Disaboom Music Articles

Lumisonic Software Creates “Visual Sound” for the Deaf

Catherine Mabe — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:17:00 GMT

Imagine being able to see sound. That’s precisely the premise behind Lumisonic, a software system that translates sound waves into real-time dynamic circles that appear on display and are designed to elicit responses quickly in the brain. “As simply as I can put it, basically, you take sound and then you do an analysis—a frequency analysis.

There are lots of different types of software to do this . . . but what I’m interested in and what we wanted to do was create something that gave you reliable information so whenever you put a sound in, you got the same image each time,” Dr. Mick Grierson explained to BBC News. Grierson, from Goldsmith’s, University of London, developed Lumisonic with the backing of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Sonic Arts Network.

Lumisonic can translate computer-generated noises as well as noise from a microphone. In the latter case, the visual display indicates how loud the voice is speaking as well as the texture and quality of the voice. For instance, when the pitch rises, the rings expand. If the pitch of the sound or voice is lowered, the rings contract to indicate the deepened decibels.

The development of Lumisonic benefited from the help of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, whose musicians had experience making music with the deaf. When they had performed with children with hearing impairments at Whitefield’s School in East London, the children played instruments to see how their actions influenced the circles appearing on monitors.

When deaf children at Frank Barnes School in North London tested Lumisonic, they sang and clapped within only a few minutes of beginning to experiment with the software. One of them, who used a Wii controller to change the appearance of the circles on his laptop, explained afterward, “I was trying to create different sized circles—big then small—I wanted to see some crazy circles. I then tried to make them all the same size.”

“I could relate the circles to the vibrations from the loudspeakers,” said another Frank Barnes School student. “Normally, when I watch TV, I can’t see sound waves. So it’s really interesting—especially since I have a hearing aid to help.

The breakthroughs the children made as they interacted with the software were important because they confirm Lumisonic’s potential for helping in speech rehabilitation and helping people understand the sounds they are making. “I was really pleased that it seemed that it gave the kids—especially the smaller ones who I didn’t really expect to respond—some sort of indication or way of understanding their own sound-making.

That was really good to see,” Dr. Grierson said of the Frank Barnes School tests. Included alongside the sound translating software are tools that help users record and edit sound.

Lumisonic is available from Sonic Arts Network, which enables people to engage with the art of sound in groundbreaking, exciting, and innovative ways. Lumisonic is compatible with a Wii, which can be used to manipulate music or sound through movement. Learn more at sonicartsnetwork.org.

London Philharmonic Orchestra; Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Sonic Arts Network; speech rehabilitation; Lumisonic; sound waves; Wii; University of London; Frank Barnes School; deaf children; Lumisonic software; BBC News; brain; real-time dynamic circles

Are You Ready for the 4 Wheel City tour?

Cherl Petso, Disaboom — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:33:00 GMT

4 Wheel City, the dynamic duo made up of Namel “Tapwaterz” Norris and Ricardo “Rickfire” Velasquez will be heading out on their Welcome to Reality tour in October. Through the coming month, the Disaboom.com-sponsored tour will cover 13 East-Coast cities,where they will showcase their lyrics and beats to teens and others recovering from a disability.

Brought Together By Gun Violence
The two members of 4 Wheel have one unfortunate thing in common: each was a victim of gun violence. Namel’s cousin was playing with a gun when it fired, lodging a bullet in Namel’s spine just below his neck. Namel was 17 years old. Ricardo became the victim of a stray bullet in his Bronx neighborhood at the age of 18 while walking home from school.

Meeting
Despite growing up in the same neighborhood, Namel and Ricardo hadn’t met until they both became wheelchair users eight years ago. Namel’s mother saw Ricardo and introduced herself, he recalls, saying “She told him about me and said, ‘would you be his friend? He doesn’t know anyone else in a chair.’” Ricardo was able to share some insights about overcoming the day-to-day challenges that spring up when one has a recent disability, from advice on tying shoes to maneuvering a wheelchair. However, they soon discovered a shared passion for music and 4 Wheel City was born.

4 Wheel City
4 Wheel City came about naturally. Namel had always rapped and Ricardo had been experimenting with beats and production. Soon they began recognizing that the themes in their lives had become the subject matter for their music. “We started noticing how there was no accessibility, no people with disabilities were in the media, all the stereotypes, and even how people with disabilities sometimes feel like they can’t do anything.”

Fuelled by the desire to make music, combined with their new view of the world, they began to become peer mentors to others who had recently sustained a disabling injury. They began to perform at schools and rehabilitation centers, spreading their story while telling kids to stay in school and stay away from violence. They found that spreading their message through music was their best form of outreach, thus, a tour was born.

Welcome to Reality Tour
“Doing a tour was inevitable,” Namel says about their upcoming tour. The name “Welcome Back to Reality” comes from a 4 Wheel City song about encouraging kids to stay involved in school and think before they act. “When you see us, it’s like, ‘welcome to reality,’ this stuff happens, but our life isn’t over.”

The tour is sponsored by Disaboom.com and the NYC Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities where the tour will be officially announced to coincide with the 5th annual Disability Mentoring Day. The AAPD produced Disability Mentoring Day is an important day for Namel and Ricardo—they’ve participated in past years and it has become part of the reason they’ve expanded their music careers. When do they kick off? The tour will begin in Orlando on October 22nd and wrap up in New York City on November 11th and the entourage of six will stay at the Microtel Inn chain with the help of United Spinal along the way.

