Bumbershoot is a legend among US festivals. They’ve been throwing the music and arts festival in downtown Seattle for almost 40 years and they do a great job bringing in a diverse mix of music, comedy, arts, food, and even the poster show, Flatstock. The only downside to the festival is that it takes place in Seattle Center where the Space Needle and Experience Music Project are so there’s an extremely limited amount of space for anything, including an ice cream truck.
Even though this is the most out-of-the-way parking space we have of any festival we do I still like doing it because people are so happy we’re there making the rounds with our shoulder sling cooler and I think the festival is great because it’s centrally located, community focused, fun for the whole family and not too expensive.
The drive from San Francisco was a bit lengthy but we got most of it over the first day when we drove to Corvallis to hang out with Knife and Jackie. The next day we took a nice break in the afternoon and played some disc golf before floating down the Willamette River. Portland was our next stop and I finally got to do some touristy stuff like visit the Rose Test and Japanese Gardens and stop by The Portland Art Museum which is on the largest in the country. We just got the tail end of the MC Escher exhibit which was impressive for it’s size and scope.
On the way out of town we stopped at one of my favorite ice cream wholesalers, Portland Ice Cream Company. They’ve got a great mix of product and even carry some of our favorite fruit bars, Fruitiki. We had hoped to pick up some Cherry Garcia pops to add to our selection since Ben & Jerry’s had been donating some ice cream but they were sold out. It took forever to get everything we ordered crammed into the freezers and I knew we had ordered way too many fruit bars for the wet and cool weather that was ahead of us.
Once we got to Seattle we went straight to EMP for Bumberschmooze. Knife and I stopped by last year and thoroughly enjoyed the open bar and appetizers so it was definitely worth a trip back. Ninkasi Brewery from Eugene, OR donated some kegs and the ice cream truck was parked at the hotel so we enjoyed catching up some friends, checking out the gift bags and watching some Skinny Puppy.
The festival runs from Saturday through Monday because of the Labor Day weekend holiday. It always throws me for a bit of a loop because most three-day fests start on Friday. We rolled into the same area where we normally park and one of the buildings had been torn down to make way for a skate park which I was happy about. Too bad the it was wet most of the weekend and I only got to rock the roller skates in there a couple times.
Because we’re in a production area away from the stages we only get a limited amount of traffic. To give away the numbers that we need and want to we have to fill up the cooler bags and make rounds around the festival. As soon as Dustin arrived he headed out to sling some cream. We tried to get out a lot but kept getting site tracked by wanting to film and see bands and eat and drink and all those other fun things. Michael from Telekinesis stopped by and we headed to the waterfront to shoot a song in front of a large chrome tree. Later that night we got to see Os Mutantes full set and De La Soul which made for a good, yet unusual pairing.
On Sunday we woke up to a downpour and were worried we’d lose the whole day. Miraculously the skies cleared around 1:00 and things slowly dried up to make it a decent day for rock n’ roll. Dyme Def stopped by after their set to perform “Not That Dude” and also to freestyle some ice cream raps. Wayne was smiling the whole time while filming which often makes for a good take. Late that night we headed over to watch Helio Sequence and to bug them to do a song while we’re in Portland during Music Fest NorthWest. The perfect nightcap was stopping by Shorty’s for a few games of pinball.
The radar map for Monday didn’t look so bad but it wouldn’t stop raining for hours. There was blue sky around but showers persisted til 3 or 4 o’clock. I had been wanting to sling more around the fest but was stuck in the truck while we worked on some plans and waited for it to dry. We did head over to KEXP’s recording studio during the fest and caught up with the DJ’s there and Metric then we closed things out with a wonderfully catchy pop number by Lenka and her band. I had told Metric I’d bring them ice cream after their set but ended up running some crew around town then having an exceptional dinner and Elliot’s Oyster House.
Thanks to everyone at Bumbershoot and One Reel for making the festival possible.
