Karen Gibson Roc is an astonishment. This Brooklyn-based (by way of Jamaica and Canada) poet and musician is fierce and fearless. A musical chameleon (she calls herself a "poetist" or poetic vocalist), she combines elements of rap, downtown-diva poetry slamming, and an urgent backing band called Fluid that lays down beats for her that range from jazzy to soulful to the rock edge that the hip-hop pioneers used to such great advantage. Karen Gibson Roc is so committed to what she is doing, she even dreams in rhyme! Styling herself a poetist, the performer celebrates the creative spirit in front of her empathetic band, Fluid. She is absolutely weightless, soaring and floating above the checks and balances that keep most of us secured to the weighty surface of this rolling ball we find ourselves assigned to. She is unafraid, not worried about her looks, not needing fame, and in the memorable words of one of her songs not even needing to be sane, all of the time. She has been compared to Gil Scott-Heron, a declaiming pioneer of the 1960s ("The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," "Johannesburg") and I can see a similarity, although she is not political, as Scott-Heron was. She is a sloganeer as he was, but in a more personal mode. I see her more as a poet/musician in the mode of the greatest of all New York City divas, Patti Smith, following her creative itchiness wherever it may lead her. It's all about the creative spirit for Gibson Roc. In her rhymes, whether gotten on the night shift or during the day like most poets, she is intensely creating, over and over. Being creative is intensely IMPORTANT to her, and by extension to the rest of the world. She says her main theme "is the evolution of spirit and the truth about following what is your dharma or your calling here in the physical." And her objective is "to inspire dream chasing and to uplift hearts, open minds." She admits to being a bit of a chameleon ("I like being free to see myself in different ways") and says "I am most passionate about art and the different ways that I myself and others interpret and create it!" WRITTEN BY MARK FOGERTY BOOMER BOX: Reviews for baby boomers that still listen to music New York Tendaberries http://www.brokeruniverse.com/boomerbox/archive/?column=20060915.htm LIVE @ THE WHITNEY MUSEUM IS A COMPILATION OF NEARLY A DECADE OF POETRY/SONG WRITING AND MUSICAL COMPOSITION. THE CD CONTAINS SONGS FROM THE DEBUT ALBUM "5&2FISH" RENDERED LIVE, SONGS FROM THEIR SECOND WORKS OF ART "TRAVELING WITH LIGHT" A LIVE DVD/CD PRODUCTION SPONSORED BY THE CANADIAN COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS! LIVE @ THE WHITNEY MUSEUM ALSO BOASTS NEW SONGS NEVER HEARD BEFORE!! IT IS A COMPLETE LIVE SHOW EXPRESSING WHAT THIS GROUP IS ALL ABOUT!!