4 Wheel City will be blogging about their adventures along the way on Disaboom. Check it out.

What’s Next?
Namel and Ricardo are currently working on a documentary, The Wheels and Me, part of which will be filmed during their upcoming tour. They hope for its release next year. In the meantime, they’ll be driving home their message of hope: “4 Wheel City is a place to see that life’s not over.”

TOUR DATES

OCT. 22-24. Orlando, FL.

OCT. 25-27   Atlanta GA

OCT. 29-30   Richmond, VA

OCT. 30-NOV. 2 Washington DC

NOV. 3-5 Philadelphia, PA

NOV. 6-8 West Orange, NJ

NOV. 10-12 New York City, NYC

To find out more about 4 Wheel City or Disability Mentoring Day:

MOPD Site

Disability Mentoring Day Site

AAPD

Daniel Johnston: A Musical Icon with Bipolar Disorder

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:44:00 GMT

Daniel Johnston’s music and art have culminated in a colorful history in Texas and around the world—as well as a cult following that, for 20 years, has adored his tortured artistic genius. His fans know him as an unparalleled singer-songwriter and artist whose underground fame is the result of a series of homemade, lo-fi cassettes that he recorded and handed out in the early '80s. And these same fans in their fervor have seen multiple times, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a film about the deeply personal songs, films, and drawings he’s created in the midst of his struggle with manic depression.

History
Johnston was born in 1961; when he broke free from a Christian fundamentalist upbringing that feared losing him to the “dark side”, his first move was to enroll in an art college. While Johnston’s songs and drawings have always been a reflection of his ongoing struggle with manic depression, this was never more evident than in the works he created during this time. Unemployed and attending class periodically, he retreated into his family's cellar to write and record Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain.

Getting Started
It was around this same time that Johnston ran away with a carnival. “It was like a movie all the time. Everybody around me was a great story that never stopped, and for the first time, I realized how much freedom you have to do what you want,” Johnston said in retrospect. The five-month stint landed him in Austin, Texas, where local record stores started selling the tapes he’d given away free and they did it to the tune of best-selling local releases. MTV’s short-lived Cutting Edge caught wind of the phenomenon, and Johnston appeared on the show.

Artists from the American underground to the Lyon Opera Ballet took notice, as well as the press.

“Daniel's songs are personal to the point where you are hearing something you maybe shouldn't be allowed to hear, but they also have a really dry sense of humor,” said James McNew of the group Yo La Tengo. “I once visited him in mental hospital and it was difficult to have a conversation, but when he’s playing he comes alive.”

A Signed Artist
The '90s were difficult for Johnston, but it was during those years that modern medicine enabled him to achieve some stability. He signed with Atlantic Records in 1992 but didn't produce another album until 1999. Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse collaborated with Johnson in the 2003 release Fear Yourself. Gammon records released a two-disc tribute album in 2004: one disc featured covers from 18 artists while the other held Johnston’s originals.

Would anyone care about a life story as unbelievable as it is sacred if Johnston didn’t struggle with manic depression? He’s certainly not the first artist who has. But he’s the one, many would say, who has most intimately intertwined his condition with his work. His psychiatric history is such a major part of his life and his songs are so personal that fans simply can’t understand one without embracing the other.

DDA Helps People Have Fun with Music

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:01:00 GMT

Even those of us who aren’t musicians know it’s tough to succeed in the music industry. We’ve all heard stories of talented folks who weren’t able to get a big break despite years—sometimes lifetimes—spent practicing, writing, recording, and hitting the road with a van full of gear that needed to be hauled up multiple flights of stairs before being set up on a stage. Now imagine doing all of that and living with a disability.

If that seems like quite a challenge, you can understand why, in 1996, two drummers living with disabilities founded the Disabled Drummers Association (DDA). The DDA strives to make the music industry more accessible (literally and figuratively) to musicians with disabilities and to eliminate stereotypes about musicians with disabilities by:

•   Launching educational campaigns
•   Lobbying manufacturers to produce adaptive equipment
•   Instructing and informing the drumming community of opportunities, events, alternative medical benefits, and technical tips
•   Assisting members in networking with others in the industry who have similar interests and face similar challenges so they can share experiences and solutions
•   Spreading the message of hope through music therapy
•   Conducting clinics and expos to raise public awareness and funds for programs.

“Our goal is to assist the drummer with disabilities in his or her career pursuit, to teach persons with disabilities to have fun with music, and through music therapy to help others to enjoy a better quality of life,” reads the Disabled Drummers Association (DDA) Web site. “Music creates focus of attention, memory skills, eye-hand coordination, and concept development. Range of motion is challenged and enhanced through the subtle action of playing the drums. It sparks creativity that can be carried over to other aspects of life, creating acceptance and higher self-esteem.”

One way the DDA achieves its goals is through gigs such as the ongoing one it holds at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, FL, on the last Sunday of every month. It’s then that the DDA takes over the Transitional Care Unit of the hospital and attempts to “give something back” to the disability community by using music to make sense of some of the emotions confronting people newly learning to live with disability. The group also organizes workshops and clinics aimed at persuading drum manufacturers to work hand in hand with drummers with disabilities, music stores, and related organizations to build adaptive equipment.

No one is too old or too young to help the DDA make a difference (though anyone interested and under the age of 18 needs permission from a parent or guardian to join). An annual membership donation of $20 covers the cost of printing newsletters and directories and sending them out to keep members up to date on the latest news concerning drummers with disabilities.

DDA members receive a Membership Card, a Member Directory, and quarterly newsletters. The newsletters feature member biographies, tech tips, industry information, and updates on clinics and drum happenings as well as words of inspiration.

