Sparks from the Fire

This is Part 3.  If you haven’t yet read Part 1 & 2, I highly suggest you do so first.

For a little more than five years when I was in my late 20s and early 30s I was composer-in-residence at the NY Shakespeare Festival (The Public Theater) working with producer Joseph Papp in what was, at the time, the most creative theatrical hot spot in the country.  Joe Papp and his plays and musicals had an amazing run of success during the 70s that we haven’t seen the likes of from a theatrical producer since.

It was at The Public where I learned my craft having the opportunity to work on some 40 shows in those 5+ years working as composer for Joe.  Besides many other theaters in The Public complex, the NYSF also produced two Shakespeare plays per summer at the outdoor Delacorte Theater in Central Park.  I created incidental music for a number of these productions and I remember one particular production of Shakespeare’s Comedy Of Errors where I was backstage standing in the wings one night.

An older actor was on stage in a scene with one other actor one night when the older actor simply stopped in the middle of one line and kind of slumped over, still standing, into a frozen position.  The long pause brought us all to quick alert.  His fellow actor fed him his cue again to no response.  The stage manager in the wings downstage of me also fed him his lines in a stage whisper several times to no avail.  The audience began to buzz and we all quickly realized that there was something very wrong with the older actor.

Truth is, he had had a small stroke.

The stage manager, taking charge, simply walked out on stage calmly, and taking the arm of the older actor, led him slowly off stage.  Then the stage manager went back on stage and announced to the audience that we would take a short intermission and resume the play after 15 minutes.  The audience, still abuzz, did as they were told to do peacefully.

Backstage it was anything but peaceful.  Rather, it was a pretty wild scene as the older actor was addressed and cared for, an ambulance was called and his understudy was frantically preparing to go on in the older actor’s place.

The costume mistresses scurried about preparing the understudy’s costume changes, I got in his face discussing his musical cues and the stage manager ran through a litany of reminders for the young, inexperienced understudy. (more…)

Note: The following is a compilation of several posts and some new updates intended for newer readers of this blog.  Much has been written about our new project, Goin’ Home.  If you’ve been following all along, you may find some redundancies here; however, if you’re somewhat new to the project, you’ll find here a summary of events and thoughts that will bring you somewhat up to date.

What if today you could go over to your neighborhood grocery, grab that cart and shop for anything your little ol’ heart desired, then, instead of getting into the checkout line, skip that and just head home with your groceries – steak, shrimp, Haagen Daz, throw in a little Kobe Beef, some chocolate truffles and perchance a tin or two of Almas Caviar.

When you got outside with your overflowing shopping cart, the police would be there, but would just look the other way as you passed by chuckling gleefully, licking your chops.

What a great idea!  Why don’t we do this?  Food should be free!  I think most of us would agree that life would be a lot easier if food were free.

Trouble is, after very little time, maybe the next time we went back to the supermarket, the aisles would be empty, the shelves bare.  “Hey, all the food is gone!” you might cry.  “Well, let’s go back to the farmers and get more,” the store manager would say.

So we’d go to the farmers and say, “Hey farmers, make more food!”  They would respond like this:  “Without getting paid, it’s just too hard.  Sorry, but there’s just no more food.  We’re gonna go do something else.”

Well, essentially that’s what just happened to the music business – except for one problem.  Of course the farmers equal the artists in this little analogy and the artists, who love to make music, are still saying, “Oh cool, you like my music? You actually want to listen to my music?  OK, I’ll give it to you for free!”

So it’s gonna take a little time before this situation is righted.  Give the starving artists a chance to really starve.   Then they won’t be able to make any more music no matter how much they love to do it.  Cuz we all gotta eat! (more…)

Money may not make the world go around, but it does help gather people together sometimes to give it a little push.  In this day and age of the music industry blues, sometimes that little push is needed.  In the case of Inspirational music the time is now.

Consequently we have begun a 30 day Kickstarter.com campaign to raise money to complete and promote a CD project that I’ve been working on now for over a year and a half.

