at Bumbershoot 2009

Say Hi has shortened more than their band name over time. The band’s lineup itself has also mutated to the point where their latest release on Barsuk, Ohhs & Ahhs, was recorded entirely by Eric Elbogen, the man behind the band, at his home studio. A dark album with heavy hues of loneliness the album displays half-hearted attempts at cheering itself up, making its lasting impression a sincere one.

Perhaps this is why I was surprised when, trying not to slip on the slimy grass in front of the Broad Street stage at Bumbershoot on Monday, I walked up to what sounded like emo-pop. It seems fair to look at the progression of Say Hi To Your Mom to Say Hi in relation to the increasing maturity of both their sound and their name. But as they began to play “Dramatic Irony” it became clear that without the production value of their recordings, the songs became more upbeat. The song was still dark, due to it’s content, but the overwhelming sound was light-hearted.

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Matt and Kim are an adorable dance-rock duo from Brooklyn who weave together banging drum beats and amped up keyboards with chant a long lyrics. I caught up with them at Bumbershoot 2009 shortly before their set to discuss their life on the road, Beyonce, their last album, Grand, and future plans to record.

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Earlier we posted the five favorite shots at Bumbershoot from the fantastic photographer Jason Tang. His also brilliant colleague Erik Clineschmidt offered his five favorite photos from last weekend at Bumbershoot. They are:

Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs:

Modest Mouse fans:

No hands:

Colors of [Sonic] Youth:

Hosed in the pit:

This panel was of great interest to me since getting fiction published through McSweeney’s would be a dream come true, so even just hearing this authors, all first-time published fiction writers, talk about the experience of having Eli Horowirtz, McSweeny’s editor, work with them on their novels was a treat.

Bill Cutter, author of “Fever Chart,” claimed that he unflinchingly did pretty much everything Eli told him to. Meanwhile Jessica Anthony said that when editing a particular passage of her book, “The Convalescence,” Eli had her write six different versions and on the seventh she told him that this was her final draft (it was also the original text, before she had changed anything) and he responded that she nailed it. James Hannaham’s book “God Says No,” described the liberating feeling of cutting the first five chapters of his novel before even sending it into the Dave Eggers founded publishing house for consideration.

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at Bumbershoot 2009

Sunshowers and bleachers. Red and blue Samsung balloons were being kept in the air by palms attached to distracted bodies. The attention of the crowd too busy staring at the sound crew on the main stage, readying themselves for the cheer that they were to send up shortly as Karen O took the stage, shortly after the understated Nick Zinner and Brain Chase that are the ever-talented and too-cool-for-school members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

These musicians are performers. Or at least, they understand the nature of their stage roles. As they played hit after hit and Karen O mustered the most sincere love for Seattle’s Bumbershoot audience, I found myself wondering if Karen O could be considered one of the only current day rock stars. Maybe it was just because she danced like Mick Jagger at moments, maybe it was the way she walked off set half way through the set for a slight costume change, either way I found myself realizing that, whereas I was disappointed when Mirah dropped a lyric or didn’t hit a note, I didn’t mind when Karen O’s stage antics led to losing some of her vocals because of her entertaining performance.

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TIG was lucky to have to incredibly talented photographers covering Bumbershoot this year: Erik Clineschmidt and Jason Tang.

I've really loved looking through their photos and want to post all of them (and will be posting more very soon), but here are my favorite photo from each.

Janelle Monae by Jason Tang:

I really love how you can see the reflection of the crowd in this photo of Mayer Hawthorne's bassist by Erik Clineschmidt:

You can see more and upload your own photos to TIG's Flickr pool.

{photo of DJ Spooky by Jeremiah D. Johnson}

Arriving later than I wanted to, I swiftly ran from the press gate across the Center to catch Telekinesis' KEXP Music Lounge session, and as always, their tight pop hooks and charming melodies did not disappoint, and I cursed my love of Rhett Miller, knowing that I'd have to choose him over Michael Lerner and co's fun pop beats (Bumber-schedule conflict #1!).

