Police gesture is noted by band
The online SoFA Music Festival ended on a strong note Sunday, with the help of some levelheaded thinking by Sunnyvale public safety officers.
The fusion hip-hop band Barely Funktional planned to record its 30-minute set at Orchard Gardens Park in Sunnyvale, hours before it would stream at 8:30 p.m. The five members — mostly in face masks and spread out with several feet between them — were just getting started when they were approached by Sunnyvale public safety officers who were responding to a complaint.
“We might be shut down, boys,” one band member can be heard saying on the video posted to Facebook.
Lysen To, the band’s lead singer, explained to an unidentified officer that they were recording a short set for the festival, and would be wrapped up and gone within 40 minutes. The officer said he’d been in their shoes before as he’d been in a band — it sounds like “Romance and Glory” in the recording — long ago. But good memories still lingered apparently, because after being told what kind of music the band played, he said, “Let’s hear it,” and let them finish their set.
SoFA Music Festival organizer Fil Maresca said it was one of
his favorite tales from a day when he really felt the South Bay music and art fans found a way to come together while still staying apart.
“There were stories like this all day — showing the magic of live music strengthening our community — even virtually,” he said, adding that those Sunnyvale officers are welcome to SoFA Music Festival T-shirts.
YOU CAN DANCE IF YOU WANT TO » With its natural aesthetic appeal, the San Jose Museum of Art is a popular venue for high school proms, but the coronavirus pandemic forced schools throughout the valley to cancel their spring dances. Since they can’t have their prom at the museum, the museum is throwing a virtual one for them.
As part of its Museum from Home initiative, which includes five virtual public programs in the next two weeks, the museum teamed with New Ballet and several partners to create “Prom
Night at the Museum (Online),” an at-home experience starting at 7 p.m. today that is open to anyone (including those of us whose prom was been more than 30 years ago).
The centerpiece will be a virtual dance party with DJ Yas — who’ll be taking requests — and a flash mob led by award-winning choreographer Ben Needham-Wood. There are also some pre-prom activities available online at sjmusart.org, including recipes for fruit punch and guacamole courtesy of Adolfo Gomez, owner of downtown restaurant Mezcal. Rosies and Posies, a downtown florist, is posting a DIY corsage video, drag performer Persia is providing a make-up tutorial, and the crafty sorts at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles are demonstrating how to make your own prom crown. And, since Wednesday is also International Dance Day, Mosaic Silicon Valley will provide an international dance lesson during the prom.
There’s no charge to join the party, and you certainly don’t need to rent a tux or buy a dress, but you do need to RSVP online at sjmusart.org/ event/prom-night-museum-online.
MORE ENCOURAGING SIGNS » It turns out the Willow Glen Education Foundation isn’t the only group doing what it can to support the Class of 2020. Karinne Gordon, an English teacher at Pacific Grove High School, emailed to say the Monterey Peninsula school is doing something similar by giving each graduating senior a lawn/window sign with the student’s photo to display on May 29, which would have been graduation day.
And it’s not just the students getting — and needing support — while schools are closed. Sarah Janigian reports that an administrator at St. Francis High in Mountain View delivered a lawn sign to her son, Zack Herhold, a teacher at the school, that read, “We love our Saint Francis Educators.”
And for those of us who are learning the ins and outs of distance learning at home, it’s safe to say we appreciate all our educators a bit more now.