Wanda's Picks

Eric Reed opens the morning program. He'll be in town March 23, for two shows at Yoshi's in Oakland, CA. Visit www.EricReed.net and MySpace.com/EricReedJazz. His latest,"Stand!" is a wonderful reflection on Ephesians 6:13--all original Reed music. We'll have to ask him what it all means. The CD features his trio: Reed on piano, Willie Jones III on drums and Rodney Whitaker on bass. The Oakland gig has a different line-up. Pippa Fleming, who describes herself as a Lesbian vocalist who lays her hands on her audience by putting their spirits at ease and conveying humanities truths. She says she is "ear witness to the diverse sounds of a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-generational collective of amazing musicians who are putting independent music back on the map, frontline vocalist for the group: "Deemed Defective." They have a gig March 20. Kind of rare, so Pippa fans need to catch her at the The Rocket Room, 406 Clement Street, San Francisco, 94118, 8:30 p.m. $4 if you reserve your tickets at www.basecampmusic.com,www.myspace.com/deemeddefective We close with a conversation with Jean Damu and perhaps Rob Prince from the University of Denver's School of International Studies on the international warfare in the Congo and the 6th Anniversary of the War in Afganistan (3/19). He'll be at the airport early. We hope he'll call in. We are also going to feature our first commentary by Death Row Journalist Mumia Abu Jamal.