I've even raped and killed a mountain panda in the hills of Shaanxi.

Click the Space Needle for my Bumbershoot pics.

Thoughts:
• I am never going to break my toe and go dancing again.
• The Jezabels were cool for a time-killer, Aussies who have a keyboard in their rock.
• Yelawolf was probably one of the highest, um, performers I've ever seen. He forgot he was in Seattle for a couple songs actually. But he was still on point, and his DJ scratch guy was actually awesome. I recorded his Beastie Boys "cover" but I'm not sure the audio is any good. He told the crowd to mosh and surf during his last song, but people who weren't even born before 1993 are not very good at this. Well, that may be harsh, but these kids were definitely not.
• There was a huge gap full of no one we were very interested in, and that coupled with a definite lack of hard liquor meant we left for a bit. Hit up Oskar's, which is my new favorite restaurant.
• We finally wandered back and looked at the Rock Poster sale. I let this guy convince me to buy one of his limited edition Morrissey screenprints, so if you happen to see them at the show, don't look for #13.
• Ian Hunter & the Rant Band (yes, "Once Bitten Twice Shy" songwriter) was pretty awesome, as was finally not being the oldest people there and all. Not the youngest either. It was definitely a surreal moment when the song I pretty much default to for karaoke was being played LIVE BY THE ACTUAL SONGWRITER.

However, I have to take issue with people who say the best music was all before 1975, or more accurately I guess, people who still pay money to see the Rolling Stones. One of the things I like about live music, even with people who have been performing since the '80s now, is it's not very much like listening to a record. I mean even the Pet Shop Boys put on a SHOW. And with actual music-instrument-players, they don't just repeat the same songs they've been playing for twenty years in the exact same way. And ok, I haven't seen anything but that last concert video, so perhaps Keith Richards and Ian Hunter only do this because they do happen to be so damn old, but I find it disappointing. Jam, guys! ROCK THE FUCK OUT!

("Only one song with a flanger?")

• Before the encore we headed to Key Arena, which was a shame, because Big Sean was still "playing". We got some seats that weren't really that terrible and put on our sunglasses, since this guy was apparently trying to blind the audience. And ok I know a lot of people my age and above have a hard time listening to any kind of hip hop, but this guy, man, he pretty much is the reason for that. Perhaps his earlier songs had more of an aura of social consciousness and we just missed them, but I kind of doubt it. It was like, if someone took DJ Assault's lyrics as a starting point for a freestyle, instead of just something to wrap around phat beats. (And the beats were not even phat.)

And, hahah, this doesn't even surprise me:

Big Sean was arrested on August 4, 2011 for sexual assault at a concert in Lewiston, New York.^[18] On October 26, 2011, Big Sean pleaded guilty to second degree unlawful imprisonment, and was fined $750. The charges of third-degree sexual abuse were dropped.

Anyway, the assault to ALL MY SENSES finally stopped. Not a single person left the floor, unfortunately, so we just tried to get a closer seat. Fairly easily, at least. I was like "Now I know we're the only people over 30 here" till I saw the couple behind us, had to be over 50, with their 10-yo son. Now, Mac Miller is definitely not as offensive (in either sense) as Big Sean or Eminem or Snoop, but he sure does talk about picking up chicks, smoking pot, and uses "fuck" as a modifier. Well, whatever, Guns'n'Roses' first album wasn't much worse, although I only listened to that because my brother was 14 and EXPLICIT LYRICS wasn't fully enforced back then.

• They had this silly thing going on the TV screens (Key Arena is so large that there are two "TV screens" one on either side of the stage) where if you tweeted with the #bumbershoot tag they "might" put it up. A lot of the tweets that made it up there were people saying "OMG I'M ON THE BIG SCREEN" or "ON THE FLOOR FOR @MACMILLER!" Some of them were older people mocking the teenagers and their lack of stamina. Hahahah.

• I haven't actually watched any of Mac Miller's videos since he graduated high school, but he looks like not-a-teenager now. Buff and covered in white-rapper tattoos. He was also obviously high, but not nearly as obnoxiously as Yelawolf. He told a story about a "bust fund" girl he met a couple nights ago at a local club - I just made this term up and submitted it to urban dictionary, but you all have known girls who got everything they owned bought by dumb guys, right? Anyway this chick didn't even have a JOB, but she was also pretty wasted. So he then rapped two songs that could have been written for her, and Reg and I were impressed. Even if it was just about a type of girl, a party girl/girl who likes expensive shit, it was clearly a couple of newer songs that showed his growth as an artist. I mean, his early stuff is kinda silly, about his Nikes and his hat, or whatever, but his flow is so clearly THERE that I'm pretty sure he's going to be doing this for a very long time. Well, as long as he doesn't get a drug addiction.

• We then went to the afterhours party, and it kind of sucked. DJ Mia was great - she played newer remixes of slightly older songs - but the next two DJs were from Vegas, and it showed. First of all, call me "old fashioned" but DJs are supposed to play songs, not 90 second snippets. And if you're gonna try to do the Girl Talk thing, you do still need to do transitions. Otherwise you're just playing one song after another. I can do that, ok. And if you ever play "Call Me Maybe" and actually unironically sing along, you are a total douchebag.

If we knew these guys were going to both be doing that shit, we could have left early enough to catch the bus back home, but as it was, we had to take a cab. Also, Reg tripped and fell, so we were both kind of crippled, which I'm sure contributed to the negative energy. BUT NOT AS MUCH AS SHITTY VEGAS POOL DJS. Seriously, being voted "Best Pool DJ" is not exactly what I would consider relevant credentials.

So, next weekend, big hike (probably not this weekend), and then in two more weeks, Decibel Festival, where we get to listen to world-class DJs in Seattle-class venues!