Day eleven: San Francisco: A roof in Hunter's Point

For some, it’s the hot Central Valley sunlight streaming down through the trees that awakens them; for others, it’s the sound of shopping carts and the rattle of bottles and cans from the Sunday-morning scavengers in the alley outside Mots’ window; for Quinn, it’s the feeling of his face sticking to the warm leather of the living room couch. A post-brunch ride is in order, and Fox and others borrow a few I Street bikes and head down for a swim in the cool, murky waters of the mighty American River.

His Mis and friends get a late start on the return to San Francisco. Brown whines that the weather is too warm for him, but as the van approaches the Bay Area, the temperature cools noticeably and the tears dry.

While today was originally scheduled to be a day off, the chance to play on a rooftop like this was too good to pass up:


Even the fact that all of the equipment has to be lugged up an agonizingly long flight of stairs does little to dampen the enthusiasm of the band of bands as they, and Andrew, set up:


Quinn tests out the drums:


Brown retakes his place right before the music begins, pausing to show the camera why all the boys love him:


Attendance is relatively light, due mostly to the reputation of Hunter’s Point as one of the worst neighborhoods in the city. Those who do brave the (imagined) bullets, carjackings and general danger are in for a treat.


With the multicolored, bunker-like public housing on one side and the shipyards and wide expanse of the bay on the other, our Übermenschen light up the ears of all those assembled—plus those of the throng of kids cheering from the windows of the projects across the street—with their breathtaking musical talent. The creeping twilight and the fierce, cold winds can do nothing to stop them.






After wowing them upstairs at the show, Fox and Coleen wow them downstairs with style.


The night ends in the Mission, back at 592, where our boys, exhausted and possibly overserved, drunkenly dream of tomorrow’s long drive north.

-Miles

Thanks to Josh Madson (joshmadson.com) and Nancy Lai for photos.