Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2010

Fact: I am in love with San Francisco. This past weekend, Ben and I went up for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, a music fest put on every year in the Golden Gate Bridge Park. We had been planning on going since before I graduated college, primarily because it was free, the lineup was killer, and both of us really wanted to visit San Francisco. While other trips we were going to go on together were changed, we decided that this one was just better to do together. Neither of us knew the city and both wanted to go.

I'm very glad we did. We got in at about 2 on Thursday afternoon and spent the afternoon wandering around. Our hotel (Casa Loma Hotel on Fell and Filmore) was a "European" style place, with a shared bathroom, and was located right near the cusp of the Castro, Haight Ashbury, and downtown. While getting our bearings on that first day, we ended up walking down down Haight and Market Sts and ended up in the Castro, so we hunted out Harvey Milk's apartment and storefront. We wound from there back towards our hotel, stopping in a park to watch all the dogs playing.

The next day we got up early and walked the opposite-ish direction to City Hall, another stop on my personal Harvey Milk tour. We stopped at a coffeeshop for breakfast, then made the treck to Haight Ashbury, where we had lunch and I (finally) bought a new purse to replace my old one. After a brief stop at the hotel, we went back down Haight to the Golden Gate Park, which is at the very end of the street. After a long, long walk through the park to the area where the festival was actually being held, we parked ourselves in front of one stage. Ben dipped out for a bit to go check out a few other stages, but I stayed with the stuff. Got to see Jenny (Lewis) and Johnny (Rothman) do their set, including a special appearance by Elvis Costello! Stayed for a little of T Bone Burnett's set, but decided we were tired before it ended and wound our way back to the hotel.

The next day we got up early and went straight to the park because a band Ben wanted to see was first up. We stayed in the same spot all day, with few exceptions. Ben did go out and explore a bit for a while, and I ducked straight to the front of the crowd to see Conor Oberst's set. The Felice Brothers were acting as his band, which was phenomenal, and the set was probably the best I've seen from Conor (this was the 4th time I've see him live). We ducked out pretty quick after that, wanting to get food and out of the cold!

The last day we got there early, too, because The Felice Brothers were performing their set first. We both went down to the front, since right after that we were heading to a different stage to set up for Elvis Costello's set, and got to watch as the band set up and did their sound check (and yes, the band does it themselves). They were awesome, and I'm glad we were up front. Elvis Costello's set was later in the day, but it was cool too. Hard because we were super far back, but still awesome to see/hear him play. As my brother said, the man is classic, and won't be playing forever. After that we went and saw Yonder Mountain String Band and part of The Avett Brothers, then left for the day.

Yesterday we woke up a little later and made our way downtown. There we caught the cable cars down to Fisherman's Wharf, where we spent the day walking around. It was pretty touristy, but we did find an old arcade game museum where we dropped a couple quarters to play a few. It was really a fun way to spend the last day there, and we even got to peer across the water and see Alcatraz.

All I know is next year, I will definitely be back for Hardly Strictly. The bands are great, the venue is breathtaking, and the people are amazing. Super friendly, outgoing, and good natured. It was a fantastic experience, and of course, I am hopelessly in love with the beautiful San Francisco.