UNION SQUARE X'MAS TREE LIGHTING...

….tonight was extra special for San Franciscans…

because the Union Square X'mas tree was finally lighted…

 and this happens traditionally on the day after Thanksgiving….

A very large crowd gathered around the square to witness the event

the monument that stands in the foreground…

just in case you didn't know is the

George Dewey monument erected in 1901

by Robert Aitken

as a tribute to Admiral Dewey and 

President William McKinley

for the Spanish American war victory…

Alma de Bretville Spreckels was the model…

She spearheaded the Legion of Honor during her time…

...another point of interest…

it was featured in the opening scenes

of Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 movie…

The Birds…

as Tippi Hedren was crossing the

square to the bird shop….

so tonight the square and the periphery

was a collection of cops in every corner...

and a firetruck too…

Masha of the Salvation Army...

ice skaters…of young and old

musicians

even visiting New Yorkers like Danielle and Sam

who recognized me for my clowning

in a skating rink…

years ago…

….the x'mas tree lighting also coincided with ... 

Black Friday…so shoppers flocked to Macy's

across Geary and the shops around the square…

the square cafe's were also happy to keep

the crowd warm with espressos and hot

mochas…or whatever concoctions

... they can imagine…

but for a satisfying night-cap …

...one needs to capture an

imagery of Godiva not necessarily in the

nude but …

necessarily in the flesh with a great 

and sweet smile such as Loreta's and the

rest of the crew at Godiva's, JR and Elina…

it's been quite a night folks…

i'll be in touch so you be in touch…

jt

..

DUMB LOOKS ARE EXPENSIVE…..

our shop talk for the day...

…..only the gifted can actually do this….

either that ….or you are in the words of a fellow golfer…

a POLITICIAN…." they can even fumble and louse up

                        your day for nothin'…"

however…I'm speaking of another matter here...

anyone will tell you that any auto repair shop trip

is not exciting at all let alone adventurous…
is also very true…

where i go to get my car fixed …

things are different…

their charges are totally inexpensive….

check this sign posted 

by the doorway of Lisa, the manager….

the sign has faded over the years and nobody took the 

interest of replacing it with a more readable one…

let's take a closer look … see if it will read better…

the answer desk  rate schedule reads..

ANSWERS……………………………………….$1.00

ANSWERS WHICH REQUIRE THOUGHT ….$2.00

CORRECT ANSWERS…………………………$1.00

DUMB LOOKS…………………………………$10.00

the last one is the highlight of this sign because 

at one point or another one must have encountered 

this from any shop mechanic who's totally smart

...but would choose to look dumb 

..to make the car owner either

look smarter while at the shop

or to realize when he reaches home that he is

the dumber party….

the idea behind the sign is for the

customer not to infuriate the mechanic with…

 a lot of questions or risk getting

the dumb looks...

…this is Dan, he is trustworthy and

a very good trouble shooter …

also saves customers

unnecessary expenses…

that will be all folks!

jt

….AREN'T YOU LUCKY YOU'RE NOT A TURKEY?….FINAL ACT

….this is just another day if you really come…

to think about it….but to turkeys in America….

this is the day…

when millions of them will be forced to face

Nero and get a capricious thumbs down...

and then be simply  slaughtered….

FOR WHAT ?…

that is the question….

…to be sold by the pound and be injected with some chemical

to prevent the carcass from decomposing…then entombed in

warehouse large coolers for the big day…

…then to be eaten….and take the mysterious journey

of getting sucked down the

esophagus in grinded form mixed with saliva…

(the way this giant lizard would swallow its prey…)

and continue the squeeze, stretch and squash motion 

...to the large and small intestines…

this process is called by the scientific community

as digestion…

and then when all its juices of proteins or whatever

had been squeezed out in molecular and atom size

form…as if that were not enough

...the travel get its final chapter of leaving the 

body with the aid of gravity and the human system

of rejecting waste….and the excretion button

is ordered without hesitation by the human brain…

the only sound that echoes in the white chamber…

is a big sigh of relief….SIGH... PLOK..SPLASH..

