Day 1: Stress and San Francisco start with the same letter...

The trip to California started out, uh, rather auspiciously. Knucklehead and I arrived at Kennedy airport to the absolute craziest madhouse of people I have ever seen in my life. And of course, in the madhouse, they lost my luggage, a new bag that was a wedding gift. Plus more madness at the car rental, and arriving in San Francisco at 1pm turned into 4pm.

But the three hours and massive amounts of exhaustion and grumpiness couldn't ruin the day. 60 something degrees, no sheet of ice on the ground, a great walk in Golden Gate park, stumbling on drummers and fire jugglers, and dinner down on the pier. Take that, JFK and Delta Airlines.

So tired from the week that we're passing on the Budos Band show at the Boom Boom Room. Sigh. Had so been hoping to hit that set, but the room shakes when I blink, and I don't want to fall asleep at the wheel on Pacific Coast Highway 1.

We're staying with a friend of Knucklehead's on Haight. The City of Fog is our oyster. Tomorrow: Ameoba Records, City Lights bookstore, a walking Dashiell Hammett tour, dinner in Chinatown with a pack of Risleyites. What could be finer?