In honor of one of the best weekends in San Francisco

First, a big Thank You goes out to Warren Hellman, the billionaire investment banker who puts on the what is probably the best free music festival in the country, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. It's in a forest (Golden Gate Park), there are top acts, and you're allowed to bring in whatever you want to the festival: chairs, coolers, beer, wine....anything.

Check out this quote from Hellman, who is also an amateur banjo player and puts on the festival as a gift to the city. I talked to a guy who said there is even a provision in his will that the festival should continue after his death.

Hellman says "it costs a lot -- bigger than a bread box, smaller than a house, one of those new billionaire homes, I guess." He tells how he was approached by someone who said he ran America's biggest (non-bluegrass) festival. "He wanted to buy mine. I said, 'Why? It's free.' He said, 'Well it wouldn't be if I owned it.' " Hellman said it wasn't for sale. "There's this famous Texas oil guy's remark about money: 'It's like manure -- if you spread it around, beautiful things grow. But if you leave it in a pile it smells like manure.' "

Awesome.

Thanks again, Warren, for paying for me to see Okkervil River, Dave Alvin, Boz Scaggs, The Old 97s, Steve Martin (comedian/banjo player), The Ferocious Few*, Richie Havens, Robert Earl Keene, Steve Earle, Elvis Perkins, Booker T and the Drive-By Truckers, Billy Bragg, Allen Toussaint, Galactic, Mavis Staples, Neko Case, Emmylou Harris, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Amadou and Mariam.

*Actually, you didn't pay for them. They just showed up.

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This weekend was also LovEvolution*. I went this year and didn't feel the need to go hear obscenely loud electronic music in front of City Hall amidst sweaty spunions while Hardly Strictly was going on, no matter how many underage topless girls there were at Love Parade. But that orgy of late 20th Century chemical energy gives me the perfect excuse to post this all-time classic video, TECHNOVIKING:



*Formerly Love Parade and then Love Fest.

The best person at Outside Lands

Original Content! Yea!

Wow

Why don't hipsters dance?

If somebody can provide me with a logical answer, I will come over to your house and cook you dinner. This is not a novel observation and something I have kvetched about thousands of times in the past, but last night really hammered the point home for me.

At the Magnolia Electric Co. show at Bottom of the Hill, the second to last song they played was a kick-ass cover of Warren Zevon's "Lawyers Guns & Money." Not only was it a recognizable cover, it was easily one of the most rocking songs of the night. Check out a video of the same song from an earlier show in Austin*:



For most people, that is a formula for dancing, toe tapping, mild head-bobbing, etc. But as I was jumping up and down and pumping my fist, I happened to notice that the crowd around me looked like the extras in a "Saved By The Bell" episode when Zach Morris calls a time-out.

Like I said, this is definitely nothing new. I wasn't even close to surprised, but I never seem to not be disappointed when I go to high energy show and the hipster throngs are doing their best to not move.

Is it lack of appreciation? Probably not. Fear of accidentally touching somebody else during the dancing and thereby suffering the indignity of human contact? Maybe. I think it could have most to do with the fear of looking uncool** by allowing the world to see just how bad they are at dancing. I guess I can somewhat sympathize with that because my dancing looks like a full-body dry heave. I have no idea how I haven't ended up on youtube by now with a ton of snarky hipsters making fun of me in the comments section like my good buddy Cameron Gunn.


*By the way, doesn't the guitarist look like a wampa from "Empire Stirkes Back"?
**This is a hipster's number one fear in life.

Video of the Day and Free Wild Salmon Dinner

First, the follow up to last week's dance mob from Sasquatch from one of my favorite bands, Lucero.

They're one of those great bar bands that will probably never make it big but keeps on grinding it out. They have put out something like seven albums, they have a rabid fan base, but they still don't play venues any bigger than a few hundred people*. To me, there is something about that business model that is just goddamn awesome--like a un-depressing and more successful Anvil.



Here's to professional bar bands and here's to Henry, one hell of a dancer.

*I saw them a few weeks ago at a sold-out show Slim's and (along with Black Joe Lewis), they blew the roof off that place. Check them out next time they're in town.

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Second, if you're broke like me, then why not check out a free traditional tribal salmon bake tonight on Ocean Beach? Fresh Klamath salmon caught by Yurok fisherman will be served at 6:30.



Plus you'll be supporting Salmon Aid, a really cool organization devoted to protecting wild salmon. And according to Salmon Aid, the best way to protect them is by eating them. Sounds good to me.

Can't make it tonight? Check out the festival in Oakland this weekend. Zydeco, afro-beat, blues, and salmon galore.

The power of the female voice and spontaneous dance mobs

Last night at the Neko Case show at the Warfield, I couldn't stop thinking how absurd it was how impressed I was by a singer who can actually sing.

Silly as it sounds, in what may be the Golden Age of Autotune, it often seems like you don't even need to have an actual singing voice to be a singer. Stars are chosen for their looks or God knows what other reasons and we're presented with a live show complete with prerecorded vocals and multiple costume changes like it's supposed to mean something.

It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to find a woman who can sing and just let her do her thing. It worked pretty well for Patsy Cline, Janis Joplin, Emmylou Harris, and Aretha Franklin.

Despite the changes over the last fifty years in what society thinks popular music should be, female vocalists still seem to dominate the landscape. Apparently this Taylor Swift person has made quite the run on the charts, as did that Umbrella girl who got beat up a poor man's Ike Tuner.

My friend Jordan will probably read that last sentence and give me shit for what he sees as willful ignorance and hipster indifference, but I can promise that my apathy is real. I listen to pop music and feel like I have no idea if the people singing can actually sing. Everything is so manipulated that I get better idea of the producer's talents than the musician's.

I had no such problem last night.

Neko Case's soaring vocals had the crowd captivated and rapt for a couple hours with nothing but a solid band, a great backup singer, and the ever-present banter between the songs. There wasn't a single costume change or pyrotechnic display--just one talented ginger lady and a microphone.

For me, it was refreshing to hear a woman's voice and react with child-like wonder. It had been a long time since I paid to see a woman sing and I didn't know what to expect. Needless to say, I got my money's worth.



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VIDEO OF THE DAY

Check out the scene from Sasquatch Music Fest. We all need more of this.