Weekend in My City by the Bay

Another glorious fall weekend in San Francisco. A hint of fog sat distant on the coast and allowed that familiar crispness to brighten the day. Not to mention the opportunity to break out the lovely fall clothes — boots, sweaters, soft wools, textures, rich colors, warm tones. The city swarmed with crowds out to enjoy the feast of activities...Nike Woman's marathon brought an extra layer of visitors, there were shoppers, plays to be seen, art shows, operas, restaurants spilling over-the hot seat being the outdoor venue. Give yourself over to the crowd — drink in the energy and creativity — the surge will open your eyes to all the possibilities.

Photos by Blossom

ACT in conjunction with Kneehigh Theater extended performances through this weekend of Noel Coward's "Brief Encounter"-set in 1945 in an English train station tearoom — explores the "forbidden passion" between a man and woman, switches between film and theater with songs by Coward (who in real life was a British spy during the war and on the German "black list" — which I found far more appealing than the play itself). Overall solid performances, good music and interesting media melding (although in this tech savvy world seemed a bit lacking). Didn't find the characters particularly compelling or their story very interesting-I'll chalk it up to my not being British!

SF Opera "Salome" - Combine Strauss, Oscar Wild (inspired by Flaubert's "Herodias" and Gustave Moreau's paintings), The Dance of the Seven Veils, beautiful soprano Nadja Michael (Salome) , and very "manly" Greer Grimsley (Jokanaan) and you start to get the image. Touted as a "succes de scandale" originally in Europe, it's first tour of America in 1907 inspired a public prayer meeting and as a result Metropolitan Opera cancelled the performance. Salome's charter is a "symbol of sinful, destructive seduction...fin-de-siecle obsession with the unnatural and decadent, with vampiric beauty beneath which lurk terrifying desires" (Thomas May), pretty much sums it up! Oh and the rather painfully long love scene with the severed (rather bloody) head of Jokanaan... Another winner for new music director Nicola Luisotti (the crowds love him he is all that SF cherishes in its celebs- classy, perfectly coifed, passionate, brilliant all wrapped up in a cute, exuberant Italian package).