…will be posted in two installments. Watch this space later this week for some quaint human-interest studies at the R.E.M. gig.

But for today, some of Labor Day’s other Seattle Center sights.

THE VAIN ALTERNA-HAIR SALON had a booth selling, among other products and services, this retro Joan Jett purse. I attracted the awe and respect of everyone working the booth when I told ’em I’d seen Joan Jett perform at Wrex, the old new-wave bar where Vain is now.

THE EMP SKY CHURCH SPACE, wide and very tall yet relatively shallow, remains one of the wonders of the rock world. No wonder VH1’s shooting an entire concert series there. Here, Lesli Wood of the loud-fast combo Ms. Led.

In the where-be-they-now corner, Mary Lou Lord (once the darling of KNDD’s old Loudspeaker show) continues to patiently ply her trade, major-label offers or no major-label offers.

My fave act of the day, though, was the harmonic driving pop of the New Pornographers, featuring several Vancouverites and ex-Tacoman Neko Case (center). I could spend a lifetime in the universe of their happy/skeptical tuneage.