My last couple of days in the Bay area I moved from Oakland to San Francisco and stayed in an interesting old Deco hotel. It bordered on charming and kinda scary. But I love the old, boutique hotels with some character. I went to a dance performance on Saturday night at the S.F. Conservatory of Music. Really great building and I loved having the opportunity to see a recital there. I saw an ad when we were in the Castro District for the world premier of “ManDance” – a company of male ballet dancers. When in Rome… San Francisco is so supportive of the gay and lesbian community and I thought I should be as well. The show was really interesting and the choreography innovative… especially the dance to the music from Brokeback Mountain. To continue my cultural experience I went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Jewish Contemporary Museum (JCM) on Sunday. SFMOMA had two fabulous special exhibits – Georgia O’Keefe paired with Ansel Adams and the photography of Richard Avedon. The art museum had some really cutting edge modern art. After checking out all four floors and the sculpture garden I went across the street to the Jewish Contemporary Museum. There was a special exhibit – “Jews on Vinyl”, curated by Roger Bennett, one of our guests at the Tampa JCC Jewish Book Month Celebration last year. In the exhibit hall there was a listening area set up like the fifties and on the record player was the Temptations Motown version of “Fiddler on the Roof’. Wish I had that recording. After the JCM I went to the park across the street where the S.F. Opera was holding a free performance. As I was leaving I stopped to chat with a very nice man who saw me studying my map and offered some directions. While chatting with him I was so excited to see some folks that I know from Tampa. Stuart and Cindy Novick were visiting their daughter who lives in S.F. and went to SFMOMA as well. Stuart and I have worked together for about four years on the Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival. After 11 days I said goodbye to the Bay Area.
