Bumbershoot Flashback
17 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in Bumbershoot, Justin Townes Earle, Mike McCready, Museum of Glass, Music, Pearl Jam, Seattle, Star Anna, Wheedle's Groove Tags: Ozomatli, See Me River, Solomon Burke, The Maldives, This Providence
OK – I’m way behind again, but there was too much good music at Bumbershoot not to get around to it. I had an incredible amount of fun on my $22 economy ticket. Yeah, I do wonder what it would have been like if I sprung for the full ticket and caught some Bob Dylan as well as Solomon Burke and Ozomatli. That was just it though. They scheduled some great music at the same time, and I wasn’t sure if I would have made it anyways, and it would have been $18 more, on my very small budget.
Bumbershoot Banner
So, I didn’t decide for sure which ticket to get until a few days before (and actually just before they announced the full tickets for the mainstage that day were sold out). I figured it would be easier if I bought in advance and they held it at will call. Wow was I wrong!
I built a little time in, and even with the bus being late, I as there an hour before Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs were due to take the stage at the Mural Amphitheater early Saturday afternoon. The sun was now shining, while earlier it was raining. . .and. . . the Will Call line was a couple blocks long and slowly moving on the Mercer Street side of Seattle Center. As a half hour, 45 minutes went by it was starting to look rather grim.
Did I mention that Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs were one of the main reasons I bought a Saturday ticket and I was eagerly looking forward to hearing them play with the new line up, even before the rumors that Mike McCready of Pearl Jam would be joining them for a few songs? Oh, yes, I even blogged a rave about that, and in a timely manner (which, as you know, is relatively rare for me).
I finally got to up the will call window and got my ticket less than 10 minutes before they were due to hit the stage, and while I was trying to dash back to the entrance near the EMP (OK, I am not in dashable shape), I did not think I would make it in time. I got there, though, just before they started!
OK, now I know Bumbershoot has apologized and hopefully got Will Call right for the next two days of the festival, but. . .as I rushed by the ticket sales at the gate near EMP, I realized I would have had no line to wait in if I had waited and bought my ticket there. . .
Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs were awesome! Even before first Carrie Akre, then Mike McCready joined them.
Here they are with Mike for Wolves in Disguise, the first of two videos I took:
and All Alone in This Together, their closing number:
Beautiful!
I wandered around some before heading back to the Mural for The Maldives, finally finding the traveling hot shop from the Museum of Glass, but without enough time to check it out, yet. Also ran into Amnesty friends, with their children. I do want to give Bumbershoot praise on this one – letting children in free with their parents on the economy ticket! Great idea.
Mayor Mike McGinn introduced The Maldives (which was kind of cool). Here they are with Blood on the Highway at Bumbershoot, video from Tacoma Rock City:
Then it was time for some old time soul and funk with Wheedle’s Groove a super band composed of members of at least 6 or 7 of Seattle’s biggest soul band from the 1960s & 70s. They came together for a documentary, which will be showing soon on PBS, and are still playing gigs around Seattle. It was great seeing an all generation audience grooving on them at Bumbershoot!
Here’s my video of (Stop) Losing Your Chances (and the audio is better than the video on this one):
With no break again, it was back to the Mural Amphiteater for Justin Townes Earle.
Justin Townes Earle
Justin and his band were in fine form! I had not seen Justin before, and what surpised me was that he went in the opposite direction from his famous dad, Steve Earle, than I expected. I figured he’d throw in something “young” like indie music or hip hop; but instead he went back to the country roots with a depression era sound (which seems to be coming back in style these days).
Here’s Justin Townes Earle with Mama’s Eyes from KEXP‘s Music Lounge broadcast earlier that day:
It’s a beautiful song, and I don’t mean any disloyalty to his father, who I’m also a fan of. I know it’s also an ironic song, in light of Justin’s own recent struggles with addiction, but he’s the first to admit, and in the song itself, that he’s following too closely in his dad’s footsteps that he’s so critical of.