not necessarily in that order …

at this point the poor turkey would consider 

itself lucky if no gas is passed by…

(depending on how

many ounces or pounds was finished ) 

the big 

inconsiderate parasitic ape

 to celebrate what he calls

THANKSGIVING…

and then to consummate the final

act….

he pitilessly presses down the flush lever…

and down the poor turkey swirls

round and round into the abyss of

the unknown…

or what human civilization call

"the TOILET…"

The only thing the turkey is guilty of is

its inability to speak

…. the human language

so it is unable to reason out with the homo sapien about

…how they too…

... value their lives…

and would be willing to spend anything and everything 

to live for another minute, hour or day 

or month or year

….the way humans value and fight for their lives…

….well what can I say…

the French call it….

C'EST LA VIE

that's all for now folks!

p.s. "Enjoy your turkey!…."

jt

VALENCIA ST.....

transformation  is the keyword...

from 16th to the 20th st....

Friday nights will never be the same again...

and so are the other week nights and days...

beautiful developments for business and art ...
and the whole neighborhood

is shining with boutiques of all sorts...
and cafes and art galleries 

this is the taxidermy shop of african and asian

wild animals, insects, butterflies...

and south American pampobethus

otherwise known as tarantula...

some people think it would make an ideal gift for their ex's...

....good luck to that...

the transformation didn't happen overnight....

but was the result of slow flow of small

group of modest merchants over at least

7 years....that's when Jose Segura and I used to

hangout at the cafe on 21st and Valencia...

Now they have this barber shop reminiscent of 

those years when the barber also brought you the

news in the neighborhood as well as gossips

about the politicians and the big timers and their

women...note: it is in plural form....

The cafes/restaurants are also teeming with

local patrons...

....tonight Glenn Bachmann runs this art coop...

i met him last year when i was painting the 

conservatory of flowers with a cow grazing in the 

park...Glenn and the tourists had a kick watching

me do that particular lampoon art...

The photos on this wall are Glenn's ....

that's all there is for the moment folks!!

i'll keep them coming ...

catch you later...

jt

CHRISTMAS IS GETTING POSTPONED...

at least that's what i heard from one very 

impeachable source....

so i went over to Stonestown Galleria....

the signs are just contrarian to this turkey...

The mall christmas tree is up for picture taking 

background with Santa...

and the christmas carols are being

played ... 

have you ever heard of such absurdity...

as christmas getting postponed...

and if it

were..what do you suppose would be a good date for it?

...i bet you he just wanted to have a turkey talk...

but i'm not falling for it...yak ..yak...yak...

which reminds me Thanksgiving 

is actually around the corner...

and the pilgrims may have started this

joke and then invented thanksgiving as

a way to remember turkeys like this guy

who walks around with a twisted sense...

he 's gotta be one of those protozoans

trying to invade our planet ...

or it could just be the sign of the times...

anyway i think the best way to deal with this

is just... not to think about it and have fun...

Astar and Adam from Israel posing for this blog

or perhaps do your shopping early...

here is an ad that may help you...

make an artist happy this christmas...

that's all for now folks!

i'll be in touch so you be in touch

jt

S A D

.....this is a 3 letter word....

but a strong seismically energized 3 letter word

that can put the receiver off balanced emotionally...even just momentarily...

just received an email from Ksenia written 2 hours ago

expressing her

disappointment of not having made it to the

PEBS sketching session on Sunday...

yes....the email simply had these letters that can be read in 

fractional split of a millisecond but had a lingering

effect when one knows every sense of the word

is meant and felt...

it felt like being alone in the desert...abandoned

and marooned...

note: I just said something that might work

as a subject matter for painting...didn't I?...

We also missed your presence Ksenia

the night was just half the fun without you...

Penelope had been wondering ...of whatever 

happened to you.

