San Francisco Noobs» Festivals

Confessing My Non-Love for Music – #TIMF

Casi — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:45:06 +0000

This weekend Greg and I went to the 2011 Treasure Island Music Festival. We didn’t know any of the bands playing (except Death Cab for Cutie – which both of us have heard of, but neither of us could come up with one lyric to the one song we probably know by them). Don’t hate me for saying this, but I’m not a big music person. Actually that’s a lie, I don’t like a lot of music. Hand me a NOW CD from the 80’s or 90’s and I’m a happy camper. But really, the only band I have loved since high school and still do to this day are the Foo Fighters (which I’m going to see live on Wednesday!!! Be jealous!) Other than that, I’m exactly what I used to make fun of my mom for. I love oldies….and sadly, the 90’s are now oldies.

Treasure Island Music Festival has a huge lineup that changes every year. They have never had a repeat act over the past 5 years and has been introducing people to new music ever since.

Greg and I went for the experience, and although we didn’t know any of the bands we had a great time laying out on a towel, soaking up the warm sun, eating delicious food, drinking $9 beers, people watching, and listening to some fun indie rock music. I have to say, the best part for me though was the fact that we had never been to Treasure Island before. The views of San Francisco from there are unbeatable. Here are some pics I took from the event, including some of those breathtaking city views.

♥ Casi

Pacific Catch Makes My Outside Lands Dreams Come True

Casi — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 06:29:58 +0000

Last year the closest I got to Outside Lands was hearing it from Fulton Street along with every other poor noob in this city. This year, Pacific Catch gifted me two free tickets to this music-tacular festival. Lucky, lucky me!

Last week I put a poll up on this here blog so you could vote for my Outside Lands schedule. The only bands I knew of were the obvious ones like Kings of Leon and Wolfmother. Little did I know that so many of you would be so passionate about the other great music that was going on at this years festival. Bands like My Morning Jacket, Gogol Bordello, Nneka[VID], The Temper Trap, and Al Green immediately went on my schedule. For that, I owe you all a big high five! These bands were fricken amazing, plus I also came across a few others that I liked. Bassnectar and Pretty Lights[VID] were a surprise to me. Who’da thunk a DJ could be so fantastic to rock out to not at a club!?! I certainly didn’t! Now they are two of my new favorite must hears!

I know the audio isn’t that great (damn you iPhone!), but look at the crazyness that occured during Bassnectar

Beyond the music, this festival was all about the food! Local restaurants dominated this festival with some grubalicious bites. I saw pizza, hot dogs, and hamburgers; but the tasty treats Pacific Catch were selling definitely stood out from the crowd. It was tough to choose which meal to go with, but in the end I went with the Shrimp Ceviche.

You gotta try this stuff! The green, spicy, guacamole sauce laid on top of a never ending pile of perfectly cooked shrimp. Although I have never been to this restaurant before, I will definitely be checking it out soon!

After getting my strength back with some grub and beer, it was time for my favorite band of the weekend! Wolfmother! I’ve seen them a few times before, but I have to say this was my favorite time ever. The crowd was pumping and the band was rockin’ it harder than they ever have! I was even in my first mosh pit!!! Well, sorta…you can see for yourself in this video I posted.

As you all know, the headliner of the weekend was Kings of Leon. With Nas and Damian Marley[VID] playing right before them it was a tough one to get to! Nas and Damian were an incredible mix. I didn’t even know they were playing together! What an awesome pair they make! Unfortunately, we had to leave their set a bit early so we could make it over to Kings of Leon[VID] and hope for a halfway decent viewing spot. We got a pretty good spot, no where near the front but good enough. They played a lot of new and old music, so I was a bit unfamiliar with a few of their songs. Once they played the hits the crowd went wild! It’s just incredible to hear how much their live rendition of their music sounds just like their album. So Good!

Be sure to check out my other pics below. Be jealous! Be very jealous!

♥ Casi

Help Me Plan the Ultimate Outside Lands Lineup

Casi — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:33:19 +0000

I am the overly excited winner of a pair of tickets to next weekends Outside Lands Music Festival, thanks to the deliciously delicious Pacific Catch. This will be my first OSL adventure, so I need your help to make the ultimate Outside Lands lineup. There are about a million and half bands playing over this two day festival and most of them I have never heard of before (don’t judge me). The bands I will for sure NOT be missing are Kings of Leon, Wolfmother, The Strokes, Phoenix, Social Distortion, and Chromeo. Most of these bands are later in the day, so I have hours of music awesomeness to attend before that. Below, you will find Saturday and Sunday’s lineup (minus the bands I already mentioned and the poor bands who are playing the same time as Kings of Leon) and I would love you forever if you check off the bands you think I should see. The bands with the most votes will end up on my OSL Schedule, so get your vote on!

