harikari.com

The previous two days and cold nights wore me out, so I arrived much later in the day.  Around 5:30.  It wasn’t as sunny as the previous two days, but that didn’t deter folks from splashing around in the fountain.

Cheb I Sabbah and guests musicians from the Middle East and Sacramento played a mashup set of African, Asian, and Arabic tunes at the Fisher Green stage.

Over on the fountain lawn, some more Strange Fruit.

Up close at the Mural Amphitheatre to see the Old 97’s.

A couple weeks ago my nineteen-year-old niece suggested I check out Del the Funky Homosapien, so I did.  He was also at Fisher Green – hereby dubbed the dreadlocked, pot-smoking, Colt 45 drinking, hippy stage.  Lots of heavy users all around me.

I don’t listen to a lot of hip hop, but I this guy was fun.

Death Cab for Cutie closed out Bumbershoot at the Main Stage.

If you ever wondered what else you could do with all those plastic containers that hold your juice, water, and sodas besides tossing them in the recycling bin, try building an igloo.

The End.

I am tired…

First show of the day for me was Kathleen Edwards. 

Kathleen told a story about how she always visits her favorite wine shop in the Pike Place Market while she’s in Seattle.  And, if I heard her story right, that’s where she learned that no douche bags attend her show (something from The Stranger writeup).

After Edwards’ quiet set, I listened to Howlin’ Rain perform some very electric, seventies sounding rock.

Wandering around the fountain lawn, I caught the end of a performance by acornDance.

There were a lot of people at Bumbershoot on Saturday, and that’s my excuse for some of the following pictures being a bit on the blurry side.  To get good photos with a Sony Cyber-Shot, you’ve got to get pretty close.  There were too many people to squeeze past, so most shots are from far away.  Anyway, I listened to a few songs by Brazilian band Forro in the Dark that I liked very much.  (No good photos though.)  After them, I watched a really great funk band from L.A. called Orgone.

A quick walk through the arts area.  This is Drawing Jam. 

Jakob Dylan drew a huge crowd at the Mural Amphitheatre.  I did make into the beer garden there, and this is the best shot I could get.

With the hat and the “soft focus” he looks a lot like his dad did in the seventies.  That said, Jakob can hold his own.  It was a great set that mainly featured tracks from his latest album Seeing Things.

Following Jakob Dylan was difficult decision:  Sons and Daughters at the Broad Street stage, or Black Keys at the Main Stage?  I did both.

I was able to get close enough to this stage to see that Adele Bethel was wearing her Patti Smith shirt.

After a few songs I snaked my way into the stadium to catch the last half of Black Keys -from way far away.

Next on the agenda was Lee Scratch Perry.  He likes the weed, so there was lots of dope smokin’ goin’ on in the crowd. 

I hate it when other people say this, but now I am going to say it.  “All his songs sounded the same.”  From there, it was off to hear a little Tapes ‘n Tapes to close the evening.

Neko Case started it off Saturday at the Mainstage.

The purity of her voice is unreal.

…  Something called Strange Fruit at the Fountain lawn.

Ian Moore and his really cool red guitar.

I had my nine-year-old son with me, so I had to leave Ian’s set early to go see this:

Skater dudes are way crazy.

Being the home of Jimi Hendrix, Bumbershoot always features an up-and-coming guitar virtuoso.  I just happened to be in the beer garden at the Mural Amphitheatre when Joe Bonamassa came on stage.  He did not dissapoint those who came to hear some wicked guitar solos.

The weather was much better than predicted.

While waiting to see Saul Williams, I noticed that many people were sporting feathers on their heads.   

I asked a guy what it was all about, and he said “I don’t know… I guess he wears feathers.”

That’s Saul’s kid in the lower left corner.  He was on the stage all night during the looking very excited to be there.  He hung out in back and, when Saul’s pants would start to slip down, he would yell “Hey Dad!” and yank up on the back of his pants to signal his dad to pull up his pants.

M. Ward, another guitar virtuoso – of the John Fahey mold, not Hendrix –   closed the day for me.

Off to Bumbershoot. Four-day pass this year.

Read Bob Harris today.

And Krugman:

At a fundamental level, I’d argue, our current leaders just aren’t serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don’t like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.

Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.

So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can’t-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.

And This Modern World.

Bumbershoot has announced the full lineup for this year’s festival with complete daily schedules. Check it out here and start planning your personal schedule.

Notable additions since the May announcement are:

Garbage, Michael Franti and Spearhead, M. Ward, Bill Frisell Trio, Maktub, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, Sarah Vowell, Flogging Molly, and many more!

Looks like it will be a four-day pass this year.