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♪ >> i am -- i am the person santa claus. -- p histe sayserian sauc ersias

i said, i'm going to go see my friends in city hall. i'm going to go see the people of san francisco. i am going to go see supervisor avalos arenas -- supervisor mirkarimi. i'm going to see our new mayor. he said, why? i said, because it is our new year. are you kidding? i said, this is a different new year. this is persian new year.

[applause] our culture has a different new year, the beginning of spring when everything blooms. the flower carts bloom, the earth becomes fresh, it refreshes itself. -- the flowers and birds abloom. he said, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way." i said, not to that kind of new year. our new year has a different song. [singing]

[singing] he said, ok, bye. because he was my older brother, i let him go. i said, i will see you in nine months. persia in new year is the beginning of the spring, everything refreshes. we also refresh just like the earth. we refresh our friendship even with our enemies. we forget our sorrows and we look to the new year with bright eyes and full of hope, full of hope.

let me see what i have in this bag. ah-ha! my brothers, he forgot. in the persian new years, we put seven items on the table. we start with the letter "s," which represents the goodness of the earth. everything that comes from the earth. we celebrate, we celebrate these blessings, we love these

blessings so we represent them with seven "s's." this is a sign of health, the apple. please, can you put it there on this table? next, we have --, this is sour but it is good for your health. this comes from any other fruit. this is the vinegar. it was very hard to carry out. oh, -- is good for many things.

persians knows for what. this represents wealth. i don't know why. let me see what i have. egs-- eggs, i don't know why we put these. it does not start with s. we put this on kabob. we love this. do you love this? yes, you do. c'mon, this is very good for your health. this is garlic, for your health. everything is for your health.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. one more. oh, money. this is for wealth. those people who are wealthy, they have a lot of this. yes. there are many more but i forgot to bring them. i came in a hurry. this is kind of crushed now. this is the greenery. we love this. i don't know for what. there is a big one, you can go and eat it. [laughter] ok, that is an asset. and, we put the book, usually

hafiz or other books. i will read a few verses. but, i have to put my glasses because i am very old. [speaking foreign language] morning breeze, and the old world will once again sale [speaking foreign language]

to libs will bring a red cup to the meadows -=- tulips will bring a red cup haifz -- hafiz will tell the tale [laughter] we will celebrate the rest of new year's in that room. this new year is for friendship and to put your sorrows away and to walk in love in the garden of your heart, that not the rows of

love. let's celebrate new year for justice, peace, and everyone in the world'. [applause] please follow me. ♪

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>> welcome to "culturewire." for the past year, the arts commission has been participating in the city's effort to revitalize the central market street corridor. in addition to the thursday arts market and are in store front, the art commission recently launched the artery project. for the next year, the artery project will bring energy and excitement to market street, recalling the st.'s heyday as san francisco's vibrant and bustling theater district. >> un.n plaza during business

hours seize hundreds of passing office workers and students, but the activity winds down at 5:00 every day. theater productions bring some but traffic, but central market is more of a thoroughfare than a destination after the sun goes down. on december 9, the artery project's launch brought a party atmosphere to market street, led by mayor gavin newsom, city officials flipped the switch on three new art installations that light up the st.'s architecture. a looping a video at 1119 market street was the first words to be some -- the first work to be seen that evening. before the unveiling, the director of cultural affairs spoke to artist jim campbell about the concepts behind bourbon reflection and how he created the work. >> i'm really excited to have your installation on public view starting today here on market street. you created a site-specific

work. can you talk about that? >> yes, i looked at two or three different locations, and this one seemed the best. i work with customer electronics, so indoors seemed the best for the work. i also like how close it was 2 market street itself. it is only about 10 feet away, so i chose this location. >> what is the duration? if someone were to stand in front of your installation today. >> at the moment, it is 12 minutes, but i've been thinking about adding footage over the time because it is going to go through a couple of seasons. >> could you describe a little bit in terms of what your creative process is? >> it is a curtain, and image made up of a curtain, so it is very valuable, and the idea was to use this technology that i've been using for the last 10 years, low resolution imagery, to reflect market street back to the pedestrians lk