SFBC Valet bicycle parking

Hazel Dickens

Dirty Hippy

Earl Scruggs & Family

Earl Scruggs very-amateur video

Banjo Stage set list

Lady Rider

Dread natty dread

Doc Watson, kickin’ it live.

It wouldn’t be an event in SF without Frank Chu’s unintelligible signs

Man, woman, dog

A few people

Not-shy

Crowd @ Doc Watson

Nick Lowe, one of my very favorites

I showed up characteristically early and waited in line for about 10 minutes while they did ID checks and will-calls, then nursed a beer at the bar until Amy Cook came on at 7:30. Cook’s one-woman, 30-minute set was a solid acoustic folksy affair, although she had a cold, which didn’t help her hitting the high notes. She was affable throughout – my favorite songs were “Loma Prieta” and “Coming Home,” both from her newest album, “The Sky Observer’s Guide.”

Kate Isenberg took the stage shortly after 8pm with a 3-piece band consisting of bass, drums, and violin, with Kate on vocals and guitar. She played a great set of songs selected from her earlier albums, her excellent newest album, “The Time Comes On Humming Tracks,” and a new piece or two. The band was great, and the drummer in particular had a great energy about him, smiling throughout the show as he played mainly with brushes. Although she didn’t play either of my favorite songs from hew new album, my favorite tracks of the evening were “Coming Home,” “Streetcar to Grace,” and “7 League Boots.” I talked to Kate for a few minutes after her set, one of the nicer things about seeing shows in intimate venues like Cafe du Nord.

Not caring too much for what I thought was her most recent album when I heard the samples on iTunes, I was waffling on sticking around for Brooke Fraser, even though she was the headliner. Kate said she’s a great singer, however, so I decided to check her out, and was very glad I did. I later found out that iTunes’ album dates are not particularly reliable, and that what appears to be Fraser’s newest album is not, and her newest album, titled “Albertine,” is rather good. Fraser took the stage armed with an acoustic guitar, and an accompanist on keyboards, and proceeded to do a great set of acoustic songs for the next hour. She was a charming and funny presence on stage, telling jokes and giving sometimes lengthy explanations about the pieces and herself (she chalked some of this up to jet lag, as she’d just flown in from Sydney). “Albertine,” the title track from her album, was a highlight, as was “C.S. Lewis Song,” and “Hosea’s Wife.” She amusingly explained that the title of “Hosea’s Wife” was chosen because the biblical figure Hosea’s wife’s actual name was Gomer, and who would want to name a song that? Fraser comes across something like Tori Amos in her early days, and has an excellent voice. She seemed genuinely surprised that there were so many people to see her, although with her talent, I imagine she’ll do well.

All told this was a great evening of talented women, a bargain for only $15. Although I love the small setting of Cafe du Nord, their sound system sucks, but this was less apparent in a mostly-acoustic show like this than it was the last time I was here to see metal/rock band Comets on Fire.

Downtown SF from Treasure Island

Treasure Island, a former Naval Base in the middle of San Francisco Bay, has very limited parking, so they ran free shuttles and provided free parking at semi-nearby AT&T Park on the SF waterfront. We got to the festival at a little after noon, with plenty of time to walk around before the meat of the program started.

They had a pavillion full of vintage arcade games (Pac Man, Space Invaders, Tempest, Defender, and so on), several kiosks with environmental information, a few dozen merchandise vendors a few ATMs featuring $4 service charges, and another couple dozen food and drink stands of the type usually seen at street fairs and festivals.

After getting the lay of the land, we staked out a patch of lawn near, but not too near, the Bridge Stage.

Dengue Fever:

This first act on the Bridge Stage (the nearby Tunnel Stage seemed to be mostly DJ acts, and we didn’t want to give up out patch of lawn for them) was this group from LA featuring a lovely Cambodian singer in the Bollywood style, with ska/funk sounds from the band, which was comprised of keyboard, sax, bass, guitar and drums. They had a fun, international-pop sound, and we enjoyed their half-hour set very much, enough so that I later purchased their album “Escape From Dragon House” on iTunes.

In the 20 minutes following their set, I got us a couple of drinks. The choices were 2 red wines, 2 white wines, Hinekein (regular & light), and the ubiquitous soju “cocktails” here mixed with your choice of Vitamin Water energy drink, cranberry, or tonic.

Zion I:

I was hopeful about this group, having heard one of their songs, a reggae remake of a song by the Clash, and they’re local boys from Oakland, described as a positive Hip-Hop group, but alas, although I appreciated their energy and good vibrations, their music to my ears sounded like any other hip-hop. Granted, it isn’t a genre that I’m well-versed in, but my tastes run to the much funkier side of things (the Coup, Blackalicious, etc). Zion I consisted of 2 rappers and a MC, with a third guest rapper for a few songs. They did, however, get the crowd on its feet and moving, which counts for something.

Ghostland Observatory:

This Austin, Texas-based duo (singer/guitar and synthesizer) were one of our favorites of the festival. We didn’t know anything about them beforehand, and were quite pleasantly surprised at their fun-filled and upbeat set. The keyboard player, sporting a baby-blue cape with a purple cross on the back, laid out some old-school squeaks and squacks atop some fine 1980′s-style synth pop while the energetic singer bounced and danced all over the stage, singing in a high-pitched voice. Hmmm, that description doesn’t sound nearly as good as the band does, but anyways we liked ‘em a lot!

