Tag Archives: free public wifi

An Open Letter to One Reel, and/or Bumbershoot, and/or CenturyLink

Pickwick, one of the many acts I couldn't tweet about today. (Photo: MvB)

There’s a lot of good things to say about Bumbershoot this year. I’m appreciating that it seems to be a little less crowded than usual. I am grateful for such a glorious weekend, weather-wise. The staff and volunteers are fairly up on it, and sets tend to start on time. I am gathering further Bumbershoot Pro Tips which I will not share just yet. I am seeing a lot of interesting arts and music and other assorted acts.

Allen Stone does white-boy soul that ain’t afraid to get ugly. It’s always nice to hear cuts from You Forget It In People live, even if it’s at Key Arena. (Sidenote: Why can’t I bring water in there again?) AgesandAges has at least 3.75 awesomely good songs, if not more. I love Doug Benson Loves Movies, and may return for a second performance on Monday.

But I haven’t been able to tell a soul–of course I have, but relatively speaking. Because of the worst thing about Bumbershoot this year: AT&T coverage at Seattle Center has been so spotty the first two days that I moved down to the Edge network and have now given up on being to tweet/text from some venues entirely. Don’t tell me that the network is overloaded. Just “use the network less” doesn’t cut it. This shit can’t stand.

So it’s time that wifi was included in the ticket price and as part of the Bumbershoot experience. It is a shame, an embarrassment, to have a world-class arts festival in the middle of a tech-savvy city and be unable to call, text, or tweet effortlessly and unabated. It’s time that Bumbershoot provide wifi to the masses all Labor Day weekend long.

And this is where you come in, Qwest CenturyLink. Right now everyone knows you as the asshole suits that changed the name of Seahawks Stadium. But instead, you could be the internet company that brought wifi to Seattle Center and Bumbershoot. One Reel, get on that. We needz it.