On Barry Bonds

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San Francisco From Twin Peaks — July 1, 2007

#1 Looking north to the top of Castro/Eureka Valley, and to the south side of Buena Vista Park.

#2 Looking northeast to City Hall and downtown.

#3 Looking east to Market Street.

#4 Looking south to the rooftops of Twin Peaks.

My Happy Place

I am never happier than when I am sitting on Christmas Tree Point near the top of Twin Peaks in San Francisco with the city laid out at my feet. I could gaze upon this place forever!

Apples In Stereo

Tonight just before turning in, I clicked over to YouTube to see what was at the top of their recommended list, and imagine my surprise to find The Apples In Stereo's latest video being featured! Growing up in Ruston, LA, I knew Robert Schneider and his family through the little Ruston Church of God. They had recently arrived from South Africa, and Peter Schneider, Robert's dad, taught architecture at Louisiana Tech.

I am a little over six years older than Robert, and I remember hanging out at his house, my kid sister playing with his kid sister, and our moms visiting in the living room. He might have been about 10 or 11 and I was probably a senior in high school. He was learning to play the guitar, and I remember showing him a chord or two. Nothing fancy. Probably a barred minor (like F#minor) or something. I remember he was endlessly enthusiastic about learning a new thing, and we might have talked about Beatles too. John Lennon had died a year or two before, and I had started listening to everything of his I could get my hands on.

We knew even then that Robert was a little different. Off the charts brilliant, not the best behaved child in the church, and totally unconcerned with what other people thought of him. That is how you go far. Now I have several Apples In Stereo albums which I have worn out the grooves on (you can not really wear out the grooves on a CD that has been ripped to an iPod, but you get the idea). He writes a perfect pop tune. Catchy, under three minutes, and rockin'.

I did not know it at the time, but when Apples played (March 25, 1998) in San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall on the same bill as the High Llamas, two of my soon-to-be-favorite bands were in the same place at the same time!

Congrats, Robert. Keep the great tunes coming. Nice showing on Colbert Report, too. Best wishes for continued success.