Bumbershoot = Awesomeness

Well except for when I kind of accidentaly insulted S.E. Hinton - author of The Outsiders. Crap. I have this total verbal diareahha when I am nervous. After her panel - yes, S.E. Hinton is a woman - she was signing copies of her book. I wanted her to sign mine as "Suzy" as that is what I was called when I read the book - it was back when I was a wee thing... Her name is also Susie - spelt differently - natch.

Anyways she made a coment about how she recognised the name, then I opened my mouth and basically said that I wasn't called Suzy anymore because it wasn't professional. Oh and something about how it would look silly on a business card. F*ck. Why do I even open my mouth. She was one of the most significant authors in my teen years - loved her work, she inspired me to write and read and be creative - and what do I do. I tell her that her name is unprofessional and silly. Awesome. I know she probably doesn't even remember it, but I have a tendency to be over dramatic at times........

David Cross on the left, the funny and amazing Melissa & Emma on the right

Okay - onto the amazingness that was the rest of my Bumbershoot experience. Let us never speak of my faux-pas with S.E. Hinton again. The border waits did not suck in the least - under 30 minutes north and south. Weather was sketchy, with a side of crappy at times, but I prefered the cloud to the blazing sun from Sasquatch or VirginFest. We were staying at the Westin Seattle, which was pretty sweet. Only about a 12 minute walk from the grounds and even better only a 2 minute walk to the Monorail! Considering the occassional torrential downpours in Seattle that was a good thing! Also only a block from Nordstrom - eek! Very very dangerous for me!

Vancity Band - Delhi to Dublin - killed it at Bumbershoot!

Bumbershoot is super family friendly. Tons of kids (and by kids I mean actual children as opposed to teenagers). Lots of old hippies getting their groove on - video below - check it out. Annoyingly there were also masses of teenagers squealing and hugging and OMG'ing all over the place. Ugh. They should have a curfew of 4.00pm. Or the Festival should mandate they have to be escorted by a parent. Because that would make my life. Could you imagine?

We actually did that once to a kid I busted stealing a snowboard at Grouse Mountain. 13 years old. His excuse was he was drunk. Seriously. He was 13. And snowboarding. And drunk. Awesome right? Anyways, his momma came in - mortified - and begged and pleaded and his punishment ended up being that he had to come snowboarding with his parents or his older, and hopefully incrediably bitchy sister until the end of the season. Ha! I personally would have yanked his pass, but I was overruled.

Matt & Kim on the left, Vivian Girls on the right

Anyways, onto the music. And was there ever music. It really does make the people come together ya know? 3 days of music, comedy, film, literary performances. Soo good. Not enough time to see everything you wanted. And because the schedule pretty much sucked balls, hard choices had to be made. And they were very difficult to make. I had to chose between Brett Dennen (music) and David Cross (comedy). David won. Tons of awesome performers, so much music to learn and discover.

I have spent the past few days trying to come up with one highlight. I can't.

Black Eyed Peas Bitches!!!

This is who I saw on the weekend........Katy Perry, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, Matt & Kim, Eric Hutchinson, Sheryl Crow, Cold War Kids, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vivian Girls, Jason Mraz, Delhi 2 Dublin, Black Eyed Peas, Franz Ferdinand, Lenka, Metric & possibly a few others that I have forgotten.... Eeek, there were so many bands!

Cold War Kids & more Curly Fries than is necessary for one sitting - so delicious!

All were good. Standouts were Cold War Kids, Delhi to Dublin, Black Eyed Peas and Metric (who I am seeing again in November - third time this year - eek!). Ohhh, but Eric Hutchinson killed, and Natalie Portman's Shaved Head was a new discovery I made. So fun!

Emma & her bro Andrew freaking over their matching jackets, and Eric Hutchinson on the right

Jason Mraz.... I don't know what it is about him. I just find him so odd. I think it is because he doesn't seem to be an asshole. He seems so nice. Which I automatically recoil in horro from. Any man that does not have the potential to make me feel horrible about myself is not worth a minute of my time. I have said it before, and I will say it until the day i die..... I need just a hint of asshole in my man (more than a hint, I need a hint times a billion). His voice is good enough I guess. But he does this hip swivel thing and he has this lame song called "Good Job" or something equally lame where I think he is pretty much telling his fans how awesome they are because they can wave their hands in the air....... I don't get it.

Jason Mraz telling us to raise our hands and swivel our hips..... ugh. Aussie Cutie Lenka on the right.

I surprisied myself by enjoying Sheryl Crow. Unlike Katy Perry, who was entertaining and peppy and fun, but does not have the strongest voice...... Sheryl, she can sing. And we knew nealry every song. Melissa & planned on just stopping by, but an hour later we were still there. We kept looking at each other saying "I love this song"... ha ha ha it as very funny. Sheryl Crow > Katy Perry. For Now. Katy Perry has potential.

Sheryl Crow

Metric as always was phenomenal. Love her so much. Emily Haines has such a stage presence. Even though we decided that the reason she kept wandering off stage was to do a rail of coke, she held it together and was amazing. She totally reminds me of a younger version of Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeah's - who were also amazing and fabulous...... She is totally and completely bad ass. She deep throated the microphone at one point.

Yeah x3 and Emily Haines from Metric

I love me some good comedy....... so I saw quite a few comedy shows as well: David Cross mother f*ckers (ummm twice cause, he is totally amazing and wonderful and I heart him), Eugene Mirman (twice also, but not on purpose), Wyatt Cynac, Aziz Ansari, Maria Bamford, Doug Benson, other ones I can't recall and didn't write down......

.

David Cross and Wyatt Cynac - Awesome.

Good, good, all were good. Now I will not feel so sad about not being able to go to any of the Canwest Comedy Festival. Cause I got no money.

Bumbershoot was bumber-amazing. I am already thinking about next year...... Yay to Bumber-awesomeness.

XO

PS: Hopefully back to some semblance of a normal posting schedule over the weekend. Keane tomorrow night, so may not have time...... Music = boyfriend.