Luke Simcoe, OP Contributor

 

bum:ber-shoot [buhm-ber-shoot] DAY 2: DRUM!
n.
An umbrella. Day two was by far the most crowded of the three; people were crammed

Center like students in an overpopulated high school. I guess everyone’s fa
Before I begin, I have to ask the question: how come Washington, a relatively small state by drop-out (Kanye West) is a pretty big draw. Admittedly, I did notice an incre;
American standards, gets two incredible 3-day festivals (Sasquatch and Bumbershoot), while of baby blue clothing and maternity wear sized tee-shirts in the crowd.
Vancouver, our great country’s third largest city, is privy only to the 10 hour chug-a-lug that is After picking up my pass for Mr. West’s forthcoming performance, | heac

Arts County Fair? We even lost Slam City Jam to Calgary, and Edgefest packed it in for main stage in time for Spoon. I’d love to say that I’ve been a fan of Brit Da
Toronto. What’s up with that? I heard the opening chords of “Everything Hits at Once,” but I’d be lying. S;

to grow on me, but I’ve finally acknowledged how great they are. That being
DAY 1: SING! seen them live, and they were one of the biggest reasons why I attended the |

Spoon opened with “Mathematical Mind,” but the band didn’t settle in ur
Anyway, on with the show... People had been putting down the line-up this year, especially —_ later, when “Fitted Shirt” found its way into their set. The boys from Texas s
when compared to the mighty Sasquatch. Granted, Iggy Pop wasn’t there like last year, but mined to cram in as many songs as possible into their set, and in keeping wit
there were some amazing musical highlights, and in the end, Bumbershoot is more than just a _ist aesthetic, stage banter was sparse. David Cross made an appearance durin
big concert. It’s a celebration of the arts, and music is just one of the many things to be found Dragon Adored,” acting as an interpreter for the deaf before eventually flopr

under the umbrella. stage and mooning the audience. Although the band was aware of his stunt, |
With that in mind, after getting my ticket and wrist stamped with the word “sing” (days n’t stop Daniels from missing a few lyrics due to laughter.
two and three would be “drum” and “star,” respectively), the first event that I attended was a After being inspired by his ass, I attempted to get into the David Cross-

literary reading featuring Charles Burns and Chuck Palahniuk. Burns, the author of the serial- hosted variety show known as Tinkle. The show was scheduled for 7:00,
ized graphic novel Black Hole, quickly traced his origins and influences, and showed slides of and apparently the line-up had filled up around 5:30, so I attended a

his yearbook to show how, unbeknownst to them, he had modeled characters in the book after monologue performance by Mike Daisey instead. The show was enti-
his high school alumni. Palahniuk, a native of Portland, was next, and if you’ve never seen tled “Monopoly!,” and it explored the historical battle over the stan-
him do a reading, it’s a must. He started off by tossing mini-bar sized bottles of Wild Turkey _ dards for electricity (alternating current vs. direct current, or A.C. vs.
into the all-ages crowd after announcing that his editor had told him to “tone down” his pub- D.C.) waged by Nikola Tesla on one side and Thomas Edison on the

lic appearances. ‘Nuff said. other. This thread was brilliantly interwoven around the checkered histo-
Rogue Wave was next on my schedule (which was available for easy downloading onto ry of the board game Monopoly, as well as the rise of Microsoft and Wal-

my iPod). Bumbershoot’s write-up for the band was downright hilarious, accusing them of Mart, and Daisey’s own personal experiences developing the monologue.

being a “darkly dichotomous” band that balances “pop vs. despair” and “hope vs. realism.” Around 9:30, the man everyone had been waiting for arrived on stage, dr

Melodrama aside, I missed the first part of their set, and although they closed ona high note _ that I’m sure is worth more than my car, and pounded through “Diamonds F
with “Love’s Lost Guarantee,” I can only assume that I missed a stunning rendition of “Bird —_Leone.” I’m not a huge fan of Kanye West (I liked The College Drop-Out br
on a Wire.” Registration was rather unlistenable), but I will say this about the man: he ki

Throughout the weekend, the One Reel Film Festival was on, showing independent films a crowd. West’s elaborate stage set-up, his multiple ‘costume’ changes, the n
from an eclectic array of sources. I stopped by to see Brent Hoff screen a few films fromthe __ singers, and his own larger-than-life ego combined for a rather theatrical per
quarterly Wholphin video magazine. Wholphin, named for the (mythical) offspring of a whale _ rather they did combine for the first half of his set until Kanye dropped the }

and a dolphin, is the visual arm of the McSweeney’s/Believer collective, and features short morphed into a wedding party DJ. He played various beats that he had prod
films and docs from renowned indie directors like Miranda July, Spike Jonze and Michel artists, and encouraged the crowd to sing along to the choruses. His career “
Gondry. Highlights included Jonze’s unseen Al Gore documentary and a pilot that HBO went on far too long, and I left his set before it finished. I fell asleep that nig
turned down called The Pity Card, where a young man uses his grandparents’ story of holo- of how wealth breeds complacency floating in my head.

caust survival to get laid. I’m sure both of them are available on YouTube. If not, just go to
McSweeneys.net and subscribe!

Badly Drawn Boy closed out the evening for me (I skipped out on the Hot Topic parade
that was the line-up for AFI). The prolific slacker, (isn’t that a great combination...) whose
real name is Damon Gough, turned out a charming set of his quirky lo-fi rock. He played a lot
of material from his forthcoming album, and he frequently encouraged us to go out and buy it _
so he could become as big as James Blunt. “Everybody’s Stalking” was an obvious highlight
for me, but I mostly enjoyed Gough’s stage presence. He smoked frequently, lighting them up
and stubbing them out almost instantly, and seemed to engage the crowd on a really genuine
level. Plus, his British drawl was pretty endearing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
   

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