Seattle Times jazz, blues and world-music critic Paul de Barros spent much of the past two days at Folklife. His festival review will appear in The Seattle Times Tuesday. Here's how it starts:

The sun had come out again, multicolored blankets speckled the grass of the Fisher Green, Jim Page was singing a protest song about the Iraq war, a “Trust Jesus” placard waved in the sky and a girl in a green granny dress was scooping up bites of apple dumpling with ice cream on top.
It was Monday afternoon at the 37th annual Northwest Folklife Festival, and all seemed right with the world.
That feeling spoke well for the durability and strength of this cherished Northwest celebration, the annual kickoff to the summer season in Seattle. Because on Saturday evening, for the first time, the festival experienced a shooting (three people experienced minor injuries). What’s more, the event was being steered by a brand new executive director, Robert Townsend, who inherited a debt in excess of $100,000.
Despite all that, this year’s Folklife was as robust as ever, and its cultural focus on Urban Indians was a great success.

Read the whole piece in print Tuesday, or follow this link.

And that's it from Folklife 2008! See you next year!

Times freelancer Andrew Matson went to the Native hip-hop concert at Bagley Wright Sunday night. Here's an excerpt from his review:

Bouncing around the whole stage with mic in hand, the rapper appeared joyful. His chant went like this:
"I'm from Tu-LAY-lip! And I'm proud of it! Very few, very few get out of it!"
Sure, his music sounds like party music. That's what hip-hop is. But the raps of 19-year-old Tulalip Tribes member Komplex Kai are more -- a rez-centric reality that registers profound unease. And those raps resonated at the Northwest Folklife Festival at Sunday night's Native hip-hop concert at Bagley Wright Theatre.
For 40 minutes, Kai rapped with a mix of compassion and anger, revealing his allegiance to another tribe that could use a revival: '90s gangsta rappers of emotional substance.

The full review will appear Tuesday in The Seattle Times, but you can read it now here.

Here's another Sunday-night dispatch from Andrew Matson, who went to the late-night Native hip-hop concert:

At the Bagley Wright Theatre, DJ Defcon interviewed Komplex Kai, and the two local Native hip-hop stars (Skagit and Tulalip, respectively) mused that today's urban Indian "doesn’t fight with bows and arrows," said Defcon, but "mikes and beats," finished Kai.

Defcon and Kai brought to the stage a polished, mainstream-leaning style of hip-hop, one that was still very focused on the day-to-day reality of rez life. Komplex Kai is the Tulalip's Tupac.

Read Matson's full review of the concert on Monday at seattletimes.com.

The final day of Northwest Folklife 2008 is here. Here are some picks from The Seattle Times arts staff for Day 4:

9:30 a.m.
Fisher Green Healing Circle, Fisher Green Stage
This ceremony draws on the traditions of the White Swan Dakota, but is for united Indians of all tribes, and opens the last day of this year's Folklife, 9:30-11:30 a.m.

1 p.m.
Urban Indian Blues & Beyond, Fountain Lawn Stage
Two groups -- N8V and Cheyenne River Blues -- show that the "Urban Indian" theme of this year's Folklife extends to unexpected genres -- rock and blues respectively.

3 p.m.
The Many Shades of Gospel Music, Bagley Wright Theatre
The famed Total Experience Gospel Choir is among the gospel groups featured in this three-hour showcase.

For the kids
And families, don’t forget: Kids’ activities rule every day, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., on the Broad Street side of Seattle Center. That’s where children 12 and younger have a place of their own, the Folklife Commons Kids Area, with music, activities, stories and dancing geared toward families.

All in all, there are more than 100 Monday performances scheduled. Find the complete schedule at the Northwest Folklife Web site .

Times freelancer Andrew Matson headed to Northwest Folklife the day after Saturday's shooting incident, and reports that people couldn't stop talking about it. Here's what he saw:

All day people kept talking about Saturday's shooting with surprise. The general sentiment: This is the "free hugs" festival, not the shooting festival.

Case in point: The guys with "free hugs" signs. But there was also a Folklifer advertising, "Punch Me for $5."

That demonstrates a subtle but visible change in the audience at Folklife, no longer just a "hippie fest." The crowd covering the Fountain Lawn was a bunch of hippie revivalists, others who were clearly sick of such people, families with children, and people who just wanted to party. Read a news follow about the shooting Saturday at seattletimes.com.

And kids were everywhere. They waded in the milky blue fountain by the Vera Project -- probably urinating but definitely having fun. All ages got wet and silly in the International Fountain all day. It was hot enough for a real summer-festival feeling.

