Dolores Park Unsilent Night. Seems the past 6 or 7 years, or more, a composer named Phil Kline has given out a CD or tape or MP3 (how does he do that in the dark in the park?) to be played on portable boom boxes as the group strolls the Mission for an hour. We did this at 7pm on December 22, a Saturday. Seemed like a crowd of about 500 or so. You bring your own boom box, but it's not required.
Not everyone started at exactly the same time, of course, and that was expected. The gongs, chants, hums and rhythms were chaotic but not clangorous, a rather relaxing ruckus. Some bystanders asked what it was all about and we told them it was the Un-Carolers of San Francisco. They joined in. I got bumped by a lady walking along Guerrero. It was no big deal since we were all bundled up against the chill. Soft landing. She apologized hurriedly but I reassured her that I wasn't harmed. "It's just Brownian Motion," I said. "I knew I liked this crowd," she said to her companion.
We made a loop back and gathered at the top of the park to be dazzled by the nighttime view of glittery downtown, and the nearby Christmas lights and palm trees. Little by little the boom boxes found the last notes and died down. When the very last sound was done, we all broke out in applause. Our host shouted out, "See you next year!" and asked for the return of the disks and tapes. Everyone dispersed smiling.