Anyway...we'll all get together the first chance

we get

Thanks 

jt

DO ARTISTS HAVE DARK SIDES?...

...generally speaking i think...

all mankind is by nature good...

but that's just one side of the coin...for some reason 

humans also have the capability to be naughty... 

the so called dark side...

qualified this means...some with real

scary dark shades and some with light and easy tones...

Walter Sickert an English impressionist ...

born in Germany...

was implicated with Jack the Ripper crimes ...

Nobody knows the truth for sure...

He became interested in Jack the Ripper

and lived in the same room Jack occupied and

did paintings of that room

"Jack the Ripper's Room" and the

"CamdenTown Murders"

He was an assistant to James McNeil Whistler

then was taught by Degas. He was the founder of 

The Camden Town Group...

the ocean in the far horizon is hardly visible....

it's a little bit on the rainy side today, though lightly...

so i cooked clams and salmon for lunch...

so much for the dark side...

let's hit the cafes...get our fixes...do people watching

read the paper or whatever...

even candidly sketch beautiful ladies while 

they're off guard...

Lola... a Spanish lady I sketched in Makati

Theresa Calpotura...classical guitar concert player...
i did the portrait hanging behind her
while she was busy doing her artwork with
the SF PEBS...

just don't walk in dark alleys...

catch you later folks!!

jt

.

SF PEBS Sunday session....

....the session today started around 5 p.m.

Ramon had to go to Trader Joe's for a piece of cake and bottles of cranberry juices...

Theresa running to the supermarket with Matt for the plates and cups...

i had to go to the bakeshop to get baguettes and brie and Martinelli's

apple/grapes cider while Penelope was baking a 16" pizza and waiting

for the others to arrive....

....this is tonight's still life set up...

and here's Ramon on the opposite side ...

and Jennifer  and Leo on the front side...

take note of our empty plates and cups...does it

tell you something?...

but before we went into the art session...this is 

what happened...

...as soon as i arrived with the freshly baked baguettes...

still oven hot and very inviting to eat with its sweet smell...

i knew i could not forgive myself to let this pass ....

so i hurriedly unwrapped the first one and started to invite

the rest to join me to eat...i guess they couldn't resist

the same temptation so everyone started grabbing plates 

...for salad, pizza, baguette and brie...and to water it down

...with nice cold slushy juices of grapes and apple cranberry...

...after the session we went for our guitars and started

playing....Theresa is trying  my guitar for the

 "Saan Ka man Naroroon" piece.. and 

Ramon is playing Theresa's Connor guitar...

while Theresa is playing with the cat and Penelope

and Matt are checking an art board...

i did this painting of Theresa while she was busy doing 

her sketching....gave it to her ...and in return

she played a mediterranean music...

with a different kind of enchantment and feel...

and gave me a copy of the manuscript ...

We finished the session at midnight ...and gone home

relaxed with the convincing belief ...we've done

a good job of ending the week with great art

and great music session...

Ksenia was too tied down with her work ...she 

was unable to come. Dina had an important

family affair and would be coming some 50 miles

from the south so ...was also unable to do the same...

Sarah...from San Francisco State must have

misplaced the address i gave her ...i really

...don't know i'm just guessing...

In the previous night...or the wee hours

of the morning

.Jem of Baguio PEBS

was burning the midnight oil to create a digital artwork

present ...for her kid sister who's 

birthday is on the following day....

A lot of times  artists work like ants....

unmindful of time and other

things...we are the resilient type...

and in the last hour had an accident of spilling

colors on her art project...this kind of thing

has happened to a lot of us ...i know the feeling..

and the only way to get your mind off of it

is to leave your studio and gallivant for an hour 

or so...then come back to refinish your

artwork... with a smile!!

that's all for now folks!

I'll catch you later...

p.s. Australia, South Korea and Netherlands are under the 

blog's radar with Germany, Russia, USA, Phils...

welcome...aboard!

jt