Wow. What an idiot I am for not attending this years past... I'm kicking myself now. My excuse? Sounds like too many people and too hectic-- though line-ups have been amazing. I had no idea what I was missing...Saturday I attended with my parents who drove up from Santa Cruz. I packed a picnic lunch that included some delicious baked fried chicken with a cornflake crust, crunchy green beans, deviled eggs (horseradish style) and some home made chocolate chip/macadamia nut cookies. We brought a blanket, some chairs, some wine and beer and set up camp early at the Porch stage to watch Jeffrey Luck Lucas' set. The sound was amazing and it was a great outdoor show. If you know Jeffrey Luck Lucas' music, you know it's not exactly sunny, beautiful day in the park music--more of the smoky, dark bar style, but it worked. I was really proud of them as they pulled it off and sounded superb. David Phillips' pedal steel was smokin'(g). A band called Annie and the Vets followed closely behind and they were pretty great. My mom and step-dad were excited to see them; they were hilarious and entertaining with an all anti-war/anti-Bush set. Annie and the Vets are part of a group called Veterans for Peace and Warren Hellman is apparently a fan. He came over especially to introduce the group and encouraged the crowd to flip off the "million dollar pigeons" (unfortunately it was fleet weekend and the fucking Blue Angels were zooming around the city in lame defiance of San Francisco's anti-war stance) if and when they flew over. I think it came naturally to most in attendance on any of the days. Warren really seemed like a nice guy, down to earth, appreciative of the performers, the crowd and the event in general. The Danny Barnes collective followed, but it was a little too "rock" for the “P's” so we decided to move around. We packed up our stuff and trucked it up to the car so we could be more mobile and cruised around the festival. We walked over to the Rooster Stage and caught a bit of the singer's in the round. It was pretty packed out, so we couldn't get near but the sound was still amazing. I was really impressed with the sound all over; outdoor sound is never easy. We grabbed a spot on the hill to listen but I realized immediately that we were very near a whole lot of poison oak. I'm pretty allergic to it; the last bout sent me to the hospital so needless to say I was pretty distracted. I saw four young girls about 9 years old climbing on a dead tree that was covered with it, I suggested that they not do that for obvious reasons. I think they thought I was bumming their fun, but when they realized that I wasn't, and when I suggested that they should go wash up immediately they ran off hopefully to do just that. I decided that I needed to leave "poison oak gulch” so we headed over to the Banjo stage and Earl Scruggs. Holy shit. Wow. They had about a 9-piece band behind them and the arranging was gorgeous. I don’t know much about Earl Scruggs but I felt fortunate to witness this performance.We walked back up the hill, up to the Porch Stage to check out the Jon Langford, with Sally Tims and Rico Bell set and grabbed a spot on the grass. The Porch stage was very intimate and the performance was incredible. The dynamic between everyone in this band was pretty light and fun as well as funny. Sally's voice kills me, always and Jon is always hilarious. We headed out as Billy Bragg played on the Rooster stage. It was an amazing day and the weather was astounding. I had such a great day and though I didn't have plans to attend Sunday-- I quickly formulated a plan to get back there the next day. SATURDAY WAS INCREDIBLE.I got home, made a few calls and made some plans for Sunday. I weighed whether (and weather) or not to go to the party at Slims for performers and guests or attend Sunday at the park. I knew I couldn't do both so I opted for some more picnic preparations and an early start for Sunday. I had missed Kenya's birthday earlier in the week so I put together some red velvet cupcakes that kicked asses, if I might say so myself. I had some left over chicken, threw together some crab rangoon, orange wedges, apples and cheese and packed it up. Molly made some procuitto/goat cheese treats and had some honeycomb, cheese, almonds, and other deliciousness. That's picnic # two for us and it seems we can do it pretty well together. Neither of us fucks around when it comes to wine, snacks, seats and music-- rapidly becoming my favorite way to see music. I must be getting old. I arrived a few songs into Four Year Bender’s set at 11:30- Ryan writes some incredible songs and has such a great band behind him. Such nice people- I'm a big fan of they and Ryan plays solo fairly regularly at the Rite Spot-- what a great talent! I'm not sure who followed, but behind whoever that was-- Iris Dement! I've been waiting to see her for a very long time, so I was happy. Such an interesting voice and they rolled out a baby grand-- much of her set was piano and voice and it was beautiful. Alejandro Escovedo's amazing band, which included strings completely slayed... big, round, full, loud, rock-- his voice... It's such a masculine energy, I've seen he/his band a number of times and every time I see/hear I think that it's the best show I've seen from him/they. Anyone who hasn't seen Alejandro, I highly recommend that you do. The Coward Brothers followed, Elvis Costello with T-bone Burnett and Emily Lou Harris sat in on a song. Fucking awesome. It was starting to get to be that time- the time when I have to start thinking about opening the bar (unfortunately) when Richard Thompson came on, we only heard a few songs-- amazing he could sound that full as a solo performer.I never made it to two of the stages either day and I don't believe I missed anything-- 5 stages in separate little gulches-- minimal sound bleed which to me was hard to believe. Amazing line up, great friendly and helpful staff, beautiful weather-both days- clean port a johns, well behaved dogs and children and super chill attendees. Nothing hectic about this festival, only people sharing and caring and listening and smiling and enjoying. HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS is amazing. I can't believe the staff from Slims/GAMH put this together and this sort of free festival is available and possible. Thanks Warren Hellman, you are an amazing human being to fund this on your own. San Francisco is lucky to have you as well as this beautiful park setting. I consider myself lucky.