Greetings from San Francisco. I’m out here in advance of the 2014 Woodsist Fest which starts Tuesday in Big Sur, CA.
I flew out Sunday. I whiffed at attempts to find an open seat on either of the first two non-stops (6:15 AM and 8:00 AM) to SFO out of Kennedy. I ended up catching a 830 AM flight to Los Angeles – and then made a connecting flight out of LAX. When I finally reached SFO, my bag had not. It was still back at JFK. Me and the luggage hope to reunite later today.
My travel buddy on this trip is longtime pal Jeff D from Nashville. He flew Southwest with a stop in San Diego. We both love San Francisco and know our way around here pretty good by now. After Woodsist Fest, we plan on heading up the coast to catch a couple days of the thoroughbred racing meet at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
The Woodsist Fest lineup is very strong, especially on Tuesday when all five acts on the bill promise maximum excitement in a setting so beautiful you wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it. I’ll get to see Kevin Morby for the first time since he played the Mercury Lounge back in January. He’s played New York a few times subsequent but never on a night I could attend. A new bass player has been enlisted and it’s a good bet we’ll hear plenty of tunes from the next record. Angel Olsen is playing. I’m presuming she’s bringing along a full band. I’m really curious to see Olsen for the fist time. We’ll also get Fest mainstays White Fence, Skygreen Leopards and of course Woods on Tuesday. All are coming off recent record releases you could argue are the finest of their careers in each instance.
Wednesday’s Fest card is intriguing although perhaps not as serious as Tuesday’s. All eyes on Wednesday will be on Foxygen’s Sam France given the number of natural objects on site that can be scaled and/or climbed.
After being unable to sleep Saturday night because of my excitement over starting this vacation, I took one of those apple green-colored outerborough taxi cabs to Kennedy airport from Jackson Heights early Sunday morning. The driver was a young man from Ecuador who immediately put me at ease with his restrained driving style. Their was no racing, passing or darting as we stuck to the speed limit down the Long Island Expressway. Our conversation covered many topics. Whenever I offered an opinion, the driver would pause – and then repeat verbatim what I had just said. When I opined that Mexico got exceptional goalkeeping during group play of the World Cup, a minute later the driver said the same in the exact wording I had just used.
The flat fare was $30 plus tip. The driver initiated a handshake as we parted ways. If only all taxi drivers were as good as this fella.
We ate burritos and drank a few beers in and around the Mission Sunday night. Deeply ingrained in East Coast early-riser mode, I’m way out of whack on the sleep pattern. That’ll work itself out but I need to hug my luggage before I can truly get in a vacation groove.