Random Stuff

Debbie and I spent some time yesterday over at the Ballard Seafood Festival wondering around. In general having a good time. We came across a couple of young men playing music, they couldn’t have been more than 18 or 19 years old. One playing drums and the other playing an electric guitar. A guitar case was open for onlookers to drop money in and it didn’t take long for dollar bills to start appearing. To put it simply these two were amazing! It’s been a long time since I’ve heard someone jam like that. Visions of a young Santana playing on a street corner went through my head as they played.

When we showed up there were about ten people, but after a few minutes a significant crowed had gathered. But then a lady in a yellow shirt with a radio showed up and demanded they stop. They were shut down. No permit, or they didn’t pay a vendor fee, or some other equally inane reason, they weren’t allowed to play. Boos from the crowed ensued as the two young men were asked to leave.

This festival was a place for people to enjoy themselves and clearly people were. In a span of ten minutes these two had gathered a crowd larger than was at any of the stages or side shows that were “official”. This put a serious black mark on the Ballard festival for me. If people were having so much fun, why break it up?

I don’t get it.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 8:46 am and is filed under Fun, Personal, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.