Schenectady Gazette - 12/12/09 - "FLAME USES GOOD MUSIC TO BRING EVERYONE TOGETHER"

FLAME USES GOOD MUSIC TO BRING EVERYONE TOGETHER

By David Singer

The drummer is blind and autistic.  The lead singer is mentally challenged.  The bass player is paritally paralyzed.  The percussionist has cerbral palsy.  It was easy to approach Friday night's show by the group Flame at The Linda auditorium with a high level of skepticism.

But the thing about music is you can't pin it down.  It can always hit you in a new way.  And Friday night;s show did just that.  The group opened with with Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason".  Eyes closed, they sounded pleasantly able, Michelle King's vocals strong, full and uplifting.  Her acoustic guitar strummed smoothly.  Nick Robinson' bass was consistent and on point.  And drummer David LaGrange was steady as any drummer can be.  Open your eyes and the music filled with emotion as you took in visuals of the group's focus and effort. 

Then there were the three back-up vocalists who delivered sweet marmonic layers above King's blusey voice.

Flame started performing in 2003.  They play some 80 shows a year throughout the Northeast using a songbook of about 100 tunes.  Last December the Greek government hired them to play in Athens.  So they've been around.

Back-up singer Scott Stuart sang Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues".  Blind with cerbral palsy, he assured us before the song that we "will like it.   Everybody always does," he said with confidence. 

I ca't think of the number of accomplished, famed musicians who could learn from drummer LaGrange and bassist Robinson.  Their simplicity, their lack of ego, their teamwork - everything they did was for the sake of the song - was enormously refreshing.

LaGrange's solo made Ringo Starr sound complex.  His arms flailing over his two tom-toms, he knew how to garner energy from himself and the audience.  "Wnat to hear my bass drum?" he yelled in the middle of the solo, which he proceeded to slam steadily, everyone cheering him on.  Good, uplifting fun.

Every time they did something like this you felt a surge of excitement, everyone in on it together, something only live music can do to a crowd of strangers.

Flame gave us some Christmas tunes, including "Jingle Bell Rock".  They followed this with Lynard Skynard's "Sweet Home Alabama", the disjointed order seemingly just right. 

Challenged or not, the group not only knows how to tap into the power of music inside themselves, they do it as a team and transfer the magic to an audience.  In that way, they are more able than most of us.