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Acoustic activist comes to Cousin Andy's By Marleen Shepherd, The Southern SONiA and disappear fear; doors open at 7 p.m, music starts at 7:30 p.m, Friday, Dec. 9th; Cousin Andy's Coffeehouse, fellowship hall of Church of the Good Shepherd United Church of Christ, 515 Orchard Drive, Carbondale; adults $10, students and low-income $5 children free; (618) 457-2575; www.cousinandy.org; www.disappearfear.com. CARBONDALE - Sonia Rutstein is the daughter of a different age. Growing up in the late '60s, Rutstein was nurtured in the "acoustic activism" of the era. "I saw a glimmer of what could be ... the reality of which was very much in our grasp," Rutstein, of Baltimore-based band SONiA and disappear fear, tells the Flipside. "I didn't grow up a poor black girl in Mississippi. I grew up a privileged Jewish white girl in a suburb of Baltimore, but I don't think you have to be a particular minority to understand what it feels like to be left out. It's just human experience if you're aware, awake. I don't feel there should be rules that give privilege to someone due to race or economy and deny someone else that, and I couldn't not sing about it." With a voice as beautiful and effortless as Rutstein's, it's a pleasure to listen. Rutstein performs selections from her latest CD Friday at Cousin Andy's Coffeehouse. DF05 Live features a folk-rock mix of original tunes such The songs were recorded at intimate listening rooms and major festivals across the United States including the Kerrville Folk Festival, where Rutstein met Cousin Andy's Vern Crawford. "He liked our music, and he's lot of fun, a really cool soulful guy," Rutstein remembers. "He asked us to come play Cousin Andy's and we said sure." Grammy-nominated SONiA and disappear fear swings through Carbondale on a tour that will end at World Pride in Jerusalem in August 2006. Advancing social tolerance is a major cause for the band that received an Out Music award for best female vocalist. Members are Laura Cerulli on drums and vocals and Angela Edge on bass and trumpet. Rutstein contributes lead vocals, guitar, harmonica and piano for a repertoire that skips from folk to pop and from rock to blues, even mixing in some reggae. "What's constant in the music is the message," Rutstein says. "I hope they (listeners) are inspired to realize they can make a difference in this world, their voice matters, br> to live to their own true heartbeat." |