On the other hand, at my age, I’m starting to have a different perspective. First, you start realizing your parents did the best they could , based on their own parenting and childhood, as well as whatever else was going on in their lives and causing stress. Often trying to do better. Then you look at their parents and their lives. . . Then you start realizing your children, or the children of your contemporaries (for those of us who have none of their own), are complaining about their parents; while already starting to make some of the same or different mistakes themselves, with their kids. . .
Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop
After that, it was time for some wandering, and I finally searched out the mobile Museum of Glass hot shop that was happening throughout the weekend. Of course, they lacked the groovy giant cooling tower of the actual hot shop down in Tacoma, but just like there, you get to watch the glass artists create their pieces from start to finish.
Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop
I wasn’t sure which band I wanted to see next, but had several possibilities. I decided to head over to the EMP and start there. On the way, and nearby, I caught some of This Providence. They were good, and verrry young.
Here they are at Bumbershoot with Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, video by shutterbugTrin:
I headed over to the EMP’s Sky Church to check out See Me River.
See Me River
They sounded really good, and were really intense.
Here they are with their song Ed Jackson at The Tractor Tavern last year:
As I left the EMP, I caught the Circus Una Motorcycle Thrill Show right outside:
Circus Una Motorcycle Thrill Show
Then I headed back to the Mural Amphitheater to see Solomon Burke, in what I just realized was his last U.S. performance. He died October 10, while on tour in Amsterdam.
Solomon Burke
They darkened the stage lights to bring him on stage in his wheelchair, and he performed on a throne, the man and his voice still majestic. He had a bucket of roses he had assistants pass out to women in the audience.
Here’s a clip toward the end of his set by SMI TV, ending, appropriately enough, with When the Saints Come Marching In:
Wow!
I ended the evening with Ozomatli, the band that made Seattle dance! I was realizing I’m terribly out of shape and was having a hard time keeping up.
Here they are with Malagasy Shock, video by satherp5 (and the band itself has such tremendous energy!):
They brought children up toward the end as well, who were dancing all around the stage with them.
Ozomatli
I headed home, having really gotten my money’s worth out of my economy ticket (and hearing mixed reviews about Bob Dylan, who I’m not sure if I would have caught even with the full price ticket, between Solomon Burke and Ozomatli).
Catch Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs at Bumbershoot!
04 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Bumbershoot, Mike McCready, Music, Pearl Jam, Star Anna Tags: Justin Davis, Keith Ash, Travis Yost, Ty Bailie
You should definitely catch Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs at Bumbershoot, and not only because Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready is joining them for a few songs (and even if the standard tickets that include Bob Dylan are already sold out).
I know. I’m 4 concerts behind on this blog (and need to get back to mixing in some human rights issues), and yet here I am writing about one of the great ones that got away, with both the Columbia City Theater being a little too challenging to get back from by public transit after midnight, and being so broke at the time I really didn’t have the $12, I think it was (unless I skipped food until payday, and yes, I probably should have).
Fortunately there is video of the show up on YouTube, and I’ll start with this one of Space Beneath the Door by Outlaw Digital Media:
I knew I was missing something special, as she hinted there was going to be a fourth Laughing Dog, and that it was keyboardist Ty Bailie (who plays all those benefit concerts with Mike McCready & friends, including last night’s Hootenanny). Of course, it wasn’t just Ty Bailie, everyone else’s intensity level increased, and this was already an awesome band.
Here they are on a slower, and very beautiful, new song, For When I Go:
Wow! Star’s voice. . .The band, too, though: that’s Justin Davis (lead guitar & back up vocals), Travis Yost (drums), Keith Ash (bass), along with now, and hopefully a permanent addition, Ty Bailie (keyboard), and, of course, Star Anna.
What comes to mind with Ty joining the Laughing Dogs is a discussion I had with my friend Merri Ann when we saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band their last time though. She wanted to know what Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out was all about: “When the change was made uptown and the Big Man joined the band. . .” Well, of course that part of the song is about the E Street Band coming together. I hadn’t really given that line much thought before or since, until now. I hadn’t really realized what a wonderous thing a band coming together is. Of course, The E Street Band was already fully together by the time I heard of them. This is the first time I’m aware of seeing it happen.
