SLSQ, FLUX, and Kirk Hammett
:: Friday, September 16th, 2005 @ 3:39:02 am
:: Tags: Music

stevie and vienna
Tonight I went to see the SLSQ perform at Herbst Theater with FLUX and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett. It was a very interesting program and crowd: fancy, concert attire mixed with heavy metal t-shirts, long hair, and a bunch of SFSU students (who had free tickets). The first half featured Ozzie’s Last Round and Dvorak’s American String Quartet, which the SLSQ did an amazing job of performing. It was the best I have ever heard the American quartet performed. I sometimes forget that my friends are such amazing musicians!
The second half, however, was much stranger. The music was avant garde to the point of total confusion, and while I appreciated the creative efforts of FLUX and Mr. Hammett, I found the music to be unrewarding. It was not unlike the output of a Japanese noise band we once discovered on accident in the Castro one evening. Livia passed me a note during the last piece (amplified string quartet + electric guitar + acoustic guitar) that read, “when they are done, they are going to close the doors and eat us.” That isn’t going to make sense unless you were there, but somehow it totally captured the moment.
Vienna (dressed up!), Geoff, Livia (showing impressive cleavage), Stevie (crazy genius, as usual), Jay (I’ve missed his accent!), the FLUX quartet, a few others, and I went to Absinthe afterwards for a quick drink and snacks. The performing arts garage closes at midnight, and Vienna and I finally ran in at 11:59pm just as they were about to close the gate. Stupid garage.
Why does San Francisco make it so difficult for East Bay folk? The BART stops running at around midnight (lame), and if you try to drive home at say, 12:45am, Bay Bridge construction can make the commute a living hell. Tonight, it took me nearly 3 hours to get from from the 4th Street exit on 101 North (where we were forced off in a detour) to the Bay Bridge. It’s now 3:30am, and I just walked through the goddam door. The civil engineers who rigged up tonight’s absolutely moronic traffic flow should be punished. Now I’m afraid to stay in San Francisco past midnight.
![]() Eric Cheng in Japantown |
![]() Clara in Japantown |
![]() Geoff, Livia, and Clara |
![]() Livia, eating |
![]() Vienna and Livia at Herbst Theater |
![]() FLUX Quartet and Kirk Hammett at Herbst |
![]() Geoff and Livia in Herbst Theater |
![]() Vienna Teng at Herbst |
![]() Stephen Prutsman and Vienna Teng and Herbst |
![]() John, and Jay Hunter Morris at Absinthe |
![]() Jay and Vienng in SF |
![]() Vienna Teng and cool shoes |











no photos?
Eric Cheng my friend, you sir are a cock tease!
You can always crash on our couch! Didn’t know Bay Bridge construction was that bad at night…ugh.
Livia (showing impressive cleavage)
does warrant a photo doesn’t it !
so were metallica playing too ? I am confused. and were the cocktails made from absinthe ? i thought it was illegal in the US.
Maybe this is the one time Eric didn’t bring his camera. What a shame if that was true!
I saw Livia pass by on the street while I was waiting in line for Vienna’s concert at the Independent. I said to my wife, “Hey, that’s the girl with impressive cleavage that echeng talks about on his site!” I’m assuming she attended the concert, but I didn’t see her inside (among the crush of SRO people).
alright! images are in, whiners. :)
you know, we actually worked to reduce cleavage before leaving for the show (which is why it isn’t that impressive in the photos). i think she managed to get things under control. :)
Bless you Mr. Cheng! Bless you!!
giles: <a href=”http://www.absinthe.com/”">absinthe is a restaurant/bar. we had wine and cheese, and good conversation.
klaorman: geoff was at the independent concert, too. did you see him as well? i don’t think i’ve mentioned her cleavage before, have i? independent conclusions? :)
didn’t bring my camera? um… is that, like, possible? :)
Eric,
Here you go:
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/
“When traveling in California and the Reno, Lake Tahoe area, try our toll free voice activated 800 service, 1-800-427-ROAD (7623). This service is available FREE from any touch tone phone, cellular phone or pay phone. All other areas outside of California you can dial 916-445-7623 to reach the same service. This Information system provides current information regarding the condition of the California State Highway System. The information provided covers incidents that cause significant delays to the normal flow of traffic such as, but not limited to, full closures, 1-way traffic controls, lane closures, construction, maintenance projects, and emergencies. The following conditions will NOT be found in these reports; normal commute traffic, ramp closures and traffic flow conditions.