For more information on the DDA, e-mail DDAFathertime@comcast.net.

Students with Disabilities Make Beautiful Music with New Technologies

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:57:00 GMT

As students head back to school this fall, some innovative educators across the country are making strides in the need to serve students with disabilities, including those who want to pursue an education in the musical arts. That’s where a few innovative programs and high-tech tools are entering the picture; they’re helping to transform the way people learn, not only in the classroom, but in libraries, museums, and even cyberspace.

Music Programs for Students with Disabilities
The Music and Arts Center for Humanity (MACH) in Bridgeport, CT, hosts the Summer Institute for Blind College-Bound Musicians.

“Students from around the country come to attend this one-week intensive program to study Braille music, theory, and music technology necessary for the advanced study of music at the college level,” reads the program description. “After this immersion into an academic and musical experience on a school campus, students come away with new knowledge of resources, with a confidence inspired by practicing college living, and with a network of mentors and friends to turn to for help and encouragement as they continue their education.”

The Institute is a program of the National Resource Center for Blind Musicians, a division of MACH that groups music technology for blind musicians and students into two broad categories:

• Software that works with print or Braille
• Software that allows people to produce and manipulate music as sound, including for recording studio work.

Technology for Musicians
GOODFEEL® notation software is one such suite of programs from Dancing Dots that is designed to empower musicians to automatically convert several kinds of music files to Braille. To prepare and transcribe these files with GOODFEEL, musicians do not need to know how to read Braille music.

By combining programs like GOODFEEL with other technologies, schools can meet the varying needs of students in pursuit of a music education. For instance, teachers and transcribers who want to produce a finished Braille product can scan their music using a program called Sharp-Eye.

Next, they can edit the music with a program called Lime and produce the Braille copy with GOODFEEL. Dancing Dots also sells Sibelius, a sophisticated program that can produce publisher-quality print scores.

MusicShop is a program that displays graphic notations to represent pitch and duration. It uses colored bars of varying lengths instead of traditional music notation, which can be confusing. In short, MusicShop can relate sound to what music looks like—it’s no longer limited to what it sounds like.

Though the goal of achieving a truly inclusive educational environment remains a formidable challenge, these are just a sampling of the technologies available to give musicians with disabilities the ability to compose, arrange, and edit music; proofread it (in Braille when necessary); and produce a print version.

By putting these technologies to work, students with disabilities can express themselves, compose, score, arrange, practice, and become successful musicians. And while the access to technology is important in the sense that it enables students with disabilities to pursue careers in music, it also, quite simply, is another step toward independence and inclusion.

Sinead O' Connor Hits the Road to Promote 'Theology'

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:26:00 GMT

On the heels of an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, on which she openly talked about the bipolar disorder diagnosis she had lived with for four years before the show, singer/songwriter Sinead O'Connor hit the road to promote her newest release, Theology. With this two-disc compilation, the controversial Irish artist “attempts to create a place of peace in a time of war and to provoke thought.”

O’Connor found inspiration for the two-disc set in both Jerusalem and in Jamaica; though many of her lyrics are adaptations from the Old Testament, Theology, somehow, doesn’t come off as particularly religious. “So (what I tried to do) is lift out from Scriptures the things that show, in fact, the delicate nature and the humanity of the God character. And just give it a voice in the world where it has no voice, not even through religion,” O’Connor says on her Web site.

When you play the first disc’s haunting melodies for the first time, you may be tempted to reflect or even meditate (at the very least, it’ll help you relax). But the second disc will have you on your feet, moving to the music. Disc One, “Dublin Sessions,” is a purely acoustic guitar and vocals set delivered intimately and gently. O’Connor’s voice is reduced to a whisper, yet she somehow manages to belt out her more quiet tunes despite that. The track “Something Beautiful” in particular shines both in terms of delivery and lyrics.

Disc Two, “London Sessions,” is a departure from the Dublin Sessions yet somehow incorporates many of the same sounds. With rock, electric, hip-hop and R&B influences, the same songs from disc one are, this time around, delivered with energy and instrumental accompaniment. For instance, this time, the haunting “Something Beautiful” features a rock-and-roll beat that takes it far from its original delivery.

The full-band arrangements on the second disc are produced by Ron Tom. Instrumentation on the “London Sessions” includes drums, bass, guitar, piano, harp, violins, celli, French horn, flute, backing vocals, percussion and programming. Guest artists include reggae bass legend Robbie Shakespeare.

Both discs include one extra track (‘Hosanna Filio David’ on the Dublin sessions and Weber and Rice’s ‘I don’t Know How to Love Him’ on the London sessions). One surprise—and some listeners may not think it’s a pleasant one—is a pop-influenced cover of ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him,’ of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar Fame.’

With the difference in sounds, the two-disc set isn’t for everyone—not all who listen will find that the songs appropriately translate from one mood to the other. But Theology remains one of O’Connor’s best laid plans; her intense range and emotional candor stand out despite the fact that this, her later work, misses the mark in terms of the commercial success her earlier works enjoyed.

Theology is being released by Koch Records on That's Why There's Chocolate and Vanilla, O’Connor's own label imprint.

Boys on Wheels Make the Most of Their International Internet Fame

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:34:00 GMT

Very little in the way of subject matter is off limits to Swedish comedian Jesper Odelberg. In fact, even life with cerebral palsy—something Odelberg knows about first hand—is fodder for laughs. Odelberg hit the comedy circuit about 15 years ago after being inspired by a friend’s success in the field. Today, he’s a regular on a Norwegian comedy show Rikets Rost.

