Gift Cards: Rip-Off Report

We got married last year and many of our friends gave us bank gift cards. What a scam! During this recession, banks are looking for new streams of revenue, including higher credit card fees, higher interest rates and late fees up the yahoo and now I’ve discovered that gift cards are another way to stick it to the consumer.
If you want to give someone a gift card, why not opt for cash? It spends easier and you won’t get saddled with silly fees. The #1 set of fees devised by the bank geniuses are the non-usage ones. There is a time limit with each card—some offer one year or even less—and if you don’t use the cards right away, you’ll be charged at every turn. One of them charges you $2.50 each month over the standard period. If you don’t use it for quite some time, you’ll try to buy something with it and suddenly notice that the card’s balance is way down or completely worthless if you’ve waited too long.
Plus, many of these gift cards have an “activation fee”. One of them charged us $5.95 to use the card the first time. Why does the recipient have to pay this? In some states, they’ve passed laws that let the buyer of the gift card pay that fee. Hard cash doesn’t have this type of activation tax. What a joke!
Also, the gift card companies (major names in our case like Visa and American Express) don’t want to share your balance information on the cards very easily. To find out the balances, you have to go online and input the unending series of numbers to discover how much money is left. They can’t tell you your balance at the stores where you use the cards. So it’s a guessing game and the banks thrive on things like this.
The reason for this is very simple, actually. Most people won’t spend time researching the balances, so in the end the banks know all too well that people will leave a small amount of money on each card. When it gets down to $3.00, for instance, what can you buy with that? Maybe a candy bar or a DVD rental? (not anymore). Banks love the fact that people leave money on their cards. And if they don’t use it promptly, the bank will suck up that balance quicker than you can yell, “Scam!”
And the cards won’t let you buy things that cost more than the balance on the card. Another con job. The merchant will tell you the card doesn’t have enough money in it, so you can’t use it. It won’t use up the balance so that you can supplement it with another card, a credit card or cash. Most people won’t know their balances, so they won’t even know what they can buy with this ridiculous piece of plastic.
So, stay away from gift cards. Buy real gifts, or give silver or actual cash. Your friends will appreciate the gift anyway and all of the money you gift them will go in their pockets, as opposed to the deep ones the banks will swipe away at every opportunity. Whatever happened when banks actually helped people? Now they operate primarily as money vultures, waiting for you to screw up so they can bend you over right at the teller’s window.

Should Gil Hodges Be in the Hall of Fame?

