Playing Hookie

I'm going to be on a solo trip to India next week, and consequently will be separated from Her Radiantness on our anniversary.

So as a substitute, we decided to take last Friday off to loaf about in San Francisco, and paint the town a frivolous shade of 0xff0000. After mangling a spot of dim-sum, and wandering about Chinatown during the afternoon, we caught some nice late light up at Coit Tower, on Telegraph Hill.

Dinner was at this little Senegalese restaurant that we've been dying to try out for the longest time. And since we'd planned to spend the night in SF, it provided the perfect opportunity to grab tickets on Saturday morning for SFJazz's 2008 Spring Season. Here's what's on the agenda:

• March 8: Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, & Jack DeJohnette
• March 14: "Tyner & Taps"; McCoy Tyner Trio with Savion Glover
• March 15: SFJazz Collective
  
• April 11: Wayne Shorter Quartet with Imani Winds
• April 13: Ana Moura
• April 17: Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, & Jack DeJohnette
• May 31: Miles from India
• June 8: Fiesta Venezuela
  

We've even got Coeman coming up for Tyner and the Collective, which means I've inadvertently contributed to The Grand Procrastination...

'Tis the Season

It's upon us again! No, not the next round of "Pirates of the Caribbean" with the swashbuckling Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp can buckle all the swash in the world if he dares, and I really wouldn't bat the uninterested eyelid.

No, I speak of that other annual wonder: The San Francisco Jazz Festival. Jayita and I wandered into the city this morning (at 8:30am on a Saturday, mind you) to pick up tickets. Here's what we're attending:

• Listening party with Zakir Hussein
• Planet Drum: Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussein, Sikira Adepoju, Giovanni Hidalgo
• Sonny Rollins
• Joe Zawinul
• Sangam: Charles Lloyd, Zakir Hussein, Eric Harland
• Alice Coltrane, Ravi Coltraine, Charlie Haden, Roy Haynes

Good, no? I thought so too.

Now that in itself would be good enough to pour a spot of sunshine into spirits of the poor sod who woke up one morning to find he had no e-mail access with his morning caffeine. But we don't stop there. Jayita and I wandered into the Ferry building across the street from the Embarcadero, and spent the next couple of hours wandering the aisles of the farmers' market, people-watching, picture-taking, sample-nibbling, and generally doing nothing in particular. One of the most productive mornings of my week, if you ask me.