Since The Last CIWT --- Days 12/192, 193, 194, 195, 196

Walks: Presidio and Hood mostly

Distances: 3.5 miles average

Day 1: 

Day 2: 

Day 3: 

Day 4:

Day 5:         

Etc, Etc, Etc.  for months on end.  Summer in San Francisco. Not very inspiring - especially for a walker like Ciwt and all the poor souls above.

A Minor Lesson --- Day 12/191

Walk: AMC Kabuki

Distance: 2 miles

Every once in a while Ciwt walks out of a movie shaking her head about how in the world it found  financing.  This was one.  So minor, inconsequential, just so annoyingly English (and Ciwt likes English!), so light it didn't even provide Ciwt with much of a getaway from our relentlessly cold, windy summer.  And, of course, that last was the biggest disappointment.

Candy First --- Day 12/191

Walk: Union Square

Distance: 5 miles

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby and Robert Oppenheimer

So, Cillian Murphy is one of the best actors working today, also one of the best looking.  He's about to be seen as A-bomb 'father' Robert Oppenheimer in a new Christopher Nolan film.  If Murphy is new to you, before you go it and get an image of a (purposely for the role) emaciated Murphy, Ciwt strongly suggests you take in at least one or two episodes of Peaky Blinders. The robust Murphy eye candy is delicious and his acting is its usual superb on that long running TV show (streamable on Netflix).  PS - You will definitely need closed captioning for the Irish accents on Peaky Blinders. 

Splitting Trees --- Day 12/190

Walk: Crissie Field

Distance: 5 miles

Claude Lorrain, View of Tivoli at Sunset, ca 1642-1644, oil on canvas

So, starting off today's CIWT with a small reader quiz.  When you look at the landscape paintings from different eras below, do you notice any similarities?

Thomas Gainsborough (English), Landscape with Country Cart, ca 1784-5, o/c

Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (French), A Capriccio of Rome with the Finish of a Marathon, 1788, o/c

Thomas Cole (American), The Departure, 1837, o/c

If you said 'similar color tones ' Ciwt awards you some credit.  The main similarity though is trickier and artistic technique not meant to call attention to itself.  It is often refered to as the "split tree" technique and was first developed by the 'father of landscape,' Claude Lorrain, known as just Claude because his art was so popular and sought after in his lifetime.  

View of Tivoli at Sunset at top is a classic example of his "split tree" invention.  A sprawling landscape is viewed through a gap in prominent trees. This has the effect of framing the details of the painting, taking the viewer's eye back back back past the human and animal activity and the antique architecture to what the painting is 'secretly' about: the romantic and gorgeous sky.  

Claude painted in an era where the collectivity of art was based on the biblical and historical elements it contained. Landscape was just the outdoors, a place to be gotten through, where workers toiled and of no value in art. So, Claude has placed the re riqueur there: Roman shepherd boys, ancient ruins.  BUT, and it took much of the viewing public decades to realize this, what Claude had really done is highlight the serene, uplifting, even spiritual beauty of nature. Subtly, masterfully Lorrain presented an ideal landscape, more beautiful and harmonious than nature itself.  And this laid the groundwork for the traditions of French and English historical landscape painting that arose two centuries later and dominated for over 150 years.

Eventually of course those 150 years of 'split tree' technique became a burden to artists.  It was still being taught and demanded at French art schools to young artists who wanted to say more about nature.  All respect to Claude, but they wanted to portray, nature's science, its instability, its many moods. And to do that they began dropping out of art schools, teaching themselves, developing their own ways of painting nature.  

Ciwt smiles when she sees where van Gogh placed his tree in his 1889 painting Green Wheat Field with Cypress.

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July 4, 2023 --- Day 12/189

Walk: Crissy Field

Distance: 2.5 miles 

Happy Fourth of July from Ciwt's San Francisco to wherever you are celebrating it in our wonderful country.

