Seattle Bumbershoot 2008 - Thumbs Up

Bumbershoot rocks!

The annual end of summer music, and arts festival Bumbershoot, offered something for everyone over the labor day long weekend in the Emerald City. As a first time festival goer, who was somewhat unsure of what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of things to see and do, that it was practically impossible to get around to everything, leaving me with a feeling of wanting to come back next year.

What is Bumbershoot exactly? Read up on it's history here.

The festival spans 74-acres at the Seattle Center, from the Space Needle, to the Key Arena, and everything within and around it. The area is densely populated with pure entertainment, vendors, stages, exhibits and all sorts of people. The event was also easily accessible via the Monorail.

One thing that I think surprised me the most about Bumbershoot is that it does not favor a specific musical genre, or style, or demographic of people for that matter. Performers from Beck, Estelle, Death Cab for Cutie, to the Stone Temple Pilots, The Offspring, Bedouin Soundclash, Final Fantasy as well as folk, country, jazz and electronic acts to name a few, performed on various stages all over the grounds throughout the day and night. Families, and young people all coming together to enjoy the festival. Skate ramps, screenings, drop-in art classes with live models, comedy performers like Human Giant, and thought-provoking exhibits like "The Power of One" illustrate the diverse appeal and interests of the festival. The food was international, from Thai, and Filipino, to your basic Corn on the Cob, and Russian baked goods. And the free samples of the festival sponsors like Starbucks, Rockstar Energy Drinks, and Cliff Bars wasn't bad either.

Despite how chaotic, Bumbershoot may sound, it was actually very well organized, and controlled. Even though I went to Bumbershoot half the time (the other half was spent at the Penny Arcade Expo), I still was able to find something to do. Even if it meant breaking off from my friends group, exploring the festival grounds by myself, and discovering The Power of One exhibit. It was such a strong contrast to all the entertainment going on, that it actually affected me and brought down the festive mood. In a good way. The images of mutilated soldiers of war, and the struggling people of different countries, was eyeopening.

Please check out The Power of One online, to learn more.

Estelle put on a head-bopping, ass shaking performance. The UK singer charmed the audience with her down-to-earth personality, and shed some light on her songs, love, breakups, and being in the music industry. Her live performance should be recorded as an album because after hearing her in person, listening to her studio record just isn't the same. The band added so much to the music, it was like hearing remixes.

Stone Temple Pilots performed for a packed crowd, that rocked the festival. Anyone who has forgot who they are was definitely reminded when they played familiar hits from their albums. I was planning on attending Beck's performance, but I ended up being unable to secure a ticket to the show, so I opted for the GameWorks 1UP meetup instead at PAX.

All in all, Bumbershoot was fantastic, and I plan on attending next year. You should too! And if you're stressing about the price for a 3 day pass.. it's totally worth it with the amount of stuff you get access to.

PAX 2008 - Bigger than last year, but is it better?

Fun, friends, and mixed feelings on this year's expo.

Where to begin? I'm back in Vancouver and finally ready to post about my long weekend in Seattle at the Penny Arcade Expo, and Bumbershoot Music & Arts festival. The event filled weekend had me at first questioning whether or not planning for 2 major events was a good thing, but in the end, it all balanced out quite nicely thanks to the strategic placement of the monorail conveniently located near the convention. Would I do it again next year? Probably.

As you might have noticed it's been dead around these parts for the past several days -- I didn't have time to do any updates live or otherwise, nor was I interested in doing so. I was more concerned with going with the flow of the daily expo happenings, rather than stressing about blogging, running around covering panels, or gathering research for articles. I just wanted to chill out for once, though the fact that the PAX Panels were pretty weak this year worked in my favor! So expect related posts over the next few days.

This year's PAX was different. Not that everyone's expo experience is the same each time around, but in my opinion it was different from my last year's PAX adventures in a slightly negative sense. That's not to say I didn't have any fun, because I did with Jen, Jon, David, Doug, Kevin, Mike, Shane, Flips, and all the other peeps I hung out with (random elevator people included). The thing is, the expo just wasn't the same in terms of overall appeal.

Whether it was because of the missing friends, that made the last expo so fun and who inspired a sense of community, or the E3-esque exhibit hall lineups, weak freezepop performance, timid concert crowds (PAX-goers have a tendency to just stand, watch, applaud, and wave their DS), or limited panel selection, PAX 08 was lacking something. Maybe it's just me, and I've become too used to the GDC, and Comic-Con atmosphere, growing a little distant from the geekery of following the webcomic, but I doubt that's the reason why I feel this PAX fell flat. After much discussion with other PAX-goers, they seem to agree that the vibe has changed a bit. As a regular PAX attendee since 2005 (4 years and counting?) this year was kinda 'meh.'

