All the buzz at Bumbershoot The 39th annual Bumbershoot festival will bring main stage headliners Sheryl Crow, Jason Mraz and Modest Mouse to Seattle Center this weekend, not to mention hundreds of other musicians, comedians, dancers, short films and that one lady who always dresses up like a fairy and break dances.

The full schedule can be found online at www.bumbershoot.org. But there’s a lot to sift through, and I thought I’d make planning your Bumbershoot a smidge easier by breaking down a few acts that will (or should) generate buzz at the big Bumbershow.

FIVE BIG SHOTS SURE TO HAVE PEOPLE TALKING

1. Katy Perry (1:30 p.m. Saturday, Starbucks Stage): Jill Sobule might be ticked about Perry allegedly jacking her lesbian lip lock concept for her own breakthrough hit. (Read TheRumpus.net to see just how ticked she is about that whole “I Kissed a Girl” thing.) But who needs friends when you’re the newly anointed princess of pop, and you’re still riding high on “Waking Up in Vegas,” the fourth hit single from your debut album? It’s one of Perry’s last shows before she hosts MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sept. 13.

2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2:30 p.m. Sunday, Memorial Stadium): The Brooklyn trio might have crafted the year’s most hipster and critic approved top 40 album with its stylish, synth-infused “It’s Blitz!”

3. Michael Franti & Spearhead (7:15 p.m. Sunday, Memorial Stadium): Franti made waves in hip-hop’s underground with the Beat Nigs and Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Then gradually he introduced more soul and reggae into his Spearhead repertoire before cracking mainstream circles after years of positive, dynamic live shows.

4. Black Eyed Peas (3 p.m. Monday, Memorial Stadium): Love ’em or hate ’em, it’s hard to deny that “Boom Boom Pow” is this summer’s inescapable anthem. Hopefully, Fergie will be more focused than during her sloppy set at the Puyallup Fair last year.

5. Modest Mouse (9:30 p.m. Monday, Memorial Stadium): Fresh from their appearance at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival, the Seattle and Portland based band will close the festival out with fresh cuts from their new “No One’s First and You’re Next” EP. But they’ll do it sans ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who has been playing with indie outfit, the Cribs, these days.

FIVE ACTS THAT AREN’T AS BIG BUT ARE STILL BUZZWORTHY

1. De La Soul (9:30 p.m. Saturday, Fisher Green Stage): The iconic hip-hop trio released “Are You In?: Nike + Original Run,” a single-track, 44-minute mix for Nike which is only available through iTunes. Sellouts? Not necessarily. But here’s hoping the band doesn’t come out pitching Kobe IVs.

2. Roy Ayers (7:30 p.m. Sunday, Fisher Green Stage): As a legendary vibraphonist, Ayers left his mark on jazz, soul and funk dating back to the ‘60s. He was also a main influence of the acid jazz movement in the 1990s and a favorite sample source for rappers Digable Planets, Mos Def and Black Moon.

3. David Cross (8:15 p.m. Sunday, Performing Arts Stage): From TV appearances on “Mr. Show” and “Arrested Development” to a pair of hee-larious, politically oriented stand-up discs for Sub Pop, Cross knows funny. His just released book, “I Drink for a Reason,” landed him in the literary lineup.

4. The Minus 5 and the Baseball Project (1:30 p.m. Monday, Starbucks Stage): Northwest rock vet Scott McCaughey unveiled songs from the M5’s rootsy, new “Killingsworth” album at Hell’s Kitchen in July. Before that show, he said this set would include material from the Baseball Project, a band that includes him, his REM and Minus 5 collaborator Peter Buck and Steve Wynn.

5. 3 Inches of Blood (9:30 p.m. Monday, Rockstar Energy Drink Stage): Vancouver, B.C.’s most Dungeons & Dragons-obsessed rockers recently recorded new album “Here Waits They Doom” in Seattle with producer Jack Endino. (See related story.)

FIVE LESSER HOMEGROWN ACTS WORTH SUPPORTING

1. Hotels (2 p.m. Saturday, EMP/SFM): Hotels recall the Manchester sound, circa 1980 (you know, Joy Division, the Smiths) updated with hints of Stereolab-style synth-pop. New album “Where Hearts Go Broke” is my favorite Northwest recording of 2009 so far.

2. The Kindness Kind (12:30 p.m. Sunday, EMP/SFM): This Seattle quintet crafts smart, dreamy pop-rock in the vein of Blonde Redhead or Mazzy Star. I was impressed when I first caught them at the New Frontier Lounge last fall.

3. Mount Saint Helens Vietnam Band (2:30 p.m. Sunday, Broad Street lawn): They’re like some indie, post-modern answer to the Partridge Family. Band leader Benjamin Verdoes is married to multi-instrumentalist Traci Eggleston-Verdoes, and 14-year-old drummer Marshall Verdoes is their adopted baby bro. A penchant for dressing in matching, wallpaper-pattern vests and beige pants underscores the quirkiness of the band’s name. But their angular brand of dance-rock was a hit when I last caught them at Sasquatch festival.

4. Visqueen (12:45 p.m. Monday, Broad Street Lawn): Singer-guitarist Rachel Flotard has already appeared on one hit album this year, having sung backing vocals on pal Neko Case’s breakthrough, “Middle Cyclone.” And now she and Seattle’s spunkiest pop-punk band are poised to unveil their new “Message to Garcia” CD.

5. The Cave Singers (6:45 p.m. Sunday, Starbucks Stage): With this rootsy Seattle outfit’s second album for Matador, “Welcome to Joy,” picking up steam, could the band be this year’s Fleet Foxes?

Ernest Jasmin: 253-274-7389

ernest.jasmin@thenewnewstribune.com