"BREAKING IN ON BROADWAY" / VIEW SITE

Berklee Today - Vol. 20, #4, Spring 2009

Breaking In On Broadway

(This is an excerpt of an article profiling Berklee Alumni Stephen Oremus, Alex Lacamoire, Zach Borovay, Sal Spicola & Anders Bostom. To read the full article, click here: http://www.berklee.edu/bt/204/broadway.html)

New York alumni have made their mark in different quarters of the theater industry.
By Mark Small

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The three new musicals being featured during the evening are Punk (book by Will Brumley, music & lyrics by Brooke Fox & Kurt Gellersted), Group Therapy (book by Rebekah Melocik & Christy Hall, music & lyrics by Rebekah Melocik) and Like You Like It (book & lyrics by Sammy Buck, music by Daniel Acquisto).

The evening will feature direction by Michael Schwartz, Christy Hall and Keith Andrews, musical direction by Aaron Jodoin, Brooke Fox and Kurt Gellersted, and will feature the talents of Tony-nominee Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Avenue Q), Celina Carvajal (Rooms, 42nd Street, Cats), Curt Hansen (Hairspray), Marja Harmon (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Jeff Barba, Wilson Bridges, Trey Compton, Rich Connelly, Gavin Davis, Rebecca Dealy, Tom Hennes, Aaron Lavigne, Alison Luff, Matt Lutz, Caitlin Lee Reid Hollis Scarborough, and Carly Vernon.

New York Theatre Barn (Joe Barros, Producing Artistic Director; Reed Prescott, Executive Director) is a not-for-profit theatre company dedicated to the investigation, development, and advancement of new evocative works. In just two years, the company has introduced a monthly springboard event for writers and performers (NYTB at The Duplex), presented Equity Staged Readings (including the musical I Married Wyatt Earp with Tovah Feldshuh and directed by Tony-nominee Graciela Daniele) and produced a fully realized production (Wood at NYMF with Cady Huffman). NYTB continues to develop and nurture new work and most recently produced a concert of the new musical parody Hey, You Know What Movie Would Make a Good Musical? with Cady Huffman, Elizabeth Stanley and Celina Carvajal, and written by Jason Michael Snow, Ryan Bogner, Mishaela Faucher and Robert Bastron.

New York Theatre Barn also welcomes its new Executive Director Reed Prescott, who will be taking over for David Rigler (a founding member of the company). NYTB has also undergone exciting additions to its team; the Board of Directors now includes Pamela Koslow, John LaRossa, Sheilah Rae, Kerry Watterson, Keola Whittaker and Joe Barros. The Advisory Board includes Tony-Award winning set designer John Arnone, Thomas Caruso, Matt Cavenaugh, Tony-nominated director and choreographer Graciela Daniele, Brian Feinstein, Christopher Gattelli, Rob Hartmann, Tony-Award winning costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, Thom Sesma, Tara Smith, and Barry Z.

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Northeast In-Tune Magazine

Vol. 2 No. 8, August 15th - September 14th Issue

Vacaville, California. Unsigned, Pop/Acoustic

View the original review here:

http://www.northeastintune.com/index.php?bd=reg&sb=land&article=08064

By: Angie Mowery

Brooke Fox is a multi-talented, highly accomplished singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist. She performs on her own, with her husband (Kurt Gellersted, electric guitar and background vocals), or in the company of an entire band (Kurt Gellersted; Jeremy Bletterman, bass; Andrew Potenza, drums). At 28 years old with two self-released albums under her belt, over 200 performances, and many awards to her credit, Brooke Fox has gained quite a following.

Fox graduated from Vacaville High School in 1994, and attended Boston’s Berklee College of Music where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in songwriting. Over the next six years Fox moved to Nashville, got an assistant job in a record studio, came out with her first album (Nightlight, 1999), decided Nashville wasn’t the place for her, moved to New York, and produced her second album (Breathe the Same Air, 2005) from the basement of her Brooklyn apartment building. And she did it all while playing multitudes of shows on the side. It was emotionally exhausting, but she did it. Let’s just say that gave her six years of songwriting fuel to work with.

