Bumbershoot: Seattle's Music & Arts Festival is now in its 39th year. Since 1971, Bumbershoot has drawn artists representing the best in music, film, comedy, spoken word, dance, theatre, performance, and visual arts to the Seattle Center over Labor Day weekend. North America's largest urban arts festival, Bumbershoot takes place in the heart of the city at the 74-acre Seattle Center. Over 150,000 visitors from near and far spend the weekend reveling in the world of Bumbershoot, experiencing everything from regional favorites to international superstars across all arts disciplines.

Christian Finnegan: Hello there, denizens of the internet. My name is Christian Finnegan and I am a stand up comedian, writer and actor living in New York City. Some may recognize me from Chappelle's Show, where I played Chad (the white guy) in the "Mad Real World" sketch. I currently appear every week on VH1's Best Week Ever and TV Land's Game Time. And I also travel this great nation, bringing my own special brand of semi-hilarity to comedy clubs, colleges, rock clubs, shithole bars, empty conference rooms, real estate seminars, turkish whorehouses, bat mitzvahs, doggy fashion shows, crackhouses and nursing home key parties.

Brian Posehn: Started stand-up in Sacramento. Moved to San Francisco during the tail end of the early nineties comedy boom. Was a local favorite along with friends Tom Rhodes, Greg Proops and Patton Oswalt. Moved to Los Angeles in 1993 for a second career in TV writing. He wrote and performed on Mr. Show instead. While writing TV and feature films and acting on TV and in films he's still managed to carve out a niche as part of the Los Angeles alternative comedy scene and headline at the good comedy clubs around the country. I am a... I mean... Brian is a regular guest on Conan O'Brien. He's currently part of the Comedians Of Comedy Tour(w/Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford and Zach Galiafanakis). The Comedians of Comedy tour was recently documented as a feature film and a show on Comedy Central. Brian recorded his first stand-up CD Nerd Rage this past year. The CD will be available everywhere on July 11th through RELAPSE RECORDS.

Tyrone Wells: Tyrone Wells has delivered an epic pop/rock album with his second major label effort, Remain. Pursuing a more collaborative process and having added a more lush production to his singer- songwriter roots, the new album proves to be a great showcase for his powerful and emotional voice.

The Spokane, WA native’s desire to ‘open up the process’ found him traveling to London to work with a circle of songwriters/musicians who aligned with Wells’ musical direction. “Half of the album was done in London and the other half completed here in the states,” says Wells. “I didn’t know what kind of record I was going to make before I got to London, but something just seemed to click while I was there that really defined what I wanted to do with this album.” Invoking a cathartic creative process from the very beginning for Remain, the songwriter penned an astounding 60 songs for the record.

Tyrone worked with songwriter/producer Martin Terefe (Jason Mraz, KT Tunstall, James Morrison) and Iain Archer (UK indie artist and Snow Patrol co-writer) in the UK, and Tim Myers (formerly of OneRepublic), David Hodges (formerly of Evanescence) and Matt Scannell (Vertical Horizon) in the U.S. Creating a work that manages to be more guitar-edged than previous Wells’ efforts - but still unabashedly soul-baring - he appreciated huddling with collaborators like Terefe, who - like Wells - is a big believer in trusting one’s instincts. “We had great chemistry together.” “Losing Ground,” one of a handful of production/songwriting collaborations between Wells and Terefe, was written and demoed in less than 3 hours during their first writing session together.

Wells has found himself on a new musical path on his second Universal Republic effort, but he continues to display the same gritty determination and work ethic that has enabled him to chart his own course from the very beginning. Wells launched his career unveiling his first indie release with the take-me-as-I-am motif of 2003’s Snapshot. An in-demand live offering followed in 2005: Close: Live at McClain’s, (the coffeehouse where he established his raved-about live rep) capturing the singer’s unique intimacy with an audience.

Soon, major labels came calling. “All of a sudden, after five years of doing everything on my own steam I had all these labels interested,” says Wells. His 2007 release, the soulful Hold On, was originally his third indie record. The album was picked up by Universal Republic and released untouched as his major label debut.

The buzz surrounding Wells’ inspiring wealth of songs was also beginning to land him song placements in films and TV shows. To date Tyrone has had significant placements including “One Tree Hill,” “Everyone’s Hero,” “Rescue Me,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “Numbers,” “Criminal Minds,” “Army Wives,” “What About Brian,” “The 50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden” and the “Rails & Ties” trailer.

