With the promise of whimsy around every corner, Through the Looking Glass was a brilliant testament to the power of placing live music in a proper setting.
In this case, the confines were none other than Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, which played host to a first-of-its-kind music festival on Saturday, Sept. 16. Curated by Chrystia “Tia” Cabral, who performs as the Oakland experimental pop act Spellling, in partnership with online travel magazine Atlas Obscura, the event was a bold new step for the amusement park, according to Children’s Fairyland Executive Director Kymberly Miller.
“Renting out the park in this capacity is a totally new thing for Fairyland,” Miller said. “As our park and organization continue to grow, we’re now able to support bigger events such as Through the Looking Glass.”
Built in 1950, the 10-acre Children’s Fairyland amusement park is credited as a source of inspiration for the original Disneyland and features work from numerous notable artists, including San Francisco sculptor Ruth Asawa and puppeteer (and voice of Yoda) Frank Oz.
For Cabral, producing the four-hour, all-ages event at the beloved family destination was a dream many years in the making. Recalling a 2019 interview with online music publication Pitchfork at Lake Merritt, Cabral noted “how much I would love to perform there one day.”
On Saturday night, that dream came to glorious fruition before a crowd of 1,650 revelers.
Headlined by Cabral and her newly formed band, Spellling & the Mystery School, the festival featured an eclectic lineup that included performances from world-class whistler Molly Lewis, singer-songwriter (and new Bolinas resident) Sasami, and pioneering Afrofuturist jazz ensemble the Sun Ra Arkestra — presently led by 99-year-old saxophonist Marshall Allen.
Utilizing five distinct stages spread across the park, the effect was nothing short of magical. Over in Old West Town, attendees danced to the beat as DJ Fat Tony spun gems from the upper window of the Fairyland Hotel, part of the area’s brightly decorated facades meant to evoke the spirit of bygone saloons and their cowboy clientele.
For those seeking a more tranquil moment, improvisational composer Zachary James Watkins could be found conducting soothing sound experiments from within the cozy confines of Fairyland’s chapel.
Stationed across the grounds were also tarot readers, face painters and, for those who managed to find it, Dream Radio, a semisecret sound installation from Oakland underground multimedia collective Cone Shape Top subterraneously housed within the park’s Fairy Music Farm Tunnel.
At various fairy tale-themed locales, bartenders offered patrons the option to “candy crush” their cocktails with the addition of peach rings and other assorted sweets while couples gamely riding the Jolly Trolly on its slow, winding path giggled and grinned.
Encouraged to don fanciful outfits for the occasion, many attendees delivered with a bold array of looks that included someone dressed in a full-on pink furry suit complete with an oversize cat head.
If it felt like a bit of pixie dust was sprinkled on every facet of the festival, the sensation was arguably strongest while watching the night’s main performances. As an overflow crowd formed for Spellling’s set, some late arrivals found refuge in the crow’s nest and deck of Fairyland’s adjacent Jolly Roger pirate ship. Later, the alluring specter of Lewis’ ethereal whistling proved to pair perfectly with the darkened backdrop of Fairyland’s Emerald City Stage.
While catching a music festival at a child’s amusement park may not appeal to everyone, 41-year-old Josiah Espinoza had only rapturous praise.
“It was mystical and beautiful and just really, really special,” Espinoza said. “I grew up in Oakland and I’ve been coming here for like 20 years, first with my parents, then with my nieces. But tonight was something just totally out-of-this-world amazing.”
卡布拉尔,32岁,在萨克拉门托附近长大,第一visited Children’s Fairyland in the 1990s. Since then she’s moved to Oakland and established a lauded career as a solo artist reputed for her dynamic voice and immense talent for production craft. Last month, she released her fourth studio album, “Spellling & the Mystery School.”
Recorded at Oakland’s Tiny Telephone Studios, the album consists of re-recordings of previous Spellling material that re-center Cabral’s voice in intimate new arrangements. In a sense, the album’s creation was a necessary precursor to Through the Looking Glass, as the addition of Cabral’s Mystery School band (which includes the Del Sol Quartet) has enabled her to perform songs in concert that were previously logistically unfeasible.
“I tend to have maniacal control issues about how my songs are supposed to sound or be delivered,” Cabral explained. “But despite my large insecurities about how everything would translate, everyone lent their own unique skills to the album, and it provided a real sense of relief, as a solo artist, to not have to scrutinize myself so much and to just let go.”
By 11 p.m., the experiment had concluded. As festivalgoers dressed in fairy wings and coated with fresh face paint made for the exits, the vision of Cabral serenading fans as the Jolly Trolly tooted its horn in the distance was proof that you’re never too old for dreams to come true.
Zack Ruskin is a freelance writer.