Dan and I went to see RENT: The Broadway Tour at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on Thursday. It was the first time seeing a musical live for both of us (I was born in New York City but I’ve never been to Broadway!), so I’ve been anticipating this since I bought the tickets last month. The cast features cast members from various periods while RENT was on Broadway, including original cast members Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp! I’d fallen in love with RENT when I first heard the songs growing up and saw the 2005 movie, and was really sad when I’d learned I’d missed the show when RENT came to Virginia Tech back in fall of 2003. Anthony Rapp had also graced Tech with a speaking event for VTU and LGBTA back in October of 2006. I was thrilled that I could watch the performance with two of the original members who had made the musical so legendary.
The show was nothing short of amazing. Each number was perfectly executed and the cast members had amazing voices. I was surprised at how closely their voices matched those of the original cast. We had front seats in the mezzanine so we had a great view, although I’m sure it would have been even more exciting to be in the orchestra seats. RENT is touring in cities around the country, and they’ve been here for a little under two weeks. Definitely try to catch them while the tour is still going!
Here is an interview with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp on the local show View from the Bay.
One of my good friends from college came to visit this past weekend. Mimi is a couple years older than me and has always been like the older sister I never had — when I kept getting sick freshman year, she always brought over soup or jello to help me feel better, and she would frequently invite me over for yummy home-cooked Korean meals. After she graduated, I hadn’t had many chances to see her, and it’s even harder to meet up now that we’re on opposite coasts. The last time I’d seen her was over a year ago, at my wedding. This time, Mimi and her friend Cindy decided to take a trip out here for a little over a week to go hiking and camping around Yosemite and Tahoe, making stops at Santa Cruz and Monterey along the way. They arrived on Friday night and spent Saturday with us before embarking on the rest of their Northern California adventure Sunday morning.
I’m always uncertain about where to take friends when they visit the area, since for having lived out here for two years, I still don’t know the area too well, especially San Francisco. But Mimi made things super easy for me because she did a whole bunch of research and talking to Bay Area natives back in Richmond, Virginia before she flew out. When she got here, she had a whole list of places to go and things to eat before I even had to come up with suggestions. She’s been to the city before, so she knew the streets of San Francisco much better than I did!
We spent a good amount of time in both Berkeley and San Francisco on Saturday, making it a full day. It was fun being a tourist in our own city! Here are some photos…
Breakfast at Bette's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley
corned beef hash and cream scone... a satisfying start to the day.
pie in the sky: a giant pie hanging from the ceiling
reunited with Meems!
Indian Rock in Berkeley... never heard of it until Mimi told me about it.
Enjoying breathtaking views of the bay from Indian Rock.
The ladies on Indian Rock! (It was rough scaling that rock in a dress.)
Big thanks to Mimi for telling us about this place!
Cindy and Mimi meet Diesel for the first time.
Ice cream stop at Ici.
Enjoying refreshing treats from Ici... my current favorite is the raspberry lemon ice cream sandwich, flanked by gingersnaps.
Driving in the Russian Hills in San Francisco.
The zigzagging roads of Lombard Street. This was actually my first time there! I've always wanted to see it.
Visiting friends always want to stop by the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.
obligatory Japanese bridge photo.
Dry-fried chicken wings from San Tung on Irving Street.
They were seriously the best chicken wings I've had in my entire life.
Shrimp and leek dumplings... delicious.
Spicy seafood noodle soup (Cham Pong) - pretty hot but soooo good.
Back in Berkeley, finishing off the day with bubble tea from Tapioca Express in downtown.
(See more photos of our Berkeley/San Francisco excursions on Flickr.)
Dan and I had a great time with the girls (although Dan only accompanied us for the Berkeley portion of our adventures), and we wish them a safe and memorable trip around NorCal before they return to the East Coast.
