A Nettle Blooms

Image of Nettle taken from the band's Myspace page.

Forgive Bostonist for the botanical metaphors, but where a rose once thrived, a nettle shall grow among a bush of thorns.

Here's a brief explanation. After the hailstorm of media and community criticism that Brandeis has suffered since the university announced it would close its art museum, the Waltham institution certainly has garnered a terrible public image when it comes to the arts. Although the decision surrounding the Rose Art Museum is in red-tape purgatory, one recent announcement regarding Brandeis and the arts could provide something of a face-lift for the school's image. Thursday, Wayne Marshall—a Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Ethnomusicology at the university—announced the U.S. premier of DJ/rupture's world music supergroup, Nettle, will be at Brandeis on Saturday, March 21st. The performance will cap off a three-day residency by the band at Brandeis as part of a world music series entitled Music Unites Us, and will no doubt be a can't-miss opportunity for all music fans.

For more information, head to Wayne's blog, wayne&wax; to purchase tickets, head to Brandeis tickets. And, if you appreciate the work that Wayne Marshall has done to support the arts, check out the petition to hire Wayne as a full-time professor at Brandeis at Innermost Parts.