Harry and the Potters

A rock group calling themselves "Harry and the Potters" was scheduled to perform on Saturday the 22nd at the San Francisco Public Library in the lovely Koret Auditorium in the basement.



There was a sign up at the entrance of the museum advising people that the concert had been moved outdoors.



The woman at the Information booth, when asked, said that loud noise wasn't the reason for the last-minute change of venue. "They played here last year and it was no problem. This year there were just too many people who wanted to come, and there was no room for everyone."



So a cute little bandstand was assembled in front of City Hall on Civic Center Plaza.



Excited fans who had Harry and the Potters' songs already loaded onto their iPods posed with the stars before the show.



The opening act was a duo called "Draco and the Malfoys" who were singing lighthearted death-metal rock...



...with many power chords accenting phrases like "The Gryffindor Must Die!"



The audience for all this was mostly teenage girls.



They were overwhelmingly white, with a few exceptions...



...plus the odd sensitive young guys...



...and those who dressed in the spirit of the occasion.



The following caveat appears on Harry and the Potters' website (click here to get there):

Please note: neither this band nor this website has been prepared, approved, or liscensed by any person or entity that created, published, or produced the Harry Potter books or related properties.

In other words, they are treading the thin line of copyright law, but their spirit is so non-commercial and utterly charming I hope they continue to get away with it.



"Harry and the Potters" are two Massachusetts (or as they put it on their website, Awesomechusetts!) brothers named Paul and Joe.



Here's their official tale.

"They started this band in the summer of 2002. The legendary tale of their origin goes like this:

Joe was planning to have a rock show in the shed in the backyard. People had been invited. But then all the bands cancelled. So that morning, the time was finally appropriate to bust out an idea that had been incubating in Paul's head for some time: Harry and the Potters. That morning, over the course of an hour, Paul and Joe wrote 7 songs. Then, they went out to the shed and practiced them for half an hour. And then, later in the day, they performed them for about 6 people. It was awesome. The place went nuts."

"Nowadays, they don't just play in sheds, they also play in libraries, bookstores, basements, art galleries, theatres, hot dog jamorees (true story!), and living rooms."

Their schedule this year for performances during "The Best Summer EVER" is fairly astonishing, with close to 50 performances across the country and back.



They took the first opportunity available to take off their sweaters on the uncharacteristically sizzling hot San Francisco day...



...and jump into the crowd of cute girls where they danced, jumped up and down, and sang.



They introduced their drummer as Bill Weasley, but somebody from the crowd wasn't fooled and yelled back, "No, it's not. That's Draco Malfoy!"



My favorite T-shirts belonged to the girl with a "You Looked Better on MySpace" next to her friend with "Stop Genocide in Sudan."



It was a wonderful, funny, energetic and sexy performance by everyone involved.