- Oh, hey.
Where you guys going?
- We're just gonna head out, man.
- I got some cereal
if you guys want to stay.
- I think we're good,
but thanks, man.
Thanks.
Thanks for the party.
- All right.
- Sorry.
I'd say something, but, you know, I'm just kind of hungover.
- Medicine cabinet.
- Appreciate that.
Coffee?
I know a place.
It's not too far from here.
It's a bit of a walk, but it's really good.
Cool, it's just over the hill in Noe.
Seriously, not too far.
So so what do you do?
Like, what do you do?
What's your occupation?
- Where do I work, or what do I do?
- Both.
- Americano.
Double macchiato.
Food will be out in just a minute, okay?
- Appreciate that.
- I don't have a job.
- How do you pay rent?
- Who says I pay rent?
- Nobody.
Nobody said you pay rent.
I was just I was just asking questions.
You don't have a job.
That's cool.
- I'm figuring it out.
- Figuring it out.
You're not gonna ask me?
- Ask what?
- What I do.
- No.
- This is a little embarrassing,
but I kind of forgot your name.
- I don't know if we ever got there.
- Yeah.
I know we didn't.
We were pretty drunk.
I'm Micah.
- Angela.
- Nice to meet you, Angela.
- And here you go.
Eggs over easy on wheat
and one Belgian waffle for the lady.
Do you guys need anything else?
- I think we're good, man.
Appreciate it.
So which way are you headed?
- Why?
- We can share a cab.
Marina?
Cow Hollow?
I'm just saying 'cause, you know, I'm also headed that way.
So we could
You know what?
I'll get us a cab.
Unless you want to race cabs or something.
- Excuse me.
Left, right here?
- To the right.
- At the curb.
- Okay.
It's $12.50, please.
- Oh, I got it. I got it.
It's cool.
Wait, Angela.
Angela, Angela.
Keep it running.
Angela.
- Sir, sir?
Meter's still running.
- I know, man.
- How far you have to go?
- Tenderloin.
- I thought you lived here.
- Man, just drive.
- Okay.
- # Woke up with fingers crossed #
# In a boy's bed with your pants off #
# After polite declines of coffee and toast #
# Walked home itching in last night's clothes #
# Past the Phone Booth and Beauty Bar #
# The broken windows of your neighbor's cars #
# Through the back door to a message from sis #
# Asking, "Who was your New Year's Kiss?" #
- Okay, sir.
- How much?
- It's $24.50, sir.
- Shit.
I don't have that much.
- That's her purse on the floor.
- What?
- That's her purse on the floor.
- Man, that's not a purse.
It's a wallet.
- Whatever.
- Think you slick.
Uh, yeah, I'm looking for an address.
Joanne Hardwicke.
Yes, Hardwicke.
No, no, not the J. Hardwicke in San Mateo.
It's Joanne Hardwicke.
Hardwicke is spelled H-A-R-D-W-l-C-K-E.
Yes, ma'am, with an E at the end.
Yeah.
Cornelius Street in Oakland?
No, I got that one already.
Thanks.
- What are you doing here?
- Yeah, that address on your license: it's wrong.
- Uh
Thank you.
- Can I come in?
- Oh.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, do you want something to drink?
- Uh, yeah.
Uh, water is cool.
- All right.
Hey.
- Oh.
Appreciate that.
So you don't pay rent here?
Who does pay rent here?
- No one.
- Okay, who pays the mortgage here?
- My boyfriend.
- Your boyfriend.
- My boyfriend.
- And where is he?
- London.
- Yes, London.
Would you stop repeating me?
- Oh, all right.
What's he do?
- He's a curator.
- A curator.
Sorry, sorry.
It just seems weird that as a curator,
he doesn't really have any art on the walls.
Like, none.
I mean, it just seems like
they probably got, like, an extra painting or a sculpture lying around
that he could have brought home.
Sorry, sorry.
Is he white?
- Does it matter?
- Yes and no.
- What if I told you he is white,
and we met in a volunteer program in Bayview?
Would that matter?
- Yes and no.
- Oh, okay.
