STATEN ISLAND NEWS - "Flame brightens event"- 2/1/10

STATEN ISLAND ADNAVCED NEWS

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Belting out rock 'n' roll classics with a soaring, husky, from-the-gut voice that moved through the room and animated the audience to move, front-woman Michelle King and the internationally acclaimed band, Flame, brought down the house and uplifted spirits yesterday at the Joan & Alan Bernikow Jewish Community Center, Sea View.

Heads bobbed, hands clapped and the auditorium often erupted into a giant sing-along as hundreds came out to hear the group of 10 people living with autism, Down Syndrome, mental retardation and blindness headline the JCC's second annual Reelabilities Film Festival -- a celebration of the arts, dedicated to people with special needs.

With nearly 100 such live tour dates a year, appearances on ABC's "Good Morning America," the Parthenon, in Greece, and an upcoming spread in People Magazine, Flame keeps a schedule rivaling the Grammy nominees who strutted last night on the red carpet.

But their message is as much in the musicians as in the music.

"My message is fantastic. Learn how to follow your dreams," said Ms. King, after the hour-plus-long set.

For Ms. King, whose mother was once told she would never speak in full sentences and who has proved the world wrong with her impressive chops on the acoustic guitar and repertoire of 115 cover songs, music has been the great equalizer.

"There are so many things a disabled person can do. The world should be open for them to do anything," said Jayne Smith, director of the JCC's special needs programs, raising her voice to be heard over the rhythmic pulse of the band. "This is to show the successes. There's place and a job for everybody."

Clapping and grinning, she hopped onto a conga line forming in the aisles of the auditorium, where audience members with special needs spun and danced with friends and family members.

Among the rollicking crew: A Girl Scout Troop from JCC and their partners and friends in a Girl Scout Troop made up of disabled youngsters from PS 37, Great Kills; adults with Down Syndrome; children with Autism; and a beaming girl coddled in the arms of her parents, marching right past her child-sized wheelchair, which had been pushed against the wall.

Leading the way were Flame's two dancers, whose high-energy, interpretative moves communicated a sweet and unique unadulterated joy.

"I warmed up my vocal cords," said Gregory Perosi, 20, of Annadale, after the show, as his parents helped him maneuver his wheelchair to the table where Flame CDs were on sale.

"I love that all the band members are disabled. I was born with Cerebral Palsy," noted Perosi, a role model himself at the CYO camp where he is a counselor. "It was excellent."

Deborah Young is a news reporter for the Advance. She can be reached at young@siadvance.com.