Monthly Archives: September 2011

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Bumbershoot Pro Tips

We here at The SunBreak like to live A Life of Pro-Tips. To that end, here are some tips and tricks for how to best get around the festival.

Josh: As a general tip, the Bumbershoot iphone app is ready for downloading. It still doesn’t know about sharing your schedule with friends (or, even better, tracking your friends on the Seattle Center grounds) or figuring out which acts are the most popular among app users, but it’s a start and will still help you on time and aware of the schedule when your newsprint version gets horribly smudged.

The KEXP Music Lounge, where they broadcast from an undisclosed location on the Seattle Center campus, is always a nice escape from the teeming crowds. Unfortunately, this year’s sessions are already sold out, but you can still buy your way in with a Platinum Pass, which also gets you all sorts of other crowd- and sobriety-defying perks.

Also worth noting: sunlight-averse Bumbershooters may prefer this year’s (separately-ticketed) AfterDark programming by the Decibel Festival, which brings electronic music fans into the Exhibition Hall dungeon until 4 a.m.

Audrey: There’s also the Free Yr Radio lineup, with mostly Bumber-acts (but a few local extras!) doing yet another performance at the festival. Which means you actually have three chances to see Pickwick: their stage set, KEXP set, and the Free Yr Radio set. It’s almost an overwhelming number of scheduling options.

Jugglers at Bumbershoot 2010 (Photo: MvB)

MvB: One Reel is putting free water tents all around the grounds, so just bring a refillable water bottle (or two) and save on buying anything at all.

Audrey: Yes, FREE WATER is a pro-tip. Don’t be a chump!

Shawn: They don’t check bags at the main gates, so bring in as much water as you like. I don’t think they even care if it is in view when you walk in. However, the mainstage and most of the indoor venues DO check bags and DON’T allow outside water, so keep that in mind.

If you are hungry/thirsty, sneak out to QFC or Met Market for a reasonably priced sandwich and drink. Or plan ahead and grab stuff before you head into Seattle Center.

Audrey: My biggest Bumber Pro-Tip is MONORAIL to get you to and from Seattle Center in under five minutes. Labor Day is the only time all year I take that accursed mode of transportation, so I’m glad it’s running late this weekend (till 11:30 p.m.).

Josh:If you insist on taking the bus, you’ll probably have more luck getting a seat if you pick it up in Queen Anne instead of downstream on Denny.

Katelyn: Stay hydrated, don’t eat pot brownies made by strangers, and know where the nearest restroom is at all times.

Josh: If you’re not rolling through the festival with shiny gold or platinum passes around your neck and care deeply about the comedy lineup, be sure to show up early to get a Comedy Pass. The main stage, now in Key Arena though, doesn’t require a special token as all shows are first-come (up to 90 minutes ahead), first-served.

MvB: Best bathrooms? I think there are some that end up less “used.” If you get my drift. Generally, those in specific venues, rather than the ones on the main floor of the Center House. There be monsters.

Shawn:Also, the bathrooms in the NW Rooms are usually the least used of the ones you don’t have to wait in a long comedy line to get to.

MvB: Avoid any path lined with food if you’re in a hurry, because you will either wear yourself out playing Red Rover with multiple food lines or end up with a plate of yakisoba on your shirt.

Josh: You’ll want to get a hundred posters at Flatstock; time your purchases so you’re not hauling your merch around all day and starting accidental tube fights during particularly boisterous sets on the Fountain Lawn.

MvB: It’s going to be hot this year, so don’t forget some kind of hat and SPF159. If you forget, it would be worth running across the street to Met Market or QFC. You may want to consider buying extra sunscreen and selling it at a huge markup to people turning lobster.

Josh: On the Be Prepared front, get ready for your phone’s battery to fade. Keep a printout of the schedule handy and pick a meeting time and place to find your friends when you inevitably get split up over funnel cakes vs. elephant ears or Hall & Oates vs. Truckasaurus.

MvB: Comfy shoes. Ear plugs.

Arts & Entertainment, Dance, Film & TV, Literature, Music, Theatre

The SunBreak’s Picks for Bumbershoot: Monday

Okay, Day 1 picks here, Day 2 picks here, and this post marks the third in the series with Monday’s roundtable of Bumber-sights to Bumber-see. And before you head to the fest, don’t forget to check The SunBreak’s Bumbershoot Pro-Tips. Let’s festival.

