For Thursday, June 17, 1999 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 727 words

One week later

O.K., it has been a week. I've been on vacation for a week. How have I changed? What have I accomplished? The fact that I'm asking those questions is proof that I'm still in the teacher mode.

I trimmed hedges, fertilized lawns, cleaned the garage, and saw Rent in San Francisco.

The hedges were the toughest part. I had vines creeping across my driveway that required an axe. I chopped so hard I went inside and fell asleep. That caused me to miss a buying dip in my latest stock. Then I fertilized the lawn.

Our whole nuclear family visited San Francisco last Saturday to see the musical Rent. I know what you're thinking. "Saturday? That was graduation." I know. We ordered the tickets in March and didn't notice the conflict.

Actually, it didn't matter. I drove over to the high school on Saturday morning and said good-bye personally to all my former students as they waited in thin blue lines down on campus. I got a lot of great hugs and several moments of undivided attention to say, "Good luck, good-bye, and come visit." I'm sorry I missed Jessie Day's speech. I heard it earned thundering applause.

Rent. Saw it. I guess now I have to write a review. I can't just mention it and move on to our walk to North Beach.

Everyone loved it. The performance earned a standing ovation. Our group -- Susan, Adam, Kristi, Chad -- clapped loudly after every number. Perhaps Chad clapped a little less loudly, more like the way I was clapping.

My wife found great symbolic meaning. "We are Renting our lives. We must remember that. Don't waste them." We sat in bed Sunday morning and she discussed it further.

Adam clapped the loudest. He was a big drama student in high school. Perhaps he saw these age-similar Renters on stage as peers. He was glued to the action throughout.

Kristi, too, was excited by all the pretty lights and sounds. She went home with a Rent shirt.

Son-in-law Chad applauded politely. Either he felt as I did, or he was daydreaming about fishing on the Sacramento River.

O.K. It's my turn. I can avoid it no longer. (This paragraph was inserted after my wife proofread the column, so don't mention it to her.) Rent was a snoozer. Snooz-a-rama! In fact, I fell asleep twice.

It played like a buffet dinner. I liked certain dishes, but there was too much bread and lettuce. I truly did enjoy certain songs and particular actresses, especially Mimi, the girl in the blue rubber pants, and Maureen, the redheaded lesbian with an attitude.

The two male leads, Wimpy and Homely, just didn’t do it for me. They had this annoying habit of bending over like they had stomach aches whenever they yelled out a loud refrain in a song. It gave me the creeps. My favorite part of the whole performance was watching the signers for the hearing impaired mime the play over in the left corner.

(Remember, if my wife asks how I enjoyed this play that we paid $300 to see, I loved it!)

After leaving the Golden Gate Theater, we walked through town to North Beach. On the way we passed the coolest hotel. The instant we saw it we knew we would return to stay there someday.

Kristi spotted it first. "Hey, check it out." She was pointing at the deco funky lobby of the Hotel Triton crowded with happy people drinking sunset wine. We rushed inside to mooch brochures. The desk girls informed us the party was hosted nightly for guests.

"Dude! Check it out," called Chad from the far wall. He was pointing at pictures of the Jerry Garcia Suite, the Carlos Santana Suite, and the Graham Nash Suite. The celebrities were in the rooms, smiling back. "Dude, we're coming back here, no doubt," said Chad.

The Triton is easy to find. It's across the street from the stone gateway to Chinatown.

We ate at the Stinking Rose, a garlic restaurant. The last time I ate there, I didn't get my fill of garlic, so this time I ordered extra garlic appetizers and the 40-clove chicken. Wow. I must have eaten 60 - 70 cooked cloves. They stayed with me through the night, through dreams of fire and burning fuses, and left me early on Sunday.