Next up I hit Flatstock, and of course found dozens of posters I'd be proud to hang in my apartment (including the ever wonderful Seattle Show Posters). Flatstock is always a Bumber-highlight for me, despite my general dislike of buying posters for shows I did not attend (but I generally make room for posters for shows I wish I had attended).

After Flatstock, I sauntered over to SIFF Cinema and caught four delightful shorts that won Best Grand Jury Prize at SIFF earlier this year, featuring a wonderful animated short called Photographs of Jesus, about a photo warehouse where people constantly ask for zany photographs that don't exist, like ones of dodos (extinct in the 1700s), one of Hilter at the 1948 Olympics, and of the moon landing, but with 12 other people on the moon. Also featured was a very wonderful and very short documentary called The Herd, which starred a deer who wanted to be and believed it was a cow. It was just as endearing and cute as you might imagine.

Got any Bumber-photos at all? Please put them in our flickr pool!

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Update: I took down my crappy cell phone photo of Raphael Saadiq because superstar photographer Jason Tang just uploaded an awesome one.

So... How's Bumbershoot for you all?

For day two, I had a busy day, running from show to show. My schedule put me from The Kindness Kind to Spencer Moody's literary program, The Enablers Have Spoken, to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs to USE to Raphael Saadiq in the KEXP lounge to Sleepy Eyes of Death to my apartment for a brief break and back to Bumbershoot for Raphael Saadiq again.

I enjoyed everything I went to, but seeing Raphael Saadiq twice was the definite highlight. In the KEXP Lounge, he and his full band was in uniform, in suits looking sharp for a radio appearance. Both sets were full of Motown-era soul backed by a tight and funky band (two backup singers, a trumpet, saxophone, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards). He is such a charismatic performer that you believe all of the love the audience had for him was mutual. He played for ninety minutes, including two encores, because the crowd didn't want to let him leave. My favorite thing he said (actually, I think he said it both at the KEXP Lounge and on the Fisher Green Stage) was that he wrote his song "The Big Easy" as a tribute to Hurricane Katrina victims and said that the people of New Orleans like to party when they mourn.

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{Hotels photo by Jason Tang}

The above photo from TIG's awesome photographer Jason Tang makes me wish I caught Hotels set (which is one I knew I'd regret missing throughout the weekend).

After my mid-day check-in yesterday, I saw two more acts: UH HUH HER and De La Soul.

UH HUH HER was a mostly entertaining set, but there was a lot of MOR filler thrown in. At their best, their a sexy, synth pop dance band. With two female harmonies, they can recall Ladytron (they are on the same label, Nettwerk). Still during the middle of their set, they put the electronics and hooks on the back burner. This was their first time in Seattle, which I didn't know. They said their shows kept getting canceled for a lot of "weird shit" like their bus "driver getting lost in a blizzard". I'm glad I saw them and did like when they played their singles like "Explode" and "Not a Love Song", but I was also wondering what I was missing elsewhere.

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I snuck away from Bumbershoot for a bit to run back home to my Belltown apartment for a quick break from the insanity and crowds.

Let's use this as the place to talk about the first day of Bumbershoot. So spill it. I'll even go first.

The first thing I went to was the "F is for Food" panel with Tom Douglas and Kathleen Flinn. Both had a lot to say about food and eating and had a really relaxed and funny rapport. Douglas was the most quotable, saying that people could become "50% better cooks by just learning how to buy food". When responding to Flinn's comment about loving roast chicken, he noted that "a roast chicken in Paris is much different from a roast chicken from the Costco in Lynnwood."

The biggest laugh, though, came from Flinn's reading of an entry in the "Food for Thought" contest where someone wrote their story of trying to become vegan for a whole hour.

After that, I went to the Main Stage to catch Katy Perry's set, which was as equally great and terrible as I expected.

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