Preview: Phono del Sol Festival – Saturday, July 16th
Phono del Sol Music and Food Festival arrives July 16 at Potrero del Sol Park in Potrero Hill. Festival co-organizer Christian “The Crusher” Cunningham let us in on the concept behind the festival and what to expect.
Vanderslice
What inspired the creation of Phono del Sol?
Phono del Sol was a concept between John Vanderslice and The Bay Bridged. It started with the fact that JVs studio happens to sit adjacent to the recently remodeled and relatively unknown Potrero del Sol park, which is really only known for being San Francisco’s only skate park. However, in addition to the skate park, it has a beautiful band shell that to my knowledge has never been used for a festival event.
For us, it was basically a perfect situation: an unused band shell, an adjacent analog studio of one of our dear friends, and us just trying something new with local music. The food component was actually added later after a great conversation I had with the Off the Grid people.
This event is presented by you (The Bay Bridged) and Tiny Telephone. What exactly is The Bay Bridged? What is your relationship to Tiny Telephone?
The Bay Bridged is a fiscally sponsored nonprofit that is dedicated to promoting San Francisco Bay Area music in any way we can. We originally started off with a podcast 5 years ago but have since developed a popular news/mp3 blog and we produce/present several festivals and concerts year-round, in addition to other projects.
Our relationship with Tiny Telephone comes from our personal relationship with John Vanderslice who, although also on our board of advisors and a close friend, has also been an inspiration for us given his own work to help build and foster local music community here in the bay area.
The lineup looks killer. How did you choose the bands for the bill?
Our motto for booking this year’s first festival was “fresh.” Appetite is a killer new band on Crossbill Records out of Davis. Religious Girls and Man/Miracle have been favorites of ours for sometime and both have great new things going on. We’ll be releasing a new Man/Miracle track the day before the fest. Magik*Magik Orchestra is the house orchestra for Tiny Telephone and has worked with John Vanderslice, the Dodos, Death Cab For Cutie and more. It’s been amazing to hear [director] Minna’s merging of classical into our indie world. I can say for this show, it’ll actually be a two-piece group, clarinet and vibraphone, performing a great piece of music. I’m stoked.
We’re super excited about our co-headliners, Mirah and Aesop Rock. Both are long-time musicians doing some very exciting projects outside of their usual fare these days (Mirah with Thao and Aesop with Kimya Dawson). Overall, I think this festival benefits from the fact that not one band is truly like the next. It will be a great sampling of what is going on in the bay.
What kind of grub can the concertgoers expect to enjoy from the Off the Grid food trucks?
We are thrilled to be working with Off the Grid to curate the food. They are a great group of people promoting some very innovative food trucks and it should be a perfect compliment to a great day in the park! As for what you’ll eat, we won’t announce that till next week. 
What are some essentials that you think concertgoers should bring with them to ensure a comfortably rockin’ day?
Hopefully a lot of sunscreen. Think of this as a smaller more Mission version of Stern Grove with amazing food and studio tours of Tiny Telephone and its band new B room, Minitel, and you should be good to go. Just be ready to have some fun and hear great local music. This is a very kid and family friendly event. There is a great kids play area near the stage that will be open all day, as will the skate park.
The Phono del Sol Festival is on Saturday, July 16th at Potrero del Sol Park on 25th Street @ San Bruno. Performers are: Aesop Rock, Mirah, Man/Miracle, Magik*Magik Orchestra, Religious Girls, & Appetite. Although a free event there will be a $2-5 suggested donation to help fund the event and future ones to come. Music is from 12:30pm – 6pm. Dogs on leashes are allowed.
