In this week’s Around Town column, find out why the city has butted heads with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. There’s also news about a panel on the future of downtown retail, new virtual reality technology at Stanford Medicine and a girl advocating for Type 1 diabetes research.
STAGED PROTEST … After staging summer performances at Mitchell Park for more than a decade, the San Francisco Mime Troupe decided to skip Palo Alto this year. The reason? A determination by the City that the group is not allowed to solicit donations from the audience for its free performances, the Mime Troupe announced in a statement Wednesday. The group, which was scheduled to perform its musical “WALLS,” assured its Palo Alto fans in the statement that it has “not forgotten about them” and does not “take them for granted.” “We greatly regret missing these performances, but the costs of performing our ‘free’ shows are actually quite high, and since we don’t take corporate sponsorship to subsidize our shows, we rely on post-show donations,” the statement reads. “Without the financial support of our Mitchell Park audience, we would lose money at a performance in Palo Alto — which is something we simply cannot do.” The group also noted that it hopes to resolve the issue in the future and resume its Mitchell Park performances. In the meantime, fans who would like to see “WALLS” (a musical about immigration) can attend the mime troupe’s July 29 show in San Jose (3 p.m. at St. James Park) or its Sept. 9 and 10 shows in Santa Cruz (3 p.m. at San Lorenzo Park).
BRICK AND MORTALITY … The future of downtown retail will be the topic of a panel discussion on July 26. “Can traditional storefronts compete with online shopping and big box retail or will they simply become showrooms?” organizers ask in an announcement about the event. “What will downtown look like in the years to come? Will malls and downtown become dominated by restaurants and entertainment or will they become ghost towns?” Panelists include Lori Silverstein, CEO of Peninsula Beauty Supply; Peter Katz, CEO of The Counter; Jon Goldman, co-president of Premier Properties; and others. “We believe bringing a panel of folks who live and breath local and regional retail will benefit attendees as it will help all of us gain insight as to how to develop zoning ordinances, land use policy and more,” said Russ Cohen, executive director of the Palo Alto Downtown Business and Professional Association. The event will take place at the former North Face store, 217 Alma St., Palo Alto, at 8 a.m. with networking and refreshments at 7:30 a.m. The event is free. Local journalist Lisa Van Dusen, who hosts the show “First Person” on Palo Alto Online, is the moderator. RSVP at eventbrite.com.
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN … Stanford Medicine is using virtual reality technology to help doctors plan surgeries and educate patients on their upcoming operations. The system uses MRIs, CT scans and angiograms to create 3-D images of a patient’s brain. Doctors in residency are trained by going to the hospital basement, where they put on headsets and look into the a patient’s brain while their instructor (who shows up as an avatar in a white coat on the device) guides them through the lesson. The technology made by Colorado startup Surgical Theater allows viewers to look at arteries where they can see an aneurysm or tissue displaying a tumor, with the ability to view the parts from different angles. “It’s a window into the brain — and a window into the brain of the particular patient we’re going to operate on,” Dr. Anand Veeravagu, head of the Stanford Neurological Simulation Lab, said in a press release. The technology is reassuring for patients who have a 3-D view of the problem and particularly helpful for those who don’t understand English well, according to Malie Collins, a senior program lead for the VR program.
YOUNG HEALTH ADVOCATE … An 11-year-old Palo Alto girl will have a unique summer story to share once school returns to session. Avery Reller will be representing California at the JRDF 2017 Children’s Congress, aimed at promoting awareness of Type 1 diabetes, from July 24 to 26. Avery was selected by the foundation itself for her active role in the Greater Bay Area Chapter and for always signing up for the JRDF Silicon Valley One Walk event. She was 9 years old when she was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a condition that affects her every day. The group will take part in a Congressional committee hearing to tell their own stories of living with the condition and persuade legislative leaders to support JRDF’s Special Diabetes Program, which collects $150 million sent to the National Institutes of Health for Type 1 diabetes research. “T1D research is very important to me because any improvement or technological advancement would have a significant impact on my life,” she said in a press release. “With more research, I believe that life will keep getting easier and that someday there will be a cure.” When she’s not out being an advocate or a student, you’ll most likely find Avery baking, making slime, playing with squishies or skiing.
Go Avery Reller! Thanks for representing the local T1D community.
Avery Reller is an inspiration! What she is doing IS news.
Also ‘news’ is the Downtown Retail forum & the Stanford Neurological Lab story. Each is information worth knowing, here in Palo Alto.
But the Mime Group not being allowed to take donations? Yawn. Sigh. Gag.
They are getting tons of free advertising, to more than make up for their decision to overlook Palo Alto, due to not being able to put out a donation box. Either way, that group won.
Give us REAL news.
