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By DANNY ALEXANDER Special to The Star In the two years since Corinna started playing guitar and writing songs, she has recorded two CDs, and a third is in the works. Her ethereal voice and deeply personal lyrics have earned her followings on 40 MP3 stations, which have played 15 cuts from her two CDs. As part of the Uptown Theater's ambitious plans for developing fresh, local talent in 2002, Corinna will play Thursday at the venue's Nowhere Room. She will perform at 5 p.m. for free before Bruce Willis takes the main stage at 8 p.m. There's something magical about Corinna's rate of progress. To visit her Web site (www.chasingtheghost.com) is to see an engagement of her two passions -- music and the world of faeries -- which nicely balance her own harrowing story. When she was 12, Corinna's father, Mike Fugate, an accomplished trumpeter, was killed in an accident. She and her mother were then uprooted, making several moves around the country. At 15, feeling grief-stricken and socially isolated, Corinna began running away from home and struggling with alcoholism. At the age of 17, she hit a turning point. Her mother, Virginia Fugate, gave her a guitar, and Corinna discovered a book about faeries. Before long, she was writing her own songs. "The faeries and the music came hand in hand," Corinna said. "The faeries helped me learn how to heal through music." So does the memory of her father. "When I write," she said, "he's here with me." Corinna's creative vision has served her well. Through the Internet, she met Azrynne, another faery enthusiast who created a Web site for Tori Amos, an artist whom Corinna admires and who shares Corinna's enthusiasm for faeries. Azrynne set Corinna up with a Web page and made it possible for her to see Amos perform in New York last year. After the show, the star and the aspiring songwriter met. Corinna gave Amos copies of both of her CDs; in return Amos gave her an autograph, which read, "Warm waves, understanding and wings over Kansas." Corinna's own songs reflect a similar desire to reach out, comfort and nurture others. "Anastasia," a song about a little girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina, illustrates the purpose that runs through much of her work: Never lose faith in your dreams. Corinna herself models that way of living. She assembled her first band by calling up musicians she'd never played with and invited them to an open-mike night at the Jazzhaus in Lawrence. The bass player and guitar player ended up helping her cut her first CD, "Chasing the Ghost." Remarkably, she oversaw production and arrangements on both albums, a skill that grows more subtle and ambitious from one CD to the next. Her third CD, "The Deeper You Go the Higher You Fly," shows several significantly new directions and reflects her ability to dream big: "I would love to have a symphony orchestra for (the song) 'And All the Mountains,' " she said. At this rate, it'd be foolish to bet against her. |
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