together. Got the fall/winter line figured out, and I've got a few more drawings to do to fill out the collection. My first ride in the city on my old Gitane took me from 3rd & 20th to Alamo Square. It felt so good to be back on SF streets. It humbled my ass too. The streets were wrecked, lots of sketchy drivers, and the hills were fucking nuts. I had a ball.

My friend Lolly made enchiladas Wed night. They are without question my favorite enchiladas on the planet, and one of my top 5 favorite meals of all time. I was psyched. I had the leftovers the following night.

Wed night Diego and I went for a zooted bike ride through the Panhandle, through Upper Haight, to the Inner Sunset. We heard some ill live funk music coming out of a pub on Irving, so we stopped for a drink. The Smoke Daddies were killing it. After a beer, and a skinny older lady doing dirty yoga within arms reach of my seat, we stopped at Aub Zam Zam for last call. I love that bar.

Thursday:

I painted some furniture for an Upper Playground project...

Good times...

Went to Annie's to see Kalas that night. They're rad. It was a bummer to see Mike Pike without his axe, but he still had lots of power. A band called Mendozza played before Kalas, and they rocked too. I'm listening to their CD right now. Ran into a bunch of friends at the show, including Mr Bigfoot. After the show ended, we stopped at Allstar for donuts, and then met BF at 111 Minna for afterhours ish. Henry Lewis made my favorite stuff in the show that's up at 111. Great show all around though. Check it out if you're down there. After 111, we kicked it at La Casa de Bigfoot for a bit before a drunken bike ride back to Alamo Square.

Friday:

Did some quick tattoos on my homie Diego after a late breakfast. Then I met my friend Shannon, and we caught the show Paule Anglim. I couldn't believe how tiny the brushstrokes were on Clare Rojas' paintings. Super cool. Then we slid into MoMA 15 mintues before they closed and saw the Matthew Barney show. I love his work. I think he's amazing for a lot of reasons, but mostly because he works in so many mediums, and has the opportunity to make some really monumental works of art. His show rocked. His use of petroleum jelly is off the hook.

Then we rode up to White Walls to see some more art. As usual, fresh shit on the walls. And the erotica show at Shooting Gallery was super. I love the dirty stuff, and there's lots of it. I'm super excited about my show at White Walls with Mike Davis in August. It's a really cool space.

From the TL, we cruised around the Mission, and I spotted lots of fresh GUSTO stuff like this...

We had dinner at Cafe Gratitude, per the suggestions of the viewing public. My wish for a great vegan meal in SF came true. That place was fucking crazy. I'd never been to a place filled with more extreme happiness, ever. Seriously, I thought everybody was on E. The food was great. I had the "I Am Abundant" sampler plate with some organic beer. Shannon had a pizza, or something they called pizza, but was in fact not much like pizza at all, but it rocked anyway. For dessert, we tried the pecan pie a la mode. Holy shit. Awesome. Wish there was a Cafe Gratitude in Albuquerque.

Saturday:

Missed my flight home. I thought my plane left at 9pm. I was actually scheduled to leave at 9am. Stoops. A quick phone call got me sorted on a flight back on Sunday. No big deal. So I spent the afternoon riding around the East Bay. I got off BART at Berkeley and rode around familiar streets for a few hours. Stopped by the Ashby market...

Walked around Telegraph a bit. Smoked a bowl at People's Park. Rode down to Oakland. Stopped to see my old friends at Tattoo 13. Had a tofu scramble at Mama's. Met up with my homie Ben and we rode through downtown, along Lake Merritt up to Grand. Then we doubled back through downtown and cruised around the hood near MacArthur before I caught BART back to the city.

I got off at Powell and rode over to my friend Val's house to kick it. She had this fresh pistol lighter to spark the local herbals...

I used to live with Val and this guy in the same house...

Anybody recognize homie?

From there, I rode around the Embarcadero down to Fisherman's Wharf, then doubled back to the Giants stadium, and stopped at the CalTrain yard to see the new engine cars...

From there I rolled up Third to the Rebel8 warehouse...

Dropped the bike off, and we caught the 22 Fillmore bus for Hell Ride to the Haight! I forgot how many sketchy fools lurk SF streets. The bus is shady as Hell, but fun for a tourist like myself.

Last night we posse'd up one last time dinner at The Blue Plate. If you've never been there, check it out. I love it. My friend Val makes the desserts, which are amazing, along with all the rest of the food they offer. They don't have a lot of veggie options, but their mashed potatoes alone keep me coming back. The kale and mac'n'cheese rule too.

After dinner, in an attempt to avoid the madness in the Castro and Mission from Gay Pride, we went to Specs in North Beach. It's another favorite spot of mine. It was pretty empty, as expceted. That's the way I like it. We killed some beers and had some laughs.

Sunday:

Caught BART at 8am. Back in my house at 2pm. Glad to home. I had a great time in SF. Thumbs Up! to all my friends that made my stay there memorable. And to my homies I missed this time around, I'll see you in August... {moscomment}