Noir City X San Francisco Film Noir Festival

It was a stormy Friday night in San Francisco. There had been very little rain lately. Somehow it made sense that we were going to see two vintage Noir thrillers on this wet night.

There was more than the usual festival crush under the Castro Theater marquee. If anyone was waiting for someone, they would have to huddle near the box office to stay dry. Kathy had scored tickets online and we went right in and took some of the last seats on the main floor.

David Hegarty treated us to a cavalcade of hits from the Thirties and the Forties on the Castro’s Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ. “Embraceable You” “The Lady Is a Tramp” “I Get a Kick Out of You” and a song from one of tonight’s movies: “Too Marvelous for Words.” After seven o’clock the audience knew the organist was stalling for time. There were the usual opening night delays. We were waiting for the reception to break up, but no one seemed to mind.

It was time to settle back and enjoy the fantastic interior of The Castro movie theater. Soak in the huge ceiling and chandelier. The Castro is a combination of Spanish style architecture and Art Deco. There are classical frescoes on the side walls. Banners hang from the side boxes. The initials TC, for The Castro, are on the banners. A large Noir City logo is projected onto the stage curtains. People walk up the aisle to take pictures of it. “The Stuff Bad Dreams Are Made Of” is the Festival’s motto this year.

It’s hard to believe, but in the Seventies there was talk of closing The Castro movie theater. It would have been hollowed out and turned into a parking lot. This had been the fate of several old movie theaters around town. There’s nothing sadder than seeing the shattered hulk of a treasured local theater turned into a parking lot. The Castro stayed open and became a registered landmark.

In December, there was a rumor on a movie blog that The Castro would close. The carnage suffered by other local movie theaters made this easy to believe. The Balboa out in the avenues had just avoided shutting its doors. This rumor turned out to be false, but it was still unsettling.

Any night at the Film Noir Festival is an event, but more people dress up for opening night. It’s easy for men. They can just put on a suit and tie and wear a hat. That easily puts them in the uniform of the day. The women have to work more on recreating the look of the time. There are cocktail dresses, hats and more makeup than usually seen now.

Everyone waited for the traditional playing of “San Francisco” from the classic Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy movie. It signals that we’re near show time. The crowd claps along with the song. It’s a San Francisco tradition: “Open your Golden Gate!”

The lights dim and the voice of the Film Festival welcomes the “ridiculous saps who don’t know the difference between right and wrong.” The voice belongs to Bill Arney. He gives a long and enthusiastic introduction of the boss: The Czar of Noir, the man who started it all, Eddie Muller.

Muller climbs the steps onto the stage. He fills out his sharp suit. Muller has what used to be called a “boxer’s build.” He’s as native San Franciscan as you can get. His father was a boxing reporter for The Examiner, when boxing was huge in San Francisco. The crowd greets him with applause. Muller does have charisma. There were many Noir fans in San Francisco. Muller recognized that, and with a hard core of them organized the Noir Festival. He’s almost become a Noir character himself.

He thanks us for braving the elements tonight. “This could only happen in San Francisco! ... I’ll save you my spiel on restoration. It’s in the program.” Muller admits that, “I was getting a bit verklempt backstage.” He had been thinking about reaching this ten year milestone with the Noir festival.

Muller had been in France promoting Noir and appearing at film festivals. If the French could see the sold out Castro Theater for two Noir films, they “would not believe their eyes. Fourteen hundred people are here tonight!”

Muller has been asked why the Noir Festival was held in January. He’s always asked, “What if it rains?” This year he said, “As long as The Niners still suck and don’t make the playoffs, we’ll be all right.” Despite the unexpected playoff frenzy, ticket sales have been great, and they’re very happy for tonight’s sellout.

Muller tells us of tasting Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey at the reception upstairs. “It’s an experience that should be tried, but Bogie wouldn’t have liked it.” It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. I imagined the sponsors cringing somewhere in the theater.

This year there would be special events for the tenth anniversary. On opening night we will see the two films that opened and closed that first festival. There will be a fundraiser party next Saturday, and a Dashiel Hammett marathon of six films next Sunday.

The Noir City X poster and trailer were shot in the Dashiel Hammett apartment on Post Street. It’s near a plaque marking the spot where Miles Archer’s body was found in “The Maltese Falcon.” It was rented for years to the Voice of the Festival, Bill Arney. Writer Robert Mailer Anderson took it over. He has been renovating the apartment back to how it looked when Hammett lived and wrote there. It may be opened to the public at some point, but right now it’s become “a clubhouse.”

It’s time for some film. We’re treated to a showing of “The Endless Night: Noir Valentine.” It’s a sharply edited mash of classic Noir scenes with music that fits the scenes perfectly. The scenes are recognizable to even casual Noir fans. It starts with a scene from “Double Indemnity.” Doomed Fred MacMurray is walking down a dark street. The sound track starts with a pounding bass heart beat. The song is “Angel” by Massive Attack. A haunting alto voice serenades a parade of iconic Femme Fatales and Tough Guys. Historic Noir scenes flash by. Lana Turner still gets a big Castro crowd reaction in the scene from “The Postman Always Rings Twice.” The music gains pace and the tension builds. Something bad is going to happen. We know violence will erupt. There’s a series of shoot outs and murder scenes. Then it slows down as characters recoil in fear or revulsion. Some of them show doubt or remorse. The music slows. There are signs of regret. There will be repercussions. Lives are changed or ended. Someone is going to jail.

“Noir Valentine” was unveiled at opening night a couple of years ago. It was made by Serena Bramble. She’s a nineteen year old film student. Muller says she was the target audience for the festival. The goal was to get younger people interested in Noir. “She would have been ten years old for Noir City One,” Muller says.

Muller offered to buy Bramble a drink, “In lieu of payment.” That’s how he found out she was underage. “Maybe next year,” Serena told him. Bramble made another Noir mix that showed on opening night last year. “San Francisco Is the Scene of a Perfect Crime” features scenes from Noir films made in San Francisco.

Muller is very excited that Angie Dickinson will be appearing onstage at The Castro the following night. “I can’t believe Angie Dickinson will be standing right ... about ... here!” Muller points at the spot where the film heartthrob will be.

This year’s big event will be a party next Saturday at the Swedish American Hall. “Because, as we all know, I’ll see you at ...?” Many in the crowd yell the answer, “Rick’s!” It’s a classic line from “The Maltese Falcon.” “You are a savvy audience,” Muller says. This year it’s, “Everybody goes to Eddie’s!” They will recreate a Forties era nightclub atmosphere. Music will be provided by The Late Night Callers and Steve Lucky and The Cocktail Party. Muller promises surprises.

And it only costs seventy-five dollars! Muller must have anticipated the groans in the audience. He says it is a fundraiser. If you bought the full festival pass for one hundred and twenty dollars and paid seventy-five dollars for the party ticket, that’s about two hundred dollars. Not a bad entertainment value for San Francisco these days. (The price for the fund raiser was later lowered to $40, with rebates given at the door.)

