{ The apollo kid}
ing. He needed something titanic, yet overlooked. His father found “Maggot Brain” on the Internet. On May 7, 2008, a few dozen parish-
ioners took a bus from Sharon Bible to Harlem. They were going to cheer their favorite gospel guitar protege’s Apollo debut. Spotlights pierced the smoke- machine vapors, focusing on a slight figure fingering a guitar that looked too big for him. “Everyone assumed his performance
was going to be a gospel performance,” recalls Pastor Victor O. Kirk Sr. of Sha- ron Bible. “When he started to play an old 1971 Funkadelic song, it really took us by surprise. Not in a bad way.” Successful Amateur Night per-
formers advance through a winnowing process, with the top finishers quali- fying for three playoff rounds. Foley’s “Maggot Brain” triumphed, making him the children’s 2008 “Super Top Dog.” He took a year off from competition to
focus on high school. Among his courses this semester are three Advanced Place- ment classes, including music theory. The prize his eyes are on is getting
admitted to the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he would like to earn a bachelor’s in pop music. “I want to be performing and recording for the rest of my life,” he says. “But I’m going to have to have another job so I can get health care and stuff.” He says that, to him, playing the gui-
tar, is, simply: “Freedom.” “The fretboard is just endless possibil-
ities. I can do anything I want, and it’s not dangerous or illegal. I can recover from mistakes, or I can build on mistakes. I don’t want to be perfect when I play. Because if I’m perfect, I’m not pushing myself hard enough. Every time, I want to push myself to a point where I might mess up, but not to the point where I know I’m going to mess up. I have to be right on the edge all the time.” On a recent Friday, Foley is record-
ing at Recording Arts studio in Fairfax for a demo CD he hopes to present to college admission officers. He has al- ready laid down “That Lady” by the Isleys, and now he runs through “Affir- mation” and “Amazing Grace.” Ulreich, a guitar ace himself with the
local band Junkyard Saints, hasn’t heard his pupil do these songs in a while. In lessons, they have moved on to jazz and classical techniques to make Foley a more complete guitar player. Now he hears new colors in Foley’s interpretations. “A couple moments there, it sound-
ed a little bit like Jeff Beck,” the teacher says. Now Foley prepares to play “Maggot
Brain.” He has decided to bring it back for the adult competition. He turns intense, focused. He slathers on hand-sanitizer to dry his skin for a more precise grip. He removes the flannel long-sleeve shirt that is over his T-shirt, to free his arms. He has revised his version consider-
22 The WashingTon PosT Magazine | november 28, 2010
See video of Foley’s apollo performance at
washingtonpost.com/magazine.
ably, made it harder, faster, more of a “narrative,” he says. “It’s the most soul- ful song I know.” After trying “Maggot Brain” once,
Foley tells sound engineer Marco Delmar that he needs to rest his fingers and col- lect himself before trying it again. While he’s resting, he noodles a bit of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).” After “Maggot Brain,” Hendrix is relaxation.
Two buses and a van pull up to the Apollo carrying about 100 Foley fans —
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