. . . and tomorrow (or, rather, tonight – it’s after midnight). . .Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs are playing with Mike McCready! Once again, it’s not going to be just Mike that makes it so great. See this clip of Star Anna and the rest of the Laughing Dogs when Mike joined them for Wolves in Disguise at Spaceland in Silver Lake, CA (from the band’s YouTube page):
Check out Star Anna dueling on guitar with Mike McCready toward the end. I had no idea she could play like that. Then it’s a three-way, with Justin, and the rest of the band is really going full tilt as well.
I know this is posted way too late. It’s less than 13 hours to showtime (1:15 – 2:15 at the Mural Amphitheater, Saturday). If you don’t catch Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs there, check their schedule to see them somewhere down the road.
Their website, with streaming audio, is at: http://www.staranna.com
Bumbershoot: Flaming Trumpets, Grooving Beats
09 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in Bumbershoot, Music, Seattle, The Dusty 45s Tags: Dusty 45s, Extra Golden, Michael Franti, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Michael Schrieve's Spellbinder, Michael Shrieve, Raphael Saadiq, Seattle Center
Sunday, my day at Bumbershoot, I started out the afternoon with a rock-a-billy band literally on fire, grooved out to African music and a jazz band that included the marathon drummer famous from Woodstock, braved a mosh pit full of teenage fans of that Mraz guy to see Michael Franti, and ended the evening with soul music so good the crowd would not let the band leave.
It was raining cold and hard earlier in the morning, but I’ve lived in the Northwest too long to wimp out, and besides I had already bought my ticket months ago, when it was half price (sign up for Bumbershoot’s e-mail list or go straight to their website when they first announce the line up to catch that deal). Fortunately, the weather improved, and I never needed my umbrella, but we had sunny t-shirt weather, rain, cold, sun again – all in the first set. Ahh – Seattle!
I even braved a crowded bus, tourists on the Ride the Duck singing and gesturing “YMCA”, and walking past the loneliest amusement park on earth to get there! Sad, but true, on the latter for “Fun Forest.” When there’s only two people on a ride while the rest of Seattle Center is packed, including families with kids, you know it doesn’t have long in this world.
I knew I wanted to get there in time to catch the Dusty 45s, our wild and raucous home-grown rock-a-billy band! Slightly scary, too, but in a fun way.
Here’s a YouTube clip from a show at The Triple Door in Seattle last year:
While the crowd cycled through shedding and adding layers of clothes as the seasons changed during the set and the tent released all it’s stored up rain water in a torrent (streaking the mural behind the Mural Stage), the band had a blast and was on fire. Literally!
Trumpet player and lead singer Billy Joe Huels set his trumpet aflame and kept playing it as it burned on. What a finale!
Billy Joe said they’re playing New Year’s Eve at the Tractor Tavern. Flaming trumpets in Ballard! I’m there!
I went to buy their new 3 song Fortunate Man EP and saw they were going to sign autographs, so I stood in line and got it autographed by Billy Joe; lead guitarist Jerry Battista; Jeff Gray, who plays the upright bass (which he made a little drawing of!) and drummer Kelly Van Camp (yeah, that’s right – the drummer from Mike McCready’s Flight to Mars crew).
I wandered around some after that. Heard a good soul song from the Fisher Green stage, but it turned out most of that band’s music was rap.
Yeah, I know, who am I to be calling Fun Forest decrepit? Seattle Center is two years younger than me. Worlds Fair, baby! The Elvis movie one. There’s a lot of things I don’t get these days – rap; sleepy, weepy,indie music; energy drinks. What’s in that stuff? They were giving them away free at the gate, but I figure they either have to have dairy, fizz, or both (neither of which I can drink with my health problem); but I realized, I really don’t have a clue. Other than caffeine, I have no idea this stuff is, and the kids are loading up on it!
