#hardly strictly bluegrass

[countrymusicandcher]

Emmylou Harris photographed by Jay Blakesberg for Hardly Strictly Bluegras - 23.

[krispyweiss]

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Day No. 2, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Sept. 30, 2023

Leyla McCalla controls the weather.

An overcast day in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park suddenly turned sun-soaked when the former Carolina Chocolate Drop sang: My face to the sun as she performed Our Native Daughters’ “I Knew I Could Fly” during her Sept. 30 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass set on the Towers of Gold Stage.

“That’s awesome,” she said mid-verse as the Earth’s star emerged from the afternoon clouds.

Following the electric and steel guitar instrumentals of Hermanos Gutiérrez on the adjacent Swan stage and playing cello, banjo and electric guitar, backed with rhythm section and electric guitar, McCalla covered Kendrick Lamar’s “Crown” and offered a gumbo of New Orleanian, Haitian and American music delivered in English and Haitian Creole while showcasing her the Capitalist Blues and Breaking the Thermometer LPs.

The Sound Biteses’ day had begun in the pre-noon fog with the down-in-the-holler, old-time string music of Dry Branch Fire Squad playing the songs of Gillian Welch, Doc Watson and Bill Monroe on the Banjo stage. Later, it was gospel from the McCrary Sisters, who sung Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” “Amazing Grace” and other numbers backed by a full band during short, five- to 15-minute sets on the Rooster stage, where Brennan Leigh offered a lunchtime menu of traditional country music.

It was also on the Rooster that Emmylou Harris previewed her Sunday appearance by guesting with Shawn Camp and Verlon Thompson and closing their Doc Watson tribute set with Guy Clark’s “Old Friends.”

Shortly afterward, Bettye LaVette sauntered onstage to deliver her grinding version of Bob Dylan’s “Things Have Changed.” From here, it was an impassioned reading of songs from the Randall Bramblett-written LaVette! album as the singer prowled the stage and proved her 77 years have cost her nothing in vocal prowess and stage presence.

“If I could write, this is what I would have said,” LaVette said in introducing the new songs, which worked better on stage than on wax.

Rickie Lee Jones attracted a ginormous crowd to Banjo - “I haven’t seen so many people in front of me for so long,” she said, soaking it in - and their enthusiasm rubbed off. Jones, whose band included Vilray on guitar and vocals, plus accordion and bass, was animated as she danced around the stage and crooned like a lounge singer when she wasn’t playing guitar, banjo or piano.

Opening with a radically rearranged “Danny’s All-Star Joint” more suited for the streets of New Orleans than the fields of Golden Gate, Jones went on to perform “I Won’t Grow Up” - for the first time, she said - “Last Chance Texaco,” “We Belong Together” and a sinewy rendition of Steely Dan’s “Show Biz Kids” that found Jones lifting her orange sweater to sing of the Rickie Lee T-shirt beneath.

Give RLJ the MVP for turning in HSB No. 2’s No. 1 gig.

Faced with the quintessential festivalgoers’ dilemma, Mr. and Mrs. Sound Bites split the last hour between Steve Earle’s uncharacteristically sleepy solo-acoustic set on the Banjo and Irma Thomas’ barnburner R&B/soul revival at the Rooster.

At 82, Thomas played the day’s most rambunctious set, ripping into “Time is on My Side” and getting the audience bouncing and waving their handkerchiefs on her mashup of “I Done Got Over It” -> “Iko Iko” -> “Hey Pocky Way” -> “I Done Got Over It.” That one might be ringing through Golden Gate’s trees along with the birdsong for some time to come.

Read Sound Bites’ coverage of HSB Day One here.

10/1/23

[jeffcbliss]

Robin Zander of CheapTrick - @ Hardly Strictly Bluegrass; Golden Gate Park; San Francisco, CA (10-8-17). @cheaptrick #robinzander

Photo: Jeff Bliss

[beginningspod]

It's time for Beginnings, the podcast where writer and performer Andy Beckerman talks to the comedians, writers, filmmakers and musicians he admires about their earliest creative experiences and the numerous ways in which a creative life can unfold.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Avery Hellman AKA ISMAY. Originally from the Bay Area, Avery grew up surrounded by music - their grandfather founded the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival - but didn't think they would pursue making music professionally until a crisis propelled them in that direction. Their first album Songs of Sonoma Mountain was released in 2020, and their latest album Desert Pavement was just released last week, and it's great!

