Tilson Thomas hears a story about himself
After performing in a recent matinee at the San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, husband Joshua Robison and soloist Pinchas Zukerman had dinner at Sam’s and grabbed a cab home. The driver started telling them a story so intriguing that they couldn’t help recording it (and posting the video on Facebook):
“Hi, my name is John, and years ago, I was on a first date to the Symphony, and I told my date, ‘Please, no phones or no texting, because Michael Tilson Thomas is going to be conducting and it’s kind of a big deal.’ ... So of course, she ignores me and she’s on her phone the whole time. So I took a quick picture of her, put it on Facebook saying, ‘How rude, first date, negative 10 points,’ and she saw that and that was the end of that. So, I could be married by now, had kids, but it’s because of his reputation. ... But you know you have to draw a line in the sand, and Michael Tilson Thomas is where that line is.”
P.S. Critic Joshua Kosman’s review of last week’s Symphony Mozart/Mahler program described it as warm and cuddly, ending with the line: “All it needed to complete the picture was a couple of dancing dogs.” After a matinee on Sunday, Nov. 26 — a perfect pleasure on a rainy afternoon — Robison mentioned that Thomas had once conducted Mahler’s Fourth in a concert for children. It was being recorded, he said, so Thomas explained to the audience that quiet was necessary, especially during the softly played third movement. He told the kids that if they were really quiet, then afterward, he’d bring his beloved poodle, Shayna ,on stage. They complied and Shayna made an appearance. That third movement was her favorite, said the conductor.
Keeping in mind the number of men on both sides of the political spectrum who have been accused of sexual transgressions, Don Lattin has proposed a prisoner exchange: “We give up Charlie Rose and Kevin Spacey and they surrender Donald Trump and Roy Moore. But then I realized they already got Rose and Spacey and we got nothing!” Lattin says he refuses “to put Al Franken on the bargaining table.”
Roger Thornhill saw a homemade sign alongside Highway 101 in Marin: “Follow the rubles.”
Upon learning that the Wash & Fold on 18th Street on Potrero Hill was closing after 18 years, former San Franciscan Jon Obermeyer (who lives in Durham, N.C., nowadays) was moved to share his feelings in verse. “I wrote some of my best S.F. poems on Friday mornings during the spin cycle,” he said. Obermeyer lived nearby for two years, 2014-16.
David de los Santos, owner of the establishment, was “a launderer, collector/distributor of 18th Street/neighborhood intelligence, and a kind of Bill Graham-like impresario,” said Obermeyer, “booking multiple acts and keeping the venue clean and making sure the street people didn’t break into the change-making machines.”
An excerpt from “Full Moon Laundry,” a poem published in Obermeyer’s 2016 collection, “The Reassurance of Ghosts”:
“The sound on the street saves me./ The laundromat orbits the dive bar and the manicure spa, the pizza/ place that used to keep the goats tethered in back. Hot metal drums/ roar, softeners and detergents spin/ in lunar unison. The Tide is full:/ one sock is still damp. The sea/ of faith doesn’t stand a chance.” Dire Warnings Gazette, No. 7 First, “Don’t allow the divorce to ruin your holiday spirit.”
A few specifics: “Don’t let the sentimentality of the holiday season weaken your positions if you are going to regret them,” says a news release from New York-based divorce lawyer Jacqueline Newman. (Note: Not letting the holiday spirit ruin the divorce seems the inverse of the first statement.)
Among the don’ts: Don’t go overboard on this generosity thing. “It is the season of giving. Just be sure not to give away everything you hold near and dear.”
Furthermore, “Don’t become Super Santa because of guilt . ... You do not need to buy your children’s affections.” And I’m outta here. Meet you back at this back page on Dec. 8.