Michelle Shocked and Swati June 28, 2007

TWO SHOWS! 7:00pm and 9:30pm

Michelle Shocked ~ An awfully authoritative-sounding internet rock guide insists that Michelle Shocked's life must be fiction. But if it seems like an incredible road movie, a tall tale, a legend, it is no mystery. Michelle Shocked set forth on her adventure ever so young but ever so determined to jump past, jump through, jump beyond any boundary that held her back. She played her first show, her first show ever, at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. She had planned on activism, not a music career. Shocked found herself working for a manager who was also her booking agent and who was also her record label owner. Shocked remembers, "It was as if I'd fallen into a new job at the circus getting shot out of a cannon." Despite the disarray, she had a plan. Shocked now spends time between her homes in Los Angeles and New Orleans . Known at her church as "Sister Shocked," she continues to work quietly for non-violence in the environmental and global justice movements. Her current efforts also involve support for "Save Africa's Children," a pan-African vision that addresses the AIDS pandemic. She has written a cycle of songs Inspired by the brass band scene in New Orleans. Shocked spent time wandering through Mexico and Guatemala, creating another body of work, which explores her Latin-American heritage.

Swati ~ Whatever fate has in store for this promising young band, it’s sure to make for a good story… and an even better song. The Alternate Routes have never been afraid to roll the dice during their brief and turbulent journey, always relying upon their heartfelt brand of music to pull them through the ups and downs that come with the territory. It’s a trait evident in their powerful Vanguard Records debut, Good and Reckless and True, a memorable, incredibly confident opening statement from a band that takes nothing for granted.