|
By PENNY FLETCHER
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Penny Fletcher photo
Shari Keller’s music and poetry are accented by impressionistic drawings she has created of herself and her son.
As usual, little scraps of paper get lost in large files, especially my “future interview” file that is packed full of interesting people I meet just about every day.
Last week, while withdrawing some papers to throw away notes on people I’ve interviewed during the last few months, the little scrap of paper with Shari’s telephone number came out, attached to a large yellow-lined legal sheet.
As it turned out, neither she, nor her daughter, Suzanne Marie Keller-Becker, had forgotten our first meeting. They both just thought I forgot.
Originally from Michigan, Shari moved to Florida with her husband Charles, owner of Keller Tree service, and her two children in January 1988 because of the warmer weather.
Suzanne Marie almost died several times as a baby, starting when she was less than a week old, because of shallow breathing. As it turned out, Florida weather was as good for her health as it was for her parents when they stopped shoveling snow.
The reason Shari originally interested me proved to be true. An artist in many ways, she sings, writes electronic music tracks, and poetry. While a lot of her poetry is patriotic, much is also about the way people act toward others. Flowing with feelings, it can best be described by reading it, which you may do online at www.poetrypoem.com/poetluver. She and her daughter are thinking of publishing a book of poems. She has more than 50 completed, and there are always more on the way.
Her Web site says that “Poetry that impacts the world as a whole, and for the world to understand that ‘peace’ is the ultimate key to the survival of mankind and that there is a common bond that we all share around the world, not one that we should be proud of, but a bond none the less. It is called tragedy.”
Some of her poetry written the day after Sept. 11 tragedy was published in the 2003 Anthology of the American Poets Society.
But lately, her poetry writing has taken a back seat to her music, as she and her son David (known locally as DJ) work on their new electronic sound tracks.
Shari started singing as a child with her mother’s encouragement. “My mother was in the group Sweet Adelines – a national group with chapters in different places.” Sweet Adelines is a woman’s barbershop sound of melody and harmony.
By the time she was 12, she was writing her own songs and playing piano, organ and guitar.
“English and history infatuated me, and music and poetry give me the chance to use both,” Shari said.
She isn’t easily daunted. While in Holy Angels Catholic School in Sturgis, Mich., she shattered the windows during a recital. She also lip-synced her way through a concert when she had pneumonia rather than not show up and receive the “demerits” she figured she would get as a no-show.
The music continues in her Gibsonton home but now it’s a techno sound. She mixes the tracks first and then writes the vocals. She and her son, now 24, are constantly working on experimental tracks. She hopes to find a sponsor interested enough in her music to help her cut some studio recordings. So far, she’s published her songs herself, without the help of high-tech equipment, from her computer.
Their music can be heard at www.soundclick.com/djcrusadenbassmom.
She wants her music to tell a story.
“There should be a story in music, just like there is in poetry, or a book or song,” Shari said. “Even the mix of sound should tell a story.”
*Perhaps you have something you’d like to share. Or maybe you’d rather tell the community about your favorite charity or cause: or sound off about something you think needs change. That’s what “Over Coffee” is about. It really doesn’t matter whether we actually drink any coffee or not (although I probably will). It’s what you have to say that’s important. E-mail me any time and suggest a meeting place. No matter what’s going on, I’m usually available to share just one more cup.
|
