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...and a hoppy time was had by all!
Jul. 14th, 2003 11:34 amYesterday I attended the Stern Grove Festival concert series. One of my favorite bands, Afro Celtic Sound System, was playing. Monica, Sean F., Jenny, Matt and I had seen them live a couple of years ago and were blown away by their incredible stage presence. They were supposed to come through again in late 2001, but had to cancel their North American tour in the wake of 9/11.
No way was I going to miss them, especially if the show was free! I dutifully told Bruce I'd be missing his D&D game (now there's a measure of how important this was to me -- I skipped a *game*!!) and started shouting to everyone I knew that this show was goin' down.
I've only been to the Stern Grove Festival once before. Last year Matt and I joined a group that saw Altan (and that was a great show too). I knew from my previous experience that the grove fills up fast. I needed good seats. And the only way to get good seats was to get there early. My mission was clear.
Ammy didn't believe me. She lives close by, so carpooling was an obvious choice. But she looked at me like a criminal when I informed her I wanted to pick her up at 9AM for a show that didn't start 'till 2PM.
A quick stop by Rollie's place to pick him up (and pour some coffee into Ammy) and we were on our way. California weather didn't disappoint -- as soon as we got into San Francisco the fog was thick and chilled. Stern Grove, if you've never been there, is along 19th Avenue close to the SFState campus; it's a hidden gash cut deep across the Sunset district, a magical valley filled with redwood and eucalyptus trees. We got there around 10:30; Ammy suddenly realized why I'd been so insistent on the early start, as the place was already filling up rapidly. She started calling everyone on her cell phone to ensure they got there before the vale was filled to capacity.
Cell phones. The Star Trek geek in me revels in this technology! A small, inexpensive hand-held device that allows instantaneous contact with any other user. So handy! In crowd situations cell phones really shine. We were able to tell just about everyone where to find us hidden in the sea of celtic fandom -- near the front of the stage, in a shady spot!! I was sad that Crystal didn't have one; we never did manage to connect with her during the day. (And before anyone gets annoyed at my mini-pro-cellphone-rant, yes I do turn mine off in a movie theater!)
By the time the entertainment began we had a large group of people with us. A lot of Plough denizens had made it to the show. And for those of you who were wondering, the tall, willowy blond gothy woman is Alice, another of the people I date, who doesn't cross circles with the Plough gang very often. She's the one that's responsible for introducing me to Deathguild, which occasionally drags me away early from Plough on Mondays. She had several of her friends along as well, and it was fortunate we had a lot of blanket space.
The music started with DJ Cheb i Sabbah, who spun a nice mix of world beats. DJ's at a festival can't really put on much of a show. Mostly he walked up there, waved hello, then pushed a button to start the music playing. Every few minutes he'd push another button or perform some other obscure technical function, but the distant audience can't really appreciate the physical and mental activity he's going through to do his thing, only admire the audio results. I was especially pleased to pick out an incredible elaborate remix of the theme to Knight Rider, filled with East Indian back beats and Farsi wailing.
Next up was Sound Tribe Sector 9. An enjoyable band who mostly played mellow world music. Nothing amazingly innovative or especially cool, but pleasant background music to bliss out with while laying back and watching the wind blow through the eucalyptus leaves.
And speaking of blissing out, another mini-rant: OK, I'll admit it right up front: I'm a rampant anti-smoker. I'm massively in favor of California's draconian anti-smoking laws. I'm so infrequently exposed to cigarette smoke these days that when I smell some I have a great, big reaction to it. Not allergic reaction, but lizard hind-brain reaction: smoke bad!!! Clove and marijuana smoke is just as awful, if not worse because it's extra pungent. I've studied the physiology and psychology of cigarette addiction, and I realize that it's a very difficult habit to break. In a crowd of several thousand people, when the MCs have announced several times that this is a no smoking area, and that smokers can only practice their habit of slow suicide far from the concert bowl full of several thousand people, where the hell do smokers (be they puffers or tokers) get off as somehow being able to flaunt the rules? Look, there's several thousand of us, and We. Don't. Want. To. Inhale. Your. Secondhand. Smoke. So go away; go away to that distant banished place where you may practice your filthy brand of cancer-induction far from my nostrils. If you don't, me and several thousand of my non-smoking neighbors that you're currently annoying will beat you up. Go away!
(Ahem. Now back to the music.)
The only problem with an afternoon festival performance is that each group can only do one set. Such was the case with the AfroCelts. But what a set! They performed just as brilliantly as the last time I saw them. And that guy who plays the African harp got even better at it -- he's apparently been practicing -- playing complicated chords and self-harmonies. Once again the group's piper (who's also the group's only woman, and looks like they plucked her straight from some hamlet deep in County Clare) seemed stand-offish and socially separated from the rest of her bandmates, but her music was just as sparkling and integrated as always. They surprised me by playing music from their new album; until yesterday I had no idea there even was a new album. The new stuff sounded just as fantastic as the older stuff.
A lot of our group, even the Plough folk, just stayed to listen. Some went off to dance in the back. I couldn't bring myself to join them. I knew before even coming out to the show that there wasn't going to be room to dance and still see the stage, and I wanted to see the band. Everyone seemed happy, everyone seemed to love the show, everyone went home satisfied. And that made me happy; as the only one in our group who had seen them live before, I was happy to share the experience with a bunch of people who were seeing them for the first time.
And I was touched that the band thanked the Stern Grove audience for our support, as they'd been just as disappointed as I had that they'd had to cancel their last appearance.
