Impromptu U2 Medley Aboard the 49-Van Ness

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Photo by Brian Brooks

Muni rider Mozart sent us this audio snippet from his ride home aboard the 49-Van Ness. Warning: The clip devolves for a bit into completely offensive, inappropriate ranting, so FYI and throw on some headphones if you’re at work. The clip was just very San Francisco in many different ways, for better or worse.

drunk49

I thought it might be Omer, the infamous Mission District sidewalk “musician.” After seeing a photo of Omer, Mozart thought it could be him. What do you think? I’ve never seen Omer on Muni, but it seems like he’d draw a lot of attention on it.

Top Google Places Muni Review: ‘Dearest 49-Van Ness’

El Balazo
Photo by juicyrai

At last night’s Reunion/Open-Mic event, Anna Conda announced the winner of our Google Places Muni Review contest. “puckpuck” took it home with his review of the 49-Van Ness, read on stage brilliantly last night by Anna:

Dearest 49 Van Ness, How are things? I haven’t seen you since the budget cuts. It’s been a while hasn’t it. How is your little sister 47? Last time I saw her she was heading to the train station. Did she make it there alright? I miss seeing you two regularly. I always knew I could count on one of you showing up when I needed. It didn’t matter who, you were both close. But 49, I liked you the best as you very well know. 47 just likes to play at Fisherman’s Warf. You were always the more responsible one. Working hard to go to City College. And you and I both liked to hang out in the mission. Hey, remember that time you called it an early night and left me at oak and market? I had to wander around those maze of streets to look for the owl. Ended up riding with drunks and the working class. I hated you so much for that. But looking back at it now, it really was kind of funny. I’m sorry it’s been so long. I ended up moving to Alamo Square and met a girl on Filmore. She’s 22 (young I know). We go to the Marina and hang out with Crissy. You should come with us sometime! If you can get past Fort Mason. It would be really handy. Don’t worry, I know how it is. I won’t hold my breath. I don’t need to now with the 22, haha, I’m kidding. I know that’s unfair. It’s not your fault you have to work with the 14. He’s a hard worker but it definitely shows. I know things aren’t the same with us, but I think of you often and I wont forget you easily 49. You will always be my 7×7! xoxo

If you haven’t written a review yet, it’s not too late. We still have several runner-up $50 prizes to dole out, so head over to Google Places and review the Muni route of your choice. We can’t wait to read them!

Violated on Muni

Smelly Feet
Photo by julesreyes

Have you ever been harassed on the bus? You’d think that after the Muni Humper, people would learn. Not so much. Recently we received a report from Stella, who found some really suspicious bad behavior on the 8X-Bayshore Express.

“I was sitting on the single seats on the 8X and a man got on the bus and held the pole next to my seat…the bus makes a small turn and the man leans toward me and brushes my arm with his hand. I mean this might be understandable if it was a wide turn and if we were going pretty fast, but the bus was not. The 8X is typically a crowded bus and as a non-confrontational person, I didn’t accuse him of anything just yet. So after that I turned my head in his direction and he was staring down at me.

He was a middle age bald man with a big gut wearing a blue polo shirt. He didn’t touch me again till the next small turn. He was clearly exaggerating the impact of the turn. I was fed up with this pervert. You may think I am over-reacting to this someone touching my arm on the bus, well this is not the worst I’ve experience or seen.

I’ve talked to people about this happening and they tell me not to start anything with the guy for my own safety in case he has a weapon or might follow me home. This infuriates me that I can’t do anything about it.”

Personal spaces might be tighter on the bus but that’s no excuse if this man is brushing against Stella on purpose.

Over the weekend I was on a fairly empty 49-Van Ness and a guy decided to sit next to me and promptly “fall asleep,” resting his arm on my hips several times. At first I wasn’t completely sure that he was doing this on purpose, but after the fourth time I had enough and got up to get to the next seat. Like Stella, I found it infuriating and frustrating.

I’ve read that in other countries there are women-only passenger cars just to prevent groping. Not that groping is limited to female victims alone.

Ladies (and gents), weigh in: Has this happened to you? If so, how do you deal with it?

Pillow Talk on the 49-Van Ness

On the F Market with a pillow..
Photo by juicyrai

Sometimes Muni seems like San Francisco’s living room.

One night last week I walked up to the 49 bus shelter on Van Ness and saw that there was a young couple waiting for the bus, each carrying a huge cardboard box that said, Tempurpedic Pillow (with pictures of a high-tech-looking foam pillow). The bus arrived and we got on. It was crowded so the couple stood near the front.

I settled into a seat and the man next to me, a large scruffy older guy carrying a box of Chinese leftovers, pointed to the couple and said, “Hey, what are those?” “Pillows,” the girl said. “How much are they?” the big guy asked. The girl, a little uncomfortable already, said, “Oh we got them on sale.”

Where? The big guy wanted to know. The boyfriend tried to fend off all the questions about these shiny new pillows, but the big guy really wanted to know everything about them. “Well I hope they are comfortable. You guys look like newlyweds and you’ll probably be testing them out a lot! It’s like buying a new car, you gotta test the ride, you know what I mean?!” The people around him laughed and the big guy launched into a different conversation with another guy about cars as we passed by the car dealerships on Van Ness.

The young couple seemed relieved that the attention was off of them. By this time a new crop of passengers got onto the bus and I heard one of them say, “Hey, what’s in those boxes? Pillows? Where’d you buy those?”

A whole new thread of conversation about foam pillows was being started among the new strangers in the front of the bus. The big guy was still deep in his car conversation and I thought, Hey, this is San Francisco’s living room.

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