UH HUH HER sounds nothing like the inspiration for the band's name, the Polly Jean Harvey album from 2004. Instead, they would fit more at home on a bill with other synth-dance pop bands like Client or Ladytron (coincidentally, UH HUH HER and Ladytron are labelmates on Nettwerk). When the essential-reading UK website Popjustice named their single "Not a Love Song" as "Song of the Day", they wrote, "[w]e suppose you'll probably be wanting to file this one alonside Ladyhawke, Dragonette 'et al'."

The photogenic, LA-based, electro pop duo consists of Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey and they make catchy dance floor anthems built around the 4/4 kickdrum beat. After USE, UH HUH HER is probably the Bumbershoot band most likely to start a dance party. While "Not a Love Song" is a great dancefloor track, the band can also be more mellow and relaxed with their beats while focusing on the romantic longing of their lyrics.

For what it's worth, Hailey was also a cast member on the Showtime lesbian drama "The L Word".

Here's the video for "Not a Love Song":

{UH HUH HER plays Bumbershoot on the Broad Street Stage at 7:45pm on Saturday, September 5.}

The Beta Society’s been getting a ton of press lately, so no doubt you’ve heard of them – they’re the group of friends who rented an 80s style mansion so they could live together 24/7 for the express purpose of creating stuff. What kind of stuff? It’s a little hard to explain (and much better to see live), but basically they make hilariously great films and sketches, and when they do it live, they put it all together in a sketch-style variety show that includes both.

"Headmasters" Celene Ramadan, Annette Auger, and Jessica Aceti are the awesome chicks that formed The Beta Society in 2008, and in addition to running a kick-ass group of Betas, they’re just an awful lot of fun to be around (back in the day when I was a frequent improv/comedy/theater-goer, I got to know Ms. Ramadan pretty well, so I totally know. Seriously. They all rock!). Some of my favorite bits include a fascination and collaboration with Alan Thicke (yes, that guy from Growing Pains), and the fact that they made their own feature-length horror parody called Junkbucket:



Don’t miss ‘em, you guys. There’s nothing else quite like this in Seattle.

{The Beta Society performs at Bumbershoot on Monday, September 7 from 1:14-2:15pm on Comedy Stage West. Photo by Cory Gustason.}

12-1pm: Films4Families: This Youngershoot package includes the must-see cleverly animated short, Western Spaghetti.

1-2pm: Fly Films SIFF 2009:  With 4 days to shoot and 5 days to edit on B&W 16mm film, 4 filmmakers turned out 4 amazing shorts covering everything from blackmail (Black Coffee) to a creepy tale involving the monorail (Safe Passage).

2-3pm: Picture & Sound Music Videos: A mix of official and unofficial music vids featuring Radiohead, Damien Jurado, The Dutchess and the Duke, Modest Mouse, The Lonely Forest, Surface Tension, The Cove and Sean Peckhold directing claymation Fleet Foxes beardiness (White Winter Hymnal).

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When I first saw Black Joe Lewis perform, I was underwhelmed. They were opening a sold out show at the Showbox for Spoon in 2007 and while quite competent and actually pretty entertaining, I found the band to be a less-charismatic clone of James Brown and his bands.

That isn't so much as still untrue (but maybe a little unfair: how many performers can you name that are more charismatic than James Brown was?) but now that they've released some music earlier in the year and have their sound more fleshed out, they are fitting into that niche nicely. They could now be Brown's most obvious heir apparent when Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings don't immediately come to mind.

Just as Brown declared it "a man's world", Black Joe Lewis and his band, The Honeybears, continue that tradition with their most romantic song being "Bitch, I Love You". Or maybe it's "Big Booty Woman". The Austin band melds soul and funk with garage rock and blues and really has found its groove.

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears plays Bumbershoot on Monday, September 7 at 3:15pm on the Starbucks Stage.

{Photo by Cambria Harkey}

Shorts packages for Saturday, September 5:

12-1pm: Films4Families: Part of “youngershoot”, all shorts shown are appropriate for the young’uns and have English subtitles.

1-3pm: Rock Prophecies: This engaging documentary focuses on rock photographer Robert Knight, who’s shot some of the biggest names in music history for over 40 years.  His shots are stunning and iconic, but the real beauty here is that Knight has a knack for finding – and helping – the next big thing on their way to super stardom. More than just a story about a guy who takes pictures, this is a true love letter to rock and roll, and specifically to guitar players.  This screening will include a Q+A with Robert Knight and Director John Chester.

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I have long thought that Robb Benson has one of the best singing voices in Seattle…which is why I used to stalk Dear John Letters by showing up at every one of their shows by myself (before I moved back to the city from the 'burbs and met lots of great friends – one of whom coincidentally ended up being the co-writer for DJL’s awesome lyrics, Michelle Auer).

