| Some Personal Notes: I am not a natural performer. I was born with a quiet, somewhat shy
temparment. Without going into detail, I didn’t talk much, certainly didn’t
sing, and spent many hours in tears during childhood. But I always had a desire to share
the songs I heard in my heart. So I began writing them down and learning guitar. It took a
long time to find the courage to first play music and later share lyrics.
I’ll never forget Steve Wahlen from an early band,
Einstein’s Riceboys, saying: “Get on the mic and sing girl.” In response,
and not to be dissed by a singing drummer, I put out two words from the song “Essence
Rare” by Gang of Four. As I recall the line was “…working
classes…” That was it for vocals with Riceboys.
So many projects, shows, bandmates, some broke out to higher
heights and gold records, some died. A lot of blood, sweat and more sweat between playing
in the early 1980's music scene and today.
Now, I sit in a room at a Milwaukee Public Schools
Transitional High School with so many beautiful, young, energetic faces doing what I call
‘community service music’. A security guard nearby, ankle bracelets under baggy
pants, an undercurrent of distrust yet curiosity. Gang talk. Drug talk. And the best part
dream talk - I hear small morsels of dream talk.
A retired social worker told me last year, “These are
the worst kids in Milwaukee.”
Sometimes they give me a hard time, no need to describe the
details here. That’s part of the challenge. I know where they come from— heavy
burdens, shaky foundations. That’s part of their challenge.
We play some music. We talk about lyrics. We watch global
music culture videos. Some of us play. Some of us walk out (but I notice the walk-outs
slyly observing from across the room, sometimes). Some of us sleep. Some of us absorb the
situation in ways that don’t make sense because this isn’t a typical classroom.
Our last class this session, Lucky Diop and I brought a
little sound system, an African Kora and Ngoni—both are stringed harps, my bass, and
two vocal mics. We took turns playing. We played to a somewhat unruly audience. But still
an audience. “What happened to the guy who taught you to sing that song?” one
youth asked Lucky. “He died of TB.” “What’s that?” The questions
and answers go forth on many tangential subjects. One youth noticed that my ngoni has a
soundhole. He noticed a photo inside the hollow gourd. “Who is that?” He trys to
reach in. I said my mother. Then he backed off in a mixture of respect and distraction,
because now the mic was on. I decided to play “Yayu Xale Yi” which means
“Mother of the Children” in a West African language called Wolof. I sang the
English translation. I dedicated it to all our mothers. The room went almost silent for a
few moments. Later we opened up the mics for them and gave them a background foundation to
express themselves. It was all very good. Messy but good.
From “…working classes…” to “Yayu
Xale Yi”, I realize today that I have had to make myself vulnerable again and again
over the years to grow. I am thankful for the opportunities to evolve into community
service musician in Milwaukee. I thank everyone who I have worked with for the
inspiration.
My cousin helped me write this
'offical' bio:
KT Rusch was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
She began playing guitar
and writing songs in childhood. In grade school, she discovered multitrack recording using
two old Panasonic tape recorders. Later, friends persuaded her to try out for high school
jazz band. She spent a summer learning jazz chords and stylings and to her surprise, made
the band. At Dominican High School, under Mark Kleckly’s direction, she began to
learn about playing music with a group. The following summer, she auditioned for Summer
Street workshops and joined an all-city high school group led by Milwaukee saxophonist Berkeley
Fudge. At this time she was asked by Berkeley to join the Inner City Arts Council
jazz band as a bass player. Those formative youthful experiences left a lifelong
imprint on how to work creatively with others, how adults can influence young people, and
the shared joy of making music.
In the early 1980s, KT
attended the Marquette University College of Engineering for one year and then left school
at age 19 to join Einstein’s Riceboys, a seminal independent group
known for originality and energetic performances.
She returned to college a
couple of years later to complete a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and to revisit favorite
energy transformation classes such as electromagnetic fields and thermodynamics. Drum
classes with Ko Thi African Dance Company and the study of Tai Chi Chuan with Grandmaster
Chian Ho Yin were influential at this time. There was an awakening to the healing apsects
of sound (energy) and a hope to learn more in this area.
KT moved to Boston to
work for Raytheon Corporation as a radar engineer working on Patriot Missile Defense
System and other large-scale engineering projects. At this time she played with a few
groups on bass or percussion, most notable was Nerve Ring, an 11-piece performance art
group. She joined Ibrahim Camara’s Cambridge drumming circle and was introduced to
the djembe drum.
In the late 1980s, she
moved back to Milwaukee to work for a small Biotech company. She studied uses of light for
diagnostic purposes, for example using infrared light to “see” through the skin
in order to measure glucose levels in diabetics, uses of ultrasound and hydroponics for
the NASA space station.
In the early 1990s, she
married Sheldon Rusch, writer and yoga instructor. She formed Zebra Muscle, a five-piece
original rock group that produced recordings, video, and energetic live performances.
Zebra Muscle was put on hold with the birth of a daughter in 1993 and to focus on family
and parenting. At this time, KT joined the Tai Chi Chuan Center of Milwaukee and
has continued in the practice of Yang style to this day.
While raising young
children, KT pursued part-time field research in hummingbird communication with Dr.
Millicent Ficken and Dr. Carolyn Pytte at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Original research was published in The Condor, The Auk, Animal Behaviour, The Passenger
Pigeon, Natural History magazine, National Geographic and others. She continued
to write songs and occasionally performed as a solo bass poet. Selections from
self-produced recordings "Inside-Out" and "Natural" received
international radio airplay on three continents.
She self-published a
group of poems in a handmade natural binding entitled "New World Mammal." Her
"New World Mammal" door is currently on display at Club Timbuktu in Milwaukee.
With the birth of her third child, she withdrew from the ecological field work and
spent her moments of free time teaching community drumming circles for children ages 5
through 13. For the last four years, she has created original soundscapes for a dance
company in the Eagle River school system.
As her third child
emerged from babyhood, KT began to play music with others again, sitting in with One Drum
and holding down the bass lines while songwriting/CD creation in now defunct world music
groups 56th Street and Scorcher Family Dub Poets. Current projects include Mali
Blues Group, film scoring for Brazilian director Diego Costa, and the
founding of kt's Universal Love Band
For the past five years,
KT continues to work with Express
Yourself Milwaukee, a non-profit group that facilitates healing artistic
expression for under-served Milwaukee youth. She works with an artistic team planting
seeds of positive expression on Monday nights at the Milwaukee County Juvenile Detention
Center. Every May, EYM produces an annual show with the youth of Milwaukee.
Recent music highlights
include: Jamming with Garifuna drummers in Belize. Performances with Amlak
Tafari, bassist with Steel Pulse and co-production of The River CD for Express
Yourself Milwaukee. Performances at Milwaukee's Summerfest and Madison's Fete de
Marquette. Opening for Mali's world music ambassadors - Amadou and Marium.
Production of Mali Blues Group Live CD. All performances with Universal
Love Band
New poetry has been
published in the last three issues of Journal of Martial Arts and Healing
|
kt rusch music
