Bumbershoot Day Two

Part one: Funk, folk, and fusion.

So, probably because we weren't right up front like yesterday (because it's *way* more crowded than yesterday) we forgot to take a few pictures. But trust us: George Clinton and Parliment/Funkadelic rocked the big arena like a house party from P.C.U., Iris DeMent sounded like a way more talented Jewel, and Mark Isham didn't play any of his famous film scores, but played trumpet like he was trying to channel Miles (w/ a sampler).

However *before* all this we were treated to brunch by Auntie Gloria and Ginger at Etta's Seafood. Thanks and yum! (But argh - again, we forgot to take pictures!)

Bumbershoot Wedding

Anyhoo, after those three we caught one of the Bumbershoot Weddings. It was a *real* wedding, or well, as real as a wedding can be when it's officiated by Father Guido Sarducci and conducted on top of a huge wedding cake in front of friends, family and hundreds of random Bumbershoot attendees. Wacky and surreal, it was pretty fun, except for all of the annoying dust from a nearby crafts area that was covered with bark. Blech. (In line for the comedy show later that night, we met a guy who worked on the wedding. He said at the other wedding that evening (there's two a day), the bride wore a gown with a 6 foot train. In that dust? What was she thinking? And what if it had rained? Luckily, the weather stayed beautiful (again, the weather people here are either really stupid, or really smart) and a muddy disaster was averted.

Father Guido Sarducci
Father Guido Sarducci

Bumbershoot Wedding
Bumbershoot Wedding

Project Bandaloop

After the wedding we made our way over to the Space Needle to catch the dance troupe we had missed the day before. Project Bandaloop is just amazing. Something like 4 or 5 pairs of dancers get into position on the lower crossbeams of the Space Needle (still pretty high), and then do choreographed dances, including flips, spins, and leaps, while tethered into ropes. We took a *lot* of pictures, which you'll see when we get back. But there's a few below that should give you the general idea.

Project Bandaloop Project Bandaloop
Project Bandaloop

After Bandaloop, we had some dinner at nearby Tacos Jalisco with some friends of Mercedes, and then headed back in to the 'shoot. Caught a bit of Deke Dickerson & the Ecco-Fonics - a fine rockabilly/swing band. (Their lead singer's motto was "Bald-headed rockers of the world unite!") Anyhoo, watched some great dancing over the the wheelchair access area:

Rockabilly Dancers
Rockabilly Dancers

So we tried to see if we could catch a little of the finals for the "Battle of Bumbershoot, DJ/Turntablist Competition," but no such luck. The line wound around the building, and odds of us actually getting into the packed theater were bad. So we trooped over to catch a tiny tiny bit of John Wesley Harding, who seemed quite humorous (but we were really too far back to see very well), and then headed over to the Comedy World Stage so that we wouldn't miss Zach's show. (Yesterday we got there right as it was starting, and it was too packed.) This time we were 45 minutes early - chatted with the guy who worked on the wedding (see above), and it turns out he's one of the graphic artists for Linux Journal magazine, which i then remembered was based in Seattle. Too funny! Anyhoo, geek talk (and talk about working on the wedding stuff) made the wait go faster, and before we knew it, we were inside. A guy named Tony opened the show, and then we saw Nick Swardson, and Girls Guitar Club. Pretty funny stuff, but the huge laughs came when Zach came out. i like to describe him as Stephen Wright with a George Winston soundtrack, as he throws out a lot of deadpan observational humor, all while noodling around on the piano. It's a little more "adult" than Stephen Wright's humor, as we were made painfully aware of after Zach told some pretty blue jokes despite there being an 8-year old girl on stage. He had spotted her in the audience earlier and invited her onstage to be his "sidekick," along with a sideburned guy named "Wolverine." i think he used them to try and gauge whether his jokes were going over. And because it's funny watching people react (or not) to somebody's jokes. Considering that there were signs all outside that said, "Caution, adult content," i guess you can only blame the parents if you're going to get mad. Still, despite his language, Zach was actually very sweet to Raven (the little girl), and she was a good sport about it all. Anyways though, that as the last show we saw last night... today we're hoping to see a short film with James Gandolfini from the Sopranos, Maceo Parker, Sleater-Kinney, and Ani DiFranco. Enjoy the rest of these photos. And i hope you're doing more than staying home reading these reports. :-}

Other various pictures

Mark Isham
Mark Isham

Sea of People
Sea of People

Tony ?
Tony ?

Nick Swardson
Nick Swardson

Girls Guitar Club
Girls Guitar Club

Zach Galifianakis
Zach Galifianakis