By David Famiano

Happy Belated Birthday, Mr. Glass!

It’s an exciting time in San Francisco. All the burners are back from you know where feeling either pissed off or bummed out. All the gays are getting ready for Folsom Street Fair and Castro Street Fair. The straights are preparing for their big Love Fest (formerly Love Parade). Meatless Moz is in town. The list goes on and on.

But, things are about to get even more exciting and, thankfully, more cultured.

San Francisco and the Bay Area are getting ready to throw a big (albeit somewhat belated) celebration for Philip Glass’ 70th birthday with concerts all over the place and, of course, the premier of Glass’ new opera Appomattox.

And the kick-off is this Friday night with a very special and rare intimate recital courtesy of San Francisco Performances. Mr. Glass will be playing several of his pieces with cellist Wendy Sutter and percussionist Mick Rossi at Herbst Theater.

Seriously, folks. This is a BIG deal. The last time Glass was here was in back in 2004 when he and his amazing Philip Glass ensemble performed at Davies Symphony Hall. Concerts like this don’t come around too often and there are some real gems on the program—things that will rock your “I’m too cool for this kind of shit” world—including the very new “Songs and Poems for Cello” which Glass himself describes as the best piece he has ever written and part of the Naqoyqatsi soundtrack that didn’t make it into the film.