I'm on Twitter here and you can get the show with:

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[mxdwn]

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Unveils Second Group of 2023 Lineup

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

General Rated Fics Masterlist (8)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 /

Created: March 12th, 2024

Last Checked: —-

For The Longest Time-albinokittens300 (ao3) Summary: Katniss and Peetas first “kiss” after the Rebellion. Frost-Alliswell (ao3) Summary:In the kingdom of Panem, authoritarian King Coriolanus is coveting an Heir, everything changes when Jack Frost falls in love with a human girl from the small District Twelve, and tries to prove himself in order to become human permanently and win the heart of his beloved. Gale vs. Geese-DandelionSunset (ao3) Summary: On a trip back to District 12 after nearly 20 years away, Gale finds himself at war with Haymitch's territorial geese. While trapped in a storage shed, he reflects on the past and is greeted with the future. Hardly Strictly-Demona424 (ao3) Summary: None of Katniss’ friends could join her for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival so she decided to go ahead and do it alone. I mean how could you pass up a free 3 day festival? But life isn’t what you expect it to be, especially when her dog steals some food from the handsome man sitting next to her. How Katniss made it to bed…-chele20035 (ao3) Summary: In MJ, after Katniss finds Buttercup back in District 12 and has her meltdown over Prim finally, it says she passes out (near the couch, I believe, where she was helped to, ) and regains consciousness in her bed that night. Is it canon that it was Peeta who did this? Greasy Sae? How did she get to her bed?  I am Buttercup.-Buttercupbadass (ao3) Summary: Buttercup's life has not been an easy one but with the lessons his mother taught him, he is a survivor. Buttercup tells his life story with darkness and light, great joy and sorrow I Never Said She Stole My Money-Alliswell (ao3) Summary: Peeta tries to convince his classmates that a pair of younger girls at the Campus, are innocent of the theft of his hard earned funds, using the phrase "I Never Said She Stole My Money" each time with the emphasis on a different word. Ich Mag Dich-HGfanonezillion (ao3) Summary: Johanna thinks her new neighbor is attractive. And once she recognizes the other woman speaking German on her phone, Johanna hatches a plan to win her over. If We Met Up at Midnight-c_r_roberts (ao3) Summary: There aren’t many reasons to celebrate in District 12. Even as a Victor. But the arrival of the New Year is one of them. Canon, pre-Victory Tour. It's like a house of cards-Brown_Eyed_Devil (ao3) Summary: Basically a really short piece with me trying out writing from Peeta's POV. Anyway it's just a little glimpse into what I think Peeta might have been thinking on the train, whilst on the victory tour.

[anotherdayinbliss]

Robert Plant and the Band of Joy perform at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, on September 30, 2011. Photos by Tim Mosenfelder.

[nonesuchrecords]

Nashville Ballet's production of Black Lucy and the Bard, set to an original score by Rhiannon Giddens, premieres on PBS's Great Performances this Friday night. Onstage alongside the dancers, Giddens and Francesco Turrisi play several instruments including violin, banjo, mandolin, and piano.

Giddens and Turrisi will give a performance at the US Ambassador's Residence in Dublin this Thursday night for Other Voices, celebrating shared musical culture between the US and Ireland. The event will stream live here.

They return to the road to tour the US starting with a set at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco on October 2.

Details on all the above here.

[residentbunny]

So, we got a new carrier for Shoelace, and he absolutely loves it. We’ve just been leaving it out as a hide for him and he just hangs out in there. It’s amazing. We also got him a new harness (it’s an XS kitten harness, and it fits him perfectly!). It can be used as a backpack too, and we took him to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco. He really enjoyed it, munched on grass and got lots of attention and snacks. He is the chillest rabbit ever and travels so well - he even seems to enjoy it!

Next time we take him on an adventure, I’ll be sure to get some pictures!

[manitat]

Elvis Costello, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, and David Rawlings perform with special guests as part of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 6 at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California... Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Corbis via Getty Images...

[countrymusicandcher]

Rufus Wainwright photographed by Jay Blakesberg for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass - 23.

[krispyweiss]

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Day No. 1, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Sept. 29, 2023

- Rickie Lee Jones, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, John Cragie, Peter Rowan and others highlight first day

Rickie Lee Jones opened the 2023 edition of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass - and christened the festival’s new, Horseshoe Hill stage - by reading from her 2021 memoir.

And Peter Rowan played country - not bluegrass - music during his late-afternoon set on the Banjo stage.

These were just two highlights from Day One at the long-running festival, which also included Christone “Kingfish” Ingram redefining the blues and John Craigie finding his quirky spot alongside Todd Snider in folk-Americana.

Seated on the small stage set up to resemble a living room and flanked with clothes drying on the line, an animated Jones embellished her reading from “Last Chance Texaco” with playful asides and wise cracks. She talked about how Laura Nyro made her feel connected and how Neil Young made her realize odd voices can be successful voices.

“I like it up here,” Jones said of being on stage. “I think artists sometime mistake the excitement for fear.”

