Here at Bumbershoot, we’re in high gear preparing for the Festival. It’s a bustling hive of activity as we cross our t’s to put on one of the biggest music and arts festivals around. And one of the busiest teams around is made of Bumbershoot’s industrious production department. I was recently able to sit in on one of their meetings, and dear holiness they are some busy folks. Their meeting agenda alone was longer than one of Battles’ guitar solos. These people are no joke.

Now it’s no secret that the marketing department deals in more abstract mediums (the internet, etc), so it was jarring for me to come into a meeting and hear advanced and extended discussions about zipties and fences and all kind of actual things. Then I noticed everyone in production is more buff than me, because obviously they are lifting fences and building stages while I am blogging about them lifting fences and building stages. They’re building the fences you’re all going to pour through on your way in to go see Neko Case and These Arms Are Snakes. And those performances will be on stages built by the production department. So far it’s production department-1, Evan-0.

Being the smart guy I am, I decided to wait until the busiest part of the year to ask them to join me for my blisteringly popular InternView series. This idea turned out to be one of my rare misses. As you can probably already guess, they were way WAY too focused on their tasks at hand to sit down and schedule something so, I took to the streets (halls). This is how the InternView, “man on the street-style” went:

(Lee, Production Coordinator, is walking quickly past en route to the copy machine…)

Evan: “Hey Lee, what’s your favorite part of Bumbershoot?”

Lee: “Hey Evan! I love this week when we get to see the entire year’s planning all come together, (now further away) and I really like golf…. (now out of earshot).”

Lee walks fast.

After some research, as it turns out, she is not a fan of golf, but rather, the super awesome golf carts that the production team gets to drive around the Seattle Center grounds.

The closest I get to the super-cool world of Production is getting to wear a 2-way radio during the Festival, and responding to questions like “Evan, What’s your ‘20’?” Radio lingo is way cooler than my blog jargon (like “links” and “lolz”... hey, that makes me want to write a book about blogging called “Links And Lolz: The Truth About Blogging.” Dibs on that title!).

They also have their own motto. Maybe if my department were more productive (HAHA!) we would have one too, but as it stands, only Production does, and it reads as follows: “Production… because you can’t talk about it forever.” And they actually back that up. Did you know that they’re on the Seattle Center grounds preparing for the Festival two weeks in advance? Did you know they’re there for another week afterwards taking everything down? That is seriously hardcore. Seriously.

In summation, Production builds, manages, and creates the physical Festival that we all love. I don’t know if you’ve tried putting on any music festivals lately, but from my experience this summer, I’ve learned that it’s a pretty involved process. We’re just lucky to have an amazing production department, because otherwise I might be out there lugging fences around Seattle Center, and nobody wants to see that.

For the second installment of this celebrated series of articles, I have decided to celebrate the awesomeness of Seattle International Film Festival, or SIFF to those of us in a hurry. On Friday, August 29, SIFF will kick off the 1 Reel Film Festival (which they curate for Bumbershoot) in their plush SIFF Cinema, located in McCaw Hall. In honor of this great event, I took SIFF into consideration for this article, to parse out its most awesome moments.

SIFF could easily claim the title of awesome with just one fact: the movie Alien world premiered at SIFF. I think this fact pretty much sums up how much I love SIFF. Did you world premiere Alien in your basement? No, that was SIFF, and SIFF is awesome. They also premiered countless other iconic films, such as Donnie Darko, Last Days, Braveheart, Poltergeist, Trainspotting and Return Of The Jedi (next, they should premiere a movie that’s a cross between all of those, about Kurt Cobain as a ghost Jedi who has 30 days to save Scotland before the world ends).

SIFF is definitely awesome for being the largest film festival in America, spanning the entire city of Seattle for 24 days. They also play amazing movies year-round at “SIFF Cinema (like black and white spy movies, the original Godzilla, and The Neverending Story). But SIFF’s most awesome moment comes with curating the 1 Reel Film Festival. Yeah, I know that seems like a cop-out, since I work for the ‘Shoot and all, but think about this: they’re hosting a short film festival inside a giant national music and arts festival. It’s a festival within a festival—like Russian nesting dolls. If you can’t step back and appreciate the awesomeness inherent in that, then you’re just too cool for school.

