Tag Archive music festivals

ByGD

Summer of Silence

Dancing with Adra Boo onstage at Ra Scion's 2014 Doe Bay Fest set.

Dancing with Adra Boo onstage at Ra Scion’s 2014 Doe Bay Fest set.

Last summer was all about the festival. I walked down the street to the Fremont Solstice Fair, traveled to a remote fjord in Iceland for Eistnaflug, to a remote island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca for Doe Bay Fest, and rode the bus to Bumbershoot, dragging my kids along to three out of four. When I left my day job, I knew that one of the sacrifices I would have to make, at least initially, was live music. There was no justifying the cost of tickets plus babysitter, especially when I am sometimes paid to cover shows. I would have to limit myself to work-related concerts.

As a result, I stopped following the concert calendars, which resulted in my missing many new releases as well. It’s just easier to miss shows you don’t know about. Then the kids were off for summer vacation, and it’s hard to seriously listen to new music with kids running around, so for the past couple months, I just let music go. During Solstice I hung out at the block party, but didn’t catch any shows; I followed Eistnaflug wistfully on Twitter, and plugged my ears at any mention of Doe Bay. Timber was supposed to be my Doe Bay consolation prize, but the dates conflicted with a family event.

At least I could count on Bumbershoot, I thought.

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ByGD

Bumbershoot Blogging Break

I spend Labor Day weekend at Bumbershoot every year, and I recommend that you do too. It’s not too late – check out my guide for bringing the family here if you haven’t already. Since I’ve been at Bumbershoot all weekend, I haven’t written anything to post here today. I’m sure I’ll have something to say about it here (and if you look over at ParentMap and Nada Mucho, you might find something up already). But in the meantime, here is a picture I took last year at Bumbershoot. It’s Ryan Granger from the Grizzled Mighty.

Grizzled Mighty 2013 Bumbershoot

ByGD

Shameless Summer Festival Post

Doe Bay

And I haven’t even told you about Doe Bay yet.

I considered calling this post “What I Did on My Summer Vacation,” or more accurately, “Shameless Self-Promotion.” But since I’m being shameless, I thought, “Titles that can be construed as sexual get the most hits, so what the hell, let’s go for the click-bait.” Anyway, I’ve been doing a little writing outside of this blog this summer, and I’m kind of proud of some it. So today I am reblogging myself. Below you will links to some of the things I’ve written lately.

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