In any case, I caught a little jazz, ate dinner, and as I was walking by a pass booth realized I hadn’t gotten my main stage pass when I came in, and I wanted to see Michael Franti & Spearhead, who were opening the Main Stage, evening show this year. Whoa. After all these years of Bumbershoot, to forget something like that! They still had them, though, so I was fine.
After dinner, I checked out the Fisher Green stage again, and heard some good African music from Extra Golden. They really got the crowd moving, and it was teenagers to grandparents.
Here’s their promotional clip on YouTube:
Next, I wanted to catch some jazz with Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder. Last month, the Seattle Times did an article on Michael Shrieve, who is famous for his drum solo with Santana at Woodstock, and is currently playing with Spellbinder, including a long standing gig every Monday night at ToST in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.
Beautiful music, living up to their name. Here’s a clip on YouTube from the Bumbershoot set (there area a couple jumps):
It was really crowded and I found myself a place on the ground. Some people did get up to dance, though. Now, here I am, complaining everyone never dances; and about how when we do dance, there are always more women then men; and I didn’t get up to join the “old white people dancing”, as someone said; mostly guys!
Hey, I don’t have my AARP card yet! Umm, about 8 months from now. . . Many of the people dancing looked like they could have been at Woodstock, a few like they never came back. Yeah, there’s still a few hippies around in Seattle.
After Spellbinder’s set, it was almost time for Michael Franti & Spearhead. I think the last time I saw Michael Franti was at the Fisher Green stage at Bumbershoot, 2 or 3 years ago. I don’t know how to describe his music – a mix of rock, reggae, funk, hip hop; and always very socially aware. I’ve been lucky enough to table a couple of his concerts for Amnesty International, and we actually had people signing petitions right up to the show was over after 1 in the morning. They’d notice us when they went out to catch a breath of fresh air, all exhausted.
I got to the Main Stage after walking through a very long line, starting at Key Arena, going to the huge stadium. I made my way up front, and this year, they had the very front section was roped off into a kind of mosh pit. Mosh pit area was very packed, with security not letting people stand past a line forming a corridor in back of the area.
So, I made my way down the corridor, to the other side of the stage and found a way into the back of the crowd of. . . mostly teenagers. A very packed crowd of mostly teenagers, some of whom, politely (this is Seattle!), pushed there way through in hopes of getting closer to the stage. So, I figured (correctly, it turned out), most of the crowd was there to see Jason Mraz, who Michael Franti was opening for.
It was all chill. Michael Franti got them moving, grooving, and jumping up and down, anyways. Not the more political crowd I’m used to at his shows. Maybe a good idea having him open for Mraz. Get a little education in there while they’re having a good time. Some of them weren’t quite sure what to make of Time to Go Home at first, but I think realized he’s for the troops, just for getting them back home safe.
YouTube clip from the 2008 Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge:
Actually, I don’t think Franti’s sentiment on this is too controversial anymore. Sunday morning before the show, I heard George Will agree with The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel that it’s time to bring our boys and girls home from Afghanistan.
Hey World (Don’t Give Up):
Of course I was right about most of the kids being there for Jason Mraz. They went nuts when Franti brought him on stage to sing with him on his current (and first!) top 40 hit, Say Hey. I still don’t get it, even after hearing him live. That’s okay, though. More room for all of them when I and all the other Franti fans left.
Regarding the mosh pit, though, Bumbershoot really didn’t do that the right way. I know the reason for doing that, even though there was a lot of room back on the rest of the stadium lawn, is for safety concerns. So people don’t get crushed in a rush to the stage. Which is why at other shows I’ve been to that do that, they carefully count off how many people can enter that section. At Bumbershoot, they let as many as could squeeze in go into it. They weren’t turning anyone away, other than keeping that corridor. Ironically, creating the kind of packed situation where what they obviously feared could have happened. It was the most packed crowd I’ve ever been in (even with the real mosh pit at the Mudhoney show). All the kids were mellow, but still. . .
I was off to hear some soul, though. I caught Raphael Saadiq at the Fisher Green Stage. Now dark out, a good size crowd there now. I know they call his music neo-soul, but it sounded like good, old-fashioned Motown soul to me.