Just came back from seeing GLAY live tonight, and they were absolutely amazing! I’d even say they were better than last year, but maybe that was because I was closer to the stage this time, and they played more of their older songs that I’m familiar with rather than all the new ones they played off of their VERB album. The concert was held at The Fillmore, just like last year, and Miwa and I got there just an hour before the show. They had opened the doors earlier than they had last year, so although I’d been expecting to take my place at the back of a six-block-long line, we were able to get in right away. We even had time to go buy some merchandise (they were selling GLAY 2009 Tour t-shirts) before claiming our spot, standing pretty close to the stage (only about 15 feet away!).
GLAY rocked The Fillmore as hard as they rock Tokyo Dome, even though the venue was 100 times smaller. They went through several of their famous numbers, including Yuuwaku, GLOBAL COMMUNICATION, VERB, More Than Love, Survival, Starless Night, among others… and of course my favorite, HOWEVER. Miwa and I were jumping, screaming and fist-pumping the whole way through, along with our friend Jason, whom we ran into, and his friend and two random older Japanese ladies who came all the way from Japan to see GLAY perform up close. At one point, TERU saw us and smiled and pointed at us, which was the highlight of the entire concert for all of us… haha* We were exhausted and sore afterwards, but it was so much fun! Their encore song was I’m In Love, which set a great tone for the end of the concert. At the end of the concert, TERU promised again that they’d be back — he made the same promise last year and lo and behold, they kept their word so we’re hoping they’ll be back in San Francisco again soon! In the meantime, I wish them the best on the rest of their short but much-anticipated tour in the U.S., which will be two performances at the House of Blues down in Los Angeles this Friday and Saturday. I love that GLAY performs so well live and always puts forth their best for their adoring fans, whether the audience is as massive as in Japan or as humble as the crowd that still managed to pack the Fillmore tonight.
GLAY released a best album earlier this summer, entitled The Great Vacation ~ Super Best Of GLAY, and spread out over two volumes (3 discs each). It includes most of their big hits over the past 15 years that they made their major debut. You can get a preview of it here.
UPDATE:
Last night’s show got some press in the SF Weekly. (Read the article)
TERU wrote about the San Francisco concert at his blog, TERU ME NIGHT. (Read the blog post)
Last Saturday, Dan and I attended the 2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco. Held at the festival pavilion in Fort Mason, over 200 craft artists came together to show off and sell their goodies — all things handmade including clothing, jewelry, stationery, bath soaps, ceramics, posters, plush dolls, even cupcakes! We had a great time exploring all the crafts that the huge variety of artsy fartsy vendors had to offer. You can get a glimpse at some of the lovely items here, although I admit I was too busy checking out the goods to take too many pictures.
They had a photo booth there, and Dan and I had some good fun snapping some silly shots:
The Renegade Craft Fair toured four big cities this year — Brooklyn, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. I already can’t wait for it to come back next year!
Dan and I went rock climbing last Friday at Berkeley Ironworks with our friends from Nakayoshi. It was a first time experience for the both of us, but with the equipment rentals and thorough beginner lessons from patient instructors, we were ready to go! Before we knew it, we were scaling walls and artificial cliffs studded with colorful, oddly-shaped knobs.
Okay, well… Dan was more successful in his climbing endeavors than I was. I was having trouble hoisting myself up past a third of the wall after not being to the gym in almost a year… I finally found a course that was significantly easier which I was able to climb at a pretty steady pace. Until I happened to look down. And then my fear of heights got the better of me. The course was so tame that I could have kept going without much trouble, but I knew that if I went any higher than I was (a little over halfway up the wall), I was going to be too scared to repel down. So I chickened out and came down, much to Dan’s exasperation. Dan was a natural, though, climbing to the top several times. Here he is, doing the LeBron James.
For those in the Bay Area, Berkeley Ironworks is definitely a fun place to check out — they’re supposed to be one of the largest indoor rock climbing gyms in the area, complete with the usual weight machines you’d expect from a fitness center as well. Apparently, they also offer group classes each week in yoga, performance cycling, core strengthening and cardio kick-boxing.
Check out more photos from our rock-climbing adventures.
