Idolator

It was 2:30 p.m. Keyshia Cole was supposed to go on a half-hour before, and the booing was getting louder. Behind me in the far stands, a couple was talking. He: "She has a new album out Sept. 25." She: "I have the feeling if I bought it, it wouldn't start for 20 minutes." More »

I've been a pretty unabashed fan of the Seattle music and arts festival Bumbershoot, which has occurred every Labor Day weekend since 1971 since I first heard of it, with the caveat that I first heard of it under rather good circumstances. An old roommate had told me about it in 1994, but I'd forgotten all about it until the August 1996 road trip I wrote about here, I defected, via Greyhound, to Seattle from the group's intended San Francisco, and I wound up at the Green Tortoise, a rooming house near Seattle Center, where Bumbershoot was underway. I went to the gate, paid my fee, and caught good sets by Ani DiFranco, Los Lobos, and the Sex Pistols without realizing I could see any of them before arriving at the hostel. (I also saw a superb Elvis Costello show—a separate ticket—that weekend, his final-ever with the Attractions.) If I have an unusually rosy view of Seattle, it was installed that day. More »