Bumbershoot starts off Saturday with arguably the best all-around lineup of artists and performers at the three-day festival. For what it’s worth, the weather is supposed to be decent, but there aren’t any guarantees. The forecast isn’t totally inspiring, but we’ll take anything short of an outright downpour as a win. As an all-knowing, all-seeing hivemind, Seattlest has your Bumbershoot recommendations handled. If you're going to brave the crowds, bathroom lines, and ever-present corporate tents,......

With this year's Bumbershoot nearly upon us, let's continue to hope that the weekend weather keeps looking good. If you don't have tickets yet, stop by your local Starbucks to avoid the lines and fees at the gates. Check out a few more tips (bring water and a jacket! take the bus! wear sunscreen! call your mother!) at the Bumbershoot site. While there's plenty of music acts to see (and to harass by requesting......

The horsemen of change are upon us! Yesterday the City Council approved a $567 million master plan to transform Seattle Center into more of an open, public park. That means the Fun Forest is out when their lease ends January 2010. The master plan proposes to replace the pay-to-play carnival with a skating rink, sculptural jungle gym, and something called a splash fountain. Of course, no specific funding mechanisms have been established in okaying the......

This morning we went on a MOHAI-hosted walking tour of Seattle Center. And we remembered to bring our camera. The Center is hopping this weekend, with KEXP's Concerts at the Mural, and BrasilFest on Sunday, from noon to 8 p.m. All the capoeira and samba you can shake stick at. Then on Monday, the City Council votes on funding for the Century 21 Master Plan that will determine the look and use of the Center......

Tonight, everybody's favorite local chanteuse Jesse Sykes plays a free KEXP show at Seattle Center's Mural Ampitheater, featuring music from her new EP Gentleness of Nothing. (Tomorrow night, Rocky Votolato plays the Mural.) Tomorrow, the Mountain's Music Festival at Marymoor with Brandi Carlile, Jackie Greene, and Train's Pat Monahan. The less said about the latter, the better. Here's our gal Brandi performing "The Story," her Grey's Anatomy Soundtrack hit: And Seattlest's old friend Steve Winwood......

Getting your body tattooed is an intense, often bloody process. Even if you have a high tolerance for pain (and there is much pain involved), the philosophical fact remains that you are announcing ownership of your own body to do with what you want: your skin, your chosen image, your hours of mild-to-moderate intentional suffering. Your tribal arm-band. At the Tattoo Expo, we saw dozens of people sitting for tattoos. They winced, they writhed, but......

photo of Vince Mira, courtesy of Lucky Rebel/Can Can Productions When we first heard that local Johnny Cash impersonator extraordinaire Vince Mira would be performing on the music stage at Seattle Tattoo Expo this weekend, our reaction was: "Isn't he too young to even have a tattoo?" Mira recently granted us a few minutes on the phone to answer this and all the other questions we had. "I don’t have any tattoos," he told Seattlest,......

GEORGETOWN SMELLS LIKE ART When the creativity faucet is on full blast, it can get tricky to turn it off--so these 25 local artists aren't even going to try. Instead, they have signed up to participate in a 24-hour art marathon in a beautiful old building in Georgetown, presented to the general public by CoCA for the 16th year in a row. By the time you read this, the marathon will have commenced; there are......

"Negotiations In Unusual Circumstances" by Taylor Hain We love photos that suggest stories, and this one does a great job of that. And when you're done completing the narrative in your head, move on to more true tales from the Seattlest Flickr pool.......

Neumo's was humid as a swamp, and crowded with Rocky Votolato fans who sang along under their breath to every song, from the trim blonde woman in the black slacks and black summer-weight jacket, chunky blonde leather bag slung over her shoulder, to the greasy dark-haired guy in beat-up jeans, with sleeve tattoos. "It's good to be home!" announced Rocky, and then laughed post-ironically. After an 8-month European tour, he's back in Seattle for a......

Photo of actor Jaime Roberts by 14/48 photographer Deb Fialkow If you avoided Seattle Center last weekend because of Bite of Seattle crowds, you'll want to make the trip this Saturday or Sunday for weekend two of 14/48: The World's Quickest Theatre Festival. 14/48 premieres 14 brand new plays. Plays are written, rehearsed, and scored by a live band, all within a mere 48 hours. The choices you see tend to be big, bold,......

The new $500 million headquarters for The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation broke ground today on lower Queen Anne. The foundation headquarters take up an entire city block, across the street from the Seattle Center and his Microsoft buddy Paul Allen's pet project, the EMP. The planned campus will be 90,000 square feet and include offices for 1,200 employees as well as an interactive museum. Sadly there is no word if there will be a......

FOOD ORGY: Get thee to the Seattle Center this weekend for the annual Bite of Seattle. Over a hundred booths, multiple beer gardens, cooking demos, live entertainment... all in the name of of good, local eating? Sounds like a great weekend event to us! Take advantage of the Just A Bite area, offering mini versions of local restaurant specialties for $3.75 a serving. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri & Sat; 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun // Seattle......

TODAY IS WORLD REFUGEE DAY! The International Rescue Committee is hosting a benefit night of poetry, music, dance and crafts from our local refugee community at the Seattle Center, and John Hilde's Made In China (a documentary about his father's childhood in pre-WWII China) is screening at the NWFF with proceeds going to Mercy Corps' work in the devastated Sichuan province of China. Be a good neighbor and enjoy these artsy celebrations of diversity and......

