So I was kind of thrown into going to the Golden Gate Festival with a friend last Saturday because her mom couldn't go anymore and she had an extra ticket. It was freezing that day, and being down by the Marina on a cold day...not my idea of fun. But it turned out to be a really good time actually. We arrived just as The Donnas were playing, and although I don't like them, it was cool to just see them play and to just be sitting listening to the live music. Plus the guitarist is actually good, she can play. My friend and I were simultaneously relieved and surprised.When The Donnas finished we went and watched an acrobat troupe called Vau de Vire Society who were really amazing, but they also put on a good show theatrically because they acted and each had a character. They also danced very very well. It was really erotic too. They all wore really short skirts and striped colored tights and had bright red makeup and dyed hair. The guys wore makeup too, but, they had army pants, not skirts. One lady had boots and a coat and that was it and some guy in the audience kept screaming at her to "let it all show". Oh and ironically I saw two of the acrobats who performed walking near my house two days ago.http://www.vaudeviresociety.com/Anyway, after that, we kind of wandered, but one band playing a smaller s tage had caught our eye. We got closer and eventually ended up watching their entire hour set and loving it. The band? Persephone's Bees. They. Are. Great. They're Russian and I had heard of them before but never taken the time to get into them, but now I will. They put on a really great show and the songs were really fun to dance around to. After their set, the lead singer gave out stickers and she was very nice to us. Their CD comes out August 29th and it's called Note From The Underworld, so check it out. I'm sure they have myspace or purevolume or something too.Then we got to see tons of people we didn't know, but enjoyed, like Los Amigos Invisibles, Sean Hayes, and some others. But who were we waiting for?Brian Setzer.Yes. When he got onstage (and no, he is NOT that fat) we got up and ran straight up so we were very close and danced and sang along to his songs. My friend's dad was so excited because he loves Brian Setzer and both our parents play his songs at home a lot, so we were the youngest kids there who knew the words (one kid our age behind us looked absolutely devastated that he was there.) It was lots of fun and a party. He was cool. And the stand up bass person was incredible. In all, a lot of fun. Cold. Freezing. Over priced food. BUT FUN. I loved it. Oh and by the wayHappy Jack's Mannequin dayA year ago today my favorite band ever, ever, in the world next to Something Corporate released their album and frontman Andrew McMahon went under his final stages of chemo for cancer. He's all better now, and to commemerate a year having passed, I have gotten a cake and am wearing my Jack's shirt.