Both of Fox’s albums have the same main themes coursing through them (love and falling in love), but they are quite different in the way they are written. While Nightlight was a solo release, Breathe the Same Air was a collaboration. And while all the songs on both albums stem from personal experiences or feelings, Breathe the Same Air incorporates the feelings and emotions of the newly married Fox and her husband, Gellersted. The result is dynamic. The lyrics are wholeheartedly beautiful, the instrumentation is simple and compliments the way the songs are written, eliminating the need for overpowering guitar solos. The lyrics leave you wanting more! Fox’s voice is the glue that holds everything together. Her music has a gorgeous, mystifying quality that makes you say “Wow! That’s an amazing way to describe how love feels.”

Brooke Fox is one of those rare talents that you come across every so often. She makes the music you can’t stop listening to because you like it so much. She finds the words to make you wish you were the lucky one in her song. Brooke Fox is a marvelous musician.

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Newsday & AM New York. May 19, 2006

Being Green Would Be Easier

By Ellis Henican

Catholics and movie critics aren't the only ones denouncing "The Da Vinci Code."

Add albinos to the list of those less than thrilled about the church-based Tom Hanks thriller, which hits theaters today.

The villain of all villains in the big-budget instant-blockbuster film? Silas, the albino monk-executioner.

Well, it figures.

"Yet another evil albino in a big Hollywood movie," Michael McGowan, president of the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, sighed yesterday. "By our count, it's the 68th film since 1960 to feature an evil albino."

And not one real albino hero out of Hollywood in all those years.

So this is how some Italians feel every time a new Mafia movie comes out?

"At least the Italians have 'Everybody Loves Raymond,'" McGowan said. "The albino character never gets to be the normal next-door neighbor or the guy sitting two stools down the bar."

Albino activists aren't calling for "Da Vinci Code" boycotts the way some Vatican officials are. They aren't signing the Catholic League's demand for an on-screen disclaimer. They certainly aren't joining forces with the outraged members of Opus Dei, the devout Catholic group depicted in "The Da Vinci Code" as a secretive and creepy cult.

They just want the world to know that pale-white skin and colorless hair don't add up to automatic villainy - whatever hackish book and movie writers might think.

"Albinism is such a rare condition," said Brooklyn singer-songwriter Brooke Fox, who has the condition. "We're talking about just 1 in 18,000 people in the United States. Most people don't know anyone with albinism. What people know comes from the movies and TV."

And what a scary crew of characters that adds up to.

There was the sadistic albino killer in "Cold Mountain" and the white-haired hit man in "Foul Play" with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn. There were the vicious dreadlocked albino twins in "The Matrix: Reloaded." Even "The Princess Bride" made room for a wicked albino executioner.

The stereotype has no basis in medical fact.

"Albinism has absolutely no association with increased violence or anything like that," said Dr. Vail Reese, a San Francisco dermatologist and one of the nation's leading experts on the pigment-suppressing genetic condition.

In fact, Reese added, many albinos suffer from poor eyesight, which makes them especially unsuited for the role of sharpshooting assassin.

And yet here we go again.

The Silas character in "Da Vinci" is played by British actor (and non-albino Brooklyn resident) Paul Bettany. In the Ron Howard film, as in Dan Brown's novel, the monk-assassin carries out a series of murders in an attempt to hide a secret trove of lost Christian documents that could prove Jesus was a husband and father.

Actor Bettany, who got his white skin for the film with heavy makeup, said he intended no offense to the world's albinos. His evil Silas character, he said, should be seen as a victim of his own youthful mistreatment.

