Seed of the Transformer – The Gettysburg Address 2011
Sitting around the Duke Street apartment late one October night, members of
the artist collective 16 Pound Rabbit, unconventionally derived their band
name for their newest project, The Gettysburg Address. Victor Rivera, Jenn
Blaisdell, AJ Nutter, and Rose Principe contributed their ideas on postits,
which covered the wall where they sat. With the use of an online band
name generator and brainstorming, it boiled down to two names. A few day's
later it was decided, and Seed of the Transformer came to life.

The project began in Jenn's Grandmother's (Gram's) house. Gram had been in
the process of moving, and with over 6 decades of life in the house, Gram
accrued a lot of items. Out on a photography adventure, AJ and Jenn went to
Gram's house, not only to help move some boxes, but in hopes to catch
something interesting on film. As they were helping out, they found a box
with old medicine and toiletries, nearly 10 years past their due. In that
box was cassette tape featuring an audio tour of the Gettysburg battle
field. An out of print 80's cassette was too good to pass up. It needed an
artistic reworking from the members of 16 Pound Rabbit.

And so the project began. Ripping the narration from the tape, AJ created
dance beats on his computer and fused both the narration and beats into a
melting pot of experimental electronica. As the songs began to be produced,
the project took shape. Each of the songs represents a portion of the
battle; Famous general Robert E. Lee and President Abraham Lincoln would be
just a few to have their own songs. The Gettysburg Address resonates not
only as a history lesson of one of the most memorable battles to take place
on American soil, but as a reminder of heritage and patriotism. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.