Renee McMahon

Vetiver

​Over the last 10 years, Bumbershoot has gone from a four-day festival on Labor Day weekend sporting marquee headliners in both Seattle's Center's KeyArena and Memorial Stadium, to a three-day affair that no longer books the latter, once its biggest venue. During that same decade, Sasquatch! has gone from a one-day festival at the Gorge to a four-day, sold-out annual affair over Memorial Day weekend. The two festivals are radically different at their core--Bumbershoot fishes for a large swath of humanity; Sasquatch! targets the indie set--with the primary difference being that Sasquatch! has an inborn audience that is lineup agnostic. Bumbershoot, on the other hand, is largely at the mercy of fans of the acts on the bill.

When daily admission to Bumbershoot was in the $10 range, everyone attended, because it was sure to be worth your money somehow. At $50, where the day-of price has been the last two years, the lineup makes all the difference. After several years of dwindling numbers, Bumbershoot announced that in 2011 it was going to re-imagine itself as a smaller festival.

That's exactly what it's done. This year Bumbershoot is regrouping, focusing less on drawing in fans of household names like Fergie, Bob Dylan, and Stone Temple Pilots, and instead hoping that an affordable ticket will reel back in the casual music-listeners it lost when prices got too high. The lineup, which the fest released in full today after teasing fans with an artist-a-day announcement in May, reflects the new strategy, booking longtime local favorites (The Presidents), zeitgeist classics (Daryl Hall & John Oates), and local bands that are having bang-up years (Shabazz Palaces, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis). And after an early bird special that brought three-day passes down to $75, single-day advance tickets are now on sale for $35, with weekend passes going for $90.

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Renee McMahon

​The Flaming Lips had a 90-minute time slot at Sasquatch! on Sunday, and with this time they were charged with performing their 1999 album, The Soft Bulletin, in its entirety, and with whatever time was left, dip into a few crowd-pleasers. They didn't get to the latter. In fact, they didn't even finish The Soft Bulletin.

The band's massive apparatus -- an over-sized stage set, dancing Dorothys, and frontman Wayne Coyne's obligatory walk through the crowd in an inflated ball -- sucked up too much time. Taking a break to present Sasquatch! its 10th birthday cake didn't help.

If you're in need of an extended Lips fix, the folks at the Puyallup Fair announced today that Coyne & Co. will be performing on Sept. 21. One can only imagine the kind of fun the band can have on stage with the farm animals and crafts on hand.

Tickets are $20 to $50 and go on sale Saturday via thefair.com/concerts. Here's a look at more of Renee McMahon's pics of the Lips' set at Sasquatch!

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​What happens when a rapper tightens their belt and pushes away the dinner plate? Well, just ask 50 Cent. It's common knowledge that rappers love their beverages. With hits like "Sippin' On Some Sizzerp," "Milkshake" and "Gin and Juice," it's no wonder 50 Cent forgot to chew and swallow -- he's been brainwashed! In an effort to raise caloric awareness within the hip-hop community -- or, lets be honest, just to laugh at some of the rhymes -- Siiri Sampson has put together a list of 6 Food Filled Rap Songs. You, and only you, can prevent a hungry rapper.

​If you have tickets to tomorrow night's Adele show at the Paramount, you've officially been left rolling in the deep (har har)--the much-anticipated concert has been postponed, following the soul sister's bout of laryngitis. Adele's label, Columbia Records, has released the following statement:

British singer Adele, currently with the #1 album and single in the U.S., has been forced to postpone 5 dates on her current sold-out tour of North America due to laryngitis. The singer was diagnosed last Thursday in Minneapolis, MN, where doctors ordered immediate rest and postponement of that night's engagement at First Avenue (rescheduled for June 22nd). Adele performed on Saturday evening in Denver, CO (Ogden Theater) which proved too early a return to the stage. Adele's show last Sunday evening in Salt Lake City, UT (The Depot) was postponed last minute when her illness worsened. The Grammy-winning vocalist is also forced to postpone shows in Vancouver, BC (Orpheum Theatre) on May 31, Seattle, WA (Paramount Theatre) on June 1 and Portland, OR (Crystal Ballroom) on June 3. The tour will resume on June 4 (Greek Theatre Berkeley) in San Francisco, CA.

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The GNU Deal plays Sasquatch's unofficial campground stage.

​News travels fast around the Sasquatch campground--especially when there's a glowing flagpole topping two retrofitted school busses that sandwich a 22-foot-long stage, four 18-inch subwoofers and four 15-inch monitors that blast out 8,000 watts of attraction.

