quasify

My intrepid Foss Fest research of late summer festivals (and contact buzz hotspots) continued tonight at the Robert Plant/Allison Krauss show (last week, Austin City Limits, this week, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, next week, Dai Ginza Matsuri!). This is the first event I’ve been to down in Golden Gate Park (an easy walk from my new house) and it’s really a great venue, lots of topography, giant primordial trees and plenty of interesting people. To the disappointment of the PA crew Robert Plant was not (I think it’s fair to say) thirty years old, sexy and shirtless but Allison Krauss sang beautifully. T-Bone Burnett played there as well - his arrangements are sparse, spooky, brilliant. I’m glad I didn’t see their set last Saturday at ACL but feel some amount of guilt that I influenced others to go see Beck instead. The bluegrass banjo version of Black Dog alone was worth the (free!) price of admission. The version they played tonight had a much sharper staccato bass drum than the version below, though it’ll give you an idea. This is going to be a good weekend*.

*provided Dice-K can get a couple/three outs right here.