I found video this time from the actual Bumbershoot show:
Raphael has some Clark Kent/Superman action going on when he takes off his glasses and loosens up his tie, finally down to a black, sleeveless t-shirt (with some of the girls screaming “Take it off!”).
He’s got a great band and back up singers, too; and we just wouldn’t let them leave. After their first encore wrapped up with a Let the Sunshine In crowd sing along; with it being around 10:53 pm and the house even playing some recorded music, I thought people were crazy for sticking around, hoping for more. I was starting to head toward the Center House on my way out. . . and. . . they came out for one more, and probably more than that, but the stage manager came out after that one, right at 10:59 and said the city won’t let them play any longer. Ahh, curfew! Probably a good thing for the band, or we would have kept them there all night!
Wow! It was a great afternoon and evening. I was aching the next day, though. Like Fun Forest, I’m not so young any more!
The Power of One: Photography & Activism
31 Aug 2008 Leave a Comment
in Amnesty International, Art, Bumbershoot, Human Rights, Iraq War, Photography, Seattle Tags: Benham Gallery, Bumbershoot, globalization, Jackie Renn, Katharina Mourtidi, Nina Berman, Phil Borges, The Power of One
So, I made it up to the Benham Gallery’s The Power of One photography exhibit our local Amnesty International group is involved with in the Northwest Rooms of Seattle Center on Friday night, for an early look before it’s run as part of Bumpershoot. It was an inspiring, and at times heart wrenching, display.
Included were photos from Phil Borges latest book, Women Empowered: Inspiring Change in the Emerging World. Borges partnered with CARE “to bring attention to the necessity of empowering women in the global campaign to alleviate poverty.” He profiled courageous women, including a teacher who continued teaching girls in secret in Afghanistan during the Taliban rule; a young woman from Ethiopia who not only refused female circumcision herself, but ended it in her community by video taping a circumcision and showing it to the male leaders who had never actually seen the procedure at the time and were horrified, voting 15 to 2 a couple weeks later to end female circumcision in their village; and a woman from Bangladesh sold into a brothel by her aunt at age 13, fighting for the rights of her fellow sex workers.
Jackie Renn’s exhibit, Portraits of Conscience: Celebrating the First Amendment During a Time of War 2002–2007 included both photos of Seattle’s protests of our current war and video interviews of conscientious objectors from WW II to the Iraq War.
Nina Berman’s photos, Purple Hearts: Back from Iraq & Marine’s Wedding were very compelling and disturbing. All photos of young men (and at least one woman) who served in our military and came back from the Iraq severely injured, some with faces disfigured, others missing limbs. We hear all about the “surge” and how the war in Iraq is all right again now from the Republicans, but at what cost, even to our own soldiers?
The photos of the Marine’s wedding, in a separate alcove (with a video of soldiers/veterans talking about the war) were especially haunting, with a wedding photo of the disfigured groom and his scared bride. I picked up a flyer that told how former Marine Sgt. Ty Ziegel had been seriously injured in by a suicide car bomber in 2004 in Iraq and how his family and his fiancee Renee Kline supported him during his recovery. They asked anyone who wants to help to send donations to Fisher House, an organization which aids military families including Ty’s.
I saw a couple of Katharina Mouratidi’s photos, The Other Globalisation inside at the entrance to the main exhibit in the Olympic room. When I left (or thought I had left) the Power of One exhibit, I discovered there were a lot more of the globalization photos outside, at the other end of the Northwest Rooms (and that people are likely to be seeing a lot just roaming around Bumpershoot between music). Mouratidi has photographed those fighting for the rights of people and the planet against the corporate dominated, “race to the bottom” globalization, including photos of people like Rigoberta Menchú , José Bové and others not so famous.
An amazing exhibit. As the card at the entrance noted: “Power of One was created to inspire and empower our inner-hero” (emphasis from original).
Here locally in Seattle, our next Amnesty International meeting is coming up Tuesday, September 2 (6:30pm at the Mosaic Coffee House). Our featured speaker will be Kathleen Morris of the Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Network and the Anti-Trafficking Program Manager at the International Rescue Committee.
