Thursday, 28. August 2008.
I wake up before everybody else, wash the dishes and get on the road.
Today I have to be in san Francisco for a Strike Anywhere concert. When I heard they're playing San Francisco on 28th I e-mailed my friend Matt, the guitar player, and asked him to get me on the guest list. He kindly did so I made sure I'm in San Francisco on that date.
It's a hot sunny day and I get to Oakland around 5 pm. My host, Hae is in a gallery on San Pablo avenue. The gallery is also a concert venue and a practice place. It looks like different European squats I've been to but in particular reminds me of Ungdomshuset (RIP).
Hae is helping her girlfriend build up the gallery and she gives me a quick tour of the place. Then she puts my bike on her car and we go to her place.



My bike and Hae's car in a perfect symbiosis.


Hae is very talkative and explains to me why she likes Oakland so much. We spend a couple of hours at her place, then I leave for San Francisco to check Strike Anywhere out.
I get the bike on the Bart (SF underground system) and then ride towards the venue. It's still early so I get a burrito from a taqueria around the corner.
When I finally get to the venue there's quite a line in front of it. What I didn't realize is that there'll be security at the door who will check if you have any dangerous or forbidden objects with you. And yes, my pepper spray is in my pocket and that's certainly something they wouldn't want inside the venue.
But I realize that only when I'm standing in front of the security guard who feels something in my pocket, exactly the one I'm having the pepper spray in.
"What do you have here?", he asks.
I reach into my pocket and next to the pepper spray there's my flashlight I have just taken off the bicycle, in order to not have it stolen while I'm at the show and the bike is parked in front of that taqueria. I take the flashlight out and show it to the guard.
Now he touches that same pocket again and, indeed, he feels the pepper spray inside.
He asks again: "What is this?"
I try not to panic and instead of reaching inside my front pocket I reach inside my side pocket and pull my Tom Tom out. I say: "I'm riding a bike and I took these things off my bike while it's parked". I point to my helmet hanging off my belt and he thinks he figured it out. He doesn't realize I reached into a completely different pocket and that I still have my pepper spray there. He lets me in.
I sigh with relief and get in. I wonder what would have happened had he found the pepper spray. I don't even want to think about it.
So I get in and find my friend Lisa who's standing behind a vegan info stand, next to bands' merchandise stands. We chat for a while until Mike Park starts playing.
Mike Park is the man behind Asian Man records (early Alkaline Trio records are on that label) and he used to play in Chinkees, a Ska Punk band from the Bay Area. Now he performs solo, a guitar and voice solo act, playing a mix of his own songs as well as some covers. I'm particularly impressed with the song "Tobi Vail Is Amazing" that is about Bikini Kill or better, about their drummer in particular.
He plays "New England" by Billy Bragg and that brings a few memories to mind. But the highlight of his show is actually the very last song. He takes the mike stand down into the pit, comes down and plays "The Crowd" by Operation Ivy in the middle of a few hundred kids who all sing the chorus together. Man, this feels like 1988. I first heard Operation Ivy in the summer of 1988 when a fellow zinemaker from Sarajevo came to my birthtown Split on vacation and brought a tape with the "Turn It Around" compilation on it. I've loved this band ever since.
Mike Park does a great job with this song and everyone is super happy.



Mike Park in the pit playing "The Crowd" by Operation Ivy.


Next on stage is Strike Anywhere. This band is probably the last band I really got excited about and that was some 7 years ago, after their first album came out.
I thought they sounded so fresh and original and instantly became my favorites. And they still are to this day.
For some reason, I've always liked their studio albums better than their live performances, and so is the case this time. They start with quite unbalanced sound that puts the drumming way too much under the spotlight. With time their sounds gets better and better, but I still don't enjoy their show as much as I enjoy their records. I'm quite positive that they'd sound much better is a small venue, but I take what I get, keep the criticism aside and enjoy Strike Anywhere tonight.



Strike Anywhere are always a band to check out.


I chat with their guitarist Matt for a little while before Hot Water Music hits the stage. They're solid, maybe even better than I thought, but still their kind of gruffy anthemic Punk Rock doesn't really do it for me. So I watch a few songs, then get back to the stands and chat some more with Lisa, who is going to follow Strike Anywhere on their small tour through California for the next 3 days.
I get one of their old t-shirts, unsold from their European tour, and take off to catch the last Bart to Oakland.
I get to the Bart station a couple of minutes before the closure and manage to get on the last train. A bit of biking through Oakland and I'm at Hae's place.
I have the keys, so I get in through the backdoor and go to sleep. Everybody else is asleep already.