How did it all start? Muller says he’s always asked where his interest in Noir began. “It was Dialing for Dollars with Pat McCormick!” Those who grew up with the local afternoon television show applaud. Dialing for Dollars showed old movies and called lucky viewers with quiz questions for cash.

“It was low tech.” McCormick would call names he picked out of the phone book. Local television was very different back then. “When is the last time you heard a phone actually ringing on television?” Muller asks us. Viewers had to wait with McCormick to see if anyone would answer. “Oh, she’s not home. She’s probably out grocery shopping,” Muller cracks. Some people who answered the phone knew about the program. Most did not.

The first Noir film Muller remembers getting hooked on was “Thieves’ Highway.” He saw it one afternoon on Dialing for Dollars. “It had everything. It was blue collar and had a local angle.” The movie was an expose on the seamy side of the vegetable market that once thrived on The Embarcadero. The young Eddie Muller fell in love with Valentina Cortese, the mysterious Italian Gypsy woman in the film. Another movie he remembers seeing on Dialing for Dollars was tonight’s second film, “House On Telegraph Hill.”

Muller introduces Anita Monga: “It couldn’t have happened without you.” The former programming director at The Castro gets warm applause. When the owners of The Castro got rid of her, the Noir Festival moved to the Balboa theater for a couple of years. It’s a great local theater, but it wasn’t big enough to handle The Noir Festival. A hatchet was buried and the festival moved back to The Castro. Monga is a programmer with the Noir Festival.

It’s time for a few introductory words about tonight’s first film. “Dark Passage” has a strange plot. The program calls it, “A bizarre ramble through nocturnal 1940s San Francisco.” Muller tells us that Bogart and Bacall stayed at the Mark Hopkins during filming. I wonder what they did while they were in San Francisco.

There are possible spoilers here. The festival tries to show rarities, but tonight we would see two films that most hard core Noir fans are familiar with.

“Dark Passage” starts with views of the Ring Mountain area in Marin. It’s a great hiking spot that we found by chance years ago. It does have an ominous view of San Quentin across the water. The area still seems remote, even though it’s near Highway 101. The trail isn’t used much. Maybe it’s because San Quentin looms across the water. The opening scenes of the film are rare footage of the territory between San Quentin and the Golden Gate Bridge. There wasn’t much there in the Forties. There’s a great shot through the tunnel leaving Marin. The Golden Gate Bridge is framed in the distance.

Noir does require some suspension of disbelief. For the first third of the film, we see everything through the eyes of the escaped convict. Then he has plastic surgery and turns into Humphrey Bogart. Lauren Bacall is landscape painter Irene Jansen. She helps the desperate Bogie escape Marin and get through a road block on the Golden Gate Bridge. Later it’s explained that her father was unjustly imprisoned, but even that’s a bit of a stretch. Was she was out painting landscapes waiting for Bogie to escape?

“Dark Passage” has great shots of Telegraph Hill in the Forties. The Art Deco building with Irene Jansen’s apartment on Montgomery Street is still there. It’s a magnet for Noir fans. There was a time you could snoop around inside the lobby. Someone put up a life size cardboard cutout of Bogart. He’s watching from a window with his jacket slung over his shoulders.

I don’t know if they cleared streets for filming back then, but any San Francisco resident is amazed at the amount of parking in movies. Kathy noted that,"There aren’t many people around.” It’s one of the main attractions of watching these films. It’s a San Francisco from the past, and as anyone who has lived here learns, the San Francisco from the past is always better than the San Francisco of today. It was always better, “Before you got here.”

Was San Francisco so great? Bogart is on the run and has to hide in the evil sinister underworld of The City. He wanders the streets and hooks up with a cabbie who figures out who he is. The cabbie has a gut instinct about people. He’s convinced that Bogart is innocent, “I know you didn’t do it.” He takes Bogart to an eccentric looking underground plastic surgeon.

After the surgery, Bogie wants to hide out with his cool trumpet playing friend George. When he returns to the friend’s apartment, Bogie finds him dead. He has to go back to Irene Jansen’s apartment. She is more than willing to help. He will have to be tied down when he sleeps so he doesn’t ruin the plastic surgery by scratching his face in the night. “I’ll bet you want to get untied,” the sultry voiced Bacall says. There were chuckles in the crowd. The Castro crowd wasn’t going to let that kinky line slip by without a reaction.

The film broke! The audience remained calm. A few volunteers and Noir employees scrambled up the aisles. Some of the audience used the short break for a bathroom run or to stretch. There was a short delay and then the film came back on.

Bogie was framed for murder by his bitter ex-wife. She is played by Agnes Moorehead. Many recognize her from her role as Samantha’s mother on the TV series Bewitched. He visits his wife at her apartment. She lives in one of the tall white buildings on Russian Hill. When she realizes that Bogie is her escaped con husband, she panics and falls out a window to the pavement below. It’s one of Noir’s oddest scenes.

This won’t look good. Bogart takes off. He has to go up to the roof and then climb down the fire escape. This gives us great views of the Bay and the Russian Hill neighborhood. He gets on the Powell Street cable car going down town.

After about twenty minutes the film broke again! After the second break, The Voice said, “We have to be cautious.” The audience applauded and patiently waited. This crowd didn’t want the print ruined at an event dedicated to film preservation.

The rain storm hit hard near intermission. We could hear the wind and rain from our seats near a side door. Some people left at intermission. They struggled out of the double doors into the pouring rain. Maybe they had somewhere better to be on Friday night, or maybe they had seen “House on Telegraph Hill” too many times.

The Castro theater was built in another era. When there’s a big crowd the lobby can be chaotic during intermission. It is an old building and there are only two small bathrooms. This creates ridiculous lines during the intermission. Volunteers struggled to keep the bathroom lines away from the concession stand lines and creating a human logjam. It made me wonder how they did it in the old days.

The Voice teases Muller a bit: “Oh, good one boss ... probably out grocery shopping.” Muller comes back onstage. He fell in love with Valentina Cortese when he saw her in “Thieves’ Highway” on Dialing for Dollars. She made four films in America. Two of them were shot in San Francisco, including tonight’s second feature, “House on Telegraph Hill.”

Muller says that she was nominated for an Oscar that Ingrid Bergman won. In her acceptance speech, Bergman said the Oscar should have gone to Cortese. The other nominees were insulted. Poor Ingrid. She couldn’t do anything right off the set.

Allessandra Gallo joins Muller onstage for a short tribute to Valentina Cortese. Muller had planned to go to Milan to interview Cortese for footage that would have been shown tonight. Then “French and Italian film directors got involved,” and the project stalled. Gallo told Cortese that she had a big fan in Muller. “Is he attractive?” the ninety year old actress asked. Cortese’s health was an issue. It looked like Muller would get the interview, but then she fell and “didn’t feel up to it.”

Muller pulls out an iPhone. “These things are good for something.” He videos the audience while we shout to Coretese: “Ciao! San Francisco loves you!”

