"Seattle is a great town, no doubt," writes singer/songwriter/subversive non-quite-cowpunk Kathleen Edwards, from somewhere inside the mobile "small and smelly bubble" recording artists call home. "I love the community of chefs, storeowners, winemakers, artists, the Long Winters, and of course, Rainn Wilson." (Of course, Rainn Wilson hasn't lived around here for some time. But forget it, she's rolling.)
Kathleen Edwards' Sunday, Aug. 31, set at Bumbershoot should invite listeners to ponder the various lines between rock, pop, country, and blues, as she regales with tales of woe, withering, stress and resilience.
"For some reason I connect with people in hard times," she explained. "I love photographs from the Great Depression, stories of hardship, poverty, injustice because they inspire me to feel something real about the hardness of life. How someone survives their own battles is what I love about a person's character and I love channeling the spirit of that in songs."
Not as apocalyptic as Johnny Cash, (but then again after Johnny Cash, who needs to be that apocalyptic?), Edwards keeps a human scale on her hardship tales. Listen carefully, at times, and you'll catch the delicate fluting of transcendence.
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Lee "Scratch" Perry, who also performs on Sunday, Aug. 31, may seem at first to have some odd ideas about the state of the world, its leaders, policies, conspiracies and metaphysics. But all of this makes perfect sense once you realize that Lee "Scratch" Perry does not, in point of fact, live in the same world most of us call home.
This doesn't prevent him from seeing through certain situations with a sharpshooter's gaze. Upon setting eyes on legendary music scribe Lester Bangs for the first time, Perry, who was resting in his native Jamaica - the land of ganja, after all - looked Bangs over and said, "You wine man. I know wine man." Catch his set and see if any parts of you become transparent.
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Arthur & Yu aren't so frightening. But they'll make you feel right at home. In your living room, assuming, that is, that your living room contains walls (or gigabytes) of only the finest pop music recorded between 1966 and 1976, plus a cellist who pops in and out of existence. Sounds like a fine place to be by me. They play on the evening of Monday, Sept. 1.
On Monday afternoon, author William Gibson takes the stage, with Eileen Gunn and John Osebold in supporting. William Gibson more or less invented the 21st century. No, really. He had to wait awhile for people to realize he'd done that, but he did. His latest book is called "Spook Country." I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was inventing the 23rd century by now.
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Consider Daniel Clowes, Adrian Tomine and Ivan Brunetti on the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 31. Daniel Clowes did not invent the 21st century, but he did reinvent the graphic novel. That was before he got his Oscar nomination for writing a script from the graphic novel "Ghost World."
Mr. Tomine recently produced "Shortcomings," which doesn't eclipse "Ghost World" but applies the same intricacy, wit and sadness to sexual relationships which Clowes previously applied to friendship.
Ivan Brunetti, now he's just all over the place. He has to be seen to be believed. You may want to wear a catcher's mask. Or some kendo armor.
The artists are looking forward to the festival.
"Bumbershoot is the kind of festival where I don't have to be more rock or more folk to fit in," said Edwards.
Indeed, we all hope it continues to be the kind of festival where we can all fit in assuming we can find some room.
"The only way Seattle could improve," she said, "is if it moved to Canada so I could visit it more regularly without having my lengthy criminal record examined at the border through the use of a latex glove. That doesn't make any sense."
The 38rd annual Bumbershoot performing arts festival takes place from Saturday, Aug. 30, to Monday, Sept. 1, at the Seattle Center. For more information and a complete schedule, go to www.bumbershoot.org.
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