I see.
You're one of those people.
- "Those people"?
- Yes, those people
that think that Black History Month is in February
because it's the shortest month in the year.
- It is.
- Black History Month is in February
because Carter G. Woodson wanted Negro History Week
to coincide with the births of Frederick Douglass and Lincoln,
both in the same week in February.
Okay, well,
thank you for returning my wallet, but you have to go.
- Well, we're just getting started.
- You need to leave.
- What did I say?
- Nothing.
I need to take a shower.
- A shower?
- Yes,
which you should have done before you got here.
- How do how do you know?
- Did you?
Okay, well,
all right.
- Wait, hold on.
Hold, hold.
- Excuse me?
What are you doing?
- # A beautiful day for a neighbor. #
# Would you be mine? #
# Could you be mine? #
# Won't you be my neighbor? #
# Won't you please? #
# Won't you be my neighbor? #
Hey, there, one-night stand neighbor.
Want to go to the Land of Make Believe
with me and King Friday
and all the magical critters and creatures?
- I'm going to take shower.
So weird.
Coffee?
- Oh, thank you.
- There's milk and sugar in the kitchen.
- Oh, appreciate it.
Can we try this again?
I'm Micah.
- Joanne.
- I know.
Miss Hardwicke, with an E.
Can I call you Jo?
Cool.
- Can I call you Mike?
- No.
It's not the same.
- Hey, love.
Hmm.
Just having a cup of coffee.
Yeah, I went.
I was bored.
Mmm,
down on Market?
Within an hour.
Uh, I'm not gonna ride my bike.
I'm gonna take a cab.
Uh, okay, I'm gonna ride my bike.
Are you happy now?
You're never happy.
Okay.
I love you.
Bye.
- I figured the walls needed a little artwork,
Iike the lights and darks and the crosshatching and stuff.
Very artistic.
- I have an errand to run.
- You want some company?
- Sure.
- Cool.
- I'm gonna go get dressed.
Right over here.
- Oh.
- Hey, can you lock my bike up for me?
- Yeah, sure.
Hey, wait.
- Will you wait?
- Why?
- You have to wait right here.
- Why?
- Just think about it.
- Hey.
You forgot your wallet.
- Hi, can I help you?
- Yes.
I'm here to see Sierra Ornielias.
- Okay, is she expecting you?
- Concerning the Santos piece.
- Okay, and what was your name?
- Joanne Hardwicke.
- Thanks.
So are you working on the Santos piece?
- Um, no.
My boyfriend is.
- Oh, okay.
- Hi.
- Joanne.
- Hello.
Yeah, it's all done.
Um, she was very nice, very sweet.
Okay.
E, 15, 6, 6, 5.
It's the same sequence.
I'm gonna go for a walk or something, or just something.
Yeah.
Um, the weather's nice.
The weather's nice.
Yeah, I will.
Okay.
No, no, not at all.
I'm just I'm just a little hungover.
Okay.
I love you too.
Bye.
Excuse me, sir.
What's up?
- What now?
- Let's go to MoMA.
- I don't want to go to MoMA.
- What's wrong with MoMA?
- No comment.
- Okay, black man.
So what do two black folks do on a Sunday afternoon?
- Go to church, eat fried chicken.
What do two black folks not do on a Sunday afternoon?
- What?
- Go to a museum.
- That is not funny.
- It is funny.
- It's not funny.
- It's funny 'cause it's not funny.
Sylvia Striplin.
- What?
- Sylvia Striplin.
It's a game.
Name a song that she had sampled and by who.
Come on, Sylvia Striplin.
- I don't listen to music like that.
- All right, Sylvia Striplin, You Can't Turn Me Away
or Lil Kim's Get Money.
- How's it go?
# You can't turn me away. #
- Okay, I think I remember.
It's basically the same song, right?
- Yeah, yeah.
You might have a push on that one.
- Why does yours sound like a farting trumpet?
MoAD, Mama.
Not MoMA.
- Hey, good afternoon. Welcome to MoAD.
- Thank you.
- How you doing today?
I'm all right, yeah.