I recently wrote about Lefty O’Doul, a San Francisco baseball legend who deserves be in the Hall of Fame, I believe. Another player/manager who should be in the HOF is the late Gil Hodges. His statistics and contributions to the game as a manager and as a role model make him more than merely a candidate. The Marina has a connection to Hodges, because Gil Hodges III, Gil’s grandson, is well-known in the neighborhood as a co-owner of Liverpool Lil’s. Gilbert Hodges played first base primarily for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was the major leagues' outstanding first baseman in the 1950s, with teammate Duke Snider being the only player to have more home runs or runs batted in during the decade. For a time, his 370 career home runs were a National League (NL) record for right-handed hitters, and briefly ranked tenth in major league history; he held the NL record for career grand slams from 1957 to 1974. Hodges anchored the Dodgers’ infield on six pennant winners, and remains one of the most beloved and admired players in team history. As a sterling defensive player, he won the first three Gold Glove Awards ever awarded and led the NL in double plays four times and in putouts, assists and fielding percentage three times each. He ranked second in NL history with 1,281 assists and 1,614 double plays when his career ended, and was also among the league's career leaders in games (6th, 1,908) and total chances (10th, 16,751) at first base. He managed the New York Mets to the 1969 World Series title, one of the greatest upsets in Series history, before his untimely death in 1972. If you compare Hodges to Tony Perez, the Cincinnati Reds’ 1B who is in the HOF, you can plainly see that Hodges deserved to be there. It’s a complete disgrace that this incredible man and player and manager isn’t in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
Random Thoughts
I went to NYC in August on vacation and I got to see both of the new baseball stadiums. I was talking to several fans and they all said the same thing: “The seats in these new ballparks are way too expensive.” Now NY Giants football fans are bailing on their season tickets, because the prices at the new Meadowlands are out-of-control, even at Big Apple levels. Are these new fancy stadiums pricing the common man right out of the running for seats? It sounds like it and it’s a shame. Pretty soon, corporations will be the only ones who can afford season tickets, $10 beers and $9 hot dogs! The Bay Area can now claim that we have the most successful horse racing jockey in the world right here. If you don’t know him, his name is Russell Baze, who recently celebrated his 11,000th race at the Sonoma County Fair this summer. When I played the horses many years ago, I made a lot of money betting on horses with Baze atop. When he was riding Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s horses for many years primarily at Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields, Baze was as close to being a sure thing as any jockey in the sport.
Will the Lions Roar Again in 2011?
Galileo Academy’s Head Football Coach Mark Huynh is excited about his team this year after the Lions surprised the rest of the Academic League by capturing the title last season (9-3 overall and 6-1 in league). After a talented group of seniors who graduated in June, this team is a very young, but enthusiastic unit, led by Sr. RB Quincy Nelson (“He’s smart, pretty quick and sneaky fast,” Huynh said.); Sr. QB Jonathan Lu (“He got a lot of snaps last year, so we’re excited to see how he’ll do as out #1 guy.”); Sr. Cornerback Waynelle Buckner (“He should make some big plays this year.”); Jr. Center Michael Brzozek, Sr. Cornerback William Kay (“Strong, quick and a hard worker.”); Sr. Middle Linebacker Max Malloy (“He’s a hard hitter and a tough kid.”) and Jr. Nose Tackle Marc Pineda (“He can clog up the middle, which is key to our defense.) Coach Huynh will be running a triple option offense, featuring one fullback and two slot backs, he explained. What teams will be the ones to beat in the Academic League this season? “Washington will be talented and deep and Lowell should be very competitive,” Huynh said. “We don’t know much about Lincoln this year, but I’ve heard they’re a very young, athletic group, so it should be an interesting league this season.” Galileo’s first home game will be against Moreau Catholic on September 18th. Let’s get out there and support the Marina’s only high school football program.

Old Comics Never Die!

This year marks the 30th annual presentation of the world’s first outdoor comedy concert. That’s right, Comedy Day is turning 30, but you can trust that it will continue to bring five hours of funny to Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, September 19. The free event features 40 comedians on one stage in a non-stop relay of jokes.
This year’s lineup, a combination of up-and-coming talent, national and Bay Area favorites, and a cadre of comedians who first performed during Comedy Day’s early ‘80s infancy, includes: Carlos Alazraqui, Tom Ammiano, Diane Amos, Ngaio Bealum, Dick Bright, Eddie Brill, A. Whitney Brown, Bruce “Baby Man” Baum, Larry “Bubbles” Brown, Andy Bumatai, Candy Churilla, Brian Copeland, Debi Durst, Will Durst, David Feldman, Marga Gomez, Caitlin Gill, Maximilian Gstettenbauer, Linda Hill, Jeremy Kramer, Grant Lyon, Don McMillan, Dr. Gonzo, The Meehan Brothers, Rick Overton, Steven Pearl, Mark Pitta, Michael Pritchard, Dan St. Paul, Bob Rubin, Bob Sarlatte, Carrie Snow, Barry Sobel, Tony Sparks, Johnny Steele, Howard Stone, Barry Weintraub, J. Raoul Brody And The STUPEDS, And Very Special Surprise Guests!

Founder Jose Simon’s dream of a free, open-air comedy celebration became a reality in 1981, and since that time, more than 600 of the world’s funniest comedians have performed gratis for more than a half-million people. Comedy Day has hosted many of the biggest names in stand-up, among them Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Garry Shandling, Ellen DeGeneres, Eddie Izzard, Dana Carvey, Bobcat Goldthwait, Paula Poundstone, Brian Copeland, Rob Schneider, George Lopez, Greg Proops, Dave Chappelle, Margaret Cho, Greg Behrendt, Dana Gould, Tom Kenney, Dave Attell, Arj Barker, Brian Regan, Jake Johannsen, Patton Oswalt, Janeane Garofalo, and Father Guido Sarducci.