More information on our meeting, including directions to the Mosaic at:
http://www.scn.org/amnesty/current.html
If you don’t live in Seattle, consider finding a local or student group near you or taking action online at either Amnesty International or Amnesty International USA (or your country’s section). I’ve also included an rss feed of AI’s most recent Urgent Actions right beneath the calendar on the left of this blog, as well as a feed for the most recent AI press releases.
Or consider one of the multitude of other activist or humanitarian groups, even if all you have time or money to do is write a suggested letter or e-mail action online every now and then or donate a few dollars. It all adds up. You do have the power.
Bumpershoot
05 Sep 2007 Leave a Comment
in Allison Moorer, Amnesty International, Bumbershoot, Music, Steve Earle
Part 1: Allison Moorer (around 7 pm Sept. 3)
I must be getting older and unhipper each year, because there seems to be fewer and fewer acts I’m interested in at Bumpershoot. I just went for Allison Moorer and Steve Earle this year. It was just Michael Franti either last year or the year before (he played about an hour past his time, being the last one on that stage).
Allison Moorer has a beautiful voice and is a great songwriter (check out “Fairweather” on her website), although she’s got an album of covers coming out, so did quite a few of them. Late in the set, her husband, Steve Earle, came out and they did a duet of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” (much to the approval of the Seattle audience). She’s a little cautious speaking about “you know who”, though I’m sure Steve won’t be tonight.
They weren’t married at the time JoJo and I tabled for Amnesty International when Allison opened for Steve at the The Showbox. When I first saw they were playing the same day at Bumpershoot, I thought “what a coincidence”, then I read her bio. Must have been a good tour!
I unfortunately left the death penalty brochures at home that time and had to hop the bus back to get them (fortunately before the show), leaving JoJo to hold down the fort. Glad we had them for later, as that’s Steve’s big issue (which he’s done a lot of work with leno and AI around).
I’m at home again and heading out soon. Sad, but true. Also needed to get caught up on a few things (though I haven’t gotten my coffee yet and I’m almost out, hopefully stop at the Whole Foods between the bus stop and Seattle Center as I didn’t make it to the one near me). Well, I didn’t call myself Java Colleen for nothing!
Wish I had been bold enough to bring my camera despite the Bumpershoot website’s rules saying you couldn’t use it to photograph performers (because, of course there were anyways). Maybe I’ll bring it tonight. Then again, especially with this camera, night photography can be annoying.
Part 2: Steve Earle (Sept. 4, 6:38 am)
I forgot to mention, Allison brought the sun in the middle of her set. It was night by the time I went back to catch Steve play, maybe appropriately as his writing has gotten progressively darker as the Bush II (Shrub) administration wears on (and wears us all down). He started in easy, with his older stuff, and towards the end of his set, he did a lot of really intense songs from his upcoming Washington Square Serenade album, including “Jericho Road”, “Oxycontin Blues” and a Tom Waits cover, “Way Down in the Hole”. Also a really pretty number for his new wife “Sparkle and Shine”, and of course, Allison came out to sing with him for the next number after that, “City of Immigrants”. Funny how people forget where their own families came from. We’re all either immigrants or descendents of immigrants in this country, except maybe the Native Americans (who, unfortunately, were often forced to move by the whites themselves).
Sad, the times we live in. Steve & Allison have moved to New York City from Tennessee, because, Steve said, he needed to be able to look out and see a mixed race, same sex couple walking down, because it made him feel safer! Damn red state/blue state split. Another thing to hate Bush for.
Looks like I’ll have to wait until tonight or maybe tomorrow to actually post this.
Update: 11:47pm, Aug. 4
I forgot to mention the cute part where Allison stole Steve’s cell phone from his pocket in the middle of his set! Encore: “Rich Man’s War” followed by (what else?) “Copperhead Road”.
With my photography, it probably wouldn’t have mattered much if I had my camera earlier! Oh, well, should have brought JoJo!
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