Blogging from Berkeley
As always, it's been a while since I wrote anything here.
I'm on another trip West, this time staying a night at the hotel Durant in Berkeley. It's a Joie de Vivre hotel, themed to reflect the hotel's classic heritage (built in the 1920s) and the inescapable culture of the nearby University of California. The rooms are small but open and warm, golden yellow colors trimmed with cool greys. My view mixed flat rooftops and tall palm trees and evergreens, mostly cloudy skies illuminated by bright sunlight.
I'm sure I'll learn soon where downtown Berkeley is, not far from here I know, but this neighborhood is "Telegraph" as far as I can guess. Telegraph avenue is known for street life that epitomizes the convergence and confluence of socioeconomic diversities characteristic of the bay area. Hippies, bums, students, street artists, tourists, skateboard kids, mentally ill people, city folk and suburbanites come to hang out, check out the scene, shop, people watch, and simply watch another day go by.
Late Wednesday night in April it is not so colorful. Nearly the businesses are closed. The streets are empty except for the occasional wandering person, a bit menacing, likely intended to protect from threats more than to threaten. There is no public nightlife. Wanting to get a beer after arriving from a slightly long trip was a bit of a problem.
Kip's bar on Durant was the only place that seemed to be serving beer, and it was obviously a college place, noisy, and with no social aspect I could find interesting even with the loud cheerfulness of drunken conversation mixed with Karaoke. I thought about it a minute, decided that it would be a perfect place to be alone in a crowd for a beer's worth of time, and went in.
After watching drunken karaoke performed by floating groups of students, shouting-singing lyrics to pop songs I didn't recognize, I realized an important thing about karaoke.
It's not about the music, exactly. Karaoke singing is not supposed to be good, or creative. Nobody learns anything. It's participatory, expressive, even a bit ecstatic. Shouting lyrics everybody knows lets the singers release their anxieties and uncertainties and mental baggage, cast their fears and their superegos out into the night, return to a state of being their natural, comfortable selves, fearless for the moment, accompanied by friends, allies in the struggle to regain a sense of self in an uncertain world. A little like singing in church.
Even though the version of karaoke practiced that night at Kip's was not the performer-on-stage kind that you'd expect, I don't plan to look any further. The beer tasted good after traveling, and there was no reason to stay any longer.
Moving on from there I discovered that late night around Telegraph is food paradise. The University community has an incredible array of foods available late into the night, reflecting the multicultural diversity that is Berkeley. Burritos, Thai food, Pizza, Gyros, doughnuts and hot dogs are available, priced well and very tasty.
A good (though short) night of sleep and ready to go in the morning.
As always, it's been a while since I wrote anything here.
I'm on another trip West, this time staying a night at the hotel Durant in Berkeley. It's a Joie de Vivre hotel, themed to reflect the hotel's classic heritage (built in the 1920s) and the inescapable culture of the nearby University of California. The rooms are small but open and warm, golden yellow colors trimmed with cool greys. My view mixed flat rooftops and tall palm trees and evergreens, mostly cloudy skies illuminated by bright sunlight.
I'm sure I'll learn soon where downtown Berkeley is, not far from here I know, but this neighborhood is "Telegraph" as far as I can guess. Telegraph avenue is known for street life that epitomizes the convergence and confluence of socioeconomic diversities characteristic of the bay area. Hippies, bums, students, street artists, tourists, skateboard kids, mentally ill people, city folk and suburbanites come to hang out, check out the scene, shop, people watch, and simply watch another day go by.
Late Wednesday night in April it is not so colorful. Nearly the businesses are closed. The streets are empty except for the occasional wandering person, a bit menacing, likely intended to protect from threats more than to threaten. There is no public nightlife. Wanting to get a beer after arriving from a slightly long trip was a bit of a problem.
Kip's bar on Durant was the only place that seemed to be serving beer, and it was obviously a college place, noisy, and with no social aspect I could find interesting even with the loud cheerfulness of drunken conversation mixed with Karaoke. I thought about it a minute, decided that it would be a perfect place to be alone in a crowd for a beer's worth of time, and went in.
After watching drunken karaoke performed by floating groups of students, shouting-singing lyrics to pop songs I didn't recognize, I realized an important thing about karaoke.
It's not about the music, exactly. Karaoke singing is not supposed to be good, or creative. Nobody learns anything. It's participatory, expressive, even a bit ecstatic. Shouting lyrics everybody knows lets the singers release their anxieties and uncertainties and mental baggage, cast their fears and their superegos out into the night, return to a state of being their natural, comfortable selves, fearless for the moment, accompanied by friends, allies in the struggle to regain a sense of self in an uncertain world. A little like singing in church.
Even though the version of karaoke practiced that night at Kip's was not the performer-on-stage kind that you'd expect, I don't plan to look any further. The beer tasted good after traveling, and there was no reason to stay any longer.
Moving on from there I discovered that late night around Telegraph is food paradise. The University community has an incredible array of foods available late into the night, reflecting the multicultural diversity that is Berkeley. Burritos, Thai food, Pizza, Gyros, doughnuts and hot dogs are available, priced well and very tasty.
A good (though short) night of sleep and ready to go in the morning.
posted by rich solomon at 9:12 AM
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