Watch a slideshow of Sunday at Bumbershoot, featuring Shim. Photo by Chris Kornelis.

Shim
When: 2 p.m.ish
Where: EMP's SkyChurch

Shim makes a great first impression. Once you stop drooling over Mike Notter's gorgeous mutton chops (bravo), you're treated to an onslaught of punchy riffs and harmonies on which this house (EMP) was built. You've heard them all before, just never from Shim.

Watch a slideshow of Sunday at Bumbershoot, featuring Howlin Rain. Photo by Chris Kornelis.

Who: Howlin Rain
Where: Rock Star Stage
When: Sunday, August 31

I love that Ethan Miller of Howlin Rain has worn the same clothes each time I've seen his band Howlin Rain in the last year (actually, that also includes the Comets on Fire performance at SP20). His 70s-heavy hippie prog blues jams just keep getting more seamless and Howlin Rain now seems like more of a band, working as a cohesive unit. He scorches the sky with his guitar pyrotechnics: Fuzzy, heavy, blazing, amazing...easily the best thing I'll see all weekend.

I was killing time at the Porn Star...er, Rock Star...beer garden waiting for one of my favorite bands to go on. Behind me, a drunk guy in a Bob Dylan shirt asks his friend, who is drunk and wearing a Black Sabbath shirt, "Who's going on next?" Sabbath shirt says, "Oh, I think it's Howlin Wolf."

Innocent enough mistake...it was Howlin RAIN. But man, wouldn't that be something if Howlin Wolf did take the stage?!?!

Watch a slideshow of T.I. at Bumbershoot. Photo by Renee McMahon.

T.I.
Where: Main Stage
When: Sunday, 3:15 p.m.

DJ Drama was spinnin' some legit tracks, and there was enough weed in the air to keep a small elephant sated; basically it was a main-stage rap show, through and through. The King did mix it up a little though, going a capella at some points and spitting to Usher's "Love In This Club" and Lupe Fiasco's "Superstar" (both of which were remixed with his help). It was a high energy set and a damn lot of fun — what you know about that?!

In this morning's New York Times Sunday Styles section, there's a good piece on the spike in interest and sales of vinyl records. Among music geeks, this trend of preferring vinyl over any other form of music is as old as...well, probably the invention of the CD. But CD sales dropped 17-percent in 2007 while vinyl sales jumped 37-percent. Fred Meyer is now selling vinyl and majors like Warner Bros., Columbia and Capitol have upped their vinyl releases (Metallica's new record, for instance, will be released as a 5-record box with one song per side at $115 a pop). One thing the article didn't mention, however, was the way some indie labels have adapted: Releasing vinyl that comes with a coupon for a free digital download of the album. The indie labels know their target market buys vinyl, but spends a lot of time on the computer or on a long metro commute zoning out to their iPod. The free download with vinyl deal is one of the smartest moves I've seen yet and it's something the majors would be wise to pick up on. I've even heard that Southern Lord is thinking of not even bothering to make CDs anymore and just switching to this format. If buying vinyl over CDs is, as the article says, akin to buying fresh produce rather than frozen, then a vinyl-with-download is like Amy's Organic frozen dinners...the best of both worlds, I say.

Who: The Walkmen
Where: Rockstar Stage
When: Saturday, August 30, 5:15 p.m.

The alternate title of this post should be: How I spent nearly an hour waiting in line for a cup of beer (the pic above was when we were only halfway through the line). My friend Jill commented that the good thing about the Walkmen was that you only needed to stay for the first three songs of theirs, because the rest of the set would be the same straining, red-faced, late-night indie rock confessional repeated 12 times over. She was right, for the most part, but it was nice to see an indie rocker actually sing to the point of having veins bulge from his neck like a soul singer.

Man Man, Rockstar Energy Drink Stage, 7:30 p.m.

I've never been able to listen to Man Man recorded for long periods of time, because even though everybody in the universe seems to think Man Man is all that and a bag of chips, I can only listen to Man Man's carnival punk for a few minutes at a time. But when I personally witnessed the white clad, white-painted members of Man Man pounding their drums and romping around the stage, playing that freaky sideshow music while everyone in the audience rocked out, I had an epiphany. This band really is all that and a bag of chips: you just have to see them in person to know it (mea culpa, mea culpa!).

Estelle, Fisher Green Stage, 5:45 p.m.

DJ B-Mello introduced Estelle, a UK R&B songstress whose powerful set of pipes, sassy stage banter and high-energy had the entire Fisher Green Stage lawn packed; from the beer garden above, all you could see were waving hands. But those who stood far away missed out, not only on Estelle's righteous dance moves (being able to belt it out like she did AND dance around takes serious stamina) but her trio of back-up singers, who had their coordinated dance moves down as well as their singing parts. Andrew Miller pointed out in his preview short that Estelle is lesser-known in the United States than, say, Duffy, but after seeing how many fans she's got here in Seattle, I can't imagine it'll take long for everyone else in America to catch on.

PWRFL Power, EMP Sky Church, 5 p.m.

Very few people could pull off what Kaz Nomura does and be funny instead of contrived. The odd juxtaposition of PWRFL Power's oddball lyrics and dead-serious classical fingerpicked guitar make for unusual comedy; since when could anyone else pack the Sky Church singing about how to tell an attractive chick that she's holding her chopsticks wrong while the audience chuckles in appreciation? As he hopped around the stage, Nomura's technical skills were dead-on as always, and if you're in the camp that finds him funny rather than contrived and silly, PWRFL Power in person is always good for a few laughs.

Watch a slideshow of Neko Case at Bumbershoot. Photo by Renee McMahon

Neko Case
Where: Samsung Mainstage,
When: Saturday, Aug. 30, 1 p.m.

Neko Case hasn't put out anything new since Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, but the impatient got a sneak peek at a few songs from Neko Case's next record, which is slated to come out in March. Though the set list leaned toward the soulful ballad, Neko sang with the same soulful concentratrion of all her live performances, belting out challenging numbers like "Star Witness" and "John the Baptist" with her face turned upward in defiance of all my childhood choir teachers' best advice. If only she'd humor those of us who dug her bluegrassier days and sing "Guided By Wire," or "Hex" once in a while...not that I'm complaining, because of all the times I've seen Neko sing live, she's never been anything less than astounding.