Bumbershoot 2010: Josh's Sunday Preview

It's Bumbershoot this Labor Day weekend, and before we get to the acts, let's recap on strategy.

• Daily tickets are $22 (no mainstage) or $40 (mainstage). Buy in advance, 'cause at the gate it'll go up to $30 and $50, respectively. All adult-accompanied kids 10 and under get free festival admission (doesn't include mainstage).
• Driving anywhere near the Seattle Center will be a pain, slightly less if you get there very early. Any number of buses will drop you there, including special festival shuttles. From Capitol Hill, it's the mighty #8. From downtown, you take the Monorail and arrive in style.
• You can meticulously plan an electronic schedule ahead of time using this online whirlygig or keep your options open by stocking your pocket with a printed PDF version
• Check the weather before you go and dress appropriately (or not, what the hell, it's your life). For the pack: water bottle, something blanket-y to sit on, sunscreen, sweater. Maybe an umbrella? The forecast looks like the festival might (again) live up to its namesake climate protection device.

More than the other two festival days, Sunday is the one with a mainstage lineup as likely to draw former fans looking for a trainwreck as current fans in seeking magical musical moments. In their heyday (aka "the nineties") the headliners released near-flawless and now-iconic albums and then became different kinds of unglued. As far as I'm concerned, Hole's Live Through This is an unassailable classic. Despite all of the tabloid drama, ditching the rest of the band, and the absurdly ungrammatical twitter breakdowns, that record and her rogue 1995 post-VMA appearance will have me on Team Courtney and hoping that her performance falls into the category of "unexpected brilliance" instead of unmitigated disaster.

courtney love (photo by & courtesy of whitney pastorek)

Then there's Weezer. Weezer of that self-titled (aka "Blue") album that wore out many an early model Discman. Weezer that took seemingly forever to come back with still-beloved masterpiece (Pinkerton, aka "the misogynistic one," or in more charitable moments, the self-lambasting one) because their frontman was hiding out in a tinfoiled room at Harvard while suffering to stretch a malformed leg. Weezer that decided that if playing a song with the Muppets was cool (it kind of was!), then why not release a single about being the worst human in California, or make an album of internet memes, or do something called "Raditude," or put the dude from LOST on the cover in ultra close-up. They're headlining.

The last time I saw them was when they were touring behind their second self-titled ("Green") album. It was fun. There was a lot of confetti. I have no idea what to expect because I haven't been able to bring myself to listen to a whole Weezer song since "Beverly Hills." Their mainstage show will break that drought and may extinguish any lingering warm sentiments toward the band. All the joys and sorrows of being old enough to have important bands from your childhood stick around long enough to throw gasoline on your memories.  Or it could be amazing! That's why I'll be there, instead of bolting across town to the Paramount for Pavement, a band whose window of opportunity opened and closed before I was paying attention, I guess. 

What if you didn't buy the Standard ticket and don't even care about all of this mainstage psychological drama? There's more than enough to keep you occupied. In particular, locals shine on Sunday with Unnatural Helpers opening the day (12:30), an early "knife moment" between hipster hop Fresh Espresso (2:15) and orchestral wanderlusting from Hey Marseilles (2:15), odd pop from Slender Means (5:00), quiet singer-songwriting from Fences (6:45), and more hip hop from the Physics (8:15). 

Alternatively, divert from the locals-only path mid-afternoon for strings-enhanced heartwarming boisterousness from Ra Ra Riot (5:45), Barcelona electro-indie Delorean (7:30), and a psych-outro by the Dandy Warhols (9:15). There's also something called LMFAO (9:15), which I'm not really willing to Google. 

I've always found it too hard to bounce between music and indoor things during Bumbershoot, but if you like the LOLs more than the rock and don't mind the lines, there are three stages of comedy: Famous Mysterous Actor (1:15), Garfunkel & Oates (4:30), Chelsea Peretti (5:30), and Patton Oswalt (8:00) might be worth the wait.

Culturephiles might also enjoy a panel addressing the very important questions of "Why Vampires? Why Lincoln? Why Now?" (2:00), some SIFF-audience-favorite short films (4:30), and a program by your friends at McSweeney's (5:30). Funny TV writers from 30 Rock, SNL, and Arrested Development who also write funny books gather for a panel hosted by the Stranger's Paul Constant (7:15), and all day there's the Fantagraphics' sponsored survey of Seattle alt.comics in the NW Rooms.

If it's really pouring, I'm sure that we'll bemoan the closure of Exhibition Hall and its sub-gymnasium acoustics as a festival venue. Otherwise, we'll probably celebrate the bold decision to turn the Fun Forest graveyard (from which a glass museum is likely to rise) into a new outdoor stage called the Center Square.