"Seattle is a great town, no doubt," writes singer/songwriter/subversive not-quite-cowpunk Kathleen Edwards, from somewhere inside the mobile "small and smelly bubble" recording artists call home. "I love the community of chefs, storeowners, winemakers, artists, the long winters and, of course, Rainn Wilson."Her Sunday set at Bumbershoot should invite the listener to ponder the various lines between rock, pop, country and blues, as she regales with tales of woe, withering, stress and resilience."For some reason, I connect with people in hard times," she explains. "I love photographs from the Great Depression, stories of hardship, poverty, injustice, because they inspire me to feel something real about the hardness of life.... How someone survives their own battles is what I love about a person's character, and I love channeling the spirit of that in songs." Not as apocalyptic as Johnny Cash, Edwards keeps a human scale on her hardship tales. Listen carefully at times, and you'll catch the delicate fluting of transcendence.IN A DIFFERENT WORLDLee "Scratch" Perry, also performing Sunday at Bumbershoot, may seem at first to have some odd ideas about the state of the world, its leaders, policies, conspiracies and metaphysics. All of this makes perfect sense, however, once you realize that Perry does not live in the same world most of us call home. This doesn't prevent him from seeing through certain situations with a sharpshooter gaze. Upon setting eyes for the first time on the legendary music scribe (and alcoholic) Lester Bangs, Perry, in the midst of his native Jamaica, the land of ganja, looked Bangs over and declaimed, "You wine man. I know wine man...." Catch his set and see if any parts of you become transparent.NEW INVENTIONSArthur & Yu aren't so frightening, but they'll make you feel at home - in your living room. Assuming, that is, that your living room contains walls (or gigabytes) of only the finest pop music recorded between 1966 and 1976, plus a cellist who pops in and out of existence. They play Monday night.Monday afternoon, author William Gibson takes the stage, with Eileen Gunn and John Osebold supporting. Gibson invented the 21st century - he had to wait a while for people to realize he'd done that, but he did. His latest book is called "Spook Country." Moving on to Daniel Clowes, Adrian Tomine and Ivan Brunetti on Sunday afternoon: Daniel Clowes did not invent the 21st century, but he did reinvent the graphic novel. That was before he got his Oscar nomination for writing a script from that same graphic novel, "Ghost World." Tomine produced "Shortcomings," which doesn't eclipse "Ghost World" but applies the same intricacy, wit and sadness to sexual relationships that Clowes applied to friendship. Ivan Brunetti - he's just all over the place. He needs to be seen to be believed. You may want to wear a catcher's mask or some kendo armor.FINDING ROOM"Bumbershoot is the kind of festival where I don't have to be more rock or more folk to fit in," concludes Kathleen Edwards. And indeed, we all hope it continues to be the kind of festival where we can all fit in assuming we can find some room."The only way Seattle could improve," the singer signs off, "is if it moved to Canada, so I could visit it more regularly without having my lengthy criminal record examined at the border through the use of a latex glove. That doesn't make any sense. Goodbye."Labor Day weekend in Seattle means the Bumbershoot arts festival takes over the city. Get ready to jump into the annual end-of-summer celebration by reading the story for a small peek into a few of the festival's performers and artists (including Ivan Burnetti's graphic novel work, shown above). For more comprehensive coverage, log in to www.northseattleherald-outlook.com for our BUMBERBLOG. Starting on Saturday, Aug. 30, we'll have roving photographers and reporters bring you their daily impressions of the iconic Northwest festival.[[In-content Ad]]
