Spring Break gives us some time to explore some of the things that the Bay Area and its (very) extended neighborhood has to offer. Our first stop is Scottsdale, Arizona, to visit with the World Champion San Francisco Giants at Spring Training.
Fast-car tie-in: we rent a white Mustang convertible. We see them everywhere. The white Mustang convertible is to Scottsdale as the silver Prius is to Berkeley.
Dodgers at Giants - March 29
Arrived in Phoenix, and immediately drove to the hotel to leave the luggage and then down to Scottsdale Stadium for a Sunday afternoon game with the hated Dodgers. Wow, was it hot in Scottsdale (about 95 degrees); felt like mid summer. The lawn, where we had tickets, was over-booked, and we could find no place to sit, so we paid our way into the food terrace in center field (thanks Tony). The "lawn" sounded so cool when I bought the tickets, but a very frustrating system on a crowded day. Blazing sun; hard to enjoy the game, anyway. Very hard to keep track of the goings on, too, as there was no decent info display for the folks looking in from the outfield; the left field board was hard to read from the glare. Lost it in the sun.
But the little Stadium is quite nice, with a decent food court and concessions behind the left field stands. Excellent location right in downtown Scottsdale with free parking a short cart-ride away; the golf-cart taxi system was very welcome. SF won 11-9. The Gitants' young third baseman, Matt Duffy, went 4-3 with a double and 3 RBIs.
Golf at Westin Kierland - March 30
Took advantage of an early tee time and played a round of golf before our next baseball appointment. The hotel had a beautiful set of three, 9-hole courses that you could play in combination to make a full 18. Rather stunned at the wonderful conditions, especially given the drought in the Bay Area and the heat in this area. Everything was green, groomed, and gorgeous; made me feel a bit guilty for being able to play.
Giants at Cubs
The Giants visited the Cubs at Sloan Park in Mesa - what a place! A fantastic, new park with a major league feel: great concessions and facilities. Tough driving in and parking, though as it's kinda out in the middle of nowhere, and there's only, apparently, one right way to drive in. Another nasty, hot day. Down 4 runs, the Giants rally in the top of the 6th for 5 runs, only to give 3 back in the bottom of the 6th and eventually lose 8-5.
Rockies at Giants - March 31
Our Tuesday tickets put us on the opposite side of the Stadium from our Sunday perch, and we had a way better experience. Hot, but under the stands, there is a misting system that wafts cool spray from the edge of the canopy. Blanco was announced and almost immediately replaced in right field by young Justin Maxwell, who went 3 for 3, with 3 RBIs, and helped the Giants beat the Rockies 4-3. Great to see some of the young Giants doing well. After the game, we made a bee line for the airport in Phoenix, and flew back with a planeful of Giants fans, all of us still in costume.
Ai Weiewei at Alcatraz - April 4
Had never been to Alcatraz, and was very happy to go during
Ai Weiwei @ Large. A quick ferry ride, and we skip the ranger's introduction and head right for the far end of the island to see the dragon kite. The kite is installed in the "New Industries Building", a ruined, empty hall where prisoners had done laundry and other work for hire. The kite coils around the mushroom columns, with smaller "swallow" kites in the corners of the space. In the adjacent room, a series of lego portraits are laid out on the floor; the portraits are of people who have been imprisoned because of their beliefs or affiliations. Exiting, and then re-entering the guards' "gun gallery" one can view both works through the old broken glass, as well as another isolated piece - an oversized bird's wing made from Tibetan solar panels and tea kettles.
Heading back round to the main "Cellhouse", we found a series of audio installations built into the prison cells in the "A Block", including music from Pussy Riot and a speech by Martin Luther King. Again circling back through another cell block, we reach the Hospital Wing where selected toilets and sinks have been carefully filled with hand-made porcelain flowers. In the adjoining Psychiatric Observation Rooms is another set of audio installations - these more reverberant and impactful: the chants of Buddhist monks and the music of the Hopi, which included drumming that echoed and shook the small room.
I suspect the sense of uplift in the show comes from the toy-like, joyful materials used: kites, legos, porcelain flowers, tea kettles, music. Placing them in the context of the old penitentiary, and wrapping them in the stories of the oppressed and imprisoned focused the message, and provided a springboard for personal thoughts on the meaning and idea of freedom, as well as the loss of it. The last stop was the Dining Hall where post cards with pictures of the national birds and flowers the countries of those being held in or outcast from; you could write a message and send it.
The next night, the experience of viewing the show came back when John Oliver interviewed Edward Snowden, who was featured in one of the Lego portraits. In the piece, you got a real sense of his exile, but at the same time his conviction poured through; he knows what he did and why he did it. The interview was amazing - compelling, funny, and obscene.
Rangers at A's - April 9
The first regular season day game at O.co this year. Two young pitchers: Kendall Graveman for the A's and Nick Martinez for the Rangers. Graveman allowed 3 in the first, 2 in the third, three more in the fourth before departing the game (3.1 IP, 8Rs, 7ERs, 2 HBP). Committing one of the three A's errors did not help. Meanwhile Martinez allowed two hits through the first 4.2 innings, and faced the minimum thanks to two double plays, by which time it was 8-0. The A's managed a couple of hits and scored a run in the eighth, but way too little too late; they played like a very young team. O.co got some fancy new scoreboards, but they provided the same basic info as before - just clearer and brighter, so I guess that's a good thing. But a gorgeous day, and great to see "real" baseball again. Rangers over A's 10-1.
