Day 22: San Diego, CA
Nau mai
Yesterday we played a show at SOMA in San Diego.
The smell of three star chain hotel breakfast haunts me still. It hit me as soon as I emerged from the elevator despite me being at the opposite end of the hotel several minutes walk away from the breakfast area. It is a sweet smell, probably the result of toasting bread and bagels combined with the boiling batter inside the eternal waffle machine, the device which receives no rest for the four hours each morning in which it is required to work at the buffet.
My appetite was neither bold nor desperate yesterday morning and so I ended up steering clear of most of the items in the Hampton Inn & Suites breakfast spread, sticking to the things that I thought would be lard and sugar free, the Yukon gold potatoes, the bananas, and the apples. I added some salt and pepper to my potatoes and even splashed a little tabasco over them to balance the dish.
My hotel room had a couple of pieces of bridge art which I appreciated. If you are looking to move into the game of mass produced hotel art there are far worse places to start.
The venue yesterday was called SOMA, disappointingly not a real acronym but in fact a syllabic abbreviation that comes from the original venue location just South of Market Street. It was a boring room on both the inside and the outside but the stage sounded exceptionally clean. Just out the stage door was a large parking lot that serviced the neighbouring arena, a wide open space that would turn out to be perfect for Liz’s new hobby.
Here is Liz just back from the kite shop after purchasing an entry level aircraft. Tristan wishes for the kite to be called Shadowfax but I think you can’t just call everything that presents as a horse Shadowfax despite its overwhelming power, grace, and aura. Choose whatever name you like for Liz’s kite but I shall call him Cloud Diver as he likes dismount from his perch in the clouds to dive very fast into the ground.
Here is the first flight, a tentative unraveling of the flying line. Note Liz’s careful belaying technique and the fiery rainbow colours of Cloud Diver’s feathers.
Cloud Diver puts on a thrilling display before executing his signature powerful dismount.
This is Wishy playing a ripping set, opening up the show.
Here are the points for the day.
