Author, Band Bring Mystery and Music to (Name of Bookstore)

Keith Snyder and the Cosmic Debris turn book readings into performance

When Keith Snyder's mystery/thriller, Show Control, hit the stores this month, he did things a little differently from most authors. Not content with the usual string of signings and readings, Keith enlisted the assistance of The Cosmic Debris, an acoustic/electronic music group, to create dramatizations of selected novel chapters at book stores.

"It was a terrific combination," says Judith Martin, event coordinator for the Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. "A dramatic reading and live soundtrack."

On (date and time), Keith and the band will be bringing their hybrid show to (name and address of store).

The stacks of electronic music equipment used by the Debris in their performances seem appropriate to the task, since Show Control is a mystery thriller with a high-tech angle: It's about a musician who looks into the onstage death of a performance artist.

It's not coincidental that Show Control deals with the electronic music world. Previously the keyboardist with Afropop band Kadara, Keith has played with the Cosmic Debris for about two years.

"It's an unusual group," Keith says. "Richard (Bugg) plays electronically altered flute and Chris (Meyer) manipulates a huge library of rhythm loops and sound effects. I do keyboards and vocals. And RZ (Richard Zvonar) captures the sounds the rest of us make, and alters them, fromsubtle enhancement to outright mangling. Blake Arnold (the Debris' spoken word artist) and I both do character voices on the chapters we dramatize, and other times I do more of a 'straight' reading." He laughs: "Our first attempt was definitely an exercise in multitasking; I found myself reading a chapter and improvising a reggae pattern on the keyboard at the same time."

Mystery Scene's advance review of Show Control said, "the archetype of the amateur detective is taken to a new level of wit," and Small Press Magazine called it "an entertaining and notable first novel that really sparkles... crisp, cryptic, and humorously cynical"

A Show Control excerpt, reviews, book-signing schedule, author's page, a link to the Cosmic Debris page, and more are on the World Wide Web at:

http://www.hooked.net/mammoth/showcontrol

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