AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

From the San Francisco Chronicle - could you help to create something like this in your community?

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MAKING MUSIC, ART, COMMUNITY
Computer parts, plastic bottles, old car hoods just part of recipe
at Panhandle band shell
Justin Berton, SAN FRANCISCO Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, July 9, 2007

On Friday afternoon, a guitarist sat inside the Panhandle's new band
shell that's made from old car hoods, plastic water bottles and
French doors. He sat center stage, restrung his acoustic instrument,
tuned it to perfection, and walked into the eucalyptus-scented park
without playing a song or singing a word.

"That was just the coolest thing," observed Koz, an Oakland musician
who had traveled to the shell with a ukulele slung over his
shoulder.

Koz, who goes by a single name, was in the thin strip of Golden Gate
Park near Clayton and Fell streets to meet his friend Mariel a la
Mode, a singer and burlesque performer who lives a few blocks away.

"As performers, this is right in line with our philosophy," Koz said
as he looked up at the structure that, a la Mode noted, resembles a
lobster shell. "It's acoustic, community-oriented, outdoors."

"And recycled," a la Mode added.

The Panhandle Bandshell, which held its grand opening June 23, is
still on temporary status until Sept. 10, when city officials will
either extend the permit or ask its creators to find it a new home.

For now, the 13-ton installation has attracted more goodwill and
inspiration than the nuisances neighbors feared -- drug users
seeking shelter, taggers, drum circles or rockers jamming into the
wee hours.

The project was initially resisted by the neighborhood group
Panhandle Residents Organization Stanyan Fulton, or PROSF.

But since the shell's construction, Christian Holmer, who runs a
discussion board for the neighborhood group, said he's heard no
complaints from his constituents. They were more peeved at what they
perceived as the city's lack of communication earlier in the
process, he said.

"We've got no problem if they keep the drumming circles out and
amplified sound out," Holmer said. "We all support art, we all
support music. We've made our statement and now we've moved on --
unless it creates problems down the road."

The public band shell is believed to be the city's third such
structure, but it's a decidedly less opulent design than the half-
dome at the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park. Earlier this year
the city's Department of the Environment offered grants to artists
to create works for the city's parks using reused materials. With
assistance from Black Rock Arts Foundation, the Burning Man-
affiliated nonprofit arts group, two local art collectives -- Finch
Mob and Rebar -- received the $10,000 grant for the Panhandle
project.

After toying with ideas about an elevated driftwood river
installation of Christo-like proportions, and stacks of crushed
automobiles, the groups settled on the band shell idea, inspired by
its potential for communal use.

"We wanted to build something that would make the community
interact," said Will Chase, 39, the project's manager. "We're hoping
it'll be around in September and October so we can enjoy it during
the real San Francisco summer."

The group set up a Web site to book stage times for anyone who
wanted to perform, at no cost. As of last week, all the slots had
been booked through the summer, Chase said.

It took four months to construct the piece: Sixty-five car hoods
were plucked from Bay Area junkyards; the steel beams were extracted
from a closed winery in Napa; the French doors that form the stage
were lifted from a shuttered school near Stanford.

To conceal the interior crossbeams, the artists screwed on used
computer boards to give the shell a gilded-Cathedral look. The
translucent back wall is made from 3,000 plastic water bottles.

"It ain't like playing the Hollywood Bowl," Chase said. "It's not
made for the Rolling Stones to ride up and plug in their speaker
stacks."

Marcus Guillard, 34, a co-designer, said the piece was also meant to
give the aging/former musician a little help in rediscovering the
creative spirit.

"I see this for the guy who was once in a band, but he's a father
now, has the family, and put the guitar away and let it go,"
Guillard said. "Maybe packing the car and going somewhere is too big
a deal, so instead he breaks the guitar out of the closet, walks
down to his neighborhood park, and gives it a go."

"Maybe it's a speculative on a future that doesn't rely on
automotive transits," said John Bela, 35, one of the architects and
co-designers. "And then what do we do with all these cars, the
steel, the metal? How do we transform them in ways that are more
useful to us?"

Bela is a member of the collective Rebar, which is planning its
third "PARK(ing) Day" installment Sept. 21. Across the city, artists
will convert metered parking spaces into mini-parks by laying down
10 foot by 20 foot strips of grass, a park bench, and a tree.
Visitors who want to sit on the bench and enjoy the park can feed
the meter.

After Bela attended the band shell's grand opening last month, which
drew 500 people, the piece took on new meaning for the artist.

"I was so focused on the making of the physical structure, I'd
forgotten what this piece was really about," Bela said. "It wasn't
about the hoods or the steel or the bottles; it was about the people
in this community enjoying a new life in the park."

E-mail Justin Berton at jberton@sfchronicle.com.