"I thought, 'This man's a psychopath, and he's not a psychopath because he's an albino,'" the actor told The Daily Telegraph in London. "He's an amalgamation of everything that happened to him in his life. It's no more a comment on albinos than it is on monks, and no more a comment on monks than it is on people who wear sandals."

Which would be easy enough to believe if the monk-assassin Silas were Hollywood's first albino bad guy.

Easy enough to believe if for every frightful Silas, there was an albino who saved the day.

But it's 68 and counting. How do the 67 albino characters explain themselves? 

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Unsigned Music Magazine, February 2006

Brooke's voice has a certain childish innocence to it, and when you hear it up close and personal as in the track Breathe The Same Air, you feel the maturity and intimacy in her delivery. This track is Brooke and guitars and it works. The lyrics are, well very nice, well written yet simple. The opening string section on track one Cinematic will draw you in and have you asking yourself, "What's next?" The track that shows off her vocals the least is probably The You in Me. I think the pace of this song is too fast for Brooke's soft, intimate vocal style. Her voice is made for being close to the mic, not screaming at it from a far. Musically all of the tracks are good and produced well, but my favorite is the Rhodes piano tinged Bend. Again, this track doesn't show off her vocals as well as some of her other material, but it has a classic 80s Richard Marx sound to it and we all love Richard Marx!

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Sweet homecoming -- Brooke Fox in Vacaville to introduce her new recording

The Daily Republic, Fairfield, CA - July 9th, 2005

By Amy Maginnis-Honey

VACAVILLE - Brooke Fox loves her hometown crowd.

"My Vacaville shows are always packed or close to packed," Fox said, during a phone interview from Los Angeles. "My mom's family is still in Vacaville so they're always shouting out requests. They request things I did in high school because they know the history. And they're always cracking jokes."

Fox, 28, left town after graduating from Vacaville High School in 1994. She then went on to earn her bachelor's degree in songwriting at Boston's Berklee College of Music and settled in Nashville after graduation, releasing her first album, "NightLight" in 1999.

She's out on tour promoting her new self-released CD, "Breathe the Same Air," a 10-track recording done in her New York apartment basement and fine-tuned in Nashville.

Many residents likely remember the girl who made her debut at the Vacaville Fiesta Days competition when she was 5. Her grandmother Carol Zadnik was a professional musician who enjoyed writing melodramas with fellow Vacaville resident, Alice McDonald. (Both are deceased.) "She (Zadnik) would take me to talent shows and play the piano while I sang. She would write novelty lyrics to a pre-existing song so a 6-year-old could sing them," Fox recalled.

Fox and her husband, Kurt Gellersted, share the songwriting duties on a few of the new album's songs. She often begins the songwriting process with a title. "Then I think of all the possibilities the title could mean," she said. "From there I decide the rest of the song."

"Change Me," from the newest release, is about the ghost of Christina Olsen featured in Andrew Wyeth's painting "Christina's World." "It was tough," Fox admitted. "I was writing about a woman with degenerative disorder. It was tricky to spin in a positive way. You don't want the sympathy vote. You want people to feel her strength." It was the first time Fox broached the topic of disability in her music. She has albinism, a rare genetic trait that causes legal blindness and very fair skin. 

She was often stared at and teased in elementary and high school. "When I went away to college and got out in the real world, I saw how things worked. It tempered me in terms of understanding," she said. "People are curious and they stop and ask me all kinds of questions. I simply answer them just because they are curious. But it kind of gives me an opportunity to educate them. They might not have heard about it (albinism) otherwise." Music, she said, has been her saving grace all the years. "I knew I could go out in front of hundreds of people and they would clap for me and give me instant approval," she said.

Fox's CD will be available at her performances and on CDBaby.com, a Web site for which she has nothing but praise. "The guy who runs it has a great attitude and he's artist friendly," Fox explained. People can get the physical copy of the recording or just download it. "This reaches people from all over the world, people I can't reach," she said, adding that copies of her first CD went as far as China and Italy.

