The
Year
of
Sheltering
Dangerously
By
Ben
Fong-Torres
Well,
hasn’t
THIS
been
a
fun
365?
As
we
approached
the
anniversary
of
the
shelter-in-place
orders
for
the
San
Francisco
Bay
Area,
on
March
16,
I
thought
of
some
of
the
changes
we’ve
been
through.
In
February,
our
calendar
was
packed
with
restaurant
dinners
and
a
large,
loud
gathering
at
Harbor
Villa,
saluting
our
friend,
the
civil
rights
attorney
Dale
Minami.
And
there
was
my
24th time
as
co-anchor
of
the
Chinese
New
Year
Parade,
on
KTVU.
The
Year
of
the
Rat.
Indeed.
Early
in
March,
we
had
more
restaurant
get-togethers,
including
dinner
at
the
House
of
Prime
Rib
(almost
as
hard
to
get
into
as Hamilton)
and
a
family
luncheon
for
Chinese
New
Year
at
the
stellar
dim
sum
restaurant,
Yank
Sing.
One
evening,
I
went
to
the
dive
bar,
El
Rio,
for
the
monthly
jam
staged
by
Los
Train
Wreck,
and
did
my
usual,
a
parody
of
a
Dylan
classic,
“Rainy
Day
Women
12+35,”
with
lyrics
I
ripped
from
the
headlines:
They’ll
stone
you
when
you
come
to
see
the
band
And
make
mistakes,
like
shaking
people’s
hands
Los
Train
Wreck’s
easy
going,
and
all
they
ask:
Is
when
you’re
talking
with
them,
use
a
mask
And
you
will
not
feel
so
all
alone
Everybody
must
get
stoned!
On
March
13th,
I
went
to
the
Record
Plant,
the
fabled
studio
in
Sausalito,
to
be
interviewed
for
a
documentary
about
the
Plant.