Summer Sailstice Festival Next Saturday!

Here's where I'll be performing next weekend:

You are Invited to San Francisco Bay's Top Sailing Festival June 21!

The longest day of the year... the launch of summer... the summer solstice. Power your holiday with sun and wind to support a healthy lifestyle, a healthy Bay, a healthy planet!

Air travel, automobile and recreational vehicle use, and cruise ships produce anywhere from 0.4 to 2.2 tons of carbon dioxide per family, and consume large amounts of fuel. Whether you're a sailor or non-sailor, cruiser or racer, windsurfer or kiteboarder, strike back at $4 gas and qualify for over 300 prizes with the Bay's best on-the-water party: the 8th annual Summer Sailstice SF Festival at Treasure Island, June 21, 2008.

FREE ADMISSION! Summer Sailstice brings together everyone who loves wind, water and sail! Sail in, motor in, or just come down for a full weekend of sailing, cruising, racing, windsurfing and onshore entertainment.

If you don't have a boat, don't worry--you can get FREE sailboat rides, watch sailboat racing and enjoy live music at the festival village. Or see if you can hook up with a ride on the Latitude 38 crew list.

For boaters--on top of all the other fun--there is a free anchorage with complimentary water taxi and dinghy dock availability to enjoy one of the most idyllic spots on the Bay. Racers unable to anchor or stay overnight can raft up stern-to at the Treasure Isle Marina guest dock as space permits.



Click these links for more information:

• A Festival overview
• Detailed schedule of events
• Directions to the Festival
• Background on the musicians
• Background on Summer Sailstice
• Sailing/treasure hunt/pirate pictures from past years at: FlikrSailstice

Musical Line-up:

Blind Willies (www.blindwillies.net) - Alexei Wajchman and Annie Staninec are an acoustic duo that has just released their second album, "Everybody's Looking for a Meal." Both are San Francisco natives and graduates of the SF School of the Arts. Annie's fiddle playing is amazing and she has played with many bluegrass bands across the States and is also a remarkable gypsy violinist. Alexei is a great songwriter, pulling from what really drives his spirit, and he received strong praise after the release of their first album.

Skip Henderson and The Starboard Watch (http://www.myspace.com/skiphendersonandstarboardwatch) good friends and great musicians. They celebrate maritime life and history, and live it at the same time. Sea chanteys that you are bound to join in on because they become part of you after you've heard them a few times, and you just want to go and find a line to heave. Great vocals and a wide variety of instruments that pull you in to sing along with them.

Pixie Kitchen - A three-piece group led by Todd Tholke, an accomplished banjo, guitar, and mandolin player. Their specialty is early Americana , folk and sea chanteys. This acoustic group plays regularly at clubs around the Bay area, as well as local street fairs and music festivals. They recently produced two CDs. They’re a good-time playing foot stompin’ and hand-clappin’ songs, with a combination of Bluegrass, and Irish jigs.

Carne Cruda (www.carnecruda.com) with Alexa Weber Morales (www.alexawebermorales.com) - We pulled some strings here. When you hear a unique collaboration between musicians, you are thrilled with their love of music and exploration - so we asked these two great musical sounds if they would perform together. Not to miss. Alexa is a local treasure who brings us a beautiful voice and energy, and draws her inspiration from music around the globe with a focus on Latin jazz. Carne Cruda brings us a big band Latin groove with slices of funk, surf, salsa, and knock-out horns, melding their unique sound that you won’t forget.

Kalbass (www.kalbasskreyol.com) - Ah, as the day winds down, what do you want to do? Dance, dance, dance. This Haitian band is going to pull out all the stops and infect you with the spirit of les Caraïbes. A kalbass is a gourd used to carry water from the source to home, and Kalbass acts as a similar vessel bringing the spirit of Haiti to share with the Bay area. You will experience a magical blend of many rhythms including Kompa, rara, salsa, soca, zouk and meringue. The rhythm and the dancers will have you moving and enjoying the longest day of the year as if it will never end.