Tinariwen, a group of Tuareg musicians who produce an indescribably wonderful fusion of middle eastern and rock music. I anxiously await your nominations,

Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinariwen

Concert on KEXP:
https://m.

Have one of their albums. Fantastic music. The haters are SO much the losers here.

Edit: seriously. Get their music

(NOT a discussion about RKBA, please)

I have been reading some of the essays by kids and others affected by the Parkland shooting last year, and I took stock of how may times that I can remember when I personally have been affected by gun violence. I was shocked at the number of occurrences:

- Lost a friend shot intentionally with a shotgun
- Personally witnessed a (thankfully non-lethal) shooting resulting from an argument
- Lost a family friend to suicide by gun
- Distant family member lost a limb after having been shot with a shotgun in a fight
- Experienced an extremely nearby workplace shooting in which people ran into our workplace to get away

I suspect there are more that I’m not remembering. Other than experiencing our national trauma when these horrible shootings occur, have you been personally affected by gun violence?