Summer in the City

The Best of Bumbershoot 2013: Sunday

Our top picks in music, comedy, and culture for the Labor Day weekend fest.

By Seth Sommerfeld August 28, 2013

Tegan and Sara.

15 Years of Barsuk Records 12pm, KeyArena Mainstage  – As we've said before, over 15 years Barsuk Records has provided a home to some of Seattle's best indie rock and singer-songwriter albums and helped shape the modern perception of indie rock. In many ways, Barsuk was to the indie rock boom of the early 2000s what Sub Pop was to the grunge movement of the '90s. The label helped launch Death Cab for Cutie and provided a home for Seattle artists like the Long Winters and Rocky Votolato. Seattle musical mainstay Sean Nelson hosts a panel where he'll discuss the label's history with Barsuk cofounder Josh Rosenfeld, singer-songwriters John Roderick and David Bazan, and more.

Tegan and Sara 2, Fountain Lawn Stage – Canadian twin sister duo Tegan and Sara took a plunge into unknown waters in 2013. Craving something new, the sisters' latest album, Heartthrob, scrapped their tried and true indie pop rock sound in favor of lush synthpop. The sonic shift has opened up the duo's music to previously unknown audiences (including Taylor Swift's) and started a distinctly new chapter in their career. In Tegan and Sara's case, necessity is the mother of reinvention.

Writing Staff of NBC's Parks and Recreation 6, Words and Ideas Stage (Leo K. Theatre) – One does not simply make Ron Swanson. An iconic character of that mustachioed magnitude requires years of careful crafting. Heading into its sixth season, the writing staff of NBC's sitcom Parks and Recreation have honed Ron and the rest of the Pawnee, Indiana parks department into a comedic powerhouse. Get a peak at their process during this panel discussion.

WTF? Live with Marc Maron 6:45, Bagley Wright Theatre – Neurosis has a podcast; it's called WTF?. Comedian Marc Maron found his calling when he took his introspective, and sometimes abrasive, brand of comedy and turned it into a one-on-one interview show that records in his garage. While the live taping of the podcast eschews the normal intimate format, it gives Maron a chance to wax philosophical with some of Bumbershoot's other star comics.

Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction 6:45, Vera Project – With fan fiction continually growing in popularity, it was only a matter of time before comedians started mining the smutty subgenre for laughs. Former Seattleite Bryan Cook decided to make it a storytelling competition with his Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction podcast. At Bumbershoot, he'll pit ten local comedians against one another for the audience's amusement. Expect appearances by some beloved pop culture characters... doing things that are 100 percent NSFW.

Death Cab for Cutie 9:45, KeyArena Mainstage – On Sunday night, KeyArena will be filled by the sound of thousands of indie rock geeks' hearts squealing with joy. The reason? Death Cab for Cutie headlines Bumbershoot by playing its breakthrough album—Transatlanticism—in its entirety for the first time. On the strength of songs like "Title and Registration," "The Sound of Settling," and "The New Year," the record helped transform the band from a hidden Northwest gem to the mainstream powerhouse it is today. There's joy to be had while singing along with Ben Gibbard's sad songs.

 

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