On the show, Odelberg takes part in a variety of hidden camera skits in which he’s placed in roles someone with cerebral palsy isn’t normally seen in. For example, Odelberg has played a tattoo artist as well as a doctor who administers acupuncture. He’s also been cast as a mock dentist, a role he comments on by saying, “If I was a patient coming to the dentist and I saw a cerebral palsy dentist there, I’d go nuts myself.”

Taking his sense of humor out on a limb is nothing new to Odelberg, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when in 1996, along with two friends, he found a new way to entertain the masses—he formed the band, Boys on Wheels. Like Odelberg, the other two members of the band also use wheelchairs. The group has adapted the lyrics of popular rock songs so that they’re more in line with the sense of humor behind Odelberg’s stand-up routine.

From the start the group set out to parody both boy bands and stereotypes about disability. When they first started, Boys on Wheels even went so far as to hire a dance choreographer, but in the end they worked their routines out on their own. When asked by Norway’s Vice Magazine which song is his favorite, “My Balls are OK” is the song Odelberg pointed to “It’s the only song that I can stand up for, because it’s true,” he says.

Boys on Wheels video montages scattered about YouTube boast more than a million views. In one of them the Boys have turned Bon Jovi’s hit “Living on a Prayer” into “Living in a Wheelchair.” The ‘80s hit “Take on Me” by Norwegian band A-Ha is instead called “I’m Not Gay” in the Boys’ world. The evergreen ballad "Heaven" also takes on new life with the Boys’ lyrical makeover:

“Baby, you're all that I want, but you're living on the fifth floor. I'm finding it hard to get there, in my wheelchair.”

Odelberg says even his own girlfriend was offended by the song "Making Love in the Handicap Toilet." But conduct a simple Google search and you’ll find many more fans who do enjoy the fact that the group is somehow carving out a cyber space where it’s okay—and encouraged—to laugh along with someone in a wheelchair.

While the Boys’ performances are clearly designed for a good time, they’re not exclusively about fun. Odelberg says one of his big motivations for performing is trying to challenge stereotypes about people with cerebral palsy. “The worst thing that could happen is that people would think of it as a freak show instead of comedy,” Odelberg told Vice Magazine.

Coalition for Disabled Musicians, Inc

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:49:00 GMT

Donald Jaeger had a lifelong passion. He just wanted to play the drums. After growing up in a family of eight children and living on a tight budget, he set out on his own at 21, then bought his first set of drums. In 1981, his life changed. He was working as a deck hand on a tug boat when he fell from one deck to another. The fall caused a severe spinal cord injury, leaving his wife to go back to work while he took care of the couple's two children.

During the next two years, Jaeger endured physical limitations that kept him in bed several hours each day. Drums weren't in the picture. When he took them up again in 1986, he found his disability prevented him from keeping up the pace of other musicians with whom he played. The drummer decided to look for other musicians who understood his endurance problem. In the process, he formed the Coalition for Disabled Musicians, Inc. (CDM). The self-help organization was formed on February 22, 1986 and is located in Bay Shore, N.Y..

According to its Website, it was designed to meet several goals:
1. Introduce musicians with a disability to individuals who understand problems related to disabilities.
2. Provide an accessible rehearsal and recording studio.
3. Design "tag team" systems and additional adaptive techniques for pain, endurance and other physical limitations.
4. Set up studio and stage bands for both amateur and professional musicians.
5. Conduct live performances, produce recordings and hold music seminars and workshops.
6. Make the public aware of the community for people with a disability as a great source of talent.

CDM has provided excellent therapy for Jaeger and other musicians with a disability. The organization has also formed three bands. The first was a rock group known as Range of Motion. The second was the CDM Orchestra. It consisted primarily of older musicians performing standards, jazz and swing. Rockin' Chair, the third group, was a rock and hard rock band. Some CDM musicians are in their teens, while others are still playing in their seventies. Their disabilities include cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, visual and hearing impairments, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, strokes, spinal cord injuries and other conditions.

Due to their respective disabilities, some musicians require adaptive equipment. The Website includes links to information and photos regarding adaptive instruments. Over the years, Jaeger had to find creative solutions for his percussion students who were missing limbs or experienced spastic conditions that made it hard for them to hold drum sticks. He found ways of rigging straps and other devices to allow them to perform. Among the other pieces of adaptive equipment the CDM site highlights are various stands to support guitars and a special drum practice pad that can also be used for reading, writing or eating. Musicians with a disability will also find links to various products and techniques that, while not endorsed by the Coalition, could help them make music more effortlessly.

A voice-to-midi converter connects to a midi-capable keyboard to produce real-time instrument sounds from the human voice. This allows someone who cannot use his arms or hands to play a keyboard by singing. The site also mentions a book that shows how musicians can play the violin left-handed and describes a single-stringed capo for guitars. A contributor from California suggests that keyboard players might want to purchase a bite switch to wire to a sustain pedal port from a skydiving supply store.

Other individuals have written about their use of tilt switches and a foot switch for depressing keys. A Range of Motion member says that musicians who no longer have sufficient dexterity to play the piano or similar instruments have a couple of options. They can use a keyboard synthesizer to mimic instrumental sounds as well as experiment with "open tunings" on the guitar. He adds that one-armed guitar players can be effective by tuning the instrument in open G, placing it face up on the lap, then putting a steel or glass slide on the left pinky finger to bar frets. The remaining fingers can strum.

