The 37th annual Bumbershoot: Seattle’s Music & Arts Festival is pleased to announce an impressive initial lineup for the 2007 Labor Day event. Bumbershoot, the biggest contemporary music & arts festival in North America, is a 3-day Festival held September 1-3 in a distinctive urban setting. Set against the backdrop of Seattle’s cityscape and under the iconic Space Needle, Bumbershoot showcases artists in more than 20 indoor and outdoor venues at the 74-acre Seattle Center. The Festival features a progressive mix of live music, comedy, dance, indie crafts, spectacle, film, theatre, and literary and visual arts. More information about the Festival can be found at bumbershoot.org. Ticket information provided below.
MUSIC
The Shins, Wu-Tang Clan, Panic! At The Disco, Crowded House, Lupe Fiasco, Steve Earle, DeVotchKa, Devendra Banhart, Gogol Bordello, Kill Hannah, Norma Jean, Plain White T’s, The Gourds, Lyrics Born, Roky Erickson & The Explosives, The Holmes Brothers, The Avett Brothers, Yungchen Lhamo, Allison Moorer, Magnolia Electric Company, The Aggrolites and much more to be announced.
COMEDY
This wildly popular program of national and regional comedians continues to grow as it expands to three stages in order to satisfy festival fan’s ever-growing hunger for humor. The added stage will provide more space for entertaining, silly, and downright ridiculous perspectives on the political and social issues of the day. Last year’s Festival featured a variety of comedic acts from VH1’s Best Week Ever! and “Trapped in the Closet”, as well as hilarious comedians including Lucky Numbers (2000) star Maria Bamford, Comedy Central’s Doug Benson, and Seattle local Nick Thune. The 2007 Comedy lineup will be announced this summer.
FLATSTOCK
Returning for the fifth time to Bumbershoot, The American Poster Institute’s insanely successful Flatstock will feature the best and most innovative underground poster artists and their unique work. Thoroughly embodying the spirit of Bumbershoot, Flatstock unites powerful visual design with the creativity and passion of indie rock.
INSTALLATION, SPECTACLE & VISUAL ARTS
While there may be 20 different venues to choose from, sometimes you don’t have to look any further than the sprawling International Fountain Lawn to find the best action. Spawned in the depths of San Francisco’s thriving Dance and Circus sub-cultures, the Vau de Vire Society has ravaged and titillated both underground and popular venues. Producers of San Francisco’s annual Edwardian Ball, Vau de Vire has also performed at Burning Man and Cirque du Soliel’s Corteo. Outfitted with acrobats, aerial artists, fire breathers, and contortionists and performing from a 30-foot tall tower, audiences can expect the unexpected. In addition, the world of Visual Arts will exhibit the latest in contemporary expression, including shows exploring urban arts, user-generated content, graphic design and music with artists and curators to be announced in the coming months.
LITERARY ARTS
From best-selling authors to your next favorite writer, there is something for everyone in Bumbershoot’s Literary Arts program. The 2007 Festival will feature award winning artist, writer and filmmaker Miranda July, who wrote, directed and starred in the critically acclaimed feature-length film Me, You, and Everyone We Know (2005). To celebrate the release of her two books in 2007, July will present one of her patented lively "readings" – spontaneity guaranteed. Also featured will be Davy Rothbart, a frequent contributor to NPR’s This American Life and editor of FOUND magazine. Rothbart will present pieces from his popular national magazine that has generated two best-selling anthologies.
DANCE AND PERFORMANCE
The Bagley Wright Theatre will host the best in dance and performance at Bumbershoot 2007. Making his Seattle debut is solo performance artist Taylor Mac, who will perform the best of his drag-ukulele-cabaret performances in a show called "The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac." Taylor Mac is resident artist at New York’s HERE Arts Center, and has been featured at The Sydney Opera House, The Public Theatre, London’s Soho and Reindeer Theatres and Stockholm’s Sodre Teatern. The all female Brooklyn based DECADANCETHEATRE utilizes DJs, MCs, and graffiti in their performance to create unique hip-hop ballets. Also featured this year is the Pacific Northwest Ballet, which returns by popular demand after capacity performances in 2006, with fresh work curated by Artistic Director Peter Boal, special for the company’s Bumbershoot appearance.
1 REEL FILM FESTIVAL
Now in its second electrifying year, the renowned Seattle International Film Festival, the largest and most highly attended film festival in the United States, will curate Bumbershoot’s 1 Reel Film Festival. The 1 Reel Film Festival will feature live-action, animated, experimental and documentary films, music videos and shorts from regional, national and international filmmakers. Whether you’re a film aficionado or simply curious, the 1 Reel Film Festival has it all.
THEATER
The Center House at Seattle Center will host three exceptional days of regional theater programming co-curated by Theatre Puget Sound (TPS). TPS nurtures a healthy and vibrant theater community, develops strong ties among the region’s theater professionals and raises visibility of this region’s theater scene at the local, national and international levels.
TICKETS
Special $60 three-day passes made available only to BumberFan members are now SOLD OUT. Anyone can become a BumberFan online at bumbershoot.org. BumberFan Club membership is FREE and provides you with Insider Deals, breaking Festival news and other exclusive opportunities. Expect more exclusive BumberFan ticket discounts in the months to come.
Three-day passes are now available at bumbershoot.org for $75 thru Friday, August 17 and $95 thereafter.
$30 day-specific tickets will go on sale Friday, July 13 thru August 17, and $35 thereafter. Please note that day-specific tickets will be made available after the Festival schedule is published and are good only for the date specified on your ticket. For more ticket information visit bumbershoot.org/tickets.htm.
