lazy sunday SF musing..

Downsizing: the new apt in Noe Valley/Mission/Bernal

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October 26, 2013. I have relocated from Portland, OR, to San Francisco, CA. Following the stint in Brooklyn, NY when this blog began, I have now circled back on my journey through America and the hipster hubs of America, back to my home state. Since leaving Stanford in 2002, I have not lived here for 11 years. The city has changed immensely since visiting the broadway-laguna crash pads that kolstad, katie, shaneeda and co once lived many years ago, or the 24th st mission apt that plowman, and brett lived in. I came to the city battered and bruised from a the departure from Portland, unanswered questions, closing the book on an epic residency of highs and lows but always enjoyment and learning and fun, great co-residents and co-workers.. the daily commute from Pearl District on the bike, through Flanders St, crossing Broadway gingerly, at some point turning right on 3rd or 4th street and turning another left onto Davis to get to the parkway and the riverfront esplanade- cross the sidewalk, avoid the bumbs just waking up from their slumber, and then racing down the waterfront along with runners, other bikers, and the like. Run it down by the portland spirit, the fountain, the beautiful hawthrone bridgeway looking up one sees 20-50 bikers commuting from across the east side to the west with the same clockwork movement that seems to underlie sleepy grey portland. Speeding toward Tom McCall park where Jazz fest will play in a few days after I leave, making a right and maybe pump a bit to get speed up the gradual incline-- geese in the field below congregating watching us as we watch them. Now biking into the street further down the waterfront then onto the last section of the road prior to Southwest waterfront- a mass of flat fields and constructions that 5 years from now will likely be very different from the concrete tubes and dirt that currently are in place. Cruise down the newly constructed walkway and the dental buildings to my left and see the Portland TRAM. Valet the bike, take a breath, Ride up the tram and the daily meditative view I was lucky to appreciate--and I'm ready for the day. The days were blurs, but come 5 or 6, left with an exhausted look and down the tram, to the bike rack, and back the way we came from. Though maybe pop over the hawthorne bridge to have a beer and eat at Lardo or head to northeast to mississippi and alberta for something at migration or Amnesia... that was the best part- easy rider............now the bike is packed in a POD packed with no where to put it. Debated putting the girlfriend into the POD, but thats for another time. A future less clear. The drive was painful/tearful. What the fuck am I doing? why? did i need to get out? i felt i was being forced out. by my program, by my career directions and opportunities, by my friends, and by my own decision and indecision. the last 3 years have been a blast- sad to go... time to move on... 

sentinel band: the walkmen

Sentinel Bands. Friends, I have again lapsed in keeping up with the blog. Alas, the life of a resident. But the past week and the next one or two weeks will be some exciting turn of events- will be deciding where I spend the next 1-2 years of life post-residency in a general medicine research fellowship. This past week I finished my last inpatient rotation at the VA, the VA ICU-- I will miss that place as I enjoyed working there with the staff, good teaching, and great patient population-- veterans are a unique group and I'm honored to participate in their care. But on to the real reason I am writing. the Walkmen played Portland this past weekend! The walkmen have been around a while now, one of my all time favorite bands, and their upcoming performance made me think about those bands or musicians that one really connect/identify with because their music evolution seems to parallel whatever's happening in one's life. I'll call these bands sentinel bands. Their not just great bands with great music. By happen stance, they arrive at a time point in one's life where you're most likely to be 'imprinted' with their music or you identify with their music. I tend of think of my friends who are older than me (particularly my friends who i met who lived in Atlanta/GA and who went to Athens for college) who lived through college when REM started happening and have identified with the band as they have matured and lived their lives, just as the band has matured and lived their lives. I love REM, but was born too late to really find that type of attachment to them. I tend to think sentinel bands form their impression on you during the vulnerable/impressionable years-- college or high school, some young adult age. So they have to come out on the scene around this time. I first heard the walkmen just after college 2002 or so, when one might feel lost, energetic, angry-- so maybe songs like the Rat or something, I identified with and I loved their raw energy, the wurlitzer, the drummer kicks ass, the vocals of Hamilton Leithauser, all of that. So timing is everything for a sentinel band. They play music that favors the disposition you're in at that time. the second criteria is that they have to have longevity-- they can't have 1 album and then fade away obviously, so the Walkmen have put out a couple more disks since then, some i've enjoyed more than others, but they are always in the picture. So when Lisbon came out, I had just moved to portland and they played the Music Fest NW and played a great show, made moving to portland that much more fun. But Lisbon was a much more mellow work than their prior albums and I sensed that; I enjoyed it. The point being is that my personal evolution seems to parrallel a bit with the bands evolution and so I continue to be impacted by the music in someway more than just enjoying the song. Now with their newest album, and having just heard a couple of their songs, it seems to continue that trend; but no matter -- whatever type of music the Walkmen put out, I'd still probably like it because of that initial attachment/connection made back when.. any other sentinel bands out there for people? ...b