Wells is particularly proud that Remain has carried him into some undiscovered territories. His voice continues to set him apart and his passion is demonstrated on this new album. “With constant touring it’s important to believe in what you’re singing every night. I’m excited about this new material and believe in these songs. I like where I’m going."

The Pharmacy: art damaged pop punk Seattle

Doug Benson: As a funny-man and occasional actor, Doug Benson has been cracking us up since his early days on the Comedy Central sketch-comedy show, The TV Wheel, in the mid-90s. For those of you who follow this comedian's sarcastic stand-up, you know that Doug Benson's comedy tour will have you hysterical. Doug Benson comedy tour dates are currently scheduled nationally. Don't miss a date on the Doug Benson tour schedule; Use Eventful as your source for Doug Benson tour dates and stand-up comedy schedule.

Benson hails from San Diego, California; but it wasn't until a move to Los Angeles that he became funny. On a dare with two of his buddies, Benson signed up for an amateur comedy night in which he did "three minutes of whatever [he] could come up with and people actually laughed." Doug Benson tour dates were booked on the comedy circuit grind until he was featured on Comedy Central's The A-List and Two Drink Minimum where he garnered some mainstream attention. Benson's cache increased with his appearance on NBC's hit competition show Last Comic Standing in 2007. Although he ended up placing 8th overall, the stand-up comedian was brought into the homes of Americans nationwide.

In 2008, Benson released his debut comedy album Professional Humoredian. Doug Benson tour dates were scheduled on a national comedy tour throughout the year where he worked out material for his second comedy album, Unbalanced Load, which was released in 2009. At the turn of the decade, Benson was picked up for his own network stand-up comedy show on Comedy Central. The one-man show The Benson Interruption finished its first run in December, 2010 and is expected to return for a second season. Benson closed out the decade with his third comedy album Hypocritical Oaf which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart in 2010.

Doug Benson has proven himself to be one of the most hysterical self-deprecating comics out there and he is only just getting started. Doug Benson tour dates have the comedian traversing the nation bringing his humorous take on American life to comedy theaters near you. Don't miss out on the Doug Benson's stand-up comedy when he visits your area. Use Eventful as your source for Doug Benson tour dates and his comedy tour schedule.

Kina Grannis: Kina Grannis (born August 4, 1985) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. She is of Japanese, English, Irish, French, Dutch, Welsh and Scottish descent[1].

Grannis was the winner of the Doritos Crash The Super Bowl contest.[2] Her progress in the competition was covered in The Orange County Register[3] and The Wall Street Journal.[4]

Grannis' music can also be heard in the feature film Glass City released spring 2008.

Early life and career beginnings

Kina Grannis grew up in Mission Viejo, California. She was exposed to music at an early age. In elementary school, she composed and submitted simple piano compositions to district art competitions, and also began playing the violin in the school orchestra which she continued throughout high school. At age 16, she taught herself the guitar, which has become her primary instrument.

She attended Viejo Elementary School, Newhart Middle School, then attended Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo, CA from 1999 to 2003.

In 2003, Grannis matriculated at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. In 2005, she was selected by the University's Thornton School of Music to have a CD produced, utilizing the school's talents in the music and music industry departments. The CD, entitled Sincerely, me., was released in 2005. In 2007, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Social Science with an emphasis on Psychology. While attending USC, she was inducted as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi.[citation needed]

[edit] Solo career

In early 2007, she recorded a song for Rachael Lawrence and Deborah Ellen that would later be featured in an episode of General Hospital, entitled "Ours to Keep"[5]. Grannis' recording of "Ours to Keep" has since been featured on General Hospital regularly as well as an episode of the ABC network's Samurai Girl in September 2008.[6] In June 2009, her songs "Never Never" and "People" were used in episodes of MTV's reality series "College Life". Her song "Message from your Heart" was adopted by the philanthropic organization, Sister to Sister, as their 2009 theme song.

Grannis was to work with Interscope Records to produce a new album, but publicly announced in January 2009 that she left the label to be an independent artist.

