{This is part two of a three-part preview of this year's not-to-be-missed acts at Bumbershoot by Imaginary Victoria -- bounce back to see part one here!}

Flatstock {all weekend, Fisher Pavillion}

We told you all about it in our Saturday preview: Flatstock is not to be missed. Check it.

As you peruse around the middle day of this year's Bumbershoot, the early afternoon presents a ton of options depending on what your particular bag is, how hung over you are from Saturday, and what kind of mood you're in. Kristin Hersch will be at the Bagley Wright theater at 12:15, Kasey Anderson on the Starbucks stage at 12:30, The Lonely Forest on the Main stage at 1:30, Mad Rad takes Fisher Green at 2:15... not to mention Broken Social Scene on the Main stage at 3 and a slew of amazing acts running all weekend in KEXP's secret lounge. Regardless of your fancy, though, there are a few things we think you should make the time to catch during the second part of the day:

Jessica Lea Mayfield {5:45p, Starbucks stage}

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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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{The Lonely Forest photo: Trickshot Photography}

This coming weekend is going to be full of more fun than an swim-up pool bar. Friday night (7/9) we have the blessed reunion of Carissa's Wierd at the Showbox at the Market. If you haven't heard why you must be there, you can sample their song and hear some reasons on our recent Imaginary Mixtape podcast. Or you can just read intricate tales of our long term Carissa's Wierd love affair.

That same Friday night our friends at TBTL are hosting an amazing night of "Imaginary Radio" over at the swanky new Columbia City Theater with performances by Sir Mix A Lot, Rachel Flotard, John Roderick, Ben Huh and others.  It's already sold out, but for those of us that can't make it on Friday, the TBTL-ers have added a Saturday night show (some tickets still available) with an equally stellar lineup: Smoosh, Blue Scholars, The Lonely Forest, Andy Haynes and a couple more surprises!

Of course, one look at the imaginary calendar and you can see a bunch of other possibilities too! Which way are you headed this weekend?

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As you shake free from your mandatory PNW hibernation, you've undoubtedly caught wind of all the rad lineups coming our way as the first whiffs of spring tour sneak up on us. And next week is bringing one of the first post-winter shows to Seattle that we're really beside ourselves about -- those gorgeously accent-laden Scottish sad bastards We Were Promised Jetpacks will be hitting the stage at Neumo's on Tuesday, March 2nd.

(Yes, next week is March. Already. Yikes!)

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For some reason as stressful as it is sometimes to do, I found myself compiling a bunch of year end and decade end lists over the holiday weekend. So many so, I decided to spread out all my lists throughout the week. Today we'll start with the meat of the list -- my favorite releases of 2009.

As long as I've been making lists, it's always been apparent that I'm partial to Pacific Northwest bands... and this year it's especially so. I'm sure I've forgotten something that I love beyond belief.. but here is the list as of *right now*. What are your favorite local and non-local releases of 2009?

 

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{The Lonely Forest play at the Showbox at the Market on Thursday, December 31 with Minus the Bear and Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground.}

For those from of you who may have missed it, The Lonely Forest are a guitar-based indie rock quartet who’re the best damn thing to come out of Sound Off! in… ever. Centered around lead-man John Van Deusen’s blissfully energetic guitar and earnest vocals, the band has been creating a steady following since their formation in 2005 and are poised to take over the world. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to write about this album either. The first time I tried to write about The Lonely Forest’s We Sing The Body Electric! I was confounded. It was an odd situation, I’m not normally faced with an album that I can’t seem to find anything to say about and I’m an opinionated putz, so what was the big deal? The big deal is that there isn’t much to say about The Lonely Forest’s We Sing the Body Electric! because it’s really, really good. That’s the big secret and the reason this review is giving me something of a headache.

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As I was picking out my favorite shots from this past year, it quickly became apparent that I couldn't just leave it at ten.  I've posted my top picks below (in no particular order), but you can check out the rest here.

Huge thanks to the TIG crew, especially Chris and Keenan, for giving me the opportunity to share these amazing moments with all you lovely people! And thanks to all my fellow photographers, both in Seattle and elsewhere, for giving me inspiration every day. Hope you all have a safe, prosperous, and Happy New Year! Here's to an even bigger and better 2010!

2009-09-05: Hotels @ Bumbershoot - EMP | SFM's Sky Church

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Mew. The Lonely Forest. All ages. Tonight. Neumo's. Fourteen bucks. What else do you need to know, really?

Well, here's what they've got to say for themselves, for starters:

Whilst their music may be classified as indie and on occasion (like on And the Glass Handed Kites) progressive rock, they sometimes humorously refer to it themselves as "pretentious art rock". The band's guitarist Bo Madsen refers to the band as "the world's only indie stadium band".

Indie stadium eh? Well, we're all for it. Check it out for yourself here:

And here:

A little bit of that with a little bit of The Lonely Forest, and you've got your Thursday night wrapped up easy-peasy. 'Nuff said.

We'll see you at the show!

at Showbox at the Market

"Watching The Globes at the Showbox. Holy crow and OMG."

 

Chris Walla's Twitter post during The Globes' set was just a sign of things to come. Not only was the Death Cab for Cutie guitarist in attendance to show support for three of his favorite (local) bands, but he later joined Telekinesis on stage as their second guitarist. In a way, it was a bittersweet set as frontman Michael Benjamin Lerner announced that it was David and Jonie Broecker's last show with the band.

Coming off their electric Bumbershoot performance back in September, The Lonely Forest took the stage just before 11 PM to a nearly sold out crowd, some of which had been waiting in line outside since 5. It was amazing to see such a huge turnout, especially on Black Friday where everyone was either still in a food coma or exhausted from a full day of shopping. This was the first time that any of the bands had played at The Showbox and it certainly will not be their last. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

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Bumbershoot takes place at the Seattle Center this September 5-7 and there's about a million and a half things to do (bands, literary panels, art shows, Flatstock, kettle corn lunches) over the three-day fest.

To help folks (especially ourselves) prepare for Bumbershoot 2009, we put together this lil mix of some of the things you should add to your Bumbershoot scheduling spreadsheet. We hope this helps you pick your must-sees or at least provides a soundtrack as you wander to and fro.

 

{go listen}