Can I get two tickets?
- That'll be $10.
- The first objects which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast
were the sea and the slave ship
as well as the multitude of black people of every description
chained together,
every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow.
No, I no longer doubted my fate.
But I was not long suffered to indulge my grief,
for I was soon put down under the decks.
There I received such a salutation as I had never experienced in my life.
- Wait.
We should walk somewhere.
- Okay.
- Have you been there before?
- The opening and a few times after that.
- I didn't even know it was there.
- It looks like LA.
- I've never been.
- Yeah, like the view from the hills.
It's like the hills in LA.
- This is a one-night stand.
- It's only been one night.
Can't do nothing about that.
I mean, it is what it is.
Watch out for the plant there.
You got it?
- Yes.
- Cool, cool.
You can put your bike right here.
Watch out for the aquarium.
- That's cute.
Whose bike is that?
- It's my ex's.
- Oh.
- I took it back.
Do you want something to drink or something?
- No, I'm fine.
- Some water?
- Fine.
What are you doing?
- I got to pee.
- Okay, well, pee then.
- Cool.
You familiar with that?
- Um, kind of.
I'm a transplant.
- Born and raised.
My folks lived out there.
Imagine the Lower Haight,
nothing but black folks and white artists.
- Hmm.
But why would you put it on your wall?
I know you're not supposed to forget,
but it's not like you'd forget without seeing it every day.
- Oh, no, no.
It's not like that.
You know, people just walk around this city like everything is so perfect,
and it's all good and everything.
And I don't know.
This just reminds me,
you know, poor folks still got it hard.
Like, you look at Mission Bay, and this poster's still relevant.
Oh, I'm just saying.
You want some tea or something?
Cool.
I washed my hands.
I promise.
You can check.
- Stop.
Do you even like it here?
- What?
- It seems like this city just pisses you off.
- No, I love this city.
I hate this city, but I love this city.
I mean, the hills, the fog.
Any man who can find a street corner has got himself a view.
San Francisco is beautiful, and it's got nothing to do with privilege.
It's got nothing to do with beatniks or hippies or yuppies.
It just is.
You shouldn't have to be upper-middle class to be a part of that.
Hey.
- Hey.
- Were you sleeping?
- Maybe.
What are you doing?
- Getting in my bed.
- No, you're not.
- Yes, I am.
- No, you haven't showered.
- So? It's my bed.
- Not while I'm in it.
- You don't pay rent here.
- All day today, last night, no shower.
That's disgusting.
- I've been with you all day.
You know where I've been.
- Exactly.
- For real?
- Yes.
- Fine.
I'm not using soap.
And I might not dry off either.
I'm all clean.
Are you happy now?
I can get in my own bed?
- So what do you do?
- I'm the number two aquarium guy in the whole Bay Area.
- Number two what?
- Aquarium installer.
You know, fish tanks and stuff like that.
But more than that.
Like, there's a guy, he's the number one guy.
And he does all kind of high-end corporate shit.
But then after that, I'm point man on everything else.
It's mostly doctor's offices, stuff like that.
- What's it like?
- Well, I got a little setup over on Fulton.
I send my tanks there.
I go get the right rock.
And then I go over to San Leandro
where there's a warehouse where I get all my fish.
I get 'em straight from Fiji, lndonesia.
It's cool.
But you can go to a store, and you might be looking for an angelfish.
They might have one angelfish in that whole store.
You're married to that angelfish.
But the warehouse, they got all kinds of angels.
For a lot of people, getting an aquarium is like set dressing.
Like, they know the type of fish they want.
You know, they got the tank already set in place.
But for other folks, it's like curating.
They don't know what they want.
They just want it to be beautiful.
That's my job, to make it beautiful.
- How'd you get into it?
- When I was a kid, we had a tank in our house,
and you could hear it through the whole place.
I used to leave my door open and just fall asleep to the sound of it.
- That's sweet.
- Thanks.
Where you going?
- I make T-shirts.
- What?
- It's kind of what I do.
Like this one.
- Okay.
- Did you wonder what this name meant?