[edit] Personal life

Grannis has two sisters named Misa and Emi, both of whom have occasionally been featured on her videoblog. Her father Gordon is a chiropractor[7] and her mother Trish is a graphic designer. An avid supporter of cancer research, Grannis has performed at several Southern California Relay For Life functions over the years[8]. In October 2008, she participated in the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco in support of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, raising $6,000 for the organization.

(From Wikipedia)

The Wombats: The WOMBATS are a three piece band from Liverpool whose own brand of shimmering, high-speed punk-pop has grabbed many an ear and tapping toe/humous howel of late.

Born in the bustle of the local music scene just two years ago, they comprise two native Liverpudlians; front man Matthew 'Humous howel' Murphy, provider of voice, guitar and keyboards and drummer, b - vocalist Dan 'smart jowels' Haggis while Bass lines and additional humous ammo are provided by Tord Overland-Knudsen, a Viking howel who has made his home in the city.

Having already seduced Scouseland, The Wombats have recently been getting attention in more some exotic locations - from China to Canada, their sad-spun, harmonic rush touching a universal nerve despite its peculiarly English lyrical concerns of Caravans in Wales and If I had Sky Id be alright.

The band have received much praise from those in the know, they have been described variously as:

"A joy to behold" (Gigwise.com, UK)

"A must-see next time they're in town as they begin the fast-track to rock 'n' roll superstardom" (Chart Magazine, Canada)

"A silver Greyhound bus lost amongst the roundabouts of a unloved English new town" (The Fly, UK)

The Guardian said of their appearance at Beijings Midi Festival : "For one glorious half-hour concert at least - bigger than the Rolling Stones." and finally the wombats have been described as 'a bunch of fresh humous howels' -(the humous gazette)

No such nonsense for The WOMBATS themselves, who describe their output more sensibly as: Joebone fiace smoking da webosses and manhandling a few near-extinct Venezuelan toddle otters Of course

For press enquiries, please contact Rob Dix at 14th Floor PR: rob.dix@14thfloorpr.com

Manager: Simon Bobbett Contact: simon@dockrecordings.com

Noah Gundersen: Noah Gundersen has been playing guitar for 5 years, and started writing music at age 12. He has been playing his original work with his 14 year old sister Abby for 2 years and recorded his first album at age 13. He continues to write with inspiration from a wide variety of musical flavors from David Wilcox to Counting Crows. He has recently been joined by friend Michael Porter on guitar

Fred Armisen: Funniest guy on SNL

Paul F. Tompkins: From Philadelphia. Built wax wings to fly. Best friend is giant ox. Mind control! Does not like any kind of bean, not even jelly. Shark attack survivor-- and guilt free! Ghost-wrote one John Irving novel, can you guess which one? Coal fan. The Once and Future King of England for some reason.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: If Stephen Pastel actually threw Aggi off the bridge and married Black Tambourine's Pam Berry and had four babies that formed a pop band.

Meet The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a New York four-piece who plays dreamy, noisy POP with boy/girl vocals, blissful melodies and blistering drums.

Fujiya & Miyagi: Imagine that Fujiya & Miyagi are mask-wearing technicians dissecting music, keen to magnify particles of sound to create a pulsing antidote to the ordinary. They speak in tongues, using language as a rhythm, picking words that sound good, rhyming ‘jigsaws’ with ‘carnivores’.

Their songs are incisive snapshots of real lives that make household appliances sound threatening. They are steeped in vintage music from evocative krautrock to deep soul, with wafts of early Human League synth, Floydian Englishness and the throbbing groove of Tom Tom Club, all filtered for modern times.

In total, Fujiya & Miyagi don’t really sound like anything. Instead, they sound like everything condensed into perfectly arranged three minute chunks of infectious pop music, a strange hybrid of James Brown on Valium and Wire gone pop. Or maybe Serge Gainsbourg with a PhD in electronics backed by David Byrne’s Eno-produced scratchy guitar mixed by MF Doom. It’s Darwinism gone mad.

Formed in 2000 as an electronic duo of David Best (guitars and vocals) and Steve Lewis (synths, beats, programming), they released Electro Karaoke In The Negative Style two years later, a minimal electronic set it hangs eerily on Best’s distinctive whispered vocal. Adding bass player Matt Hainsby in 2004, they released a series of ten inch EPs that took them to the hearts of fanzineland. Gathered together these parables of personal injury, both physical and mental, made up three quarters of the well-received (Pitchfork, NME, MOJO, etc) album Transparent Things in 2006. Named after a Nabokov brain dump on the relationship between the past and the present. It sums them up.

