Bumbershoot, Day One

We saw some fabulous shows yesterday. In fact, I'd say yesterday was perhaps the most consistently entertaining day of Bumbershoot I've ever experienced.

My sister and I arrived around 1:45 and decided to make our way to the comedy theater, where we waited in line for a bit and caught Mike Birbiglia and Patton Oswalt, both of whom cracked our shit up. Apparently Oswalt is a regular on The King of Queens, which, as a sitcom on, what, CBS? is a show I've never watched and don't imagine is very funny. Sitcoms typically aren't to me. But this guy doing standup was quite funny.

Then we wandered over to the EMP Sky Church and saw the Decemberists, which we enjoyed. We waited around afterwards for Kevin to show up (he was late) and for the Dub Narcotic Sound System to begin. This was the third time I've seen them, and it was probably the most fun. Both other times were at the historic Capitol Theater in downtown Olympia, of course, which is much larger and since we were in front this time, relatively less intimate and experience. So, anyway, Calvin Johnson did his crazy dances and we danced as much as we could for being in the middle of a tight crowd, pushed up against a barrier, and wearing backpacks. The drummer (Heather, I think is her name) sang a couple songs and brought a little Gold Pass-wearing kid onstage to play maracas for one of them. He was very, very confused about how to do all this and just followed her around, occasionally shaking the maraca. Hee.

"Ashcroft is an ass, Rumsfeld is a liar, Cheney is a heartless corpse, and Bush is being pimped. There's no escaping it."

Kevin appeared as the crowd dispersed and wanted to see Quasi. We all had the necessary wristbands, but I wanted to go wait in line for the Stranger's Pizzazz! talent show, which started in an hour. I really like Quasi, don't get me wrong; the stadium is just not an ideal venue for anyone, much less a band I've seen before and will surely see again on a much smaller stage. However, I needed to eat, so I compromised. I listened to about 15 minutes of Quasi before taking off.

I grabbed a seat in the theater on the aisle behind the row of judges around 6:40 and hoped the other two would get here in time. It was a full house. David Schmader was wearing a vintage lime green tux. The acts were mostly great fun to watch--a one-man band played a great song with his banjo; a girl hula-hooped like I've never seen anyone hula-hoop short of perhaps some scenes in The Hudsucker Proxy; a family physician did the most amazing bellydance; a girl covered Johnny Thunders' "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory" on marimba; one goofball did a weird thing where he wore giant Mickey Mouse gloves and carried a hot dog bun. He rapped a little ditty that told the story of the four-fingered man and his hot dog bun, with the chorus of: "Four-fingered man--hot dog bun!"

The marimba player got third place. Second place was a guy with a huge afro wig and gold suit who did an impressive lip sync routine. First place went to the Opera Diva, who wore an awesome costume and sang a ridiculous opera about the man who left her and monogrammed towels and stuff. It was in Italian with the translation appearing on a screen above her. It was a nice performance all around.

So, after all this genuinely pleasant time, something had to give.

I was tired as hell. I couldn't find the 74 bus stop to go back to the University District. We walked all over creation. I was very cranky. My sister was cranky at me. When we finally found it, we waited forever and nothing came. I know it runs that late--this was around 10pm--but we could find no posted schedules. My sister apologized for her earlier crankiness, then, only minutes later, got mad and tried to stop my not-directed-at-her-in-any-way ranting--not a good idea, but one she tries anyway--and told me something like: "Why do you think I never want to visit you?"

So I'm not speaking to her right now except to say that she's on her own today.

She's a big girl. She would like to think so, anyway. I'm sure she can figure it out her-fucking-self. I was nothing but nice to her (sans inevitable crankiness when buses are nowhere to be found) and she says that to me.

May today be better. I am going to some shows on my own--Dead Science, Minus the Bear, Kinski, whatever friends drag me to--and hopefully will actually see some stuff *with* Kevin today instead of just somewhere in the same theater.