If it wasn't for the people, and after hours fun, no amount of exhibit hall bells and whistles, or panels would have made this expo entertaining. It's all about the gamer community after all. It always was, and hopefully always will be, and though it seems PAX is getting too big for it's own good, the staples of gaming in a large scale social setting remains at it's core. Gamasutra did a pretty good writeup on PAX 08... an estimated 58,500 attendees???

I spent sometime in the PC freeplay arena, and console freeplay which was cool, but I never did break out my DS, or PSP because I was always on the move, with no time to crash on the bean bags. I also intentionally skipped out on collecting swag. I didn't want to carry a bunch of shit with me. I mean I wanted that Skateboard, and that's pretty much it, but I couldn't answer any of the trivia questions. I never really bought anything too, aside from food. Went to a few Panels, one of which featured 1UP's own Karen Chu on game reviewing. I also went to another panel about why the game industry doesn't suck, by Jason Della Rocca, and I was pretty surprised to see that the majority of people sitting in on the panel didn't know who he was. A definite difference between PAX versus GDC demographics. It was like watching a teacher lecturing a bunch of high school students, no offense intended. The topic itself was meh, nothing most people didn't already know, so I got up and left. I did however notice he used a tablet pen with his laptop, which is what I do whether on a desktop or laptop.

The 1UP Gameworks meet up was cool. No community managing was really required when the 1UP members pretty much organized themselves. Of course with all the 1UP members who already knew each other from previous years, it was always like being in a 1UP meet up. I missed out on Anamanaguchi though for the 1UP meet, but that's cool. After getting buzzed at Gameworks briefly speaking to Toasty, and for the first time meeting one of my longtime readers Doug, new community manager Tina, former gamespotter Brad Shoemaker, and 1UP member Amarisse (whom I thought worked at 1UP as the new Karen Chu with her massive professional camera), a few of us headed over to watch some Rockband stage, then to Kevin's other Sheraton hotel party. The hotel party was quiet until I invited a bunch of random people from the elevator. They just so happened to be Canadians and harsh drinkers. After a while (around 3 or 4am) I received a txt message from my other group of peeps who were at a Club. Ended up going there, for a bit, but then after feeling threatened by Vietnamese gangbangers, headed on back to the hotel to crash.

N64 DD. Me, David, and Amarisse. We were pretty disappointed with the watered down Guinness. Mega lame, but thanks for the drink tickets Guild Wars PR lady. That jon guy sure is a double fisting alcoholic from Detroit. LOL Driving the kids back to Canada.(Jen and Mike, intentionally missed their bus the night before, so they could ride back with me in a pretty smooth drive to Vancouver in less than 2 hours)

When thinking about the growth of this once little gamer centered expo from Bellevue, it has me curious to see where this event is going next year. Will it get better or worse?

PAX 08 will have my divided attention this year.

Penny Arcade Expo, and Bumbershoot.

Here I thought that I'd be sick of geek conventions after enduring the ridiculousness of San Diego Comic-Con, but it looks like I'll be attending PAX after all... Just not in it's entirety.

This year my trip to the Penny Arcade Expo will be a slightly different experience from years prior. For one thing, my brother's not gonna be around, and neither is my sister which I'm totally bummed about. Though surprisingly, many of my friends, and co-workers are planning to go, even though previous years they had no idea what PAX was. Now that they're all familiar with what PAX is all about, they're eager to go on a road trip to Seattle. And so I was convinced to go after I had planned on skipping out on PAX this year. To make things even more different, I won't be at PAX the whole time. I was swayed to buy a pass to the Music festival Bumbershoot going on the same time.

Though the concert lineup isn't packed with awesomeness, there are a few acts that I did want to see like Beck, Estelle, Keyshia Cole, T.I., Stone Temple Pilots, The Offspring, Bedouin Soundclash, Death Cab For Cutie, Dan Deacon, The Weakerthans and a few others. Oh wait, that's actually a lot for 3 days.

In any case, I'll be spending time at both events. I fear PAX will take a back seat this year, but oh well. Better to be there, than to not be there at all.

Blipfest - Reformat the Planet, on Pitchfork.tv

8.15-8.21 For one week, and one week only!

Today Pitchfork.tv did one of the greatest things that I've ever since them do in the short time that they've been around. Available for One Week Only, free for online viewing in it's entirety is "Blipfest: Reformat the Planet", the documentary on Chiptune music and culture by 2 Player Productions, which in my opinion is the best, most comprehensive resource that covers the Chiptune music scene. This my friends, is a cause for celebration.

