Normal
People Scare Me is an unusual film. It's
an autism documentary film produced in part by Joey Travolta. Joey is
a former special education teacher, and he runs an acting camp for
kids ages 10 to 18 who are on the autism spectrum. He interviewed
Taylor Cross, and thus the process of creating Normal People Scare
Me began. Taylor is a young man with autism and he invited more
than 65 individuals with autism or Asperger's Syndrome to describe
their experiences on the film. All of the interviews are with people
on the spectrum, except for Joey Travolta who initiated this movie.
The film was released in 2006 and the audiences requested an album of
the soundtrack. So the score was produced by Grammy winner Rob Christie,
who recently produced the album Forever Cool. The soundtrack is
available since April 11, 2008.
The album starts with a rendition of What A
Wonderful World. This song was recorded in January 2008 as an
up-tempo swing-jazz arrangement. Guest musicians are Dave Koz, Gregg
Field and some of Frank Sinatra's original band. The singers are Joey
Gian, Susan Sheller, Kirsten Profitt, Jeff Phillips and Shawn Ellis.
This theme was used in Keri Bower's summer camps for children with
autism for 5 years. Dave Koz had performed this song in the past with
Rod Stewart in a slower version.
Kirsten Proffit contributes her songs Come
Closer, Marilyn and Show Me You Cry to the album.
Her style is influenced by Jeff Buckley, the Cars and the Pretenders,
but her music is personal, emotional and heartfelt. "I want to make
people feel something when they hear my songs. A song is a great
opportunity to say something good, bad or otherwise and really make a
point," she said. "I just want to make my point in the coolest, most
clever way possible."
Shawn Ellis of Rhythm Box adds the songs Mama,
Learn To Fly and Broken. Shawn performs up-tempo songs with
Rock elements. Ballads with depth. Susan Sheller features her new song
Lookin' For Julian. Also on this soundtrack are her songs On
The Way To Her and Memphis Radio of her album On The Way
To Her (1999), which received high accolades by audience. Typical
ballades of the folk-rock scene.
The final tune Locked Inside Of Me
features multi-platinum recording artist Taylor Dayne. Unlike her
usual repertoire Taylor presents a sensible ballade with great
emotion. The song was written by Joey Travolta and composer Jeff Less.
Portions of proceeds from sales of the soundtrack
and 100 % of the What A Wonderful World royalties will be donated to
two charities, pARTnerships and PAUSE4kids. So this album is a good
way to combine musical pleasure with your readiness to donate some
money.
