There are no less than three fantastic music festivals all taking place over the weekend of September 14-16. What gives? And how do we choose? Since we live in the bay area, perhaps our decision has been made for us: we're heading to the inaugural Treasure Island Music Festival presented by the fine folks at Noise Pop and Another Planet. The two day festival features 14 bands each day on two stages with mostly hip hop and electronica on Saturday (Theivery Corporation, DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist, M.I.A.) and a great lineup of indie rock on Sunday (Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, Clap Your Hands). And it all takes place on Treasure Island, that scrap of land you've seen a thousand times but likely have never set foot on. Getting there is sure to be an adventure! Check out the full lineup and get your tickets. We've got a pair of tickets for one lucky winner to go to one day of the Treasure Island Music Festival. (We're not sure which date yet but will update this post as soon as we hear back from our contact! But both days are really good so you can't go wrong. Contest ends 8/22; winner will be notified via email.)

So back to our rant: during that same weekend, the three-day Austin City Limits Music Festival is happening in Austin with a lineup that includes Bob Dylan, Bjork, The White Stripes and Arcade Fire. And just this morning we read about the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado, that also boasts a great lineup including The Flaming Lips, The Decemberists, and some smaller bands we'd love to see like Forget Cassettes. One of our favorite bands of all time, Spoon, has the right idea: they're somehow managing to play all three festivals. Normally we'd be a little worried about the band being jetlagged by the time they headline for us that Sunday night, but these guys are professionals. They'll deliver.

On to this week's show recommendations. Start tonight early by heading to the Burn My Eyes 2 Rock Poster Show at 12 Galaxies featuring twelve rock poster artists exhibiting and selling their work. Later on Popscene presents Junior Senior and Switches at 330 Ritch. On Friday, KPIG presents the legend himself Alejandro Escovedo at Great American with opener Sonny Smith. The Go, bellavista and White Savage are at Bottom of the Hill and over at Slim's you can see Detroit Cobras with Dan Sartain and The Willowz. On Saturday, Birdmonster pack Cafe Du Nord with Eulogies and DJ Ted from BAGeL Radio.

Click the link below for more show recommendations, videos and rants.

On Sunday, catch KCRW darling Johanna Kunin at Make-Out Room. Recommended if you like female singers with meandering melodies in the vein of Laura Veirs. On Monday, return to Make-Out Room to check out High Diving Horses and Ian Thomas. High Diving Horses is a duo that share the same surname (husband and wife, brother and sister?) and we kinda like their simple songs backed by guitar and keyboard (and we definitely like their dog). Also on Monday, head to Mezzanine for a screening of Daft Punk's "Electroma" followed by performances from Robot Rock featuring Riot in Belgium, The Bang Gang DJ's and Dandi Wind,. The most exciting part of the bill to us is the presence of Dandi Wind, a truly unique musician and performing artist. Imagine electro-art-punk delivered by a leotard-clad woman whose moves are equal parts Mick Jagger and Jazzercise. (We'll spare you from our impulse to coin the term Jagger-cise. Or will we?) Get a glimpse of what we're talking about in this video:

On Tuesday if you didn't snag tickets to see Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Fillmore, why not try something new at Cafe Du Nord? SFist Matty Matt tipped us off to the magic of Wing who apparently achieved cult fame on "South Park" (we totally missed this because we haven't watched the show in years). Watch Wing give her unique take on "I Wanna Hold Your Hand":

On Wednesday, we couldn't dream of a more mellow and non-controversial bill than Mandy Moore and Paula Cole at The Fillmore. Two questions: what ever happened to Paula Cole and why, oh why, did Yahoo Music decide to document Mandy Moore's cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella" (we're not dignifiying the performance with a link)? Don't get us wrong, we're all about cover songs, but generally we like our covers to show us a completely different take on a song we're familiar with and/or open us up to an older song we've never heard before. In this case, the body's not even cold yet (news flash: we've all already realized that "Umbrella" is a great song and not just a smoke-n-mirrors pop construct) and Ms. Moore's lite-rock version leaves us underwhelmed. OK we're taking a deep breath now. Also on Wednesday Daniel Johnston headlines Bimbo's, and over at Rickshaw Stop Immigrant celebrate a CD release with Apside, a mariachi band, DJ Omar and tequila specials. Sounds like trouble.