Pondering --- Day 12/188

Walk: Hood

Distance: 4.2

All that Jazz and More --- Day 12/187

Walk: Fillmore Jazz Festival

Distance: 2.5 miles

Annual Fillmore Jazz Festival: Sounds of the City

So, this is what Ciwt's little neighborhood looked like today and every first weekend of July during the Fillmore Jazz Festival.  It's the largest free Jazz festival on the West Coast, drawing over 100,000 vistors.  Ciwt's photo captures the present very organized version of a festival that began as a virtual free for all with people imbibing any variety of booze and drugs and scaring audience members and shoppers.  Many stores simply closed their doors for the two day event. Trash was everywhere when it was over.  Neighbors hated it.

But over the years and to their credit the producers have worked with neighbors, and fine tuned the logistics so that the musical spirit and multiple stages fill the streets while there are designated listening, shopping, eating and even drinking areas - and there isn't a hint of trash the next day.   It's really professional, rich, joyful with top class talent that blends art and soul in one the the country's most unique neighborhoods.  This said by Ciwt who is normally not a street fair fan.

Jazz is authentic to the Fillmore, and the Festival has a rich and colorful history. Against the backdrop of World War II, dozens of Fillmore Street Jazz clubs hosted the era’s major musical talents, including Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Billie Holliday. Stars such as Joe Louis, Marilyn Monroe, Clint Eastwood and Sammy Davis, Jr. were in the audiences. At the legendary Jimbo’s, Louis Armstrong went to check out Charlie Parker (the only known time they were under the same roof). Chet Baker snuck out of the Fort Mason barracks to jam all night, and John Handy played Bop City with John Coltrane.

In the 60’s, Jazz historian David Rosenbaum ran the Melrose Record shop on Fillmore Street, employing high school student Maya Angelou. Zen Buddhism was first introduced to the West in the Fillmore, which became a creative home to artists including Isaac Stern, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Mel Blanc and Alan Ginsberg.

In the 1980’s, a renaissance gave rise to the next generation of the Fillmore District. Merchant associations helped launch the first Fillmore Jazz Festival in 1986, giving new expression to the storied neighborhood. In 1999, the festival came home to the newly revitalized Jazz Preservation District.

Those in the know would be interested to hear performers who have graced San Francisco Fillmore Street stages include Dr. Lonnie Smith, Denise Perrier, Lady Memphis, Kim Nalley, Pete Escovedo, Jules Broussard, Big Belly Blues Band, Brenda Boykin and Paula West.

If you're around next July, come on down to the Fillmore.  Maybe you'll run into Ciwt.

48 and Counting --- Day 12/186

Walk: SF Playhouse (A Chorus Line)

Distance: 4.5 miles

Dancers 'trying out' in SF Playhouse's current revival of A Chorus Line

A Chorus Line is almost 50 years old!  Ciwt can only imagine how stunning its book and lyrics must have been when it opened on Broadway in July 1975. The play openly addresses social issues which were largely kept 'in the closet,' or between best friends or you and your therapist at that time -  being gay, colored, abused, desperate to escape the small town stultification of the 50's, spousal coldness, the punishing but desperately needed life in the theater.  

Ciwt wishes she had seen it then.  Her first time was today, and, truth be told, she looked at her watch several times.  The acting and singing were excellent but the immediacy and jolt of the issues have become commonplace.  Their remaining deep appeal is probably to a gay and theater performer audience or people who retain strong and fond memories of seeing it on Broadway. Looking around Ciwt's matinee audience, it appeared nearly entirely comprised of a 'white hair' straight crowd. Polite clapping but no wildly enthusiastic whistles, cheers, standing ovations.

Ahh, but the dancing!  A Chorus Line is set in the midst of an audition for an upcoming play, so high stepping routines fill much of the play and are a pure and timeless delight.  No looking at Ciwt's watch then.  

Overall, in spite of being past its prime for Ciwt (who of course is past hers), A Chorus Line is still a beautifully structured, compassionate and thoroughly entertaining theater revival experience.