A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about songs whose lyrics really mean something to us. My buddy Dylan responded with a track (Harlem by Phil Lynott’s Grand Slam) that was on obsessive repeat for him lately and what he took it to mean. It’s really too good not to share, gets better after a few listens and reminds me that friends with good taste in music are often way better than all the music blogs out there.
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Location: Masonic Ave. and Haight St. Upper Haight, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: Destiny’s Child – Perfect Man
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Sande was waiting for the bus along with a bunch of other people. She told me she was listening to Perfect Man by Aaliyah, but no such song exists (as I learned later). I did find out that Perfect Man by Destiny’s Child follows an Aaliyah track on the Romeo Must Die soundtrack so that must have been what she meant. I can fluster people once in a while. When I asked if I could take her photo, she said only on the condition that I had a card. I gave her my Holiday Matinee card and she seemed satisfied with that. Let’s get back to Aaliyah though – has it really been over ten years since she died in a plane crash? I can remember thinking what a shame that was. On the plus side, I guess we will always remember her in the youth and vitality of her 20s, much like Tupac.
Location: Masonic Ave. and Haight St. Upper Haight, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: Culprit – Siren
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Mikey was standing only a couple yards away from Sande. I was happy because she probably noticed me asking him too and would see this was a real project. Mikey first introduced himself as Michael, but then changed his mind. He told me what he listening to and when I asked him about a photo said yes, with an inflection that meant “yeah, of course”. He seemed like a pretty cool dude. I actually wrote down Airlines by Culprit as the song, but couldn’t find any tracks by that name. This was my closest guess as to what I may have misheard, but if anyone is familiar with the tune, do tell.
Location: Haight and Ashbury St. Upper Haight, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: P0gman – Rigged
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I noticed Dylan waiting by some motorcycles and interrupted him. He wasn’t sure what the exact track was so he pulled out his player and showed me the screen. I told him about the project and he said “this will be a good one then” in his Irish accent. I wasn’t even thinking about the location when I asked him, but I guess now I have an entry steps away from an iconic landmark.
Location: Haight and Shrader St. Upper Haight, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: Eminem – Lose Yourself
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José was standing between two cars on the street waiting for someone. I hadn’t included anyone as young as him yet so I went for it. He told me in Spanish that he didn’t speak any English so I broke out my recently polished skills from Mexico a few months back. It was a messy exchange, but he got the gist of what I was doing and let me take his picture. I should disclose that I got distracted while writing this entry. I was looking up the cross streets and my search pulled up an image of Haight and Shrader from 1975. At that moment, Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds started playing in the café I was writing from. It was so perfectly Wonder Years – the song and photo matching in era, so I’m going to post that too.
Location: Church St. Café The Castro, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn!
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Location: Stanyan and Haight St. Upper Haight, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: Desaparecidos – Man And Wife, The Former (Financial Planning)
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Crystal was waiting for the 33 bus outside Whole Foods on Haight St. When I asked her if she would partake, she told me it had already been a very weird day, so why not? She seemed to want to make sure I got all the details correct and I have a feeling she might actually visit this site. Say hey if you do Crystal.
Location: MKG Soho, New York, New York
Listening to: Rihanna – You Da One
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I hadn’t thought about taking submissions for this project, but perhaps I will. My buddy Dave (Holiday Matinee and MKG) emailed me today with a picture of himself at MKG’s Soho office. He also included what he was listening to. I’m not sure why Dave chose this song, but it is the 2nd Rihanna song out of twelve entries so far. Regardless, Dave was still probably kicking ass at whatever he was doing. If you’d like to email a submission, go for it.
Notes
This round started off rough with two flat out rejections. It made asking the 3rd person a bit more daunting, but it was smooth after that. MOO will be getting an order from me shortly, so I can hand out cards to each person rad enough to spare a moment of their time. I’m also thinking about crafting a design for the project itself once I get to 25 entries.
Location: 3435 Cesar Chavez Mission District, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: Buena Vista Social Club – Chan Chan
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I stopped by Betabrand HQ last week to pick up a sweet pair of Bike To Work pants and talk to my friend Matt. Once he saw the camera around my neck and I told him about my project, he encouraged me to include a few of his co-workers that had some tunes plugged in. I found Jackson doing inventory on Disco Pants. He was happy to participate and gave me an unsolicited thumbs up.
Location: 3435 Cesar Chavez Mission District, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: Metronomy – We Broke Free
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I snuck up on Victoria to ask her what she was listening to as she folded flannels. I was surprised I didn’t startle her and she was totally cool with posing for a quick snap. She happened to be listening to a band I love. I already like her and we barely had a conversation.
Location: Papalote Mexican Grill, 3409 24th St. Mission District, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: Danger Radio – You All Believe
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I stopped at Papalote for a burrito to bring back to the office and ran into Rahul. He’s actually not a stranger, he’s a former roommate of mine at Boston University who happened to be in town. Seeing as how it was a chance encounter and he had headphones in, I asked him what he was listening to as we waited to order. Rahul ordered two carne asada tacos.
Location: 20th and Valencia St. Mission District, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps
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I stopped Martha on Valencia St. and asked her why she was wearing a scarf. It was a relatively warm day, sunny and I was confused. Actually I didn’t say that to her at all, but I did ask her what she was jamming to. She asked where this was going and once she found out it was just for my blog, she was fine with it, probably just because she didn’t want anyone making the big bucks off her. Martha – what a savvy businesswoman you are! She probably wasn’t thinking that at all though – she was pretty nice.
Location: 24th and Mission St. Mission District, San Francisco, Calif
Listening to: Rihanna – We Found Love
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This girl was awkward. She was bewildered as to to why I wanted to know what she was listening to and I had to ask a few different ways before getting an answer. I thought it was a language barrier, but I don’t even think that was the problem. If you ever wonder what SF Department of Public Works employees listen to while sweeping our streets, here’s your answer. Also, iTunes song reviews are full of unintentional comedy. Matthew Berntsen says “The sound is extremely basic and the vocals are awful” while Joaquin Delgado says “it’s a club banger full of energy”.
Notes
I’m getting way more comfortable asking people on the street what they are listening to. This is a project full of imperfection because sometimes you will only get partial information and really only have time for one photo, so you can’t worry too much about how it will look, or the lighting. Most people I stop are really cooperative, although sometimes there are people that refuse to stop (I blame conditioning from Planned Parenthood and Red Cross street teams) and have to walk with while asking questions. One girl was listening to Function by E-40 and didn’t stop for a photo. I’m definitely leaning towards a strategy of just asking questions and not explaining what mischief I’m up to until we get talking a bit. Get your foot in the door as they say. “We out here tryin’ to FUNCTION!”
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