What a short sighted decision over donations to the famous Tony Award winning San Francisco Mime Troop that has resulted in it’s not preforming free at here for the first time in 40 years. This is actually outrageous. Free high quality musical theater. They have performed all over the U.S. and Europe. They perform in parks all over the Bay Area in the summer. I go along with many others to Mitchell Park each year with a dinner picnic on the grass where they truck in their big stage, sound equipment, costumes and props to bring their play of the season to one and all.
Cannot this decision be reversed – they are doing nothing different than what they have always done – literally pass a hat at the end of the performance as people leave. No one has to donate and no amount is suggested. They are a non-profit that relies on these donations for doing these park performances.
This is cutting off our nose to spite our face. I thought we supported the arts. Are our rules now undercutting them. Let’s change these rules. And why was a rule suddenly dug up that was never there before? Are some odd politics being played here since the Mime Troop’s themes are topical? That would also be a wrong reason to be applied to it.
I was wondering why the SF Mime Troupe won’t be performing in Palo Alto this year. This is too bad. Maybe Menlo Park could step up and talk to them about performing in Burgess Park next year.
I was also, as a Mime Troupe supporter, wondering why no shows at Mitchell Park. What a ridiculous decision! If you attend a “free” show and don’t want to put anything in their little donation cans after the show is over, you can just roll up your blanket and walk away. No one is strong-armed to donate. We’re supposed to be all about being “green” but I’ll have to get in my car and drive many miles to see the Mime Troupe instead of seeing it right here in town.
Winter, you expressed your opinion, which I share, very well.
So the City of Palo Alto is the obstacle that’s keeping us from seeing the Mime Troop performance this year? That’s atrocious! I’ve gone to see their shows for years, along with hundreds of PA residents — and now we have to drive off somewhere else to see them? What about the free speech rights of this award-winning theater? Their actors have a right to say “Pleae contribute to our show” — and we patrons have a right to add our donations to their baskets… The city is WAY off base in limiting this free expression — where is the City code that says this is wrong? And which attorney will be the first in town to step forward to challenge it, if such an ordinance exists?
So proud of you, Avery!
Apparently one of the San Francisco Mime Troop’s acts has offended somebody with clout over at city hall. Any ideas which/who?
The SF Mime Troupe is a leftist propaganda outfit…been at it for decades. No wonder PA leftists are upset about Palo Alto enforcing its own rules. Maybe Palo Alto is waking up, and smelling the coffee.
Who “in the city” made the decision to ban the SF Mime Troupe?? Let that person stand up and explain *why* they decided to end yet another tradition.
Whoever it is obviously doesn’t get out much. Bands and other groups routinely sell their cd’s, t-shirts after a concert and joke about their donation / tip jars.
>The SF Mime Troupe is a leftist propaganda outfit…been at it for decades. No wonder PA leftists are upset about Palo Alto enforcing its own rules. Maybe Palo Alto is waking up, and smelling the coffee
@Kerry
Are you deeply troubled by performance art/music conveying certain left wing perspectives and political satires?
If you happen to be in your late 50s (or older), you must have detested the Smothers Brothers TV show. *LOL*
@ Mark: I am in my mid 60s. I was a naïve leftie in my 20s, at Stanford and when I moved off campus into town. Eventually, I grew a brain and realized what was going on. Yes, I was an enthusiast of the SF Mime Troupe back in my youth, but then I began to realize what the collectivist model meant,in terms of mass murder and assaults on private property. Palo Alto is, finally, growing up…no more hippie socialist nonsense. The times they are a changin’.
@Kerry et al — Regardless of your personal political leanings — or anyone’s — , what gives “the city” the right to censor what we can see?
This is absolutely ludicrous. Let the people who made the decision own up to it and answer questions from the community.
@ Kvetch: If the SF Mime Troupe wants to raise private funds from the dwindling leftist citizens in Palo Alto, it should do so…then put on its ‘free’ show. Palo Alto should not be turning a blind eye to its current scam of collecting funds on city property.
QUOTE: no more hippie socialist nonsense. The times they are a changin’
I agree with Kerry. It’s time to move on as the Summer of Love was nothing more than a utopian pipedream and fashion statement by pampered white, middle-class kids who could afford to live like hippies in pseudo poverty. Poor people of color didn’t want to live like that as they were trying to escape real poverty.
These left-wing clowns should take their subversive-themed act to Stanford instead. Maybe do a show at Frost Amphitheater. The funny things is, even Stanford doesn’t want this kind of activity going on at their campus anymore as evidenced by the banning of Grateful Dead concerts decades ago. Hippies and beatniks are anachronisms and persona non grata in modern day Palo Alto. Hopefully most have retired or moved to Oregon.
Of course The Grateful Dead outgrew playing at Stanford decades ago and moved on to playing huge arenas. Their recent national tour was a huge success, playing to sold-out crowds at Shoreline and every other major city. Maybe you’d like to force the closure of Apple since its founders could have been considered hippies, too?
