Philanthropist and bluegrass lover Warren Hellman was honored Sunday with a free concert featuring a host of regulars at Hellman's own Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.The day-long tribute to Hellman, who died of leukemia at the age of 77 in December, featured John Doe, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch, Boz Scaggs, Robert Earl Keen and Emmylou Harris and Hellman's band, The Wronglers. Read More
Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch and The Wronglers with Jimmie Dale Gilmore are among the dozen Hardly Strictly Bluegrass regulars who will play at a tribute concert Sunday for Warren Hellman, the Bay Area philanthropist and festival founder who died late last year.The free concert will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Great Highway at Ocean Beach, between John F. Kennedy Drive and Lincoln Avenue. Performances will alternate between two stages. Read More
Amid bluegrass tunes both somber and joyful, more than 1,000 people gathered Wednesday to honor the life of San Francisco’s best-known philanthropist and civic champion, Warren Hellman.
Hellman died Sunday evening of complications from leukemia. He was 77. Read More
Golden Gate Park’s Speedway Meadow is now officially Hellman Hollow.
The Recreation and Park Commission voted unanimously Thursday to rename the portion of the park after 77-year-old billionaire Warren Hellman upon the urging of Supervisor Sean Elsbernd with the support of the Board of Supervisors.
The renaming drew support from San Francisco’s political elite, including Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, Willie Brown and John Burton. Read More
Fans filled Golden Gate Park for the 11th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, enjoying sounds from legends such as Merle Haggard and newer, less strictly-bluegrass acts such as Buckethead.
To see some of our favorite images from the festival, click on the photo at right. Read More
Jimmie Dale Gilmore gave Saturday’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass audience a little insight into how “hardly” came to be part of the festival’s name.
Festival benefactor Warren Hellman was trying to accommodate Gilmore, a Texas singer-songwriter lacking formal bluegrass credentials. So he renamed his “Strictly Bluegrass” festival and opened the door to a broader range of acts. Read More
The early forecast called for rain, but perhaps the skies have enough sense not to spoil the nicest gift San Franciscans receive each year.
The 11th-annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival got off to a fabulous start Friday and Saturday amid perfect weather and one of the concert’s strongest lineups ever. At any one time, several worthy acts were performing on a stage somewhere in Golden Gate Park. Friday and Saturday’s lineups yielded a wealth of riches. Read More
Traffic in San Francisco is never a picnic, but this weekend could be particularly nightmarish for motorists because a couple of major events are expected to attract hundreds of thousands of people to The City. Read More
Mancunian prog-rockers Elbow have been making great Genesis-complex music since their overlooked 2001 debut “Asleep in the Back,” fronted by Guy Garvey’s eerily Peter Gabriel-ish vocals. At the time, they accepted they had a cult following, but not huge popular appeal. Yet things changed in 2008, when they won Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize with their fourth recording, “The Seldom Seen Kid.” This year’s more adventurous “Build a Rocket, Boys!” arrived at No. 2 on the UK charts. Read More
Here are a few top names among dozens of acts on six stages:
FRIDAY
Robert Plant and the Band of Joy: 5:45 p.m., Banjo Stage, Speedway Meadow east side, near JFK Drive
Bright Eyes: 6 p.m., Rooster Stage, Marx Meadow, near JFK Drive
Chris Isaak: 4:30 p.m., Star Stage, Lindley Meadow, JFK Drive near 30th Avenue Read More