“We all need a good laugh…especially now,” says Debi Durst, Board President of Comedy Day. “Our goal is to give the audience a break from the trials of daily life. Sure, there’ll be jokes about the state of the economy, dubious politicians, upcoming midterm elections, the big oil spill and other scandals, but finding something funny about these distressing times helps people release all their pent-up energy.”

I had an opportunity recently to talk with Dr. Gonzo, a legendary name among comedians from during the 1980’s, a period that people now call The Golden Era of San Francisco Comedy. Dr. Gonzo (John Means) retired from performing more than a decade ago, and returned to his hometown, Mason City, Illinois, to teach community college English for a while and open two restaurants. In his heyday, Dr. Gonzo was most known for his song parodies and opened at concerts for big musical acts, like Huey Lewis and the News, Greg Kihn, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Journey and Carlos Santana, just to name a few.

Q: You haven’t performed in 12 years, but you’ll be back on the big stage at Comedy Day?
A: It’s a weird thing to jump back in again. I was on the road for 20 years and I was getting burnt out on the lifestyle. I had given up all of my vices—all the things that were going to kill me—so I wanted to do something different with my life, so I went back to school and got a degree in English. Then my dad died and I got divorced, so it was tough for a while. So, my life changed drastically in a very short time and I remarried a woman I knew from high school. We’ve fixed up seven buildings here in my hometown. We own two restaurants that are pretty cool. We live above the restaurants, which is great, because I don’t have a lawn to mow and my commute is excellent.

Q: You’re going to see a lot of your fellow comics from the heyday at this year’s Comedy Day. Will it be a fun reunion?
A: It’s going to be a blast! Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years. I was there for so many Comedy Days, so this will be cool. It’s a great experience, because you get to see so many of your friends all in one place. It will be an exciting experience, performing in front of 10,000 people after not being on a stage for 12 years. I’m not getting back into it for a living, but this is more of a kick.

Q: What was it like doing your last gig back in 1998?
A: My desire was gone by then, so it was anti-climatic more than anything else. Things had changed, because the audience got younger and I got older. I thought my last show would be an emotional deal, but it wasn’t. At that point, I was deep into going to school and I thought that performing for that supposed last time would be emotional, but it was more like a monkey getting pulled off my back, actually.

Q: People look back at the‘80’s comedy scene in San Francisco and say it was an incredibly talent-laden time. Did you know that it was that way back then?
A: I think we knew it. There was something special in the city by the way comedy just boomed during that time. I came to SF as a musician and the music scene back then took a dump just when comedy was starting to peak. It was easy for any club with a light and a small stage to do comedy, and there were so many comics out there that shows were everywhere. I don’t think many of us got into standup back then to make money—we just thought it was a lot of fun. We were screwing around and it just happened. Steven Pearl, Doug Ferrari, Will Durst, Bobby Slayton, (the late) Jane Dornacker, Billy Jaye, Michael Pritchard, Linda Hill—they were all here and it was amazing.

My Interview with Rich Little

On August 8th, Impressionist Rich Little will be one of the panelists featured at Comedy Talks, a series of conversations by comedians about comedy and their careers. We talked to Rich about his many years on the stage, some of the highlights and lowlights and asked him about his current project, a one-man show in which he plays Jimmy Stewart.

