Monday

Monday was just like being at home. It was pissing down with rain. We checked out of the hotel and Andy very kindly came up picked up our luggage and took it to his house. This worked out well, as we could go off and enjoy our day without worrying about all the suitcases. We were staying with Andy and Gabi from Monday night for the rest of our stay.


So we hopped on the monorail, which is great fun and headed down to the Seattle Center, right next to the Space Needle to meet up with Jon, Michelle and Darian for the Bumbershoot Festival. Bumbershoot has been happening for years, but this was the first time we’d had an opportunity to check it out. It’s a 3 day festival that takes place right in the middle of the city. They fence off a large area and use all the buildings inside as venues.

We caught about 10 minutes of The Minus Five, then went over and saw a bit of a band called Say Hi. They were really good. There was another band that we snuck in to see, but I can’t remember their name. They were playing on the stage inside the Space Needle.

The Minus Five

We spent some time playing all the silly fairground games, throwing darts, shooting ping-pong balls etc. Mark won me a purple monkey! He’s never won me anything at a fair before – ever. Jon won a blow-up alien and Michelle even managed to get a cuddly duck out of one of those grabber machines, that NO-ONE ever wins anything out of.

One of the moments when it stopped raining temporarily.

We decided to grab something to eat before Jon’s show, and so began the day of sugar overload. Fries and a massive 3 berry burst smoothie from Orange Julius, followed by some extra sickly fudge and a huge cotton candy (candy floss). I was buzzing!

Time to head over to the venue for the main event of the day The Radio 8 Ball Show. It’s an interesting concept. Everyone on the audience is given a card and a pencil. On the card you write a question that you’d like answered. It can be anything from something silly to something profound. The cards are then collected and one is picked at random. If they pick your card, you have to go up onstage and ready your question out. You then flip a coin which decides whether you pick a card or spin the wheel. There is a list of 8 songs on a board on the stage. The house band (Jon plus a bass player and drummer) play the song that corresponds to the number that you either picked out or the wheel stops on. The idea is that you listen to the song, then try to interpret how the song answers your question. With me so far?

Ask a question

Get a musical answer.

There were a couple of amusing ones, like the man who wants to kill all the mountain goats and his question was should we shoot them or trap them. Random….. The song he picked was called Blood & Roses. The chorus went “I want to live, but I don’t belong.” Pretty funny, considering his question.

The best one by far though was a woman who has a loser boyfriend who is out of work, owes her money and her mum thinks she should dump. She wanted to know what to do. So she spun the wheel and the song that came up was Jon’s track Six Feet Under. The very first line of that song is “Nothing’s going to save us now.” It’s a song about a relationship break-up. The whole place just erupted with laughter. Jon couldn’t sing, he was laughing so much. Not much interpreting needed there then. She said “I thin I know what I have to do.”

After the show, Michelle and Darian headed home and Mark, Jon and I went off to catch some of Dead Confederate’s set. We’d seen this band in the UK, supporting Dinosaur Jnr a few weeks earlier and liked them, so were looking forward to seeing them again. We eventually found the venue, but there was a HUGE queue to get in and they had already started their set, so we gave up and caught a cab back to Jon’s instead.

As if we hadn’t eaten enough sugar for one day, a quick visit to Cupcake Royale could not be missed. What an awesome place. They sell cupcakes, lots of cupcakes – and coffee. I got a fabulous classic cupcake with a massive pile of chocolate frosting on top. Mark had a carrot cupcake. They were bloody lovely.

Andy picked us up and we headed out to his lovely house in Lakeland Hills, near Auburn, where we were introduced to Edgar the guinea pig and settled in for the evening. A light dinner and off to sleep in their oooh-so-comfy guest bed. Aaaahhh......