What’s Going On?

The legendary “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson passed away a little after noon on Thursday. He was at his home where paramedics rushed over to revive him, but were not successful. He suffered from a cardiac arrest. Michael Jackson was only 50 years old.

I’ve had so many good memories of Michael Jackson. I remember listening to him on the radio. I tried singing along as best as I could. I still try. I even remember days where I tried to mimic his signature “Moonwalk”. As you can imagine, I am still unsuccessful in trying to copy the great move. The one thing I know is that I will always forever be a fan of his. His music always brought life to any party.

There were some situations that I found myself twiddling my thumbs, amongst company at a party or a night on the town and it never failed that once a Michael Jackson beat is dropped everyone goes crazy. It’s something about his music that makes people want to sing, dance, groove, moonwalk or even scream. Ever since I was young my head would always bob to the beat and rhythm of his songs.

Amongst his many songs that he’s sung I like almost every one of them; however, there were a lot that I don’t quite like as much. Nevertheless, my all time favorites come mainly from the 80s. My favorite songs are: “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”, “Rock With You”,  “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin”, “The Girl Is Mine”, “Beat It”, “Billy Jean”, “Human Nature”, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”, “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Man in the Mirror”,   “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”, “Black or White”, “Heal The World”, and  “You Are Not Alone”.

A few songs Michael sang that I like, but were not specifically under his own label were: “Can You Feel It” and “Shake Your Body Down” with The Jackson 5 and “Say Say Say” with Paul McCartney

Some other songs that I liked, but not overly enthusiastic about are “Smooth Criminal”, “Bad”,  “Jam”, and “Remember The Time”.

So much can be said and done about Michael Jackson’s life, but all we can do now is to keep his legacy alive of great music and what it has allowed for change to have happened. He is loved by many and I hope that future generations can appreciate what he’s done to the music world. He is a music icon that will be missed, but forever etched into the record books.

I had the privilege of meeting a man by name of Lenny at the SalmonAid salmon bake event. At the event we exchanged some conversation and later swapped information. He later invited me to what I would have never experienced if it were not for him. Abalone diving is not something you hear about every day. It’s something that you eat every once in awhile. Most Americans eat beef, chicken, pork, fish, and all sorts of vegetables. Shellfish is great, but I believe most people tend to stay away from it because they are either allergic to it or it can be rather expensive.

Lenny took me up the coast of Northern California in his vehicle along with two other guys, Ryan and Beldon, who I got acquainted with while on the drive to our diving location. During our trip, I learned a lot about the nature of abalone diving. I found out that it is a sport that is done solo. Divers can dive in partners or small groups, but the sole act of diving and capturing abalone is an individual task. If going in groups one person in the group is assigned to be a spotter just to make sure if one person doesn’t come up for air then the other diver has to go in and to prevent a potential drowning situation.

The whole sport of abalone diving starts out when divers swim out from the coast with their equipment.  Divers can equip themselves with tools to capture abalone, but they they are not allowed to carry any breathing apparatuses with them in their hunt. Among a diver’s list of tools that he/she can bring out onto the water can be and are not limited to the following items: wetsuit, mask, snorkel, fins, knife, weight belt and weights, depth gauges, at least a 7inch gauge (ruler), an abalone iron (spatula looking tool), flashlight, and personal abalone floats (rubber inner tube encased in a backpack styled cover which allows the diver to use as a flotation device to rest on and to enable storage of equipment and abalone caught). Other optional flotation devices are used such as inflatable surf mats, boogie boards, kayaks, canoes, and even boats.

After a hike out to the coastal waters, Lenny, Ryan, and Beldon got out into the water. The waves were a little choppy, but to me it did not look too bad. The tide was coming in and everything looks totally fine observing from the surface. However, while in the water that is a different story. The three guys told me later that the water was a little rough.

