Hey folks!   Hope everyone’s summer has been good.  I am still waiting for the summer heat, but I think we simply got denied this year.  The fringes of the Bay Area got warm, but SF stayed mild, if not rather cool.  On to more exciting subjects than the weather…

The Shotgun Wedding Quintet played the Independent with Forrest Day on August 16th.   They boys played a 40 minute set before letting Forrest get all apeshit and drip sweat and spit all over the stage. After great performances by Remo Conscious and The Saurus, Dublin welcomed each member of SWQ to the stage.  They played favorites such as “The Beat” and “Half Full or Half Empty” along with some songs that have been around for a minute but haven’t been heard for a while, like “The DJ is Drunk.”  Towards the end of Forrest’s set, he welcomed up Dublin, Aspect, an MC whose name I didn’t catch, and The Saurus for some freestyling (well, most of it was anyway.)  Dublin, who had a few (read: 5+) drinks in his gut, dropped this insane freestyle, touching on the venue, songs that were played by Forrest, members of the audience and something about a rocket ship.  It was one of the hottest verses I had heard in a long time… and it was straight from the head.

The entire night was a lot of fun.  When Forrest and Shotgun playback to back it makes for a great night.  Both bands are unique in their own right, but subtly compliment each other.  Myself and the rest of SF look forward to their next show together.     Photos from SWQ set can be seen here. 

SpaceHeater will be doing 2 sets of music this weekend at El Rincon! and Next weekend at the Edingburgh Castle on the 29th in SF! Go See them play! Their sound is created by composer Evan Francis, a truly unique style of melody and latin/Timba/hip-hop ryhthms. Francis’ voice is really his own and it is easy to see his spirit come out of him with these songs and suprisingly more with his solo’s! Come and be a part of the music….it really needs to be heard to have it’s full effect!!!

I was very lucky to get to go to The Independent on 6.16.07 and see Meshell who is one of my all times faves. I’ve seen her a number of times and always really dug the different approach she takes with each record and corresponding live touring show. Her latest vibe is a culmunation of everything I’ve heard in her music since the beginning plus a heavy dose of ROCK. The addition of the heavy beats was not subtle and seemed to be a very intentional step in a different direction. Just adding some rock to the set wasn’t what made it amazing, it was the way that they have developed their own take on rock and mixed it with lots of DUB, reggae and even some ska; plus add in all the other music she has showed she is the master off including jazz, hip-hop, folksy/singer-songwriter, ballads, funk…c’mon!
Her new drummer is freekin amazing!