Q: What advice would you offer to young comedians or comic actors?
A: They’re different types of standup comedy. What I do is basically tell jokes. Many of the comics today tell anecdotes and real-life stories, and I always tell jokes with a very distinct set up followed by a punch line. It’s a different type of comedy. I put a lot of jokes in my act—not one-liners or stories. Everyone has a different approach of how they do comedy. Back in the early days, guys like Milton Berle, Henny Youngman and Bob Hope told jokes. And then you had people like Shelly Berman and Bob Newhart who told a lot of stories about things that had happened to them. I’m probably of the old-school, but what I’ve been doing for many years is taking an impression and then having a joke in there as well. That way, I’m getting a reaction for the impression, and then I get another reaction from the joke. The best thing I can tell a young comic is get on stage as much as you can, because there’s no substitute for getting up there and doing it. Try not to perform in front of your family too much, because they’re nothing like a live audience. They won’t heckle you and we won’t get an objection.
Q: Henny Youngman told me once that there’s a big difference between getting up on stage and saying random things or developing an act and working it—do you agree?
A: Yes, I am very constructive with my material. I have developed some bits around my voices and these have become some of my standards over the years. For instance, I do a series of jokes based on what stars would sound as an animal; or within a game show featuring many of my voices. I think of an idea on how can I present these characters in a different setting and that’s where I find my hook with some foundation. I do it in a new, refreshing way without just banging out just bit one after another. I’m very conscious of what I’m doing with these voices, instead of just knocking them out.
Q: When did you think wow, I can make a living in this business?
A: The first time I got paid. I was doing shows in my hometown in Canada, doing shows at Knights of Columbus and Shriner’s conventions. Back then I was just a kid who does a few voices and that’s what I liked to do. In the early days, it wasn’t much more than a hobby. I never thought it was going to be a full-time thing, but one day the phone rang and someone told me they’d pay me $50 to perform. Well, I was in shock. I almost told them I would settle for $15! I said to myself, I can actually get paid for this? Not much, but it was a start. I never thought of myself as a comedian during those early years. I thought of myself as a guy who did a few impressions.
Q: When did you first realize you could make “insane” money?
A: When I got on the Judy Garland Show. For a kid in his 20’s, that was huge. After I got that TV exposure, I started getting bigger gigs and that’s when things changed for me. I’m most proud of that period in my life. Some of the work I did with Judy Garland is considered my best.
Q: What were best and worst gigs?
A: I would say that some of my appearances on the Dean Martin Roasts were great fun. My performance at the Reagan Inauguration was also a high point. My worst experience was at the 2007 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Everyone talked during my entire performance and the reviewers weren’t kind.
Q: You have always worked clean?
A: Well, not 100%. It depends on what you call clean. A lot of times, you can leave it in your imagination without really saying the words, it’s debatable if that’s working blue or not. I may do some suggestive material, but I’ve never worked blue. I never swear. People like naughty material, but it has to be written cleverly. Nowadays, some these comics are more graphic than ever. Somewhere along the line, it became popular to be shocking.
Q: What are you working on currently?
A: I’ve developed a one-man show playing Jimmy Stewart. I’m touring the country with that and I want to take it to big theaters and then eventually on Broadway. It’s not just Jimmy Stewart, but 23 different characters as well. We think it appeals to anyone, even if they’re not familiar with Stewart. We’d love to bring the show to San Francisco at some point.
Comedy Talks: Conversations with the Legends of Comedy is a panel discussion that brings the classic late night talk show format to the live stage, presenting a panel of three comedy legends, with host Robert Strong. “These comedy icons will talk about their careers, personal lives, insider gossip, and tips of the comedy trade,” Strong said. “Kind of like a late night talk show, but live on stage. Our hope is that the audience gets to reunite with beloved entertainment personalities so familiar that they feel like old friends. And we'll have a Q&A period too, so people will be able to ask the panelists questions."
Sunday, August 1st: George Segal, Paul Mazursky and Ronnie Schell
Sunday, August 8th: Rich Little, Carol Channing and Steve Rossi
Sunday, August 15th: Robert Morse, Shelley Berman and TBA

All shows at USF Presentation Theater (2350 Turk) at 4:00 pm.

Friends of Northside SF get a $10 discount off of any price level if you purchase your tickets before August 8, 2010. Simply enter the word "northside" in the discount code field when you go to make your purchase, and then choose one of the specially discounted tickets.
For more information about all three shows, visit www.ComedyTalks.com.