Other suggested adaptive techniques include buying a keyboard without weighted keys, using a vocorder to compose and taking advantage of several software packages such as Band in a Box 2007. CDM musicians are available to perform at special events, disability awareness events and PTA and other school programs.

See Vonda Sines' Profile on Disaboom

See Vonda Sines' Profile on Associated Content

Robert Wyatt: Top of the Pops

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:20:00 GMT

Robert Wyatt is a multi-talented musician from Bristol, England. His musical talent and eclectic performances make him a standout artist from the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and the 21st century. However, after a falling accident in 1973 that left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair, this talented musician became famous for another reason, being the only musician in a wheelchair to perform on Top of the Pops, a popular British music program.

Getting Started
Robert Wyatt started his music career while still a teenager. This is when he learned how to play the drums from American jazz drummer George Neidorf. As his talents developed he played for a number of bands including the David Allen Trio, the Wilde Flowers and the Soft Machine. While an accomplished drummer, Wyatt also sang lead in the Wilde Flowers, which was unheard of back in the 1970s when the drummer was not the star of the show.

By the 1970s Wyatt had launched a solo career with the album "The End of an Ear." After the release of this album, the conflicts Wyatt had with band members in the Soft Machine led him to leave the band and to form a new band called the Matching Mole. After two album releases with this band a fateful party led to a serious spinal cord injury which left Wyatt paralyzed.

Obstacles
After his spinal cord injury (SCI) Wyatt stopped drumming and left his band the Matching Mole. At this point in his career, he focused on the development of his solo act. His remakes infused pop hits from the United Kingdom and other corners of the world with reggae, jazz and fusion flavor.

One of the biggest challenges of his career came when he was asked to perform on Top of the Pops, a family show. The producer had a problem with the image that Wyatt would project in a wheelchair. However, Wyatt held out and cleaned up his appearance by removing his rag but appeared in his wheelchair, despite the objections of the producer.

Advice
The most poetic piece of advice offered by Robert Wyatt is to look before you leap, especially in terms of developing business relationships within the music industry. This advice is important for both musicians with disabilities and without disabilities. Mutual trust and respect is needed for profitable, long-term relationships, and owing someone should not be a part of any music business relationship. These are the things that will deteriorate a relationship and lead to production problems and separations.

Sources:
www.artist-shop.com/irc/wyatt.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wyatt

See Eisla Sebastian’s Profile on Disaboom

See Eisla Sebastian’s Profile on Associated Content

Natasha Wood Cracks up Audiences in Rolling with Laughter

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:29:00 GMT

Natasha Wood has a comedian's ability to provoke laughter from her disability.

She is a bawdy 30-something Brit who is winning four-star reviews for her one-woman play, Rolling with Laughter.

The title is based on her life in a wheelchair with spinal muscular atrophy, an inherited neuromuscolar disability that has cost her the use of her legs and gradually her arms. The affliction inhibits signals from the brain to the muscles and some impulses fail to connect. Wood cannot walk and can lift only the lightest of objects.

"It's about the movers and shakers in my spine," she says. "They ain't moving and shaking."

Wood worked as a BBC production manager behind the camera before deciding to step in front.

Rolling with Laughter is praised for its lack of sappy sentimentality, although some viewers consider her script to be vulgar in spots. She portrays 30 characters from her life, including her ex-husband, as she buzzes around the stage in a customized top-of-the-line wheelchair donated by an admirer of her comedic but truthful artistry. This comedian's description of "the one thing that the wheelchair lacks" maintains her R-rating, and so curious readers of this page will need to check the script.

She is a petite blonde but she has been described as "Mae West on wheels," referring to the chesty and flirtatious American diva from the early days of movies. Indeed she boasts of having received a "boob job," but it was not for the usual reason. Doctors corrected a congenital lack of symmetry in her breasts.

Rolling with Laughter won critical acclaim in Los Angeles during the past year. Wood then returned to her homeland for a triumphant tour that concluded at Her Majesty's Theater in London, raising funds for the Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The nonprofit foundation is named for Jennifer Macauley, who was seven months old in 1985 when she died of the affliction.

Wood plans to tour again early in 2009 and also has hopes for a potential Hollywood movie contract.

A child can be affected with spinal muscular atrophy only if both parents carry the gene. Chances in that case are one in four, similar to sickle cell anemia. Wood's parents decided to have children in spite of the disability risk. She has the Type 2 variety, which is a middle level. Her brother, Johnny, already has died from the affliction. Her other sibling, Martin, is clear of spinal muscular atrophy.

She first asked her parents about her disability when she was four years old, growing up in Nottinghamshire. In her script, she says her father teased that she was purchased cheap in a store's toy department "on account that you were broken." This may seem not too funny, but she says an ability to laugh has helped her make the best of life, even though spinal muscular atrophy probably will prevent her from reaching elder status.

"I've never been the depressed kind," Natasha Wood says. "I think I've been dead lucky."

Sources:
www.rollingwithlaughter.com
fightma.org/blog/index/php?tag=natasha-wood
www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2008/.../hnatasha117.xml
www.backstage.com/bso.news_reviews/la/review_display.jsp?

See Michael Thompson's Profile on Disaboom
See Michael Thompson's Profile on Associated Content

Boys on Wheels

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:37:00 GMT

Jesper Odelberg of Sweden has cerebral palsy as a disability, so he cannot entertain as a stand-up comic. Instead he works from his wheelchair in what has become his most noted parlay, joining two other musicians with CP in a singing group known alternately as Boys on Wheels, or New Wheels on the Block.

