I just returned from another wonderful  Pennsic war. I had to leave in the middle of the week for mundane matters and had returned on Wednesday night and scrambled to get out to the marketplace for an event called "Midnight Madness". This is where the vendors all stay open late into the evening and there are lights and laughter and the bustle one might expect from some exotic middle eastern market. There are numerous performers playing drums and guitars and juggling... all in all transporting one back through time and transforming the marketplace into a wonderland.

Now that you have the setting, imagine if you will talking to some friends when you suddenly realize you are hearing Kashmir... but no ordinary rendition, this is almost surreal! I quickly followed my ears to the source of this wondrous music to find a group of musicians playing with a passion and fervor that drew you even deeper into the music and for  your visual delight there was a fantastic male belly dancer wielding swords and moving as one with the heavenly sounds that seemed to surround and transport you into the exotic fantasy.

This was how I first met Wine and Alchemy and I must say it was a most fabulous introduction to this troupe of talented musicians. Their rendition of the timeless Led Zeppelin classic "Kashmir" showed a devotion and dedication to the soundscape that Led Zeppelin evoked so many years ago and yet enlivened it with new intensity and flair. I could close my eyes and the feeling of reality seemed to both slip away and become more intense as I stood with the mesmerized crowd in the heart of the bustling marketplace.

I highly recommend that you see this group whenever and wherever you can. I purchased their new CD  "Samsara" on the spot and the rest of the tracks are every bit as wonderful and masterfully played as their cover tribute to "Kashmir".

Many thanks to the Wine and Alchemy players at Pennsic and the wonderful performance that truly made that night complete!