The second film, “House On Telegraph Hill” opens with scenes of The City’s Embarcadero taken from Coit Tower. The views get applause and cheers from the audience. Half the fun of seeing these films is figuring out where the scenes are in San Francisco. You can see the changes The City has gone through over the years. It’s a San Francisco that we’ve heard about, but can only dream about living in.

“House On Telegraph Hill” is another strange Noir film. The plot is weird, but it shows the San Francisco of the Forties. Valentina Cortese is great as the wife in fear for her life.

Valentina Cortese’s character helps a friend survive in a World War II concentration camp. When the friend dies, she switches identities with her. She pulls the old Don Draper. As luck would have it, her friend had married into a wealthy family in San Francisco. There is a son in San Francisco who hasn’t seen his mother since he was an infant. It’s quite a break. She goes from the refugee camp to a mansion on Telegraph Hill.

The backyard of the mansion is the area behind Coit Tower. There will be danger, but beautiful views. Cortese becomes convinced that her new husband is trying to kill her. She survives an out of control car ride down Telegraph Hill. Was it an accident, or did someone cut the brakes? She goes to a family friend, Marc Bennett, for help.

Valentina Cortese runs into Marc at a small grocery near the top of Union Street. She banters with the Italian proprietor. She plans to meet Bennett at his office downtown. She enters the ornate lobby and runs into her husband. This won’t look good. How can she explain it away? Oh, she was going to the dentist, she says. “That’s in the Medical Building,” the husband says. The Medical Building’s Art Deco exterior still draws attention on Suttler Street.

Some buildings look the same. The cityscapes do not. It’s amazing how small The City’s skyline was. The Mark Hopkins hotel was the largest building and dominated the view.

It’s great to watch these films with a hard core Noir audience. The wicked nanny is hissed. Bob is trying to make dinner plans with Valentina. “I’m a San Franciscan. Eating is serious business,” Bob tells her. The Castro audience gets a laugh out of that line. San Francisco has been a foodie town for a long time.

There’s a fascinating scene in a Chinese nightclub. A Chinese band is playing and a woman dances onstage. This may have been a set, but Chinese nightclubs were a huge tourist draw in San Francisco. It was part of the mystery of The City.

Cortese and co-star Richard Baseheart fell in love on the set and married shortly after making the film.

The films are short by today’s standards, but a double feature will have you living back in the Forties for a while. Opening night is over and we go back to the reality of the wet, shiny streets of San Francisco. We had seen these movies as they were meant to be seen, on the big screen in a theater with an audience.

Kathy O’Shea made many contributions to this post. You can read her at: Kathyosviews.blogspot.com.

John Nemeth at Biscuits and Bues

John Nemeth at Biscuits and Blues. December 12, 2011.

Kathy was listening to Noel Hayes’ great radio show “Wednesday Blues with Noel.” It’s on radio station KPOO, 89.5 FM or online at KPOO.com. She won tickets to see a show at Biscuits and Blues! We would see John Nemeth.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is a strange one in San Francisco. Many people are out of town, but The City is still a tourist destination. It’s not deserted, but there are less people out at night. Many people have the week off. It was easier to find a parking spot, but we were still a short walk away from the club.

We turned down Post. On the corner at Taylor is a bar called The Owl. It was one of the last “old guy” bars in San Francisco. The owner opened when he wanted to and served customers at his whim. The place was decorated with owls. The old owner passed and his son injected new life into the place. It’s been renovated, but still has The Owl theme.

We were on another historic block of The City. The Bohemian Club was in the building on the corner. It had started as a haven for newspaper workers, artists and entertainers. Artists and especially actors were despised by society then. Businessmen and other more successful members of society were later invited and eventually took over the club. World leaders gather every summer at the Bohemian Grove. It’s supposed to be a relaxing week off. There’s a plaque near the corner with an owl and the motto: “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here.” It makes you wonder if the deal goes down inside this red brick building covered in ivy. The owl is the symbol for The Bohemian Club.

We passed The Olympic Club. It’s a long time athletic and social club for San Francisco’s upper crust. It’s entrance has long columns and two classical male nudes facing the doors. People were leaving what looked like a family Christmas party. Gifts were being loaded into an SUV by some well dressed people. There were holiday goodbyes. An older couple in evening dress left the party group and walked ahead of us.

We’re not in The Tenderloin, but we’re close enough that the radar should be on. It would be hard to miss this. I spotted him from almost a block away. He’s one of those San Francisco characters. I call him Glitter Guy. He shows up at many big events in San Francisco. He’s tall and covered from head to toe in a costume of glitter. He wears huge high heels. The high heels and the angel wings make him taller. He’s a surreal apparition.

He walked up to the older couple, “You’re looking great tonight!” A metallic voice boomed from an electronic voice box in Glitter Guy’s chest. The couple stopped in their tracks. They nodded and were friendly, but they couldn’t believe their eyes. “San Francisco,” the husband said as they walked away, as if that explained everything.

Why was Glitter Guy wandering the downtown streets on a Thursday night? Maybe he was headed to the nearby Furthur concert at the Bill Graham Civic Center. I had seen him at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Even the locals will flock to get a photo with him.

We were going to the 10:00 show at Biscuits and Blues. People leaving the 8:00 show were filtering out. They were buzzing about the show. That’s certainly a good sign. A few people were raving about how they couldn’t believe how great it was.

Nemeth gets great word of mouth publicity. Older Blues stars say he could be the future of the Blues. We had seen him at the lost, lamented San Francisco Blues Festival. I remember he played great harmonica. He played in a harmonica tribute to some older Blues harmonica icons. It was a historic retrospective. He may have gotten lost in the great lineup and events of the day.

The Chicago Tribune had just run a story on “The Twilight of the Blues.” The first time I remember hearing about the death of the Blues was around 1971. The Blues is still a big tourist attraction in Chicago, but the article points out that the Blues is separated from the mainstream now. There are few young artists. Blues is not played on the radio much. (We’re lucky in the Bay Area with KPOO’s Noel and Bobby “Spider” Webb.) The future of the Blues doesn’t look good, but when did the future ever look promising for Blues players?

Some people do stay for the second show. It’s not a big crowd tonight. After a couple of songs I count 38 people in the club. It’s a small crowd, and it is Thursday night, but the spirit of the Blues is still alive tonight at Biscuit and Blues.

We did get in for free. I had to wonder if today’s economy was part of the Blues problem. Even people who are regularly employed have to hesitate at paying a twenty dollar cover charge. Most people have to be careful what they spend money on now. We wouldn’t be here without the free tickets.

We’ve been to Biscuit and Blues enough times that this club is familiar territory. It’s not like the old nights in North Beach at The Grant and Green and The Lost and Found, but we have gotten to know this place in visits over the years. Most of the floor is covered with small tables. Old shutters are on the wall behind the stage. The bar is in the back and you can see the stage from there. We got a table not far from the stage.

A young woman is standing on stage modeling a John Nemeth tee shirt. She gets some cheers for modeling the tee shirt. She’s sitting with a guy at the first table right in front of the stage. They seem to know Nemeth.

