Friday, January 13, 2006

My Tail in Two Cities

My daughter Jennifer told me recently (while we were discussing preferred beers) that I needed to PICK ONE. She also informed me that I needed to pick one city (among a short list of several other either or options). The thing is, I've never been particularly good at self-imposed limitations of this sort, even though I am inclined to think that in the long run such choices would probably be better for my sanity.

My present situation however is even more interesting because it grows out of having quite intentionally done just that. On August 5th of last year I moved to New Orleans BY CHOICE. I PICKED ONE CITY - New Orleans - as my new home after 28 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. But the universe, or the weather, or the goddess, or SOMETHING had other plans for my ass and so I eventually found myself back in San Francisco. Subsequently I have had a number of fortuitous things bring about changes in my life that I have needed for a long time. One of those things is the opportunity to build a mixing studio in downtown San Francisco. Another is the opportunity to work on a series of audio production projects (through my recording company SpeakLo Recordings), and even some music recordings in New Orleans.

It's really kind of interesting that after five months in limbo I am now coming to be more or less settled in this bi-coastal reality and I'm enjoying it a lot. I LOVE being in New Orleans, but things remain dicey and questionable and I don't know how long what I'm doing here will be a sustainable endeavor. In addition, after a few days (maybe as much a couple of weeks) life "on the island," as Harry Shearer calls it, becomes discouraging and depressing and it's really kind of nice to get back to some sort of reasonably functioning civilization. So my base in San Francisco gives me some solid ground and a bit of seemingly sustainable sanity (at least until we get hit by a major earthquake). There are new buildings going up around the downtown area near my office, the transportation system works like the dream I have always held in my heart for quality public transit and there's a movement and excitement that I definitely groove to.

In contrast, New Orleans is laid back and funky just as it always has been. That's a good thing most of the time, but it takes some getting used to each time I land. It takes me about twenty-four hours to settle back into a New Orleans saunter rather than the crisp clipped steps I use as I walk down the streets South of Market in San Francisco. I have to take long slow deep zen breaths while I wait for people in the deli or the restaurant to get around to serving my food, and I need to lower my expectations of what I am going to be able to accomplish on any given day (or week), but on any given night I can amble into any of a dozen clubs (or, like last night, into the Ogden Museum of Southern Art) and hear live music, of almost any genre, for FREE.

In New Orleans, when I pass people on the street, we look each other in the eye, smile and say "hey" or "how're ya doin'" or "Where Y'at?" Or maybe we just nod and say "Awright." In San Francisco, more often than not, passing strangers don't even make eye contact, even if faced with staring at each other's ear lobe from two inches away on the street car after work. But things move fast, and things get done and there's an expectation of accomplishment and a satisfaction in activity.

In San Francisco I can stand at the edge of the Pacific Ocean (or even grab my boogey board and wetsuit and jump into the swell) and find an astonishing peace in the chaos of fifteen foot waves powered by far away winter storms. In New Orleans I can stand at the edge of the Mississippi River, slowly ambling its way south toward the Gulf and watch the ships, the ferries and the paddlewheels float by.

BOTH of these experiences feed my soul.

So, quite unexpectedly I now find myself the resident of two very different, yet very similar, cities. I have, after over 40 years, begun to answer the old Firesign Theater question first posed for me when I was in college, "How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?"

Quite easily it seems... and with growing delight.

2 comments:

Don@PetalumaFilms.com said...

Northern California sucks my friend. We keep hoping that such a beautiful place will catch up artistically and people wise...but it's gentrified and chock full o' rich people who only care about the almight buck. Run, don't walk, back to New Orleans...

Thom said...

Well... I gotta say I just don't have the same feeling. There's no question in my mind, spirit or psyche that I'm a CITY person... even if that city (like New Orleans) posseses the population of a small town like Petaluma.

It's interesting, the population of NOLA these days is that of a medium sized town (approaching 100,000), but the feeling is that of a much larger city. It is in fact at least somewhat the feeling of the city's psyche or soul.

I just spent the evening in two different places, listening to three completely different types of music, all for no charge. It's not like that doesn't happen in many places... But there is indeed a different vibe in the Crescent City, and I am HAPPILY at home with it.

I a happily at home in San Francisco too. The two cities, at least right now, seem to serve as the yin and yang (which is which depends on the day) of my everyday life.