Ed's Sports Corner for July

I always enjoy hearing great success stories about local people who’ve made it. Jesse Ortiz is a good example—a Galileo High School and University of San Francisco graduate who’s made it big in the sport of golf as one of the world’s premier golf club designers in the world. Ortiz began his club designing career as a teenager in 1968 with guidance from his father Lou, founder of Orlimar Golf. Together, Jesse and Lou hand-crafted golf clubs for many of golf’s greatest, from Ken Venturi to Johnnie Miller. The Ortiz’ became personal craftsmen for Northern California’s finest golf professionals. While at Orlimar, he designed and developed many successful products introduced by the company, including the TriMetal™ fairway metal line, widely considered to be among the most lucrative and innovative ever introduced. It was consistently ranked among the top fairway metals by professional PGA Tour and senior PGA Tour players in Darrell Surveys. Before leaving Orlimar, Jesse introduced the critically acclaimed TriMetal™ HipTi Driver, which featured not only the thinnest conforming face in golf, but also the strongest and most rigid. Jesse’s metal wood innovations propelled sales from $1.5 million to $100 million in the late 1990s. Since 1998, over 700 PGA professional players have used Ortiz clubs in tournament play. During this period, Ortiz’s name has become synonymous with high-quality woods and fairway metals design. In 2004, the Jesse Ortiz Design Studio partnered with the upstart Bobby Jones Golf Company, and resounding success has followed. Driven by the commercial and critical triumph of the Bobby Jones Hybrid by Jesse Ortiz, the Bobby Jones Players Series by Jesse Ortiz continues to benefit from heavy media acclaim and increasing sales. In 2008 after nearly four years in the workshop, Jesse launched a revolutionary new 460cc driver and a collection of technology-shaping wedges for Bobby Jones Golf. In 1999, Jesse received the International Network of Golf Business Achievement Award and was recognized as the Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern California by Ernst & Young.

Gus Triandos was around many great moments in baseball

Gus Triandos was a very decent catcher during the 50’s and 60’s. He hit 167 career homers, and although he was not fleet of foot (he stole one base and holds the record for most consecutive games played without being thrown out: 1,206), Triandos had a great arm and was known as one of the top-fielding backstops in the league throughout his years with five major league teams. He now lives in San Jose, California and runs a postal company. He was wearing a neck brace the morning I met him, the result of a recent car accident. Gus was a part of a lot of baseball history. A 2-time all-star, he caught Jim Bunning’s perfect game in 1964, used the big oversized mitt to catch knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm during his no-hitter in 1958 and was the opposing catcher when Ted Williams hit a home run in his final plate appearance in 1960.

The perfect game he caught: “Bunning was on his game that day and everything just fell into place. A perfect game is so rare, because it’s never completely in the pitcher’s hands. An error can mess it up and I’ve seen it happen more than once. In the ninth inning, Jim Bunning called his catcher, Gus Triandos, to the mound. What did they talk about? Triandos stated after the game, "He said I should tell him a joke, just to get a breather. I couldn't think of anything. I just laughed at him."

High school: “My senior year, we had 11 guys sign professional contracts. Mission High was the baseball school, Polytechnic was the football school and Lowell was the basketball school in San Francisco at that time. The only one who really made it for any time in the majors was me.”

The 1957 all-star game: “That *$#@ Stengel didn’t even put me in that game. That Stengel really hated my guts. And then the next year it was in Baltimore. That’s when they let the players pick the all-stars for the first time. And I got in because I was elected by the players. And Casey still didn’t want to play me, but he had no choice.”

Players he liked/disliked: “I never got to where I disliked a guy. There were a couple I ended up disliking, but shit, life’s too short. I stayed away from them. You see them now, and you never get a chance to talk. Maybe for a minute at some dinner or event or something. But, there were very few people -- players and managers -- that after it was all over, I disliked…Stengel was one of them. I wasn’t his type of ball player. You know, I couldn’t run. I couldn’t hit to the opposite field. And for some reason he just didn’t like me and it was patently obvious. The greatest thing that ever happened to me was him disliking me. He also made the right pick. He decided that he liked Elston Howard better than me. And that was a helluva pick.”

Umpires: “You almost have to be an ass---- to be an umpire. You have to take so much shit. You start the season out real good friends with them by the end of the season guys were salivating, hell, saying they hated each other’s guts. The only reason the umps liked me is I didn’t show ‘em up, and I never argued with them. Stayed off them so that the fans wouldn’t get on them.”

