Scooter LaForge Returns to SF With an 'Invitation to Nothingness'

When Scooter and I graduated from college in Arizona, he fled to San Francisco while I settled in Los Angeles -- both of which turned out to be detours on the way to New York. Excited to see that the City by the Bay will be the site of his next solo show, in what promises to be a triumphant return! 

Scooter writes:

I am so pleased and happy to announce "Invitation to Nothingness," my new solo show in SAN FRANCISCO, one of my all-time favorite cities, where I lived for nine years and consider my second home. The exhibition will be up at 111 Minna Gallery, located at 111 Minna St. I will be at the opening on June 3rd, starting at 5pm. The show runs through July.

Info HERE.

Sign Language

Seen by a reader in San Francisco!

Yelp Employee Writes Open Letter to CEO About SF Cost of Living

In her letter, Talia Jane, 25, told Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman that her job in customer support earned her $8.15 an hour after taxes, and $733.34 bi-weekly – of which 80 percent goes to paying rent. Jane said her apartment, transportation to work from Concord, and utilities leave her with little or no money to buy food or heat her apartment. (She lives on rice and doesn't turn on her heat.) Jane's superiors responded by giving her a really bad Yelp review and now zero percent of her pay goes toward rent -- she was fired. Stoppelman, who has used his considerable wealth to help the homeless, said her termination was completely unrelated, yet Jane says HR told her she was fired because the letter violated the company's code of conduct. (Huh?)

Read HERE. It's pretty harrowing stuff, although I must confess I would have been A LOT more sympathetic if she hadn't started out bitching about having to pay her dues for "an entire year" -- emphasis hers.

Sign Language, SF Edition

As I walked around the Castro, I thought I was just reading into the names of the businesses. Then I woke up!

 

And you wouldn't believe the low-ball offer they made on me here ...

KitTea for Two (+ 2)

Damian and I had a great time in San Francisco, yet still managed to make one of the most glorious cities in the world all about cats, in part by inviting his two adorable sisters who live out there -- Patty and Marci -- to KitTea, the Bay Area's answer to Meow Parlour, the Lower East Side's combination cafe and kitty adoption center. (When we weren't at KitTea, we were at the sisters' place playing with Teddy and Maddie as I regaled them with Larry the Brat stories!) The reservations-only cat cafe -- which is so SF they serve scones and three types of green tea -- is a bit smaller than Meow Parlour so had fewer cats in stock. But what they lacked in inventory they more than made up for in cuteness, as you will see below!

Harley means business ... 

Visiting the kitten preserve 

Bathroom break 

Marci made a friend

Christopher won't take no for an answer!

Patty and Harley, aka the biggest jerk in the bunch ... 

I was in love!

Make your reservation HERE!

Song of the Day: 'San Francisco Days' by Chris Isaak

San Francisco days, San Francisco nights ...

Song of the Day: "California Dreamin'" by Mamas and the Papas

In town for a San Francisco AIDS Foundation SIDA event circa 1989

By the time you read this I should be in the City by the Bay, a place I used to frequent when my friends Carolyn, Kathy and Scooter lived there, but now haven't been in an embarrassingly long time. (I believe 1998, yet that seems like eight years ago.) 

SF friends and family: If I've forgotten to contact you it's because Facebook is so confusing I don't know where you live anymore -- please contact me!

#SFlashbackFriday

(Photo circa 1989)

I will be in San Francisco tomorrow thru Friday -- a city I frequented in the late '80s and '90s but have not visited since 1998! Where should I go -- has anything changed? :-)