KaBoom! 2007

On this beautiful Saturday afternoon, I met my friend Gina in Menlo Park to head up to KFOG's KaBoom on Piers 30/32 in San Francisco. We bought our CalTrain ticket before realizing that the trains only run once every hour and we had already missed the 2:30 train. (I usually take BART which runs every 10-20 minutes, so this was a surprise for me.) Never at a loss for ideas, we settled down at a nearby pub to pass the time til the next train with a glass of wine.

So we got started a little later than we expected, but once on the train we found ourselves in good company: just about everyone on the train was headed to KaBoom as well. Some were already getting the party started: a group of young guys across the aisle from us had brought their own beer. (I guess rules on the this particular train were less restrictive than others because nobody said anything about it). Anyway, they were in good spirits (or maybe it was the beer) and kind of flirtatious (that wasn't the beer--me & G, well, we're a couple of hotties any day [grin] ). So the trip to SF was an amusing ride.

Arriving at the end of the line was an interesting shift of perspective for me. For several weeks in the Fall and Spring I had taken my son to an art class at the Academy of Art. I would park my car outside the building and look over at the tracks of this very station. And here I was, riding in on a train, looking back the opposite way. It was just one of those odd moments of recognition.

We walked from the station past Pac Bell Park down to the pier. The event had already begun and there was a huge line. Fortunately, I had ordered our tickets in advance. Also as fortunate, we just walked up to the entrance and went on in. We're still not entirely sure if we were supposed to wait in that line. I'm *sure* that must have been for people needing to buy tickets at the gate, but who knows? Don't ask, don't tell. ;-)

We missed Ozomatli, but we found a good spot and lay down our blanket to stake out our spot for the next act. Then we went in search of food.

We had split briefly while getting our food and drinks, so when I returned to the blanket, I found that we were now sitting behind the same two couples who sat in front of us on the train. Now this wouldn't have been so very odd, but that Gina had a story to tell. Gina had come back to our spot and found that these people had folded our blanket back saying, "Well, they're only two, so they'll have to make room for us." So Gina says, "Hi." And they say, "Oh, are you one of the two sitting here?" And she says, "Yes." And then they get embarrassed and say something like, "I hope you don't mind us sitting in front of you. We're nice people." And she says, "I know you are." And they say, "How do you know?" And she says, "You were sitting in front of us on the train." So then they're really embarrassed. And then, Gina looks over at one of the men, and says, "Wait, you look familiar. Is your name Jordan?" Turns out they had been on a blind date some few months ago, set up through a mutual friend. That's my friend Gina: Dating Queen. ;-) So then he says, "Well, this is awkward." And she says, "No, it's really not." But they decided to move anyway.

That was actually pretty convenient because then she was able to tell me the whole story, with the addition that the reason their date didn't work out was because, while ordering dinner, he had announced casually, "I don't eat anything with neurons." She replied, "I don't date anybody that doesn't eat anything with neurons." [snicker!] She thought it was a really weird thing for him to say. I guess he thought he was being clever. I didn't think it was that weird, but what *was* weird was that her friend thought she and this guy would be such a good match. I mean, I could tell just by looking at the guy that he wasn't her type.

And all this before the second act. ;-)

Guster was fabulous. Of the three bands, I think I like them best. Kenny Wayne Shepherd was good, too. I have to say, though, the best show was last year's Los Lonely Boys. Now *that* was music you could get up and dance to!

But the best thing about KaBoom is the event itself-- just being out there on the pier underneath the Golden Gate, as the sun goes down and the lights of the city come up. And then the stars come out--hopefully not obscured by fog--and then the fireworks begin.

The thing that makes KFOG's fireworks special, well, besides the fact that use some pretty spectacular fireworks, is that they synch it to a soundtrack. The first song this year? Star Wars. Dear KFOG, I love them more than ever. If you want to see what you missed, click here.

Another crowd pleaser was "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Usually, there's at least one song that gets everybody singing along. And if you've never stood in a crowd of 30,000+ people all looking up at an amazing fireworks show and singing along, well, it's worth the trip. You'll have your chance. There's always next year.

But the adventure didn't end there! We got back on the train to head home. Saw the same funny guys we rode down with. Found ourselves some seats. The train starts to pull out of the station, and we're but a few minutes out, when the train suddenly comes to a stop, and an overly excited conductor gets on the intercom: "I need everyone's attention. Everyone quiet down and give me your attention. We have an emergency situation. The train has struck a vehicle. Everybody stay calm and collective, and stay in your seats. I repeat, stay in your seats and remain calm. We will let you know what is happening as soon as the police arrive and assess the situation." He said this little speech several times, especially the "calm and collective" part. I don't know, I was looking around and everybody looked pretty calm. And as far as I could tell, everyone was staying in their seats and nobody was storming the front of the train. So I don't know why he was so excited. Hey, we had just seen a fireworks show. A little fender bender between a train and a car? Phth. Amateur hour, man.

As it turned out, the train only struck the front end of a vehicle and took off the bumper. Whoever was driving it apparently had reasons to be elsewhere and took off, abandoning the vehicle. Eventually, the train was released and we continued on our journey home, none the worse for wear. So just let that be a lesson to you, kids: Never park too close to the railroad tracks, because the train is bigger and it will *win.*