Players today: “The way things are now, the kind of money these guys are making, it’s messed everything up. In our era, there was more integrity and more love for the game. Look at these fucking guys, they buy 2-3 million dollar homes; some of them have six or seven kids with five different women? It’s crazy.”

HOFer’s: “Any Hall of Famer who thinks he’s so wonderful because he did all these great things in baseball is full of crap. He was able to do it because he was blessed by God with natural ability. He didn’t necessarily have to work that hard to be a star. I’ve seen .220 hitters work a lot harder than a lot of Hall of Famers. There were some good ones, but there are also a lot of bad guys who are Hall of Famers. That’s why I never really idolized Hall of Famers, because I thought they were blessed.”

She IS Edith Piaf!!

Multi-talented Naomi Emmerson brings to life Edith Piaf’s unmatched passion for song, her inspirational story of survival and her unwavering faith in love in Piaf: Love Conquers All, this intimate Off-Broadway hit that has travelled from Montreal to Manila before coming to San Francisco.

Emmerson interprets fourteen of Piaf’s most notable songs in their original French language (dialogue in English) and will be accompanied by Alan Choy’s live acoustic piano. Woven among songs are anecdotes of Piaf's life - her passion for men, music and morphine. A version of Piaf's life was recently brought to the screen with an Oscar-winning performance by Marion Cotillard in “La Vie an Rose”.

Piaf: Love Conquers All runs from July 7 - August 7, 2010 at the Eureka Theatre (215 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA – near the Embarcadero). Tickets are $25-$36 and are available at 800-838-3006 or at www.brownpapertickets.com.

I had a chance to talk to Naomi Emmerson recently and we discussed the role she’s played approximately 200 times during her acting career.

What is your attraction to playing Edith Piaf?
“When I first started playing her in 1993, it was a job. But now my motivation is to continually bring her music out to the audience in a meaningful way that is a tribute to her life. The music probably motivates me the most. The lyrics really tell her story, so if you listen to them you’re really getting a window into her life. She had a very mercurial life full of extremes and recklessness and she was things that I am not. So, I get to pretend and then feel honored that there was a woman who made a ton of sacrifices to share her music with the world.”

Tell us three things we probably don’t know about Edith Piaf.
“I bet nobody knows that she was a Rosicrucian later in her life. And she was very mystical and believed in spirits and had many precognitive experiences. She had an Ouija board she carried with her all the time. One time she read the board and then opted out of taking a flight and the plane later crashed. She also helped approximately 150 prisoners of war to escape from the German camps. She would perform for the prisoners and then would make sure to have her picture taken with them. Then, she’d find out these peoples’ names and ID’s were forged for these prisoners. During a return performance, she’d smuggle these prisoners fake ID’s and they could essentially walk right out of the camp. Also, she was by far the highest paid female entertainer of her time—more than Judy Garland or Ella Fitzgerald.”

If you could have lunch with Edith, what would you ask her?
“I actually had a very vivid dream in which we were drinking together in a bar. I would probably ask her if she minds that I’m singing her songs and does she approve?”

Her passions included men, music and morphine and in that particular order?
“I think her men would have been the first one, because without men and love in her life, she couldn’t have done her music, I believe. And then when she had the pain of lost love, she sang even better. So, those were connected. And, of course, the morphine played a big part in her life. Piaf got addicted to it after she was in a very bad car accident. After three years of abuse, she did finally quit. But she never gave up the booze!”

If people are sitting on the fence about seeing this show, what would you tell them to get their fannies in the seats?
“First off, the tickets for the show are very reasonably priced. In New York, we charged $45 and here the tickets are $25-$36. Also, the theater is beautiful; the set if amazing and people who know Piaf will come and really enjoy feeling like they’re visiting an old friend. And for those who don’t know anything about her, they will leave the theater absolutely wanting to know more.”

The Art of Baseball Shines in SF!

For the 13th year of the annual exhibition, the George Krevsky Gallery has assembled an All-Star lineup of Baseball Art Rookies and Seasoned Baseball Art Pros.

