Switchfoot, Tesla Coils, and Rogue Vampire Hunters.

Let's start out by saying that I've been trying to see Switchfoot in concert for years, but on at least 3 separate occasions I've come within hours of going to a show and not being able to swing it at the last minute. At some point it started being less about me liking their music and wanting to see them live (although that still held true) and more about how I simply needed to prove that I *could* make it to one of their shows. Even if that involved hiking a mile into Griffith Park to get the tickets and nearly getting eaten by a mountain lion after the show (OK, that may be a bit of exaggeration).

So, last night, I caught the shuttle bus to the observatory into the park, and persuaded the driver to stop at the Greek Theatre. If you've never been there, let me describe it to you: It's an open-air theater, with the stage shaped like the front of the Parthenon, in a dip on the east side of a mountain, so that the seats are basically going up the slope of the hills and you're shielded from the sunset. There are trees and stuff coming right up to the edges of the seating area, and it's just gorgeous. Here's a photo:

The show starts out with some band who I have never heard of before (and whose name I had already forgotten). They were OK. Then Switchfoot starts their set, and they put on an amazing show. The lead singer, Jon Foreman, has a wireless mic, and he's jumping down from the stage, walking through the crowd, climbing on seats, climbing on railings, climbing on amps, climbing on and jumping off of anything else he can find, while singing. It was a really high-energy show. Afterwards, I get in line and get my copy of "Nothing is Sound" autographed =)

After Switchfoot, the Goo Goo Dolls are on. I'd seen them before at their July 4th show in Buffalo and I figured nothing they could do would top that, and it was getting kind of late, and I needed to catch the last shuttle bus back from the observatory. The only hitch in this plan was that it's getting pretty dark, so I can't find a sign for the shuttle bus stop near the theater, and I'm not sure there is one at all, so the only logical alternative is to walk up to the observatory and catch it from the stop up there. After staying for a couple songs, I take off up the road.

Just past the parking area, I notice some twigs snapping. Startled, I look over, only to see a tiny little deer with two even tinier fawns. Adorable, but it makes me realize that there were animals in this park. I continue to walk up the side of the road. It's quiet, and relatively empty, with a kind of cliff with brush on top on one side (the right side, which I'm on) and a sharp drop-off on the other. As I'm walking, I think I hear a twig snap on the top of the cliff above me. I look up, and don't see anything. Maybe 20 seconds later, I hear some leaves rustle, and again don't see anything, so I continue walking although some kind of primal "You're being stalked!" instinct is starting to set off alarm bells in my head. Then, another 20 to 30 seconds after that, I notice a few small stones sliding down the side of the cliff. It's at exactly this point that I remember that there are mountain lions in California, and they live in mountains, and I'm walking through mountains in the dark.

I panic, and move to the other side of the road faster than I knew was possible, figuring that a mountain lion probably would only want to jump down for its food, not up an embankment and over a guardrail, or all the way across almost 4 lanes of road - although they're animals, they've at least got a basic understanding of gravity. I don't see anything else following me for the rest of the trip, although since it got a bit hilly on both sides of the road I'm now dodging cars because I'm refusing to walk anywhere except the middle of the road. Fortunately, later went online and didn't unearth any evidence of a mountain lion being seen in the park recently, so it likely was a curious deer or coyote or bobcat.

So, I finally make it up to the observatory without becoming a late-night snack for some carnivore. There's a spectacular view of all of Los Angeles (and probably everything for 30 miles) from there. I managed to get a lovely picture of downtown:


I stop on the lawn and look at Jupiter through a random telescope, but it's quite blurry - being on a hilltop on one side of LA, there's naturally an entirely obscene amount of light pollution there, and I can't even see all of the stars in the Big Dipper (although I can see enough to make out that it's there, and since I'm at a different latitude the angle looks really weird). Not at all like the observatory back home where you have to turn off your headlights at the turn-off from the main road, a couple hundred yards from the parking lot, which is maybe another 100 yards from the observatory itself, and there are thousands of stars and the Milky Way is all glittery. Frustrated with this, I go in an wander around, only to find a guy demonstrating a Tesla coil that's inside a Faraday cage.

If you're reading this and don't know anything about Tesla Coils or Faraday cages, let me explain what you need to know: There was a guy named Nikola Tesla, and he was basically the 1900 version of Da Vinci (ie, probably a time-traveling mad scientist if half of what he claimed was true). Anyways, Tesla invented a coil that was super-awesome and makes LOADS of lightning. A Faraday Cage was invented by Micheal Faraday, and it prevents lightning from getting out and radio waves or anything like that from getting in.

Anyways, the Tesla coil produces lightning, but the guy demonstrating it says he can only press the button for a few seconds a couple times an hour to prevent it from overheating. He also says that the setup is so old Tesla himself had seen it. Which is PURE AWESOMENESS!

Then, as I'm waiting for the shuttle bus back, I notice the "Hollywood" sign on a hill nearby. So, I take a couple long exposure shots - this one I'm super proud of because it was a 5-second exposure with NO tripod!


I catch the shuttle back with no problems, but that's still not the end of the entertainment. As I'm waiting for the train, I notice a guy walking through the station. He's wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, black fingerless gloves, black cargo pants, black combat boots, a black backpack, a black beanie, and in addition to all that he's got a black eyepatch over one eye. The only non-black thing he's wearing is a large, shiny, simple cross necklace. Since I've maybe watched a little too much Angel, all I can think is "Whoa, rogue vampire hunter!" Then, at the next stop, I see another man out the window, also dressed all in black. Only, this guy doesn't have an eyepatch or cross - he's got a scarf or something wrapped around his face so that only his eyes are showing, making him literally look like a ninja.

That was how yesterday went. I'm ending up with endless material for this blog, although in the future I will try to avoid becoming a set of toothpicks for a large carnivore.