Christopher of the Wolves, a performer from Port Townsend, plays the didgerioo, steel drum, gong, and other instruments - often all at once. Listen to him perform and talk about how he got started with these diverse instruments.

Shortly after a tribute concert for the great, Northwest-based bard Utah Phillips Friday night, the singer passed away. Phllips had been sick for some time. He died of congestive heart failure. He was 73. Perhaps after the Folklife send-off he felt he could leave us.

Maurice Roman, Egyptian oud master, gave his annual Folklife performance at the Charlotte Martin Theatre this afternoon. No matter how many times I hear Maurice, he always charms me. Hunched over his pear-shaped oud, his chin just topping the instrument, he sang works from Egypt called "Pharaoh Songs" and a Lebanese tune. When someone in the audience recognized it, he chatted in Arabic with her for a while. What a treat to have Maurice in town, and a packed house that not only loves his playing but speaks his language.

Over in the Rainier Room, the accordion bunch was going full bore. Bertram Levy played a lovely ballad on the Argentine squeeze box known as the bandoneon and Laurie Andres, who usually sticks to the Roadhouse contradance bands, graced us with solo jigs and reels. There's no figuring these song titles. "Road to California" is from Vermont; "The Flowers of Michigan," New York.

Best Busker band name on the grounds so far: The Bad Mitten Orchestra, five gals from Eugene Oregon playing accordion, banjo, guitar, bass fiddle and cello between Fisher Terrace and the Charlotte Martin Theatre

How sweetly Seattle sings. Over in the Iintiman Theatre Courtyard, a pickup group of 40 or more choristers sight-read Vivaldi's "Gloria" under the able baton of the Bellevue Chamber Orchestra's Fred Lokken. It wasn't just the reverb in the courtyard that made them sound so celestial. Nice work!

"If I'm a little emotional," said Becky Bendixen, spokesperson for the Aleut dance troupe called Sngagim Axasniikangin, whose voice cracked several times during her announcements, "it's because the anthropologists said my culture was dead and my language was dead. This is proof to you -- we're so not dead."

That's for sure. The dance program at Intiman Theatre part of Foiklife's cultural focus this year, Urban Indians, which deals with an often-neglected group: Native Americans in cities, off the reservation. The Aleuts, mostly from Bellingham but with roots in the Aleutian Islands, were more than lively, shouting, chanting, jumping, paddling, ducking under one another and slapping frame drums. They did a seagull dance, eagle dance, a halibut dance and a grass dance, that last of which climaxed with an explosion feathers that filled the air, then floated slowly to the floor. Their regalia was great: brown, orange and yellow deerskin with tassles, and multi-colored beads dangling over their faces. The group has only been together seven months, but they drew a well-deserved standing ovation from the crowd.

Later that afternoon, on the narrative stage on Fisher Terrace, in a meaty program called "Storytelling as the Source of Wisdom," Roger Fernandes, of the Lower Elwha S'Klallam tribe, told a creation myth of the Snoqualmie that involved a bird that wouldn't wash its face, a catacysmic flood and a heroic contest between otter, muskrat and beaver. The happy result? They saved the world. Unlike other native storytellers, Fernandes then deconstructed the story, explicating its subtle wisdom. We ate it up. Never mind the elder who approached him afterward, mildly scolding, "We can give people food, but we shouldn't chew it for them."

Day 2 of Folklife is still going strong, but here's some of the fun we're looking forward to on Day 3:

11 a.m.
Recess Monkey, Just for Kids Showcase, Fisher Green Stage
This local kids’ rock band will get the kids screaming — and the parents dancing, too. The two-hour showcase at Fisher Green continues with Board of Education and Sandy Buchner.

12:20 p.m.
“Urban Indians: Dance Celebration,” Intiman Theatre
Dance troupes from the Haida, Aleut and Tlingit traditions are part of a this two-hour showcase, one of many performances under the umbrella of this year’s cultural focus, the Urban Indian.

1 p.m.
Carrie Akre, Fisher Green Stage
The local fave singer has a short live set.

3:30 p.m.
Northwest Independent Showcase, Vera Stage
Independent artists in a variety of genres play this 2 1/2-hour showcase — Calvin Johnson plays “homemade music,” Christina Antipa is all folk.

7 p.m.
“Indigenous & Indigenius Hip Hop,” Bagley Wright Theatre
This hip-hop concert will showcase Native musicians and rappers, including Culture Shock Camp, Komplex Kai and Red Eagle Soaring.

