Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

Hannah, bff Katie, Zoe and Henry,
on a beautiful October day
in Golden Gate Park,
festival sounds, sights, smells, and tastes...
Otis Clay, Earl Skruggs and a crazy-cool looking rainbow man,
all in a sun-baked homage to Hazel Dickens...
Zoe got a serious banjo groove on
while the rainbow man distracted everyone else!

Kidaroo Girls Rock!

Hannah, you loved listening to the all-girl 5th-grade band who was rockin' out at the Kidaroo Festival! They played Wild Thing, Saturday, and Can't Buy Me Love, and then played an encore performance of Wild Thing. You had front row lawn seats on my lap, and you were surprisingly very quiet and still during the entire concert. You did clap after every song, but you were not dancing and jumping as usual (perhaps it was the heat), so I wasn't sure you liked the music...

After we got home and you had a refreshing nap, however, you showed your appreciation. You loved watching this video over and over, and then you broke out Aunt Angie's Elmo Guitar and you demanded an impromptu daddy-daughter guitar jam session. Our 2-person band (just us), Peanut Butter 'N Jam, well, we only have one song in our repertoire so far, but we still had lots of loud fun singing a couple rounds of the alphabet song together. What a great day!

Festivals O' Fun

We seem to have finally emerged from the coldest May on record since 1977. And just in time for a bunch of fun festivals going on around town. Last weekend, we hit up the Carnival Festival in the Mission district with Samantha Jacobi (and papa Jarrod), among others. Then this weekend we got to take in the Union Street Festival down in my old stomping grounds, Cow Hollow. Both days could not have been more beautiful too. Which is nice since summer is almost upon us, which means the fog will be rolling in all too soooooon....!

Carnival Festival - May 30, 2010

Who is having more fun here? Hmmm......

ANNNND she's off, again..... This would not be a good place to lose the Banana.
~~~~~~~~~

Union Street Festival - a little more kid-friendly (at least between Steiner and Fillmore Streets...)

Hey look, I'm flying with Lil' Joe!

The Diva awaits the rest of her rainbow & butterflies make-up session.

Get me outta this spinning teacup before I hurl!

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

Hannah, your first live music concert (not counting your Uncle Randall's and your friend Adam Robinson's personal guitar concerts) was fitting because it took place - for free - in your back yard, Golden Gate Park. Luckily, we were able to hit it Friday night for a little while, before the bitter cold winds blew in, chilling the rest of the weekend. There is "no other music festival like it anywhere in the world." Local billionaire(?)/buy-out guru, Warren Hellman (who also owns a stake in the Great American Music Hall), hires all the 80 acts and underwrites the entire multimillion-dollar venture "simply because he likes the music so much that he wants to share his enthusiasm." You were mostly interested in running around and playing soccer with the older kids who were near us, and getting airplane rides from Dad. But you loved the music too... you got your groove-on to a couple John Prine songs, and when Lyle Lovett and his Big Band started playing, you took a little chicken-dance hankerin' to him too. I hope you keep an open mind to all kinds of music and I look forward to sharing many more live concert experiences with you!

Daddy, Hannah, boo-boo bunny, and super-sized momma enjoying a few last notes before heading back to the warmth of home sweet home.