Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up in here and the excitement of it hasn’t worn off yet, but I love Bumbershoot. We have purchased 3-day passes for the last 3 years… I always find new music to add to my library, which makes it especially worthwhile. I also just love being outside, eating fair food, checking out the vendors… I could do without the 50,000 extra friends around me, but for the most part people are pretty pleasant.

(If we didn’t go to Bumbershoot we’d end up hearing it anyway, as the sound travels all the way up to Capital Hill.)

So back to the fair food… This year we knew Bumbershoot was going to take us over our Food Stamp Challenge budget, but we didn’t want to just dump the idea altogether. So we bought food at QFC to take to the shows yesterday, and it worked out really well. We spent about $15 on enough cheese, crackers, bread, salami, grapes and carrots to have for lunch and dinner. (Plus we shared with our friends Casey and Christine!) I figured this is pretty good considering a hot dog alone probably cost $5. I didn’t buy an elephant ear too, so the day was much healthier because of that. We did partake of the beer gardens, however…

Saturday’s Shows

Crowded House
Didn’t know them from the 80’s, but liked whatever they were playing yesterday.

The Shins
I like two of their songs. After I heard them both, I left.

The Moth: Sex, Drugs and Rock N’ Roll
With Dan Savage! Loved seeing him in person.

Aqueduct
Generic band we heard while drinking beer.

Rodrigo y Gabriela
Totally packed house… crazy guitarists from Mexico. We left because we couldn’t hear very well, but I will definitely look them up later.

Gogol Bordello
Went specifically to compare their “gypsy punk” style to that of DeVotchka, who I love. These guys were completely different in my mind… much punk-ier. But really energetic and I would have stayed if DeVotchka didn’t overlap.

DeVotchka
So much fun to see in person!