Recently the 30-something Odelberg and his compatriots landed a gig on Norwegian television with Otto Jespersens, known for his controversial comedic style. With two musical teammates who apparently also are afflicted with cerebral palsy - Internet Web sites are not clear - Odelberg performed Making Love in the Handicap Toilet and My Balls are OK and Living On My Wheelchair.

Videos now are gaining millions of visits on YouTube, creating a focus on cerebral palsy, a disability that results in loss of voluntary muscular control and coordination.

Croons Odelberg with his cerebral palsy disability: "I met a girl who said to me, can you perform sexually? Of course I can, give me a test. That night she screamed, 'You are the best.'" Lyrics are displayed in text form for viewers who may not be able to follow word for word, given that Odelberg's CP disability does not allow clear enunciation.

A more humble wheelchair-based verse from Odelberg sings, "You looked so nice in your coat and hat. I tried to follow, but my battery was flat." The challenge becomes even more impossible as the attractive woman lives in a fifth-floor apartment: "I'm finding it hard to get there in my wheelchair."

As for the connotation of whether this is good or sick humor, no uproar has emerged. Instead, blog sites express mixed emotions in reaction:

- "I'm conflicted. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I think I'm mostly creeped out."

- "This is quite possibly the worst thing I have seen in my entire life. I'll be riding the Bullet Train straight to Hell after laughing at that."

- "These guys are real heroes. I can't imagine (what) it must take to go on that stage and show the world they still have a sense of humor despite all they have to bear."

- "Take this off (the Internet). How can somebody laugh at a serious disability. Get a life!"

- "I may burn in hell or have a child with CP just for laughing at it ... but still funny to me."

- "Horrible and funny at the same time."

- "I can't wait to show this to all of my friends who hate handicapped people. Also I can't wait to show it to my handicapped friends. Also these guys make me want to become handicapped."

Odelberg also intones: "I'm rolling away, because my legs are not OK. I think every day, there are guys with greater problems. I'm happy today. At least I'm not gay. I'm not gay." This may be satire, but one viewer's reaction: "Damn, even the crippled look down on the gay people. Poor gay people!"

Does this comedian with a cerebral palsy disability shed positive light, or a negative hue? Viewers will have to judge for themselves.

Sources:
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesper_Odelberg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCxDZRJKkqY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUrZi2XQKyU&mode-related+search
www.digg.com/comedy/Living_in_a_wheelchair_crippled_boys_band_breaks_it_down

See Michael Thompson's Profile on Disaboom
See Michael Thompson's Profile on Associated Content

Blind Boys of Alabama Celebrate Seven Decades of Song

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:13:00 GMT

Being born poor, black, and blind in the rural Birmingham, Alabama, of the 1930s wasn’t an easy way to start out life. For the Blind Boys of Alabama, however, these circumstances translated into 70 years dedicated to singing contemporary gospel music. The group’s story began when five of the original singers (all about 7 years old and all blind) arrived at the Talladega Institute for the Negro Deaf and Blind.

Today the group’s last active, original member, Jimmy Carter, can recall how the boys adhered to the Institute’s rules—learning to read Braille and tackling traditional trades such as broom-, chair- and shelf-making. But the boys broke free from the structure of learning during rehearsals with the large school choir and, at the age of 14, they took their singing talent on the road. The Blind Boys of Alabama were eventually embraced as gospel stars and are still making music today.

When they’re on stage, it’s easy to forget that the three main vocalists of the group and their drummer/percussionist are all blind. Until you see them, as the Guardian pointed out, walking “in crocodile formation, one hand on the shoulder of the brother in front.”

The group has seen a lot of change in the world at large and in the music business during their tenure on the gospel circuit. As the music industry evolved and moved toward pop and rock leanings, the Blind Boys’ commitment to gospel remained steadfast, even if it often warded off fame and fortune. In the face of shrinking audiences, eventually, they did begin to experiment.

They've recorded moving renditions of songs from the likes of Tom Waits and Prince while maintaining their loyalty to the traditional material that launched their career. The Blind Boys have appeared as guests on record and on stage with an equally diverse array of artists, from Peter Gabriel to Ben Harper. “During this amazing run, the cover tunes and collaborations have been consistently tasty and organic, seasoned with a time-tested understanding of the sounds that move man's soul,” according to the Web site dedicated to the group.

Now their eclectic, worldwide following enjoys secular music with a positive message. They’ve recorded more than 50 albums. The group that was once confined strictly to gospel music venues in the South played "The Gospel at Colonus" on Broadway in 1983, and has won four straight Grammys for traditional gospel groups. That’s a long, far road away from their starting place at a school for the blind in Alabama.

The Blind Boys also recently headlined a gala night homecoming celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Institute where the group began. Carter, whose tenor voice reveals only the minimal wear of decades on stage, said it was good to go back.

"It made me what I am today," said Carter, speaking during an interview at his home in Montgomery before the show. "When the blind children wanted an education, that's where they came. That's how I met with the other singers."

Auti Angel Carves Out Niche as First Hip Hop Wheelchair Singer and Dancer

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:49:00 GMT

Auti Angel truly has the voice of an angel. Every word she shares is encouraging as she wears positive energy like a badge of honor. She shares that energy with everyone who crosses her path.

Auti has found the strength to rise above tough situations in her life. She grew up in a gang-infested neighborhood in Torrance, California.

"I've dealt with it all: child abuse, molestation and rape. When I married at 18, I went through a living hell and then escaped him," Auti details. "I'm lucky to be alive."