The band starts playing. They all look young. Guitar player Bobby Welsh is a young guy who looks a bit like Joe Strummer. All the band can obviously play. The drummer is Nick Fishman. He has very short crew cut hair and looks serious. The bass player, Smokey Davis looks young. He has a goatee and wears a grey porkpie hat.

The band plays a long introductory song on which Welsh shines on guitar. Nemeth comes onstage. He’s wearing a Panama hat. He can sing! He stares into the crowd with intense blue eyes. His hair is light, almost red. It’s real blue eyed Soul!

The first song is “Love Me Tonight.” Then “Turnaround” and “You Were Wrong.” Some of these song titles are approximations.

The first three songs sound Bluesy, but have a Pop feel. The band sounds great. Nemeth pulls a large harmonica from a stand behind him onstage. The sound is definitely more aggressive for “Let My Woman Be.”

There are definitely some Nemeth fans in the house who have seen him before. They cheer him on. He recognizes some of them. There’s a couple from Minnesota at one table. He gives them a shout out, mentioning their home town. Nemeth introduces the guitarist, Bobby Welsh: “He’s travelled the world and still wants to live in Fresno!”

It’s a small club. Nemeth wonders what happened to the drinks that the band ordered. They had been delivered to the far side of the stage. “They’re right over there!” someone yells. They play “Gone Too Long.”

Nemeth tells us he’s from Boise, Idaho. “I know more about potatoes than you could ever want to know.” “It’s better there now. Back then, they couldn’t fill a Catholic school ... It was for devout Catholics and troubled children.” A couple to our left are greatly amused. “Yeah Catholics! Hail Mary!” the woman yells. “I said too many of those,” Nemeth says.

It’s an intimate club. Maybe too intimate. Nemeth can carry on a little conversation with the crowd between songs. Some people who had stayed from the first show are drifting out. Most are content to sit and listen at the tables. A couple dances in one corner. A woman dances near the bar. Many of those left in the club yell loud encouragement. It’s well meaning. They are fans cheering Nemeth on, but sometimes between songs the dialogue comes close to heckling. Nemeth handles it all with wry humor.

The woman in the lively couple to our left makes sure to introduce herself and her boyfriend. He’s “a stand up bass player.” Nemeth suggests we consider the alternative. She also makes sure that everyone knows it’s his birthday. Will Nemeth sing him Happy Birthday? Nemeth stalls and it looks like he’s off the hook, but then he does sing it, “much to the chagrin of the band.” Nemeth gives us a short, surprising, almost operatic version. He’s been pounding Rhythm and Blues most of the night.

Nemeth’s mother often told him to forget the Blues and get into a more financially secure profession. “It’s Thursday night in San Francisco and I’m playing the Blues. Paying the bills.” The next song is about his parental conflict: “My Future.”

A waiter hands Nemeth a martini with four olives. The couple from Minnesota bought it for him. The guy at the first table in front of the stage cheers alcoholic excess. Nemeth encourages him to move on to the hard stuff. “You’ve got two glasses of water in front of you. That’s not going to work.” Nemeth acknowledges that the guy and the woman at his table drank a bottle of champagne during the first show. They’ve been cheering Nemeth along all night.

“We’re going to do an Irish Blues for you now.” Nemeth had thought it was a Sonny Boy Williamson song, but Irish tourists at a gig in New Zealand told him it was an old Irish song, with the lyrics slightly changed. It’s the old mule kicking in the stall song. The narrator comes home to find a mule has been in the stall that belongs to him. “What’s going on?” he asks his wife. This guy isn’t a chump, “I’ve been around the world!” he yells at his wife several times in the song, but there has been a mule in his stall.

“Too Good To Be True.” Some guys marry a woman that is just too hot. The inevitable occurs.

“She Belongs To Me.”

The band is really cooking. There are great solos all night from the guitar player. It’s tempting to compare Nemeth to Van Morrison. It’s an unfair comparison, but Nemeth is really belting out the Blues tonight.

“She’s My Heart’s Desire.”

“Don’t You Lie”

Nemeth tells us that the drummer with the close cropped hair and serious demeanor is the grandson of Mr. Clean, the kitchen cleaner icon. It brings a rare smile from Nick Fishman.

Before the next song, “Mad About You,” there is some talk of butt shaking. The woman to our left with the bassist birthday boyfriend goes onstage and with her back to the audience shakes it and displays her wares.

A special guest is brought onstage to play sax. I think I heard that he was Chris Colson, but I’m not sure of the name. “He was in the Elton John band, but quit when he announced the Red Piano tour,” Nemeth says. He quickly admits that, “I made that all up.” He plays a great sax with the band for the rest of the night.

Nemeth tells us that last year at this time he was ill with pneumonia. He heard how bad his voice was on an answering machine, so he wrote “Pneumonia Blues.” I’d expected more covers of old Blues songs tonight, more of a Blues historian thing. “Is it original?” someone asks during the introduction to a song. “They’re all original,” Nemeth says.

We’re regretfully informed that it’s time for the last song. Those that have stayed are having a blast. Nemeth reminds us that CDs and tee shirts are still available. The guy at the front table starts to leave. “I bought two shirts for two women I don’t even know.” They finish with a Wilson Pickett hit from the Sixties: “She’s Looking Good.” It’s a great finish to a night at Biscuits and Blues.

Thanks to Noel Hayes and radio station KPOO!

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2011

During the weekend many MCs and performers told the crowd that they were at “The greatest music festival in the world.” The lineup of acts is incredible. The drawback is that you can’t possibly see all the acts you “must see.” The event is free and draws huge crowds. The San Francisco Chronicle said there were 350,000 people over the weekend. Even when it was spread out over six stages the size of the crowd was at times staggering.

There is a Woodstock attitude among most of the crowd. Police presence is very low key. It’s not the parking lot before Metallica, or even ZZ Top, but the size of the crowd does present some problems. This year there were more cyclone fences to guide the crowd and keep them off the trails. This created human traffic jams at times. It was much harder to get from stage to stage.

It is a free event and sometimes I found myself wondering: Why did some of these people even come out? OK, I get it, it’s a social scene, like meeting your friends at the bar. Groups met and the chatter sometimes bordered on the ridiculous. Unfortunately, it goes with the territory. I’ll try to avoid complaining about the crowd conditions, but they must be mentioned. It also must be said that some crowd problems are better. People text more and don’t shout into their cellphones as much. Here is what I saw and heard the weekend of September 29 to October 2. Some song titles are shaky.

We’ve just moved and are a twenty minute walk from Golden Gate Park. Thursday was “The Children’s Show” for grammar school kids. It’s dedicated to Daniel Pearl, the journalist who had been kidnapped and killed just after 9/11. It was at The Star Stage. The sky was overcast and gray. A light rain had been forecast. It’s an event for the school kids and iron traffic fences had been put up to keep them in a separate area, but I don’t think there were over a hundred people there who weren’t students or teachers. Channel 7 news said there were 6,000 kids there. Most of the kids were bussed in. They were excited and there was the buzz and chatter school kids create when they’re in a large group. There’s a big cheer when they’re asked from onstage: “Is this better than school?”

