Archive for January, 2007

I could have researched this entry a little better, or: the statues at 580 California

creepy statues

Across from the Bank of America Building, on California Street, stands my favorite creepy skyscraper known as “The 580 California.”

I used to work at Ernst and Young, in the BOA building—AT EYE LEVEL WITH THE STATUES— and every night they would be lit from below. Very startling, ver high drama. The statues would call to me: "are you almost done working for the night? Do you want to join us on our perch? Try to jump across and we’ll catch you."

Are they The Fates? Who are they? Who made them?

creepy statues

That top floor: what goes on there? Sorcery? Elevator maintenance? Was H.P. Lovecraft the architect?

And finally, after other people did my research for me, it turns out that the statues have touched the hearts of others.

Old technology

This weekend I really wanted to find my MiniDisc player so I could digitize a Spineless show from Bard and a Don Cab show from 1999 where they rocked Bottom of the Hill one day in October. There is only one place where a piece of electronics like that could be kept: the front closet.

I soon found a familiar friend lurking behind the beta pillows and out-of-season jackets: the family of boxes that hold old papers and are part of a series of items that I keep moving around with me and will continue to do so until I have a basement, at which point I will have them become ruined by a rising water level or a faulty water pump of some sort and then my time as an amateur archivist will be over.

Until then

Inside one of those memory lanes was a particularly specific box that acts as my storehouse for things I’m never going to do anything with: my legacy box. It is my own World’s Fair.

The oldest item is an audio recording done by my dad in the 60s of something called “The Beatles.” My dad’s precise notes tell me:

dad cataloging reel-to-reel audio

  • 0-315 Interview
  • 315 – What you doin’ – 346
  • etc…

Dad: tell me more about the ways of your time. What became of this British singing group?

uncatalogued audio

Then there are the super 8 films that date from the era when I was 10 and shot “stop-action” films around the house. I wonder if the sign at the digital copier store is true: can they turn my old movies into a DVD? I’d be into it. It’s been a while since I was my once proud afro touched with the extra vigor of youth.

super8 film

Then there are the tubes. I recognize these tubes NOT from the time I bought a bunch of old tubes at a flea market with the intent of encasing them in Lucite blocks— which eventually let to me ruining a pair of eyeglasses. No, these are from the time when my obsession was making my Sovtek amp sound “sweet” by replacing all the tubes in it…I think. But it seems more likely that these were from my earlier tube obsession: the summer I read Dan Torres‘s book on tube amps at Bard during one summer.

tubes

The latest addition to the collection is the MiniDisc. Oh man did we have some good times togther: recording live shows, the era where the MiniDisc 4 track reigned, editing tracks on the fly, in my pocket, while walking to meet people. I can’t believe Minidisco.com is still around!
MiniDisc