My Bumbershoot: Just wandering around, waiting to be blown away

By Dave Dederer
The Presidents of the United States of America

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We've asked a bunch of artists to chronicle their Bumbershoot experiences this year. Look for them as part of our festival coverage on seattletimes.com. We're kicking off "My Bumbershoot" with a special essay from local rock hero Dave Dederer, whose Presidents of the United States of America are making a big comeback this year.

You'd have to check the backlog of Bumbershoot lineups for the exact year, but King Sunny Ade came to the festival in the early or mid-1980s. I will never forget that show. It was in the Coliseum (now KeyArena, it will always be the Coliseum to me), and the crowd was the usual diverse mishmash of ages and backgrounds you see at the big headlining shows at Bumbershoot. I had heard him on the radio and just wandered in at the start of the show, curious.

More "My Bumbershoot" Dispatches from artists about their Bumbershoot experience. · Bill Close, Mass Ensemble · Vienna Teng, singer-songwriter · Robyn Hitchcock, musician · Fred Armisen, comedian · Sarah Rudinoff, actress · Joshua Seftel, filmmaker · James Keblas, Vera Project · United State of Electronica · Dave Dederer, The Presidents of the United States of America

I was digging the music — the talking drums and the guitars played so cleanly and with such precision, all the lovely things about West African music. I'm not a huge fan of this sort of stuff, but there in the room with a 20-piece band playing, it was great.

The music was delicious, but what makes that show stick in my mind is that I looked around sometime during the set and noticed that everybody in the building was dancing and smiling. Young and old, hip and square, black and white, punks and rockers and rednecks and suburban families and boho intellectuals ... all swaying to the lilting rhythm and smiling.

That vibe stuck with me. Music at its best for me is what it was in the Coliseum that night: transcendent, beautiful, uplifting, relaxed, communal.

I don't know that I've ever gone to Bumbershoot to see a particular artist, and my approach this year will be the same. I like to go by myself so I can jump from one stage to another at will. And I usually ride my bike, because I don't like to deal with parking. I just start walking around, see what's on the schedule and see where the day leads me.

I can recommend one or two shows this year. I'd like to see Nick Lowe again. He's been great the three or four times I've seen him before, he's got a back catalog of dozens of winning songs, and his last two albums have been super. Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown is not to be missed if you actually want to learn something about American music (and get your ass kicked by some good old-fashioned entertainers). Other than those, I'll just be wandering, looking for those unexpected magic moments like the one I had with King Sunny Ade 20 years ago.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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