Looking for things to do in the Bay Area this weekend? The Do List has you covered with concerts, festivals, exhibitions, plays, performances and more.
You can listen to this week's episode with Gabe Meline and Sarah Hotchkiss above, or read about our picks below.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: It’s the first weekend of October, which in San Francisco, means the air is filled with music at the annual free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park. As the years go on, this festival is getting more and more diverse, genre-wise: this weekend’s lineup has funk with acts like the Budos Band, soul with singers like Bettye Lavette, indie rock with Kurt Vile, classic rock royalty with Robert Plant, classic country with Tanya Tucker, and even a Saharan guitarist from Africa, Mdou Moctar, who once recorded an entire reimagining of Prince’s Purple Rain album.
Hardly Strictly does get crowded, and this year, there are some security changes you'll want to read up on. But with free admission, stellar acts and no corporate sponsors or advertising, it's one of our favorites. It runs Friday–Sunday, Oct. 4–6, in Golden Gate Park. Details here.
Mill Valley Film Festival: Hardly Strictly fans wait for the first weekend in October all year long, but local film buffs have also been counting down the days: The Mill Valley Film Festival opens on Thursday, Oct. 3, with a slate of Oscar-worthy films and appearances by plenty of established stars: Laura Dern, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Danny Trejo and more. But there’s an equal measure of Bay Area indies making their debut, including Jeanne C. Finley’s nonfiction film Journeys Behind the Cosmodrome, which depicts the sometimes trippy dreams of 16-year-old orphans in Kazakhstan who grew up next to the world’s first and largest operational space launch facility. That’s all happening at the Mill Valley Film Festival, which runs Oct. 3–13. Details here.