DEERHOOF

Green Cosmos EP contains many of Deerhoof's finest ideas.

For experimental and/or psychological reasons I walked to and from work almost every day this week. Google informs me that it's 3.1 miles each way. There's some neat stuff along the way, of course, and here are the pictures to prove it.

The immediate result of my decision to walk is Alamo Square Park. Never have I felt as inside-a-snow-globe as I do in ASP. The city and white sky surround it, making for a strange, curvy wilderness.

After the park, I plummet down Fulton St. I notice these gauges every time I pass them, just before Fillmore. What sort of person understands these things, and why do they dangle outside of a basement or backyard for all the public to see?

This statue is undeniable from every angle. I like to imagine how many skaters have wished it was three or four feet closer to the sidewalk.

I've found you can fairly judge the caliber of a city by it's stencil art. This, in front of the Opera House, depicts an honest clown, a ballerina, and some nonchalance. It's brilliant.

Across from City Hall, there's a massive preparation going on for the Slow Food festival. I think these statues are some sort of natural fertility thing, but who knows. They must seem scary to the crack heads that hang out in the dead-end stairways.

This slow-food-thing is pretty amazing. The creation of gardens in public spaces is a pleasant, albeit far-out way to introduce the future.

According to Wikipedia, Ashurbanipal was "the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire." He established the first library in the ancient middle east, something San Francisco is, apparently, thankful for. Above that: a hose!

Many of the worst blocks of Market St. have this pattern, which mesmerizes me while I dodge the pools of piss and shit that speckle the long blocks between Grove and Fourth St.

This is the new Federal Building at Eighth and Mission. It looks completely different on the other side, because the architects figured out all these thrifty ways to save energy and money by using different materials and techniques on each side. Some people find it appalling, I guess. I love it, especially with this age-old, four story brick pygmy in front of it. Oh, and one of the ways to save on heating and AC: windows that open. I can't tell you how many high rises I worked in where I wished I could just crack a goddamned window!

I see the Apple Store everyday. It always looks great.

I took two angles of the Hobart Building, because it's so interesting thinking of when it dominated a part of the skyline, before the rest of the city caught up.

I trek north on Montgomery every morning. Above is just the roof design of the Wells Fargo entry. It's really detailed. Below is a lousy shot of the giganticness that I try to relish each day. I like the idea that it should be easier to have a big life in a big city.

Download Deerhoof's "Spiral Golden Town" from the sterling Green Cosmos EP.