05-25-2026, 03:32 PM
All the action on Saturday was on the Cali Roots stage, not the main stage. The 3rd subsidiary stage wasn't on. It was a cutback. along with the dispensary/art area and there were less vendors. There were only a few moments when it felt full.
Barrington Levy was next on the Cali Roots stage. I always remember a show in Berkeley that he was headlining. The promoters forgot one key thing - the sound system. It finally got set up at the end of the day and Levy came on saying "Are you ready?" Sure. We'd been ready for hours. The show was supposed to be all day and in the end, we only got like a half hour of Levy saying "Are you ready?" Levy has a ton of classics. He's been singing since the 70s. And he's got that old stool style. But he lingered on his riffs way too long, milking his songs for far more than they were worth. It got tedious. Towards the end, he started singing that he would sing a new track. He got us to chant 'Run the Track!' over and over and over again, so many times that he went over time and they cut his power. He threw down the mike in anger and walked off, then came back for a moment saying that cutting his mike was disrespectful but thanks for coming everyone. It was weird at the time and got funnier and funnier the farther we got from it.
Caught a bit of Fortunate Youth in the main bowl. They were typical Cali Reggae. I was more impressed by a family that had secured a box on stage right towards the front, and lined the wall with bubble machines. They put out an impressive wall of bubbles, much to the delight of their kids, who were armed with bubble guns.
Burning Spear was next on the Cali Roots stage. I've been a huge fan for so long. His band is still super tight. And he still beats the bongos and skanks well, now in his 80s. But he's slowed down. That powerful spark that drove his fiery delivery is gone. I saw him last year, opening for Ziggy, and felt the same - https://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFo...p?tid=8624
Last up on the Cali Roots stage was Tash Sultana. The stole the show just prior to the pandemic. https://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFo...&pid=33261 They stole it again last Saturday. Their looping, singing, playing - it was all amazing. What a force of music. We saw them soundcheck with a band, which was disappointing, but they did their show solo (non-binary thus the plural), like before and absolutely commanded that stage. After Tash, I was done. That was such a satisfactory moment and as far as I had looked into the line-up. I was done. The rest was icing.
We staged a Doc Lee & Gene Safety Meeting with great success, although Doc Lee had been dubbed Broccoli because an early discussion between the kitchen resulted in the spelchuk tweak 'Should I bring scotch for broccoli?' The night before, no one had Brought any shot glasses. That's DM's thing. Sloppy Joe gave DM props saying 'way to make yourself useful'. 6 whiskys went head to head - two bourbons, two Japanese whiskeys, a triple peat single malt scotch, and a pancake and bacon flavored one. The winner was from Doc Z - Yamazaki. DM shifted gears from his usual Irish offerings to Japanese and brought Fuyu, which was very pleasant with a persimmon start.
That night Dm suffered wicked heartburn from all the indulgence, and was up for hours trying to find a position of comfort. Some woman was singing poorly late into the night, Redding's Dock of the Bay over and over again badly. Not a good night's sleep at all. But it wasn't cold, so there's that.
Barrington Levy was next on the Cali Roots stage. I always remember a show in Berkeley that he was headlining. The promoters forgot one key thing - the sound system. It finally got set up at the end of the day and Levy came on saying "Are you ready?" Sure. We'd been ready for hours. The show was supposed to be all day and in the end, we only got like a half hour of Levy saying "Are you ready?" Levy has a ton of classics. He's been singing since the 70s. And he's got that old stool style. But he lingered on his riffs way too long, milking his songs for far more than they were worth. It got tedious. Towards the end, he started singing that he would sing a new track. He got us to chant 'Run the Track!' over and over and over again, so many times that he went over time and they cut his power. He threw down the mike in anger and walked off, then came back for a moment saying that cutting his mike was disrespectful but thanks for coming everyone. It was weird at the time and got funnier and funnier the farther we got from it.
Caught a bit of Fortunate Youth in the main bowl. They were typical Cali Reggae. I was more impressed by a family that had secured a box on stage right towards the front, and lined the wall with bubble machines. They put out an impressive wall of bubbles, much to the delight of their kids, who were armed with bubble guns.
Burning Spear was next on the Cali Roots stage. I've been a huge fan for so long. His band is still super tight. And he still beats the bongos and skanks well, now in his 80s. But he's slowed down. That powerful spark that drove his fiery delivery is gone. I saw him last year, opening for Ziggy, and felt the same - https://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFo...p?tid=8624
Last up on the Cali Roots stage was Tash Sultana. The stole the show just prior to the pandemic. https://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFo...&pid=33261 They stole it again last Saturday. Their looping, singing, playing - it was all amazing. What a force of music. We saw them soundcheck with a band, which was disappointing, but they did their show solo (non-binary thus the plural), like before and absolutely commanded that stage. After Tash, I was done. That was such a satisfactory moment and as far as I had looked into the line-up. I was done. The rest was icing.
We staged a Doc Lee & Gene Safety Meeting with great success, although Doc Lee had been dubbed Broccoli because an early discussion between the kitchen resulted in the spelchuk tweak 'Should I bring scotch for broccoli?' The night before, no one had Brought any shot glasses. That's DM's thing. Sloppy Joe gave DM props saying 'way to make yourself useful'. 6 whiskys went head to head - two bourbons, two Japanese whiskeys, a triple peat single malt scotch, and a pancake and bacon flavored one. The winner was from Doc Z - Yamazaki. DM shifted gears from his usual Irish offerings to Japanese and brought Fuyu, which was very pleasant with a persimmon start.
That night Dm suffered wicked heartburn from all the indulgence, and was up for hours trying to find a position of comfort. Some woman was singing poorly late into the night, Redding's Dock of the Bay over and over again badly. Not a good night's sleep at all. But it wasn't cold, so there's that.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse