Day 1: I Am Nailed to the Hull

OK, I'm now in Seattle, and as previously advertised, will try to upload pictures and account for each day.

What a day. It began two hours after going to sleep, made necessary by having to do all packing the night before due to work, and having to leave the house by 6:30 to make my flight. Who do I see waiting in line for my flight but my friend Laura (and by "friend" I mean someone I went out with twice who was friends with a friend and whom I now see all the time on the Town Lake Trail). The reason this is noteworthy is that she was on my flight for my Montreal vacation at exactly this time last year too. She's coming to Seattle to visit her boyfriend, who lives here. She thought it was strange that I was going on vacation by myself. I had to agree, but at least this way I can do whatever I want whenever I want. Plus, I talk to people enough the other 50 weeks of the year.

After the usual agony trying to get out of the airport (courtesy of Alamo scheduling one counter person to work on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend), I made it into a glorious Seattle day. 72 degrees, very few clouds. What a relief from Austin's weather. I was able to check into the Pan Pacific Hotel early, get changed, and get out to Bumbershoot. Except that it turns out my camera finally died-it won't take pictures at all. All other functions work, except taking pictures.

So I went out to the festival without camera, after making an aborted attempt to buy a new digital camera before going (don't talk to me about phone cameras-I can barely figure out how to change the channel on my hotel room TV) and caught a great set from the Shins. Sort of like some of the more rocking of the early new wave groups, e.g. the Jam. Played a great cover of Breathe by Pink Floyd. Then I left to find another camera shop, went back to the hotel, and got something to eat at Whole Foods. Yes, that's right, my hotel has a Whole Foods in the ground floor of the hotel. I have finally become the yuppie characature I despise. Then back to Bumbershoot with my new camera (and considerably lighter in the wallet). The scene had changed dramatically. During the day, I was the oldest person there that hadn't taken their kids. For a brief moment it occurred to me to wonder how my life got to that point, but I repressed it, which is of course what you should do with all troubling thoughts. Later that afternoon and evening, however, it was a lot more people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Even more kids too. I watched a nearly full set by the Gourds, who are from Austin, as well as some of an interesting set by the Avett Brothers, who have something of a bluegrass/early 70s Dead feel.

Bumbershoot is held in the Seattle Center, which is where the Space Needle and Key Arena are located. More later on differences with other festivals. The main differences are that its smaller scale in terms of presentation and acts, but they still get pretty big crowds (probably owing to the holiday). But as compared to New Orleans Jazz Fest, the food is appalling (like your local county fair, or Dickens on the Strand). Again, what happened to me that I can actually be a "festival snob"? Highlights for tomorrow include Michael Ian Black, of the State comedy troupe (you'd know him if you saw him), Holmes Brothers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Fred Armisen of SNL (lots of comedy acts at Bumbershoot). Hopefully the weather will hold.

My 43 year old back was really hurting by around 8:30, so I decided to skip the rest of the evening acts, and was going to go to one of the last Cineramas to watch Superbad, but ultimately concluded I needed to get some sleep. Cinerama was a special process for showing movies in the 1950s, probably best described as the Imax of its day. It used three cameras to show a movie on a huge screen. They were expensive to run, so most of the Cineramas were demolished, but Paul Allen bought and renovated this one, so I'm looking forward to going, probably tomorrow night.

The hotel is really nice. Its a Japanese theme, complete with rolling walls separating the bathroom and bedroom. VERY comfortable bed.

I'm stumped trying to figure out the pictures and uploading them. Need to get some sleep. I'll try again tomorrow.

How about Appalachian State over Michigan! Don't forget, when the weather is COLD, COLD, COLD, Appalachian is HOT, HOT, HOT!