![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Vienna Teng and Bumbershoot
Brief notes from my Bumbershoot-going last Sunday. It's actually the first time I've been; there were annoying music-festival happenings, but it was actually less crazy than Folklife and I didn't feel too put upon by the masses of people.
AXIS Dance Company
My first event was of course where the festival nature of Bumbershoot was most annoying. When something's in an actual theater with seats, it's just not as appropriate to wander in and out by climbing over people. At least people with fussy kids did take them away. The dance pieces were actually "dance theater" so mixed with spoken word and a little singing, and the use of dancers with very different bodies and movement tools was incredibly cool. Some beautiful moments with wheelchairs in particular, and mirroring movements between two women with different limb complements.
I got confused about times and the Broad Street Stage proved difficult to find, so I wandered and got some strawberry shortcake and read a bit.
My wish to see somebody play the EMP Sky Church was satisfied by the Redwood Plan, energetic punk with synths and, okay, the lead singer had me at little black running shorts. Not as catchy as the Fastbacks, but definitely worth watching.
The Bouncing Souls played just afterward and just outside, so I caught a lot of their set as well. Some excellent bits there, but their manner didn't appeal and only a few songs really caught my attention.
I successfully found the Broad Street Stage for Ra Ra Riot, who proved to play sweet indie rock verging on dreamy in places. From my far distant remove they all looked about 14 years old, but that's all right. They had the coolest cello I've ever seen and handled an equipment failure with considerable grace.
Busted out of the confines for dinner at Taco del Mar, since Blue Water was closed. No burritos inside, plus was out of cash.
Returned to find all chairs occupied a good 20 minutes before Vienna Teng Trio started, which is yay in the abstract but in practice meant I got bark splinters in my jeans and thus my hands from sitting on the sidewalk where landscaping bits had been tracked. Hmph. I certainly didn't notice during the show, though.
For once I knew almost every title of every song at a concert! I usually feel like a big fake, but this time I was the huge fan all going eee when the sound check was "Stray Italian Greyhound" on piano. The trio was Vienna, Alex Wong on percussion, and Ward Williams doing other instruments. And evidently Vienna was going to grad school two days after this concert, so she's not likely to be on the road any time soon again. I'm so glad I got to see her! Being in Hawaii last time she came to town would have been far more frustrating if that had been the last time for however long. (Hope she is liking grad school; she didn't say what kind of program.)
Media selling and signing were poorly handled. Only one CD was available, not the newest, and a concert DVD, but you had to buy something to get a wristband. Wristbands were privileged in line above, say, being an actual fan who already owned both of these things. I am the lady who was "well pissed off" and told the f.y.e. booth people that they needed better signage at least, and took off. :P Apparently everyone did get a chance to see and talk to the performers, but I'd have had to wait til the very end, grr.
Anyway, a brilliant concert and a fine day.
AXIS Dance Company
My first event was of course where the festival nature of Bumbershoot was most annoying. When something's in an actual theater with seats, it's just not as appropriate to wander in and out by climbing over people. At least people with fussy kids did take them away. The dance pieces were actually "dance theater" so mixed with spoken word and a little singing, and the use of dancers with very different bodies and movement tools was incredibly cool. Some beautiful moments with wheelchairs in particular, and mirroring movements between two women with different limb complements.
I got confused about times and the Broad Street Stage proved difficult to find, so I wandered and got some strawberry shortcake and read a bit.
My wish to see somebody play the EMP Sky Church was satisfied by the Redwood Plan, energetic punk with synths and, okay, the lead singer had me at little black running shorts. Not as catchy as the Fastbacks, but definitely worth watching.
The Bouncing Souls played just afterward and just outside, so I caught a lot of their set as well. Some excellent bits there, but their manner didn't appeal and only a few songs really caught my attention.
I successfully found the Broad Street Stage for Ra Ra Riot, who proved to play sweet indie rock verging on dreamy in places. From my far distant remove they all looked about 14 years old, but that's all right. They had the coolest cello I've ever seen and handled an equipment failure with considerable grace.
Busted out of the confines for dinner at Taco del Mar, since Blue Water was closed. No burritos inside, plus was out of cash.
Returned to find all chairs occupied a good 20 minutes before Vienna Teng Trio started, which is yay in the abstract but in practice meant I got bark splinters in my jeans and thus my hands from sitting on the sidewalk where landscaping bits had been tracked. Hmph. I certainly didn't notice during the show, though.
For once I knew almost every title of every song at a concert! I usually feel like a big fake, but this time I was the huge fan all going eee when the sound check was "Stray Italian Greyhound" on piano. The trio was Vienna, Alex Wong on percussion, and Ward Williams doing other instruments. And evidently Vienna was going to grad school two days after this concert, so she's not likely to be on the road any time soon again. I'm so glad I got to see her! Being in Hawaii last time she came to town would have been far more frustrating if that had been the last time for however long. (Hope she is liking grad school; she didn't say what kind of program.)
- She led with "Augustine" -- maybe not the best choice, as it was not the clarion gorgeousness it usually achieves.
- "Whatever You Want"
- A crazy, zingy arrangement of "Gravity" with heavenly looping, wow.
- "Blue Caravan" with audience participation: keys jingling, patting knees for rain, whistling winds.
- My next note reads: "Antebellum WITH US" -- this was the best thing ever. She said when she played this one alone she had the audience sing Alex's part, and it was great, so she kept it even with him there. BUT, if we knew her part or picked it up during the song and "felt ambitious" we could sing that instead. Ha, I keep this album in the confocal room, I can sing the hell out of that. And I did, well enough that my neighbor turned to me and said "good!" So happy!
- Next was one of Alex's songs with Vienna on glockenspiel, "Brooklyn Blurs" -- very nice.
- "One Bedroom One Bath"
- "The Tower"
- "Stray Italian Greyhound" was, it turns out, a piano exercise originally, which may explain its sound-check nature. It was a little chilly by then, and Vienna expressed trepidation, but she played it beautifully. She described it as a happy song, which is interesting considering what it means to me.
- "No Gringo" with clapping as requested to cover her subpar Spanish.
- "Radio" with more nice looping. Embarrassing moment of realization that it's a 9/11 song.
- Proposal between audience members. Cute because she said they both wrote to her independently. "Harbor" for them.
- "Grandmother Song" with not only clapping but heckling! She asked that we express our opinions on verious parts of the song, so of course we all booed "you're still gonna need a man" plentifully. I may have been the only one yelling approvingly over "all the good boys/ baby they're in grad school" though.
Media selling and signing were poorly handled. Only one CD was available, not the newest, and a concert DVD, but you had to buy something to get a wristband. Wristbands were privileged in line above, say, being an actual fan who already owned both of these things. I am the lady who was "well pissed off" and told the f.y.e. booth people that they needed better signage at least, and took off. :P Apparently everyone did get a chance to see and talk to the performers, but I'd have had to wait til the very end, grr.
Anyway, a brilliant concert and a fine day.