As for the money, Fox said her father, Jay Fox, is basically the executive producer of "Breathe the Same Air." "This is something that takes a village," she said. "We managed to save up a little money and my family is really helpful."

Fox and Gellersted wed July 10, 2004, at the Green Valley Country Club. He is a musician who plays electric guitar on her current tour. They met through a mutual friend. Personally and professionally they are in synch. "Kurt is a very instinctual player and writer. I like to over think things a lot. He taught me to go to the gut on a lot of things," she said. "He's definitely grounded me in songwriting and playing. He amazes me with the stuff he can come up with."

Gellersted received his master's in music composition from New York University. But he's also played in punk bands.

Fox would love to share the stage with Sheryl Crow. "She's an amazing singer. I like what she does," she said. And, she would also like to play with Jeffrey Gaines, a singer-songwriter out of Philadelphia. "I've been a fan of his for a long time," Fox said.

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Mind in the Middle - March, 2005

The Berkeley Carroll School, Brooklyn, NY 

THE MUSIC PAGE by FRANCESCA PERLOV

****** (five stars) "Nightlight" by Brooke Fox

Okay, this album is amazing. I can't talk now, it's that good. Seriously, every song contributes a different emotion and feel to this album. I love every moment of it. I can't even describe it. After a week of listening to this album, I knew all the words and now, I still listen to it every day. THe chorus of each song is full of melody and Brooke's range is insane. If I could give this album six stars, I would. In my opinion, this album is ten times greater than Alicia Keys' Diary of Alicia Keys. This is literally the best album I have ever heard in my life. I'm not kidding. I can't wait until her next album. Whew. 

Key tracks: 1. "TimeFool"; 4. "Switch It Off"; 7. "Seamless"; 10. "Kiss of Me"

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Singer Magazine

We’re all in this Together
A Real World Real Music Awards Show

By Marian Fitz

Each year there are over 35,000 albums commercially released in the United States. Only a tiny sliver of that music ever gets radio play, is featured on a music video channel or is considered by the televised music awards shows. But thanks to the Just Plain Folks Music Awards, it’s no longer ignored and forgotten. In just four awards cycles, the Just Plain Folks Music Organization’s (JPF) awards process has become the largest in the world.

What started as a casual way to recognize the best albums and songs sent in by members of the JPF organization is now a grassroots phenomena that includes over 10,000 albums and 140,000 songs from 85 countries in over 60 different genres of music. Reflecting on its humble beginnings, Brian Austin Whitney (JPF founder) said, “I was getting a couple CDs a day from members who just wanted me to check out what they were doing.

Jazz Vocalist Winner Brooke Fox moves the crowd with a stirring performance. Photo by David Sobel

As we neared the end of 1999, I realized that there was some great stuff that no one had probably ever heard of before. There were a myriad of music contests and awards shows out there so I figured our community of artists and songwriters deserved recognition as well.” The first awards were held during one of the organizations “Roadtrips” where they travel to cities around North America and host networking events and showcases to feature area members.

Welcome All

The interest level the second year shocked the staff as 2,400 albums and 35,000 songs were sent in. Thinking the members had exhausted their libraries, JPF agreed on a third awards. As the 7,880 albums and 102,000 songs rolled in, it was clear there was a real need for someone to screen and recognize the work that the other 98% of the world was creating. According to Linda Berger, the organization’s projects director, “No one had ever done anything like the JPF awards before. It was larger in scale and diversity than any of the awards contests and unlike most awards shows, all the music involved was actually listened to and judged one song at a time on merit rather than by the popularity or public and industry awareness of the artists and writers involved.”

Diversity is one of the signatures of the JPF Awards for which the staff is most proud. “There’s a lot of great music in smaller niche genres that get completely bypassed by the major awards programs. This year we added categories like: Celtic Instrumental, Cajun, Jewish, Bluegrass, Techno, and a host of ethnic and foreign language categories which truly made our awards an international and all-inclusive affair,” said Brian. “That diversity was especially illustrated at our awards show this year, which featured a worldwide collection of artists and genres.”

