Jesse, Rosie Perez, and Ron Weasley on a 38-Geary to the Farallons

We found Jesse at Muni Diaries Live: Breaking It Down in April 2010. He obliterated the audience storytelling portion of that night with his story of the Misfired Projectile in Tiffany’s Airspace. We stayed on the case, and got this unassuming, yet totally charm-your-pants-off young man back up on stage for his deserved full set.

At last month’s Muni Diaries Live, Jesse shared the story of withering away of innocence when it comes to riding Muni:

I grew up and went to high school in Southern California. I did what everybody else did — I drove a car … I graduated high school and I fled, like crazy. I went to San Francisco State. I didn’t even look at the school — I just knew it was in San Francisco and gay people live there!

And I encountered Muni. I encountered buses, and trains, and trains that did buslike things, and stairs, and all that craziness. I was flabbergasted, to say the least. Riding Muni was like riding a unicorn. It was like, “What??!? I get a transfer? This is so great! $1?” I’m dating myself.

I was that guy on Muni who was so in love with the experience that I was talking to people. I was like, “Oh my god, you shopped today? So did I!”

Watch the video above to hear the rest of Jesse’s gripping tale.

Previously: MissionMission’s Ariel Tells All: First Kiss, on Muni

MissionMission’s Ariel Tells All: First Kiss, on Muni

When Ariel Dovas casually mentioned that he had a Muni story he might like to tell on stage, I was already excited enough to have almost spilled my drink. But he followed it up by asking, “Well, is it ok if the story is kind of personal? Like, the bad kind of personal? The kind that really goes deep into that awful awkwardness about being a teenager?”

Ariel, you have no idea.

In this video, Ariel opens Muni Diaries Live’s third anniversary show with his very personal and very awesome story that happened his freshman year in high school.

“I never had a girlfriend before; I never kissed a girl before, but somehow I found out that this really pretty girl, this really cool girl who was a flutist, liked me. Like, like me liked me. I was just overwhelmed but somehow we ended up going out…I mean, going together. It wasn’t “going out” yet. I didn’t really know what to do. I mean, I’d never had a girlfriend before. But I knew some of the first steps that I had to do. So I got rid of all my friends, and spent all my lunches with her; I didn’t talk to anybody else, we held hands, and said I love you a lot. And I was like, this is a lot easier than I thought!”

Oh, but teenage love is never that easy. Watch the video for the rest of Ariel’s story.

Muni Tales from Andrew Lam

Author Andrew Lam regaled us with some scenes from the bus at Muni Diaries Live last month. If you missed it, we’ve got him on this video clip where he tells stories from the 19-Polk and 47-Van Ness, involving a parrot and a very thirsty cousin. The curtains in the Make-Out Room cast a red light on our videos, but hearing Andrew’s provocative, nearly erotic tales, the lighting only seems appropriate.

Andrew will be reading from his new book, East Eats West, at the Book Passage in the Ferry building in San Francisco on Dec. 7, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

‘We can do this’ on the N-Judah

Derek Powazek has almost always lived on the N-Judah line in the many years he has lived in San Francisco. And he saw an amazing feat of spontaneous public unity when the N rumbled by one day. In this video from Muni Diaries Live at the Make-Out Room a few weeks ago, Derek tells that story. Derek is the editor of Fray, the magazine of true stories and original art.

P.S. We know you’re not really working this week, so adjust the volume, put on the headphones, and enjoy Derek’s hilarious and possibly uplifting tale.

1 30 31 32