But back to Palo Alto, given that Trump got only 20% of the vote here and his tanking ratings, I can see why you might feel out-numbered and embarrassed but that’s no reason to rudely lash out and bully and insult your neighbors.
It’s outrageous for PA to ban the SF Mime Troupe. We’ve got so little entertainment here for adults that the Children’s Theater won Best of in the Weekly’s Entertainment survey. Shame on us.
There is an easy fix to the SF Mimi Troupe dilemma, let them perform at the next two week Palantir tent party at the Cubberley playing fields. I’m sure that crowd would enjoy the irony.
Dear Ms. Manners:
What makes you think that I voted for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton (as both were second-tier presidential candidates).
As far as the Grateful Dead are concerned, their most recent ‘successful’ tour can not even be considered anything close to the original Grateful Dead line-up. It was just another moneymaking endeavor spurned by retro-nostalgia and greed. I was informed of this firsthand by my son-in-law who is a hippie that never grew up or evolved into the real world.
As far as Apple is concerned, Wozniak and Jobs can hardly be considered true hippies. Appearances are often deceiving. As aforementioned, the whole hippie movement was purely a fashion statement that eventually ran its course.
Not bullying anyone. Just pointing out some basic reality.
@Kent
Sorry you missed the last Dead tour. It was pretty good.
Also, can you clarify your statement that Jobs and Woz were not true hippies given your other claim that that whole counter cultural movement was just a fashion statement? Are you saying they did not dress the part? Or are you just thrashing about making discordant claims? I might get that claim about Jobs, but Woz?
Dear Fact Wino:
Jobs and Woz were computer entrepreneurs who may have just happened to dress the part at a given time in cultural history. Most will attest that Jobs was never a hippie given his personality and the way he treated co-workers and associates.
As far as Woz, he bailed at the right time remains a highly respected figure in the annals of computer history.
Re: The Grateful Dead. When Jerry Garcia passed on, the Dead were officially ‘dead’. I actually attended a Grateful Dead concert at Frost Amphitheater(I recall it was around May or so of 1988) with my Deadhead daughter and her ne’er do well boyfriend. It was OK but I probably would have gotten more accomplished that weekend by puttering around the house.
This semi-useless boyfriend is now my son-in-law and even he has attested to the fact that these reincarnations of the Grateful Dead legacy leave something to be desired. $15.00 tickets are now $75.00+ for essentially a tribute band rendition. You do the math and draw your own conclusions.
Peace and love.
@Kent
Back to the subject at hand.
Maybe you’d like to use this ban of the Mime Troupe as the inspiration for a wake where you would celebrate the last nail in the coffin, finally burying the soul of Palo Alto. One last hippie dance!
QUOTE: @Kent Back to the subject at hand.
Maybe you’d like to use this ban of the Mime Troupe as the inspiration for a wake where you would celebrate the last nail in the coffin, finally burying the soul of Palo Alto. One last hippie dance!
I’ve got nothing against hippies other than I wouldn’t want to live or be around them 24/7/365. I can’t stand the aroma of patchouli oil.
As aforementioned, Stanford is a close enough venue to Palo Alto. Talk to the officials and see if they are willing to old the event there. Good luck.
aroma of patchouli oil? It’s more like a stench.
There used to be this place called Cost Plus at Mayfield Mall back in the late 1960s to 70s. It always smelled like that. So did a number of hippie-themed head shops back in the day.
That stuff was a real turn-off (especially when used as a perfume).
I thought all hippies wore tie-dyes and used patchouli oil. They smoked pot and did LSD too. It was all part of the scene and the music lent itself to this kind of exploration.
My parents said they used to be hippies but they went straight because they got tired of sharing stuff with freeloaders.
@Old Santa Cruz Hippie – I remember Cost Plus! We used to go there to get chocolate bars imported from Europe. They were pricey, but we thought they were So Amazing. Good times lol.
@PAHS student – the term “hippie” generally was indeed associated with the things you mentioned. To that list you can add long hair, bell bottoms, fringe jackets and peace signs. Whether the music drove the exploration or the other way around is a bit of a chicken and egg question. The trappings originated as a protest statement against the Vietnam war – as you may know, there was a draft back then, so you _had_ to go and risk getting killed whether you wanted to or not. The military, or course, required regimented haircuts, dress and behavior, so to protest that, hippies did the opposite.
However, as others in this thread have commented, not everyone bought into the whole riot and drug thing, and for many, dressing hippie style was simply a fashion statement. You can see that sometimes if you come across photos or even TV shows or movies from the late ’60s to mid ’70s.
And as your parents have told you, there were a lot of freeloaders. People back then often tried living in communes, by the motto “each contributes according to his ability; each receives according to his need” (google that). But we all got a big lesson in the inevitability of human nature – when doing the right thing is voluntary, there will be exploiters.
A good way to learn more about the era is to watch the movie ‘Gimme Shelter” about the concert at Altamont.