Bumbershoot weekend
Filed in: lists, music, Tue, Sep 6 2005 07:46 PT
I spent the weekend at Seattle’s biggest music festival. All four days, I managed to find something to see. Plus, I managed to stay largely out of the rain on Sunday, which was a bonus. Here’s my Bumbershoot list:
- Maktub
- Citizen Cope
- IQU
- Lauren Weedman
- Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), Mike Doughty and the Transatlantic Orchestra in a Benefit for 826 Seattle (featuring a cover of Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf” with Mike Doughty, Daniel Handler on accordion, and the Orchestra, aka Death Cab for Cutie)
- Talib Kweli
- Common
- The Decemberists
- The Be Good Tanyas
- Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
- Keren Ann
- Michael Franti & Spearhead
- Tegan and Sara
Believe it or not, this was my first Bumbershoot, despite having lived in Seattle for eight years. My first excuse was that I lived in Redmond, and was scared away by my Microsofty coworkers. The crowds, the noise, all that. Then, I took up with someone who sustained a catastrophic injury. She came back for the first time this year, too, and I don’t think she regretted it.
Wow, and here I’d lived here one year and went the next and now, my third year and second bumbershoot. it’s not for everyone – the confusion, the noise, the crowds. but for fun human events, i think it’s a match to the 4th of july Mall festivities in DC – the national symphony on one end, some national act in the middle, and a band of gypsies at the other end. oh, and usually half-a-million folks all camped our or prowling. did that for 20 years and it prepared me perfectly for bumbershoot.