Left Coast Live: Critic’s Picks
Left Coast Live: OK Go
LEFT COAST LIVE co-founder Chris Esparza has a lot of warm-and-fuzzy memories from last year’s festival debut, but there are a few he wishes he could shake. Like, for instance, the image of fellow organizer Michael Brilliot racing past LCL venues all over town on his bike, yelling “Are you all right?” to volunteers as he whizzed by. Riding an hour-long loop around most of the festival’s 35 venues, Brilliot made sure bands were starting on time, brought food to volunteers, collected money, called in replacements and did anything else that needed doing.
“I was worn out,” remembers Esparza, “but that guy did what I did, plus 20 miles on a bike. We were spread too thin, over 20 square blocks.” “It was absolutely crazy,” Brilliot admits. “I was riding my bike for about six hours nonstop.”
The tight-knit Left Coast Live team learned just as much from last year’s nightmares as they did from fulfilling their dream of a downtown music festival. They pulled the landscape of the festival tighter this year, with a more concentrated nucleus in the SoFA district. For instance, the Ramada Inn on Second Street will be converted into the “Elemental Wellness Stage.” All the bottom-floor rooms will be opened up and filled with arty exhibits, while the courtyard will host some of the better-known local rock, ska and reggae bands, from Dirty Pillows’ opening set Friday at 5:15pm to the Odd Numbers headlining performance Saturday at 9:30pm.
Also, the number of volunteers has jumped from 10 people to almost 100, by Esparza’s estimate, and they’ve been organized into various teams; one, for instance, in charge of the festival’s social media presence, another in charge of music selection, and one responsible for organizing other volunteers. “Last year, we didn’t even have staff meetings,” says marketing director Sheila Dowd. “We had ‘whoever can be there’ meetings. We’re less panicked this year. There’s been a lot of long-range planning, it’s not just ‘How do we get through the week?'”
Another huge difference this year was the importance of their partnerships. Teaming up with Music in the Park meant that LCL didn’t have to provide the entertainment for Thursday night, while Music in the Park got a boost by having its stage for the week (headlined by the BoDeans with the Careless Hearts) showcased as part of the festival. Cinequest joined up to provide a film element, and the San Jose Jazz Festival and ZeroOne became key creative collaborators, as well.
“That took some of the weight off,” admits Esparza. “It freed us up to kind of go crazy on Friday and Saturday.”
Quickly, they realized how much of a cultural impact they’d made last year—and how many local bands were dying to play an established local festival. More than 200 bands applied for just over 100 slots, which was actually more like 65-70 when you consider that many bands were returning from last year. On big addition was bringing in national acts to headline the South First Street main stage on Friday and Saturday. The idea is a natural, since acts like OK Go and Yo La Tengo have the potential to bring in audiences that might not be drawn in by local bands, but may discover them once they’re at the festival. Esparza explains that this wasn’t a shift in philosophy, but a little more economic opportunity after the success of last year. Still, there are so many Bay Area summer festivals locking up bands into noncompete clauses (which sometimes prohibit them from playing here for as long as nine months before a festival like Outside Lands) that getting the right national acts wasn’t easy—more like pulling teeth, according to Esparza. Luckily, Channel 92.3 program director Michael Solari was there to help out, with Channel becoming another important LCL partner.
“Michael’s a music brain,” says Esparza. “He made OK Go work. He listened to what we were saying [we wanted] and turned around and picked them.” Having big names to bank on also helped promote the festival outside of Silicon Valley. Initially, organizers thought they needed to include the name of every one of the dozens of bands participating, just in case one name might bring a few extra people out.
“Last year, posters were being printed the very last day, because I was waiting for 80 names to be put on,” says Dowd. This year, they emphasized the headliners and a few of the biggest local bands.
“Leveraging those bigger names was huge, because it got us national and international press,” she says.
Esparza also sees LCL getting a big boost in the last year from events like the SubZero Festival that have continued to build interest in downtown art and music.
“There’s kind of a movement happening,” he says. “You see the spirit in the air.”
And he admits there is one big similarity between the ambitious scope of last year’s festival and the even bigger festival this year: “We’re absolutely crazy.”
But wiser, too. “My goal this year,” says Brilliot, “is to walk.”