And if you’re not impressed by the very presence of a festival within a festival, then check out the film offerings (SPOILER ALERT: they’re all awesome as well). I happened to watch a few, including the hyper-cute John and Karen, an animated short where a polar bear is apologizing to a penguin for his past, probably cute, transgressions. (ADORABLE TIME!) Or maybe you’re more in the mood for Rubberheart, a romantic short that turned from funny to bizarrely sweet in a matter of seconds. Or there’s always Parachutes, a compact tale in the “Meaning Of Life” program featuring a heartbreaking funeral for a batch of toy soldiers, overseen by a child genius and a philandering husband.

That’s just the start. The films are divided into 27 programs, each an hour long (featuring a total of 126 films from 24 countries), including my two favorites thus far “Love And Marriage” and “The Twilight Zone.”

So for those reasons (and my own desire that one day with SIFF’s continued success they will merge my two favorite programs to create “Love and Marriage In The Twilight Zone”), I am awarding Seattle International Film Festival (and the 1 Reel Film Festival) with the title of Awesome. Maybe I will have a plaque made up, and present it to SIFF during Bumbershoot. But it’s hard to present a plaque to a festival… Maybe I’ll just make a certificate instead and tape it to the doors of SIFF Cinema. Either way, Congratulations, SIFF!

So after two full days of Bumbershoot already gone by, I have one more day to cram myself full of art and fried food (not that fried food isn’t an art in and of itself). You’d better believe that I’m up to the challenge.

1:00-2:15 – Boeing Performing Arts Stage Joe Goode Performance Group: Oh man they have a giant puppet. And I love puppets. It’s as simple as that.

2:15-3:00 LUNCH: I will have a corn-dog-eating-contest against myself. I will win.

3:00-4:00 – EMP/SFM Sky Church Shane Tutmarc And The Traveling Mercies: My corn dogs and I will head to the amazing EMP Sky Church and take in some excellent hoedown country/folk.

4:30-5:30 – Comedy Stage South Myspace Show: Comedians will bring audience members onstage to make fun of their Myspace profiles. I don’t have a Myspace profile, so I’ll be safe. Unless they make fun of the Bumbershoot Myspace that I help maintain. Oh no!

6:00-7:00 – ROCKSTAR Stage John Vanderslice: I feel like I haven’t seen enough indie-pop yet today. Problem solved with the troubadour J.V., as I call him.

7:00-7:30 DINNER: I’m going to carbo-load for my final Bumbershoot push, so I will eat 4 cheeseburgers.

7:30-8:30 – Fisher Green Stage Del Tha Funky Homosapien: Del has been my favorite rapper for years, I am so jazzed to see him live. He is, indeed, funky, as his name would suggest.

8:30-9:30 – Wells Fargo Stage Sondre Lerche: I know I go on and on about this Norwegian dreamboat, but seriously, have you seen him? Have you heard his music? He’s amazing!

9:30-10:45 – Samsung Mobile Mainstage Death Cab For Cutie: I’ll finish my BS experience the way many people are planning to, by heading down to see DCFC. I think they’re going to be the highlight of the Mainstage for the entire Festival.

So now you’re aware of where I’ll be for three entire days, provided I can pull myself away from my work. If you feel like making your own schedule (in case you weren’t just planning to follow me around all weekend) head to our handy dandy schedule maker and get crackin’.

After my extremely busy Saturday, you might think I’d be through. Burned out, frazzled, a shivering husk. Not so! Here’s my comprehensive schedule for Sunday, using our sweet new scheduling system (sign up and see for yourself!):

12:30-1:30 LUNCH: Something from the Philippines that I can’t pronounce, and some delicious lumpia.

1:30-2:45 – Boeing Performing Arts Stage Saul Williams, Canary Sing: Saul Williams is the man, that is completely undeniable. Missing this would be foolish in every way. Add Canary Sing to the mix for good measure. I will feel very cool after this.