Poor Man’s Whiskey would open. They’re forced to go under the acronym PMW so that some kid’s life isn’t ruined by hearing the W word. They play “Pig in a Pen.” The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 2011 has begun.

Some grammar schools did this weird conga line thing. They put their hands on the shoulders of the person in front and walk in a big circle. The circle spins around and around. It looks like the start of a mini-mosh pit. PMW plays their big hit. “You may have heard this on the radio.”

Warren Hellman and Jimmie Dale Gilmore join for “The Big Rock Candy Mountain.” Hellman sings and seems to struggle a bit. They sing the line about “cigarette trees.” I was surprised they didn’t have to change that line in PC San Francisco. Hellman wears a large black jacket with The Star of David set in what I think are rhinestones. “I wear my religion on my sleeve.”

PMW announce the next song. “Your teachers know the words to this one. Make sure they are singing.” It’s Guns and Roses “Sweet Child of Mine.” Like many of their covers, they make it sound like it was always a Bluegrass song. They try an Axel sing along that doesn’t work too well.

It will be a short set for PMW. Warren Hellman schmoozes with members of the band as they take their equipment down. Jimmie Dale Gilmore takes pictures of the crowd of kids. The kids get to hear some of Aretha’s Greatest Hits during the break.

There are some festivities while they get the stage ready. Mayor Ed Lee says a few words. He’s wearing a Giants hat. I could see the dancers getting ready backstage.

The kids are very excited to see MC Hammer. First some backup dancers hit the stage. I think there were fifteen in all. They did wild dance routines, including one where dancers somersault past each other in midair. The music was blasting. There was never a musical instrument seen onstage. MC Hammer came onstage. It is great that he does this show for the kids. It’s been a long time since he danced in the parking lot of the Oakland Coliseum when he was a teenager, and wound up working for A’s owner Charlie Finley! They did “Too Legit to Quit.” For the finale, “Hammer Time,” the stage is filled with kids. They are definitely having a blast onstage.

Gilmore and Hellman stuck around and watched from a VIP area onstage. If Hellman did only this event it would be a big contribution to San Francisco. It’s still mind boggling that he picks up the entire tab for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

Friday. 9/30. Rain was in the forecast again. It was gray and overcast in the early morning, but quickly cleared up. I arrived at The Banjo stage at about eleven a.m for Bill Kirchen. This was the stage Robert Plant & The Band of Joy would be at. Even at this early hour the place was filling up fast. I spread a blanket farther back than I had expected. Charlie Musselwhite was opening The Star Stage at the same time. It was a tough choice, but I went with Kirchen. I had seen him by chance at an earlier Hardly Strictly and been blown away.

“This is our feel good in the morning song.” “Bump Wood” “Rocks in the Sand” “Valley of the Moon.” Austin DeLone is on piano. They do a tribute to Hazel Dickens, a West Virginia song. They do an old song “Working on a Building” for the Holy Ghost.

Kirchen does spin a good tale. He talked about going to The Newport Folk Festival in ’64 and ’65. He rattles off the big names of the time that he saw, including a young Bob Dylan. He watched Dylan go electric. They do a great version of “The Times They Are A Changing,” one of the best versions I’ve ever heard.

Kirchen tells us that this is the fortieth anniversary of the hit, “Hot Rod Lincoln.” It was recorded in the Bay Area at Pacific Studios. “We staggered into the studio and we staggered out.” Kirchen’s version includes a history of Rock and Roll. He calls out the names of Rock and Blues icons, and then plays their trademark riffs. Albert King! Muddy Waters! Howling Wolf! Chuck Berry! The history rolls on with The Rolling Stones, Cream and even into more modern times with The Sex Pistols. Kirchen puts his high school classmate on the roll of Rock idols: Jim Osterberg, better known as Iggy Pop!

In years past, Friday’s show had only one stage going. This year there are four. It’s hard to believe this festival is getting bigger. There was a break, and I wandered over to the next stage, The Arrow, to see Maxim Ludwig & The Santa Fe Seven. It’s one of the great things about Hardly Strictly. I’ll see bands that I don’t know and probably wouldn’t pay to see. These guys were Rockers. They’re a great bar band I thought to myself. Would they be insulted by that? “This is Not What I Wanted” “A Little Rock and Roll” “Here’s to the Nights We Didn’t Make It Home” “The Fortune Cookie said Sha La La."

A great thing about Hardly Strictly is that there is no corporate sponsorship. Warren Hellman pays for everything. So, there are no ads or commercial banners. How often does that ever happen anymore? It really effects the atmosphere of the event.

I go back to The Banjo stage. The Led Zeppelin effect will draw a huge crowd here. Usually I wander around, but I’ll stay in the spot most of the day.

Seldom Scene is the next act here. They’re the first real Bluegrass band I’ve seen today. “A Hundred and Ten in the Shade.” The first version of the weekend of “Know You Rider.” A Red Tailed Hawk circles high above the stage.

I have to admit, I had to see Plant, so we just stayed at The Banjo. Our spot became more valuable as the day went on. It was the usual scene. People kept pouring in. Sister Joan arrived and helped me save the spot. She reminisced about seeing Bromberg play at The Quiet Knight in Chicago.

The MC tells us that he knows an employee of San Francisco Park and Recreation. They love Hardly Strictly. He said the park is left as it was found. The employee said there isn’t much impact on the park. Hellman has paid for new sod and other repairs.

Next up is Bluegrass and Rock legend David Bromberg with The David Bromberg Quartet. “There are so many women I had to sleep with to get where I am today,” Bromberg tells us. “Old Country and Western Music” “Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning.” “Roll Westward Freight Train.”

Bromberg says he got a call from Obama this morning. He senses the crowd’s skepticism. “I lived near Obama for years in Hyde Park.” He asked Obama how he could help get the economy going again. “Sell stuff,” the Chief Executive told him. So, if you want to help the economy get on its feet again, go over to the merchandise tent and do your part.

The next song is about our dependence on fossil fuels: “The World Is a Junkie.” Then they do a jam Bromberg calls “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Medley Number Thirteen.” During “Refuse to be Fooled” Bromberg does a great spoken word routine about how not a single molecule or string of DNA will be fooled by that woman again.

I wander over to The Arrow Stage again to see The Mekons. Jon Langford has appeared with different bands over the years at Hardly Strictly. This is the first time his original band, The Mekons will play the festival. “Train to Sheffield” “The Old Trip to Jerusalem” “Diamonds.” They’re interesting, but I head back to The Banjo.

The Del McCoury Band & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. I’ve seen McCoury several times at Hardly Strictly. Teaming his band up with Preservation is a great idea. It’s not strictly Bluegrass, but great roots Americana music and a bit of a history lesson. The members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band look a little bit out of place until they start blowing. The afternoon is getting warmer and they squint from their seats onstage.

