5 posts tagged “sasquatch music festival”

Not much happened this weekend. We had a full weekend.

Saturday was Sasquatch. It was both hot and then quite chilly, depending on the time of the day. The drive home was pretty tough because while I was wired a bit on caffeine, my body still would rather be sleeping. But we made it back in one piece.  I took some photos, almost none of which turned out that great. That's par for the course, though. The music was pretty darn good. The artists I saw:

• Mix Master Mike - He started things out with a short DJ set that was pretty good.  We probably didn't have to get there as early as we did, but it was cool to see him do a set.
• Saturday Knights - A local hip-hop/rock type group, they were actually better than I thought they would be based on their description. The mainstage acts need to fill the space, and they seemed to deliver.
• The Hold Steady - I have heard a lot of their songs hear and there, but I haven't sought them out. They put on a solid set and I was entertained.
• Two Gallants - I only caught about half of their set, but I liked what I heard for the most part. Not necessarily my thing, but they are definitely a talented duo (with a talented friend joining them for the set).
• Mirah - The sound mix wasn't very good, and I could hardly hear her vocals. From what I understand, it's the vocals that are a major reason to hear her, so I gave up after a handful of songs.
• Neko Case - Hey, I love to see Neko perform. Unfortunately, her setlist doesn't seem to vary anymore. I've seen her three or four times in the last three years, and every time she's done pretty much the same songs. This lack of surprise in her act is really disappointing; I could just watch her Austin City Limits DVD over and over again if I didn't want variety.
• Visqueen - I've never taken the time to look into this band, and now I'm a little bummed I didn't discover them earlier. Luckily, they're apparently working on a new album and still performing, so I should get more chances to hear them play.
• The Long Winters - I was looking forward to hearing the MIA M.I.A., but I do like the Long Winters so they were a welcome substitution as far as I was concerned.
• Manu Chao - is a big fan and I'm somewhat less so, but he was pretty darn good live. He had the crowd really into it, too. The unfortunate thing was that he played way past the proper end of his set, saying "Thank you, Sasquatch" about 5 times before finally leaving the stage.
• The Arcade Fire - This performance was incredible. They have so much damned energy and passion when they perform. Maybe the emotions are a bit manufactured, I dunno, but the music was great as always.
• Björk - This was pretty late when she finally took the stage, so we ended up staying for only about five or six songs. She wore a dress that resembled a mop (observed Elizabeth) and had a brass band dressed in brightly colored mu'umu'us. She played "Earth Intruders" and played "All Is Full of Love" right before we took off. Apparently, the set got even better later once the brass band really started being used in the songs. However, I was very glad to be back on the road sooner rather than later.

Gorge Amphitheatre panorama

On Sunday, SIFF started for us. I saw probably two of my favorite movies of the festival on Sunday: In the Shadow of the Moon and King of Kong. Both were good for different reasons. When King of Kong comes out in theatres, you really need to see it. It has some of the best documentary characters (the best villain, especially) that I've seen.  Today, we saw Doubletime, an excellent documentary about competitive jump-roping and double-dutch teams, and Battle of Wits, an epic about generals and kingdoms in ancient China. This last film was a bit hard for me to follow in parts, but that may have been the fatigue finally setting in.

This week, I go into the office to do some training, and I take a few days' break from SIFF. Starting Friday, it begins again. 

We finally bought our tickets for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) last night.  We're seeing a lot of movies.  I'll bet Elizabeth is not looking forward to May 31-June 8 when she's seeing one or more movies per day. For me, it's next weekend when I see 5 movies in two days.

See our full schedule in my LJ.

We've got a lot going on. Tonight, Elizabeth's going out to see a non-SIFF movie with a friend, while I prepare for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we get up too early to drive 160+ miles to the Gorge. We bake in the sun and hear some good bands, and then we drive back after the show. I see a movie at 1:45 the next day, so I won't be able to sleep too much. SIFF takes over for a while. And next week, I also have to drive to work Tuesday through Thursday for some in-office training.

Also, I'm looking at a rental house at 11 a.m. today and another at 5 p.m. And if Elizabeth has trouble picking up the tickets tonight, I may have to run down to Pacific Place before the box office closes at 7. Whew.

On Saturday, I did another Flickr photostroll with the Seattle Flickr Meetup.com group, and it was a pretty good time. This time, I stayed a little (OK, a lot) later, and I got a few OK night shots as a result. See the photoset here.

Escape

On Saturday, I did another Flickr photostroll with the Seattle Flickr Meetup.com group, and it was a pretty good time. This time, I stayed a little (OK, a lot) later, and I got a few OK night shots as a result. See the photoset here.

Other than that, it was a pretty forgettable weekend. Coming up is SIFF (we need to buy some tickets before I can post our line-up) and the Sasquatch Music Festival on Saturday (Björk, The Arcade Fire, Neko Case, a bunch of other folks). 

It's sort of been a slow period for music, personally, or rather live music. I feel like I've bought a decent amount of new CDs in the past couple of months. Anyway, this is slated to change real soon. Coming up:

April 27 - Grand Archives (Crocodile) - These guys juuuust changed their name (from Archives), have played just one show, and there's already a backlash brewing over their hype. Thanks, Pitchfork. But I like how their four-song demo sounds, I like their pedigree (ex-Band of Horses/ex-Carissa's Wierd Mat Brooke is involved), and damn it I'm going to try to go to one of their shows before they get too popular and I either can't afford to see 'em or don't want to stand through a crowded show. I'm going to try to get a ticket at Sonic Boom tonight.

May 10 - Nickel Creek (McCaw Hall) - I wasn't planning on going, but it's their last show (for now) here, probably, right? So maybe I will.

May 11 - The Posies [acoustic] (Triple Door) - It's sort of a weird venue for them, but acoustic is pretty intimate and I'll bet they'll sound great. I wish my friend Chris (now in D.C.) were still in town to see this with me.

*May 26 - Sasquatch Festival Day One {Björk, The Arcade Fire, Beastie Boys (instrumental), Manu Chao, Neko Case, The Hold Steady, and others} (The Gorge Amphitheater) - I'm really hoping that the weather is a happy medium from a couple of years ago (too hot) and last year (freak hailstorm), because this is a great lineup. And they better let me bring in my decidedly not professional camera, as per the rules. I'm going to print them out so I can bring mine in with me. We're driving back after the show and not camping, because it's not worth the trouble and in the middle of SIFF anyway.

June 9 - The Wrens (Crocodile) - It will be awesome to see them again.

In other music news, it was cool to hear that the New Pornographers are finishing up their next album and expect to release it sometime this summer. I am looking forward to it.

As for the last few days, we met up with Elizabeth's old friend/pen pal Brian, who was in town visiting friends, and had sushi at Mashiko on Saturday night. Mmm! Saturday, we also did a bunch of trimming, digging, and hauling dirt around the yard, despite the drizzly weather. Also, my parents have been out of town, so I made a few trips to feed the cat/give her medicine. We never got around to seeing any movies this weekend, but that's OK.

Geez, the one time I went, it was kinda miserable, but this year's line-up at Sasquatch almost makes me want to go. If we just did Saturday: Björk, The Arcade Fire, Manu Chao, Neko Case. That's worth it right there. Sunday's not so much of a draw, with "only" the Beastie Boys, Spoon, Mirah, and Jesse Sykes really catching my fancy.

On the wedding front, we may have settled on a photographer. We're getting a good deal, so we can save that money for the food. Which we need to arrange very soon! It's still 6 months away. I have to remember that