MUSICMARAUDERS

Black Rock City Gerlach, NV Words By J. Picard Photos By Carly Picard & J. Picard This isn't necessarily an easy story to tell. What follows is an absolute account of a single group's experience at one of the most challenging and most unexplainable events of our time. The stories and occurrences described are our interpretations of reality and perceived reality throughout our time in Black Rock City, and the resulting tale is one of an expansive dream that plays out with 70,000 dreamers on a dry prehistoric lake bed. Our adventure began as most do in our home town of Denver, CO with extensive preparations, including the purchase of a brand new tent and EZ-up. For weeks we slowly directed costumes and nonsensical items towards dusty bins that eventually filled to the brim and were sealed for the trip. Prior to our departure we met with our group that included my fiancé, Carly (five time Burner), Murray (two time Burner) and Spuckes, who would be making his first trip

Words By Brad Yeakel ( Opti Mystic Outlooks ) As one of my favorite funk outfits, the release of Lettuce's new album Crush (Let us crush, get it?) was high on my priority list. The tight horn arrangements, booming bass, flawless rhythm, and intricate guitar work that defined the Lettuce catalog were evident straight out of the bag. You can't always judge a book by it's cover, but the hybrid elephants and deer were "instrumanimals," providing a visual aesthetic that was as intriguing as the music within. "The Force" kicked things off with the sizzling horns and thumping bass I'd come to expect. In my experience, most Lettuce albums tend to smack you in the face immediately, while there was an element of that at play, this seemed to be a bit more mellow than previous albums. "Get Greasy" was typical funk, but leaned slightly outside Lettuce's wheelhouse. The airy funk seemed a tad less aggressive than I expected. Much of the sound

Nectar Lounge Seattle, WA Words By Coleman Schwartz Photos By Scott Shrader ( J. Scott Shrader Photography ) Thursday night at Nectar Lounge in Seattle saw one of the venue’s most interesting bills in recent memory. Local contemporary jazz quartet Industrial Revelation started things off, and the headlining act was a super-jam between guitarist Andy Coe, drummer Pete Ciotti, organist Wil Blades and DJ Logic. Industrial Revelation brought a large contingent of fans out to catch their set. Nectar took on the vibe of a jazz club, with many patrons watching from the seats and those standing not pushed so tightly together. The band’s set was nothing less than prolific. The four musicians, drummer D’Vonne Lewis, bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, trumpeter Ahamefule Oluo and keyboardist Josh Rawlings, are each among the finest musicians in Seattle at their respective instrument. Within the first track, I was extremely impressed at how well the four of them could play together. They somehow