Strictly Bluegrass? Hardly.

The title above this text describes not only my musical preferences, but also an insanely entertaining music festival I had the pleasure of attending last month. (Guess I haven't been great at the whole blogging thing lately.) So the name of the thing is Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (HSB henceforth) and has been occurring every October in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Man, what a beautiful backdrop for some great music. But first let me set the table with some backstory...

I had actually been planning on going to the music festival for a few months. I had wrangled (or so I thought) some friends into going along, but as these things tend to go, more and more were dropping out as the date neared. This is not at all meant as a judgment upon those losers who decided not to come. Actually I think the last couple got scared away by a late addition to the concert-going group. Just kidding. Kinda.

So as I alluded to in the preceding paragraph, another music-loving soul decided to go just days in advance of the concert kick-off. I had been talking to a young woman in the preceding weeks, an old friend who I had got in touch with. There remains some debate on how the whole thing started, but the important thing is we had kind of hit it off conversationally through various medium. The culmination of our repartee actually came while I was in Australia and was a gracious invite to me to accompany this beautiful young lady to a wedding later in the fall. Naturally I jumped at the chance. Actually... I kind of talked my way out of getting an invite and had to beg my way back in, but that fact is irrelevant. The point is: I got a date. Boosh.

...the downside being that the date was still months away. Well what's a few weeks compared to years of datelessness? In ever-increasing anticipation (at least on my part) of the date, we continued our conversation which led to the two of us discovering many interests we (surprisingly) had in common. Not the least of which is our taste in music. Naturally I brought up my plans to go to HSB. As my compatriots began to drop away, I casually half-jokingly (but perhaps hopefully as well) suggested that this lady might like to join me for the weekend. To my great surprise and delight, she seriously considered for about a day and then just went for it and bought a plane ticket. (Now I have to confess here that knowing her as little as I did, I did at least know she was a strong-spirited, daring person. I thought this might work in my favor helping her embrace the spontaneity of a last-minute trip across the country.)

Now that the scene is set, let's move forward to that first weekend in October. I had arranged my flights so they would arrive and leave just before and after her out and returns, respectively. And though anxiety would have been an understandable reaction (best we could figure it had been 13 years since we had seen each other - more than half her life, yikes), I can honestly say the only nerves I got were the few minutes I was awaiting her to get off her plane. Thankfully (?), her cruel joke to tell me she never made her connection as I waited shattered that state of mind. She is ornery, to be sure.

But no matter what lies were told, she did stroll shortly thereafter through the gate threshold, and we set off for a weekend of music, food, and fun. We hit it off right away (in my opinion, Kelsey, if you'd like to argue feel free - but I moderate all comments). After a short trip on the BART, we were off to Golden Gate Park to catch the opening night's festivities.

BART ride from the airport; first meeting in over a decade

It took us (read: me) a few minutes to get oriented and figure out the best public transit route (I had not found the ever so helpful Google transit yet) to the park, and we ended up getting off the bus a few blocks early, but that just meant a longer walk through the wooded trails into the center of the park. We both quickly realized western-style boots don't make the best hiking shoes. Eventually we made it to the only open stage that night (there would be up to six going at a time on Saturday and Sunday) to see John Prine and Lyle Lovett. As this was the only stage open, there were thousands of people already there filling up the entire lawn. We ended up propping ourselves against some logs on the far hillside.

I can't really remember, but I'm fairly certain we ended up hailing a cab back downtown. Bus room was hard to come by due to the thousands fleeing the park each night. Unfortunately cabs weren't easy to get as well because cabs don't really head that far west often, either. This situation would result in a perfect storm of frigidity for Kelsey the next night. The weather was amazing all weekend, sunny and warm, little wind... except Saturday night. As soon as we left the park that evening the wind picked up, gusting heavily and carrying with it some very cool air. Kelsey also picked this particular day to wear the lightest clothing she did all weekend. Already a naturally cold person, these factors combined to make it a chilly walk for her. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be a long walk as we schlepped it for more than a mile (my estimate - Kelsey will likely tell you it was more like four, but she tends to exaggerate) before finding a cab back into town. But I must admit, she was a real trooper and never complained through all her shivering.

Back to the festival though, it was just incredible. So many great acts to see (John Prine, Hayes Carll, Old Crow Medicine Show, Robert Earl Keen, Old 97s, the man Todd Snider, and so many more we didn't have time to catch) set against the green meadows of Golden Gate Park with the sun shining down. Incredible I tell you. I have always dreamed about going to Telluride, but even considering it's history and cachet, I think HSB would be hard to top (I'll give it a shot though if anyone out there is interested!). On top of all that, I couldn't have had a better companion with whom to make the trip. FYI, Kelsey is pretty much the master at weaving through a crowd of thousands - literally thousands - to find the spot by the stage just big enough for two to stand. I'm serious. This happened multiple times and without fail.

Hayes Carll w/ Wade Braun of Reckless Kelly

Robert Earl Keen, Jr. (Todd came out
to sing on Corpus Chrisite Boy)

Old Crow Medicine Show

Todd w/ Great American Taxi

So Kelsey, had a short list of "must do's" for the weekend in San Francisco. We tried to knock these out Sunday morning before heading over for the last of the music festival. We rode a street trolley up to Fisherman's Wharf, where we got some sourdough and saw the seals. Then we rode the cable car back downtown before catching the cross-town bus to HSB.

seal clap

riding the cable cars, she had to be in the very front

Monday we had a full day, because someone (mistakenly) booked the red eye back to Indianapolis. But I'm glad she did since it gave us that much more time to see the city. My one regret is that we didn't get to go to all the wonderful restaurants in San Francisco. But the main reason we didn't have time is because we were wearing ourselves out at a spectacular music festival so, no biggie. We breakfasted at the delicious Cafe Kuleto. Best potatoes and grapefruit juice (and eggs Benedict I'm told) ever. Ever. I'm serious. You think potatoes are just potatoes, until... Well, yeah. They were good. Then we headed up to Fisherman's Wharf again because I thought a bus tour would be a good way to see a lot of the city in a short time. We ended only taking one of the tours even though we bought the unlimited day pass - because one bus tour is just the right amount of bus tours - but were able to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Sausalito on the loop.

double decker bus across the Golden Gate

We ended up the weekend taking the BART over to Berkeley so I could stop in at Jupiter (for pizza and beers) and whatever the gelato place is named down the street (for gelato, of course - I think I can never remember the name because my the taste sensations are occupying far too much of my brain at the time for me to be able to read).

Jupiter

that gelato place

From there it was back to the airport to end a, not to overstate it, magical weekend. Honestly, it was easily the best first date I've ever had. There is so much I left out because this blog is finite, and the weekend was infinitely fun. Who's in for next year?


More pics here, natch.