Alright! So let’s finish up talking about the Bumberfest.

The Lonely Forest packed the EMP tight enough that they were asking everyone to move at least a half step forward. I had no idea they were so popular, but clearly, I am dumb: these Anacortes boys brought the sort of powerful rock music to the stage that makes it difficult to take photos because I’m too busy dancing around. I might be late to this party, but I am really glad I haven’t missed it altogether.

The Devil Makes Three was less ragtime-y than I had hoped, but I still really enjoyed their three-part harmonies and hoe-down songs. Last year I felt like I was suffering from alt-country fatigue at Bumbershoot, but this year I really needed a little goth country in my afternoon.

Trying to get in to Metric in the KEXP lounge turned out to be a ridiculous proposition, so I headed off to see Dead Confederate, which was the correct decision. They were Southern and loud, loud enough to sound pretty good even in the sound hole of the Exhibition Hall.

More surprising sound came from Franz Ferdinand at the Mainstage. I usually skip Mainstage shows because I’m just not very down with the muddy sound and being elbowed in the head by stoned teenagers, but Franz Ferdinand have become a total stadium band and they sounded great in there.

I walked down the stairs to see 3 Inches of Blood next to a couple of teenage boys, who had been waiting all day for that show. The crowd was almost solidly male and sparse at that–everyone else was at Modest Mouse or Metric–but who needs a giant crowd when you can have a smaller one of superfans? 3 Inches of Blood stomped and raged and made loud, loud metal sounds, and everyone in the crowd ate it up.

So let’s talk about Bumbershoot magic. For me Holy Fuck stole a lot of the show, and there was a moment during their Broad Street set where the drummer and the bass player were locking eyes and playing hard, and the other two were synced and intense, and that gave me goosebumps. It was perfect. I walked in to the Exhibition Hall for Dead Confederate during their soundcheck, just a few people and a giant empty room and a loud rock band playing for the moment just for us, and that was quite sincerely a Moment. Magic also happened when the sun came out in the beginning parts of U.S.E. and when Matt & Kim stopped what they were playing to tell the crowd how sincerely thrilled they were to see so many people so excited to see them.

This was a great Bumbershoot, I think. Metroblogging readers, what were your favorite parts?

photo by Scott Cahill Rude [flickr] via our group pool [#].

For Team Metblogs, our longstanding dream of having an intern, caddy, or sherpa help us with the grueling challenge of on-the-scene coverage of full-day festival fun finally came true on Sunday when we recruited our pal Carinna to tag along as our assistant on Sunday. Throughout the day, she had plenty of time to absorb and observe the all-important teen scene at Bumbershoot. Below are some of her observations from the field:

As a high school teacher who 1) has spent a whole summer doing strictly “21+” things, and 2) has to start teaching again on Wednesday, I was keenly sensitive to the teeming presence of teenagers, many of whom were in need of stern teacher looks, at Bumbershoot yesterday.

The most important thing to know about teenagers is that they are usually so wrapped up in themselves and their buddies that they don’t know when they’re being observed. This was how I managed to avoid conversation with all of the former students I saw, and still manage to observe the movements of my normally captive creatures out in the wild.

I saw ponytailed teenaged girls benignly smiling during their first crowd-surfing experiences at the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and then later being exited from MSTRKRFT for doing the same thing.

At the Fisher Green stage, pot-smokin’ teenagers freaked out so loudly about Common Market’s zombies that I had to leave to keep from chastising them. Next, a raging windstorm sent sane festival-goers inside to Flatstock, Kerfuffle, and the Art Jam, while drunken teenagers amused themselves by hurtling into the cold, wet International Fountain.

At both U.S.E. and Holy Fuck shows, I overheard teenagers talking about how weird it was that their parents “actually listen to these guys.”

But the most entertaining teenagers I eavesdropped on were sitting on the ground next to me at Todd Snider’s set. These two Nathan Hale students, the kinds who use bonus point vocabulary words to make their jokes funnier and say things like “boss,” spun absurdist tales to pass the time before the show started. Just before the music began, the boys had a conversation that I will remember for the rest of my days because it reminded me why I like my job.

“That’s my favorite kind of wolf! They shoot beams of awesomeness out of their mouths and decapitate horses!” // “Yeah, Chief Laser Fang!”

Many thanks to Carinna for playing along and keeping her ear to the ground. Have an idea for an exciting new guest column for Metblogs? Send your scheme to us at seattle.metblogs at gmail.com

7:00 PM – Katherine Whitcomb: Lamp of Letters
Richard Hugo House
Poetry reading and book signing, with guests Dennis Caswell and Sharon Cumberland.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Rev. Arthur Simon: The Rising of Bread for the World: An Outcry of Citizens Against Hunger
Elliott Bay Book Co.
Rev. Simon is no relation to the singer/songwriter, but is the brother of the late Senator. Which is irrelevant to this appearance. Oh, and everyone’s favorite pro-marijuana activist will also be there: “Internationally-recognized (and locally-based) travel writer and activist Rick Steves will introduce Rev. Simon here this evening, and participate in the conversation. In addition to his many insightful travel guides, he is recently the author of Travel as a Political Act.” –EBB
[LINK]