Katelyn: At 26, I’m not getting any younger [read: better with crowds], and Bumbershoot is too marvelously multifaceted [read: crowded] for me to consider going for more than one day. Still, I like to see the sights and hear the sounds, etc., so I picked Monday to attend– my podcast hero Luke Burbank of TBTL was scheduled to do something. Then that got canceled, so I’m thanking my lucky stars that Monday has other auditory delights to offer.

I’m curious about Fly Moon Royalty (12:45 p.m., Fisher Green). My sources say they’re “most excellent,” but I haven’t been grabbed by their recorded material thus far. Worth a shot, because I trust Sportn’ Life (Fly Moon Royalty’s label) and because discovery and risk etc has been shown to keep you young forever. (Sort of.)

Grand Hallway (at 2:15 p.m., Starbucks): This band’s many members are all talented, and watching them spin notes into meditative, straight-up beautiful musical gold in person is a treat. (I’m even more enamored by Grand Hallways pianist and vocalist Shenandoah Davis, whose solo album The Company We Keep has been on repeat this summer. She’s on tour and won’t be Bumbering, but go check out her work.) If you’ve already seen the crazy fun and good YACHT (3:15 p.m., Fountain Lawn), the Veganism/Black Metal/Hip Hop panel (3:30 p.m., Leo K. Theatre) looks promising to this supporter of badassery in all forms.

Consider soon-to-be-huge Lemolo (4:30 p.m., level 3 EMP) for a pre-dinner show; I saw a video of them practicing and it sent me into profound Neutral Milk Hotel listening spiral. That’s a good thing. Alternatively, dance it off with high-energy punk hip-hop favorites Mash Hall (5 p.m., Decibel Stage). Go get some dinner before weeping your way through Sharon Van Etten‘s show (6:45 p.m., Fountain Lawn). It’s a toss-up between Phantogram (8:30 p.m., Fountain Lawn) and Truckasaurus (9 p.m., Decibel Stage) for the rest of the night, as far as I’m concerned. Truckasaurus, for what it’s worth, has never failed to move me into that heart-thumpy, sweaty, head-nodding zone where everything’s going to be okay, and is already okay, and fuck yeah, life sucks sometimes, but we have music! Beep beep boop.

Josh: I’m mainly looking forward to checking out all of the already mentioned (and praised) local bands that I’ve so far missed on their way up the northwest fame elevator. And, yeah. I will probably check out Hall and Oates (9:15 p.m., KeyArena). How can you not?

Tony: I’ll never miss a live set by Seattle’s finest pop ensemble, Curtains for You, if I can help it (1:30 p.m., EMP Level 3 Stage). I’m also looking forward to taking in buzz-laden local power duo My Goodness at long last (2 p.m., Exhibition Hall Stage). Aussie power-pop demi-gods You am I don’t swing by here every day of the year, and they put on a reputedly earth-shaking live show to boot (5 p.m., Fountain Lawn Stage). Daptone soul singer Charles Bradley‘s sandpaper-soul shout should go down great this weekend (5:45 p.m., Fisher Green Stage). And while everyone’s packing the Key Arena for Hall and Oates’ set, I’ll be hearing alien-rockabilly siren Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside tear things up (9 p.m., EMP Level 3 stage).

Shawn: I’m not going on Monday, but if I were I wouldn’t want to miss “Veganism: From Black Metal to Hip Hop and Everything in Between” (3:30 p.m., Leo K.) or Truckasarus (9 p.m., Decibel Stage at EMP Sky Church).

MvB: Whew! Day 3. I’m exhausted. Let’s keep this short. Short films from around the world: We Are What We Drink, The Abyss Boys, Sync, Monkeys! (1 p.m., SIFF Cinema). Three Dublin novelists walk into the Words & Ideas stage: Chris Binchy. Kevin Holohan, and Claire Kilroy (1:45 p.m., Leo K.). Seattle’s modern dance troupe Whim W’Him presents an early “greatest hits” compilation (2:30 p.m., Bagley Wright Theatre). The wild (and sometimes wildly erratic) SIFF Fly Films are back to delight and surprise under time constraints (4:30 p.m., SIFF Cinema). ATTN: NERDS! “The Writing of Battlestar Galactica” with producer Ronald Moore and more (7 p.m., Leo K.). Mobile Balkan brass band? Yes. Orkestar Zirkonium! (7:30 p.m., “Festival Grounds”). Fitz and the Tantrums will put the groove back into your thing (7:45 p.m., KeyArena). Maybe close it up country with Grant Lee Buffalo? (9:30 p.m., Mural Amphitheatre).

