In its 75 years, the miracle that is the Golden Gate Bridge has inspired generations of musicians, filmmakers, writers, artists and everyday people who have their own creative thoughts and feelings about the iconic span.
When musicians look at its harplike towers and cables, they hear it as much as they see it.
That's why Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart plans to celebrate the bridge's 75th anniversary by "sonifying" the span.
It's a reason the Marin Symphony commissioned a Golden Gate Bridge opus, "Chrysopylae," that had its world premiere this month.
And the steely sound of the bridge will be at the heart of the Golden Gate Brass Band's original composition, "Musical Amalgam: Brass & Steel: An Overture for Brass Instruments, Steel Girders and Bridge Remnants."
For Hart, the sound of the bridge has been something he's wanted to capture since the 1970s, when he was twice escorted off the span by authorities in the middle of the night, once in handcuffs, for trying to record its sounds and turn them into music.
"This is an itch I've always wanted to scratch," he says. "I always imagined it as a giant wind harp, swaying in the breeze. And I always wanted to hear what it sounded like."
Now he knows, through advances in digital technology.
"Now that I'm not a crazy, mad hippie with long hair and a mustache," as he puts it, the bridge district cooperated with him, supplying
him with seismic data that he "sonified," translating that vibratory information into sounds within the range of human hearing.
Using microphones and pressure-sensitive pads, he's embedded those sounds into a 23-foot-long steel model of the bridge, nicknamed Bridgette, that was fabricated by San Francisco's Exploratorium.
"When I touch it, pluck it, tap it, swing it, sway it, the sound of the real bridge will come out," he explains. "It's the heart of the bridge, its signature song."
He'll be playing Bridgette during the 9:30 p.m. finale of the Golden Gate Bridge Festival on May 27 at San Francisco's Crissy Field.
The 75th anniversary public celebration will span the waterfront from Fort Point to Pier 39. Major venues are at Crissy Field and the Marina Green with additional activities and events at the Presidio, Fort Mason Center, Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39.
The Golden Gate Brass Band also has been invited to perform, premiering its new composition, "Musical Amalgam: Brass & Steel: An Overture for Brass Instruments, Steel Girders and Bridge Remnant," at 4:30 p.m. May 27 at Crissy Field. The maintenance staff of the bridge has supplied the band with pieces of steel that it will use during the performance.
Like Hart's bridge song, "This piece will actually incorporate the pitches, tones and notes produced by the suspended steel pieces," explains Kenneth Brungess, the band's composer and conductor.
The Marin Symphony also incorporated the sounds of the bridge into its anniversary opus "Chrysopylae," which had its world premiere May 6 and 8 at the Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium.
The orchestra commissioned composer Rob Kapilow to create the piece on public perceptions of the famed span.
"We all know what the bridge looks like, so I asked people what they thought it might sound like," he says. "And I have to say I was stunned by the variety, imagination and brilliance of peoples' answers. I began my work from those conversations."
He then brought in Fred Newman, the sound effects wizard from "A Prairie Home Companion," to turn that information into actual sound.
"He and I worked closely to marry the art of composing with the magic of the sounds inspired by the bridge," he says.
In addition to rock and classical musicians, pop songwriters have been inspired by the graceful towers and elegant form of the singular span. Rita Abrams, best known for her hit "Mill Valley," composed the comic "Golden Gate Bridge Song" for one of her cabaret shows. And Noah Griffin and Bob Voss teamed on "The Bridge: Golden Gate," named San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge song by Mayor Willie Brown in 1997.
Musicians aren't the only creative artists to be inspired by the bridge.
The Bridge in art
The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most recognized works of architectural art on the planet. Since its opening, it has challenged artists to do it justice. From May 5 to June 3, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco will exhibit works from the museum collection, featuring imagery of the Golden Gate Bridge. One of the Friday Nights at the M.H. de Young Museum will be a "Golden Gate Bridge Birthday Salute."
For more information, go to www.famsf.org.
The Bridge in film
The bridge has long been an International Orange movie star, appearing in countless films, from 1941's "The Maltese Falcon" to 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."
It was ripped from its foundations in "X2: X-Men United" (2003), attacked by an alien probe in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986) and terrorized by enormous prehistoric sea creatures in "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus" (2009).
Through it all, it has endured, always ready for its next close-up. For their contribution to the bridge's birthday party, the Presidio Trust and the Walt Disney Family Museum are presenting a 75th anniversary commemorative film festival, screening seven movies starring the superstar span from May 26 to Sept. 15.
The first three films — "It Came from Beneath the Sea" (1955), "Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco" (1996) and "Superman: The Movie" (1978) — will be shown outdoors on the new Presidio Main Post Green.
The final four films — "Vertigo" (1958), "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1996), "A View to a Kill (1985)" and "Monsters vs. Aliens" (2009) — will be screened in the Walt Disney Family Museum Theater. The schedule is available online at www.presidio.gov.
The Bridge in poetry
In literature, no one celebrated the span with more authority and hard-won sentiment than the man credited with getting it built, chief engineer Joseph P. Strauss. In May 1937, after he had accomplished what was once considered impossible, he wrote "The Mighty Task is Done." It begins:
At last the mighty task is done;
Resplendent in the western sun
The Bridge looms mountain high;
Its titan piers grip ocean floor,
Its great steel arms link shore with shore,
Its towers pierce the sky.
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