While on a dive there is so many things that a diver has to think about. Divers need to think about their oxygen in their lungs, they have to keep aware of the tide and the waves because within the water there is a lot of power which can easily take you in or out to sea, wave could also smash you into rocks or into fields of kelp. Divers sometimes fear the possible confrontations of sharks, and the fear of suffocating. When divers dive near the coast they face kelp fields. One of the worst scenarios is to be running low on oxygen, thus a diver comes up for air, but while coming up for air it is possible to get tangled in a strand of kelp which can easily attach to your belt or other equipment. Being anchored down the last thing a diver should do is struggle and panic losing any remaining oxygen left. Divers need to remain as calm as possible and either untangle themselves or cut the kelp with a knife.

After collecting three abalone each, the guys come to shore and showed me their wonderful stash. The catches seem really good and large, but no record keepers. The largest abalone caught on record in California is 12.34 inches. It was caught by  John Pepper. Catching of any abalone under 7 inches is punishable by fine and confiscation of fishing license. One article I found on illegal poaching of abalone was written by the Oakland Tribune in 2005. You can read more about it here.

Later that evening, Lenny invited me over for dinner and I partook in an abalone feast. Lenny took the abalone and sliced it thin, where he then smashed it with a tenderizer, breaded it, and then fried it on a skillet of olive oil. Accompanying the meal were rice, green beans, artichokes, and chicken wings (the chicken wings seem odd right in this meal, that’s because I brought them over along with green beans).

Alice @ 97.3 FM radio stationed put on another great free concert in Golden Gate Park at Speedway Meadows this Sunday. Performing live for the audience were Parachute, Sugar Ray, Matt Nathanson, and Gavin Rossdale.

The day was sunny with a cool summer breeze. Thousands of guests lined the grass with blankets and lawn chairs. People picnicked with friends and/or family. There were booths throughout the field that sold food, clothing, arts & crafts, and informational booths. One of the most sought after thing to do at the concert in the park was the flying trapeze. People lined up to try and swing across as if they were in the circus. Safety harness, safety net, and safety line helped insure safety to all that tried. Looks like a lot of fun. I think one reward of going up the high ladder would be the magnificent view from above at the people and concert below.

My favorite part of the concert was just hearing Sugar Ray sing. I’ve always heard Mark McGrath on the radio, but I’ve never seen him perform either on television or any type of music video. Having seen him on stage was pretty cool. He was so lively and animated and forever thankful to the crowd for being so into his on-stage presence. Some concerts that I’ve attended when the guest singer/performer ask for audience participation, it usually comes with some hesitation. However, Sugar Ray was able to raise that bar high. Audiences got into it with sing-alongs, clapping, dancing, high pitched screaming, and you can’t forget the yelling of “Your fly is down!!!”. McGrath performed his entire show with his fly down. After a few shouts, he eventually checked his zipper, but in fact the zipper was actually button jeans. He bought his white pair of jeans at H&M and informed the audience to never buy jeans from them or something like this would happen. He wasn’t phased by this little bit of embarrassment and he forged on to perform a great show.

The other bands that performed were also great. Hundreds of fans stormed up towards the front of the stage to get a good view. Majority of the forerunners were young women who wanted to see their dreamy guys sing and sweat. Music was great. It was loud and the bubbles were blowing. A few things that I left the day with were a sunburn, suntan, and getting temporarily deaf in my right ear.

SalmonAid is an awareness festival that allows people to come out and enjoy themselves. At the same time SalmonAid tries to inform people of what happens to wild salmon when dams are being built to block the natural flow of rivers.

Friday was SalmonAid’s kick off celebration where a few native tribes who live off the Klammoth River came down to host guests with a salmon bake. Saturday is SalmonAid’s festival at Jack London Square. What was suppose to happen on Friday was that the some tribes from Northern California near Yreka were suppose to come and bake salmon by first building a large fire pit. Something similar to a bonfire and then filleted strips of salmon would be put on sticks of Redwood. Then the sticks would be inserted in the sand around the fire and the heat from the pit would bake the fish. Flipping of the fish once was the only thing required after a few minutes. Then just serve and eat.

