My second cousin, V., and her husband, M., were in town from Hawaii one evening last week. They’d been in Reno for a family reunion the weekend before, then stayed with another cousin for a few days in Benicia-Martinez. On the night they were in San Francisco, I met them in Chinatown. V., although born and raised mainly in Hawaii, graduated from high school in Vallejo. Therefore, I didn’t bother to remind her about the cooler weather in San Francisco, as she was already aware of it. Even so, when I caught up with them, she had bought a hoodie and a second pair of gloves (had left the first pair at the hotel) and was shivering away. Even M. admitted to being a little cold.
I shuffled them over to North Beach to have drinks at Panta Rei. As we walked there, M. commented that North Beach was much nicer than Chinatown. Chinatown is much more crowded than North Beach, so it’s difficult even walking down the sidewalk. Tons of businesses are crammed into small spaces, too, unlike in North Beach. We sauntered up to the bar at Panta Rei and settled in for 2 or 3 rounds of mimosas, bellinis and mojitos. Once we were feeling “Pharrell happy,” we walked to Ideale for dinner. V. and M. shared a salad as an appetizer, V. had seafood linguini, M. had branzino, I had bucatini amatriciana, there were profiteroles for dessert and there was prosecco, wine and beer to keep that good mood going. They loved the food! M. had asked me if I knew of any live music places, but my mind was blank until we walked by The Saloon, where a live band was already cranking out some tunes. I seldom go to The Saloon, beings the crowd can be a little dicey, the place always smells rancid and someone is forever trying to open the bathroom door when you’re in there. M. wanted to kick up his heels, though, so we made a stop. Honestly, we had a really good time. I was even just hammered enough to dance with M. V. made a few videos, but I’ll never post those anywhere that people might recognize me!
This past week the Rebel Souljahz were in town, along with the Mango Kingz (SF locals) and Anuhea, for a concert at Mezzanine. I hate going to Mezzanine, especially on a school night, for a concert. However, the lead singer of Rebel Souljahz, Mike, is my distant cousin. Thus, I manned up and went. It took me 30 minutes in line to make it inside and another 30 minutes to get a drink. When I wanted to buy a Rebel Souljahz T-shirt, it was cash only. Anuhea’s group was taking both cash and credit cards, though. I, who seldom carry cash, went to the ATM and withdrew cash, along with paying that ATM fee, to purchase aforementioned T-shirt. Mango Kingz were already playing by the time I made it inside. The Rebel Souljahz came on promptly at 10:30 p.m. and played for an hour. Although I may be slightly biased and it was my first time seeing them perform, they were great in concert. High energy level! Once their set was over, I hightailed it out of there. I didn’t wait for Anuhea’s set, figuring it wouldn’t be over until 1:00 a.m. Mezzanine is in what my roommate describes as a “super sketchy” area. Had I waited until Anuhea finished her set, hundreds of people would have converged outside at the same time in search of taxis and Uber cars. I chose not to deal with that by leaving early and walking home.
