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Catch Lettuce and other inspiring musicians at Wanderlust Squaw Valley, July 20\u201323. Click here<\/a> for tickets and more information.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus has just returned from Europe and is watching waves land on a Los Angeles beach when I reach him by phone. \u201cIt\u2019s all synchronized,\u201d he tells me. \u201cPaying attention to coincidences is where you start.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re talking about music. Erick \u201cJesus\u201d Coomes, aka Erick Dangerous, is the founding bass player of Lettuce<\/span><\/a>\u2014the world-renowned funk outfit set to headline Friday night of the 2017 Wanderlust Festival in Squaw Valley.<\/span><\/p>\n To call any of this coincidence strikes this writer as insulting to the Great Storyteller in the Sky. In the summer of 1992, six teenagers arrived individually at the Berklee School of Music, each inspired by a unique angle of old school funk (think Herbie Hancock, Tower of Power, Earth, Wind & Fire) and collectively specializing in an ideal blend of instruments to form the foundations of a funky band.<\/span><\/p>\n From the start, these musicians shared the love of funk and weren\u2019t afraid to play it. Returning to Berklee as undergrads, they would tromp around Boston, instruments-in-hand, asking jazz bar stage managers to \u201cLet us play!\u201d Thus, the name Lettuce, and thus the organic, word-of-mouth growth that has led to a catalog of critically-acclaimed studio albums, namely their 2003 Live in Tokyo<\/span><\/a> released on Blue Note Records. Now, they\u2019ve got a slew of sold out shows across Europe, including prime-time sets at prestigious festivals like North Sea<\/span><\/a> in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy.<\/span><\/p>\n In the 25 years since that first summer, Lettuce has produced and performed of some of the grimiest, most intelligent upbeat funk music possible. I mean grimy in a good way\u2014 giving us collaborative instrumentation so tightly woven it\u2019s almost a solid thing you can wriggle your toes into, like dirt. Except it is also spacious, and patient. Lettuce lets the groove lead from intricate compositions into spontaneous sonic spaces where even certain band members feel no need to know what exact song they\u2019re on.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGetting out of the way of the music is really important\u2026 Like, the other night I forgot what song we were playing\u2026 and it got me feeling so happy, so nice, deep in this psychedelic hip-hop, Dilla<\/span><\/a>-esque thing,\u201d Jesus says. \u201cI totally forgot what song we were playing! And I laughed at myself on stage. And personally, I love that part the most, where we\u2019re creating together, [playing] something none of us have ever heard before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n This so-called \u201cflow state\u201d is commonly spoken of amongst musicians, athletes and yogis. Though often named, states of flow are a relatively rare attainment, requiring as they do such delicate harmony between effort and ease, active concentration and essential submission to the movement of the moment. <\/span><\/p>\n This is why we the public become justifiably transfixed with the actual magic enacted on a regular basis by spectacular athletes (here, Jesus mentions Kobe Bryant) and living yogis like Gurmukh<\/span><\/a>, with whom Jesus practiced for at least 10 years.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just like practicing the bass, but practicing the body, practicing the things that make the body work better. Being on the road is hard, and it\u2019s easy to forget to do stuff like [yoga]\u2026 but I still practice kundalini yoga constantly. Haven\u2019t been to class in a while, but I can\u2019t wait to get back to Wanderlust to practice and get in tune with [Gurmukh].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/i>The Lettuce connection to Wanderlust represents yet another non-accident arising from a certain surrender to the flow. Eric Krasno<\/span><\/a> is the \u201ctwo-time Grammy winning guitarist, musician and producer best known for his work with Soulive, Lettuce, Tedeschi Trucks Band & Pretty Lights.\u201d He grew up in a musical family, wherein his brother Jeff was and is a talented musician. Jeff eventually co-founded Velour Records<\/span><\/a> in 1999 alongside Sean Hoess. Subsequent interactions with the global yoga community eventually inspired those two to envision and actualize what we all know and love as Wanderlust. <\/span><\/p>\n Now here we are, ready to celebrate the 8th annual festival at Squaw, with the internationally-acclaimed family band on hand to instigate an epic dance party.<\/span><\/p>\n Such a joyous occasion is no happy accident. From this writer\u2019s perspective, the imminent and ongoing beauty of this particular Wanderlust event is the hard-earned, long-term karmic fruit of many people pursuing their passions and executing on their highest ideals with an earned expectation of excellence.<\/span><\/p>\n Jesus speaks of his life with Lettuce in terms of \u201cdoing [his] dharma,\u201d repeatedly expressing his gratitude for having found such a profound source of collective creativity. In the course of his career, Jesus has contributed on tour and in the studio to performers such as Britney Spears, The Game and DJ Quik.<\/span><\/a> Nonetheless, it is with Lettuce where he feels most at home.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something we totally enjoy. We can\u2019t wait to get to it. All the other things we do are fun too, but it\u2019s like you go through the week, Monday, Tuesday, and so on, and Lettuce is like Friday night. [Lettuce] is the fun part.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So get ready to get down. The whole weekend is a celebration of movement, and Lettuce\u2019s Friday night set is no exception. Now you know. So go! Have fun. Move, breathe, and remember that it\u2019s okay to forget what song it is so long as you\u2019ve lost yourself in dance.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n
\nFinding the Flow State\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Photo by Alex Varsa<\/div><\/div>\nSynchronicity in Squaw Valley\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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David McConaghay is a Colorado-based student & teacher. His mission is to share with the world information, attitudes and techniques of proven benefit to his experience as an individual Earthling. His work and play is available at SatsangEtc.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Founding bass player of Lettuce, Jesus, takes us into the band’s divine journey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2380,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1058],"tags":[68,2719,53,216,1077,59,350],"class_list":["post-78815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wander","tag-inspiration-2","tag-lettuce","tag-wanderlust-music","tag-squaw-valley","tag-wander","tag-wanderlust","tag-wanderlust-festival"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n