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(Some readers will know what 25th anniversary the subject line makes allusion to.)
Last night was installment 2 of the Cal Performances date nights. (You have to be on the Date filter to read that aspect of the evening.) The performers were the Tallis Scholars doing 16th c. sacred vocal music. The venue, rather than the larger on-campus Zellerbach Hall was the First Congregational Church, two blocks south of campus. Now, keeping in mind that the Big Game (Cal vs. Stanford) is today, and that the game itself is at Stanford, I didn't expect any serious traffic effects, although I imagine there were various spirit activities planned last night. But when I turned up Durant from Shattuck and got within a couple blocks of Telegraph, traffic abruptly came to a halt. There I was, waiting at the light at Dana (one block west of Telegraph) when suddenly the Cal marching band comes down Dana from the left, commandeers the intersection with strategically placed tubas, and turns in formation to march up Durant. I then decide to turn right and get to the Durant parking garage via Channing, one block over, but just as I've positioned myself for the turn, the band does an about-face, comes straight back at me, then swings to continue down Dana in their original direction. Unbeknownst to me, their original plan to continue up Durant was stymied by the enormous traffic snarl at Telegraph caused by a patchwork power outage. (I thought the flashing police lights were simply extra traffic control around spirit activities or the like.) So I get to the Durant garage and the lights are all out and the entrance is blocked by a city pickup truck. This is annoying, but I know all sorts of other possible parking strategies. The problem is, my date (who, by cell phone report, was about three blocks behind me) doesn't necessarily know them. So I phone her, let her know the deal and tell her to find whatever parking she can and I'll be waiting in the coffee shop as planned. While I am sitting in the coffee shop, the power goes completely out in that building. The staff explains that there's some issue with a cable or a transformer ... ah, here we are. Random buildings in the vicinity have power, others don't. My date shows up, we share a sandwich, then head down to the FCC for the concert. The FCC doesn't have power. The pre-concert lecture (which I skipped) is being given by the light of the candles on the altar and there's emergency-exit lights, but they tell us they can't, in good conscience, continue with the concert if they don't have full power for safety reasons. If the power doesn't come back by 8pm, we'll be offered refunds or ticket exchanges. As the deadline approaches, a new possibility is offered -- on the spur of the moment, they've been offered space in the Presbyterian church a block over, which does have power. I think if the performers had been anything other than a small a capella group the transition might not have been possible (and since we had to change to open seating, if I'd shelled out big bucks for premium tickets I might have been peeved), but the acoustics were perfect and the space was, if anything, even a better layout (semi-circular pew area so more people were closer to the performers) than the original space. An extremely enjoyable concert. (I may review it in more detail later, but other than saying "gosh, cool" I'm not sure I have the technical knowledge to evaluate it.) People in other parts of the country can say what they like about "Berkeley values", but folks, these too are "Berkeley values" -- you see a problem, you have a solution available, and you say "let's go for it", and an entire hall full of concert-goers take it cheerfully in stride. No doubt there will be various after-the-fact negotiations regarding the hall-rental revenues, but considering all the barriers that could have been thrown up, I was quite impressed at the smoothness of the operation. (It is, of course, possible that the two venues have had some sort of pre-existing relationship regarding emergency space-usage, but I definitely got the impression that this was an on-the-spot solution rather than a pre-existing backup potential.)
Last night was installment 2 of the Cal Performances date nights. (You have to be on the Date filter to read that aspect of the evening.) The performers were the Tallis Scholars doing 16th c. sacred vocal music. The venue, rather than the larger on-campus Zellerbach Hall was the First Congregational Church, two blocks south of campus. Now, keeping in mind that the Big Game (Cal vs. Stanford) is today, and that the game itself is at Stanford, I didn't expect any serious traffic effects, although I imagine there were various spirit activities planned last night. But when I turned up Durant from Shattuck and got within a couple blocks of Telegraph, traffic abruptly came to a halt. There I was, waiting at the light at Dana (one block west of Telegraph) when suddenly the Cal marching band comes down Dana from the left, commandeers the intersection with strategically placed tubas, and turns in formation to march up Durant. I then decide to turn right and get to the Durant parking garage via Channing, one block over, but just as I've positioned myself for the turn, the band does an about-face, comes straight back at me, then swings to continue down Dana in their original direction. Unbeknownst to me, their original plan to continue up Durant was stymied by the enormous traffic snarl at Telegraph caused by a patchwork power outage. (I thought the flashing police lights were simply extra traffic control around spirit activities or the like.) So I get to the Durant garage and the lights are all out and the entrance is blocked by a city pickup truck. This is annoying, but I know all sorts of other possible parking strategies. The problem is, my date (who, by cell phone report, was about three blocks behind me) doesn't necessarily know them. So I phone her, let her know the deal and tell her to find whatever parking she can and I'll be waiting in the coffee shop as planned. While I am sitting in the coffee shop, the power goes completely out in that building. The staff explains that there's some issue with a cable or a transformer ... ah, here we are. Random buildings in the vicinity have power, others don't. My date shows up, we share a sandwich, then head down to the FCC for the concert. The FCC doesn't have power. The pre-concert lecture (which I skipped) is being given by the light of the candles on the altar and there's emergency-exit lights, but they tell us they can't, in good conscience, continue with the concert if they don't have full power for safety reasons. If the power doesn't come back by 8pm, we'll be offered refunds or ticket exchanges. As the deadline approaches, a new possibility is offered -- on the spur of the moment, they've been offered space in the Presbyterian church a block over, which does have power. I think if the performers had been anything other than a small a capella group the transition might not have been possible (and since we had to change to open seating, if I'd shelled out big bucks for premium tickets I might have been peeved), but the acoustics were perfect and the space was, if anything, even a better layout (semi-circular pew area so more people were closer to the performers) than the original space. An extremely enjoyable concert. (I may review it in more detail later, but other than saying "gosh, cool" I'm not sure I have the technical knowledge to evaluate it.) People in other parts of the country can say what they like about "Berkeley values", but folks, these too are "Berkeley values" -- you see a problem, you have a solution available, and you say "let's go for it", and an entire hall full of concert-goers take it cheerfully in stride. No doubt there will be various after-the-fact negotiations regarding the hall-rental revenues, but considering all the barriers that could have been thrown up, I was quite impressed at the smoothness of the operation. (It is, of course, possible that the two venues have had some sort of pre-existing relationship regarding emergency space-usage, but I definitely got the impression that this was an on-the-spot solution rather than a pre-existing backup potential.)
