For those brave enough to return to Bumbershoot for the tricky “middle day”, Team Metblogs salutes you. Several of us will be there, scribbling and snapping the say away. Below, is a slate of recommendations to get you started. Let us know what else from the full lineup you’ll be seeing.

The Sound of Young America Live!: Honestly, Sunday looks like the weakest of the three days at Bumbershoot, so this is the day you should check out a live taping of public radio’s redheaded stepchild The Sound Of Young America. (It’s playing all three days at the same time.) In a world where twentysomethings give to public radio pledge drives, TSOYA would have a prime spot on KUOW instead of that one-off appearance on KXOT. (I mean, honestly, KUOW, do we need yet another tired talk show aimed at the middle-aged, middlebrow former hipster? You have 16 of them already on Sunday alone.) Jesse Thorn is funny, a great interviewer, bipedal, and mostly water. [dylan] 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM, Charlotte Martin Theatre (all three days)

After the jump, plenty of other reasons to make a return to Bumbershoot on Sunday.

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I’m not sure if local comedian Dartanion London is simply dedicated to his craft or just outright crazy: in addition to putting on his weekly Dart-mondo shows with their unique format in which comndians perform a short stand-up routine which is then immediately followed a group of improv artists acting out the themes in their material (Saturday nights at 12:30 at the Historic University Theater, through March 15), he’s kicking off a new comedy festival called the “Week of Fun” which begins Thursday night, January 24 at Central Cinema with a show which features some of the best members of the local alternative comedy scene.

The festival moves to Ballard on Friday for a free, all-ages (inappropriate for young children) show at Mr. Spot’s Chai House and then continues with shows in the U District, downtown Seattle, Capital Hill and Ballard again. If you’re in the mood to be amused, check out the schedule at the Week of Fun website for complete details. [#].

Friday - First Friday: “Interactivity” @ McLeod Residence - I’ve been looking forward to this. Mechanical Butterfiles? Biometrics? Lasers? Crazy hi-tech mirrors? I can’t wait! Metroblogger Samantha tells all…

Friday - Three Imaginary Girls 5th Birthday Party @ Crocodile - Boat album release & The Shaky Hands & Dolour album release & The Western States Motel. Hipsters aplenty, I’m sure.

Friday-Sunday - Aleister Crowley’s The Rite of Venus: a rock opera @ Richard Hugo House - A “musical adaptation of the infamous poets’ modern interpretation of the Eleusian mysteries. Featuring the poetry of Shelley, Swineburn and Crowley himself, with modern music by local artists and a bevy of belly-dancers.”

Friday-Saturday midnight - “Footloose” @ Egyptian Cinema - Let’s hear it for the boy, while we’re dancing in the sheets.
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Saturday night I went to the Historic University Theater on the Ave (5510 University Way NE) to see Dart-Mondo., a show which takes stand-up comedy and improv comedy and mashes them together. The show runs every Satrurday night/Sunday morning at 12:30 am for the next several weeks. Ticket price is a mere $8 and thw show is worth every penny.

The way the show works is this: A stand-up comedian takes the mic and performs a short routine and then the improv troupe performs a series of skits inspired by the comic’s routine. To be honest, improv has never been a favorite art form of mine as I’ve seen too much of it that consists primarily of the performers mugging their way through endless go-nowhere vamping. Dart-Mondo’s five actors– Dartanion London, Jason Anfinsen, Ian Schempp, Mike Murphy, and Amanda Lee Williams–worked well together to create quick, mostly funny bits that actually made sense and hit their marks most of the time. There were a few instances of over-used schtick thst wasn’t terribly funny (does anyone who isn’t a 13 year old boy really find multiple repeititions of “ha ha, look at me pretending to be steretypically gay” all that amusing?) but by and large, the improv was as funny as the stand-up. All three comedians last night were entertaining; I particularly liked Scott Moran’s method of saving money on buying bicycles (go to a hardware store and buy boltcutters) and while I could see Dan Moore’s beatnikstyle delivery getting a little played out if it went on too long, for a short routine it added a great deal of extra humor to his jokes. Overall, a great show and which I highly recommend.

So you don’t like film, music, or arts & crafts–or maybe you’re just not the festival type–but you still need something to do on a Saturday night? The folks at Gravity Failure Productions have you covered by debuting their new show, Dart-Mondo tonight at 12:30 am (that’s midnight-thirty) at the University Theater (5510 University Way NE). The show is a mash-up of stand-up and improv featuring special guests from the comedy scene each week. Can’t make it this week? That’s cool, too–the show runs show July 7th.