With growing attention from the record industry, Auti Angel was headed on the fast track in the Hip Hop, R&B world.

"I was J.Lo before J.Lo," Auti says with a laugh, "I danced with LL Cool J. I went on tour with Rap artists and I was about to sign a record deal as part of an all-Latin female Hip Hop group. Then, the tragic car accident happened, severing my spinal cord and leaving me wheelchair bound. That was May 3, 1992, a day I will never forget. The record company wasn't willing to wait, but I told them, 'I'm still me!' The group tried to replace me, but they couldn't and fell apart. I was saddened they didn't move forward because they still needed to follow their dreams."

That record deal evaporated, but Auti's determination for success did not.

"Once a dancer, always a dancer. The spirit of dance never dies, no matter what happens to your body. I landed a gig hosting a music video show, In Motion Hottest Videos. I was interviewing high-profile artists behind the scene such as Ice Cube, Chris Tucker and everybody in the R&B urban network. So, I'd take my back brace off and sneak out of rehab to work. I shared a rehab room with six other patients. My sister would pick me up late at night after everybody went to bed. A couple of nurses figured it out," Auti says, "but it didn't stop me."

"We filmed our show in different nightclubs, so that's where I started to dance again and figured out how to manipulate the wheelchair to work for me. After I got out of the hospital, I put another group together and we started performing. People were confused by my abilities to sing and dance, yet inspired. When we tried to approach the record companies, they didn't know what to do with it. They didn't know if there was a market for a wheelchair artist, but my talents were well received by many established industry artists and entertainers. As a result, I received a performance spot with Ludacris for his 'Stand Up' song. I told God that He had a funny sense of humor."

While Auti pursued her dreams, there were still challenges to endure.

"A year after the accident, I lost my mom to liver cancer, which was devastating. I began to hang with a different crowd that introduced me to alcohol and drugs. I started to use marijuana to deal with my chronic pain from the accident. Then I was introduced to rock (crack cocaine); not realizing the dark path it would drag me to. My drug use led me to being spiritually and physically attacked. I called the police for help, but when I tried to leave the scene, I wasn't thinking clearly and I led police on a high-speed chase through San Pedro, California."

"The drugs drove me to a suicidal state," Auti explains, "I was the first woman in a wheelchair incarcerated at Twin Towers County Jail. They didn't know what to do with me so they put me in the infirmary with women who were mentally ill. I spent three months in jail and God used me to talk with the other inmates. They began to see their own possibilities. I developed a strong relationship with God and honestly, God put me back on the right road and back in the game."

The tide has turned dramatically since that time. In fact, Auti is about to release her first album this summer independently. For the past three years, she's been teaching dance workshops to kids at the San Diego Adaptive Sports Camp. Her students have different diagnoses, but most of them are wheelchair users.

"One of my students, Manny Fernandez, was nine when he first started with me. He was really shy, quiet and kind of standoffish. Manny had a T-2 spinal cord injury from a tragic accident when he was only 13 months old. Now, he is 12 years old and gets in the freestyle circle to battle me. I know he's been at home practicing. The last time I saw him, he turns his hat backwards, he's spinning his chair around and begins to get down like the best of best. I'm so proud to be his teacher. He inspires me. I told him, 'That's it, you win!' Everybody was cheering him on, it was priceless," Auti says with a smile in her voice.

"I do my best to make the kids comfortable while telling them that they can participate or just watch. Each child has a different ability, so I use a freestyle circle for the kids to encourage each other and come up with their own moves. I remember everybody's dance move, give the dance his or her name, and choreograph all the moves together. Some kids can only blink their eyes. So, I incorporate that as a dance move to include every child. Everybody begins to build this very cool dance team. It's an awesome sight to see."

Auti has also started her own non-profit organization Save A Soul Foundation to help at risk youth by using performing arts as a tool.

"It's a grassroots mentor-based program for at risk youth. My ultimate goal is to have a youth center that will provide resources, tutoring, while teaching different trades that will apply to their goals in life. It will include at risk kids who are able-bodied and disabled. Save a Soul grew out of my own experience when I was asked to speak at the Los Angeles Central Juvenile Center. It seemed to set them free to hear me and hear my story. I was moved to reach out to our at risk youth. I could hear God's voice saying, 'Save A Soul. Once you save one soul, that soul saves another soul, so it repeats itself.'"

"I don't press my beliefs on anyone because I welcome everyone with different beliefs. But, God has allowed me to go through so much; my ministry is able to speak to all walks of life. My relationship with God has saved me. Everything happens for a reason and I'm grateful for the life I have. I'm in a good place now. Last year, I married my soulmate, Eric Rivera."

Auti's offers advice to adults and youth who are facing obstacles in life.

"Learn to love yourself. Remember that God never gives us anything that we cannot handle. So no matter what obstacle or challenge may come your way; it is always 'Overcome-Able!' Find your beauty in the most raw form and you will capture and affect your inner soul. If you're not dead, there's got to be a reason why you're still here." Through her own challenges, Auti has been transformed into a true Angel on Earth by sharing a strong message of hope. "I'm still here to show people there is a reason to be here and to help people find their purpose. I am a purpose to drive you, to inspire you and to help you overcome any obstacle. I will be the first Hip Hop artist in a wheelchair. Honestly, the possibilities are endless."

Auti speaks, teaches and performs at camps, schools, churches, juvenile facilities and a variety of venues nationwide.

For more information visit www.autiangel.com.

To see Auti Angel dance, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUjUhkvAyAE.

