Saturday, August 18, 2012

We Heart Bumbershoot

Bumbershoot is America's best festival. That's right. We said it. We are honored to have teamed up with the fine folks at One Reel to curate a Blues Block on the Mural Ampitheater stage on Sunday, Sept. 2, at Seattle's Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. Our stuff: The Harmonica House Party starring the Lee Oskar Orchestra & Magic Dick, the Karen Lovely Band, and the Ty Curtis Band play on the Mural Ampitheater Stage. Among the other great stuff happening at the festival that same day: Tony Bennett, Wanda Jackson & the Dusty 45's, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Ian Hunter, Fruit Bats, Lee Fields & the Expressions, Mudhoney, former Highway 99 resident artist Eldridge Gravy & the Court Supreme; comedy with Fred Armisen, Janeane Garofalo, Brian Posehn, Laff Hole, SketchFest Seattle, and the Vancouver ComedyFest's Illegal Aliens; the writers of Futurama, Seattle Symphony "Untuxed" - and that's just some of the highlights on Sunday, only one of Bumbershoot's three great days of arts and culture. Any Seattle music lover has got to be proud that our fair city hosts one of the nation's handful of first-rate annual music and arts festivals. What separates ours from the rest, among other things, is that Bumbershoot offers a line-up as great as any other but for a fraction of any other major festival's price, with far greater musical diversity, much more expansive non-musical art and culture than the normally gratuitous quota found at most other festivals, including comedy, the 1 Reel Film Festival, theatre including sketch comedy and improv, literary lectures, visual and performing arts and installations, the Youngershoot kids zone which is a family festival within the festival... and... the food & beverage is way better than the standard festival fare you're stuck with elsewhere.
Cheaper than the rest. A line-up with as much star power that's also more interesting and diverse than the rest. More varied food and beverage options than the rest. More family-friendly than the rest. Better than the rest.