3:15-4:15 – Exhibition Hall Stage The Blakes: They get a lot of buzz in Seattle for good reason. They’ll set a good tone for the day, if I don’t dance my pants completely off.

5:00-6:00 – Exhibition Hall Stage These Arms Are Snakes: This is probably one of my favorite bands at the entire festival. I’ve been telling everyone not to miss them, including you readers. Bring comfortable shoes, you will be dancing like a crazy person.

6:00-7:00 – Boeing Performing Arts Stage Seattle School’s RECESSION!: if you’re suffering from the “macroeconomic frownzies,” which I will never get tired of saying, check out this sugar-coated J-pop delight.

7:15-8:15 – Comedy Stage North Hannibal Buress, Karen Kilgariff, Doug Benson: This is going to be a pretty hot ticket, but for good reason. Get on the YouTube and check these comedians out, they are all great. I will be laughing hysterically so get excited to see that.

8:15-8:45 DINNER: See how many Shishkaberries I can fit in my mouth at one time, accidentally piercing my own cheek with the stick the berries come on.

8:45-9:45 – Exhibition Hall Stage Brother Ali: Some nice smooth rapping will go nicely with the two pounds of fruit I will have recently consumed, and will also sound completely awesome.

9:45-10:30 – EMP|SFM’s Sky Church Thee Emergency: back to dancing my pants off when I catch the end of Thee Emergency’s set at the Sky Church. And you gotta love that giant wall of TV’s behind the stage. It’s just surreal.

So now you know where I’ll be on Sunday. You can always check out my schedule on Bumbershoot.org, or even sign up and make your own, in case you think you can do better than me (no way).

Bumbershoot has a new scheduling system, where BumberFans can sign in, browse the Festival schedule, and pick and choose artists to make their own personalized schedule online. I was playing with it, and it’s so nifty, I decided to try plotting out my own schedule (instead of wingin’ it like I have before). This week, I’ll be bringing you each day of my Bumbershoot schedule, starting with Saturday. This is where I’ll be (if I’m not too busy working during the Festival):

12:00-1:00 – Leo K. Theatre F**k Off And Die: Tales In Teen Angst Poetry: If you’ve ever tried looking in the dictionary for a rhyme for the word “misery” then this is for you. It is going to be hysterical. Also, try the word scissory, it’s not a real word, but it gets the job done.

1:00-2:15 – Samsung Mobile Mainstage Neko Case: I love her with the New Pornographers, I’ve proclaimed her to be awesome, and now I get to see her live (finally). She is probably my favorite red-haired sort-of-Canadian country-noir singer of all time.

2:15-2:45 – Fountain Lawn Australia’s Strange Fruit: Amazing Australian artists always astound and astonish. Also see: art on a stick. People are going to be talking about this a lot. It is the hot buzz around the Bumbershoot office.

2:45-3:30 LUNCH: I will consume a healthy and balanced lunch of two elephant ears and a soda.

3:30-4:30 – SIFF Cinema “Best Of SIFF Jury Award Winners: Five short, award-winning films. I love short films, I love SIFF, so this seems pretty immaculately tailored to me. Almost, suspiciously so, as if I was being watched… Wait one second…!!

4:45-5:45 – Exhibition Hall Stage The Fall Of Troy: I’ve seen them many times before and their live show always features off-the-wall guitar heroics, soloing-with-his-teeth mayhem. Get ready to dance kids.

5:45-6:45 – ROCKSTAR Stage The Walkmen: Not just a good pop band, but a good pop band that’s fighting cancer. They just released an album for download and gave all the proceeds to a cancer charity. That is seriously cool.

DINNER: Time to debate with the guy selling gyros about how gyro is pronounced, followed by eating a delicious gyro.

8:00-9:00 – Charlotte Martin Theatre Human Giant And Friends: For anyone that hasn’t seen Human Giant, go watch it on TV as soon as you’re done with this article. It’s hilarious. Then go see it at Bumbershoot with me. We can be friends!