However, Friday was a really windy day at Ocean Beach and the whole salmon bake had to be postponed. Disappointing as it may sound, it wasn’t. The salmon bake was brought inland into Golden Gate Park and it was there were the event turned into a salmon BBQ. Some people picked up some charcoal and lighter fluid at the local Safeway nearby and I helped pitch in by getting the charcoal going on two grills. Once the grills were fired up and ready to go, salmon was tossed onto the grill. The salmon was simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Boy was it tasty!

Turnout for the event started with a group of about ten, but as time progressed into late evening people trickled in and the size was about a good forty. Who would have figured a salmon BBQ in Golden Gate Park? What started out as a strong windy day at the beach ended up being a cool calm day at the park. Thank goodness for the park trees to break all that wind and sandblasting.

For more information on SalmonAid, check out their organization’s website at: http://www.salmonaid.org

A couple things that you can do to help the tribes and other people that live off the Klammoth River is to educate family and friends of this potential hazard of damming up the river. Damming rivers not only prevent the salmon from naturally swimming upstream to spawn, but it allows toxins and other pollutants to build up. Releasing water from the dams will in turn slowly kill off all wildlife downstream. Also by educating the public would hopefully allow legislation to help put a stop to damming up other rivers not only in California, but other states as well. People like the native tribes of Northern California get their food from the river. Some do go off to grocery stores to get food, but part of their diet comes from the fresh wild caught salmon and acorns. Lastly, another way to help is to support the sale of wild salmon and the fisherman that catch them.

The North Beach Festival this weekend has been a fun and great festival which takes place in Little Italy. This has been my first experience at the festival and it has nothing, but great things about it. What I thought was going to be only two blocks of festivities ended up being more like eight or more blocks of awesome art, food, music, and other commercial products. The festival also included the entire Washington Square Park. There were two grandstands, one located at Columbus and Green and another located at Washington Square Park.

The North Beach Festival is probably one the most relaxing festivals that I’ve ever been. How relaxing can it be? Well, you can first start off by walking throughout the whole festival and see all sorts of things, then when you get tired, grab a bite to eat and bring it over to Washington Square Park and have a seat on the grass and listen to some live music.

What made this festival fun and different was that I saw artists creating masterpieces on the pavement made from chalk, a pizza tosser, a “swing” band getting 10 couples out on the dance floor, people getting their animals blessed in the local church, a band singing “Motown” in North Beach, and an overall fair that was divided into many different cells.

This event was so much fun that I spent a hefty amount time just walking and looking at the different booths that were here. I had some delicious Sicilian pizza. I listened to some great music. I saw some cool works of art. I got to see a pizza tosser and while taking a picture I caught a huge blob of raw pizza dough thrown randomly at me as the tosser was trying to throw it into the crowd behind his back. I even got a tan.

There is so much art and color and history in this festival that it was a shame that I haven’t come to this festival ever before. I do hope to come back in future years and I hope that if you haven’t attended the festival that it is one to mark on your To Do List.

The Haight Ashbury Street Fair (HASF) is a very colorful fair with lots of different colors and things going on. What makes this fair interesting is that all different types of people attend it. Much more different than the Union Street Festival and the others that will occur in the summer, the HASF brings out the most interesting people. Hippies, punkers, skaters, and bums are all out and about. Some are here looking for free entertainment and some are here to just bring back memories of what life was like in the Haight in the 60s and 70s.

This year at the fair I saw a couple of interesting things. One was a woman creating works of art with henna tattoos. This was the very first time seeing this type of art up close and personal. I never understood what it was at first. My first impressions were that it was a tattoo that was etched into your skin using fine point metal picks, but I was wrong its harmless. A woman just used ink from a bottle and squeezed it on to her customer’s skin. While researching more of about henna, I found out that “Black Henna” has para-phenylenediamine (PPD) in it and that could possibly give stain and scar skin and could possibly lead to health risks.

