Speaking Up

Voices of Reason turns its Election Day blues into help for the hungry.

By: Jim Boyle

TIMEOFF/JOHN KEATING

Clockwise from top left: Coproducer Chuck Whitmore, songwriter and editor Hank Kalet, marketing man Steve Feitl, bass player David Maniaci, cover illustrator/designer Mark Kalet, and songwriter and coproducer Steve Bates.

   For most Democrats in New Jersey, Election Day 2004 is probably a day they would like to forget. For the co-founders of Voices for Reason, however, the frustrating results have empowered them to channel their anger toward a productive cause.
   "There was a lot of energy going into this election," says Steve Bates. "More so than any I can remember. Everybody got involved with his or her candidate. Friends of mine were joining letter-writing campaigns and holding bake sales in support of John Kerry. When the results came in, we were so disappointed and had this ball of energy stored up."
   Mr. Bates soon began e-mailing friends Hank Kalet and Chuck Whitmore about George W. Bush’s victory, forming somewhat of a support group, starting with disbelief, evolving into acceptance until finally ending with a course of action. Adding Steve Feitl and Mr. Kalet’s brother, Mark, to the mix, they decided to use the opportunity to create something positive.
   "The chain of e-mails triggered me to write some song lyrics," says Mr. Kalet, a South Brunswick resident. "Steve (Bates) and Chuck began putting the words to music, and we decided to put together a CD. Steve (Feitl) came in and suggested donating any proceeds to some local soup kitchens."
   "What’s Happening Here (Someone Else’s Skin)" is one of eight songs featured on Voices of Reason’s compilation, The Other Side of the Street. The rest of the album also features three songs by Mr. Bates, one by Mr. Whitmore and two submissions by the Maggi Hill Band.
   "There are so many possible directions to go with this," says Mr. Whitmore, originally from St. Petersburg, Fla. "The important thing was not to come across too preachy. We were very careful about some of the stuff we wrote. There’s obvious emotion in the songs, but we didn’t want it to be just a complaint. We want to move people to do something."
   While Mr. Bates and Mr. Whitmore, who work together at an ad agency, compiled the CD, Mr. Kalet and Mr. Feitl concentrated on the production of a literary magazine and formation of the Web site, www.voicesofreason.net. Mr. Kalet, managing editor for the Cranbury Press and the South Brunswick Post, was already familiar with Eliot Katz, a poet who helped produce "The Beat Bush Issue" for Long Shot magazine. He, in turn, contacted other area poets, such as Earl Coleman, Nancy Mercado and Alicia Ostriker, who contributed pieces for the inaugural issue of The Other Half, which features cover art designed by Mark Kalet, a graphic artist and illustrator who lives in Franklin Park.
   "Everybody who has seen the magazine and heard the CD is really impressed with the quality of what we created," says Mr. Feitl of Robbinsville. "We started two weeks after the election and finished in April, doing all the production ourselves, from printing out the pages and burning CDs. All of that has kept the overhead low, ensuring that we can donate as much as possible."
   Voices of Reason plans to produce more issues, with the help of any interested writers and poets, and to give its proceeds to three local charities, Elijah’s Promise in New Brunswick, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and HomeFront in Lawrence. With today’s talking points of the war on terror and social security privatization, the group figures that the homeless and hungry are being overlooked by the media and the administration.
   "Nobody’s against helping the homeless and poor," says Mr. Feitl. "And it’s not just the poor. A lot of people who get help from HomeFront are regular families that pay all their bills, but don’t have enough money for groceries at the end of the month. They could easily be your neighbors. You never realize how economically hurt people are."
Voices of Reason’s album, The Other Side of the Street, and literary magazine, The Other Half, are available for $10, plus $1 for shipping and handling, on its Web site: www.voicesofreason.net. Submissions to The Other Half, including poetry, short fiction and essays, can be mailed to Hank Kalet, P.O. Box 293, Dayton, NJ 08810, or e-mailed as a Microsoft Word attachment to otherhalf@comcast.net. For information on the charities, visit on the Web: www.elijahspromise.org, www.trentonsoupkitchen.org and www.homefrontnj.org