Audrey: Eugene Mirman. W’him W’him’s greatest hits. Phantogram? Motopony at the Free Yr Radio stage. YACHT. Anthony Jeselnik, because why not see a smart comic three times in three days? Hall and Oates, of course.

News, Transportation

The Economist to Seattle: Car Speed Kills

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ghost cycle #8 (Photo: our Flickr pool's Chris Blakeley)

When the Seattle Times calls Mayor Mike McGinn, sneeringly, “Mayor McSchwinn,” for his support of bicycling and bicyclist safety efforts, you may or may not laugh. You may want to point out that the road-diet-plus-bike-lane combination was implemented heavily by the mayor the Times lauds for his farsightedness.

When an ideologically stoked backlash to road diets appeared this time last year Seattle’s department of transportation argued they’d been doing road rechannelizations since 1972. But certainly the road diet as we know it got a boost lately from the Bridging the Gap levy, as SDOT recounts:

In 2007, SDOT worked with the Mayor and City Council to codify the Complete Streets policy in ordinance number 122386, which states that “SDOT will plan for, design and construct all new City transportation improvement projects to provide appropriate accommodation for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and persons of all abilities, while promoting safe operation for all users.”

In 2007, of course, Seattle’s mayor was Greg Nickels.

But you may also feel pained at the Seattle Times‘ callousness. Bike safety is a serious thing: life and death, in fact. Seattle has thousands of daily bike commuters, the Seattle Times editorial board aside, and bike infrastructure and bike safety mean a great deal to them.

The Times opinionators can apparently shrug a death or two off, if it means they get to make fun of a mayor they dislike. To The Economist cycling deaths made Seattle stand out. When they went looking for an example of the dangers of cycling in the U.S., they picked Seattle as the Goofus:

Nearly 6% of commuters bike to work in Portland, the highest proportion in America. But in five out of the past ten years there have been no cycling deaths there. In the nearby Seattle area, where cycling is popular but traffic calming is not, three cyclists, have been killed in the past few weeks.

The Seattle Times covered cyclist Mike Wang’s death, which happened a few blocks from Seattle Times offices. Then Ron Judd went on to mock Mayor McSchwinn a few more times. Being “for” bicycling is funny. It’s not as if there’s a real problem.

Here’s The Economist again:

…consider the death of Michael Wang. He was pedalling home from work in Seattle on a sunny weekday afternoon in late July when, witnesses say, a brown SUV made a left turn, crunched into Wang and sped away.

The road where the 44-year-old father of two was hit is the busiest cycling corridor in Seattle, and it has clearly marked bicycle lanes. But the lanes are protected from motor vehicles by a line of white paint—a largely metaphorical barrier that many drivers ignore and police do not vigorously enforce.

Well, economists have no sense of humor. One of the motivations behind SDOT’s complete streets is an attempt at what The Economist recommends: traffic calming. SDOT has simply been trying to get drivers to obey the speed limit on boulevards and arterials. The Economist writes approvingly of a 20-mph limit where cars are near bicycles, “a speed that, in case of collision, kills less than 5%.”

I imagine that’s cold comfort to anyone in that five percent, but at just 30 mph, the fatality rate (for cyclists and pedestrians) has skyrocketed to around 45 percent. Optimally, I believe, you wouldn’t have bicycles in contact with cars in a hurry: see Portland’s bike boulevards. (If you have an oft-ignored “Slow: Children Playing” sign on your street, why not talk to the City Council’s Sally Bagshaw about a pilot program?)

But no matter how you look at it, I think it’s time to stop ignoring the fact that there are lives on the line in this discussion. Reasonable people stop sniggering when people are dead.

