We're going to go out on a limb here: the Bumbershoot announcement was released yesterday, and seriously you guys, it might be one of the best festivals of the summer. Sasquatch! is always a party, and Pickathon will be a one-of-a-kind experience -- but the lineup for this year's Bumbershoot seriously knocked it out of the park. It's fresh, relevant, exciting, and we Can. Not. Wait. for Labor Day weekend to get here already!

The video above gives a great visual introduction to all of the artists this year, but in case you just can't wait for it to play through, pop on over here and check out the whole shebang. We are most excited about Death Cab for Cutie (!!) playing Transatlanticism in its entirety (SHUT UP), Heart (SERIOUSLY!), MGMT, Tegan and Sara, Allen Stone, Matt and Kim, The Breeders (!!!!!), !!! (!), Deerhunter, Charles Bradley (<3), Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, The Zombies, David Bazan, Mates of State, Superchunk (!!!), Diamond Rings, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, Ramona Falls, Matt Pond, The Grizzled Mighty, Kithkin, 15 Years of Barsuk Records (celebrating Barsuk's 15th anniversary) (<3 <3 <3!!), and more, more, more.

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What a killer weekend! It was so great, in fact, that it took me all week to (a) recover some semblance of time management skills and (b) sort through the nine zillion photos from three days of blood, sweat and booty-shakin'. Now that we're all back on track and gearing up for the weekend, let's take a look at all the fun we had: this year's Bumbershoot lined up a diverse range of sounds, collided with a killer forecast, and was packed to the gills with happy, band-loving fesitvalgoers (myself and a few other imaginary staffers included).

Here's a sliver of the bliss I was able to capture from some of my personal highlights from this year's festival, starting with the early Saturday groove-assault brought on by JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound -- complete with serious shout-outs to KEXP:

Sera Cahoone put on a gorgeous set at the Sub Pop stage -- there's lots of buzz around about her new album, out on SP later this month.

Have you ever been to a THEESatisfaction show? No? Let me sum it up for you: the whip-smart lyrics and undeniable beats that Stas and Cat dropped made for a non-stop bump-and-grind fest, punctuated only by realizations that I was in the presence of two people who manage to (somehow) simultaneously exude true greatness and absolute badassery. Were I able to stop shaking my ass for more than .02 seconds, I would have thrown my underwear at the stage. Yep. It was that kind of good:

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Whoa. Three days of Bumbershoot and one day afterwards got lost there. So here I am, dazed but plowing ahead like Pee Wee on his bike during the Big Adventure, my mind swimming with reflections of all the pop culture madness I grokked and gloamed in for Labor Day weekend. Here's the lights, high and low:

Saturday, September 1st 2012:

First up saw Nude Pop near the press area because that was pretty easy to do, with them playing at noon at new stage The Promenade near the press area. I'm sure you've all heard the gripey-gripies already about new stages and alternate names for previously monikered stages that still somehow have the same name when the Seattle Center is not being a Bumbershoot. It made for a lot of hilarity with good-humored cynical assholes and cranky fussypants behavior from frazzled, scurrying-to-shows cynical assholes. The Promenade never existed before this year, and I like it: A long cool semi-open air venue that just seemed more comfortable, maybe the most comfortable, of 'em all. The benches on the sides were a nice touch; which does bring up the fact that most of the smaller music stages don't have any actual seating or areas of real comfort. Which would partly explain why a lot of people do more comedy and literary events. (There were a couple of things at the comfy Words & Ideas Stage that seemed suspiciously packed out for the subject matter involved, just saying.) Nude Pop though! They're weird! They're called psychedelic but strangely repeating odd indie rock riffs and adding gangly electronics isn't exactly trance-drone. BUT: There's a certain suave quiver in the singer's voice, and their sound is as mangled archly as a social life spent in Spokane, where they're from. I would encourage cutting song lengths and pretending like power emo never happened anywhere near you guys. There's some sweet stuff at the center for sure.

TacocaT

TacocaT was playing the Sub Pop stage, and I heard a bunch of songs I hadn't heard before, because they got a full hour set, and needed to fill it up with everything they had in the oeuvre. I loved seeing everyone get so excited for them; it reminded me what Tomten told me about their performance at the same day/time of the festival a year before: it's not too bad to have a chance to win over so many new fans as all ages pour through the gates fresh and happy. This was not only an awesome opportunity for TacocaT to make many fervent new fans, it also gave me a chance to sample all the TacocaT song-writing eras, and I realized how much more wide-ranging their sound is than I thought. Quite a treat, and I'm eager to hear more new stuff now.

