{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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{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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Bumbershoot announced some more acts late yesterday afternoon (and one unfortunate cancellation). The new additions are Franz Ferdinand, Eugene Mirman, Os Mutantes and Janelle Monae.

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at Neumo's

I've barely had time to catch my breath over the past two weeks, and it's not slowing up any time soon. John Wesley Harding, the Fastbacks (!!), the Roots, Los Campesinos!, and Clem Snide.. And it's only the fourteenth!

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In addition to good times, People Talking and Singing has become one the most important – and critical – fundraising events 826 Seattle hosts each year. All proceeds directly support the writing lives of thousands of young people in Seattle.

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See what's in the stars -- and the record stores -- for you for June 2006, featuring reviews of the latest releases from the Court & Spark, Nouvelle Vague, Conner, the Village Green, CSS, and more.

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