"Bona Fide, Electrified, Monorail Station" by Seattlest Flickr contributor David Hogan Engineers will be filling the easily-laughed-at but fiercely-protected monorail with kegs. A keg party on the monorail--sounds promising or at the very least, nauseating. Getting drunk on a monorail that goes nowhere--it could be the hippest new theme bar or some tragic Seattle metaphor. Sadly, it is neither. The kegs will be filled with water, not fine local microbrews, and will be used to......

One of the highlights of this past weekend was heading down to the Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show, held at Seattle Center. For an entrance fee, attendants got free access to over a hundred games, mostly pinball, with a few video games mixed in. It was a great way to kill a few hours, and to even learn something, with seminars featuring Steve Wiebe of the documentary King of Kong, and pinball designer legend......

This is the Folklife we remember fondly. Photo by Seattlest Flickr contributor pdgibson The ever-dangerous folk music festival scene strikes again! While we were enjoying Sasquatch and the teeming crowds of drunks it brings, there was apparently a shooting at the peace-and-love-in that is the Folklife Festival. The most intense thing at the Folklife that we knew and loved were over-enthusiastic marimba players and drum circles. Apparently, times have changed. Three people were injured on......

OPERATION BRIGHT PINK FLAMINGO: If you were at Myrtle Edwards Park last weekend, you may have noticed a city-approved flock of plastic flamingos hanging out on the lawns. Lest you prematurely begin the spiral into "WTF, can't we just have normal public art," let us inform you that the flamingos were only visiting to remind everyone that real Chilean flamingos are available as of tomorrow to gawk at over in the Woodland Park Zoo.......

After over 45 years as Seattle's most visible man-made icon, the Space Needle is in dire need of a bath. Turns out the Needle has not had a serious cleaning since 1962, when it was introduced to the world as Seattle's symbol, during the World's Fair. The much-needed bath began yesterday, at the hands of a German company which promises a "green clean" of the icon. Karcher has also been tasked with cleaning some......

"Seattle Center in Miniature" by rgeorgi This and other weird/wonderful toy versions of our world can be found in our weird/wonderful Seattlest Flickr Pool.......

MUSIC: If you're not taking the ferry Friday night to Bremerton's Admiral Theatre to catch Death Cab for Cutie (we understand if you're not, it's a real schlep) and if you don't have tickets to Blitzen Trapper/Fleet Foxes at Neumo's (it's sold out), then my god, what the hell were you planning on doing? How about a trip up to Everett for the Everett Symphony's Tribute to Burt Bacharach. (We agree, Mrs. Hendy, he......

Lower Queen Anne is dead to us. And we like Lower Queen Anne, we do: Many's the night we've whiled away down at Solo chatting up Kultur Shock's Val behind the bar, or closing out the Great Nabob with co-workers. But last night, it became clear that they no longer want us to visit. Because for reasons we don't quite understand, there is no longer any parking in Lower Queen Anne. And not just street......

Last night, Bumbershoot announced the first set of acts slated for this year's festival. So far, there's a name or two that could draw us to Seattle Center this Labor Day weekend. Beck? Hell yes! A reunited Stone Temple Pilots? Not so much. Beck / Stone Temple Pilots / Lucinda Williams / Neko Case / Ingrid Michaelson / Jakob Dylan / Del Tha Funky Homosapien / !!! / Lee "Scratch" Perry / Saul Williams......

ALL-STAR PANEL: The Hugo House 2007-2008 Literary Series presents "Answered Prayers and Other Tragedies," a colloquium with authors Sherman Alexie and Michelle Tea, the Stranger's man-about-town David Schmader, and musician Sean Nelson. All are responding artistically to the question, "Is the only real tragedy getting what you want?" Ben Blum, the winner of the Hugo House New Works Competition, will also be there, wondering if this is what he really wanted. Friday, 7:30pm //......

Right on the heels of a weekend of crazy barleywine drinking comes another extravaganza of beer: The 9th Annual Washington Cask Beer Festival. Before we even get into it, we heard last night that the early session sold out and, after checking online, the late session seems to be sold out, as well. Your best bet is to try calling these select ticket outlets to see if they have any left; some of them......

It's L Ron Hubbard's birthday today. If you're looking for an opportunity and excuse to celebrate, look no further. Remember Anonymous? Those Scientology protests they did just a couple of weeks ago? Well, they're back and you, too, can join in today.......

Stretchy horse by Espressobuzz This captures the simultaneous childhood glee and twisted carny feeling of the circus world, but it's just down the street at Seattle Center. Want shots like this? Find out how from the man behind the Noblex cam, then drop your own in our Flickr pool, won't you?......

MUSIC: If you're not heading to the Gutter Twins, maybe try another direction. Almost exactly two years ago, we went to hear Trespassers William and their psychedelic folk pop. Said Audrey, "with the band's varied instrumentation and singer Anna-Lynne Williams' steady, hollow voice, their sound is haunting and hypnotic." The question is, have they found a hook to hang a song on? You make the call--check out one of their newest songs on the......

Image Courtesy of the dualy talented, Jay Cox of The Sea Navy and Our Seattlest Flickr Pool Long spoken of and rarely acted upon, the renovation and remodeling of The Seattle Center was again on the docket for Monday's City Council meeting. Center officials presented a number of new design ideas for the redevelopment of the Center. Central to these are the demolishing of Memorial Stadium and The Fun Forest. Proposed uses for the......

SIFF Cinema's Noir City Festival has a double-feature not many of you have seen before: Moonrise / Night Has a Thousand Eyes. The festival benefits the Film Noir Foundation, whose mission is to find and preserve noir titles in danger of being lost or irreparably damaged. Says Noir of the Week: Moonrise was once to be a William Wellman A-list picture with Jimmy Stewart or John Garfield but ended up in the lap of Charles......