Don't Talk to the Cops

Don't Talk To The Cops was on the Fisher Green KEXP 90.3 City Arts Stage, and ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Blunt smoke blown around freely, bouncing booties, boys and girls and all races happily mingling, buy me drinks buy me drinks buy me drinks. The addition of Trent Moorman on drums seems a skin-tight supernatural fit to a sleazy and swanky swapping of skronk-spit. You feel the same giddy warmth as you did for the Saturday Knights (which Trent was once a part of too) and the involvement of djblesOne's comrades in B-Boy dancing up on stage gives it full community effect. Easily Seattle's best live band, and they just added drums! Emecks is the sweetest MC evah, she sparks a party and turns my heart into fireworks. Lar wrangles his laptop as if he was Mike Watt as a cyberpunk, but back to bles: No B-Boy has his brilliantly cartoonish and yet still utterly charismatic moves. Great seeing his son at the fest too!

THEESatisfaction

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound

King Khan and the Shrines

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This is where I do that old person thing and tell all you kids about how I used to go to Bumbershoot every year on my birthday and wander around all four days, and discover bands, and nerd out and love, love, love it. You know, back when it was free, and then like, $5 a day, or $15 for the whole weekend.

And then it just got to be too much—standing shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers, crushing through crowds trying to make my way between stages, the damn stupid “we must empty out the entire Key Arena” rule between shows, so you couldn’t even camp out for two bands in a row. Gawd. Waiting in line for 2 hours to get into Memorial Stadium somehow became less fun too…and my tolerance for bullshit declined sharply after I edged over 35.

But! After not going for many years, I have braved it again for the last three, and honestly it’s growing on me again. Even though they cut it down to 3 days instead of 4, the festival seems mellower overall. Sure there are still a lot of people, but it’s not so many that I can’t deal with it, more or less. And it made me remember what I love about Bumbershoot the most: a combination of seeing old favorites play, and wandering around and a listening to bands that I might not have heard of, or have been intrigued by. And there’s so much other stuff besides the music to love too.

And so, Sunday at Bumbershoot was pretty much the best Bumbershoot day ever, because of the following things:

1:30pm: Katie Kate kicks the newly installed stage at The Promenade’s ass. Like, all the way across the entire Seattle Center. This woman knows how to work a crowd, and work it she did—there were more people dancing to Katie than I’ve ever seen in Seattle. The guy in front of me was popping and locking so much I thought he might implode. At the height of my enjoyment, she threw out a “Read My Motherfucking Tote Bag” …tote bag, and my boyfriend caught it. HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO ME. And then she nearly killed me by covering Kate Bush “Running Up That Hill.” What. I love her. So so so much.

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Bumbershoot is a large, chilled, blue raspberry drink of piping-hot entertainment, if that makes any sense. This year seems particularly well thought out for taste and diversity over trying to be all things to all people. A lot of creative (even avant) bands with mindful fanbases, a ton of the escalatingly-popular comedy sets, and batches of pop-cult weirdness and edification spread throughout all three days. My dear comrades and colleagues Imaginary Victoria and Imaginary Amie already picked a batch of the music and Other Stuff (respectively) that they won't be missing, and I'm chiming in now with my own picks for Saturday and Monday.

Unfortunately, I still haven't really made up my mind (I'm a Libra, baby, so why don't you confuse me): Thus, I am stealing the old "Vs." trope from press articles about festivals in the past, letting you wallow in my indecision with me. At least in this public display of confusion, you will see what's available and where I will probably be at any given time (if you want to buy me a beer or rassle or something). Yes, usually I often hide out in the KEXP Music Lounge, which is air-conditioned and has great line ups every year too, but this time I'll be out among the fabulous hoi polloi to get my public festival on. Hola!

Saturday, September 1st, 2012

12p: Nude Pop (The Promenade) Vs. Hedgebrook Busts Fem-Myths (Leo K Theatre) 

Spokane-spawned Nude Pop won Sound Off!, the EMP Battle of the Bands this year, so that's there to hear first thing. It's psychey, which kids raised in Twin Peaks-berg tend to favor and flavor accordingly. (Seriously: If you like David Lynch, check out that beautiful, surreal, disturbing city for a summer. Be careful though.) They're young, and this is a cozy place to experience what had 'em win the contest. Meanwhile, I am also feverishly drawn to the feminist salon of the Hedgebrook Busts Fem-Myths round up of femme lit phenoms Karen Finneyfrock, Storme Webber, Tara Hardy, Rose McAleese, and the org's Executive Director Amy Wheeler. It's spoken word and I like it when that sort of thing is stacked with lots of different voices (if all on a theme, but a fetching one at that). Which one is more likely for me? Maybe poetry this early in the day, unless The Promenade is very comfy. 