- I just thought it was a name of some lkea furniture.
Like a Loden sofa.
- It's the name of a filmmaker.
I screen-print them, different women directors.
I do it at a friend's studio.
- You make money off that?
- It's not about that.
I'm gonna play you a song.
- All right.
What you gonna play?
- Okay.
I can't play with you looking at me.
- Okay.
Uh, I'll turn around.
There.
I'm not looking at you.
- I'm gonna turn around too.
- I'll cover my eyes anyway,
just to show you that I'm a trustworthy guy.
- # You are a sun #
# You are a sea #
# You are the ones that I see #
# You're the one I dream of #
# Giving me no zero #
# You're the one I dream of #
# I dream of #
- Hey.
- It's okay?
- Yeah.
- I'm hungry.
- Say what?
- Hey.
Hey.
- Yeah?
- We need to eat.
And we need an onion.
- Onion?
Your breath is gonna be kicking after that.
I'm just no, you can get an onion.
I'm just saying, you know, don't try to tell me any secrets.
Oh, and check it out. Check it out.
How do you do today?
Me and the boy have to talk about things,
because he doesn't understand responsibility.
I do impressions.
Every black guy has a Bill Cosby impression.
- I think so.
- Yeah.
I won a Cosby-tition in Oakland.
It was part chili cook-off, part Bill Cosby competition.
I took first place for my Cosby,
second place for the chili cook-off, though.
We good?
Cool.
- And we were like, "What are you talking about?"
And they were like, "Property values and blah, blah, blah."
I was like, "What?
Property values mean more than human lives?"
And I think unfortunately, I think that's what happened to the Castro.
As the upscale people moved in, the attitudes became, you know,
more of the attitudes of the upper class.
There is this sense in this town that we are becoming a city
of the very rich and the very poor.
We all know people have been pushed out at an alarming rate.
I mean, I would say thousands and thousands of people
have been pushed out in the last 12 years
from mainly the eastern side of the city where all the renters are.
- The mayor, in this last election campaign,
and all the people opposing him never used the words "rent control" at all.
There were nine or ten other people opposing the mayor.
None of them mentioned it
in the description of what they believed in
and what they're interested in.
And the mayor, who's been in office for how many years now,
has never used the words "rent control."
So they are trying to make this
into something that no one can put their fingers on.
It's just gonna happen.
- They're already building market-rate condos in Bayview,
and you know that they're not gonna have market-rate condos next to projects.
You know what's gonna go,
and it ain't gonna be the market-rate condos.
We're already seeing that.
Bayview is gonna go the way that Fillmore did,
and they're gonna gentrify the neighborhood
and push out the people who are living there now
and bring in more upscale people.
- Well, when the Fillmore and the Western Addition
and all that gentrification happened, we're still feeling those effects.
And then anyone who's gone through the dot-com boom
knows that, you know, it looks good now in comparison,
because then people literally were renting out closets,
literally renting out closets for, like, $600 to $800.
- They still are.
- Is there any, like, options for people that make
I mean, there's no affordable housing for actual poor people?
- Move to the East Bay, which is what people are doing.
- I like in Berkley and Oakland,
and that has been the tale of the last ten years.
And unfortunately,
a lot of us from the East Bay are getting pushed out
by people who have been pushed out of San Francisco.
- There's a ballot initiative that supposedly is about
eminent domain issues
but actually will repeal rent control throughout the state.
So San Francisco could lose rent control next June.
Think of over 350,000 apartments
suddenly losing rent control in San Francisco
and all the people that could get displaced potentially
by something like that.
As far as I'm concerned,
it's the end of the whole East Side of San Francisco.
The whole East Side will just gentrify overnight.
And all of the great things that we love about San Francisco
would be gone overnight.
- # With every passing moment gone another up, another down #
# Completely unbelievable #
# Back and forth back and forth #
# Here I am tonight #
# Who knows how I got here? #
- Wow.
- What?
- The light.
- Oh, yeah.
I put that in there 'cause the fixture's too bright.
See?
All you need is a glow, mama.
You want some wine?
- Yes.
