Where else can you enjoy an incredibly toasty afternoon drinking Jamba Juice while perusing through an assortment of leather cuffs and then afterwards heading over to a top-40 concert? Only in San Francisco. Reason #3915 of why I love San Francisco: there's a variety of things to do, catering to a wide range of interests and predilections. Case-in-point: My fun-filled weekend.
Right off the bat, things got interesting at the Folsom Street Fair. As we were walking in, one of my totally straight friends (who, like me, is a Folsom Street Fair virgin) got a cupful and overly-friendly greeting from the doorman. I guess that was a preview of what was to come.
It was tamer than I thought it was going to be, but some of the imageries were not for the faint-hearted. You had your garden variety of leather-clad citizens milling about, their choice of beverage on hand. Some were wearing weather-appropriate amount of leather while others had full-body leather suits. It was swelteringly hot that day, and I could've only imagined how much hotter those people felt with the leather on. There were a few "display" booths, and the first one that we stumbled upon was quite "captivating", to say the least. It was a pay-for-an-S&M-experience booth offering bondage, spanking, mild strangulation and the like, with a la carte pricing ranging from $5-$25. Further along was a freakishly life-like sex doll exhibit booth offering assorted models; for $6000 + shipping, they could be yours! There was also a game of half-naked Twister sponsored by Steamworks.
Titanmen, a gay adult film company, also had a booth and they were giving away calendars featuring their film actors. At first, I wasn't sure what the commotion was all about; I saw a Jeep in the tent, so I figured it was a drawing of some sort. I ended up getting an autographed calendar from JR Matthews, a Titanmen exclusive actor. I'm not familiar with him or his work, but he seemed to be a pleasant young man.
Like other street fairs in San Francisco, there were live music and a dance stage. My favorite image of Folsom was of this dancer performing in a cage hoisted up by a crane next to a church! Talk about sacrilegious! I was half-expecting the ground to part and swallow all the debauchery that is defiling the face of the earth.
After the Folsom Street Fair, I met up with my friends at Golden Gate Park for Alice 97.3's Now and Zen concert. Talk about a change in venue. My friend who went with me to Folsom saw a runner running without a shirt on, and she was half-expecting him to have been naked.
As we were circling the parking lot, my friend was texting our other friend to tell them that we were just looking for parking (which took what seemed forever). She told us that the last act, Train, was about to perform. At first, I was a bit disappointed because I missed Dashboard, but apparently, they only performed 3 songs. Coming into the show, they were the only ones that I've heard of, aside from Colbie Caillat who was apparently really awesome too!
I had no idea who Train was in the beginning; apparently they're from the Bay Area. But song after song, I found myself singing along to some of their songs (Drops of Jupiter, Calling All the Angels, When I Look to the Sky, Ordinary). Patrick Monahan, the lead singer from Train, was really good live, plus he's quite entertaining to boot. At one time during the concert, he actually went into the crowd and took a few pictures with the crowd.
It was a really nice day at Golden Gate Park to enjoy good music and excellent company. Next week is Lovefest, which is going to knock my socks off! I'm hoping for similar weather next weekend, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
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