ASSC: Chez Paree SF Highlights San Francisco, Ca. Saturday, 05/23/98 (920pm - 3am) Swing Shift Dancers: HAILY Night Shift Dancers: ANASTASIA KITTEN SUMMER CASSIE ISABELLA LILY ASIA CHEYANNE GINGER DIAMOND KIRA HALO SOPHIA CODI BROOKE DEVON JOJO FARRAH Spontaneous Combustion In and around the house: Fingers, Borly, Dyn0, Jim (Vancouver), AZETA (outside CP), Ace, TIANA and friend, Sick66, LMR & RITA (just passing by CP). 920pm arrival. Doorguy Jess, Kenny, Danny. BROOKE on stage. Red bowls with candy in the office upon arrival, courtesy of, I presume, Fingers. But he's nowhere to be found. I do the Dog Dish Dump and reorganize any candy redundancy. Down a maximum dose of Extra-Strength Tylenol with my $4 Coke to wipe out a nagging headache that had been bothering me all day. And it's almost gone by the time for PrincAss DEVON's next stage set. Good thing. HMS (High Mileage Seat): Slim steak & Gummi-lovin' redhead, PrincAss DEVON appears on stage. She takes one look at me, laughs, then licks her palm, reaches out and presses a major cowlick on my head down... Yeah PrincAss, I'm having a real bad hair day, as you can see ;-). Fingers, Borly and Dyn0 return from dinner at P&Ps. Nice to see Dyn0 again... and Borly, big guy, see? I didn't blow you off THIS time! ;-) Around 11pm or so. ISABELLA on stage during her third song, when I spot "Woo Hoo" Girl AZETA (not scheduled tonight) run into CP for a moment. She waves so I follow her outside. After some brief chit-chat she asks if we could do another... Safeway run!? Sure. So I grab my jacket and we take off! We arrive at Safeway, grab a cart and scramble in and out of the aisles like two wild kids ;-). Pea soup, dishwashing liquid, more Tylenol, Cherry Coke and 7-Up, etc. While I cart-sit waiting for AZETA who went to the bathroom, some street-looking dude walks up and asks if I have change for a quarter. I reach into my pocket and say "Yes, I do", but then he quietly says "Oh ok" and just walks away. Weird. As we approach the check-out line, I see that same "weird" dude being detained in the check-out line by uniformed store security. The dude starts yelling "Call the SF Police! Call the SF Police!" AZETA and I keep watching as more and more security guards come to assist. Store customers start getting antsy (e.g. "Why *doesn't* someone call the SFPD?"). Anyways, we make it thru the check-out line and start to push our cart out to leave when AZETA suddenly realizes that she forgot to get mass quarters for laundry, so she gets back into the check-out line again. And pretty soon the (now) six or seven security guards have successfully wrestled the "problem" customer to the ground to subdue him. An astonished AZETA and I wind up following them out the door to the paddy wagon. What drama... Since we were in the area, AZETA asks if we can drop by her longtime girlfriend's house? Sure. We arrive but find NO parking anywhere, so we stop near a corner grocery market and she calls her from a pay phone. Since parking was so difficult, she agrees to meet us outside her place. We double park along the street and see her friend waving at us from her doorway, dressed in a brightly colorful costume (she was apparently practicing for a street festival show tomorrow). She runs down the stairs and meets us thru AZETA's open car window... she's really friendly. Nice Scotch (or was that Irish?) accent. After AZETA returns from using her friend's bathroom, we depart back to CP. As we drive up O'Farrell on our way back, we pass the Great American Music Hall (GAMH), and an excited AZETA asks "Hey Bubba, you wanna see a show?" Uh, sure. Where? "There, at the GAMH... but only if it's cheap ok?" Ok, sure! In all the years I'd been going to the nearby New Century and Mitchell Brother's Theatres, I've never once stepped foot in the GAMH... "Amazing", I think to myself. So we drive around the block and I park momentarily in front of the GAMH so that she can find out how much it costs. She hops out of the car and disappears thru the theatre's front door, then returns yelling thru the open window, "It's free! Let's go ok?" SURE. So as she waits for me, I find parking on Ellis some two blocks away, and walk back toward the GAMH. As I approach the front door, I see AZETA sitting against the wall just outside the theatre entrance, checking/fixing her makeup. When she sees me, she takes my arm and we run by the front desk and take a peek in the main theatre. Too crowded, so she leads me upstairs to the balcony. We go all the way to the balcony stage-front, but there are too many people in the way, so she grabs my hand and we run back downstairs. I tell her as we run down the stairs that this is the first time I'd ever been to the GAMH. "This is so much fun", I yell. We snake thru the crowd and go near the front left of the stage. Who IS this band anyway? (AZETA finds out the concert was "Modest Mouse and Seam", whoever/whatever they are). Listen to the music a bit when a security guard forces us back some behind the big throng of people again. So we drop back to about midway in the theatre, and a little while later, AZETA asks (while nodding yes) "d'ya wanna go". Yep, let's go. As we walk out of GAMH and start down O'Farrell St., I can't help thinking how much fun it is hanging out with this walking, talking ball of spontaneous combustion... I drop her off back at her place, then head back to CP at 1215am or so. The office basically the same as I left it. And a little while after I get comfortable, who do I see walking toward me? None other than... TIANA(!!!), this time INSIDE the club, visiting with a friend. BIG HUG. We chat a bit, then she retakes her seat with her friend along the back wall. During the night, TIANA actually "does the basket" for some of the dancers... just like old times ;-). Shortly after, doorguy Kenny asks in the general direction of the office, "Hey Fingers, is Bubba still over there?" and I, at the office PC, respond, "Ya, I'm here!". As I get up to see who it is, a smiling Ace appears thru the curtain. So Ace, you're here tonight because you, heh heh, "had to know", right? As TIANA came by to tell me she was leaving, I steered her toward Ace who was at the bar getting change and they greet each other. "Hey, didn't we meet at a movie once?" Ace asks slyly. "Make a wish", indeed ;-). Later in the evening, Sick66 arrives! DEVON drops by the office and asks if I'd like to take a break with her. Sure. And Fingers too. So we three traipse over to the local pinball palace. We set up a game for three, when suddenly Sick66 walks in. Says someone at CP told him we had taken a break, so he came to join us. Well, suffice to say I SUCKED royally during our game... couldn't sustain any "ball action" at all. After one game, PrincAss says she needs to get back to work, so PrincAss, Fingers and I returned, leaving Sick66 there... turns out he was on a major "roll". After getting settled in the office, I am summoned to the front door by doorguy Kenny and see... LMR and RITA! Seems they just returned from Nob Hill Men with DARA LYNNE and Maz... lotion eh? What fun! They were just passing thru so LMR gives me his pager # and we agree to get together before/during/after(?) ASSCon3 tomorrow. 3am closing time. Wait to say goodnight to PrincAss. And GINGER and I are... on the road, again. -Bubba