- # Amazing how the ceiling falls #
# Another twist another tell #
- You keep it in there?
- Yeah.
- # Back and forth back and forth #
# Here I am tonight #
# Who knows how I got here? #
# I'm too tired to fight #
# And you will every time #
- Thanks.
Not bad.
- Thanks.
- # You took my heart and flew away #
# You took my heart and flew away #
- Got to love that secondhand smoke.
All right.
Under Pressure or Ice, Ice Baby?
- Under Pressure, no question.
- But Vanilla lce used the beat better.
- I don't care.
Vanilla lce versus Queen and Bowie?
No question.
I got one for you.
Super Freak or U Can't Touch This?
- Oh, oh.
- And I'm not talking about the songs the videos.
- Oh, oh, shit.
- Yes.
- Um, okay.
Uh, U Can't Touch This:
Hammer with the big poofy pants, bunch of thick chicks in kneepads,
everybody working it, right?
- Yes.
- And Super Freak,
Rick James in a big white room with some Euro hos
just grinding on him and his guitar?
Right?
- Yes.
Right.
- Uh, all right, I'm gonna have to pay my respects
and go with Rick James on this one.
Like, Hammer was tight and all,
but Big Rick, he got that high angle going.
And he was just working it on that guitar.
Like, them girls was just in the way, and he was still just playing
and just calling 'em out by name, just saying,
"You're a super freak."
Like, they can get mad and walk out.
That's how hard he was.
Hey, I'm gonna fix your bike for you.
- What's wrong with my bike?
- Your brakes were sticking.
- What?
- You should get yourself a fixed-gear bike.
No, you'd be real hot.
You'd be like Mae Jemison,
first black woman to ride a fixed-gear bike through the Marina.
Hell, you're probably the first black woman in the Marina.
Hey, you ever think about how black folks are only 7% of this city?
- You have a real issue with race.
You know that?
- Obviously, but I'm serious.
And this ain't the weed talking.
You ever think about how we're only 7% of this city?
- You're not 7%.
You're Micah.
- You know what I mean.
Like, black folks are 7% of this city.
And then you take whatever, 1% or 2%
considers itself, like, punk or indie or folk
or, you know, just not what you see on BET,
Iike, you ever realize just how few of us there really are?
- Mm, no.
- I mean, check it.
You might go to a show,
and for every, like, 300 people, there's probably one black person.
And they're damn near guaranteed to have their arm around somebody white.
I'm just saying.
All right, check it.
How do you define yourself?
- Excuse me?
- Like, how do you define yourself?
If you had to describe,
you know, your idea of how you see the world,
Iike, how would you do it in one word?
- That makes no sense.
People aren't that simple.
How can you define yourself in one word?
- Easy.
Me?
I'm a black man.
That's how I see the world.
That's how the world sees me.
But if I have to choose one, I'm black before I'm a man.
So therefore, I am black.
- I don't see it that way.
- Why not?
- That's your problem.
You feel you have to define everybody.
You limit them to the point where they're just a definition
and not people.
- How do you figure?
- You just said it.
You went from, "l am Micah,"
to, "l am black."
- I'm not?
- Yes, but you're everything else too.
- That's not how society sees it.
- Well, who gives a shit about what society thinks?
I don't I don't want to talk anymore.
Let's let's do something.
- What you want to do?
- I want to dance.
- All right.
White folks or black folks?
My bad.
But you are not taking this.
No, no, you are much too high to ride a bicycle.
Mm-mm.
No, you can't toke and ride.
No, if you do that, you'll give marijuana a bad name.
Go ahead and put those shoes on.
You don't want to go out there in sock feet.
Then everybody will know you're high.
