Culture Collide descended on SF for the first time in it’s 5 year lifespan. The LA-based music/culture festival has a SXSW-style setup, with panels in the early part of the day, followed by happy hours and shows from the late afternoon into the evening. The festival was headlined by Cloud Nothings and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, along with a slew of bands from around the world. I was there for the panels, to try and get a feel for the nexus of music and business in San Francisco, but what I got was much more than that; Music, Burritos and Beer reigned supreme and here’s a slew of awesome quotes to help tell the story of the festival’s 1st year in SF.

On Music and Business

“Tech is human…Let’s use it to strengthen the human connection instead of use it in place of humans.” — Grammy award winning audio engineer Starita in his keynote address.

“Your tour is now navigated by your fan base” — Shazam’s Jeff Roberto speaking on artists and touring.

“15 years later, we’re still undecided on how we feel about streaming. It’s not doing it for the recording industry. I buy vinyl and listen to digital streaming, but fundamentally, its not working for artists. Its not perfect, theres a lot to be done, but i remain optimistic.” — NoisePop’s Kevin Arnold

“Asking how many pennies per stream misses the point. You have to engage fans.” BandPage’s Doug Scott

On Burritos

Question: What will Mission burritos looks like in 2067?

“They’ll be wrapped in gold”

“Hover burritos”

“Burritos cannons”

“Drones”

“Doctors will realize the health benefits of burritos” – Broke Ass Stuart takes the cake.

“Shrimp do not belong in burritos!” — @BurritoJustice

This is what a panel on "Burrito Theory" looks like (seriously.) Only at @CultureCollide! pic.twitter.com/eEaJn6t9ge

— Everything Ecstatic (@EcstaticBlog) October 15, 2014

On Bands and Brands

“Would you buy a boombox now that had every Wu-Tang song pre-loaded on it?”

“Our web traffic was low until we launched this product with the RZA and now it’s sold out on our website” — Boombotix’s Mustafa Shaikh

The Band

I had a chance to speak to Norway’s Level & Tyson. Really awesome peeps, who were so stoked to play in SF and then head to LA for the weekend. They’re signed to Tuba Records and have a new album coming out in February. I caught their set at The Chapel and it was fun, zany, musical and just plain awesome. They even had some of the signature “Chapel Crazies” doing interpretive dances during their set. Check em on Twitter and here’s some quotes from Sophie and Richard.

“Being here…Its kind of like coming home because our culture is so much like American culture”

“I would love to move out here, but….We just want to play”

“It feels cool that Norway is represented.”

 

Beers of The World –  A wonderful tasting panel with some industry notables……and a comedian.

“Before the fall of the soviet union, Estonians didn’t even have yeast” — Comedian Trevor Hill on Anchor Steams Zymaster No.6 with Estonian yeast

“Adolphus Busch used the Industrial Revolution to sell his beer all over the country.” — Anecdotal awesomeness from Certified Cicerone Sayr Piotrkwski of Hog’s Apothecary in Oakland.

“We like to drink.” Lagunitas’ Don Chartier on what they like to do at work.

“Finding a flaw in a beer is not the end of your engagement with it” — #Truth from Sayr Piotrkowski

Beers Sampled:

Einstock (Iceland)

Cusqueña from Peru

German Shvartz beer

Anchor Steam’s Brekkel Brown – Bittered with Citra hops

Lagunitas DayTime – Citra hops

Lagunitas Sucks

Anchor Lager

Some funky Russian beer