The Art of Rock 'n Roll

I am a product of the sixties. All of my teen years occured during that turbulent decade. I will forever love the music of that era.....and I will forever love long hair on guys. It's what I grew up with and what I love. So, when Lou said there was an exhibit at a local museum of some psychedelic posters from concerts of that time, I said, "Let's go."

Lou has collected several concert posters from the Bill Graham concerts in San Francisco....plus we saw an exhibit of hundreds of these posters in Denver (I think). Our living room is partly decorated with some relics from the sixties (besides us).....a lava lamp, Lou's framed posters, a large collage I made from old album covers & records and coasters with peace signs.

It is hard to comprehend that four decades have now passed since I was a teen-ager in the midst of the 1960s. I remember being slightly appalled in the early 1990s when my son was in high school and one of their history classes was "America in the Sixties"......geez, now it must be in the "ancient history" category!

Some of my sixties highlights include:

1) Taking the bus to Berkeley with two girlfriends when I was 15 and stumbling onto an appearance of the original Jefferson Airplane in a record store. I managed to scrape together enough money to buy their album and have it autographed by every one of them. I still have it!

2) Seeing the Yardbirds (with Jeff Beck) perform at the Rollarena in San Leandro (yes, it was a real roller skating rink)....and not having a clue what I was really experiencing. I just liked the Yardbirds and it sounded like fun.

3) Attending the Monterey Pop Festival for one day with a friend and her mother who wanted to see Ravi Shankar. Once he performed they were done and ready to head home. I was pissed off because I wanted to see the Jefferson Airplane. Little did I know (as Lou has often pointed out to me) that I missed all kinds of things that have gone down in rock and roll history......like Jimi Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire on stage.

All of these memories and lots more were stirred today as we wandered around the museum viewing the posters from more than 40 years ago........FORTY YEARS! How is that possible? Where does the time go? I still feel like that 17 year old girl but I'm almost 61 years old. This just simply cannot be true!

Anyway, while I try to wrap my brain around these thoughts, here are a few of Lou's photos from today.

Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin

Cream featuring Eric Clapton

Lou's favorite the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Here is a replica of the aforementioned guitar that Jimi Hendrix set ablaze at the Monterey Pop Festival.

Unfortunately, the concerts advertised by the above posters were just a year or two before both Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin along with Jim Morrison of The Doors were all dead from drug or alcohol related issues. That was the bad part of the sixties......everyone thought they were invincible, but they weren't. BUT I am still here and came through the sixties relatively unscathed!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Knowing all the things that Lou has done for me over the years (it will be 10 years together for us this June) I wanted to do something extra nice for Valentine’s Day. A little online research turned up a great rate at the Circus Circus in Reno which is a two hour drive from our home. I made a reservation for Sunday, February 13 which would carry us over to February 14 – Valentine’s Day!

We checked the weather reports since the journey involves crossing Donner Summit in the Sierra Nevada, and found out that the snow was supposed to hold off until Tuesday – the day after our return.

Since Lou is a train fan and a history buff, I suggested a stop at Colfax, a small town in the foothills, where there are two train depots, a history museum and many old-time buildings. It turns out the town is named after Schuyler Colfax who was the 17th vice-president of the United States and moved to Colfax after his term.

One of the historic Colfax train depots

Lou's photo of numerous ecletic items packed into the small history museum

Remnants of the old town's signs and historic buildings

These birds kept us occupied for awhile trying to get decent photos

While we were exploring Colfax, a freight train came roaring through town. I ran to the fence and furiously snapped a few photos.

I got lucky to get this photo of the engine

One of the many boxcars covered with colorful graffitti

Neither of us are big gamblers at all except for a few sports bets. Lou bet on the Kings to win that night – which they did – so he won $25 minus the casino’s 9% cut. He also put some money of the Giants to win the World Series this year and I put a few bucks on Jeff Gordon to win the Daytona 500 this coming Sunday. Cross your fingers!

As soon as darkness began to fall, we walked up and down Virginia Street where Lou took lots of neon sign photos to add to his collection.