With 85 countries represented among the entries, the JPF staff wanted to make sure the world was represented at the live awards show. Led by Lithuanian band SKAMP and Japanese band Mother of Soul, the performance lineup boasted performers from all continents. “We even sent judging discs to a weather and scientific research station crew on Antarctica this year,” said Linda Berger, “With representatives from every racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural background, performing songs from over half of the 60 nominated genres, the show was living proof that the JPF awards are not only the largest in the world, but the most diverse and inclusive as well. It also provided a living demonstration of our organization’s motto: We’re All in This Together! It was a night filled with world class talent from above, below, and beyond the mainstream music industry radar.”

“Looking around that room, I really felt I was in the midst of a revolution.”

–Bob Malone, award-winning singer-songwriter.

International Stars

Music legend Taj Mahal, who was blown away by the caliber of talent and professionalism presented, commented, “The artists who performed at the award show renewed my faith in the continual regeneration of music. All is not lost—big business has not taken over the music…and these folks are still making great music! It’s nice to see attention given to artists that are usually ‘off the radar’ to the entertainment industry. Normally, you wouldn’t have access to the wealth of creativity that we saw at the 2004 Just Plain Folks Music Awards.” Taj was at the awards show supporting his late sister Carole Fredericks, who won two Gospel awards for Best Song and Album.

That diversity helped bring in artists who are famous superstars in their corner of the world, but who have had little exposure to the North American music industry. SKAMP, who set a record with 12 nominations, outsells Britney Spears and Madonna in their home country of Lithuania. Posters of SKAMP vocalist Erica Jennings are far more popular than those of her U.S. superstar peers. “SKAMP is one of the biggest discoveries we’ve made in the years we’ve done the awards. Not only are they great writers and recording artists but they have a multinational lineup that incorporates pop, alternative, rap, dance and Electronica into some of the most commercially exciting music we’ve heard since we started—and they’re really nice and humble people, which is always a bonus,” said Brian. A well-known producer at the awards show immediately took interest in SKAMP and met with them the next day to discuss recording some tracks to shop to U.S. labels. Brian adds, “I think it’s great that we embrace the smaller niches and still represent mainstream commercial music made by our members as well. We really do have it all.”

An indication of the breadth of music recognized is illustrated by the genres of the Album of the Year winners. “The last four winners were Melody Guy’s Country Album Ready For Sunshine, Noelle Hampton’s Pop/Rock Singer-Songwriter Album Under These Skies, Tammy Edwards’s Contemporary Christian Album Widows Mite and this year’s winner, Celldweller, who’s self titled album was a mix of hardcore industrial, metal, rock, and electronica.

The Brooke Fox Band for JPFolks Awards nite 2004.  From L-R: Kurt Gellersted, Brooke Fox, Brandon Schott and Martin McSweeney. Photo by Richard Carr.

“These albums couldn’t be more different, yet all of them are brilliant efforts in their genres. The mainstream media didn’t pick up on it but our voters did,” said Brian. “In the case of Celldweller, a lot of people have heard the music (every song on the album has been licensed by a major motion picture), but for some reason this album isn’t in every record store in the U.S. and people don’t know who is behind that amazing music they hear on the movie screens.” .

“That was like an interior lineman winning the Heisman Trophy Award”

– Multi-Platinum Harold Payne on children’s artist Zak Morgan winning 2004 Male Artist of the Year.

Moved by the Music

With the inclusion of not only grassroots stars, but also successful mainstream writers and artists, anonymity for the winners will be harder to come by. With 7 No. 1 country songs, singer-songwriter Steve Seskin won the overall “Song of the Year” along with Chuck Jones for their song “Pictures.” “Just Plain Folks is a tribute to why we all make music, celebrating creativity and the joy of writing a song and sharing it with the whole world. I’m flattered to have been chosen for Song of the Year by Just Plain Folks, the coolest group of songwriters on the planet, where everyone is welcome and creativity is celebrated and honored,” said Steve Seskin, who also gives back to the organization as a mentor, sharing his knowledge and experience with the rest of the community.