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

Bellflower: Just Another Post-Apocalyptic Romantic Tragic Bloody Mindtrip

You know you’re dealing with a special movie when you watch it at least twice, have the damnedest time describing it, and can’t stop thinking about it. Bellflower, the debut feature from writer/director Evan Glodell, is one of those kinds of movies for me. It opens tonight at the Seven Gables, and I warrant you won’t see anything like it all year.

Glodell plays Woodrow, a guy who whiles away his time exercising a serious Mad Max fetish by cobbling together a flamethrower and muscle car with his pal Aiden (Tyler Dawson). The two of them stumble into a bar one night, and Woodrow meets cute with Milly (Jessie Wiseman), a fiery blonde with charisma to match her elfin charm. A romance develops, but things go sour. And Woodrow’s world goes way, way south. That’s as much of a synopsis as you’ll get (or is even possible, for that matter) from this end.

It’s an impressive first film; even moreso considering that it’s a 100% independent feature financed on peanuts and shot completely under the radar. Glodell writes dialogue that’s equal parts off-the-cuff natural and graphic-novel nihilistic, and he builds characters with just enough reality to give the proceedings a core of relatability (mad props to the cast, unknowns all, who look and sound like average human beings).

The movie’s shot in carefully-crafted, sun-bleached yellows and orange-reds that telegraph apocalyptic decay even at the outset; but it still manages to surprise and unsettle at multiple turns. And somehow it welds John Hughes buddy-bonding, Richard-Linklater-style slacker romance, sidelong stoner giggles, David Lynchian dark surrealism, and Peckinpah-by-way-of-Tarantino ultraviolence into a package that gets richer, denser, and more satisfying with repeat viewings. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea by any measure, but Bellflower utterly blew my mind. You can bet I’ll be in the theater to see it again before it finishes its run.

bellflower
Crime, News, Politics

Looking for a Fix on Third Avenue

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Photocoyote's SEPIA STREETSHOT from our Flickr pool was taken in 2009, the year of the drug sweep.

Ironically, it is fairly easy to get a fix on Third Avenue in Seattle (or get stabbed or beaten nearly to death) because it has become the entrenched home of a large open-air drug market. But the City of Seattle has so far struggled to fix that problem. Better crowd control late-night, when bars are letting out, has helped reduce aggressive brawling, and despite bullets flying less frequently, overall confidence in personal safety is still low.

It’s not that the City is unaware. The City Council’s Tim Burgess writes on his blog: “Residents and small business owners in Belltown send a steady stream of complaints to Council members and the Mayor asking why drug dealers are allowed to sell heroin and cocaine with near impunity near their homes and shops.” Let’s start, he suggests, “with an increased presence of uniformed police officers.”

Burgess also thinks Third Avenue could use a facelift in general:

It should be converted into a restricted “complete street” that serves only transit, pedestrians, bicycles, and delivery and emergency vehicles all day.  Sidewalks could be expanded and streetscape improvements installed, such as hanging flower baskets and other “green” enhancements, public art, wayfinder signage, and additional lighting.

Is it possible to stop Belltown’s illegal drug market?, asks Seattlepi.com. A 2009 sweep of drug dealers, reports Casey McNerthney, led to 32 being charged. But they soon popped up again. SeattleCrime.com’s Jonah Spangenthal-Lee calls them “catch-and-release drug arrests.” Newly ensconced at Publicola, Spangenthal-Lee details the city’s new drug diversion program, which seeks to separate the major dealer wheat from the small-time chaff.

Beginning October 1st, small-time drug dealers and drug users arrested with less than three grams of crack, heroin, meth or drug paraphernalia in Belltown by members of SPD’s West Precinct Anti-Crime Team and bike patrol officers will be given the option to go to diversion DEFINE or go to jail as part of the Law Enforcement Assistance Diversion (LEAD) pilot program.

Essentially, the program tries to distinguish between addicts selling (or carrying) to support their own habit, and the more troublesomely entrepreneurial dealer. Addicts will get “housing, social security benefits, job training, or on-the-spot treatment,” and aren’t booted from the program for relapsing, as addicts will do. If there’s an 80/20 rule in effect, this should have the effect of emptying the sidewalks and pocket parks of small-time illegal activity, providing less cover for the serious drug dealers.

“LEAD, which costs about $1 million a year,” says Spangenthal-Lee, “already has enough funding to run for the next four years.”