A Regal seven-inch, Uh, further concentrated their sound. A set of vocal ticks, a funky bass and a storyline about a relationship as prickly as two porcupines, it made small talk sound sinister over an infectious groove. It was the perfect set up for their third album, Light Bulbs – imagine 11 classic ideas clicking on above your head, now with real drums in places, courtesy of Lee Adams, and the picture is complete.

Fujiya & Miyagi stay away from lyrical themes that have been done to death. Using old synths to punctuate their beautifully-observed anecdotes on romantic triumphs and disasters, heroes and villains and the world at large, their rhythms palpitate to produce modern symphonies like no-one else. Light Bulbs is a journey littered with fragmented images, anecdotes from the sublime to the ridiculous, blurry stories that you feel you shouldn’t have overheard. Each track an aural contamination set to itch your inner ear every waking moment.

“I’ll never be Big Maybelle,” says David Best of his unique singing style. True, but as a stylist fronting a band inspired by their evolution, plundering the past but set in the future, Fujiya & Miyagi’s Light Bulbs carves a niche of its own. This is truly contagious music, a completely unique take on modern pop music that’s completely their own.

Best Coast: The hit lo-fi, indie sound of Los Angeles-based band Best Coast harkens back to heydays of surf and garage rock. Their musical style perfectly compliments their image as laid back, sometimes humors, West Coast youths as displayed on tour dates and in music videos. They first came into the public eye in 2009 with the release of their 7", Make You Mine, and have created quite a buzz in the mainstream music world with their debut album, Crazy for You. As Best Coast's career continues to escalate, they can be found on the tail end of 2011 tour dates across the US, UK, and Europe.

The story of Best Coast revolves around frontman Bethany Cosentino, a former child actress turned pop musician who actually turned down record deals as a teenager. After going to school in New York, Consentino moved back to Los Angeles and co-formed the band Pocahaunted, where she met Bobb Bruno, and built a reputation on local tour dates. The duo began working on a side project based on a love of '60s surf rock, and thus Best Coast was born. Best Coast soon released a number of 7"s and the EP Where the Boys Are, the latter of which caught the attention of a few critics and music magazines. The publicity was enough to get Best Coast a record contract, and the duo soon brought in former Vivian Girls drummer Ali Koehler as a full time member.

Best Coast's debut album, Crazy For You, was incredibly well received and has audiences wondering what the group has in store for their next record, which is currently in progress. In the meantime, audiences can catch Best Coast on their 2011 tour dates, which will be in the US until August 19. After that, they'll head to Europe until August 26, when they'll play a number of UK music festivals, including Reading and Leeds.

Super Geek League: Super Geek League is a nine-piece eclectic pop-punk band from Seattle. Super Geek League's infamous live performances are augmented by a cast of bizarre characters, props and routines which have helped propel the band to headlining status at Seattle's top venues as well as a stint on the 2006 Warped Tour to rave reviews. Super Geek League's first album Peppermint Rainbows is currently charting on college radio across the United States and Canada. Peppermint Rainbows can be heard at SuperGeekLeague.com

Skrillex: Before he even entered his twenties, Skrillex was bringing down some of LA's hottest clubs with his unique mix of dubstep and house. The Los Angeles based DJ has released three solo EP's since 2010 and is currently on the road promoting his latest, More Monsters and Sprites. Don't miss a performance on the Skrillex concert schedule (2011); Use Eventful as your source for Skrillex tour dates and venue information.

The native Angelino was first hired at sixteen by post-hardcore punk group, From First to Last, to be their guitarist. He stayed with the band from 2004 through 2007 and toured with the group on the Vans Warped Tour and the Dead by Dawn Tour. Skrillex released two albums with the group and went solo in 2007. Skrillex embarked on a solo tour and sold his demo work on the road. In 2008, Skrillex toured on the Ap Tour with All Time Low and The Matches. Skrillex released his debut EP, Gypsyhook EP and he toured with Hollywood Undead.