7 p.m.
All-ages alternative concert, EMP Sky Church
With the Nextdoor Neighbors, the Mission Orange, the Lonely Forest and others.

For the kids
And families, don’t forget: Kids’ activities rule every day, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., on the Broad Street side of Seattle Center. That’s where children 12 and younger have a place of their own, the Folklife Commons Kids Area, with music, activities, stories and dancing geared toward families.

All in all, there are more than 100 Sunday performances scheduled. Find the complete schedule at the Northwest Folklife Web site .

Portland-based band Sassparilla was just one of the many that played the Northwest Folklife Festival.

Click here, to visit the band's myspace page.

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Seattle Times Breaking News Alert:

2 shot at Seattle Center; suspect apprehended

At least two people were shot at approximately 6:37 p.m. at the Northwest Folklife Festival at Seattle Center, according to the Seattle Police Department. Police said a suspect was quickly apprehended and both victims were taken to local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.

To register for Seattle Times breaking news alerts, click here.

Listen to The Hail Seizures

For more information about The Hail Seizures, visit the band's website at www.hailseizures.net.

More from Christine Clarridge:

Northwest Folklife is super crowded today, but the vibe is super mellow. People are lying in the sun, listening to musica, reading and eating. Everyone is friendly.

A bunch of teens and 20somethings are listening and dancing to the music of the Hail Seizures, an Olympia punk-folk band made up of former Evergreen State College students. They're having a "rent party" in front of the Center House all day today and Sunday.

Zach Olson, 19, of Mountlake Terrace, called the Hail Seizures, "totally legit -- an original sound," and then bought the band's CD -- and put Hail Seizures that much closer to making rent.

Check out the Hail Seizures here.

Everyone who goes to Northwest Folklife knows that some of the best talent is on the street, not on stage. Christine Clarridge found a huge crowd of people enjoying the sidewalk performance of the Sassparilla Jug Band.

Why did the popular Portland band choose the insurgent route? Said one member: "We enjoy the weather, the crowd and we make more money."

Still feel the need to listen to this crew on a stage? You can catch them tonight at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard, where the bill starts at 9:30 and the cover is $10. Listen to Sassparilla on MySpace.

More marimba from Christine Clarridge at the Mural Amphitheatre:

At Northwest Folklife every year, there are a group of marimba fans who follow the mallet music from stage to stage. Today you'll find marimba at the Mural Amphitheatre and the Fountain Lawn Stage -- and Jeff Astle is one of the many running back and forth between them.

Astle, a Vashon Island worm farmer and wood cutter, said he has heard every single marimba act at every single day of Folklife since he discovered marimba msuic -- and the joy of dancing to it -- 20 years ago.

"I'd never danced before," Astle said, "but I heard this and I said, 'Excuse me,' and I had to go dance. I've been dancing ever since."

Christine Clarridge is The Times reporter on the Northwest Folklife grounds today, and she has this report from Seattle Center:

The sun is out and spring-starved Seattleites are in celebration mode, dancing joyfully to the world tunes at the Mural Amphitheatre. Mukana Marimba, a Zimbabwean marimba ensemble, kicked things off with their 11 a.m. set. And to say people are enjoying it would be an understatement.

More world music follows throughout the day on this stage, one of 16 performance venues that will be popping all day. Eagle's Jump, a Native fusion band, hits the Mural Amphitheatre at 2:10, Rhythm Planet presents world rhythms -- roots beats to groove -- at 6:20, and it caps off with the World Beat Manifesto, a three-hour showcase with Senegalese pop, Celtic bluegrass and good old-fashioned rock 'n' roll from 7 to 10 tonight.

On opening day of the 2008 festival, Summit School of Seattle sang, danced, and played the steel drums. Dance instructor Amelia Bolyard talks about their experience.

That sounds about right for the unofficial start of summer in Seattle … and the first day of the Northwest Folklife Festival at Seattle Center.

This year's cultural focus, "The Urban Indian," is represented on stages around the fest, which also includes all kinds of music (jazz bands at the Mural Amphitheatre, blues and roots music on the Fountain Lawn stage), dance (belly dance at the Charlotte Martin Theatre, tango, Ukrainian dance and Polynesian dance on the International Dance Stage), and fun activities for kids over on the Broad Street side of Seattle Center. Read a complete schedule here, and our preview stories -- including an interview with the new director -- here.

Heading to Folklife today despite the clouds? You can post your reaction to early stage shows below. And watch this space all weekend for news, reviews and our picks for each day.