Article and Photos by Jason Woodside

San Francisco is a unique city, a law unto itself, and although there are many events that showcase this quality, there are few to be seen that are as bizarre as the 11th Annual How Weird Street Faire. On Mother’s Day 2010, people of every size, shape, shade and sexual orientation imaginable descended on the corner of Howard and 2nd streets for an all day gathering of the weirdest that the city had to offer. They even went so far as to feature 10 stages of non-stop electronic music from noon to eight PM.  The theme of the festival was Bollyweird: The Cosmic Dance.
 
Presenting music from ten local collectives and almost too many genres of electronic music to count, How Weird is a destination for fans of the untz, costumed or not.  Positioned in the middle of the festival, one could hypothetically make their brain explode as a result of the all the different sounds and textures coming from each direction. The diversity of music was wonderful, but the proximity of stages relative to each other was sometimes an issue. Musically, there was surely something for any fan of electronic music, and even if you do not particularly enjoy it, there was still plenty of interesting people, vendors, and artwork to fill your time.
 
The evening ended with an incredibly chaotic attempt to break the world record for worlds largest Bollywood dance.  The music stopped just before 8PM on some of the stages for an opportunity to give and receive some quick instruction, and then the attempt of a dance for the ages. For those truly dedicated, there was a tent set up giving lessons all day.