Another thing I saw at the fair that was rather interesting was a vendor that created short
saxophones. The short saxophones looked like a clarinet but had the upper reed portion of a sax. When I heard him play it, the sound was just amazing. I couldn’t believe my ears. Although, I don’t think this will ever become part of an orchestra, I think that this unique instrument would be good to accompany any musician while on the road travelling. Though it would not look and feel the same, the short sax is highly portable.

The fair was held on Haight St. a few blocks south of Oak St. and ran along several blocks from Stanyan St. to Masonic Ave. Two grandstands were located on each of the ends of the fair. Food vendors were at every single block and there were many many artists that came to show off and sell their pretty creative works. The weather was great at the fair, only in San Francisco could you have foggy weekdays, but clear and sunny skies on the weekends.

Overall, this fair was pretty fun. There were so many friendly vendors and just seeing all the psychedelic tie dyed shirts and crazy colored memorabilia just takes you to another world. What also I love about this fair is that you can spend the whole day in this area. In the morning you can stroll around in Golden Gate Park, the afternoon spend the time at the fair, and in the evening grab a bite at a local restaurant. Another great thing about this fair too is that it’s on flat ground; no hills which is great for everyone.

Pictures of the Haight Ashbury Street Fair can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

The San Francisco 49ers hosted Family Day at Candlestick Park. Free to all fans, the 49ers offered many workshops for the kids, activities for all ages (field goal kick, 40 yard dash, obstacle course, etc), and even autograph signings.

This was my first year at Family Day ever. As a native San Franciscan, I’ve never had the opportunity to come to one Family Day. Having the opportunity with two friends, I decided to tag along for the journey. It was quite a crazy experience. I’ve never seen so many kids running around wearing 49ers memorabilia. Lines were long for free autographs. There were even lines for food and free giveaways. The kids had probably one of the best giveaways ever. They got a free ticket if they completed several workshops at the stadium. The tickets were for upper reserve seats. Their face value was $81.

My favorite moment at Family Day was being able to see the five Super Bowl Vince Lombardi trophies. I can’t believe that San Francisco was home to so many awesome players. It’s kind of sad to see the end of an era. I just hope with the new pick up of Michael Crabtree that the team will pick up a little pace on the many years of drought. I remember the days of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. That was when I had a deep appreciation for the game. I played in high school and I followed the team, but ever since the team started going down hill it was hard for me to want to stay home and watch the game.

One sad thing to note is that there was this one booth that showed fans the new stadium plans for Santa Clara in 2014. I was so sad seeing this because Candlestick Park will be only a memory. The Giants have left the building to AT&T Park and now the 49ers are soon to leave for a different city altogether. If there was something I could change about the move, I would have the 49ers play in Oakland for a few years as Candlestick Park is rebuilt, but that is only a dream. I hope that I will have the same passion for football as I once did when I was younger.

Overall, Family Day was a great time to see how much fans still appreciate the team. I’m glad I went because that’s what sports is all about, it’s about family coming together to take part and watch the game together.

Edgewood Center for Children and Families is a non-profit organization that seeks assistance for kids that struggle through social, mental, abuse, neglect or family problems.

Several of my friends wanted to meet and help out the children of Edgewood. We all agreed to schedule a date where we could all commit to helping the needs of this organization. What we signed up for was fun, but not only that it was rewarding.

This is my second time at Edgewood and the program that we were involved with is called Breakfast Club. The volunteer session with Edgewood is a two and a half hour time commitment. The breakfast session is on a Saturday mornings from 8:30-11am. Volunteers for Breakfast Club are there to cook for the kids. There are three cottages and groups are divided up into teams of four. If there happens to be no volunteers the staff there would have to prepare the meal for the children. Thankfully, most of their Saturdays are booked in advanced and volunteer groups are more than welcomed to serving the children through this program or other various programs (dinner club, gardening club, fundraising events, etc).