The famous sign that crosses Virginia Street in the heart of the casinos

A now-closed dive motel that still had it's neon sign lit for some reason

After a great dinner at the Silver Legacy we headed back to our room to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I had a really bad cold which was putting a damper on my celebratory mood but I did my best to hang in there. Lou gave me the simplest gift – and by far the BEST gift – anyone has EVER given me for Valentine’s Day!

He handed me a full page handwritten letter along with the usual card with beautiful sentiments. The heartfelt letter told me all the reasons he loves me and how much I mean to him! Of course, it was absolutely beautiful, made me cry and totally blew me away! He said he read an article that said women want love letters more than anything else so he decided to try his hand at it. Well, my sweetie done real good! I fell in love with him all over again.

One of my favorite cruise photos of my other half - am I lucky or what?

The weather reports all said the storm was moving in quicker than expected so we decided to head home right after breakfast. Unfortunately, we had to put the chains on the car over the summit in windy, cold, snowy weather. Lou was outside in his yellow rain jacket while I was in the car with the window cracked following his instructions – turn the wheel this way, the other way, drive forward a foot, stop, back up a little, etc. He managed to get them on before frostbite set in.

The view from the car window as we headed for home

It was slow going but we made it home in about three and a half hours including chain installation and removal. It was a wonderful Valentine getaway and one that I will remember fondly every time I read my letter!

Diego Rivera, the Palace of Fine Arts & the Castro Theater

No, that's not the answer to one of Johnny Carson's old Karnack skits (hopefully, most of you remember those classic jokes on the Tonight Show). Last Tuesday we headed out for a day trip to San Francisco. It was a beautiful, bright, sunny day in The City. Lou had found a few more things for us to do – see a Diego Rivera mural at the San Francisco Art Institute, visit the newly renovated Palace of Fine Arts and see a movie at the art deco Castro Theater.

There seems to be no end to the diverse and interesting things to do in our northern California city by the bay. This photo was taken out the car window as Lou wound our way through the downtown streets.

The San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge between some city skyscrapers

Our first stop was the Art Institute on Chestnut Street. I have never seen so many pale, skinny, oddly dressed young women in my life! Everything from orange & lime green mixed together to purple hair to thrift store chic – oh, well, guess it goes with the territory in the art world. The lighting on the Rivera mural didn’t allow for good photos but there was a small exhibit of modern art by the students. Here is a photo of one object d’art – I just don’t get it.

I'm open to any help in interpreting this "work of art" - sex must be involved

From there we headed to the Palace of Fine Arts for a stroll around the lake. I’d never taken the time to really enjoy the architecture of the area. I’d only been there in conjunction with a trip to the Exploratorium as part of a school field trip where my main concern was counting heads to keep track of the kids.

The Palace of Fine Arts

Just a gorgeous winter day in San Francisco

We drove by the old Alhambra Theater, which is now a fitness center, before stopping for lunch at Mel’s Drive-In on Lombard Street. It was like stepping back in time with the vinyl booths, formica tables and juke boxes.

A fun place grab a burger and a tuna melt

“Burlesque” starring Christina Aguilera and Cher was playing at the Castro Theater. We arrived close to an hour ahead of time and literally drove around for 40 minutes looking for somewhere to park the car that allowed longer than two hours. We finally gave up and parked in a two hour space so we wouldn’t be late for the movie. The theater is beautiful and the movie was lots of fun.

I wanted to see the movie more than Lou – and he wanted to avoid a parking ticket more than see the end of the movie. He willingly left about 20 minutes before the end to move the car. I called him when it ended and walked outside to be picked up by my own private chauffeur!

The art deco exterior of the Castro Theater

Some of the ornate interior design of the theater

Usually I try to get these little travel reports posted within a day or two. All during the day I kept feeling that I might be catching a cold. The next morning I woke up with one of the worst colds I’ve had in a long time. I can’t remember being so congested and stuffed up and miserable. Between work, being sick and an overnight trip to Reno for Valentine’s Day that I wasn’t about to cancel, today is the first day that I’ve actually felt like I’m back among the living!