Even industry veterans like Andrew Gold, who have had enormous successes over their career, appreciate the recognition. “I was honored to receive my award for best singer-songwriter album at an event with such a diverse and talented representation of music from around the globe. JPF’s support of independent artists is inspiring. Seeing groups from around the world that were so amazing was terrific and I am hopeful that these groups will garner more success and fame due to the work of Brian and JPF,” said Gold, who did a special performance of “Lonely Boy,” one of his hits that had special meaning to the organization’s founder. “That song was a big part of what got me interested in music as a kid and the fact that Andrew is still making music at such a high level and his peers chose to recognize it via the JPF awards was quite rewarding to us as well.”

Rewarding great music based on its merit is what the JPF awards are all about. Using a mix of industry professionals, songwriters, and artist peers, JPF staff members and music fans, judges are given only one criterion to judge the music: Does it move you? It sounds like a simple thing, but the freedom behind choosing music that moves you, without commercial or PR pressures and limitations can be a shock to those industry judges especially. “Each year we get these long letters of apology from A&R reps or publisher judges who say, “I am sorry that I chose song X because I know it won’t get radio airplay or cut by a major artist, but I just really loved the song,” said Linda Berger. “We let them know they did their job correctly. We want folks to chose based on what they actually like, not what they’ve been told they’re supposed to look for to meet current commercial industry demands.”

So what does the future hold for the explosive success of the JPF Music Awards? “Well, we’ve learned to stop underestimating the demand for fair and honest recognition based on merit. In a way, we’re victims of our success. Each year we have to reinvent our processes for screening and voting because of the growth and diversity of the entry pool. It’s not always easy to find judges who speak a language from the other side of the world or who understand experimental performance art music that defies comparison to anything anyone has ever heard before. But the challenge is also part of the fun. And we never forget that making, performing and listening to music is first and foremost supposed to be fun,” said Brian. “We’ll let the mainstream awards focus on rewarding the business successes in music. We’ll focus on the music that moves us.” 

For more information on Just Plain Folks and their Music Awards program, please visit www.justplainfolks.org.

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The Braille Monitor - National Federation of the Blind - National Newsletter - March 2004 Issue

THE ART OF ALBINISM / VIEW PDF

BY BROOKE FOX

NOTE: This article is a reprint of the article listed directly below.

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Noah News - National Organization of Albinism and Hypo-pigmentation, National Newsletter - Winter 2003 Issue

THE ART OF ALBINISM / VIEW PDF

BY BROOKE FOX

As a Singer/Songwriter, I have always felt the need to make a connection with others through my life and the lives around me. My experiences with legal blindness and albinism have undoubtedly shaped the way I make music and in turn, making music has shaped the way I live with albinism. I wanted to share some of my life in this article and open the door to more artists of all kinds from the NOAH community to come forward and tell their own story as a creative being when albinism and the art collide.

Here’s my take:

I have to say, I love my paleness! It's decidedly different. It turns heads. As an up-and-coming Singer/Songwriter currently living in New York City, it’s good to get noticed.

Music became a life support for me early on. I started performing young (age 5) around my Northern California hometown with the help of my grandmother, a professional musician and songwriter. I won a few talent show trophies and gained confidence in singing as something I could do well. As a child with albinism, music helped to keep me going when the kids at school got me down.

In the student band, I played clarinet through middle school and somehow learned to memorize my sheet music. It was just easier that way, rather than squinting at the notes. I’d just listen to the person next to me and copy them. My teacher at the time printed the music on large paper for me, but I think the difficulty with reading actually helped my musical ear develop.

