Going to sleep early was a good call, because it made for a restful sleep to energize for the Adams Avenue Street Fair. Historically I've had two favorite San Diego weekends since high school. One used to be the Street Scene/ASR weekend combo at the beginning of September and the other has always been the Adams Avenue Street Fair, which is always the weekend right before or right after my birthday, and was a family tradition for us growing up, even when we were in Chula Vista. The Adams Street Fair is so engrained in me, in fact, that it might be why the County Fair is always such a dud for me. Adams is free, has better music, cheaper vendors, and for the eight years I've lived in Kensington, I can walk there.
My fam met at my house, I put on the Baby Bjorn and we were on our way. There is something so great about this event, but especially in the last couple years for me in local music 101 you really get the sense that everyone you know is in this one place. Because I had my hands full with an 8 week old, I really didn't take too many pics, but here were some of my favorite sights.
Free Spam sliders (right next to the free facials and free mentos)
This booth gets the award for best looking themed booth.
We strolled the entire length of the fair and back. The first band we really got to hang out and watch was Agua Dulce. They were in the park stage and with the small baby, we could get away from the stage and out of the sun for a bit, plus it's been a while since we've seen Giovanni (below), a friend of ours from Hilltop High.
Johanna was enjoying the day, too. Out of the few hours we were there, there really wasn't so much as a whimper. But definitely a lot of laughing and smiling.
After Agua Dulce, mi familia took off, so it was time to head off for the adult portion of the afternoon. I met up with friends at the beer garden until Mike Watt started, but my camera just couldn't capture and I could hear just as well in the beer garden, so I headed back there with friends after this shot. As I walked away, Mike kinda stumbled into his amp a couple times.
I chatted with Rodney for a bit and as Mike thanked him from the stage, we laughed that he called him a "tranny" as in "we're the engine but couldn't do it with out the tranny" er- transmission? Rodney said that they'd chatted earlier about him being a transplant from Detroit. Still, I thought it was a funny choice of words. As I got back to the garden, Mike Watt finished their set, though by all clocks, they still had a half hour for their set which made for a long gap before Tell Tale Hearts to enjoy some of the Oktoberfest beer from Karl Strauss.
Some friends and I caught the Tell Tale Hearts set and it was fun to see their longtime fans decked out in their mod dresses like it was- when was that? 1987? I was still in elementary school or junior high in their heydey but they still rocked out and all their fans sang right along with all their songs. I have it under good authority that this wasn't the last reunion show for the band so fans should keep an eye out.
After the band, the festival was wrapping up and it was time to start the trek back home, but I had to take a pic of this little cutie who was entertaining a circle of people as he did the robot.
After the fair, I headed to the Ken Club to hang out and watch Vitro (I'll post those pics in a separate post) but when morning came around, I loaded up my stuff again and headed back to the street fair in order to make it in time for Silverbird. Something compelled me to lug my laptop, thinking I'd take advantage of all the wi-fi hotspots, but I also took my dog who really would've probably rather have stayed home, so she didn't let me take as many pics as I wanted and I never did bust out my laptop. Still here are my Sunday pictures.
T-Bone was on the drums filling in and I haven't heard the band sound better. Plus, ya gotta love when Bubba plays barefoot.
They were playing on the stage next to Rosie O'Grady's. Petro (Swim Party) lives above Rosie's, so he came down and we ended up hanging out throughout the day. After the set, we chatted with the band then headed down to catch Kite Flying Society.
They sounded great and played a lot of new material along with old favorites. The violin and handclaps and glockenspiel all add to the new songs and I look forward to the new album's release. Unfortunately, this was when Pascha decided to freak out, so we didn't stay for the whole set, and instead crossed to the other end of the fair to catch a short part of Roxy Monoxide. Did I mention I was still lugging my stupid backpack around with all my crap and it was hot, and their stage was by DiMille's so there was definitely a traffic jam and my dog was miserable, so after a couple songs, it was back to Rosie's where Petro asked the question that only has one answer, "wanna come up to my house for a beer?" Pascha and I joined Petro and Kris in his apartment to enjoy a cold IPA in the air conditioned room. Pascha made herself right at home.
We stayed up there for a while as we listened to Mex on the stage below. I also got a sneak peek of a couple unmixed Swim Party tracks and I cannot wait to get the new stuff in my hands. Petro was also kind enough to give me the Black Box compilation and we listened to Goblin Cock's cover of "Head Over Heels" which is awesome. A couple beers and a couple hours later, it was time to head back to the streets and we met up with our friends where the Swedish Models were the last set of the day.
We had such a great day, I had to take a final pic. (From left, Andrea, Petro, Kris)
The 2nd day of the street fair wrapped up and Andrea and I headed to Kensington for Dinner. Kevin joined us and we had an excellent meal at Bleu Boheme. (This time, I had the special which was halibut in a beurre blanc on a bed of broccoli and spinach, with a penne au gratin. Delicious.) We sat on the patio and unwound from the weekend. As tempting as it was to go out for more (a couple after parties were planned here and there), I had work to do, so after the three of us hanging at my place for a little while, I dropped Andrea at home and went off to do an interview. You can read the results of that interview in this week's CityBeat.
And even though, as I said, this is always my favorite weekend of the year, that doesn't mean it's all downhill because the coming weekend has some great Oktoberfest celebrations throughout the town. I think I'm going to attempt to go to the Karlfest on Saturday then make it to the German American Society's Oktoberfest in El Cajon. We shall see, though, best not to overplan.