Affectionately referred to as "The Murder Busses" by the 20 passengers they carried (thanks to their black-on-chrome paint) but better known simply as "the party busses," the two are owned by Mark Mallahan and Marc Njos of Bellingham and Dan Carter of Montana--who spent more than $3,000 on this year's trip alone. Why do they do it? "I just enjoy watching my friends have the time of their life," says Njos. "I didn't even drink in high school, but I still threw the parties."

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1. The 8-bit Anamanaguchi remix of Das Racist's "Rainbow in the Dark," which appears on the group's recently posted collection URC: Unreleased, Remixes, Collaborations. It starts off as a pretty typical chiptune reworking of the original track, but then around the two minute mark it takes a turn, opening up into a guitar/synth lead like a low-rent Ratatat. Somehow it's both rallying and melancholy. Listened to it in the airport and felt lonesome but tough. No Sun Ra--sorry, all white horn section.

2. Driving into LA, stoned, trying to dial up Queens of the Stone Age's Songs For the Deaf on the radio using an iPod connected to an iTrip.

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Angel Ceballos

Seapony--minus rookie member John Bryan.

​The Situation I'm sitting in a corner of Capitol Hill's 22 Doors with three-quarters of the local indie-pop outfit Seapony--Danny Rowland and Jen Weidl, who've been a couple for six years, and new recruit John Bryan, who's been the band's drummer for only a little over a month (Seapony itself has only existed for about nine months). Bassist Ian Brewer, a vegan cheesemaker, didn't make it out tonight; he was too tired ("He's an old soul," Bryan says. "He reminds me of my grandpa," agrees Rowland.) I'm drinking a beer, alone; Rowland declines the waitress' offer to pour some Bailey's into his coffee--he and Weidl both don't drink.

How They Got Here At the risk of sounding like an airhead, I ask what, if they don't drink, they do.

"We watch a bunch of movies and walk places," says Rowland of he and Weidl. "We do a lot of daytime things, and then we're kind of worn out."

"We went to Cairo the other night and shared a 5-Hour Energy," points out Bryan.

Weidl says she tries to go to bed by 11 each night (Bryan--"Whoa.") but then again she's also got a fulltime career as an architect. She has an architecture degree but has also been playing guitar since she was 10. "I've always wanted to do music," she says. "I was super into grunge, like Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Hole. I would sit around and rock those out."

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Renee McMahon

Sharon Jones, with the Dap Kings, Monday at Sasquatch!

​See also the 19 things we learned on Friday, the 17 things we learned on Saturday, and the 15 things we learned on Sunday.

1. Sharon Jones worked harder than any other performer at the festival, and did not stop shaking or dancing throughout her entire set.

2. Head Like a Kite continued the weekend's tradition of well-placed covers, throwing down CSNY's "Ohio."

3. Medicated foot powder is not just for your feet.

4. The Young Evils are great.

5. Yes, on day four it's getting harder to think of fresh platitudes.

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​While thousands of folks were Squatchin!' it up at the Gorge this past Memorial Day Weekend, many of Seattle's remaining citizens enjoyed live music right here in Sea-Town at the Annual Northwest Folklife Festival. An institution now 40 years strong, Folklife is where uptight Seattle lets its hair down and its inner hippies out. Anyone who's ever elbowed their way through the swarming mass of attendees will tell you the people watching alone is worth a cover charge, but the whole scene (including the hugs)--is free (excepting the food vendors, of course). And free music--good, bad, or downright strange--is always a boon for the community. Love it or hate it, Folklife is as woven into the thread of our Seattle culture as hemp is into a hippie skirt. Here are a few musings I entertained while strolling through the maze of music, people, and food this past weekend.

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Julia Mullen Gordon

The Beets' unusual stage setup.

​The Beets, Eternal Summers
Friday, May 28th
Healthy Times Fun Club

There's a scene in Miranda July's movie Me and You and Everyone We Know where a museum curator, selecting pieces for an upcoming show, tells her assistant to consider the question "Could this have been made in any era, or only now?" It's also a useful rubric to apply when seeing bands--could this music have been made any time, or is it unique to now? Friday's show at Healthy Times Fun Club was a pure exercise of the form. The touring acts, particularly Virginia's Eternal Summers, borrowed heavily from past musical traditions, in their case the lo-fi, "jangly" guitar-based C86 movement and the DIY aesthetic of The Raincoats. But did they add enough of a spin to warrant repeated listens? It's hard to say.

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