Sunday at the Bluegrass Festival

Went into SF yesterday, first stop the Apple store at the foot of Stockton Street. Big decision to make: the 11" or 13" MacAir and finally settled on the 11. Going to lighten my travel load all around. The Panasonic Lumix G1 has cut the weight considerably (from a Canon 20D) if I want to take a  serious camera along. I'm going to Hong Kong in early November to oversee printing of the Tiny Homes book and will take a few weeks to explore Borneo or some place yet to be determined. (One possibility is surfing on an island off the coast of China.)

I missed Dr. John, but heard the Blind Boys of Alabama, then Ray Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. Totally wonderful. The Blind Boys have still got the power, after 60 years. There must have been 5000 people in the glade. "Take the high road to the valley (3 times) if you want to meet the promised land." Toward the end they said they'd just done their first country gospel album, and did a gorgeous 3-part harmony rendering of a white gospel song. By the end everyone was dancing, punching the air.

Ralph Stanley, 84, stood there all alone and sang:

"O, Death

O, Death

Won't you spare me over til another year…"

Then did a bunch of songs with the bluegrass boys and are they good!

I felt a tap on my shoulder, turned, and a guy passed me a joint. I usually think of weed partaken of at rock and roll and blues events, but the air was redolent with bluegrass smoke yesterday.

At 7:30 last night I went to The Riptide bar, a hip, warm neighborhood bar with good Feng Shui on Taraval out by the beach and heard CB Brand, a great little country band from LA playing classic country songs.  A great day of music.

Then out to Ocean Beach, Kelly's Cove, where there were a bunch of bonfires on the beach. Ocean Beach is motherland to a bunch of us San Franciscans, it's the end of the westward trek from Europe, as fur as you can go. My dad used to drive down there when he was depressed, or sad, and sit in his car and look out at the ocean. I got into it bodysurfing at age 17, and I still find myself out there a lot.

More shots from the day (and night):