(shannon) Hi all! I haven't written for a while but am checking in today. I went to see a lively band in Santa Monica (California) one evening, and had my musical socks blown off. The band, called Shotgun Wedding Quintet http://www.shotgunweddingquintet.com, confidently straddles the distance between electronic jazz and rap, drawing from the beat poets, with obviously well schooled musicianship and a fine sense of humor. The band members are multi instrumentalists who sample themselves while playing, then pick up another instrument to play along with the sample. They always lay down some fat funky groove, layering on the bass, keyboards, horns, strings and turntable, with inventive intellectual sermonizing by the lead rapper/speaker guy called Dublin. At one point during the set he asked the audience to shout out topics, the band would drop into a groove, and he'd go into a spontaneous rap riff on anything from cranapple to George Dubya (a perfect foil if ever there was one). Amazingly sharp synapses jumping, very entertaining. They are from the Bay area, but are beginning to play other areas as well, so check out their website for dates and venues~ it's well worth the trip. They say on their website they want to kick a**, and they do!

Peace of mind is on my mind...

With love, Shannon