Somewhere around age 10, I began to work out my own songs on the piano. Songwriting gave me a way to further develop my own voice and deal with life through journaling. My earliest songs were fictional tales about animals, people and eventually love. However, one of those first songs, called “Hold Your Head High”, became a favorite among those who heard it for it’s positive lyrics. My theory now is that it was my attempt at giving back the encouraging words people had given to me: “Your life can be decided by only you / Listen close here’s what you must do / Hold your head high / Reach for the sky”.

After High School, I went on to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Berklee is the only place to get an actual degree in the craft of songwriting. I thrived there, sharpening my vocal and acoustic guitar skills, finding my own sound and strengthening my lyric writing. I graduated with honors and was awarded a Songwriting Achievement Award.

Upon graduation, I relocated to Nashville, TN to be a part of the songwriting movement there. Arriving in Nashville, where they drive to get their mail, was the first real test of my resolve. I walked everywhere there. A stranger at the grocery once stopped and proclaimed, “I know you! You’re that girl that walks everywhere!” When I tried to hail a cab downtown, the driver picked me up and snickered, “Where are you from? New York? No one hails a cab in Nashville”

Meanwhile, my music career began to take shape. I recorded my first CD, got a band together, had some solid mentions in the press and played a ton of shows. I worked in a recording studio for a year as an assistant where I met all kinds of great people. I was making strides professionally, but I was struggling to get around in Nashville. Once, I caught a ride home from one of my shows with a complete stranger when my ride fell through. I had a meltdown one morning when the cab that usually took me to the studio was a no show. It felt like life was out of my control and I was having trouble staying “up” about it. I asked myself: ”Why Nashville?”

Then a friend of mine called. He had a room for rent in his Brooklyn apartment. I was determined not to make a “life decision” based on my albinism, but it was my pride versus my quality of life. So, I made the move to New York. It was nothing but freedom for me. Finally, I could get myself to shows and meetings without hassle.

Now, after a few years here, I am enjoying some professional success. I tour regionally with my band, I’ve secured a booking agent, and I am currently working on my second record, which will include “Change Me”, a song inspired by the life of Christina Olsen (subject of painter Andrew Wyeth’s “Christina’s World”). She lived an amazing life as a disabled woman in Maine around the turn of the century. Through her, I was finally able to communicate my feelings about albinism in song: “Hey if you want to hold my hand / You’ve got to take me as I am / Because you can’t change me”

Albinism continues to shape my world and surprise me every day. When I get stopped on the street these days, my years as an entertainer kick in and help make it possible for me to be a positive force for albinism. I love dissolving the albinism myth for people out there, on the street or on stage, one person at a time.

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Acoustic Live, New York, NY - February 2003

Visit www.AcousticLive.com for more artists and open mic listings!  

BROOKE FOX - CHOOSING THE ARTISTS' PATH by RICHARD CUCCARO  / VIEW PDF

At Brooke Fox's apartment, I'm listening to her sing "Don't Fall Back." In her mid-twenties, her deceptively young face and youthful corn-silk hair belie a maturity that runs deeps in talent and artistic credentials. Her boyfriend, Kurt Gellersted, in the next room, is putting together a score on a computer screen with musical notation software. He's surrounded by the hardware he and Brooke use to make demos. Between his M.A. in Music Composition from NYU and her Berklee College of Music education, they form a juggernaut ready to scale the formidable competitive barriers of the New York singer/songwriter arena.

Her crystal clear voice soars and plummets with uncanny ease. The lyrics to her songs show a propensity for observing the world around her, rather than the myopic introspection that afflicts so many younger (and older) songwriters. In "Don't Fall Back," she counsels a friend who's had a wrenching departure from a relationship:

You pushed back
Laid your napkin on the table
And swiveled out the door.
Something she said
Pulled the trigger in your head

Left a love lying dead on the floor.
Now nobody owns you
No one controls you
But nobody holds you high
Don't fall back
It'll be all right
And there's a force deeper than the ocean