[applause] >> nice. trinny whitaker, ladies and gentlemen. our sixth contestant is qualifieding for the -- qualifying for the very first time today. he's a conductor. he's been with muni 15 years, with the cable car division nine years. please welcome joseph hsu. mr. hsu, how's it going? if you weren't driving a cable car, what would you be doing? >> watching tv?

>> so you can play the drums and watch perry mason at noon at the same time. sounds good to me. ladies and gentlemen, mr. joseph hsu. [ringing bells]

[applause] >> joseph hsu, ladies and gentlemen. joseph hsu. now, all those six men are competing against this man, ladies and gentlemen. we left him for last simply because he was the 46th annual cable car bell ringing champion. ladies and gentlemen, he's been with muni for nine years, eight years on the cable car. let's hear it for two-time winner mr. leonard oates. [applause] go -- good to see you, leonard. up got the gloves on. i see you are ready. you and i have a city in common. where were you born? >> new orleans, louisiana. >> new orleans, louisiana the yeah, let's hear it for the 504. how do you prepare for this whole darn thing here? >> practice.

>> ok. that will get you to broadway but here you are in union square. ladies and gentlemen, two-time winner, mr. leonard oates. >> this is what i do every day. [ringing bells]

>> leonard oates, ladies and gentlemen, reigning two-time champion mr. leonard oates. that completes the entire competition, ladies and gentlemen. let's hear it for everybody you heard today. the votes from the judges will now be tallied. that means up guys actually have to go to work now. we're going to name the tom three winners in the amateur and professional categories. the first place winner of the professional competition will take home a beautiful cable car bell with -- made by gilberto at the frens of the cable car museum. every year this man makes a beautiful cable car bell for this competition the mr. gad oy is pretty shy, he won't talk about his work but the craftsmanship speaks for itself the every bell every year is individually made by this man. it's a craft. you will see him a little

later. while we're waiting for the votes to be tallied though, you're not going anywhere. i'd like to introduce some of the city's top choreographers from the epiphany production, the san francisco trolley dances. it's recognized as a wonderful way to connect the san francisco neighborhoods together by performing on the trolley lines. this year they'll be core i can't graph -- choreographing dances on the church line. let's welcome the san francisco trolley dancers. >> hi, there. [bells ringing]

[bells and chimes ringing]

[music continues]

♪ ♪ [singing in italian]

♪ santa lucia ♪ santa lucia

♪ santa lucia >> fantastic! wow! let's hear it for them. ladies and gentlemen, epiphany productions sonic dance theater, san franciscoance theater, san francisco trolley dancers. you will see them on muni jay church line. they'll be there all year. fantastic. nice work. well done. and now while we're still tallying our scores, our band today is called the slot blades but i bet you didn't even know what a slot blade is, do you? it's a piece of machinery the

cable car operator uses to stop the cable car. it's a very important piece of metal. it's the official emergency brake that drives a metal wedge into the ground and pushes the blade and imbeds itself for a quick stop. but these slot blades keep us going. ladies and gentlemen, once more, the slot blades! [applause] ♪ ♪ oh, go bop

♪ go bop, bop, go bop, bop, go , go bop ♪ ♪ go jingle bop ♪ go bop

>> the slot blades, ladies and gentlemen! >> thank you. >> is everybody ready? is everybody ready? to announce the amateur third place category in 2009. tom sweeney. third place, amateur category. tom? >> third place winner goes to kblx. let's hear it for kblx. right. congratulations. congratulations. thanks, tom. >> go away. now second place, ladies and gentlemen. from triple-a. matt newcomer. all right, matt, who is our second place winner in the

amateur category? >> our second place winner is the team from abc 7. >> abc 7 come and get it! couple of words? >> thank you so much. if you watch abc 7 at 3:00 p.m. um see this trophy on tv. >> ok, excellent. all right. and to announce the first place winner, mr. wes tyler of union square. wes? big mystery. who's the winner. >> by the process of elimination, it's koit! >> koit. mr. scotty bastopol for the third year in a row. love this city. thank you. >> runners up. the 47th not -- annual cable car bell ringing competition, no particular order, mr. trini whitaker.

sullivan philips. ken lunardi. and joseph hsu. come up and get your trophies. thank the judges. [laughter] now it's time for what you've been waiting for, third place, ladies and gentlemen, mr. howard woo. howard woo. again, they're not booing you. all right. mr. ken mcdonald. chief of muni operations officer, please come forward to help me present the second place trophy. second place, ladies and gentlemen. mr. frank ware.

and before we announce the winner i'm going to drag this out even longer. i'm going to take a moment to thank the kind people who made the 47th annual cable car bell ringing contest possible the the vice chair of the sfmt board of directors. and friends of the cable car music, union square association, trophy masters shanghai restaurant, ghirardelli chocolatesing, and the american automobile association and the $250 cash prize, deluxe sightseeing. let's bring up gilberto gad oy with the hand-crafted bell. and the winner is -- >> mr. leonard oates.

congratulations. >> leonard oates. he retains the crown. [applause] that concludes the 47th annual cable car bell ringing contest. thank you, everybody, for coming. don't forget next year the 48th annual cable car ringing contest. stay tuned for details. >> the san francisco ethnic dance festival is one of the jewels on san francisco sculptural crowns. this is in its 32nd year of showcasing the celebrated dance troupes. this year will be one of the

past with four new works representing kondo, afghanistan, china, mexico. -- congo, afghanistan, china, mexico. more than a hundred 30 ensembles and soloists auditioned in january for a slot in the ethnic dance festival. in the end, 37 companies were selected to perform. 26 of those performances are world premieres. >> each year, we assembled a panel of dance experts that is made up of academics, scholars, researchers. people have been working for decades in the field.

many of them came to this country in the seventies and have trained the next generation of dancers. they are proud to see many of these students at the these masterful levels. this was one of the best panel'' we have ever had, extraordinary people. at the end of the process, they rank their top groups which are then merged into a master list. >> performers are judged on stage presence, costumes, and innovation. >> the four programs are created around an exciting and dynamic range so the soloists and groups selected each weekend will have enough dynamic range to be a society overall to are experience.

>> hundreds of dancers from different countries need each other, compare stuff, and make new friends. this has resulted in new cross- cultural collaborations'. >> one of the extraordinary things is that it really only happens here in the san francisco bay area. all of the dancers that we are presented -- presenting are from the area. they have full-time jobs and they spend their weekends nurturing their passion to sustain these extraordinary dance forms from around the world. the audience cannot help but be inspired. >> this year, the festival will feature a special collaboration that celebrates the mexican bicentennial and commemorates

the 100th anniversary of the mexican revolution. >> one of the great area biographers has stepped out of that role and we asked them to create a special work working with 6 x ordinary dance companies that we have assembled dancers from all of these companies to present a united work in celebration of the bicentennial. >> dancers from over 20 countries are staunch cultures are participating. >> one of the things that is inspiring is how many are being invited back to their home countries as cultural ambassadors from the u.s.. we are teaching them in committees so that the next generation here in america and back to india