Sparks from the Fire

Of all the problems in our world today, war has to be the worst of them all.  I think it’s even worse than poverty.

Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud.  I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth.  I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace.  ~ Charles Sumner, American politician and statesman from Massachusetts.

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Many of my favorite humans have been teachers.  When I look back on my life, pre-Watchfire Music, the people pinnacles were often the teachers, on one level or another, who came through my life and left some precious knowledge or life-lessons behind.

They weren’t always the easiest experiences in life, but were certainly the most rewarding.  Some of these include the obvious and some are a bit surprising now that I think on it.

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In the last 2 weeks I’ve been to two house concerts here in NYC.  Perhaps I should call them “Apartment Concerts”, but I’m seeing a real trend here in people getting back to the idea of pure inspirational music listening.

I love this concept and I love this trend in music.  I’ve felt for far too long now that audiences are slowly losing the ability to simply sit and listen to music and enjoy it for what it is.  Instead, more and more hoopla seems to be needed to stimulate the listener.  I enjoyed the novelty of Pink this last year at the Grammys singing upside-down while hanging from a trapeze, but c’mon now really…

I fear that the real basic problem here lately has been that there is a diminishing quality of music to listen to and so artists have to add additional value to their live acts in order to hold their audiences who have grown to expect light shows, ridiculous costumes, gargantuan sets and fireworks to stay interested.

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Pardon my absence, but I’ve been up to my eyebrows in music.

Just this last weekend I had the great privilege to produce and direct a concert of Inspirational music for TMC Youth, an organization dedicated to opening up the horizons of spirituality for the youth of today.

In a 3-day weekend gathering of over 200 young people from mainly the East coast, but also from as far away as Africa and Europe, my task was to put together and spearhead an hour and a half of Inspirational music entertainment for their Saturday night blow-out.

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Part 2 — As a producer:

It’s a busy time.  Spent the weekend in the studio working on two projects.  Will spend today, the day after Valentines Day, celebrating 14 year anniversary with the Missus.  I’ll actually take the day off.

The rest of the winter months and spring are loaded with music projects for Watchfire Music – so many that I must get better organized and get my arms around them all.  Here’s a list: (more…)

As a composer and producer I’ve had a long-standing relationship with vocalist, Jenny Burton.  I’ve often found her erudite in her ability to describe her craft and art. In the following interview I find her no less prescient. Jenny is a singer blessed with an amazing instrument that can shake the heavens and seed the clouds. She also is a performer extraordinaire.  On top of all that, in the studio, she’s a totally experienced pro. I had the chance to interview her lately for Watchfire Music. – PL

Peter Link: Why have you chosen music as your instrument of communication?

Jenny Burton: Without managing to sound too unoriginal or sappy, I must say that it’s more that music chose me — was infused into my bones and my life this time around. I have had the great joy of “just waking up” to it and living in it for these many years. Music is an essential part of who I am. It feeds me on the deepest of levels. I know as well that singing and performing is an honor and affords me the chance to give something back from the highest, most unencumbered parts of my self.

What central idea is most important to you in your communication with your audience?

Truth and clarity are very important to me.  The closer I can get to these two aspects of life, the better.  There is much that can be accomplished with music that is transcending.  I believe one of the reasons “the musical” was conceived is because once the playwright/composer has said all he/she can with the written and spoken word, he then finds it imperative to lay those words atop a groove, give them rhythm, and then a melody.  The composer then gives this to a singer to take the scene the rest of the way home.

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James Taylor

If you were to ask me, “Who has been your favorite pop star throughout your life?” I’d have to answer that it is a tie between The Beatles and James Taylor.  Perhaps that dates me; perhaps, on the other hand, it doesn’t.  Both have had such musically triumphant careers and both are sure to be long lasting.

Also both churned out mountains of great music and for me that’s the bottom line.  The Beatles were perhaps more eclectic, but Sweet Baby James was, well, just so sweeeet!

As a lyricist, James can be somewhat impressionistic like Paul and Joni, but also could just nail it down with the best of them.  He wrote this song for a musical, “Working”, and as a story-telling song, it’s one of the best.  It wins my Ira Award for Best Song for a Musical Written by a Pop Star.

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Certainly one of my favorite projects of my life has been my work with The Jenny Burton Experience. This truly inspirational group broke all box office records and played to packed houses in their more than seven year run at one of New York City’s top clubs.

In 1996 The Jenny Burton Experience swept all the major music awards in New York City for best vocal group including the MAC Award, The Back Stage Bistro Award and The Critic’s Choice Award. Named as one of Theater Week Magazine’s Top Ten Acts of the ’94/’95 season, they also won the CAB Award for Entertainers Of The Year.

I had the great privilege of being the principle writer, director and producer for this amazing act and gladly sat through hundreds of their performances over that 7 year span. People would come up to me all the time after shows and say things like, “This is the 9^th time I’ve seen the show” or “ This is my church.”

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