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The
Mission:
Welcome to Free Radicals, a journey of musical and poetic creativity. Free
Radicals is a vision of a world of harmony, sharing, and equality among all
members of the human family. Free Radicals is an expression of a conscious
intention – to peacefully, integrally, and comprehensively change society. Free
Radicals is an opportunity for all those who have rediscovered their true nature
as agents of peaceful change. It is an invitation for them to interact, to
exchange energy and ideas, and to coalesce into new relationships that engender
deeper and deeper levels of meaning and understanding.
The
Band:
Free Radicals the band is sometimes a particle and sometimes a wave. It is
rarely the same entity from one venue to the next. The nucleus is poet and
songwriter A.A. Kutt, but it is in a constant state of flux – or one might say
evolution. On any given day, other members could be most anybody with an
instrument, a message, or a bold and sincere voice – or it could be you. While
there is no fixed ensemble, frequently appearing members include violist Geoff Holdridge, guitarist/songwriter Scott Holland, keyboardist Mark Stevens,
bassist Alan Sultan, and
multi-dimensionalist fellow singer/songwriter Martin Stamper.
The Music:
Free Radicals music is a capricious hybrid of folk, country, punk and
psychedelic rock. A self-taught musician since the age of 7, A.A Kutt’s songs
epitomize what grammatically challenged admirers would call “uniquely original”. A.A.
Kutt’s musical influences include Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Joni
Mitchell, Neil Young, John Lennon, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, The Kinks, Radiohead,
and Ani DeFranco, to name a few. The songs range from light-hearted fun to
anthems of heroism and social upheaval, form poetic whimsies to mystical
sojourns. Most of A.A. Kutt’s music offers a subtle or not-so –subtle dose of
wry social commentary. It also expresses a deep empathy and a sense of humanity
in the face of the crazy world we are all trying to live in together.
The Poetry:
For A.A. Kutt poetry began at the age of 6, when he used to compose original
verses dedicated to different family members and write them on hand decorated
cards to be given out at Christmas. “Writing has always been my solace, my way
of reorienting myself toward my inner home.”
Poetic influences include but are certainly not limited to William Shakespeare,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, E.E. Cummings, Wallace Stevens, Emily Dickinson, and Mary Oliver. “My
poetry really took off when I gave up trying write poetry. That was the day I
started to find my voice.” The poetry of A.A. Kutt can have a folksy
storytelling feel or it can probe the metaphysics of our existential plight.
“When delving into spiritual matters in poetry my only dogma is to never take
myself too seriously.“
The Message:
All of us are free radicals. We can be agent of growth and partnership or agents
of destruction and death. It is up to us – every moment. For it is our
thoughts that create the reality we live in. The first step to realizing our
potential as agents of positive change is remembering that we are free in the
first place. And that it is easy to forget. On the other hand, this
forgetfulness is nothing a good cup of coffee, a warm ray of sunshine, or the
red blessing of a cardinal in flight can’t fix – on any given morning.
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