The World's First Solo Percussionist is Profoundly Deaf

Fri, 30 May 2008 21:24:00 GMT

For Evelyn Glennie, sound is tactile as well as auditory.

A lot of things about Evelyn Glennie stand out: the title of Dame (an honor bestowed by Queen Elizabeth) often appears before her name; she’s widely known as a percussionist but also plays the bagpipes; and, as the media is fond of pointing out, Glennie’s also deaf. But somehow the Aberdeen, Scotland-born musician, motivational speaker, and jewelry maker manages to be more then even the sum of these parts.

Refusing to be defined by her deafness, Glennie has explained that she is profoundly but not totally deaf and that she “hears” with various parts of her body. “Deafness does not mean that you can’t hear, only that there is something wrong with the ears,” Glennie writes in an essay on the subject. “Eventually I managed to distinguish the rough pitch of notes by associating where on my body I felt the sound with the sense of perfect pitch I had before losing my hearing.”

Glennie performs barefoot so that she can better feel vibrations from her instruments. In 2004, a documentary titled Touch the Sound, took viewers on a journey with Evelyn Glennie and explored her sensory world. The film is full of striking visual correlations to the percussive vibrations Glennie conjures.

Glennie’s childhood aspiration was initially to become a hairdresser. But at the age of 12, she watched her school’s orchestra perform in an assembly and knew it was a world she wanted to be part of. With her teachers’ encouragement, she pursued that dream and today Glennie has become a fellow at London’s Royal Academy of Music. She has been nominated for four Grammy awards, won two of them, and now performs more than 100 concerts a year.

She plays up to 60 instruments including the gamelan, xylophone, marimba, and timpani. It takes on average of four hours to set up the instruments she plays in a recital and an average of two hours to strip them all down after the performance.

Glennie has collaborated with the likes of Sting, Bjork, and Bobby McFerrin and somehow also finds the time to teach and help out the charitable causes close to her heart. She is the vice-president of Hearing Concern and Deafness Research UK, and president of The Beethoven Fund for Deaf Children, which provides musical therapy units to schools for the deaf and partially-hearing across the UK.

“’Normally hearing’ people do not define their existence by hearing. In fact, by and large, they very rarely even think about it,” Glennie writes in a Disability Essay. “A common thread amongst the very high achievers that I have met who have a hearing impairment is that they treat their hearing in a very similar manner to the non-impaired. They have at some stage had to do a lot of work to train their voices or learn to lip read, but after a while it becomes second nature and they simply forget about it. Their hearing impairment becomes no more a defining part of who they are than their hair colour.”

The U.K.'s Only Disabled Punk Band Demonstrates That Disability, Indeed, Rocks

Mon, 12 May 2008 18:56:00 GMT

When you first hear a new band, it’s hard not to place them in a mental box neatly labeled and socked away in whatever ward of your memory is reserved for that genre. One listen to Heavy Load, a UK-based punk outfit uniquely made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities, however, will have your mind spinning and searching for the band’s place.

The band members describe themselves as being subject to the combustible flux of ego, ambition, fantasy, expectation, and desire that fuels any emerging band. With influences ranging from George Michael to The Cramps, Heavy Load has spread its combination of raucous energy, attitude, and sheer volume throughout the world for 12 years. Now the band is about to hit the big time: the feature-length documentary, Heavy Load: A Film about Happiness, about their journey from social care to stardom, and back again. The film debuted at SXSW (South by South West) film festival this year and was received with critical acclaim.

Director Jerry Rothwell contacted Heavy Load to make the film after reading about them in a newsletter for people with learning disabilities. Shot over two years as the band records its first album, "The Queen Mother’s Dead," the film takes viewers along as Heavy Load expands its reach from disability club nights to more mainstream gigs—and sells out venues along the way.

The band was relatively unknown when Rothwell first began filming them. According to The Austin Chronicle, Rothwell, in the midst of a struggle with his own depression, embraced the band’s potential as “a group that existed outside the mainstream commercial music world and that, in the true punk spirit, was making music ‘for fun, not fame’ and happily destroying expectations in the process.”

During the filming of the movie, the band conceived and launched the now-nationally renowned “Stay Up Late” campaign. Viewers watch as members of Heavy Load work to liberate disabled adults from a curfew system that prevents them from fully defining their own fates, careers, and lives.

And they do it while sticking to the true punk code based on an aversion to conformity, the desire to speak loudly about what they believe in, and to lobby for those who can’t do it for themselves, even in the face of authority. Rothwell’s own adherence to a similar code comes through in the film. Without embracing the sentimental or super-crip ideals evident in so many documentaries about disability, Rothwell dismisses the idea that the film is even about triumph over tragedy. “It’s about the joys of being in a rock band. Filming these guys, I realized they had something that is missing from so many people's lives: happiness,” Rothwell says.

Michael White, one of three Heavy Load members who has a learning disability, said, “Being in the film has made us more relaxed. We hope it'll make us famous.”

Heavy Load, presented by APT Films, Met Film and Hi8us, is an IFC co-production with ITVS International in association with BBC Television.

Read more:
To read more about documentaries based on disabilties, see Reviewing an Intimate Documentary About the True Face of War.

To read more about musicians with disabilities, see:
- Discovering Clon: Dancing K-Pop Stars Integrate Wheelchairs with Their Moves

- Tobias Forrest: Singer with Disability Sees Acceptance on Stage as Band "Cityzen" Gains Attention

- Keith Jones: Conquering the Music Industry with Cerebral Palsy