The information in each report is the latest information reported to the Highway Information Center.” - from Caltrans website. Furthermore,
http://video.dot.ca.gov/ and http://www.dot.ca.gov/traffic/
are both good links to use.
Check them out. They are actually quiet useful.
http://video.dot.ca.gov/photolog/
allows you to travel virtually.
By the way, the SFOBB (San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge) project should be completed between 2010 to 2012. Hang in there.
Regards,
thank you VERY MUCH for those numbers and websites.
Here’s what it said about last night’s problem:
[SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA]
IS CLOSED TO EASTBOUND TRAFFIC FROM THE JCT OF US 101 TO 7TH ST
/IN SAN FRANCISCO/ (SAN FRANCISCO CO) FROM 0100 HRS TO 0600 HRS TUESDAY THRU
FRIDAY THRU 9/23/05 - DUE TO CONSTRUCTION - A DETOUR IS AVAILABLE
I tried to get on the bridge before 1am. I guess they started early. :(
Well, only 5-7 more years of evening traffic hell. :)
I don’t remember seeing Geoff at the time. The line was just starting to move and Livia passed by, heading for the back of the line. Besides, I most likely wouldn’t have recognized him anyway; Livia is more memorable! :-)
I was taking your words and using them in an imaginary sentence. You think I’d be alive right now if I had mentioned another girl’s impressive cleavage to my wife?? :-O
Actually, I remember you posted one photo of Livia that was mostly focused on her cleavage and the caption said something like “Nice, um” plus a word that alluded to her cleavage, but I can’t remember that word and I can’t find that photo. Do you remember? I think she was in the kitchen preparing a dish.
And yes, I did draw my own conclusions from your photos! :-D
Yeah, I didn’t think you’d be without your camera! So I have a question: How do you carry your camera on your everyday activities? And what do you bring with it? I visited an amusement park recently and schlepped around a Rebel with a Tamron 28-75 plus a flash and a camcorder in a medium-sized bag with extra batteries and other junk and I wasn’t too happy! It was a hot day, and with the bag and camera hung around my neck I thought that there must’ve been a better way.
By the way, Vienna’s looking very pretty there! Dare I say hot? Nah, better not!
A SF Chron reporter managed to escape uneaten enough to write about it here: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/arti.....EOJ4R1.DTL
Sounds underwhelming, although it probably had unrealized potential.
I request additional commentary & photos about nice cleavage you may encounter in the future.
gordon - i remember that photo! she was chopping raw tuna, i think, for sushi. unfortunately, i haven’t cataloged my images that far back, yet.
as for carrying a camera around, i have a digital rebel with a 24/2.8 fixed lens. the entire package is in a tiny case. it’s tiny. and i carry that around if I don’t want to carry the larger one around. OR, I use my SD10, which has been going strong for a year and a half now — forever, in the digital camera world. :)
http://echeng.com/gallery/phot.....&u=462|6|…
man. livia’s going to kill me when she finds this entry. :)
“Rolls” it is!! Good job, Anonymous Poster! :-D Yep, she’s going to kill you, though she should’ve killed you when you posted that photo and comment. But now she has extra incentive!
Thanks for the camera info. When you carry the big one, do you regret it sometimes? At the amusement park, I had 2 and sometimes 3 straps around my neck (with the addition of a baby gear bag) and I felt like a dork as I saw other unencumbered people shoot photos with pocket cameras. Sure, I can get a pocket camera too, but I like getting the best quality (or at least the best that I can afford) on every shot I take.
gordon - i very rarely have with more than one camera around my neck unless I need to switch focal lengths quickly.
Oh, no, I wasn’t carrying 2 cameras, I was carrying the bag plus the camera outside the bag ready to shoot. Don’t you do the same when you use the big camera? Or does your bag have a “quickdraw” feature that gives you quick access to your camera when you need it? ;-)