Bumbershoot

Well, that was fun.  Yesterday, I got to fly across the country in a plane, and then take a light-rail train from Seatac Airport to downtown Seattle, and then take a monorail ride (seriously, a real monorail, a legacy of the 1962 World's Fair) from downtown to Seattle's famous Space Needle (see pic below), and then take a walk through the Bumbershoot grounds to my hotel just a block off of the Seattle Center (see other pic below).

I plan on doing this whole trip without a car, so I get to ride the monorail again in a few days - something to look forward to.  Also, no laptop (traveling light), so any posts that I manage to squeeze out will be composed with my Droid and my iPod.  I apologize in advance for any typos or general incomprehensibility.

Today, I get to hear some music.  If the day goes as planned, I will get to see the band Vetiver again.  Last year, I saw Vetiver perform at a pre-Halloween show at Atlanta's Smith's Olde Bar. They were sandwiched between opener Peter Wolfe Crier and headliner Dawes, and were the only band on the bill that I hadn't heard of, but they still impressed me nevertheless. Since that time, they've released an excellent new album, The Errant Charm, and toured Europe before settling back in their native San Francisco.  Today, they will be entertaining the 50,000-odd "things" at Bumbershoot.

Sweden's Little Dragon also performs today and while I was looking forward to seeing them, I may not get to due to some scheduling conflicts. There are multiple stages with different bands performing simultaneously, and Little Dragon's set overlaps some with Vetiver's. I've been advised to stake out a position at one stage and keep it, rather than run from stage to stage trying to see everybody.  There's a bunch of Seattle bands on the schedule today, including retro-poppers Craft Spells (see video above), as well as Canadian band P.S. I Love You (whom I missed last time they played The Earl). The headliner act today is Minus The Bear  ("There's not a single band I want to see, and I haven't heard of most them," sniffed Sharon Esperanza, a 19-year-old Penn State University student).

Not bad at all for a first day. Yesterday, I had a chance to stalk the festival grounds a little before everything opened, as well as take the elevator up to the 520-feet-above-ground-level viewing deck on the Space Needle, and it looks like I'll probably spend most of my day today at the Fountain Lawn Stage, possibly making occasional forays over to the Fisher Green Stage. Both are outdoor venues, and the forecast for today is sunny and warm.

This should be fun.