Rumblings & Ramblings

June 2007

CRIME FIGHTER, BASEBALL PLAYER & MISS AMERICA… You could write a play, couldn’t you? At the recent “Great Pasta Cook-Off,” a fundraiser for the Museo ItaloAmericano, many city celebs were on hand. Among them were district attorney Kamala Harris, SF Giant Rich Aurilia, and Nancy Fleming Lange — aka Nancy Fleming, Miss America. In the awards department, Harris came in second with her Lamb Ragu. The event was held at the Palio D’Asti Restaurant.

THEATER, THEATER, MORE THEATER…Though it won’t happen here, two Fort Mason Center resident organizations will participate in the 4th Annual San Francisco Theater Festival in July. BATS Improv and Magic Theatre will join 70 theater groups. Look for all kinds of programs, from Shakespeare to hip-hop. The festival is FREE and utilizes 10 stages in Yerba Buena Gardens, Yerba Buena Center For The Arts, and the Zeum.

DANCE EXPOSED — IN A NICE WAY…Spark, the KQED show about the city’s arts and artists that originates in San Francisco, filmed at the Cowell Theater twice recently. They were there to film the work of two dance companies — Janice Garrett & Dancers and the Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company. Incidentally, Lily Cai’s Red Typhoon was a world premiere based on the choreographer’s life during the time of Mao. Look for programs in the coming weeks and months. If you haven’t caught Spark yet, you should.

ART & FASHIONABLE DONATIONS…Leah Garchik, San Francisco Chronicle columnist, reports that the California College Of Arts 100th anniversary celebration — fashion show and dinner — held here recently was an immense success. Garchik said the college raised $570,000 for scholarships. It was a busy time for the Fort Mason Center campus. As the fashionistas paraded, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery held their big Annual Artists Warehouse Sale.

AS TIME GOES BY…Looking back two decades, Fort Mason Center hosted the 9th Annual Spring Folk Music Festival, a program sponsored by Nuclear Weapons Freeze and the Committee In Solidarity With The People Of El Salvador called “Give Peace A Dance,” and Festival Of The Sea, presented by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Magic Theatre presented two pieces, Neon Psalms by Thomas Strelich about dreams gone amok and Love in the 3rd, by O-Lan Shepard Jones and Kathleen Cramer about Las Vegas showgirls. The Asian American Theater Company presented Zatoichi: Superstar by Warren Kubota, a comedy about a man trapped in a struggle between ancient and modern symbolic figures..

– Staff

Image: "Fort Mason Center" by Michael Schwab