12:15p: TacocaT (Sub Pop Stage/Fountain Lawn) Vs. Galumpha - Experiments in Human Architecture (Bagley Wright Theatre)

Wow, that was fast! 15 minutes for trippy rock or fascinating imagery, and then I am pulled to the punk pop pranks of TacocaT, which I have seen several times and enjoy as much as the first couple of Blondie LPs (that is, a lot). That human architecture thing sounds great though but man the lines pack out for that because the posh Platinum Pass peeps need something tasteful (if strange) to attend. Depends on how much glitter and kitty litter is being thrown at the Sub Pop Stage (if plenty, I'm hooked). Still, athletic and poetic choreography is damn well worth it if you can squeeze in amongst the high-falutin'. 

1p: James Adomian, Nick Swardson (Intiman Theatre) Vs. Don't Talk To The Cops! (Fisher Green)

Can't miss Don't Talk To The Cops! Best local live band, in my opinion. Crazy punk-rap dance madness, can't beat it (but its beats per minute will beat you). But wait, that Adomian review recently posted at the AV Club makes him sound like this year's Bumbershoot comedy discovery (reviving impressions as an artistic thrill, and not a hacky happy-maker). And Swardson's always tight. This is literally a brutal TIE. Ouch! Not so tight! Being realistic, the throbbing crowd of one will probably send me scampering over to the other. And back again.

2p: Flashes of Funny (1 Reel Film Festival) Vs. 2:15p: Skerik's Bandalabra (Mural Amphitheatre)

This year I might actually get to see some movies -- this set is a bunch of shorts of funny flicks from USA, Sweden, Canada, Turkey, etc. -- and I like funny. But no, once again there will not be a seat left for me. (I am not kidding, I haven't gotten a seat at 1 Reel at Bumbershoot since like 1995.) So it's to the punk-jazz of Pac NW's own Skerik I will probably go after waiting in line a few hopeless minutes for seeing short movies. And I will probably be thankful, as skronky world-beat-bap is some of the best stuff to sweat at at Bumbershoot. So: not complaining.

2:30p: How Did This Get Made? (Bagley Wright Theatre) Vs. JC Brooks And The Uptown Sound (Fisher Green) 

I'm a fan of the frenetic, spastic, super-sarcastic How Did This Get Made? podcast, and it would be meatish-sweetballs to see the three comedians (Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Raphael) chitter-chatter up Hollywood's dumbassedness live for sure. But they're appearing a couple of times at Bumbershoot, and if I don't make it into the Music Lounge, this might be my only chance to catch the back alley soul-jive stylings of JC. And I tend to not miss any band I haven't heard live signed to Bloodshot Records. Truth.

3:15p: Gotye VERSUS THE WORLD (Bumbershoot Mainstage)

The other day I was waiting for the bus on The Ave thinking, "I've been out too long. It's been at least an hour doing errands, some store nearby is going to play that song while I'm standing here." Yep, it was the Mexican restaurant with the hot wings right behind the bus stop. Nailed! They played it super loud, and for once I wished a terrible busker would come by and compete. Just for my own real life remix, really. 

4:15p: Doug Loves Movies Starring Doug Benson (Bagley Wright) Vs. King Khan & The Shrines (Fisher Green)

Wow, somebody at 1 Reel hasn't checked with their weed-loving pals about this scheduling (potential conflict). Anyways, Doug is going to be hosting trivia fun along with making fun of films and he's around most of the weekend too but you may not want to miss any of it, as it will certainly be out of control. On the other hand, King Khan and his gang of gut-bucket soul-punk music-makers come back to let things get just as crazy, if not more so. Either one would be a safe bet. Depends on what condition my condition is in at this point, if you get my "drift."

5:15p: THEE Satisfaction (Sub Pop Stage/Fountain Lawn) WINS.

Just go see Stasia and Cat. Damn! They're great. Wish this was a match up with Don't Talk To The Cops though set-wise. I guess that will come around again locally sometime anyhoo. But you know if you need to do something literary at this point, Why Fairy Tales, Why War On Women, Why Now? at the Leo K would be good. Oy vey! It's great to see the feminism overflowing at this fest, music and Theory.

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Flatstock at the Armory
11am-8pm, all three days

I say this EVERY year, but you absolutely have to take some time out of your music-watchin’ day to browse the aisles at Flatstock and see tons of amazing poster art. Seriously. Go. I’m not kidding.

Record Store
Visual Arts Exhibits at the Seattle Center Pavilion
11am-8pm, all three days

Ok, it’s not really a “store” in that you can’t buy the vinyl contained within, but! But but but. They put together a HUGE collection of records that you can browse through and choose to play—either for everyone inside, or just for yourself—and generally just marvel over how awesome records still are. Step inside this exhibit for sweet listening party bliss.

