Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Between Sets

It's never too late to have a happy childhood, or in my case, adolescence. The first weekend in October proves that every year.  At the crack of dawn on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we walk up the hill to Fulton Avenue, cross into Golden Gate Park, and stake out our two square meters of Speedway Meadow. Thus begins San Francisco's biggest annual music fest: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

First financed in 2001 by venture capitalist Warren Hellman, attendance during the 2009 weekend of HSB was estimated by Rolling Stone Magazine at 800,000.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are regulars, like T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello. Emmy Lou Harris is practically the patron saint of HSB.

This year's best musical discovery: The Secret Sisters, from Mussel Shoals, Alabama. Best moment of nostalgia? When Joan Baez sang "Long Black Veil" as the fog rolled in.

Joan Baez at the Banjo Stage

Along with sets and stage visits, we have a basket with grapes, cheese, hummus, and a couple of bargain wines. The people-watching is world class. It's a three-day Derby infield minus the horses.