Arts & Entertainment, Dance, Literature, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts

The SunBreak’s Picks for Bumbershoot: Sunday

You’ve already seen The SunBreak’s Saturday Bumberpicks. Now it’s time to turn our focus to the Labor Day festival’s second day:

Josh’s pick, as An Old who goes to a couple shows per month instead of a few shows per week and therefore needs to see a whole crop of local bands that have been garnering high praise: The Lonely Forest (1:30 p.m., Key Arena). Tough call between Thee Oh Sees (Fountain Lawn) and Broken Social Scene (Key Arena) during the 3-4:15 p.m. timeblock. Decide based on your immediate preferences for sun vs. cool dads.

Audrey: I pick Broken Social Scene, even in Key Arena. I will also likely catch some Tennis (5 p.m.), Warpaint (6:45 p.m.), and Toro y Moi (8:30 p.m.), all at the Fountain Lawn Stage. I’ve heard good things about AgesandAges, so that means a trip to EMP Level 3 stage (4:30 p.m.), especially since I’ve not seen Kaylee Cole since a Musicquarium happy hour set many moons ago (6 p.m.), and I’ve been meaning to catch the blue-eyed soul of Allen Stone (7:30 p.m.). And I’ll definitely hit up the Decibel stage at EMP Sky Church for the melodic twins in School of Seven Bells (8 p.m.) and Lusine’s deep techno (9 p.m.).

But there’s a bigger task at hand. I still need to strategize on how to best catch all the comedy I’d like to see during three days of Bumbershoot: Hari Kondabolu and Eugene Mirman of course, maybe the autotuned tracks of the Gregory Brothers, Deon Cole (aka the black guy on Conan), Paul F. Tompkins, and Doug Benson for the umpteenth time.

Tony: Screw the Neil Young comparisons: Whalebones do Brian Jonetown-style psych-rock better than damn near anyone in town right now (1:30 p.m., Fountain Lawn Stage). And count on a debauched, nonstop party with Seattle’s favorite bacchanalians, Mad Rad (2:15 p.m., Fisher Green Stage). The Jim Jones Revue, meantime, crack skulls with Jerry Lee Lewis and The Sonics, and it hurts damn good (4 p.m., Starbucks Stage).

I’m curious to see if the Butthole Surfers can still summon the lysergic trainwreck energy of their 1990’s prime in these recessionary times (7:30 p.m., Fisher Green Stage). And I’ve gotta hear The Kills. Alison Mosshart’s voice could pretty much peel wallpaper–and the paper on my walls could use peeling about now (9:15 p.m., Fisher Green Stage).

Shawn also wants to see The Kills and Butthole Surfers, along with–in backwards Bumber-order–Anti-Flag (6:30 p.m., Exhibition Hall), Atari Teenage Riot (4:45 p.m., Exhibition Hall), and NoMeansNo (2:45 p.m., Exhibition Hall).

MvB: Did we already mention “Bumber by Number“? That’s the art exhibit featuring local artists trying their hand at paint-by-number, curated by Marlow Harris and JoDavid (all day, Seattle Center Pavilion). Early on, there’s Kristin Hersh not just singing but speaking: Paradoxical Undressing is her solo spoken word and musical performance. Get to know teen Hersh, wrestling with issues of mental illness, creativity, teenage pregnancy, and the pressures of sudden fame (12:15 p.m., Bagley Wright Theatre). You can catch Hersh again with film composer Nathan Larson and hip hop chronicler Nelson George at “From Music to Literature” (3:30 p.m., the Leo K. Theatre at Bagley Wright).

To cool off from predicted 80-degree temps, duck into the audience favorites of SIFF 2011’s short films (4:30 p.m., SIFF Cinema). Hear about X:144’s experience of the Egyptian revolution this past January at “Why Censorship? Why Revolution? Why Now?” (5:15 p.m., Leo K.).

Puppet This brings you Manos: The Hands of Felt, the story of fertilizer salesman-turned-director Harold P. Warren and his run-in with an evil cult. It’s a musical! (6:45 p.m., Center House Theatre). If you feel like YouTube didn’t give you the full impact, Dan Savage and Terry Miller are presenting It Gets Better live and in person (7 p.m., Leo K.).