Despite my tears over that band’s demise, I still got to hear Robb's fantastic crooning on a few solo endeavors, and eventually ended up really loving his next band, Dept. of Energy. DoE consists of Robb, drummer Cassody Laton, Keyboardist Ty Bailie Hammond – and occasionally, guitarist Jeff Fielder, who’ll be joining them for the Bumbershoot show.

Dept. of Energy creates the same, dreamy feeling for me as DJL did with just a slightly harder edge. I’d be lying if I didn’t hear a bit of Doors-y influence in there (and indeed, I’ve been at a show or two where they’ve ripped out a cover during an encore), but for most part they have their own unique sound - IMO, mostly due to Benson's vocals - and they rock damn HARD, sneaking a slower ballad in every once in awhile.

Most importantly, they put on a hell of a show. If you haven’t seen them, you’re missing out.

{Dept. of Energy plays at Bumbershoot on Monday, September 7 from 12:15-1:15pm at EMP|SFM’s Sky Church. Photo by SJ Corbett.}

Just when I was thinkin’ that Pirates and Zombies have gotten enough love lately, this literary panel about Vampires and Robots at Bumbershoot caught my interest.

Kevin Emerson, drummer & vocalist for Central Services, is the creator of Oliver Nocturne: a series of kids books about a vampire boy who lives in Seattle (that I already find 100x more interesting than Twilight).

Daniel Wilson has written tons of great stuff including How to Survive a Robot Uprising and The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame – pretty much everything you’d need to survive an apocalypse.

Come listen to their creative genius and ask them everything you always wanted to know about bloodsuckers and metal menaces.

{The Vampires and Robots panel takes place at Bumbershoot on Monday, September 7 from 12pm-1:15pm at the Leo K Theater}

The short story collection Seattle Noir begins and ends with the same crime: poisoning.

The crimes and stories here cut through numerous socioeconomic classes and eras, but people being dragged, willingly or not, into crime is a running theme through this compelling book. Each writer has a particular neighborhood their stories are set in but the Seattle locale is one of the few common threads that appears in each story.

The collection was published by Akashic Books, who have made Noir a series, with editions also published of Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco and Washington DC.

Although the stories are of varying theme, era, crime and quality, it still feels remarkably consistent, with editor Curt Colbert choosing a great collection of stories that are sometimes funny or tense, but flow into one another.

At Bumbershoot Colbert and three other writers with stories in Seattle Noir read from the book. The other authors are Bharti Kirchner, Skye Moody and Simon Wood.

Colbert's story is one of the better ones and it takes place in my neighborhood (Belltown). It involves a married couple who each hire the same private investigator. It probably fits the noir ideal with hard-drinking PIs, gorgeous women, betrayal and murder.

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Common Market, comprised of producer and member of Blue Scholars Sabzi and MC RA Scion will be dropping rhymes and truth bombs on the Bumbershoot Fisher Green Stage on September 6^th. Since 2005, Sabzi and Scion have continued to push the envelope with their brand of homegrown hip-hop, using elements of blues, R&B, and authentic, original beats and sounds. RA Scion rhymes are thought provoking and message-driven, exploring concepts like the death of hip-hop, inequality, poverty, and what must be done to overcome them. Scion manages to do this in an intelligent, aggressive, unapologetic fashion without sounding pompous or preachy, which is an impressive feat. His messages are neatly cradled in Sabzi’s beats, rich in instrumentation with hints of D-I-Y floating throughout. Together, their creations feels similar to that of something found on the San Francisco bay area’s AntiCon label, both in message and sound.

Tobacco Road, their second album released in September of ’08 is polished without being slick, which appears to be an important aspect of what Common Market is trying to achieve as a hip-hop act. Lyrically, they have matured and have become more focused in their message; musically, their beats have become more complex and continue to embrace and canvass many genres to create innovative tracks that move your spirit and your body.

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I believe that one reason Seattle and the Northwest in general puts out a crap-load of great music is the constant incest between bands. Whereas incest usually creates mutant babies, Grand Hallway is a band where it gives birth to a unique (but not in that “special” way) and lovely sound that encompasses the octet’s orchestral swells on songs like “Blessed Be, Honey Bee,” and the delicate finger picking of “Usagi No Uta” off their newest release, Promenade, out this September.

The band is mainly Tomo Nakayama, formerly of Asahi and Jen Wood Trio. The rest of the lineup includes members from the Maldives, Sleepy Eyes of Death, Widower, and Voyager One. More than this, on their newest album they also had help from Heatwarmer (a band whose songs are such a mash-up of different styles that I continue to see them live just to figure out exactly what the hell I think of it, and have decided, I love it), Cory Gray, and Goh Nakamura.

Grand Hallway’s songs are melancholy, melodically Beatlesque simultaneously Japanese and European, at times sparse and at others dense, but they always hit home in a direct and charming way that brings a listener into the folds of what the Northwest music scene has to offer. Don’t miss them at 3:15 on the Northwest court, Monday of Bumbershoot.

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