{Photo: Christpher Nelson}

I've been going to Bumbershoot for, say, around 500 years (post-the Age of Enlightenment made it more awesome, though -- since then there's been less jousting and witch house-burning). There are going to be some regional and national musical acts at Bumbershoot 2011 I probably won't dare to miss, though some of them I'd rather take in at the succulently sweet-aired KEXP Music Lounge (where eager interns literally towel off any sweat from performers and audience members alike with yellow and black silk kerchiefs), dandy wuss lad I've withered into being at shows. The ML features some extraordinary guests this year by the way, where I'm planning to shabazz it up like a vetiver granting many lees to all the buffalo, if you catch my mad rad tennis drift.

Wait a second, the line up's not secret anymore? And is subject to change? Thanks, handy Bumbershoot 2011 website! At some point though,  the fine folks in the Music Lounge will probably want me to rotate my seat to others and kick me out so I have to sully my shoulders with savage civilians, and if you're a finicky fuss-budget like me you want to have a coherent idea of what's razzle-dazzling outside in (argh!) daylight. So: for my fellow jaded specialists, here's the wonderful Bumbershoot 2011 cultural weirdness what I plan to be figuring out to catch when I'm not waiting in the comedy lines...

Saturday, September 3

12 p.m. - 1 p.m.: Tomten at EMP Level 3 Stage

Yes, I'm starting with a band that starts just as the festival starts -- but get to Bumbershoot just when it opens this year, because this is no ordinary band. This is a cider-juiced J.D. Salinger of rock groups, the Alex Chilton on absinthe fronting a frollicking Kinks of posh-garage, the charming conquerers of this year's EMP Sound Off! competitions (wild card win! Woot!), and there's a whole lot of swoon-croon and kool-keyboards involved. As magnetic as they are literate, as frothy as they are intoxicating, let it all begin with the masterful tunes of Tomten. The Level 3 Stage is kind of a weird venue (new I think for the 'shoot), but Pop Conference fans will remember that it is upstairs from the Science Fiction Museum (which I believe is branching into Horror, according to Taking Punk To The Masses creator and EMP curator Jacob McMurray, so mutants be aware of that too).

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{Bumbershoot photo: Erik Clineschmidt Photography}

One Reel, the talented folks behind putting on Bumbershoot, is reminding festival goers this year that the deadline for the extra-special Any Day Pass is coming up soon: May 31st. The neat idea is that if you buy this $29 ticket before then, you can pick any one of the three days to go on, so as the artists are announced (day by day) till then and you can put together the best bill for yourself any time before Labor Day Weekend. (Also, earlier in the week before, if you figure out which of those days it's going to pour on, as it seems to do at least one day every year, you can choose an alternate day.) This is a reward for old school Bumbershoot fans (like me) who attend at least one of the days, and like the wiggle room up to the splendiferous event. The only catch being snatching up one of those tickets before the new month. May 31st! And then the Any Day Passes are all gone!

Just shouted-out for Bumbershoot 2011 today is Grant Lee Buffalo, who is joining these already-confirmed artists:

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When we talk about Bumbershoot, it's usually about the big music shows we've seen, or the new bands we've discovered. The festival has always had an arresting line-up of literary readings, comedy, multi-media events, even live theatre to offer too, and in recent years its multi-arts smorgasbord has become as ferociously popular as seeing the big (and cult favorite) bands.

Sure, Bumbershoot will always remind me of once-in-a-lifetime performances by the Sex Pistols, Magnetic Fields, the Mekons, and others (and the KEXP Music Lounge is its best, near-kept secret). But I also have amazing memories of presentations by up-and-coming novelists, gut-splitting humor, secrets from underground cartoonists, teenage spoken word artists ruling the microphones, and so many other cultural bellwethers who are pulled into the frantic fray of culture-tasting.

This year is as exciting as ever for the non-musical (or about music) events and performances, and I've put together my own cheat sheet of "happenings" that are crucially important. Pop in to some of these between the bands, and I bet you'll feel that Bumbershoot 2010 is one of the sweetest deals you got all year for the ticket price:

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It is sheer madness that there are so many great live performers appearing at Bumbershoot 2010 this year. This is my personal schedule to see a cross-section of irascible indie-ness (be it indie pop-friendly Pac NW hip-hop, indie rock, Brooklyn funk, etc.) but mostly focusing on those TIG-sparking artists who either put out a great record recently (and may or may not have gotten the deserved acclaim) or have one coming right up.

So let's begin the plan, and bear in mind if you haven't heard the music that may already be available from these performers, we would recommend checking the releases hyped below out before you attend Bumbershoot 2010. This is not because you would be in any way disappointed with what you will see and hear when you hit the full-genre full-on phenomenon that is the festival this year; just the opposite, we want you to already have some of these songs down to sing/chant/rap along when they pop during the sets. All are recommended and approved.

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The lineup for Bumbershoot is starting to fill out and they just unveiled about 60 artists yesterday. The additions are:

Jason Mraz / Kasabian / Audrye Sessions / The Knux / Akron/Family / Vivian Girls / The Devil Makes Three / Elvis Perkins in Dearland / Maximo Park / Wale w/ UCB / OTEP / Mirah / Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears / 3 Inches of Blood / U.S.E / Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground / Say Hi / Mayer Hawthorne & The County / The Minus 5 / Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band / Telekinesis / Everest / Oren Lavie / The New Mastersounds / Dyme Def / Delhi 2 Dublin / The Dusty 45s / Visqueen / Truckasauras / Head Like a Kite / Akimbo / Paul Oscher “Alone with the Blues” / Parenthetical Girls / Massy Ferguson / The Lonely Forest / Sleepy Eyes of Death / Past Lives / Macklemore / The Whore Moans Present: The Black Atom! / Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder / Wallpaper / Point Juncture, WA / D.Black / Spaceman / Kim Field & The Mighty Titans of Tone / Handful of Luvin’ / Champagne Champagne / Romance / Kristen Ward / Dept. of Energy / Hotels / The Kindness Kind / Mark Taylor Quartet / Black Whales / Kore Ionz / Grand Hallway / Anomie Belle / Steve Griggs Quintet / We Are Golden / Olympic Sound Collective / The Not-Its! / Central Services’ Board of Education / Recess Monkey

Adding to the already announced names:

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at Bumbershoot

Mono in VCF is unquestionably a dark horse contender for one of the biggest break out bands from the Pacific NW in 2008.

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In all the hoopla surrounding SP20 this weekend, it might have gotten missed that Bumbershoot unveiled their schedule Saturday morning.

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Luckily, the organizers of Bumbershoot understand our need to be thrifty. To help, they're launching an Insider's Deal presale with tickets to Seattle's late August festival of music, comedy and art at discounted prices.

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at Bumbershoot

Despite their young years, Siberian's music is mature with the Johnny Marr-esque guitar leads, a touch of Thom Yorke falsetto, and a hint of The Ocean Blue.

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