I love cooking so this was on my number one things to do for the community. It’s been probably a few years since the last time I was here, but being back brought back so many fun memories. The memories were both of being able to cook alongside my friends and being able to cook for the kids that seem so happy to see new people. Some are quiet and some are very talkative, but in the end all the kids really want is love. I’m glad that I was able to be a part of it and I really do hope to book another session with them.

If you would like to find out more information, please visit their website at http://www.edgewood.org

Today I decided to spend a day out in Pacifica. I first started out the day at Camelot Fish & Chips, a local pub that serves great food. The restaurant does wonders on fish and other seafood. I haven’t found one in San Francisco that was consistent and I’m glad I came to this spot because they know how to prepare a mean meal.

After my delicious meal, I drove around the small town of Pacifica and checked out a few local shops and found myself at a sea cliff. I spent some time here just smelling the fresh air and checking out the view for as long as the eye could see. While there I saw a man fly over head with paragliding and in the distance Pacifica Pier. Finished checking out the greenery, I decided to take a drive and find that pier.

When I got to Pacifica Pier I took a stroll along the concrete seawall and proceeded to the concrete pier. While on the pier I noticed that there was a high volume of men, women, and children fishing and crabbing off the side. Some had poles and some had nets. I came across a nice couple of folks while there. I conversed first with an elderly gentleman who brought out his kids to go fishing because he wanted to get the kids away from the television. We began to talk about the whole fishing season and what’s legal and illegal to catch. He then on informed me that fishing is totally free as long as you are on a public pier. I had no idea of that and I hope to bring back my old school fishing skill one day.

Later, I walked further and met up with Craig and Deborah. Craig was scaling his striped sea bass that he had caught off the pier at Crissy Field. He gutted up and filleted his fish. After taking all the pieces that he wanted, he had no need for the rest of the body and so instead of letting it go to waste, he gave the head to this elderly lady that so happened to have a plastic bag in her pocket and she was so happy. She went on to tell us that this was better than going to a casino because here she actually got something. Craig decided to give me the center body and I plan to use it to make some sort of porridge or soup with that in a few days.

Continuing on my journey to the end of the pier, I came in contact with two gentlemen who have been striking it rich with crab. Frankie and Russ told me that they got there at about 2:30pm and about every four minutes they had some crab action. Frankie went on to tell me that he made his own snares to capture crab and went into detail about how he used deer fencing to do so. As I was talking with him they kept reeling the lines in and each time they did they caught crab after crab. Some of them of were not of legal size so those had to be tossed back, but it was remarkable at how many there were able to catch. They caught a total of about 24 crabs which were a combination of red crab and dungeness crab. Russ while counting the crab towards the end of their evening decided to give two crabs and for that I am grateful. I had no idea he would be so generous, but I’m glad he did because once I got home I cooked those bad boys up. I couldn’t wait for myself to get any ingredients so I just decided to steam those suckers. And to end the whole day of my excursion after having fish and chips, I ended the night with some delicious crab to top off the day.

Lately, I’ve heard and noticed that cops have been cracking down on drivers who don’t complete full stops or yield to pedestrians at intersections. I don’t know about you, but I’ve starting to see a trend happening now. That trend is to wake drivers up and to let them know that they are not rulers of the road.

As I was having lunch with my friend, I noticed about seven motorcycle cops, probably even more stopping people for not yielding to pedestrians at 16th St. and Wisconsin St. I noticed also that there were a few down the block as well making sure cars completed full stops. I then later saw about six squad cars as well. I had no idea what was going, but my best guess was that they were either blitzing together or they wanted to get some message out to the public.

Currently the city of San Francisco is going through many budget cuts and financially I know that there are tons of cut backs. Now I’m wondering if more tickets are being issued to try and counterbalance the police department’s budget or what. It is not even the end of the month and I’m not sure if quotas are even being enforced at the moment. All I know now is that drivers need to be more cautious so that they don’t put themselves in a citation situation.

Drive Carefully!