2008-10-03
MC Hammer Kicks Off Hardly Strictly But Not Totally Bluegrass…
Written by: Stephanie Block
For reasons as yet unexplained, MC Hammer was chosen to kick off Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/) this morning in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The free annual music festival features the likes of Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris. But today, because SF is supa trippy, MC Hammer joined this banjo-thumpin' list. What's next? Madonna headlining a Christian Rock festival?
The only thing to make a hillbilly scratch his beard more was the fact that this morning's concert was for schoolchildren. As in people not even alive in the eighties. How'd they learn about him? Was there a unit in social studies class?
So picture this: Speedway Meadow on a cloudy day. Big yellow school buses lining JFK Drive. And a chainlink fence all around the Star Stage. Me and my clearly non-school-aged friend rolled up, and we were ordered to stand behind the fence. Only children were allowed near the stage---those aforementioned humans not on earth during the era we like to call Hammer Time.
Seriously.
So me and my confused thirty-ish friend dutifully traipsed to the back of the meadow and made our way through ouchy pine trees to the extreme left side of the stage, which was probably best for the minors present. And then Hamma's 30-minute set began.
Like some Sesame Street sketch gone awry, it was hilarious to watch MC and his fly dancers teaching kids the proper hand signs for “2 Legit 2 Quit”. And Hammer even brought kids up on stage to dance with him during “U Can't Touch This”! Yes, those brats who weren't even a glimmer in their MC Hammer representin' parents' eyes twenty years ago!
But I will admit that some of them kids were legit enough to throw down some serious break-dancing skills, that dance that was invented, you guessed it, thirteen years before they existed. (Except for one hot blonde teacher on stage who started gyrating to the hypnotic Hammer beat. Check out Miss Olberstein from second period!)
But I digress. By the time it was “Hammer Time”, the final song in his set, it was time for us true fans to get some love. Those of us piled under eucalyptus trees had been screaming every word to every song and throwing up the proper 2L2Quit hand signs even BEFORE the lesson. Suddenly, MC Hammer quick stepped his way over to our side of the stage and raised his hand in a magical peace sign just for us. We cried out in adoration! He told us he loved us.
All too soon, it was time to go back to school. Some dude came on stage to tell us to stick with our classmates and go back our buses. He also tried to be all hype-master by asking us if we wanted Hammer back next year because Hammer said he'd do it. Well I guess my question to you is-- How 'bout 2 Live Crew for the kiddies?
Photo Credit: Todd Stern
The only thing to make a hillbilly scratch his beard more was the fact that this morning's concert was for schoolchildren. As in people not even alive in the eighties. How'd they learn about him? Was there a unit in social studies class?
So picture this: Speedway Meadow on a cloudy day. Big yellow school buses lining JFK Drive. And a chainlink fence all around the Star Stage. Me and my clearly non-school-aged friend rolled up, and we were ordered to stand behind the fence. Only children were allowed near the stage---those aforementioned humans not on earth during the era we like to call Hammer Time.
Seriously.
So me and my confused thirty-ish friend dutifully traipsed to the back of the meadow and made our way through ouchy pine trees to the extreme left side of the stage, which was probably best for the minors present. And then Hamma's 30-minute set began.
Like some Sesame Street sketch gone awry, it was hilarious to watch MC and his fly dancers teaching kids the proper hand signs for “2 Legit 2 Quit”. And Hammer even brought kids up on stage to dance with him during “U Can't Touch This”! Yes, those brats who weren't even a glimmer in their MC Hammer representin' parents' eyes twenty years ago!
But I will admit that some of them kids were legit enough to throw down some serious break-dancing skills, that dance that was invented, you guessed it, thirteen years before they existed. (Except for one hot blonde teacher on stage who started gyrating to the hypnotic Hammer beat. Check out Miss Olberstein from second period!)
But I digress. By the time it was “Hammer Time”, the final song in his set, it was time for us true fans to get some love. Those of us piled under eucalyptus trees had been screaming every word to every song and throwing up the proper 2L2Quit hand signs even BEFORE the lesson. Suddenly, MC Hammer quick stepped his way over to our side of the stage and raised his hand in a magical peace sign just for us. We cried out in adoration! He told us he loved us.
All too soon, it was time to go back to school. Some dude came on stage to tell us to stick with our classmates and go back our buses. He also tried to be all hype-master by asking us if we wanted Hammer back next year because Hammer said he'd do it. Well I guess my question to you is-- How 'bout 2 Live Crew for the kiddies?
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