Saturday, November 26, 2005: Return of the Argonaut

On Friday evening, Carrie drove me to SeaTac, where I flew Alaska Air to Oakland.  The reason for the visit?  On Saturday, Susan & Leland Faust were holding a post-wedding party for their son Aaron & his wife Blye.  I caught the BART up to El Cerrito Plaza, where my brother picked my up in his $350 rattletrap of a car.  Amazing!  I could have sworn there was a percussion section under the chassis. But it seems to run fine.  And you certainly can't beat the price.  According to Mikey, he's only really bothered by the fact that none of the interior lights - including those on the gauges - work.  Meaning that at night he's "flying blind," as it were.  Still, as it can't get much over 55 anyway it hardly matters...  Spent the night in the spare room in the house in front of the cottage Mikey lives in.  Our mother turned up late morning, and Mikey gave us a tour of his cottage (on the left).

Here's Mikey inside his cottage.  Which is mostly full of CDs.  One of the perks of the music business.  We drove into San Francisco, Mom was staying in the Hilton Hotel on Market Street (the one with glass elevators overlooking the lobby).  While Mikey took a nap and our mother got ready to go, I walked over to the new Ferry Terminal market for a coffee.

So here you see me in "formalwear" in preparation for the party.  Or at least as formal as I got, in an '80s styled tie Carrie nicked from Christopher Brown and a shiny-striped shirt.  What you're not seeing is the Levis cords and the Clarks I was also wearing.  Unfortunately, I missed the dress code instructions.  Whoops.

The party was in the Concordia-Argonaut Club on Van Ness, the seal of which you see here.  It's an exceptionally old, historically Jewish club, in a beautiful old building.  And their bartender mixes an excellent, very traditional old fashioned, wisely refraining from muddling the cherry and orange.  An odd coincidence: my mother asked what I was drinking, and when I told her, she told me that my grandfather Oscar Strauss (or Opu, as I called him) used to drink old fashioneds, eventually switching to martinis.

Here you see Jeremy Faust, the brother of the groom, on the left.  Jeremy's just moved to New York, literally days after I left.  An accomplished musician and composer, he's thinking about medical school, and is doing graduate work in biological science-type business in the City.  Living on the (way) Upper East Side.  Not so far from where my first NYC apartment was, at 79th Street and York Avenue.  And Mikey's the "Man in Black" on his right.  He sure likes getting his picture taken, my brother.

Here's Peter Kanas and his girlfriend Kristin.  The Kanas's are old friends of my family's, from when my father was a resident (I think...) at SF General.  Anyway, Peter's just started working as an EMT in Larkspur.  Kristin's from Seattle or thereabouts, and graduated from Seattle University, like so many of my co-clerks at the Temple of Justice.

Here's Carolyn and Nick Kanas, Peter's parents.  Their other son, Andrew, couldn't make it, as he's starting a new job in Minneapolis.  Nick's a doctor at the SF VA hospital, but lately he's been doing a lot of work for NASA.  I'd elaborate, but whatever he's doing is way over my head.

I didn't get much of a chance to talk to the bride and groom.  They seemed pretty busy, what with all the meeting and greeting.  Did manage to say a quick hello, however.

Here's my mother, all dressed up for the party.  After it wrapped up, Susan Faust gave my mother one of the flower arrangements to take home...

...which Mikey uses as camouflage here.

Mikey was still pretty worn out from touring, and fell asleep shortly after we got back to his place.  So I ended up hanging out with his roommate Nick.  Who I somehow failed to recognize from high school.  And he was actually in my class!  Anyway, he's currently studying for his pilot's license.  Something I'd like to do myself at some point.  Though I'm not sure I trust myself piloting a plane.  Hell, Carrie's a little sceptical of me even behind the wheel of a car!

Nick also has an... unusual cat.  Which is obsessed with cold drinks.  Especially alcoholic ones.  As soon as it sees one on a table, it sneaks over, and starts batting it from the side, until it knocks it onto the floor.  I lost myself a nice glass of gin that way.  My suspicion?  It likes the ice cubes, which it chases about the floor.  But Mikey assures me that it laps up a bit of the liquor, too...