Also, leave some comments on any OSL tips I should know. Bring toilet paper? Bring a towel? What should I wear? Will there be naked people? Wait a minute….that’s a stupid question! This is San Francisco! Of course there will be naked people! And most importantly, your tips for sneaking in “happy beverages” since I can only afford two $50 beers. Are you going to be at Outside Lands? Lets meetup and enjoy some awesome music together!

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♥ Casi

7 – OK 9 – Things I Learned from This Year’s Bay to Breakers

Casi — Tue, 18 May 2010 05:04:14 +0000

I moved to San Francisco the weekend of Fourth of July, just missing Bay to Breakers 2009. This was also the time that hangovers and bad memories were forgotten, so all I heard was good things and how I missed the best party in San Francisco by just over a month. So, this year I was pumped!!! I looked at pictures and videos from previous years B2B, heard fun stories from friends and co-workers, and caught up on some B2B etiquette (DON’T MESS WITH THE SALMON!!) Along with a group of other noobies, we armed ourselves with a backpack full of beer and started our journey. As you can see from the pictures, we had an amazingly fun time, but we did learn a few things that will help us for next year:

1. Be Prepared – Bay to Breakers kind of snuck up on me. I knew it was coming but I didn’t realize that if I wanted to come up with a genius costume, I was going to need more than 2 days of strategizing. I think the 80’s ski/jazzersize theme Lauren and I had going on was good enough, but we definitely could have done better. Although, everyone was liking my crimped hair!
2. Wear butt pads – I learned this after getting whacked on the ass by a drunk girl and her trusty ping pong paddle within 5 minutes of joining the party. We steered clear of that psycho beater for the rest of the day!
3. Spread the beer around – After partying all the way up Hayes Hill, we approached the Panhandle a.k.a. the porta-potties! This is where we lost our designated beer holder. No beer for 2 hours of B2B = FAIL
4. Leave EVERYTHING at home – If you don’t need it….DON’T BRING IT!!!! I luckily didn’t lose anything (besides our designated beer holder), but I heard several stories of lost cell phones, wallets, and house keys. I’m not a fan of sleeping at bus stops, so I would have to say that this is one of the most important rules of the day!
5. Walkie Talkies – Cell phone service is pretty much non-existant (hence the lost designated beer holder for 2 hours), so I’m thinking walkie talkies might be a good investment. Or, you know those child leashes????
6. Toilet Paper – No explanation needed for this one other than: I’ve never wished I was a man more in my entire life!!!!
7. Eat more than a pussy bagel - Lauren, I thank you for providing the nourishment we needed to survive this 7+ mile beer infested walk, but pussy bagels are just NOT going to cut it!!! I’m glad I wasn’t the barfing girl on the side of the street at 9a.m. (thanks to the wondering designated beer holder) (who got lost with all our beer!!!) (did I mention that already?), but if I was really partying like everyone else it definitely could have been my reality! Two words for next year’s pre-breakfast strategy: Breakfast Burrito.

I’m seriously counting down the days until the 100th Annual Bay to Breakers 2011. It will be epic! And I will have a better strategy for enjoying this holy of all days!

Oh wait!!!!! One more thing I learned:

BONUS
8. No Booty Shorts if my ass looks anything like THIS!!!!!!

AHHHHHHH! Flash Back!!!! One more rule:

BONUS #2
9. Don’t pretend to pinch THIS guys butt – I’m still sanitizing, and possibly thinking about chopping my left hand off!!

I don’t want to talk about it!

If you enjoy NSFW pictures, please take a look at all the awesomeness that occurred:

♥ Casi

Wine Tasting in Healdsburg

Casi — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:06:31 +0000

As I said in my previous Shrimp Corn Dogs post, CitySearch thinks I’m awesome (and I can hardly blame them!) enough to be in their Dictators group. They have seriously showered me and the other Dictators with some great prizes and they throw meetups strictly for the consumption of several FREE cocktails. One of these great prizes was a press pass for two to this years 32nd Annual Barrel Tasting in Santa Rosa, with over 100 wineries participating.

Casi loves wine, so Casi drug her boyfriend away from his computer for a beautiful day filled with cheese and purple teeth (which I’m sure you noticed in the picture above). Who can say no to that!?!

Whoa! Sorry for the third person-ness, I just got excited.