“Charley is in town and he’s going to play.” “On the Bayou” “One Has My Name, The Other Has My Heart.” A member of Preservation takes center stage and sings his advice to the lovelorn. “Take My Advice... Hug her.” During the song there’s a long drum solo. The drummer comes from behind his kit to take a bow. He is short. “Hey, stand up!” his band mate yells. “One More Before I Die” We’re treated to two versions of “Banjo Frisco.” First they play the old version, then a more modern arrangement. Applause will determine the favorite.

The crowd keeps growing. John Prine is up next. New arrivals drown out much of the set. People are getting more obnoxious as the afternoon goes on. “Fish and Whistle” “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” “Picture Show” “Run To Be In Heaven” “No Room In Heaven Anymore” “Spend the Night With Me” “Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows” “Souvenirs” (A song he wrote with Steve Goodman.) “Six O’Clock News” “Hello In There” “Grandpa Was a Carpenter” “Fishing In Heaven” “Old Glory” “Bear Creek”

Prine looks old, but he’s one of those guys who always looked old. He’s quiet and says very little between songs.

Some goofy young woman tries to spread a blanket in a space in front of me that is about two feet wide. “Oh, are you saving that space?” “No, I’m standing in it.” She went a little to our left. “Can I spread my blanket here?” she asked the neighbors. They showed the proper Woodstock attitude. Sure! There was barely room for a beach towel. She then got on the cell phone and six friends joined her. Thousands of scenarios like this were going on. One good thing is that I could hear people talking about leaving. “We’ll see some of Chris Isaak and be right back.” Right.

It was tough missing Chris Isaak playing about a mile from his home near the ocean, but I had to see Plant again. The crowd was annoying, but at least when the acts started everyone stood up. I can deal with that.

Plant had played here two years ago and put on a great show. It wasn’t going to be Led Zeppelin, but with Buddy Miller and The Band of Joy thrown in, this was a must for me. They started with “Satisfied Mind.”

I think Plant wanted to get the Led Zeppelin thing out of the way. “Black Dog” “Thank You” (“If the sun refused to shine...”) He doesn’t have the incredible overwhelming powerful voice anymore, but showed flashes of the Rock Star and gave the crowd what it wanted. He’s still Percy.

“Down to the Sea”

“Drowning Child” featuring Patti Griffin. “Mood for a Melody”

“Misty Mountain Hop” “Black Country Woman” “Ramble On” “Bron Y Aur Stomp”

The last song ended shortly after seven. I was surprised when they came back onstage. Part of the deal is to end at seven and cut down on neighbor’s complaints about “the noise.” “Hangman.” We blasted out of there during the song. This was a crowd you had to get out in front of. It took us about twenty minutes to walk home. We could see MUNI was in a state of chaos. People were still wandering around partying late into the night.

There was an e-mail with a link to Youtube footage of Plant and the Band of Joy’s set waiting for me when I got home!

My theory is to spend as much time as possible at Hardly Strictly. It’s impossible to see everything you want. Most of the time the bands you hear can just be a matter of chance. It’s more laid back early Saturday. The weather is gray and overcast for about the first hour. The rest of the day is sunny and clear.

I go to The Rooster to pay tribute to the man picking up the tab, Warren Hellman. He’s with his band The Wronglers with Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Before any music a few lines of a Hazel Dickens song are recited over the PA. Hellman talks about “the genesis of the festival.” Hazel had been a big inspiration and one of the first big names to play the festival. She talked others into playing it. Hellman and Ron Thomason play “The Mannington Mine” to honor Hazel.

Hellman says he’s in a Bluegrass support group called “The Wet Twig Arsonists.”

The Wronglers play a spirited set, but do sound a bit ragged at times. Hellman wore the big Star of David jacket again. “That’s why they call me the Rhinestone Jew Boy.”

“Brown’s Ferry Blues” “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight”

I can hear a little music and crowd sounds from The Banjo Stage. Someone is tearing it up over there. (It was Greensky Bluegrass.) I’ve seen The Wronglers before and wanted to wander before the hordes arrived.

Near the Porch stage there is a tent with a tribute to Hazel Dickens. You can leave a message for Hazel. There are pictures of her through the years.

The Porch Stage is the smallest stage. The acts aren’t the big names of the festival and that gives the area a much more laid back atmosphere. This stage alone would make a great festival.

River Whyless was playing their last song as I arrived. “Still As Empty.” Good fiddle player. They come from Asheville, North Carolina.

The plan was to see Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard later, so I knew I would wind up at The Star Stage. I wandered that way. It would be a matter of chance what I saw on the way. I stopped at The Banjo Stage to see the Alison Brown Quartet. They started with two instrumentals, the second one was “The Road West.”

Brown tells the crowd that she’s a “reformed investment banker.” She worked for Smith Barney in San Francisco. She would read the magazine Bluegrass Unlimited at work. “They thought I was reading about how to refund bond issues.” Eventually she got the guts to quit her day job. It was more of a Jazz sound happening here. I went way in the back and listened to “Hungaria” written by Django Rhinehardt.

It’s hard to believe this is the same stage I was at last night. It’s nowhere near the scene of Friday night, not yet anyway. It’s nice to hang out in the back without people jostling for position.

The next stage is The Arrow and I saw The Band of Heathens. They’re another band of young Rockers. I had just seen them on TV on Austin City Limits. “You Come To Me In Times of Need.” They play a song dedicated to Hunter S. Thompson, “L.A. County Blues.” “Hey Rider.”

There were some performers from past Festivals that weren’t here this year. No Elvis Costello, T. Bone Burnett, Dave Alvin. It was surprising. How could you miss this?

I arrived at The Star Stage. There was already a huge crowd there, and I set up blankie way in the back. Everyone is watching the same movie.

While waiting I saw Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit. Another good young band I wouldn’t have seen if not for this event. “One of My Friends Has Taken You In and Given you Cocaine.” During the song “You Want To Try Don’t You?” they broke into the riff from Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter.”

Kathy caught part of Hugh Laurie at The Towers of Gold before meeting me.

Most people aren’t too dressed up. Sooner or later you’re sitting on the ground. Some people do dress up. It’s crowded, but it makes for great people watching. It’s quite a parade. There’s the relentless Frank Chu, carrying his protest sing. There are other regulars on the circuit. Glitter Guy. Dancing guy. One guy had a bright green greaser wig. His clothes were green and resembled vegetation. His jacket said he was: The Frondz. There were the usual vendors of baked goods, buds and beers. I saw a guy in a Slayer tee shirt. It made me wonder how long it would be before they played the Festival.

There were onstage announcements: “We don’t smoke tobacco in San Francisco. If you smoke the other stuff be considerate of your neighbors.”

We knew Kris Kristofferson on the same stage with Merle Haggard would draw an enormous crowd. I had sworn I wouldn’t go to another one of these at Hardly Strictly. The huge names like Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton or Steve Martin drew crowds that were just too big, even for Golden Gate Park. But this one had an aura of history about it. These guys weren’t going to be around long. The last of The Outlaws. Veteran music fan and buddy Van joins us.

Kris Kristofferson came onstage first. “Shipwrecked in the 80s” Kristofferson introduced Merle Haggard as “The best song writer since Hank Williams.” “Pancho and Lefty” “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here Tonight” and the big one: “Me and Bobby McGee.” After the line, “Feeling good enough was good enough for me... Me and Bobby McGee,” Kristofferson yells, “Janis!”