The thing is, it's only available for ONE week, so head on over to Pitchfork.tv to see what the excitement is all about. If you haven't seen it, and have been curious about music made with Gameboys, now you can!

It came as a complete surprise to me, after having not seen the film since the Game Developers Conference back in 2007, so I found myself distracted all day long at work watching it over again. I was literally sitting at my computer when I got word of this Pitchfork exclusive, and as I watched it, I couldn't help but Geek Out. I instantly updated my Twitter, and facebook statuses to reflect my enthusiasm for this. You see, I plan on attending Blipfest 2008 in December, so seeing scenes from the fest got me totally stoked about attending the event. No one else in the room was as enthusiastic as me, and believe it or not I work at a video game company. I guess Chiptune is an acquired taste even for gamers, and employees of game studios.

I've always been somewhat frustrated with the fact that Chiptune music on the west coast of North America doesn't seem to be too prevalent. Certainly there are Chiptune artists in LA, and San Francisco, but other than that I don't think it has reached other cities on the west, definitely not Vancouver. New York is where it's at, and I've been missing many exciting events going on this summer. If ever I move to New York, I'd be all up in this party scene.

I began to think of the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle which is fast approaching at the end of August as a place that would be a perfect to showcase this music. The massive gamer/geek expo features musical acts, none of which are Chiptune artists. There's rappers, and electro pop acts with songs that deal with familiar gamer themes, and covers of game songs, but for Chiptune itself, that's where its lacking. I remember I emailed the folks at Penny Arcade sometime ago, regarding their lack of interest in inviting chiptune acts, but I received no reply.

*EDIT So apparently this year's PAX will be getting a Screening of Reformat the Planet, along with a performance by Anamanaguchi. I will definitely try and make it to those. So should you! Though Anamanaguchi rocks, I'd prefer if it were Bitshifter, Glomag, Nullsleep, Covox or Bubblyfish representing at PAX.

What will it take for Chiptune to gain a larger audience and presence at gamer events? Just because chiptune artists don't necessarily perform Megaman songs, and other fan service, doesn't mean the art itself isn't relevant to game culture.

Here's hoping this Pitchfork exposure gets Chiptune the recognition it deserves.

Concert Angels and Airwaves Commodore Ballroom Vancouver Continuing their mission to spread inspirational alternative space rock to the masses.

When I first heard "The Adventure" from the debut album of Angels & Airwaves We Don't Need to Whisper several years ago, my interest was peaked by this strange and new direction Tom DeLonge was taking after the indefinite hiatus of Blink 182. It didn't sound at all like Blink 182 in the traditional sense, but it sounded like a matured version of Box Car Racer that went through a cinematic filter of science fiction and War dramas. The themes of love, war, and overcoming pain are apparent in the music, along with DeLonge's trademark voice, defining what the concept behind Angels & Airwaves is -- inspirational music that wants to make you feel like you're "flying," with a marching beat of entering into battle, to spread peace. Whatever happened in DeLonge's life to make him create anthems for the downtrodden and those struggling in their youth, has clearly shaped Angels & Airwaves. And with their second LP I-Empire, their sound has become tighter.

I wonder if he was appointed by God?

DeLonge is no longer about the punk pop of Southern California. No, that was so 90's. Those who prefer to dwell on the past Blink 182 image, probably won't like Angels & Airwaves. You don't have to look far to see the flurry of negative comments directed to the band either on youtube or myspace. If you're a fan of Delonge, and want to hear an artist mature, and experiment with a new sound, then this band offers something you might like.

After canceling a performance in March and rescheduling it for August here in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom, I finally had a chance to see them live. The combination of Kanye's Glow in the Dark tour inspired light show, with the type of music that Angels performed created an absorbing atmosphere for a live performance. It was entertaining, and amazing to hear live, the audience was transported to a place where Angels & Airwaves was not so much the name of a band, but a feeling, and mindset.

Other Concerts: The Ting Tings @ The Plaza club, M.I.A. @ The PNE Forum, Peter Moren @ The Media Club, M.I.A. @ The Commodore, Meg & Dia w/The Spill Canvas, PlayRadioPlay, Idiot Pilot, K-Os w/ You Say Party! We Say Die!

