Bumbershoot – Just a Great Time
I mentioned briefly in a previous post about visiting the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival back in 1999, and how great it was to see bands that I normally wouldn’t see. In the case of Bumbershoot this year, I would have definitely bought tickets to see Beck and Stone Temple Pilots. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Bumbershoot, as I recently learned is one of the biggest music and arts festivals in the country. Three days of music, from 15 different stages, conversations with writers and book signings, art in all forms, performance to visual to poetry readings. It is really quite the event. On top of everything, it is a wonderful place to do one of my favorite hobbies, people watch. This year, with the horrible absence of bumper stickers on the road, I longed to see some self expression in other forms. I started this quest by checking out people’s T-shirts on our Yellowstone road trip, but Bumbershoot was this years epicenter of personal clothing expression.
My long appreciation of the T-shirt medium started way back probably before my first concert. My concert going habits certainly kicked it up a notch. I mourned when a beloved Jerry Garcia shirt went from unwearable, because of the holes that eventually had worn their way through it, to the dust rag bin, to finally placing a milestone of my youth in the trash. If you have seen stereotypes of males loving their T-shirts on TV, or if you are one yourself, know you have a female counterpart that feels your pain.
I’m getting way off topic here, but one custom that I and those who have been closest to me have shared is the giving of favorite T-shirts. I have historically bought large sizes so that has helped. To the few who know this weird custom of mine, if we have traded favorite T-shirts, it is just as loving a statement to me as … well… giving me the shirt off your back. I’m sitting right now wearing a old NYFD T-shirt given to me by my cousin on his last visit to Oregon. The red letters on it were quite worn when he gave it to me years ago, and now they are nearly completely faded. It is a very comfortable T-shirt, and it is a nice way to keep him in my thoughts when I wear it. As for these days, my T-shirt days are probably numbered… but that is another story…
My 1999 Bumbershoot T-shirt
Here is my 1999 Bumbershoot T-shirt, front and back. I did not see one of these at the show, but I did see a 1998 and a 1997 one. I know… I’m geeky. A very comfy shirt that has lasted well after hundreds of wearings in the last 9 years. I often have to rescue this shirt from my other half’s drawer.
As far as T-shirts personal expressions go, Bumbershoot was a well stocked cornucopia for the eye. I’m a snob too. It is not enough to advertise some sports gear, some soft drink, or a clothing manufacturer. Nope, that’s a thumbs down. It is not good enough to wear your brand new cotton top to show off your new bought coolness. No way. I’m looking at favorite T-shirts, and you can tell that they are. Watching a person in a favorite T-shirt is like seeing them in their comfortable skin. The fibers have taken on the shape of their torsos, the print has meaning that fits as close as the material. Physical exertion has caused a melding of person with the wear. But I have really digressed…
Perhaps bumbershoot, for those who find the expressions of diverse people beautiful, has one more type of art not quite advertised in the brochures: the people.
If you notice in the picture above taken on the last day of the festival there is a thick wave of people going way back to the back of the picture. The last day of bumbershoot was the most people I had seen at the festival. The number of people at the festival has certainly grown since I had been there in 1999.
What we got to see:
It is amazing the variety of things that we could have seen, there was quite a bit we wanted to see but couldn’t, but what we saw was so very cool. It is hard to tell all that we had saw and heard, because as we cruised the festival grounds we got to hear all kinds of music and see all kinds of displays from the different venues and 15 music stages.
Here are the high points that I can remember:
Saturday, August 30th:
We made it in later than we thought (I’ll tell that story tomorrow), we headed into the festival and decided to check out a play first thing off.
Joe Bossamassa – First off we headed in and heard some real good blues coming from the Starbucks Stage. It was Joe Bossamassa. I plan to check out some more of his music soon. Good stuff.
Refer Madness the Musical – this was a low budget show that was just so much fun. Very low budget but very high in talent. The band was great too. Bravo.
Band of Horses – this was the opening band for Beck. They were ok, but I can’t remember much from the show I was having too much fun taking pictures and checking out the crowd. They didn’t suck.
Beck – So much fun… We listened to his new album on the road to Seattle, it is just the normal Beck fun. I recommend the new album by the way, the real complaint I have about it, is that it is too short.
Sunday, August 31st:
After getting our butts up and to a new donut shop/cafe we got moving to the festival. This morning we got here a little before noon.
Lushy – Interesting poppy music.
Kathleen Edwards – Nice folky female music, very interesting. Going to check out some of her tunes.
Haldley Caliman Quintett – Sax based Jazz standards. Good times, that matched the weather. Great sounds. Snaps… The drummer made me ache for that drum kit. After listening to these guys we went to see the art exhibitions.
Orgone – Funk soul revival. Gonna to get me some of this too.
Jakob Dylan – Damn he looks like his dad. Fedora in place, he gave great set. I already have some of him with the Wallflowers. I have heard some of his solo stuff, going to have to check if I don’t already have his new album.
STP
Stone Temple Pilots – A GRAND performance that completely made up for them being about a half hour late. I even had to take back calling Scott Weiland rock and rolls last best drama queen. He rocked the house. They were so explosive, I have to say that they were so much better than when I saw them in a small venue fifteen years ago. They certainly have more material to draw from and they did.
The set:
Big Empty, Wicked Garden, Big Bang Baby, Vasoline, Lady Picture Show, Lounge Fly, Crackerman, Sour Girl, Creep, Plush, Interstate Love Song, Down, Sex Type Thing, Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart
I thought for encore.. what the heck could they follow that with?
Dead And Bloated
WOW
If you can get to see STP, now is the time. Of co
urse, if Scott can handle it all, or perhaps if the rest of the band can handle him, they will enter the
studio. It was just great to be in a stadium with long time fans. Everyone knew the words to the songs, and it just became a big love fest sing along. The place was just alive. Here is a video that shows the crowd toward the front of the stage. You might catch people being thrown up in the air as they crowd surfed. It really brought back memories.
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The concert really brought back the just creative ability of this band to create just enjoyable music. Each song reminded me of just the amazing creative, melodic, and amazingly memorable guitar licks generated by the band. It reminded me of a period of music creativity that spoiled my classic rock loyalties and drew my eye to a new generation of rockers that were close to putting the old guys in the dust. What spirit.
(A moment of silence for Kurt)
There is a better video of “Big Empty” on the Spin Magazine site at: http://www.spin.com/articles/stone-temple-pilots-live-bumbershoot
Monday, September 1st:
After finding our mandatory chocolate croissants at a new place, Cafe Bella. We headed to the show. Mmmmmmm… chocolate..,
We showed up late, so we missed a performance of Yoga Bitch that we wanted to see. This show was described in the bumbershoot program as a show for “anyone who has ever found themselves looking for peace, spirituality or a washboard stomach…” Some how this seemed funny to us. Next time…
We were going to head for the Offspring show, but decided not to spoil the warm feelings of the STP show from the previous night. We decided to eavesdrop on the various stages, do our final festival window shopping, and headed to a different type of venue this time, a literary one. This was a mix of sci-fi music, reading, and conversation entitled William Gibson, Eileen Gunn, and John Osebold. If you don’t know who William Gibson is, well… hide your shame by googling him.
The surprisingly cool thing was the music before and after the reading and interview by the band lead by John Osebold. I have to say this is the first time I think I have seen a theramin used live before. These guys were really good, and played songs inspired by William Gibson’s new book. Neato.
Before we headed off we completed our last food based missions of the festival. What’s not to love about festival food? Oh yeah… I’m sitting on it.
If you can get out to Bumbershoot, I would certainly recommend it. This is certainly not all that we saw, just the highlights. I might mention more tomorrow.
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