Every year, I make sure that I get to see the baseball art display at George Krevsky Gallery in San Francisco. This year, they’re highlighting new exciting artists while showing respect to the seasoned veterans who’ve contributed in the past. The show is running until June 19, so there’s still plenty of time to see it.

"Rookies" on this year's team, despite their prominence as exhibiting artists, include: pop icon, Mel Ramos; Russian born painter, Valentin Popov; multi-media artist and poet, Naomie Kremer; works on paper artist, Michael Scoggins; infra-red photographer, Robert Hartman; AT & T Park muralist, Tom Mogensen; screenwriter and illustrator, Barry Gifford; and Bay Area Figurative artist, Gordon Cook.

"Pros" returning to the lineup include: Baseball Hall of Fame artist, Arthur K. Miller; nationally exhibited San Francisco painter, Stanley Goldstein; iconic LA artist, Raymond Pettibon; visual storyteller, Dana DeKalb; New York painter, Louis Grant; and mixed media printmaker, Stacey Carter.

George Krevsky Gallery
77 Geary St. 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
Tel: (415) 397-9748

Fax: (415) 397-9749

Tuesday - Saturday
11 am - 5:30 pm

A Week of Celebrities

What a week. First, I ran into Vince Neil, the lead singer for Motley Crue (bottom shot). And on Thursday, I interviewed Tammy Nelson, the lead role in Beach Blanket Babylon, the longest continuous music revue in the history of the world!

Let the Hilarity Continue...

Two Words for the Finest French Food in the Bay Area: La Folie

Legendary La Folie Owner/Chef Roland Passot knows French food and he creates a piece of artwork every time one of his plates hits the table. Fine dining could be wasted on me, because I have a naïve, untrained palate. I can’t often tell the difference between pork and chicken or duck and turkey. I know my barbecue and comfort food, but fancy high-end cuisine is kind of a mystery to me. We only get to eat at places like La Folie for very special occasions, like birthdays and anniversaries. So, when I do have a fine dining experience, I’m basically a fish out of water.

We knew almost instantly that La Folie was going to offer a charming complete dining experience. With cotton-candy clouds painted on sky-blue walls, La Folie has an atmosphere that exudes class and luxury. Passot’s passion for French fine dining is evident in every aspect of his restaurant—from the professional service, the extensive Franco-California wine list, the amazing small bites between courses and a wide range of rare vegetarian menu offerings. This is Passot’s dream restaurant and we enjoyed being part of his vision.

We decided to go with La Folie’s 4-course plan ($85 per person) and we were pleasantly surprised and beyond satisfied for everything we ate. Some of the more notable items include La Folie’s Confit of Kurabuta Pork Belly with Boudin Noir, Quince Puree and Pickled Cipolini Onions (I could live on pork belly if I could.); Warm Edam Cheese Souffle with Fromage Blanc Sorbet, Crispy Bacon, White Sesame Tuile (You have to order it right away, because it takes time to prepare this amazing soufflé. My only complaint here is that there wasn’t enough of it.); Niman Ranch Lamb Loin, with Carrot and Medjool Dates, Potatoes “Fondante”, Lamb Shoulder Crepinette (I love my lamb so rare I can feel the pulse and this one fit the bill.); Goat Cheese and Fourme D’Ambert Terrine with Baby Pickled Beets, Toasted Walnuts and Frisee Salad (La Folie loves veggies and this dish proves it.); Dungeness Crab Salad Napoleon on Crispy Pineapple Chips, Grapefruit and Pomegranate Gelee (The Gelee solicited glee!);and Seared Day Boat Scallop with Parsnip Puree, Celery Gratin and Lobster Vanilla Sauce (Everyone does scallops, but they can easily be overcooked. La Folie prepared them perfectly.)

If I’m giving stars, La Folie receives all five and more. When it comes down to the food, this place is adventurous without showing off too much. We had a great first year wedding anniversary meal and although the evening wasn’t cheap, we left La Folie exceedingly happy, pampered and anxious to return for another special occasion in the future.

La Folie
2316 Polk Street
San Francisco, Calif.
(415) 776-5577
www.lafolie.com