Free Candy For Everyone

This weekend I took advantage of some of the interesting events going on around the city of San Francisco. It’s one of the first times I really could see that I was living in a vibrant and exciting city. It was pretty cool.

Last week was Fleet Week. The Navy had all sorts of stuff going on, with big boats and planes all over the place. Their Blue Angels do an air show over the water on Saturday and Sunday. They were practicing last week and were practically buzzing our office in the Presidio. It’s impressive how close they get. I met up with some friends and we went out to a prime spot in Crissy Field to watch the planes fly overhead on Saturday. There were an incredible number of people there. I meant to take pictures, but forgot my camera on the counter as I was walking out the door. Sorry! But I’m sure there are much better pro shots of the Blue Angels in action all over the place. Not quite the same as my homey poorly focused efforts, but still!

Sunday, I went and experienced some of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival. My friends had been talking it up, but a cursory glance over the lineup didn’t have me all that excited. I just wasn’t looking closely enough! Sure enough, I took another look on Sunday. Turns out one of my favorite acoustic artists was playing, a guy by the name of David Berkeley. I saw him as an opener about two years ago and I’ve been listening to his album ever since. Oh, and the whole music festival is totally free. Now that’s pretty darn awesome.

So I headed on over, wandered around and listened to some Hot Tuna (my mom was so jealous, she loves Hot Tuna!), then settled down at the Rooster Stage for a bit. Had no idea who I was listening to, so I asked the guy next to me. “Oh, it’s the Coward Brothers with Elvis Costello.” ! Yeah, Elvis Costello. I should have recognized his voice. He’s pretty distinct. Very cool! I had to cut out of there a bit before they finished to make my way over to the Porch Stage to see David Berkeley.

This was definitely the boonies. The stage was small, the crowd was sparse and … well, not a crowd at all. But I didn’t care. It meant I was able to just plop myself down right in front of the stage with a clear view. I got a few pics - click on the image to see them all.

It was really casual. He was only allotted 30 minutes which was so not enough time. But I really enjoyed the set he played. He was fun. He made a joke about how he was driving with his bass playing partner down to LA for some gigs in a mid-sized vehicle so anyone who wanted to could come along. Heh. I wish I could have. But work beckoned. And who am I kidding? I’d never hop in a van with a strange musician!

Anyways, it was a good weekend, and it was pretty great to see one of my favorite artists. I hope he manages to pick up some steam. So far, his claim to fame is his song Fire Sign appearing on an episode of some show. But he’s got such a lovely voice, I hope he continues to make music for some time to come.