If You’re Going to San Francisco

then I am jealous of you.  The Second Annual Frisco Freakout begins in a few short hours at Thee Parkside. If you can attend, I can’t imagine why you’d miss it.

Last year, David and I attended the first annual Frisco Freakout and neither our minds nor our eardrums have been the same since.  Our own musical project was in its infancy at the time, and as we watched band upon excellent band take the stage at Thee Parkside, we came to the simultaneous conclusion that Midday Veil―which had been playing out as a synth/folk/drone duo of sorts―most definitely needed a nudge in a heavier direction (a course it is now on, thanks to the addition of some heavy new dudes).

We are not the only Seattlites to have been inspired by Frisco Freakout and similar psych festivals. Our friends Aubrey and Darlene of Portable Shrines took it upon themselves to organize the first annual Escalator Fest, which descended on Seattle a couple of weeks ago.  (Photos from the event by Andrea Brunson are now online here.) Escalator Fest is a spiritual sister of Frisco Freakout in a couple of ways. Not only did the inaugural Escalator Fest have two bands (Lumerians and Wooden Shjips) in common with this year’s Freakout, Darlene of Portable Shrines is down in San Francisco today helping out with visuals.

Wooden Shjips at Escalator Fest, 9/26/09 at the Vera Project. Photo by Andrea Brunson.

So if you’re gonna be in Frisco, these days the flowers in your hair are optional.  But be sure to wear some earplugs. Here’s to hoping both of these fantastic new festivals have a long life ahead of them!

~ by emilypothast on October 10, 2009.