Shawn Casey O'Brien is the former lead singer/songwriter of the cutting edge punk band of the 80's: The Cripples.
Hailed by the likes of Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and Jack Nitzsche as a remarkable poet, his mixture of social satire and rock/punk/funk music inspired the political, spiritual and economic cripples of the world as well as the physical ones.
His work on the most controversial film of the 1980's, "Cruising" staring Al Pacino, helped to make the Nitzsche produced soundtrack - the standard by which the whole punk genre is now judged.
So far ahead of their time, The Cripples, scared even the world largest management company.
A company who signed The Cripples - sight unseen - upon the recommendation of Bob Dylan; but then proceeded to try to turn Shawn into "John Denver on sticks". Having none of it, Shawn spent the next decade playing the LA club scene.
Inspiring cripples of all ilk with his in your face message of "Stop being afraid, be proud of how you were made! Crippleness like beauty is in the eye of the beholder -- Behold!"
In between stints with The Cripples, Shawn Casey O'Brien went on to produce music for such cult classics as Tyker and Grave Robbers as well as working with such provocative bands as Spare Parts and Sweat Equity.
Long time Rolling Stone music critic Ann Powers said of The Cripples and their independently released album Unfaithful Legends:
"I condone and champion The Cripples... O'Brien's is a sensible mind ruled by passion: with compositions like "Female Christ" and "Heart Like A Boxer" he makes such old fashion ideas as love and justice seem reasonable. If Springsteen is our favored hero, then Shawn Casey O'Brien is one of our least glamorous and most deserving heroes. He, and the music he makes are the real things."
Retiring from live performance in order to raise his daughter, Shawn Casey O'Brien currently serves as co-host and co-producer of “Access Unlimited”. The disability awareness show heard every Tuesday at 3 p.m. on Los Angeles radio station KPFK 90.7 FM.
He co-founded and served for nine years as Executive Director of the Unique People’s Voting Project, (UP) the nation’s first grassroots effort to bring disabled voters into the political process. In that role, he was instrumental in registering and getting out the vote of over 100,000 disabled California citizens and their families.
For these efforts Shawn and UP were inducted into California’s Voter Registration Hall Of Fame in June, 2000.
Shawn has served as an adviser to the past three California Secretaries of State on voting rights and access matters.
As a member of the Secretary of State’s Task Force on Touch Screen Voting, Shawn fought for and got an Accessible Voter Verified Paper Trail on every electronic voting machine placed into state law.
This law guarantees that every Californian’s vote is cast, recorded and counted the way the voter intended.
Shawn Casey O’Brien is also a literary writer whose latest effort is as a contributing author to 'Voices from the Edge: Narratives about the American's with Disability Act', published by Oxford University Press.
Why I'm producing The 1 Second Film:
Because I had a second and ten bucks for a great cause - with a very creative solution.
Some things I'm doing to help make this film:
Now that I put up all this personal info... a whole hell of a lot more.
2008
