Independent artist performs, discusses craft of songwriting

Singer and songwriter Allette Brooks performed live Thursday night for a crowd of about 50 in Collins Center's Cheshire Cafe, playing two one-hour sets. The sets included songs from her latest release, Silicon Valley Rebel, in an event sponsored by Collins Living-Learning Center Arts Council and the IU Women's Student Association.\nBrooks, 25, a folk artist from the San Francisco Bay area, has been called a rebel by her critics and fans. This label is expressed in her most recent album's title, as well as the politically charged lyrics and often feminist insight in her songs. \nSome fans say being a female singer who also writes her own songs, Brooks stands as an inspiration to males and females.\n"As a songwriter myself, I feel she has a lot to stand for on a whole for women in the music industry," junior Kristen Asche said. "So much music that is out there right now is so manufactured, but what Allette writes is real and original."\nBrooks said she does most of her touring independently, traveling by herself in a van. She plays many kinds of venues, anywhere from private homes to college towns.\nThe IU Women's Student Association brought Brooks to Bloomington to support her as a female artist in honor of Women's History Month and to introduce her as an artist to the Bloomington community, said association member and senior Jaelithe Ward, who helped to arrange the event.\n"I think it was a really positive time," Ward said. "I think that she was able to meet and interact with people who may become fans of what she is supporting."\nBrooks also led a pre-performance open discussion, on topics ranging from her experiences with the Dancing Rabbit eco-village to songwriting and recording.\nSome students interested in starting a record label asked Brooks specific questions about how she started her career, as well as where she gets the inspiration for her songs.\n"The best songs are when it just comes on out," Brooks said. \nOne song, she said, came to her while she was driving in her car and had an inspiration to come up with lyrics on driving. She completed the words to the song two hours later, as the inspiration just came to her, she said.\n"You've just got to let the song go where it is going to go and not think about the product it is going to be," Brooks said.\nAs a struggling artist, Brooks said that to finance her label and record her music she sacrifices many luxuries people her age can afford. Her dedication to recording music and reaching her fans is reflected when she performs, Ward said.\n"It's just an amazing and honorable lifestyle," Ward said. "Just seeing her in her moment was amazing."\nBrooks also mentioned a new song she is working on about the AIDS crisis in Africa, discussing how she uses imagery to bring the listener deeper into the lyrics and the scene she is describing. She said she tries to relate to the issues in her song as much as possible, but sometimes has to research or use her creativity to express reality in her lyrics, especially with this song. \n"I don't want to take on a voice that is not mine," Brooks said. "I'm not African. I don't live in a shanty town, and I don't have AIDS."\nDespite any obstacles, Brooks said her intuition and love for her music help the lyrics come out naturally and onto paper, directing the writing of most of her songs.\n"Sometimes there isn't even an idea, just a feeling, and the song comes from that feeling," she said.