*
7:30 PM – T.R. Reid: The Healing of America
Town Hall Seattle, Downstairs
“According to the World Health Organization, the United States, the richest country in the world, ranks 37th overall on healthcare costs, quality, and coverage. As politicians, providers and just plain folks debate how to reform America’s healthcare system, NPR commentator and author T.R. Reid took a more global view: He visited successful healthcare systems around the world, examining why other countries have better, fairer, and cheaper healthcare than we do – and looking for ideas we could use. In his new book, The Healing of America, Reid concludes that one key lesson is that most foreign countries do not use socialized medicine. Japan has 99 percent private hospitals and 5,000 health-insurance companies, for example, but provides universal coverage and excellent care for less than half what we spend per capita. Presented as part of the Future of Health Lecture Series with University Book Store.” (Town Hall)
[LINK]

My favorite band of the day was Soulsavers featuring Mark Lanegan.

Delhi to Dublin were a close second place, though.

For non-musical acts, I really liked Flexion by Wise Fool New Mexico’s acrobatics.

SIFF’s programming of the One Reel Film Festival was brilliant as always with every segment screening to a full house. The four films in the “Made in Seattle” screening were a true testament to the great filmmaking that’s going on in the NW but no matter which program you saw, you saw some good films.

Additional photos of both Monday and Saturday here as well as in the Seattle Metblogs Flickr group where we encourage you to share yours.

There have been brief, fleeting glimpses of the sun today, but by and large it has been one degree of wet or another. Drizzle, light rain, heavy downpour…and it shows no signs of suddenly transforming into one of those magic days where the sun magically bursts into the sky and makes everything better.

The damp weather hasn’t dampened the crowds today, though. In fact, there seems to more people here today than on Saturday which had much better weather. Mainstage performers Black Eyed Peas and Modest Mouse are probably the inspiration; unlike the previous days, today there is a good chance of the special mainstage passes being depleted before show time.

Highlights today for me included the Tyler Bryant Band, a trio of young men from Tennessee cute enough to be the next teen pop smash who play guitar based blues with skill and talent far beyond their years. Minus 5 and their ever changing line up drew an enthusiastic crowd to the Starbucks stage despite the mud.

Indoor venues are very popular today for obvious reasons but Portland, OR’s Point Juncture, WA would have been worth staying inside for even if the weather was perfect.

Another Portland band became the best band hardly anybody went to see: Suburban Anthem play good old fashioned punk rock with an infectious energy and charmed those of us who did make their Exhibition Hall set by pulling an enthusiastic teenager out of the audience to make him the fifth member of the band whether he liked it or not. (He did.)

12:00 PM – Vampires and Robots: Kevin Emerson, Daniel Wilson
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

1:45 PM – Manic D Press at 25
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

3:30 PM – Writers of LOST w/ Jeff Jensen
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

5:45 PM – Seattle Noir
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Night Shift: A Story and Six Songs
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

7:45 PM – Youth Speaks Seattle w/ Staceyann Chin and Prometheus Brown
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

Romance in the EMP

Hey you guys, today it has been raining off and on. FYI.

It turns out that U.S.E has the power to both make it rain and make it stop raining, among other talents like creating dance parties and wearing gold spandex. They’ll be having a cd pre-pre-release party at Havana tonight.

Holy F**k played in the KEXP lounge earlier–you may have heard them–any they’ll be on the Broad Street stage at 7:45 probably ripping the clouds back open with their robot dance party. I still don’t understand how they make all of those noises, but it’s guaranteed to be a good time.

Have you heard post-punk cute boys Romance? I think you’d like them. They were a member short today–their keyboard player’s wife just had a baby last night–but it didn’t seem to slow them down at all.

Here’s a little more of what happened at Seattle Center yesterday.

Hotels

Past Lives

(more…)

Bumbershoot program, 1993, courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives. From our Flickr pool.

12:00 PM – Christian Lander: Stuff White People Like
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

1:45 PM – Spencer Moody: The Enablers Have Spoken and You’re Fine
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

2:00 PM – ReAct Theatre: The House in Town
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“Elliott Bay’s Tenth Annual Staged Play Reading Series continues with a Seattle premiere reading presentation of Richard Greenberg’s recent Broadway play, The House in Town. The time is New Year’s Eve, 1929, and a Jewish department store tycoon and his shiksa wife bid their last few party guests with a parting wish: “A better year ahead.” But, as that pivotal year begins, the shadow of the enormous new apartment complex under construction looms over their home. The shadow also portends Wall Street’s impending collapse, and the growing strain upon the couple’s marriage. Don’t miss this extraordinary play.” –EBB
[LINK]

3:30 PM – SE Hinton
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

3:45 PM – Melvin Van Peebles
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

5:45 PM – Zak Smith: We Did Porn
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

7:30 PM: iLL-Literacy
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

8:15 PM – David Cross
Bumbershoot
[LINK]

Are you looking at Metblogs on some sort of mobile device? Are you at least willing to let me pretend that you might be? Elvis Perkins in Dearland will be playing on the Northwest Court Stage at 8:30. They played in the KEXP Music Lounge this afternoon with at least three times as many instruments are there are band members, including the extra special one man band drum cymbal combination pictured, and now I sort of want to kidnap them all and make them be my own personal bluesy rock soundtrack.

If you are here, you should be preparing to watch them.