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Today I wandered into Libbey Bowl, which was transformed into something that I saw once on an episode of the Wonder Years. There were about 20 vendors hawking everything from tie die to coconut jewelry (note to husband: my birthday is not that far off, so don’t even think of getting me any of this stuff) to hoola-hoops. The tie die was awesome. There were plenty of t-shirts and a few surprises, like thongs (do I need another note-to-husband here?) and an entire collection for the little critters: tie die baby booties, bibs, receiving blankets and onesies. Another vendor had bumper stickers and buttons for whoever or whatever you might have a beef with. I'm sensing some great Christmas presents for my brother-in-law this year. All I can say is there must be a lot of pissed off people in the world and business is good.

Electric Blue was performing so I followed the guitar riffs and found my way to a bench under the oak trees. I took a moment to take it all in. A long-haired fella with a giant homemade drum on his back and a leashed Labrador in one hand made his way through a crowd of folks, who, I’m not judging here, but most of them looked like they could use a shower, a haircut and a decent meal. I tried to blend, trying hard to look cool without looking like I tried too hard to look cool, but my Gap capris and white tank top were a little too, well, 80’s for this crowd, as was, perhaps, my use of the word “cool.”

I caught up with Howard Freiberg, the festival’s promoter, who has been promoting festivals and concerts since the early 90’s. A self-professed “Dead Head,” having been to over 300 Grateful Dead shows, he loves to put on a good rock festival. He partnered with Cally Houck of the RageJax Foundation to find a way to raise money for the foundation and soon found that he could revive his career as a promoter while supporting a good cause. “I was fortunate enough to meet the girls when I first came to Ojai,” Howard recalled. The foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes music and arts programs to at-risk children, was formed shortly after a car accident took the lives of two Ojai sisters, Raechel and Jacqueline Houck in October 2004.

Electric Blue, “a Southern California jam band with a mix of straight-forward blues rock-n-roll and heavy psychedelic improvs,” was well into their last set when I spotted, of all people, my Pilates instructor from Santa Barbara. So naturally I sucked in my abs and started breathing into the sides of my ribs while I casually sauntered over to her. It turns out she is an Electric Blue groupie from back in the day, and since these guys don’t often get together anymore, she made the drive over the hill from the coast to see them play. I know it doesn’t mean a lot coming from someone who knows all the words to White Lines, but these guys are really good. I mean, stand-your-hair-on-end good. I looked them up on the Internet and here is what I found about them.

Tomorrow, Sunday, May 21, offers another jam-packed day, so I encourage you to fork out the twenty-five bucks and take a listen to the handful of bands Howard has lined up. It all starts at noon. I’ll be there to pose the hard questions to Particle, scheduled to play the final set at 5:30:
• What kind of guitar pick do you use?
• Do you ever get to drive the tour bus?
• Do you know how to play, “Karma Chameleon?”

If you've got better questions, bring ‘em on!

See also: my interview with Particle's bass player.