“Big City”

The crowd situation was ridiculous. We were far in the back and it reminded me of a caricature of a Sixties Rock show. It was a huge crowd that couldn’t see and at times could barely hear what was going on with the little dots onstage. They cranked up the volume on “Folsom Prison Blues” “Silver Threads” “Help Me Make It Through the Night” “Mama Tried.” “I turned twenty one in prison doing life without parole!” “I Married Me a Hippie.” They do a couple of quiet songs that are inaudible with the crowd noise.

A Kris Kristofferson solo song: “He’s a walking contradiction...”

Then a Rocker “Take Me Back to Tulsa” and a new song: “Working in Tennessee.” “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”

“Here’s a song in honor of the marijuana capital of the world!” Merle says that when you’re seventy, “You should be able to smoke whatever you want... and drive on the wrong side of the road.” The first gets a roar from the crowd, but allowing anyone to drive on the wrong side of the road is not as well accepted. It’s “Okie from Muskogee!” The crowd loves this one, especially the lines, “We get drunk like God wants us to!” and “We don’t let our hair grow long and shaggy, Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.”

They take it down a bit for the finish with “Lord Help Me Jesus.” The band plays the theme from “Okie from Muskogee” as they leave the stage. Merle says, “Thank you for your time.”

I considered wandering to the next stage, The Towers of Gold, but one look at the mass of humanity and I declined. Even last year this would have been easy. Now, it’s better to just stay put. People were leaving The Star Stage for other stages and we were able to upgrade our spot. Irma Thomas would be next. She would finish at 5:40. That would give us time to at least take a look at the other stages on our way out.

At almost every stage a performer would announce that this is “the greatest music festival in the world.” Some say, “Let’s make it bigger!” Van made a good point: It will get bigger. It’s viral now. I don’t try to talk people into going anymore.

Irma Thomas, “The Queen of Soul.” The band plays Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” as an intro number. Irma comes out in powerful voice, “Love Don’t Change, People Do” “Let It Be Me” “You Got to Bring It With You” “In the Middle of It All” “You Can Have My Husband, But Don’t Mess With My Man” “Hip Shaking Mama” “I’ll Never Break Away From You.” A big hit in 1963!

The crowd is buzzing, standing and dancing.

“Come Back” 1961. “True Love (is like a chunk of gold.)” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”

It’s been a hell of an R&B show. Irma says she always has time to take requests from the audience and does two songs someone up front asks for: “Just Can’t Get Used to Losing You” and “Please Please Please” “It’s Raining So Hard.”

Irma is a spokeswoman for breast cancer and informs us that we’ve all been “pinked.” “Done Got Over” “Iko Iko” with the crowd waving handkerchiefs in time.

“Time Is On My Side.” “I did it before them. They just made all the money on it.” She doesn’t specify who “They” are. Irma was irked when The Rolling Stones recorded it very shortly after she did and knocked it off the charts.

She finishes with the Tina Turner song “Simply the Best.” The live version recorded at Slim’s won a Grammy. I’m glad I didn’t miss this old fashioned rocking Rhythm and Blues show!

It was about 5:40 and time for the last acts of the day. Three stages would have Hardly Strictly stalwarts playing at the same time. What do you do? But what a choice: Robert Earl Keen, The Flatlanders or Steve Earle. An unlikely performer at Hardly Strictly was Buckethead. He was at the next stage, The Towers of Gold. Buckethead is a Heavy Metal “shred” guitar player who plays with an empty bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken on his head and an eerie mask. I was curious, but one look at the crowd streaming that way and we headed east.

We went back to The Banjo and stood in the back for a couple of Steve Earle songs. “Devil Left Behind” Through the binoculars I could see a sign onstage: “Take It Back: Tax Wall Street.” The Preservation Hall Jazz Band joined him onstage. The crowd was just too massive. Onstage Steve Earle told the crowd that he would be at the merchandise tent after the show. I could only imagine what that scene would be like.

Arrow Stage. The Flatlanders featuring Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore & Butch Hancock. The Arrow Stage has more room and we went around to the left and weren’t that far away from the stage. “Until I Make Up My Mind” “Midnight Train” “Right Where I Belong” “Man on a Pilgrimage”

Jimmie Dale Gilmore says this next one is the song that started the conversation with Warren Hellman that resulted in Hardly Strictly. “Would You Love Me If I Wandered Back?” “The Highway Is My Life.”

We left to see the end of Robert Earl Keen and complete what we could of the trifecta. We did catch at least a glimpse of the last three acts. Keen was at The Rooster Stage, which was on our way out anyway. We caught the Grateful Dead sounds of the old song “U.S. Blues.” It was Saturday night and a barn dance broke out during “The Highway Goes On Forever and The Party Never Stops.”

This was our first Hardly Strictly since we moved into the neighborhood. It was great to just walk home. We were home by 7:30.

Sunday. I leave early again. Near the park I see a perched Sharp Shinned Hawk. The hawks really don’t seem bothered by the huge human presence in the park. I start the day at The Banjo Stage with Dry Branch Fire Squad. The crowd is gathering, but it’s still early, 11 a.m.

The tribute to Hazel Dickens is repeated. Warren Hellman and Ron Thomason come out and sing “The Mannington Mine.” Hellman talks about how the festival started. Some firemen gave him a CD after “a successful political campaign.” Hellman got hooked on Bluegrass. Hazel Dickens was the first “big” star he talked into playing the festival and she talked others into joining. I remember seeing her at the second Hardly Strictly. There were 30,000 people at the Festival that year.

I’d seen Dry Branch Fire Squad before at Hardly Strictly. I love the comic dead pan delivery of their singer and MC, Ron Thomason. “This is the strictly Bluegrass part of the show.”

Warren Hellman joins to do a Doc Watson song. Ron Thomason tells us that Doc Watson invented a new way to play the guitar just for this song. Warren Hellman will play the banjo part. The pressure is on. “This is my favorite jam with this band,” he tells us.

“Can You Be Mine” “Bar Room Jack” “Looking For a Stone.”

Thomason tells us they were discovered by Allan Lomax, “The great ethnomusicologist.” Lomax wanted them to play at the Smithsonian Folk Festival. At first, they couldn’t figure out where Smithson was, and thought it must probably be somewhere in Kentucky. They were excited to learn they would be going to Washington, D.C. They didn’t know why Lomax wanted them to play there, “We don’t know any Folk songs.” Lomax assured them that they did know Folk songs. This was puzzling. “How could he know that we knew something that we didn’t know?”

The band was treated to a tour of the Smithsonian. They were amazed by the dinosaurs and were shown a diorama of Australopithecus cavemen. They noticed that the cavemen had shrewdly put a light bulb in their camp fire. “You’ve seen it too, right?”

“You Gambled Your Last Game” “Cries on Echo Mountain.”

