Slightly Speechless

...I had planned to post a review of the Mixed Unity Stop the Violence concert in Downtown Silver Spring last Saturday, but I really don't know what to say about a nonviolence concert at which a fight breaks out in the audience and the police start macing people...

I wasn't there for the fight (too busy playing dress-up with the sequined XXXL tops at Burlington Coat Factory), but I was there for a great set from Those Guys and several of the freestyle rappers. Some of the rappers were really talented; others were pretty mediocre. Props to the guy who rapped about how he believes in Jesus rather than sex, drugs, and clubbing, and to the guy who rapped about how he got into drugs then quit. It takes guts to say you disapprove of marijuana in front of an audience of people with smoke clouds visible around their heads...

I didn't catch the names of any of the rappers (yes, the only name I heard was "Those Guys"), but I got a (slightly amateur-ish) flier for a band called Class 6. I missed their set, but I figured I'd go to their MySpace anyways, and to my surprise, they're actually really good. One of the best hip-hop/rock bands I've ever heard. [Because, you know, I listen to soooo many other hip-hop/rock bands, so I totally know good rocking/rapping when I hear it...]

Some good pictures of the concert (and the names of more of the bands) at Silver Spring Town Center, Inc's blog. They don't mention the fight, making it sound like simply a nice little community event... if only it was...