M.I.A.:

MIA was one of the two acts playing at day 1 that we were already familiar with (the other being Thievery Corporation), and although both Sarah & I quite like MIA’s deubt “Arular,” her set was lackluster. MIA had a backup rapper/dancer with her, and a DJ in the back. One of my gripes about the 1st day’s lineup was the (over) preponderance of DJ or mostly-DJ acts, which aren’t all that interesting to me to see live. Not to detract from the talent that many DJs obviously have (and that I certainly do not), but I’d really much rather see someone play an instrument than push a bunch of buttons.

Towards the end of her set, a couple dozen people from the crowd were allowed onstage, and were clearly psyched to be dancing w/MIA. Song-wise, she played a mix of stuff from “Arular” and her new album “Kala,” which I don’t care for very much.

The field was getting much more crowded by this point, so we decided to give up our patch of grass and wander around. We ran into our upstairs neighbor Liz and her friend while in the bathroom line, a funny coincidence in a crowd of thousands!

Sarah wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel, so we paid our $5/each and waited in a short line. Treasure Island has excellent views, being in the middle of SF Bay, and they’re even better atop a 50′ (or thereabouts) wheel!

DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist:

Although we saw a number of people with DJ Shadow shirts on, the set ended with us wondering what the deal was. They sounded very much like the sort of filler music one would expect in between bands, with long stretches of source material with no discernable mixing going on, and their set, at one full hour, felt way too long.

Gotan Project:

The DJ-heavy lineup more than redeemed itself with this group, our favorite of the evening. Featuring up to 8 acoustic players (singer, 3 violins, cello, piano, accordian, and guitar) plus 2 DJs providing the beats, this modern tango-electronica fusion had a fantastic energy and talent to spare. Not at all normally one to do much more than a white-boy-head-bob, I was actually moved to swing, step and sway (in my own unrhythmic way of course), as was everyone else.   This was the highlight of the concert for us, for sure!

We were very tired by the end of Gotan’s set, and decided to bail out, even though that meant us missing headliner Thievery Corporation.  We’d been at the festival for over 8 hours, and just couldn’t see handling another 2+ hours.  Also of concern were the logistics of getting 7000+ people off of the island on 50-person-capacity shuttles, and our early departure was crowd-free and smooth.

This was a fun festival, and I hope they do it again next year.  The lineup over the two days was a good sampling of local and indie acts and the setting is beautiful – good stuff!

Unlike the last time, however, they had a surprise opening act – 5 of the quilters of Gee’s Bend (who have a show of their quilts running through the end of the year at the DeYoung Museum) performed a few a capela gospel songs!

The Boys performed some holiday tunes as well as some secular ones from their recent series of Grammy-winning albums. I never tire of hearing their version of “Amazing Grace,” set to the tune of “the House of the Rising Sun,” and they sang it very well indeed this time. My other favorites were “Go Tell It On the Mountain” and their excellent cover of Tom Waits’ “Down In The Hole.” “Spirit In The Sky,” apparently from their newest album, which I’ve not yet heard, was another winner, as well as the transcendent Ben Harper number “There Will Be A Light.”

They ended the set with their usual revival-style extended jam, this time on “I’m A Soldier.” While the rest of the band riffed, Jimmy Carter came off-stage and walked through the audience (not that we could see much from our nose-bleed seats, but he’s done this the other two times I’ve seen them too). While a fun twist, this jam often goes on a little bit too long for my taste, and with everyone standing, I either have to stand, or look at someone’s behind.

There were some sound issues at the start of the set, with the guitars and bass overpowering the vocals, but they were quickly sorted out. In the 3 times I’ve seen the Blind Boys, I never fail to be amazed at their energy. Front-man Jimmy Carter is still hopping and swinging and exhorting the crowd to get up and clap. Bishop Billy Bowers, the youngest by far of the three primary singers, has an excellent voice and energy too. Leader Clarence Fountain was more subdued, mostly sitting in a chair and not singing in every song. The guitar/bass section is talented to boot, especially lead guitarist Joey Williams.

If you haven’t seen the Blind Boys of Alabama live, I highly recommend doing so at least once as they have a unique energy and are superb singers (not to mention they have the only blind drummer I know of!).

Production was sparse, with Ms. Galas wearing a full-body black cowl for the first half, and a spare black dress for the second. She moved between 4 stations, 3 for a capella pieces, and one at the piano. Between songs were prerecorded vocalizations and radio recordings, and she did some singing over recorded drones. The half-cross-shaped stage was fog-filled and had just a little spotlighting on Galas. The first 5 minutes were completely dark.

Galas’ vocal range is even more impressive and frightening in person than on her albums and she’s quite adept at using her unique voice as a sonic weapon. Her screams sent shivers down my arms and occasionally hit what I call the “fire alarm frequency,” which bores inside your head and goes straight to the center of your brain.

The couple sitting next to us had apparently decided to come at random and only made it about 30 minutes in before leaving. I can’t imagine what one would think about seeing Diamanda Galas if you weren’t familiar with what she does.

It was not a pleasant concert, but pleasant was definitely not the point in a piece about the genocide of ethnic groups by the Ottoman Turks during the early 20th century! Galas is very evocative, gesturing passionately with her vocal delivery. Many pieces were in foreign languages (Turkish, Italian, and so on), but the emotion was well-conveyed.

She performed straight through for about 90 minutes, with no intermission. Between her unreal music and the very dark stage, I soon lost all sense of time. The only cue that the performance was over was when she slowly walked back onto the stage and bowed.

I’m so glad to have finally seen her live, and will definitely see her anytime she’s back – like her or not, there is nobody quite like her!