The Meshugga Beach Party will appear live in concert at the Webster Street Jam

Bay Area Bands Are Ready to Jam on Webster Street

Whether it’s been called the “Webster Street Jam” or the “Peanut Butter Jam,” it’s always been a “jam” in the musical sense of the word – a coming together of some of the area’s best musical groups to entertain us with their unique sounds.

This year, more than two dozen musical groups will perform from two stages throughout the two-day food, wine, music and art festival Sept. 13 and 14. Hardly a minute will go by without some from of music filling the air on Webster Street between Central and Lincoln avenues.

The party starts on the Central Avenue Stage at 10:30 Saturday morning with poetry readings by Alameda Poet Laureate Mary Rudge and friends. Then, the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society and the Dunsmuir Scottish Dancers take to the stage with a four-century repertoire of lively jigs and reels, elegant strathspeys (a dance form unique to Scotland) and step dances. Alameda’s own Meshugga Beach Party will take 5,000 years of Jewish folk music tradition and wrap it up in a California surfing sound. Girl Talk Band follows, performing Latin and Middle East inspired international jazz while Sambagode presents the lively rhythms and infectious beats of traditional Brazilian music.

Also on Saturday, the Lincoln Avenue Stage will feature some great local artists including Alameda’s Finish Ticket belting out melodramatic pop from their new self-titled release. Kid favorite Hank Hooper performs music for the young and young- at-heart followed by KCBS radio’s own Eyewitness Blues Band bringing you rock 'n' roll on deadline. Next to entertain will be students from Rhythmix Cultural Works accompanying the incredible Maze Daiko Taiko drummers, followed by a performance by the mesmerizing Brazilian martial artists/dancers Capoeira Mandinga. Ready for more? Then don’t miss High Diving Horses bringing it all home with fun, eclectic folk pop.

Get ready for a high-energy flashback Saturday night as the outrageous Unauthorized Rolling Stones take over the Central Avenue stage at 5:45 p.m. The greatest tribute to the greatest Rock in Roll band in the world, they look like the original, strut like the original and rock like the original! It’s going to be a gas, gas, gas!

Sunday morning brings more music and more fun when Hank Hooper returns to entertain the kids on the Central Avenue Stage, followed by Alameda-based Snakes in Eden serenading the crowd with their original alternative folk rock. Loretta Lynch kicks it into high gear with rockin’ girl country songs about love, murder, revenge and catfish, followed by Research and Development performing their unique form of “avant progressive funk.”

Meanwhile, on the Lincoln Avenue Stage, the Chipman Cougar Cadets Drum Corps rocks the street with its highly-disciplined, Afro-beat hip hop influenced drumline, followed by Otaez-sponsored Mariachi music from South of the Border. Toot Sweet Jazz Band brings upbeat Dixieland jazz to the stage next with local troubadour Earl J Rivard III winding up the day performing original songs on the acoustic guitar.