Jones read about hitchhiking through California as a 14-year-old in 1969 as a foggy drizzle enveloped Golden Gate Park. She had soundchecked with a snippet of “The Horses,” but ended her well-received spoken-word gig by playing her father’s composition “The Moon is Made of Gold” solo and acoustic and earning a standing ovation from the small crowd seated in grass surrounded by tall trees.

Afterward, Mr. and Mrs. Sound Bites took in a couple of numbers from Vetiver - think the Byrds with a slide guitarist - on the Swan stage as the blog couple headed for Ingram, who played before an audience of thousands on the Towers of Gold stage.

Borrowing Stevie Ray Vaughan’s tone and adding equal measures of funk and R&B, Ingram and his band were super-charged during 50 minutes of electrifying blues as they continually tore the music down before building it right back up. The guitarist sang of lost love on “Fresh Out;” walked off stage, but kept playing out of sight, to showcase his band on “Not Gonna Lie;” and engaged powerful call-and-response with his keyboardist during the set, which ended as Craigie took to the adjacent Swan stage.

Backed by electric bass and guitar and playing acoustic axe and harmonica, Craigie mixed humorous stage banter with tunes both playful (“I Wrote Mr. Tambourine Man”) and serious (“I am California”). Stage presence and song craft made fans of the Sound Biteses, who got their second dose of Craigie in as many days following the previous evening’s benefit for Camp Winnarainbow.

Bluegrass legend Rowan was the biggest surprise of the day, turning in a country and blues set that found him alternating between electric guitar and mandolin, supported by guitar, bass, drums and fiddle. This was exhilarating, though low volume at the Banjo stage lessened the impact of the instrumental guitar duel of “T Bone Shuffle” and made “Panama Red” -> “Freight Train” -> “Panama Red” sound like they were coming in on the winds from Ocean Beach.

Small price to pay for the opportunity to hear Rowan perform such warhorses as “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy,” “Land of the Najavo” and “Midnight Moonlight” in novel musical settings in the bucolic landscape of Golden Gate Park.

9/30/23

[jeffcbliss]

Robin Zander of CheapTrick - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass; Golden Gate Park; San Francisco, CA (10-8-17). @cheaptrick #robinzander @HSBFest

Photo: Jeff Bliss

[metaphoricgibberish]

Honestly any tips you have on the Bay I’ll take. Thank you so much for the bookstore and restaurant recs! I just moved here from Austin so Im feeling a bit like a fish out of water.

well welcome! happy to have you here!

basic bay tips i’m sure you’ve heard a thousand times over already, but:

- always carry a jacket, especially in the city. despite us being in California, the bay can be temperamental weather wise. we’re famous for our microclimates. one minute it’s sunny and 65, next minute it’s windy, foggy, misty and the coldest fucking night you’ll experience in a city that hasn’t seen snow since ‘76. Mark Twain once said “the coldest winter i ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” he wasn’t lying. the marine layer is brutal. it may say it’s only 54 outside, but the cold here is different. i’ve had people from the east coast say that it feels colder here in the summer than it does back there when it’s snowing in the winter.

- there’s a lot of houseless people here, but most of them are harmless. don’t be alarmed walking past them, but do be aware of your surroundings. don’t be buried in your phone, keep your purse or bag close. most of the time it isn’t the houseless people taking your shit, but the areas where there are a lot of them tend to attract thieves. Republicans and conservatives love to say that the bay is dangerous, it’s really not in comparison to other major U.S. cities. we don’t have gun issues for the most part, and most of our crimes are targeted (and unfortunately gang related) so most of the time you have nothing to worry about. just be aware.

- however, car theft and break-ins are absolutely NO JOKE. never leave anything in your car. and i mean nothing. i once got my car broken into because i had a bag of dirty laundry in it. i also got my car fucking stolen (keep in mind i drive a shitty ‘96 jeep cherokee) in a really nice neighborhood.

- take advantage of the bay’s multicultural neighborhoods. this place has the best Asian food, the best central and South American food, incredible African food and places and festivals to celebrate a ton of different places and cultures.

- we’re also one of the gayest places in America (and probably the world). pride is a bay wide celebration. tons of great gay and lesbian bars too!

- there’s so much nature in the bay worth exploring. point reyes, Muir Woods, the Santa Cruz mountains, Golden Gate Park, fort mason, mt. Tam, big basin. this is huge area for hiking, even though we’re often just seen as a metropolis.

- we have a huge literary and music scene. there are shows and readings basically every day somewhere in the bay. highly recommend checking out local venues.

- outside lands is amazing, but super expensive, I recommend checking out the free bluegrass festival, Hardly Strictly, in Golden Gate Park every October. tons of cool local artists and big names too!

i’m sure i could go on and on but my brain is turning to mush at this point in the night. i’ll add more in the comments later!

[earcandle]

ECP0478 Ear Candle Productions captures Beth Orton at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Golden Gate Park, SF, 10/1/2023.