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For TR Kelley, her autistic world rocks.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Serena Markstrom The Register-Guard

NEXT PUBLIC CONCERT The Raventones What: Live From Planet Autism, a music and spoken word exploration of "neuro-diversity" When: 8 p.m. Sept. 23 Where: St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 155 E. 13th Ave. Tickets: $5 to $10 suggested donation KINDTREE CAMP/RETREAT What: Annual gathering of people with autism, their caregivers and family members When: The booked-up event starts today and goes through Sunday Where: Baker Boy Scout Camp, just south of Florence Information: Visit www .kindtree.org

Down a gravel road lined with blackberry bushes that devour discarded soda cans, no trespassing signs and the occasional old car, lives a woman who thinks in pictures and sound and would prefer not to meet you.

Musician TR Kelley might like to know you, but the initial meeting might cause her to convulse, rock and crane her neck to avoid eye contact.

She doesn't know how to take a phone message, but she can play along with a Thelonious Monk record.

"I mainly stay away from society," she says. "I always have a pen and paper in case I get flustered."

Kelley is not shy, but she does have Asperger's syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism that in her case is characterized by social awkwardness, obsessive tendencies, hyperactive senses and an IQ greater than 140.

She's also a musical savant.

A well-known figure on the local music scene in the 1990s, Kelley in recent years has stayed away from nightclubs, choosing to do a select few gigs where people come to hear the music because she no longer has to support herself through performing.

She was a member of Babes With Axes, played...