Talk forty two.
San Francisco, California, 11th March
- We’re back in San Francisco! I like the city.
- I feel good here too.
- You again took me to a ballet at the opera in San Francisco.
- It has become our tradition that every time we are here, we go to a performance at the Opera House. We managed to see some good pieces.
- This time it was Romeo and Juliet. Which of the performances here, did you like the most?
- La Boheme by Puccini with Piotr Beczała (in Polish beczała means: she moaned), one of the best tenor voices in the world.
- His last name isn’t really good for marketing.
- In the West it doesn’t mean anything, so it's just like any other name. Aleksandra Kurzak has a difficult to pronounce last name too. So does Mariusz Kwiecień. All of them are making spectacular careers, though.
- That’s the most important thing.
- They are doing really well all over the world! Beczała doesn’t perform in Poland – our opera theatres are not able to match their schedules with his.
- I like those long intermissions between the acts because you can talk to friends and have a drink.
- A glass of champagne. for example. Agata, a resident of San Francisco, is the initiator of our cultural evenings in the city, and she never forgets to book a place at a high table in the opera bar and a bottle of that noble drink.
- Without such reservation there’s no way you could have a drink. The queues are long despite a dozen bars there. Somehow, nobody is in a hurry and they don’t try to push through.
- This calm and cool is characteristic of the local people. Watching them on a Sunday is a pure pleasure.
- There’re hundreds of green open spaces, parks, and squares.
- Did you see what they were doing there?
- I saw many people walking their dogs. All the dogs on leash and their masters with plastic bags in hands. There also are separate pieces of lawn where dogs can run loose. Surprisingly, they do not bite or kill anybody, and they are watched by their proud owners.
- In addition, the owners of the dogs talk with one another and probably lead discussions about their pets.
- Perhaps in this way the people get to know each other. - A doggie is a good way of picking-up or getting picked up, isn’t it?
- In addition to seeing walking the dogs, we saw groups practicing salsa, training self-defense activities, and a huge group of young people demonstrating something apparently important to them and discussing about something important to them.
- And above all that the sun was shining and the breeze was refreshing. There’s never too hot in San Francisco.
- Mostly rainy and foggy. Have not you noticed that the weather may change several times a day?
- Not only was the weather. The moods too.
- Everyone has their right to be moody from time to time.
- I didn’t have you in mind.
- Our local friends have their local problems too. They are not always able to forget about them for a while. Even when we are around.
- You mean a sudden change in their mood and eventually in our plans for the evening?
- This reasons didn’t concern uspersonally, so we shouldn’t comment on the behavior of Agata and her husband’s. Unfortunately, my mood got spoiled too, and so did our plans of our stay in San Francisco.
- After all it was our last Sunday in California. It was extremely intense, anyway!
- It began with brunch at Ron Schmidt’s.
- The elderly man was very well prepared and served us a great meal.
- And the presentation of his book. The book on his many years’ work on the LGBT movement. In the seventies and eighties he was an absolute pioneer in introducing to school in central California, after great battles, lessons on LGBT issues and the equality of all the genders in the society.
- With a consent of their parents?
- That’s right. Each student had to have a written permission. The same is true in Poland, the problem is that there is no-one to carry on such activities. And we are in the twenty-first century!
- In the afternoon Agata took to the ecumenical basilica - Grace of the Lord, which made an impression on me with its inter-confessional chapel dedicated to the dead of AIDS.
- It is a very important place for all people regardless of their beliefs. It clearly speaks to the imagination and moves the conscience.
- I didn’t not really know why on the floor, in the porch of the church, there was a strange maze.
- This was a meditative labyrinth in form of a circle with marked paths. You have to circulate for a few minutes reflecting on the meaning of life. And not only on that.
- Another one is in the front of the church. I think we goofed up running in circles and talking loudly.
- We were meditating aloud, meditating together...
- How funny.
- It wasn’t funny, but quite good. I’m talking about the movie My week with Marilyn. It’s about Marilyn Monroe working with Lawrence Olivier on the film The Prince and the Showgirl.
- I learned a little about the actress not from my times.
- She was and is timeless. I like her so much that I was afraid that the actress who played the part of this role would be merely a poor substitute for great Marilyn. It seemed to me that this particular charm and charisma radiating from Monroe simply couldn’t be copied.
- It’s is difficult for me to assess her, but I think the actress managed well with the role.
- Michelle Williams surprised me totally. About ten minutes into the film I forgot that she wasn’t "real" Marilyn Monroe. I was moved.
- The same actress played very well an unattractive wife of one of the characters in Brokeback Mountain.
- That was an excellent movie. On the U.S.TV I saw an interview with her and I found her a very humble, warm and interesting person.
- That Sunday ended with a dinner at a phenomenal club "AsiaSF"[2] and a night drink in the piano bar "Martuni's."
- The phenomenon of places like "AsiaSF" always makes me think. Before we talk about this specific place, I want to share with you a question that has always bothered me. Why do clubs where men are dressed as women, or women are transsexual men, attract mostly women?
- Do not expect me to explain it. They are women who squeal in the audience, clap and turn up the atmosphere. I do not know what turns them up at the sight of drag queens - men in exaggerated costumes and crazy makeups that no "normal" woman would wear.
- I can understand the popularity of drag queen performances on stage, because they are often parodies of well-known singers and sometimes they are funny ...
- After a few drinks anything can be fun.
- So you do not have any answer to my question what women see in guys playing women and doing it in such a grotesque manner?
- Neither do I have an answer to the question why girls are crazy about watching shows of the transsexuals.
- In "AsiaSF" those transsexual women not only perform, but before the show they wait the tables for a couple of hours.
- They are very nice waitresses. Some are very delicate and really beautiful.
- Others are little less nice? We were served by a beautiful black girl. He gladly posed for a photo with you.
- Some were bigger in size…, less feminine. With very low voices.
- The club is always full, and yet the price of the show with dinner are not the lowest.
- In the club there are always more women than men. Why?
- Maybe men are ashamed or afraid of getting excited watching such a phenomenon? But let's leave the issue to sociologists. Maybe we’ll meet one day, so we could ask them more questions.
- „The Martuni’s Bar” was a successful ending of the crazy day.
- Karaoke performed to the accompaniment of the piano was phenomenal.
- Those who dared sing jazz standards were really good. I was surprised with their performance.
- The whole atmosphere of the candle lit pub, and the bartenders, and…
- … and the guys picking you up!
- Didn’t I deserve anything? It was usually you who drew attention of guys.
- Not true! In the States you’re get more of it than I do!
- What is that I get? Just that some guys want to talk to me…?
- Sure. Talk. Especially the one who introduced himself as Richard and looked deep into your eyes.
- Why are you so mean. Let him look. He was nice, polite and spoke to us all.
- He whispered something in your ear.
- He didn’t whisper anything. He tried to outshout the music. Agata told me that he’d asked her if I was single. When he found out that we were a couple, he quickly said goodbye.
- But before he did, he exclaimed his admiration for you!
- He exclaimed it and left. What an admirer I met!
- I would’ve driven him away, anyway!
- I like it when you're jealous of me.
[1] AsiaSF
[2] AsiaSF
