Friday, March 2, 2018

The Left Side of Berkeley (Extended Mix)














 






Multi-culty butterfly
in the Irish Mexican
African American
side of town

1.



Home to La Pena
and the radically
rocking Irish pub
The Starry Plough
 
 
Radical America unite
before the Fascists
get their way
 
 
 
La Pena's over the top
3-D mural
depicting you know
the struggle
 
I co-curated and contributed to
Radical Humor
an exhibition
of art and graphics
with Paul Buhl in 1983
which I laboriously
hung single handed
at La Pena
Faraway radicals laughed
when I crabbed that I found
a splash of frijoles
on one work



 
Stage door on the sidewalk
to the world-famous
Starry Plough
 
Many well-known rock
and some folky acts
have played here
 in its long years
 
I lived on nearby Woolsey
and still regret that
I passed on a suggestion
to see "Tim Buckley's son"
when he played the joint
 
Saw two shows
UC Berkeley outdoor free show
and Great American in SF
where I was all-access
 and met him
the following year

Breaks my heart
to remember him
Jeff Buckley
gone twenty years
next month

 





 
I'll be OK
after Saint Patrick's
Guinness and Jameson
boiler-maker



 
Slainte


2.

I was by the old
 neighborhood
again yesterday

Not for stout though
but for cannabis
at the Aquarium
nearby









I don't carouse much
 anymore


But I give
StRonan's blessing
to an Irish American
BDS endorsing bar






La Pena of course
has its own cache









 Its own sense
of proportion





Nice street art
around here
Whither America?

A peoples block
The Long Haul
Homeless Action Center
Community Law Center




We need
solidarity now
as the Nazi Putsch
goes on and on





As I say I don't
really linger
in pubs
having the craic
at this point
in my life






You can find me
at the Library
in the outdoors
or at home
always
resisting the system



 
 
 
 
February 2018
1 March 2018



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