I am helping a friend shoot the Lit Crawl in the Mission. Tonight, I am the lighting wizard. I have a radio slave that triggers my friend’s flash and I position myself about 30 degrees to her right or left at each grouping of literary guru's. It is off-camera lighting at its finest.
Before this though, I spend about an hour driving around the mission looking for parking and by the time I pull into a spot I have made 4 illegal u-turns, burnt through ¼ tank of gas, and have been flipped off by one zealot of a bicyclist. The streets are packed with program toting, literary groupies. They are dressed in the usual Mission attire, which consists of a heightened sense of self awareness, no makeup, a concern for the environment, vegan sensibilities and a general aura of coolness.
The Lit Crawl is a series of free literary readings spread out across the Mission, all happening simultaneously. It’s like the beat generation never left San Francisco and for one night everyone participates in a glorious orgy of word play, a massive boggle festival with no timers.
We finish our venue hopping and head over to the after-party, an exclusive $250.00 per person event that culminates the evening in a celebration of all things par’tay. I don’t have a ticket and we end up having to crash the venue; I somehow manage to get admitted on a “he’s with the band” ticket.
With my hand stamped, I head upstairs and meet some real local’s local authors. We do some “grip and grins” (photospeak for cheesy group photo) and afterwards I get some free drink tokens, which somehow leads to more free drink tokens and then even more free drinks! It’s really cool to have a camera sometimes. People think you’re important.