The Ting Tings Vancouver Plaza Club The Ting Tings - More than an Apple iPod commerical

The coveted Apple ipod commercial never hurt anyone especially Musicians. It definitely put Feist on the map in the USA after having already been an established artist for many years in Canada and Europe. The '1,2,3,4' campaign worked out incredibly well, though you can't say the same for Yael Naim whose track 'New Soul' graced ads for the Mac Air, or for Orba Squara whose song 'Perfect Timing' played in iPhone ads. These artists weren't really rocketed into the spotlight of popular music... And then there were The Ting Tings, and the 'Shut Up and Let me Go' iPod commercial.

Described on their myspace page as Alternative Melodramatic British Pop music, The Ting Tings Jules de Martino and Katie White, rocked out at the Plaza Club last night here in Vancouver -- their first show in Canada -- and proved that they are more than the soundtrack to an iPod commercial. Their sound is fun, their songs are quite catchy, and their energetic performance resonated with the packed audience. Though the show which included an opening act by Anni Rossi was quite short -- The entire show was barely an hour and a half -- The Ting Tings left fans wanting more.

More The Ting Tings video on http://www.youtube.com/rez2cool

More Concert Coverage here.

M.I.A. PNE FORUM CONCERT Vancouver

Bigger Venue, not as fun as her previous concert at the Commodore.

Presented by the Georgia Straight, and Live Nation Canada, M.I.A, performed Sunday night to an energetic crowd. This was the second time I had a chance to check out her show, but this time around it wasn't as good. Not because of M.I.A.'s performance, but because of the bigger crowd, that made it difficult to get close to the stage and really into the music. It wasn't as intimate as her previous concert at the Commodore Ballroom. Also I think there were a lot of under-aged kids who were taking up too much room. A concert with Tweens is major suckage.

Overall though, M.I.A. rocked the house, with tracks from all her albums. Here's hoping she comes back to Vancouver, but plays for a smaller crowd.

Peter Moren, Tobias and Doug @ The Media Club

Peter Moren, frontman of Peter Bjorn and John fame, has furiously been touring and promoting his much anticipated solo album, The Last Tycoon. The Swede and his touring bandmates Tobias Froberg, and "Doug", played for a tight crowd at Vancouver's The Media Club, performing a variety of songs from the span of his career, even throwing in some bits of stand up comedy to keep the crowd alive. After a pretty last minute change in venue, having originally been scheduled at the Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouverites were treated to a pretty low key, intimate show, which was a perfect way to the start off the week on a rainy Monday.

Co-Producer of Moren's solo album, Tobias Froberg, warmed up the crowd with his offbeat swedish humor and performed songs from his last 2 albums, For Elisabeth Wherever She Is (2004) and Somewhere In The City (2006). The night had a few surprises, with some technical difficulties, and friendly insults between Peter, and Tobias.

Check out a slew of more video @ http://youtube.com/rez2cool

Concert: M.I.A Rocks Vancouver @ The Commodore M.I.A. All the Way

Waiting in the cold outside the Commodore Ballroom, was a small sacrifice for concert goers, as they were about to be warmed up by the intense sounds of M.I.A.

Tuesday night was the first of two packed sold out shows in Vancouver, featuring the underground phenomena M.I.A. with opening act The Cool kids. M.I.A. delivered an incredible high energy performance that was a true testament to the hype that surrounds her in the music scene. To put it simply, M.I.A. rocked. Her music is addictive, and being it was performed live with phenomenal showmanship -- the audience singing and dancing to every song from the moment she stepped out on stage -- it was clear M.I.A. is not only huge in the UK, but in Canada as well.

The concert started off late, being that The Cool Kids were held up at Customs. During that time, Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse, and Lily Allen were blasting on the speakers in the theme of UK musicians, being that M.I.A. is from London. After the Cool Kids played their short set, we were greeted by a speech by Kouichi Toyama, the political activist, and youtube star. Placed into context with an M.I.A. concert added that extra bit of counter culture.

As one concert goer put it "Tight ass, Spandexy legs" when referring to M.I.A. as she rode the crowd. "We almost dropped her, the security guard had to help her back up on stage."

During one song she invited people to come on stage and dance with her. Of course, this made the crowd go wild (even more then they already were) and being that I was near the front, I was constantly being pushed, shoved, and crushed between bodies. I survived to bring you all these pictures! One guy kept waving a Tamil Tigers flag, yet you could tell that M.I.A. didn't want it overshadowing her performance, and the overall positive mood.

Overall the show was amazing. The crowd was wild the entire time. It was an unforgettable show! Check out M.I.A. on myspace.com/mia

Other Concerts: Meg & Dia w/The Spill Canvas, PlayRadioPlay, Idiot Pilot K-Os w/ You Say Party! We Say Die!