Read It and Weep (A Celebration of Nicolas Cage)
The Vera Project
Saturday 1:15pm-2:15pm

Three podcast guys dissect and review some of the worst of the worst Nic Cage movies, including Wicker Man, Ghost Rider and … CITY OF ANGELS. Dude. This is going to be hilarious!

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Hayyyy Imaginaries! Now’s the time of year where I remind you that in addition to Bumbershoot’s awesome musical acts, our local festival is also packed with films and performing arts, and my favorite: people talking about stuff that gets you thinking about stuff. Here are a few things in the Words & Ideas program that are thrilling me:

Saturday, September 1

Why Fairy Tales? Why War on Women? Why Now?
Leo K Theatre, Words & Ideas Stage
5:15pm-6:15pm

Lindy West is actually going to be a couple of places for Bumbershoot this year, but I’m most interested in seeing what she has to say (hilariously, I’m sure) about how women are represented in pop culture and politics, so if you have to choose, I think you should be at this one. West joins a bunch of other rad ladies on stage, and I’m sure it’s going to be one of those laugh/cry/throw-up-because-you’re-so-overwhelmed kind of talks.

John Waters – This Filthy World: Filthier & Dirtier
Bagley Wright Theatre
8:30pm-9:45pm

You guys. JOHN FREAKING WATERS is going to be at Bumbershoot! I can’t even. I’m hyperventilating because I’m so excited about this. Watching Waters perform This Filthy World: Filthier & Dirtier and talk about all the things is likely going to be one of the best parts of the weekend. Trust me on this. (and if you’ve never seen a John Waters film, for the love of all that is holy, head over to Scarecrow and rent at least three of them)

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There's plenty to dig into at this year's Bumbershoot Music Festival outside of the big-draw acts (Gotye, anyone?) that make the daily ticket price well worth every hard-earned dollar you're going to spend. There's an impressive comedy lineup, KEXP's always-awesome "secret" Music Lounge, endless vendors, and the sunny goodness of the Seattle Center grounds -- and it all awaits us as another Labor Day weekend looms around the corner. You can head on over to the official Bumbershoot site to go over the schedule and fine-tune a personal lineup, of course -- but here's a few of our hot picks anyway, just in case you find yourself with a case of multi-stage overwhemsion.

SATURDAY

Bumbershoot kicks off strong this year with some feel-good bands breaking us in on our first day, like JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound (fingers crossed-times-infinity that they do their killer cover of "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart"), Sera Cahoone, and the Barr Brothers, still fresh in our mind from their performance at Pickathon. THEESatisfaction is sure to electro-groove our very souls before we get a good shredding from the Heartless Bastards, and later on we'll gladly close out day one with a bit of Jane's Addiction and M. Ward:

2:30p, Fisher Green Stage: JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound
3:30p, Sub Pop Stage (Fountain Lawn): Sera Cahoone
4:30p, The Promenade: Barr Brothers
5:15p, Sub Pop Stage: THEESatisfaction
5:45p, Starbucks Stage (Mural): Heartless Bastards
9:00p, The Promenade: Damien Jurado
9:30p, Mainstage (Key Arena): Jane's Addiction
9:45p, Fisher Green Stage: M. Ward

There's tons to do in that gap during the dinner hour, including the Stranger's Guide to America, grabbing actual dinner, checking out Flatstock, and seeking out one of a bazillion killer comedy acts before picking back up the tunes.

SUNDAY

Chugging along into day two, we'll gladly get take our wakeup call from Eighteen Individual Eyes (and a side of the-good-kind-of-bite from Katie Kate) before we ease into a mainstage set at Key Arena from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (hell yes!!). There's a run of favorites and Sub Pop all-stars through the afternoon, with blissy sets from the Young Evils, the Fruit Bats, and Mudhoney; and another day'll easily get knocked out of the park with a closing set from Wanda Jackson and those Dusty 45s:

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Another beautiful Labor Day weekend has passed, and with it came three days spent at our annual Seattle Center-ed music and arts festival, Bumbershoot. While we didn't catch every single act on our dance cards, we managed to get ourselves in front of the stages of a lot of long-standing and new-style favorites: bands like Lemolo, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, and Pickwick, just to name a few. Between the bands, sunshine, the yummy eats, and KEXP's gorgeous semi-secret music lounge -- it was a weekend to be reckoned with!

Here's a few bright spots from the weekend...

Kasey Anderson & the Honkies:

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As you meander around the last day of this year's Bumbershoot festival -- happy, sun-kissed, ears and heart full of new tunes and old familliar places -- buy that poster, get that cool recycled banner-turned-messenger-bag, and make sure you take the time to get to see these face-melting ladies and gents do what they do. Here's your no-regrets list for Monday afternoon:

Lemolo {4:30, EMP Level 3 stage}

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