In 2010, Skrillex released his sophomore EP, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, and he announced a nationwide tour with Deadmau5. His production work and individual EPs are setting the music industry ablaze, and he was asked by Korn to produce a track for their latest album. Skrillex tour dates were booked at Coachella 2011 and he embarked on an Australia wide tour in May. His third EP, More Monsters and Sprites recently debuted at #5 on the Dance Albums chart and he announced a US-wide tour. Skrillex will be on the road throughout 2011; Use Eventful as your Skrillex concert calendar and for venue information.

LIGHTS: My name is Lights. I'm a small girl who dwells in Toronto and makes music. Most of what you hear comes out of my bedroom. When I write songs I think about how it makes people feel, and I hope that when it goes into your ears you feel happy too. Not sexy happy but apple pie happy. When I do shows I suppose I would do everything myself if I were a squid, but I only have two arms. So, there are two lovely musicians that join me on stage named Maurie and Adam (you can find them in my top 8).

LOW: Duluth, MN - Formed in 1993, Low is a trio from Duluth, Minnesota comprised of guitarist/vocalist Alan Sparhawk, percussionist/vocalist Mimi Parker and bassist Zak Sally. Throughout Low's history, the band has accumulated acclaim from critics ("Low build big magic from so little" - Rolling Stone) and musicians (Radiohead hand-picked Low to open a string of dates in 2003). Initially garnering attention as leaders of the '90s slowcore movement, Low went on to develop a sonic repertoire that incorporated pop, R&B and dissonant rock n' roll. With this kind of storied history, most people thought they had Low pegged. But then they turned in their Sub Pop debut, The Great Destroyer. The band's seventh full-length album, The Great Destroyer is fascinating in that it blends the band's austere melodies ("On the Edge Of," "Silver Rider") with an aggressive guitar onslaught ("Monkey," "Everybody’s Song") and even melds Low's varied styles together into a single song ("When I Go Deaf"). Co-produced by Low and David Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), The Great Destroyer is a welcome surprise and, in the end, a rock n' roll revelation.

Passion Pit: The Boston, MA-based Passion Pit began as a one-man project of singer and songwriter Michael Angelakos to produce a Valentine's Day gift for his girlfriend. The gift, an EP entitled Chunk of Change, soon wound up in the hands of friends and acquaintances, who were enthralled with the work. Eventually, Passion Pit became not only a vehicle for the romantic expressions of Angelakos' heart but a full-fledged band -- at least for live gigs -- and opened for a number of well-known artists including Death Cab for Cutie. This momentum led to label interest, and in 2008 the Frenchkiss label picked up Chunk of Change for re-release, even going so far as to tack on two bonus tracks. A full-length from Passion Pit was in the planning stages and a 2009 release date was said to be in the cards.

M83: M83 is an electronic music group consisting of Nicolas Fromageau and Anthony Gonzalez, and was formed in Antibes, France in 2001. The musical style owes something to the shoegazing genre in its extensive use of reverb effects and lyrics spoken softly over loud instrumentals, though M83's songs employ considerably less guitar than most shoegazing bands such as My Bloody Valentine. All three of their albums were well received, in particular Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, their second album, which allowed them to break through to a larger audience. For the third album released by M83, Before the Dawn Heals Us, Gonzalez decided to part from Fromageau (after an emotionally distressing tour for Dead Cities) and record mainly on his own, with the help of a few other musicians.

Fishbone: Fishbone lives up to their legend as "THE" group to bridge the gap between the funk of George Clinton and the blare of Rush; a hybrid fusion where Led Zeppelin and Sly Stone dance to a frenetic ska beat that fuel's the alternative thrust of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction and the cast of Lollapalooza. From their childhood together in the hardcore South Central Los Angeles wasteland to years of forced school-bused integration, Fishbone's influences were kaleidoscopic and never-ending. The band was formed in 1979 in the ghettos of South Central Los Angeles. The group came from the same Los Angeles scene that spawned the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane's Addiction. Fishbone first gained attention with their unique live concerts, earning a reputation as one of the most original bands in the alternative genre. Their unique stew of different styles, mixed with hectic energy and pounding rhythms, were a huge influence on the funk/rock/metal/rap genre that would become popular in the 1990s. Live audiences around the world have been surrendering to the band's stage flash and magical rhythms with uninterrupted regularity. Such passionate devotion is not lost on Fishbone, who refer to their friends on the road as "The Familyhood."