- # Baby, tell me please #
# Is this a dream #
# Spending the night with you beneath the cherry trees? #
# Just make a wish #
# And everything comes true #
# Whoa, oh, whoa oh, whoa, whoa #
# Ah, ah, ah #
- # You look like Audrey Hepburn when you get all dressed up #
# I have seen all your movies 'cause Audrey's a stone fox #
# So let's ride bikes into the sea #
# And catch a bus outside the reef #
# Drive so deep where we can see #
# Thinks that we have to get off #
# The bus driver laughs, and he shakes his head #
# Says, "You're okay" #
- # Tick-tock #
# I'm drinking alone #
# Tick-tock #
# I'm drinking alone #
# You take it like your perfect song #
# Well, come on #
# Tick-tock #
# I'm drinking alone #
- # Keep on rockin', baby #
# Come on #
# Keep on rockin', baby #
# Come on #
# Keep on rockin', baby #
- # She's got that look in her eyes #
# She's got too much on her mind #
# She wants to relax #
# She says she thinks it's time #
# And I know her fingers taste like home #
# She said "Go" #
# Just shut up #
# It's not like that #
# She retracts like a brick wall #
# Behind the cracks #
# Her eyes just pop like lightbulbs #
# And I know we can turn this #
# We can turn this round #
# Her eyes just pop like lightbulbs #
# And I know we can turn this #
# We can turn this round #
# But she won't try #
# She's got that blood in her eyes #
# She's got that blood on her thighs #
# She wants to react #
# But she can't cut the ties #
- Hello. How you doing?
- Good. - What are you having?
- Two tacos.
- Hot salsa or mild salsa?
- Hot.
- I'll have mild, mild.
- Mild.
- For here or to go?
- To go, to go, to go.
- Hey, what's going on, brah?
You need something?
- Ah, no, we're good, man.
We're good.
- No, check it, check it, check it.
Bust them out, bust them out.
You know, we got that Formula 50, man,
Arizona Tea, Kombucha, and Sobe.
You know what I'm saying?
You look like you need something up in you.
- No, we're good, man.
We're good. Appreciate it.
- Man, you look like you need some hydration in you, man, you know?
- No, man, I'm hydrated enough.
- All right, man, all right.
- I'm already hydrated.
- Two tacos, hot salsa.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
And two tacos with mild salsa.
- Oh, cool, man.
- Thanks a lot.
- How much do I owe you?
- Ooh.
- Who was that?
- What?
- Is it any surprise?
I mean, is it any surprise that folks of color in the scene
date outside their race?
- Okay.
- I mean, think about it.
Like, everything - No.
- Every think about it.
Everything about being indie is all tied to not being black.
- I don't want to talk about this.
- Like, everything is all tied to not being black.
Like, friends who are indie: white.
Bands who are indie: like, okay, you got TV on the Radio,
but the rest of them are white.
- Okay.
- No, it's not okay.
It's not. Like, everything.
I mean, people call it interracial dating, but there's nothing interracial about it.
Nine out of ten times, it's somebody of color
hanging on to a white person.
You never you never see
- Watch your step.
- Fuck my step.
You never see, like, a
you never see a fucking, like, a black girl and a Asian dude.
You never see an lndian guy and a Latino girl.
It's always one of us clinging on to one of them.
I mean, look at you.
Why the fuck you got to date some white dude?
- Why are you doing this?
What do you want from me?
You think just because I'm black and you're black
that we should just be together.
We're just one, right?
We fucked, and I didn't even know you.
I've been spending the last 24 hours cheating on my boyfriend,
and you think because I'm black and you're black
that we should be together.
You're so fucking crazy.
Wait.
I have to go to the bathroom.
- I have to go too.
- I'm leaving.
- Wait.
- I have to go.
I'm leaving.
- It's okay.
- I got to go.
- Why?
Just stay here tonight
and go back to your life tomorrow.
Just stay.
Stay.
- # You went out with your best sweater on #
# With every intention of dancing till dawn #
# But when the DJ played that song, it all went wrong #
# Crying in the cab ride home #
# With Frank Sinatra on the radio #
# It might as well have been Lil Kim #
# When every song you hear still reminds you of him #
# You'll say that it's no big deal #
# But it's the shake in your voice that gives away how you feel #
# And you couldn't slam the door any faster #
# Take your time #
# And you'll say that it's no big deal #
# But it's the tears on your face that give away how you feel #
# And you'll say tonight #
# Tonight was a disaster #