When we were going to Emperor Palace today for lunch with the grandparents, I noticed a lot of auto and foot traffic. Later I found out on the radio that Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was happening this weekend. I misssed out! I didn't receive a reminder from the FB page, either. I missed watching Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands, Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Magnolia Sisters, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson & David Holt, The Del McCoury Band, Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer, Anderson Family Bluegrass, and LUCERO! The MD's family was in town this weekend, so I probably wouldn't have gone even if I had known that it was this weekend. While I was waiting for the pedestrians to walk, I was thinking about how much I disliked the city and the people who live there, especially the single hipsters. Even if we have a common interest in bluegrass music, that does not suffice to create community; we're just members of an audience. Traditional music doesn't necessarily have a connection to traditional morals, but it does seem to me that bluegrass music does have its origins in a Christian culture, even if it is the attenuated Protestant culture of the South. One still hears bluegrass songs about God and Christ; there may be lyrics about love and marriage, but not about domestic partners and civil unions. Perhaps someone will eventually write a bluegrass song reflecting the "progressive values" of San Francisco, but would it get any play among the people among whom bluegrass music originated? Do Bay Area bluegrass enthusiasts identify themselves with those British folkways? Or is bluegrass just another form of American folk music they've adopted as their own because they're making some sort of statement, whether it be aesthetic or political?

I don't care for modern Western business formal wear, but it's better than what a lot of young people are wearing these days. (Again, can't we have something that is aesthetically pleasing, comfortable, and suitable for a variety of occasions? If formal must mean inconvenient, then can we upgrade our casual wear?)

Still, I may make an effort to attend next year, depending on who is performing and if I am in the area.