Every year on the second Saturday in May, KFOG holds a big party for all the fogheads. I first went in 1999, when it was still fairly new. Even then it was a huge party on Piers 30 & 32. The format has stayed the same all through the years, three bands do great rock sets, there is a brief break, and then we see some spectacular fireworks. This year they charged admission for the first time. I went anyway, because last time I went, the year before last, it was too crowded. That time people were packed in like sardines. We were so packed in moving around was difficult. I never did find a good place to do my thing.

I needn't have worried about the $10. I was standing in line to pay for my ticket and this woman gave me one. When I tried to give her money for it she said "I like your buttons" and wouldn't take it. This time the crowd was a better fit to the space. There were still a lot of people, but not too many for the venue.



I think that's Gustier on the stage. Before I got there I was hoping to see Ozomatle, but I missed them. That's too bad because I was hoping to see the original recording artist sing "who discovered America?" I like that song in a political kind of way.

The following Monday I heard one caller describe the event on KFOG as "hanging out with 200,000 of our closest friends", and it did feel like that.





Kenny Wayne Shepard was great.

  

  

By the time he was done it was dark. I had maybe ten minutes to push stickers before the fireworks started.

        

People were partying all around me. It was necessary to have a sense of humor about the whole thing...



  

  

     

  



For every good picture I took, I shot four or five duds. Several time I ran out of space in the camera and had to clear some space on the memory stick. It was an incredible fireworks display, better than most (if not all) 4th of July fireworks I've seen. It was synchronized to the kind of rock and roll sound track you'd hear on KFOG.

    

  



  

Every now and then a few hearts would cross the sky, a lot like that smiley. The problem was I never got lucky about hitting the shoot button when one was in the viewfinder.

  

  



  



  



  



  

By this time my arms were tired from holding up the camera for so long.

  



     

After the creschendo at the end a big cheer went up. Then people started heading for the exits. Half an hour later the pier was a large, empty, concrete slab.



  

The feeling of fellowship followed me all the way to the train station. That bag of cherries is one of the best deals I've ever gotten in trade for a sticker. I got them from a guy with a cherry stand just outside the cyclone fence marking off the pier. They were delicious. Then when I got on the train I ended up sitting with some other fogheads, which made the trip home a pleasant experience.