Recap: Muni Diaries Live, Full House!

caitlin gill muni diaries live
Photo by Kevin Wong

You packed the Elbo Room on Saturday night to hear some live, true Muni tales, and our storytellers did not disappoint. There were many priceless moments (like this hilarious shot of funnywoman Caitlin Gill). Let’s recount them.

All of these awesome Muni Diaries Live photos here are by Kevin Wong.

Pinched Nerve kicked off the show with a song with a chorus that we all know too well: “Back Door, Step Down!” Killer fishnets too.

pinched nerve muni diaries live

Writer Jan Richman told a tale of testifying in “Muni court” with a mangled hand.

jan richman muni diaries live

Lots of us from the Bay Area hear his voice every morning, so it was a surreal treat to have KTVU traffic reporter Sal Castaneda in the house.

sal castenada muni diaries live

Comedian Caitlin Gill had us in stitches. If your reflexive response to any crisis on Muni is to take out your ear buds and close your book (with your finger still on the page you were reading), you are not alone.

caitlin gill muni diaries live 2

As usual, we encourage three brave audience members to come up on stage and share their own Muni stories. Our great prizes from Timbuk2, Tacolicious, and SFLocal.net served as encouragement.

Muni Diaries is nothing without your tales, and these brave audience members — Kristina, Shawn, and Jesse — brought their A game. I love the conspiratorial look on Shawn’s face.

audience muni diaries live

Jesse, who you might remember from the last show, took home the first-place honor.

jesse james muni diaries live

Glynn Washington, executive producer of NPR’s Snap Judgment, gave everyone a lot of food for thought when he was confronted with a mugging on his commute.

glynn washington muni diaries live

When a “smelly tramp” gave Chloe Veltman a smelly kiss “in the carriage” (oh Brits!), she did the only logical thing: write a five-part madrigal to sing at Muni Diaries Live. Chloe led the song, performed by Nick Weininger, Matt Scherb, Meredith Landis and Rebecca Schonberg. Nice neckware too!

madrigal muni diaries live

We closed the show with Stephen Elliott, who you may know as the author of The Adderall Diaries and editor of The Rumpus. He dug out a couple of pages from his journal to share with the Muni Diaries Live crowd.

stephen elliot muni diaries live

We were overwhelmed by the amazing turnout at the Elbo Room Saturday night — our apologies if you were stuck in line downstairs or fighting your way to the bar. But it was amazing to see that Muni rides can bring so many people together to share a drink, commiserate, and laugh at the absurdities of urban life.

muni diaries live crowd

Thank you to all our storytellers and to everyone who came out to enjoy this evening with us. Until the next show, keep the stories coming!

muni diaries live crowd and sal castenada

5 comments

  • Suzanne

    This makes me really miss San Francisco!

  • Milimo

    Yes, unfortunately, being there was an awful lot like being on Muni at rush hour – overcrowded, poorly organized, didn’t work well, and a lot of people missed the bus, so to speak. Two hours stuffed together, squished, unable to see or hear. Were you trying to channel the ultimate Muni horror experience?

    Unlike Muni, however, Muni Diaries editor sent mass email to those who bought tickets in advance apologizing and promising to do better. Hopefully you’re more competent than Muni with that.

    • eugenia

      Milimo,
      Yes, I agree that the overcrowding at the Elbo Room somewhat resembled the 38-Geary during rush hour, minus the urine smell. Please know that it’s extremely important to us that our audience has a positive experience.

      Before the show, we informed the Elbo Room about the number of advanced tickets, but unfortunately I was later informed that the door person did not properly manage the advanced ticket sales and the venue capacity. We sent an email to everyone who bought advanced tickets about the situation, and hope that those of you who have been to our shows know that it isn’t always such a crowded squished situation.

      Muni Diaries would never exist without our awesome community on the site and at the event, so I hope you’ll be coming back for more — next time with more breathing room.

      – Eugenia
      Editor
      Muni Diaries

  • Aaron

    It’s hard to tell if the captions are for the photo below or above.

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