9:30-10:45 – ROCKSTAR Stage M. Ward: This will be an excellent end to Saturday, to see M.Ward (or M. as I call him) rippin’ it up, acoustic-style. And when I say “rippin’ it up” I mean playing really pretty songs. That’s what that means—look it up.

Check out my Bumbershoot schedule, and then make your own. It’s perfect for planning your special elephant ear time (also music, film and arts).

Kudos to Tori Dickson, who impressed Karen Finneyfrock with her summer haiku. She’s won a limited edition official Bumbershoot poster, and is now eligible to win a pair of 3-day passes to this year’s Festival.

“blue leaves behind clouds
and the sky invites me in
i get up and dance”

Congratulations, Tori!

This week’s winner of our MySpace top 4 friends contest is…
Michael Haines of Astoria, Oregon!

He’s won a limited edition official Bumbershoot poster, and now he’s eligible to win a pair of 3-day passes to this year’s Festival, provided Bumbershoot stays in his top 4 friends. BFF!

Congratulations, Michael!

Contest details here if you want to be our next winner!

Kudos to Tom Melancon, who impressed Karen Finneyfrock with his summer haiku. He’s won a limited edition official Bumbershoot poster, and is now eligible to win a pair of 3-day passes to this year’s Festival.

“As the last guitars wring off

Of the Mural Stage

I look up and see a friend”

Congratulations, Tom!

And if you feel like getting some poetry in and winning some sweet prizes, head to our website and check it out!

You’ve already read about Bumbershoot’s international acts, flying in from all over the universe to play this year, that’s a given. But what about our distinctive hometown heroes? (Yeah, when I said The Emerald City I was talking about Seattle, not The Wizard of Oz. Sorry.) The much-lauded Seattle sound will be at Bumbershoot in force, and with a little guidance, you can be in the front row for every fresh local act.

I’ll start with some local punk. We’ve got the pop-punk upstarts Speaker Speaker this year, embodying what one critic called a “nosebleed on overdrive” as best they know how. They’ll be alongside Bellinghamsters Black Eyes and Neckties (yeah, they’re from Bellingham, but I’m claiming them local, okay?), who are known not only for their kinetic live shows and spoooooky subject matter (like ghosts and werewolves and whatnot), but also for their black eye makeup (oh – and neckties). Perhaps there’s a connection… but I’m no Miss Marple, so I won’t worry about it too much. I’ll just file that under C for coincidence.

We’ve also got local indie kids Throw Me The Statue playing this year. They play just that perfect brand of fresh-faced pop to take home and introduce to your family. You know, some music that’ll treat you right for a change and make you happy. You deserve it! Check out this video of them playing “Lolita” on a Washington State Ferry while apparently completely freezing (can you blame them, seriously?).

Okay, so you knew I was going to have to get to this band, obviously if I’m talking about awesome local things… 4 words: Death Cab For Cutie (OMG!). That was my basic reaction when I heard they were added to our lineup. Not just added, but they are closing the entire festival on the Samsung Mobile Mainstage. Man, their bass player Nick has come a long way from being a garbage man in Tacoma (that’s right, I did research). Fun fact: I personally believe that somewhere around 60% of college students have a copy of Transatlanticism, and that is a conservative estimate. They mail it out with your acceptance letter. It is also the perfect album to listen to on the bus while you pretend to be in a music video. Not that I’ve ever done that.

So if you’re going for Seattle flavor, you can’t go wrong with Seattle School (it has Seattle right in the name). And to sweeten the pot, they are performing their show RECESSION! about a J-pop band trying to rescue America from our “macroeconomic frownzies” so we start spending money again. Seattle School also won The Stranger’s Genius award, ensuring a show that is not only awesome, but actually genius.

So now Seattle gets to share its sweet arts with the rest of the world, through Bumbershoot, in exchange for the world giving us their best acts for the Festival (you know I’m looking at you, Sondre Lerche. Answer my letters!). I say it’s a fair trade.