hardly strictly bluegrass

so today was the much-anticipated (for me) hardly strictly bluegrass festival in golden gate park--a free concert! in previous years i have not attended this event, but this year with ben kweller and iron & wine playing, i have been looking forward to this for a few months now.

my excitement (specifically for ben kweller) was so great this morning that i couldn't sleep this morning--literally i woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. i was like that kid in that disney commercial who says "i'm too excited to sleep!!!!" (i literally quoted him in bed this morning).

anyway, we got to see an amazing set by ben kweller. he was playing a few new songs, and then some classics, mostly songs with a blue-grassy twinge to them.

anyone who has attended a ben kweller concert with me can verify that this next statement is true: ben kweller turns me into a 14-year-old groupie teeny-bopper. it's not that i want him, it's just that he seems like a totally nice, down-to-earth guy, and he is just about the most adorable person i've ever seen--i'd love to grab a beer with him. he is a great act to watch, very enthusiastic, and everyone on stage looks like they are having a blast, and it's contagious. you can only imagine, then, how excited i was to hear him say "i'll be at the merchandise tent after the show." i, of course, dashed over there with my newly purchased ep, but once in line had second thoughts. thoughts such as "i am probably double the age of most of the people in this line." brenna, who came with me, was a true pal and reassured me that no, in fact there were multiple people my age and older in line, and it was perfectly acceptable to want to get my ep signed and that i just needed to own my enthusiasm. once we got to the front of the line they were trying to usher him off, so it all was very rushed but brenna got...the picture (right as the lady said "last picture! last picture!" so much excitement! i am sort of glad it was rushed because honestly, what would i say, besides something to make a complete fool of myself?

after my photo op, brenna and i decided that roasted corn on the cob and pomegranate lemonade was too much to resist, so we made a stop at the concession area. the rest of the group was still in the crowd, being nostalgic and watching elvis costello perform, but the amount of people had at LEAST quadrupled so there was no way we were making it back to our spot (i had insisted on being close for ben). after a phone meltdown (no one could get through), we FINALLY got in touch with the group again and made our way over for iron & wine. unfortunately a ton of other people had the same idea, and anyone who has ever listened to iron & wine knows their music is not exactly loud, so we could barely even get close enough to hear ANYTHING, let alone actually tell what song they were playing. at that point we were exhausted, sunburned and dehydrated and decided to call it a day. we headed back out of the park and headed home, completing a very satisfactory sunday.

i hope i do see you next year, hardly strictly bluegrass!
chris, this picture was taken for you...these two were literally caught red-handed...

now we are watching the angels vs. red sox game, waiting for that outcome...
happy sunday everyone!