Dry Branch Fire Squad recorded with Hazel Dickens including “Blood of Jesus.” She said she would sing on the record under one condition: “You don’t hold back.” Thomason speaks in a Southern drawl, “I’m not talking too fast for you, am I?”

Ron Aldridge joined them to play mandolin. “He didn’t bring his own,” so he’ll use Thomason’s 1923 model. Thomason traded an apartment house for it. When she heard about it, Hazel called him stupid. Why? Thomason wondered. Hazel told him, “You’ll never take it out and play it.”

They finish with a great Bluegrass version of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home.”

Disk jockeys from KPFA, and KPIG served as MCs. After the set the MC asked the crowd, “Who would have thought that we’d get a capitalist to do a union song?” (“Mannington Mines”) Warren Hellman was a capitalist with a heart. “The problem has been capitalism without a heart! Warren Hellman is the patron saint of San Francisco!”

I went to The Arrow to hear the psychedelic sounds of Moonalice. Dark Star Orchestra would do the last set here today. The tribes were already gathering. “We made it to harvest time,” the MC boomed from onstage before the set. “It’s time to harvest the grapes ... and the marijuana!” Moonalice recreates the sounds of Sixties San Francisco. It’s a real time trip here in Golden Gate Park. Unfortunately, it appears former Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Cassady is no longer in the band. I hung out way in the back and stretched out. There was still a lot of room here. I did listen to some songs, but it was time to move on for Buddy Miller. There is still a way to do this festival.

The Towers of Gold Stage is the last stage. It’s the stage that is the farthest west in the park. I got an all right spot to the right. It was still early. We could hear some of another act called The Low Anthem coming from The Star Stage. The two stages alternated acts. It was funny to see Buddy Miller and band onstage waiting for The Low Anthem to end.

“Dearly Departed” For the first two songs the band is guitar, bass and concertina. “Nothing To Do” “Baby Baby Baby” Patti Griffin, the drummer (Dickinson) and another guitar player join for “Gasoline and Matches.” Griffin again takes the spotlight for “Shelter Me Lord.”

“All My Tears Washed Away” or “Don’t Matter Where You Bury Me.”

It’s expected that Robert Plant will make a cameo. He praises Patti Griffin. He’s been “doing this for a long time,” and he’s still learning from other singers, especially Patti Griffin. He’s learned restraint and patience from her. “Sea of Heartbreak.” He has a sheet with the lyrics that he places on the stage and sneaks a peek at once in a while. He looks uncomfortable. Was it from doing an unfamiliar old tune? Plant called for the bridge.

He leaves after one song. The crowd wanted Plant to Rock out, but I think he didn’t want to take the spotlight from Buddy. “Buddy Miller is the man who saved my legitimate career.” Plant had also did a cameo at Patti Griffin’s set on Saturday at The Rooster Stage.

“No Way, Go Away” Rocker.

The darling of Hardly Strictly, Emmy Lou Harris, guested for two songs. “We’re going to do a Porter Waggoner, Dolly Parton song,” “Burning The Midnight Oil. She also sings “Wide River to Cross.” The crowds are still manageable at this point.

“Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover” “Take Me Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go”

The only plan we had for today is to see Devotchka. We knew friends of ours, Joe and Carole Tuminello would be there. The singer is Joe’s nephew and they get the Friends and Family pass. We certainly knew how bad the crowds would be and we were content to slow down. We’d hang at The Star Stage for a while. Dr. John & The Lower 911 would be playing there first.

Dr. John opened one of the first “big” shows I ever went to, so there was a big nostalgia factor here for me. By the time we got there the place was jammed, so we sat on the side under some trees with no stage view at all. I walked around a bit to at least get a glimpse of the man, but for the most part we stayed put.

Dr. John: “Down By the Riverside” “St. James Infirmary” “I Want to Shoot My Buddy” “I’ve Been Hoo-Dooed.” “Gris Gris John,” and of course, “Right Place, Wrong Time.” “Going Down to Georgia” There was a teaser of “Nearer My God to Thee” and “Iko Iko.”

People left after Dr. John to see other acts. We moved up. We’d seen Devotchka at The Independent a couple of years ago. We were on the guest list and everything. We knew they would draw many young fans. The scene was similar to Friday. People kept jamming into the glen. You just have to wait until it starts and everybody stands up.

Devotchka is a strange band that includes accordion and tuba. They play a wide variety of music that they’ve made their own. Great vocals by Nick. They are loud enough to be heard over the partying crowd. Songs include: “The Enemy Guns” “How It Ends” “Such a Lovely Thing” I know they’ve had big shows before, but it had to be a special afternoon for them. It was another great moment at Hardly Strictly.

Devotchka ended at 4:00 and we went to The Banjo for Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. This was the real Bluegrass deal. We see them almost every year. We walked up behind the sound tent. It’s a partially obstructed view.

We walk up during “It Takes a Worried Man” “Man of Constant Sorrow” “A Little Boy Called Joe” “Clinch Mountain Back Step”

“Oh Death” The rest of the band leaves Ralph Stanley alone onstage. He sings solo. It’s powerful enough that the crowd is respectfully silent. This guy looks like he’s a lot closer to the end than we are.

“I Wish I’d Been There When She Was a Girl” “John Henry” “Right Strangers” “Run Molly Run” “Glory Land” “Long Black Veil” “Going Down the Mountain” “Rolling In My Sweet Baby’s Arms” “White Dove” “Orange Blossom Special”

This is what Hardly Strictly is all about. It’s great to see new acts, but this is the real deal. The passing of Hazel reminds us. Many of these Bluegrass legends won’t be around too much longer.

Ralph Stanley announced that there would be a Stanley family Bluegrass Festival in Virginia over Memorial Day weekend. “We came out to see you so ...”

The tarp situation is better this year. Maybe it’s because people can’t wander around as easily, but there weren’t areas of empty tarps in front while people were jammed together in the back.

Dark Star Orchestra. A Deadhead scene to end the day. I never saw Speedway Meadow so full of people. We were in the back. During the day this area had been a Frisbee field. It wasn’t packed in the back, but it was amazing to see how many people were there. There were some vintage Deadheads in attendance, but most of the crowd looked too young to have ever seen The Dead Live.

The fog and wind started to arrive, so we started to make our way home. We caught a little of The Jayhawks at The Rooster on the way out. “So Far Away.”

It was a marathon weekend. We really pour it on for this, because we see so many acts for free. There are still ways to enjoy this festival, especially if you go early and do some planning.

I’ve been viewing Youtube clips of Hardly Strictly. Some are bad, but many are very good. The good clips are a bit deceiving. I imagine fans across the country seeing these close up clips and saying “Next year we have to go.” Most don’t realize that even showing up early is no guarantee that you’ll see anything more than dots onstage.

We kept using the line from gangster shows and movies. “It is what it is.” It’s a free event, with all that goes with that. The lineup is incredible. The crowd is massive, but largely well behaved. It’s worth it. Thanks to Warren Hellman, who makes it all possible.

There’s a new Blogger in town. Check out Kathy’s description of the weekend at:

http://kathyosviews.blogspot.com/