Beast Wellington Story - Draft A

Wednesday night. Ten O'clock. Streets of Richmond seem barren and uninviting. Might as well stay in and watch the overproduced simulacra that FOX TV has to offer with new high school comedy Glee or force yourself to study in the drab and barren library all night, wandering home only where you can hardly read another word.

Such is the all-too-common mentality of a young Richmond VCU student who has not been exposed to what impressive and skilled instrumentalists display at such venue's as Bogart's and The Camel on a weekly basis. VCU junior Mary Lawrence Hicks participates in two ensembles, Use the Vastness(UTV) and Beast Wellington, performing in varying venues on a regular basis as well as offering everything from covers of indie-rock band Metric to interpretations of traditional Indian ragas.

Both groups bring their own originality in sound and presentation. Beast Wellington performs a free show weekly at local restaurant and bar, Bogart's, and crosses the boundaries as a exclusively feminine horn ensemble. All members performing in the group are young women, speaking for themselves when they say they can hold their own. Beast Wellington creates a picture of what the jazz revolution in the 60s and 70s originaly began.