As I said, it was a beautiful day (which you can see in this great picture I took as we passed over the Golden Gate Bridge). We focused our attention on a cute little town called Healdsburg, mostly because it had the most wineries within walking distance of each other. Breakfast consisted of Pinot Noir and Zinfandel right out of the barrel. LITERALLY out of the barrel! I’ve never had wine served to me like that! It was very exciting. If you follow me on Foursquare you will notice that we didn’t just go to 2 or 3 places. It was more like 7 or 8 (and I think I started to forget to check-in towards the end of the trip). The best part of the day was watching this old guy get kicked out of a winery for being drunk and disorderly. Awwwww, don’t you just love drunk old people!

After sobering up with a MASSIVE amount of cheese and crackers, we headed home in our rented Mini Cooper. Which BTW I hope someone buys me for my bday. Oh yea, and that special day is in 4 days! I will be having my quarter century birthday, and I haven’t decided if I’m excited or scared by this….Stay tuned.

♥ Casi

P.S. Happy St. Patrick’s Day …. be sure to have tons of green beer!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day San Francisco

Casi — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:29:58 +0000

Reason #536,649 of why I ♥ San Francisco…St. Patrick’s Day Parade!!!!!!!!

OK, so, first of all…We all know San Francisco is filled with freaks who dress in whatever the fudge they want! Well….St. Patty’s day = Green freaks, drinking Guinness, scaring young Irish kids as they follow a group of bagpipe(r’s?). All fun and entertaining things to watch.

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade started at Market and 2nd and marched over to the Civic Center. A buttload of people blowing bagpipes, strumming drums, throwing candy, tossing beaded necklaces (Mardi Gras?), drinking beer (at 11:30a.m.), driving motorized bar stools (I have photographic evidence. And I want one!), and wearing the most ridiculous green hats/shoes/skirts/jewelry/makeup/you name it….it was GREEN!

Here are all my St. Patrick’s Day Parade pics….
(P.S. I’ve decided I want to be in a marching band)

Watching green shinanigans sure makes a girl hungry! So, I walked over to the farmers market at the Ferry Building and had myself the best garsh darn pork sandwich I have ever had!! Seriously! Like EVER!!!! I’m glad it was that good because I would have been really pissed about the mile long line I waited in to get it! Luckily, this is San Francisco and it was sunny as hell out so there was live entertainment from some uber Hippie Band called Jugtown Pirates. Their folky drug filled lyrics were pretty fricken awesome! I can totally see myself kicking back with a pint listening to them. Sorry guys, I didn’t buy the Jugtown Pirate CD, but here is a tid bit of their performance…

♥ Casi

West Fest: 40th Anniversary of Woodstock

Casi — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:12:06 +0000

Golden Gate Park this last Sunday was awesome! West Fest was in full force and all the hippies in San Francisco were there! I’m not a hippie by I enjoy people watching very much, and West Fest was the place to be for this hobby. Speedway Meadows and the people in it was decorated with peace signs, tie-dye, marijuana leaves, and green activism. Those that were not decorated in the appropriate theme wear were simply naked. I chose not to put those pictures in the stream below, but if you are truley interested in seeing old man private parts please feel free to email me at info@sanfrancisconoobs.com. I will try not to judge.

My new favorite band rocked out on Stage. Here’s a video of the School of Rocks performance

This guy really enjoyed their music too (watch closely at the end to see him scare a little kid)

Even though I’m pretty sure 90% of the people here were on some major drugs, it was good entertainment for a warm Sunday afternoon.

<3Casi

Rock Make Street Festival – The Mission

Casi — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:16:08 +0000

This weekend Greg and I went to the 2nd Annual Rock Make Street Festival in the Mission. Treat Street between 17th and 18th was transformed into a rock fest and vendors paradise. Each end had a stage set up where the bands switched off to perform and in between the street was packed with local vendors. People were selling beverages, tees (my favorite being the Obama PILF shirt), purses, jewelry, snacks, hula hoops, belt buckles, art pieces, and a million other crafty items. I of course wanted EVERYTHING! But, we went there for the free music (donations accepted at the entrance).

One of our favorites was a two man/woman band, Silian Rail. They have a rock/easy listening vibe…no singing. It’s super chill music and it seemed like everyone in the audience was loving them.

Another fan favorite was the band Geographer. They are an Indie/Rock band with some very eclectic groupies! The best part of their show was watching the whole front row dance their hearts out! They were really great so they definitely deserve the loyal fans!

Greg and I had a great time with our back back filled with Simpler Times and we definitely can’t wait for next years Rock Make Festival!

<3Casi