Melanie Hammet is a strange mixture. A musician and composer with a long history of performance and musical theater, Hammet ran for elected office four years ago and won a seat on her hometown city council. She successfully ran for a second term in November 2009.
What happened? Imagination, collaboration, creative friction, and optimism—the operating principles of an artist---are an easy fit into the world of community service and small-town politics.
What else? Inspiration and more: in January 2009, Melanie was one of six "artists awarded the Seaside Institute’s Escape To Create residency. Her month-long stay in Seaside Florida resulted in nine new songs, eight of which are being released this fall on two recordings, "Crooked Spoke" and "Edifice Complex". "Crooked Spoke", a six-song EP, was released concurrent with Hammet's southern tour as a guest of David Magee, whose just-published book,"The Education Of Mr. Mayfield", is the result of his 2009 Seaside residency. David saw a connection between the themes of his story and the themes in Melanie’s music and insisted that " . .Spoke" be travel-ready. The songs explore prejudice and the law, a thinking-person’s patriotism, and the importance of running away from alligators. "Edifice Complex and other urban plans", released in April, 2010, explores our disjointed and disconnected relationship with land-use, the pre-eminence of the automobile, and community relationships. The music is fun, thoughtful, and written to spark connection between the esoteric language of planning and zoning and the people it most affects: Everyone.
