geezer moving
starting Monday 2/22/20 the daily geezer will be located at www.dailygeezer.com.
please update your bookmarks.
thanks.
submarine cuisine
Now that the sea lions have departed we curmudgeons see no reason to get within ten blocks of Fisherman’s Wharf.
But you might want to brave the stampede of tourists and check out a restaurant there that Michael Bauer will never set foot in.
Forbes Island is eccentrically romantic, a hunk of sand, palm trees and light house 5 minutes from Pier 39. You ride a pontoon boat to the former houseboat which has been converted to an expensive, no-star dining establishment.
This is not Gary Danko though entrees can hit $39. What you get for your money is a very average meal served in a dining room under San Francisco Bay. The decor is nautical overload but who cares? Portholes let you watch marine life that you never realized thrived in the murky bay.
www.forbesisland.com
all that djazz
Jazz doesn’t get more gorgeous than Django Reinhart’s intensely romantic, gypsy-hearted guitar work. Headquartered in Paris from the 20’s to his death in 1953, Reinhart managed to escape the Nazi gypsy pogroms. Towards the end of his life he returned to his peripatetic Romany culture. Reinhart’s influence on musicians from BB King to Mark Knopler has been huge.
This week would be Django’s 100th birthday and celebrations are scheduled from Jan.21-24 at Yoshi’s in Oakland, as you would expect. The festivities will be led by Django-phile Dorado Schmitt and pioneer mandolinist David Grisman.
Tickets run from $5 (kids at a matinee) to $30.
Guaranteed to be guitar heaven.
ode to Netflix
The Geezer advises you that there is almost nothing to watch on television (ok, I admit to being hooked on “The Good Wife”) during these dark winter nights and days. We survive quite well, however, with Netflix. They run a tight ship, though recent hit films may require a long wait. But their selection is rich and deep. Here is the geezer’s sampling of current favorites:
Inglorious Basterds:
Who else but Quentin Tarantino could pull off a Nazi comedy-thriller?
Humpday:
A formulaic indie about honesty among slackers. Funny and finally, touching.
Tell No One:
High speed French thriller keeps you guessing. Watch doctors who smoke.
Intelligence:
TV show that’s the Canada’s answer to “The Sopranos”. The first season is best.
Sugar
Major league dreams of young, poor Dominican baseball players. Mucho charming.
www.Netflix.com
party school
A kitchen is a great place to spend a cold Bay winter day. Especially if it’s in one of the many schools that offer cooking classes. One of the oldest ( since 1979) and most highly regarded is Tante Marie’s in North Beach. Classes are offered daily year round and conveniently for geezers, in the afternoon. It once was all-French but lately has become geographically more adventurous. In January there’s a particularly intriguing one, Cooking of Morocco, featuring lamb tagine and baked fish with charmoula which will add spice to your entertaining recipe repertoire. Classes are $65.
guns,goths and golden retrievers
If you haven’t been to the Cow Palace in a decade or two, January would be a good time to check it out. Especially considering there is proposed legislation to sell this palatial livestock barn for development. The Beatles played here twice and in 1973 Keith Moon, drummer for the Who, overdosed on horse tranquilizers
This month’s event menu is as brazenly varied as ever:
Jan. 16-17 Crossroads of the West Gun Show
America’s largest
Jan. 21 American Carnage Tour” Slayer and Megadeth with Testament
Death metal will never die.
Jan.30-31 Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show
A lot of bark for your buck.
cowpalace.com
new year's sob-along
Can’t decide whether to sing or cry this New Year’s?
The Geezer, as you’d expect, has located your solution.
It is at Oakland’s most glamorous funeral parlor, the Julia Morgan-designed Chapel of the Chimes.
The event is described as a funeral sing -along and participants are encouraged to bring their bad moods with them.
The songs are familiar and the music is live, but the lyrics have been changed to express this year’s angst.
You may want to get an ok from your therapist before you go.
“Nothing Holding Me Back”
3-5 pm
Chapel of The Chimes
Piedmont
$35-$95
priceless holiday giving
Why not make this a DIY holiday? The geezer is not suggesting you use your carpentry skills to build your grown kids an armoire or solder together a tricycle for your grandkids.
For nothing or next to nothing you can:
Create a storybook using family photos.
Adopt a puppy from your local Animal Shelter.
Print out a booklet of favorite family recipes.
Burn a CD of you singing holiday carols karaoke style.
Have t-shirts printed with a quirky family message.
Make a coupon book of offers to babysit.
Check the web for more ideas at sites like:
casting call
Have time on your hands? Put a fly rod into them.
The ever inventive East Bay Regional Parks District is offering an Introduction to Fly Fishing all day on January 11 at Lake Anza. First you practice the zen art of casting with a certified instructor then an intensive session of tying flies and the esoterica of “reading the water”.
Come to think of it, this isn’t a bad Christmas gift for an idle retiree. Be advised, however, that this innocuous hobby has been know to evolve into an addiction.
The fee is $66. Phone to register at 1-888-EBPARKS.
Check for similar ideas at:
www.ebparks.org
holiday light rails
Bundle up the grandkids and take them on one of the geezer’s holiday favorite jaunts – the glittering hourlong evening train ride in Niles Canyon. Every year the historic trains (part of the first Transcontinental Railway built in the 1860’s) are festooned with hundreds of colored lights – it’s more magical than anything concocted by Pixar, and it’s real. The trains run Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays through the holidays. Tickets are $25 for everyone over 3. The enclosed (and warmer) parlor car is $40.
