I started off with weekend brunch at Little Skillet, a tiny little window serving incredible fried chicken and fresh waffles — just steps away from 330 Ritch in SoMA.

Then booked tickets to go see the Boredoms play in New York! Yippee!

Thurston Moore

Sonic Youth proved that they could still rock out on Monday night (see photo of Thurston Moore above, from sfdavidz).

I can’t wait for Sunn O))) to slowly drone me away in a live setting. And speaking of Sunn O))), I was reminded of their homage to Southern Lord’s mainstay group, Earth when I came across a new word: Ouroboros.

According to Wikipedia, an ouroboros is “an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon swallowing its own tail and forming a circle.” I’d heard about this symbol in a few different ways, from Jung to Norse mythology — apparently even Plato found it significant.

Ouroboros

Earth produced a song called “Ouroboros Is Broken” on the slowly unfolding album, Extra-Capsular Extraction. Find it and listen closely for the tail…

Moloa'a Beach

The beaches… ah, the North shore won for me!  Lumahai, Ha’ena, and Moloa’a were sublime lozenges of sand with sparkling clear turquoise water. I could spend a long time being a beach bum, roaming from one to another…

Moloa'a Sunrise Fruit Stand

Fresh fruit was everywhere… I grew up eating lots of fruit, so the abundant pineapple, papaya, apple bananas and coconut made me very happy. Along with Angeline’s lomi massage, I was in heaven

Walking in Allerton Garden

The gardens… Allerton Garden down in the southern National Tropical Botanical Garden, along with its more primal sister Limahuli Garden in the north, kept me enchanted for many hours.

Waimea Canyon

Waimea Canyon… the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” was truly stellar, especially by helicopter (thank you, Mike from Blue Hawaiian)!

Na Pali Coast

The Na Pali coast was breathtaking. It had dazzingly remote beaches, towering mountain cliffs and endless miles of blue, blue water… mmm, Kauai. I’ll be back.

On the top floor, I fell in love with Tara Donovan‘s delicate installations which were made of everyday materials like film, scotch tape, drinking straws and styrofoam cups. The repetitive patterns revealed beautifully organic forms that captured and reflected light in subtle ways, shifting as I walked around them. The photo below is of layered polyester film from Untitled (2008). 

Morgan Packard and Josh Ott opened the week with ambient techno shavings, helix-like visual permutations, accordian drifts and bird whistles:

Barem and Chic Miniature warmed up the crowd on Friday evening at SAT, while artists worked on a large mural:

Half Hawaii shook the packed midnight down at Metropolis:

And Onur Özer unleashed horns onto the crowd on Sunday’s Piknic set. It started to rain, but who could stop dancing?

I also enjoyed a side visit to the Canadian Center for Architecture, where I caught an exhibition on residential case studies by SANAA partner Ryue Nishizawa:

I can still feel the chill breeze through the wilderness of Hampstead, where I wandered by accident into the boys’ cruising area only to become even more lost in between vast stretches of heath. And tucked behind the busy streets of London was the Palladian splendor of the Spencer House (below) as well as countless architectural oddities at Sir John Soane’s Museum.

And to finish it all off, I loved the underground feel of Run Sounds‘ minimal techno party at Shunt Vaults, nested within a complex network of tunnels and run by a private collective underneath London Bridge Station. I’ll never forget the sensation of roaming around the dark tunnels, happening upon old pool tables, projectors and listening to the artists set up during sound check… ah, London. ‘Tis wonderful to uncover a few more layers of another great city.

I’m off to London tomorrow for a long weekend, staying in Windsor for the Vivari Queen’s Cup and scooting into London to check in with the scene. If there’s anything I shouldn’t miss, drop me a line!