Because
habits, especially good ones, die hard many Santa Barbara fans of the Live Oak
Music Festival are presently experiencing inner June gloom. Although a
production/fund-raiser for San Luis Obispo’s public radio beacon KCBX (89.5 FM),
for three decades, the willfully eclectic and loveably earthy event made its home at Santa Barbara
County’s Live Oak Camp, an easy 20-minute drive from downtown. Festival goers
from SLO and S.B. counties — and well beyond — would happily converge for a day
or the weekend. And lo, it was good.
Until
now. Various factors, including the Live Oak Camp’s official role as a
firefighting staging area, subject to event cancellation depending on
emergencies, have sent the beloved festival packing for its new SLO county home
of the El Chorro Park. It’s our turn to commute.
Apart
from the new location, though, the 31st annual festival continues on
its merry path, as one of California’s finest and least easily pigeonholed weekend-long
music fests. A quick glance at this weekend’s headliners confirms the
commitment and also the friendly diversity of the programming outlook — also
reflective of KCBX’s radio profile itself.