Photocosm

Here Am I, Your Special Island

Bali Hai is one of the best songs from the musical and movie, South Pacific. In the movie, Bali Hai seems to hover off the shore from the base where U.S. troops are stationed in their World War Two campaign against Japan. It looks like an island, it could be a pleasure dome, maybe it's Valhalla. Standing on the shore by the palm trees, the woman known as "Bloody Mary" sings to the troops and beckons them to Bali Hai. The air changes colors as she casts a web for the sailors and points through the mist to the mysterious island. One of the men accepts her challenge and takes the boat over.

There is a Bali Hai of sorts in the San Francisco Bay, Red Rock Island. Everybody can see it, but almost nobody visits it, and now it's for sale. It's unique because Red Rock is the only island in the bay which is privately owned. The owner is a fellow named Glickman. He's 78 years old, and is trying to sell the island again. I've read he tried in 2001. Now, it's on the market for $10,000,000.

I shot this photo today on the drive from San Rafael across the bridge to  Berkeley. It's about six acres, it reaches an altitude of 172 feet, and the water on its sides drops low enough to allow docking by ocean liners.  There's nothing there, however. No village or dock or helicopter pad. Why buy it? The potential for development. Maybe you could put a casino there, maybe somebody can build a second home on the island. Perhaps a very small golf course.

Sounds great, till you look at the map. Red Rock Island is unique another way. If you hike to the top, you are standing in three counties at the same time: San Francisco County, Marin County, and Contra Costa County. You are also standing in two cities, San Francisco and Richmond.

So, let's say you decide to do anything that changes the look of the place. You want to paint your island, maybe add some aluminum siding to weatherproof it, or even construct the Red Rock Four Seasons Hotel. You are going to need the approval of three counties and two cities, plus the State of California and some people back in Washington.  You'll be as old as Mr. Glickman is right now before you get 101 bureaucrats and supervisors to sign off on your plans. In the meantime, you can see it for free from all around the bay.

Cole, Noah, Big Brother, Cathy

A recent post had to do with the the Golden Gate Bridge turning 70.  Somebody naming himself Clark Starace wrote in to mention there was an "official" ballad for the Golden Gate Bridge. It was performed by Noah Griffin, he wrote, a Bay Area singer who has performed at events such as the opening of Pac Bell Park.

Pac Bell Park? I was at the opening of Pac Bell Park back in 2000, and I never saw him. Where was Noah Griffin? I was outside the stadium across the cove because I didn't have tickets. Noah took the easy way in, singing for his admission.  As it turned out, I had a good time outside the baseball park with my camera. There was so much to photograph. Small planes, military jets, the Goodyear blimp, helicopters -- they all did their turns in the airspace. Here's a silhouette of two helicopters, the sun, a seagull, and a building near the baseball park. The light that day was good. I forget who won the baseball game.

Noah Griffin has a website.  There are four songs you can hear on it. The guy can sing. He's recently performed at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley. That's a good venue up in Marin County. Woody Allen did a show at 142 Throckmorton last year or early this year. Noah has a couple of dates in San Francisco this month at the Empire Plush Room. That's a cabaret at the York Hotel. The performers don't sing to you there, they sing next to you. His show will be Cole Porter music. By coincidence, today is the birthday of Cole Porter.

Also in the music scene, Big Brother & The Holding Company is on the road for the summer shows.  I first heard them in high school. Our civic studies teacher brought in the Kosmic Blues album and played it in class. He didn't do that often, maybe never, but this was special. These days, the original members are still playing. They've had maybe a dozen women sing the Janis Joplin part over the years, the most recent is Cathy Richardson.  She's quite good. Janis was special -the original- but Cathy is a more complete performer. You can hear songs at her My Space page and her own band's website.

Noah Griffin is at www.noahgriffin.com.

Big Brother & The Holding Company is www.BBHC.com.

Cathy Richardson is at www.crband.com.

The Wind Beneath Our Yachts

I'm always looking up.  It's good for the neck and spine. That's why I don't suffer from Photographer's Elbow. That aside, I'm always pleased by the sky here in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 40 microclimates here, so the sky is invariably variable.  There can be dense fog at the Pacific coast, clouds over Berkeley, and 100-degree clear skies in Concord -- all at the same time.  Few regions of the world have such a diversity in weather.  That's why we're special. That and the sourdough bread.

Some people just live under a cloud. It's their karma. This house in the hills is under one. When the fog blows in from the Golden Gate, it's a solid wall of vapor.  As it flows over the bay and reaches the Berkeley hills, it thins out sometimes.  You can watch a big cloud over Alcatraz shrink as it glides eastward.  This cloud had not completed its shrinking assignment, so it hovered a bit over this house in Kensington. The dogs inside were barking nervously. They knew something was close.

It was yachting weather over the bay this last week. That means the winds were brisk. It would be a shame if the air didn't move for the yachts. Think of the poor millionaires from the San Francisco yacht clubs unable to move because the air was still.  I can't think of anything so sad, that and Darfur.  Anyway, some people were testing their kites before the big international kite festival late this month. The odd part here was the absence of human intervention. How can nature operate if we don't interfere? The kite strings were secured to posts in the ground, so these were going with the airflow, all on their own.

We had a front move through the Bay Area this week.  It seemed to come from the South Pacific, lots of humidity and odd clouds.  Here's a lamp outside a Safeway in the parking lot, plus some power lines and phone lines.  It's as if the sky had filled with flames.  I used to see these clouds cover the sky in Utah when I hiked in the Moab and Capitol Reef areas, but this was unusual here. No wonder the Safeway customers refused to go back out to their cars. That and the fact that the store manager shouted to them, "Stay inside! The sky's on fire! Keep shopping!"