Special hello to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
grynz and phoenixrisen! grynz's sharp eye recognized me from across the field, having only seen my LiveJournal userpic, and screwed up the courage to come over and introduce herself (and a short while later, phoenixrisen). Tres cool! By the end of the day they'd had a chance to meet several other faces they'd only seen on LJ. I'm just sorry that in the rush of packing up I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Hopefully we'll see you two at the Plough someday soon!
No way was I going to miss them, especially if the show was free! I dutifully told Bruce I'd be missing his D&D game (now there's a measure of how important this was to me -- I skipped a *game*!!) and started shouting to everyone I knew that this show was goin' down.
I've only been to the Stern Grove Festival once before. Last year Matt and I joined a group that saw Altan (and that was a great show too). I knew from my previous experience that the grove fills up fast. I needed good seats. And the only way to get good seats was to get there early. My mission was clear.
Ammy didn't believe me. She lives close by, so carpooling was an obvious choice. But she looked at me like a criminal when I informed her I wanted to pick her up at 9AM for a show that didn't start 'till 2PM.
A quick stop by Rollie's place to pick him up (and pour some coffee into Ammy) and we were on our way. California weather didn't disappoint -- as soon as we got into San Francisco the fog was thick and chilled. Stern Grove, if you've never been there, is along 19th Avenue close to the SFState campus; it's a hidden gash cut deep across the Sunset district, a magical valley filled with redwood and eucalyptus trees. We got there around 10:30; Ammy suddenly realized why I'd been so insistent on the early start, as the place was already filling up rapidly. She started calling everyone on her cell phone to ensure they got there before the vale was filled to capacity.
Cell phones. The Star Trek geek in me revels in this technology! A small, inexpensive hand-held device that allows instantaneous contact with any other user. So handy! In crowd situations cell phones really shine. We were able to tell just about everyone where to find us hidden in the sea of celtic fandom -- near the front of the stage, in a shady spot!! I was sad that Crystal didn't have one; we never did manage to connect with her during the day. (And before anyone gets annoyed at my mini-pro-cellphone-rant, yes I do turn mine off in a movie theater!)
By the time the entertainment began we had a large group of people with us. A lot of Plough denizens had made it to the show. And for those of you who were wondering, the tall, willowy blond gothy woman is Alice, another of the people I date, who doesn't cross circles with the Plough gang very often. She's the one that's responsible for introducing me to Deathguild, which occasionally drags me away early from Plough on Mondays. She had several of her friends along as well, and it was fortunate we had a lot of blanket space.
The music started with DJ Cheb i Sabbah, who spun a nice mix of world beats. DJ's at a festival can't really put on much of a show. Mostly he walked up there, waved hello, then pushed a button to start the music playing. Every few minutes he'd push another button or perform some other obscure technical function, but the distant audience can't really appreciate the physical and mental activity he's going through to do his thing, only admire the audio results. I was especially pleased to pick out an incredible elaborate remix of the theme to Knight Rider, filled with East Indian back beats and Farsi wailing.
Next up was Sound Tribe Sector 9. An enjoyable band who mostly played mellow world music. Nothing amazingly innovative or especially cool, but pleasant background music to bliss out with while laying back and watching the wind blow through the eucalyptus leaves.
And speaking of blissing out, another mini-rant: OK, I'll admit it right up front: I'm a rampant anti-smoker. I'm massively in favor of California's draconian anti-smoking laws. I'm so infrequently exposed to cigarette smoke these days that when I smell some I have a great, big reaction to it. Not allergic reaction, but lizard hind-brain reaction: smoke bad!!! Clove and marijuana smoke is just as awful, if not worse because it's extra pungent. I've studied the physiology and psychology of cigarette addiction, and I realize that it's a very difficult habit to break. In a crowd of several thousand people, when the MCs have announced several times that this is a no smoking area, and that smokers can only practice their habit of slow suicide far from the concert bowl full of several thousand people, where the hell do smokers (be they puffers or tokers) get off as somehow being able to flaunt the rules? Look, there's several thousand of us, and We. Don't. Want. To. Inhale. Your. Secondhand. Smoke. So go away; go away to that distant banished place where you may practice your filthy brand of cancer-induction far from my nostrils. If you don't, me and several thousand of my non-smoking neighbors that you're currently annoying will beat you up. Go away!
(Ahem. Now back to the music.)
The only problem with an afternoon festival performance is that each group can only do one set. Such was the case with the AfroCelts. But what a set! They performed just as brilliantly as the last time I saw them. And that guy who plays the African harp got even better at it -- he's apparently been practicing -- playing complicated chords and self-harmonies. Once again the group's piper (who's also the group's only woman, and looks like they plucked her straight from some hamlet deep in County Clare) seemed stand-offish and socially separated from the rest of her bandmates, but her music was just as sparkling and integrated as always. They surprised me by playing music from their new album; until yesterday I had no idea there even was a new album. The new stuff sounded just as fantastic as the older stuff.
A lot of our group, even the Plough folk, just stayed to listen. Some went off to dance in the back. I couldn't bring myself to join them. I knew before even coming out to the show that there wasn't going to be room to dance and still see the stage, and I wanted to see the band. Everyone seemed happy, everyone seemed to love the show, everyone went home satisfied. And that made me happy; as the only one in our group who had seen them live before, I was happy to share the experience with a bunch of people who were seeing them for the first time.
And I was touched that the band thanked the Stern Grove audience for our support, as they'd been just as disappointed as I had that they'd had to cancel their last appearance.
Special hello to
grynz and phoenixrisen! grynz's sharp eye recognized me from across the field, having only seen my LiveJournal userpic, and screwed up the courage to come over and introduce herself (and a short while later, phoenixrisen). Tres cool! By the end of the day they'd had a chance to meet several other faces they'd only seen on LJ. I'm just sorry that in the rush of packing up I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Hopefully we'll see you two at the Plough someday soon!