It’s the making of new CD called “Goin’ Home” and a subsequent National Tour around this CD.  It involves an inspiring blend of great tradition and cutting-edge new music and deals with a very important aspect of each of our lives.

It deals with the experience at the end of our lives that we each face eventually that I like to call “transition”.

In the words of Jenny Burton, one of the project’s stars, “It’s a subject that, at first, we walk away from, but will walk towards one day, so why not walk towards it informed and without fear.”

I, personally, would like to go through that experience, when it comes, fully aware and alert, expectant joyful, and filled with spiritual curiosity.  When it comes to that transition, we Americans tend to look the other way and pretend that it doesn’t exist.  I don’t want to be like that.

What better way to prepare than to write about it.

So Goin’ Home is about Heaven and beyond.  I’ve thought from childhood that the much of the world’s perception of Heaven, though certainly idyllic, was really rather like a fairy tale or a Santa Claus story.  In a song entitled Heaven on the CD I write the following: (more…)

This morning as I sit and drink my hot chocolate, I watch the sun come up pink on the buildings of a new day – and a city that never sleeps.  What a time for Inspirational music!  If the Missus weren’t still sleeping, I’d go into my studio, throw open the windows and crank up the volume.

Perhaps a song called Faith, perhaps Who Will Heal The World, perhaps Julia’s Upon The Mountain.  I’d play my ‘hood, Hell’s Kitchen, awake and stand on my terrace overlooking Lower Manhattan, the Village, Wall Street and the Statue Of Liberty and holler, “Wake up, New York!  We’re alive!

Last night I looked out on a new building springing up down where the Twin Towers once stood.  It was lit majestically in red, white and blue.  It stands where once, not so long ago, there was nothing but a hole in the ground.  Hope re-kindled.

This morning the sun rises on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

I wasn’t in NYC ten years ago this morning.  At first I counted it a blessing.  I was in my other home in Colorado sleeping with the Missus when the telephone rang to tell us of the unbelievable news.  We spent the rest of the day, just like the rest of you, glued to our TV and watching the images over and over in disbelief as they burned into our brains for all time. (more…)

NOTE: THE WFM LISTENING ROOM SERIES III CONCERTS HAVE BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL THE FALL OF 2011.  STAY TUNED AND WE’LL KEEP YOU POSTED AS TO THE COMING DATES.

Series III of the Watchfire Music Listening Room begins Sunday afternoon, July 17^th at 4:00 PM with Classical Crossover Sunday Afternoon – something a little different – something very special.  Inspirational music has never had it so good as to be presented most elegantly and professionally at 583 Park Avenue by a whole raft of world-class talent.

International artists such as Osceola Davis, Julia Wade, Gregory Emanuel Rahming and Marianne Moore will be joined by violinist, Alan Grubner and pianist, William Lewis, to present an afternoon of classic musical delights ranging from the works of Beethoven, to Ellington, to Billy Joel.  Don’t know how we can possibly fit such disparity into one afternoon?  Join us and experience for yourself!

The July 17^th Sunday Afternoon concert will be followed by three others this coming summer.  One is still in the assembling process, but others will feature WFMLR regulars Julia Wade, Chieli Minucci, Jenny Burton, Alan Grubner and newcomer to the WFM Listening Room experience, South American string quartet, Sweet Plantain, blending Jazz, Latin and Classic styles. (more…)

Thrilling!  That’s the word that keeps coming up.  Absolutely thrilling!  Inspirational music took on new levels of inspiration last night as both Jenny Burton and Chieli Minucci and Friends closed out Series II in majestic form.

As I stood in the back of the room with the Missus and watched and listened and teared-up and danced, I was aware that we had reached, yet again, new heights.  This was an evening to be remembered.  (As if all the others weren’t?)  This was quickly becoming the new standard.

Here were four master musicians (Chieli Minucci, Philip Hamilton, Alan Grubner and Jenny Burton) taking us on rides of wonder, flights of daring, and journeys into the music of their minds revealing places never before visited.  Here was music pouring out of the minds and souls of master musicians – the kind of experiences that make us mere mortals sit in fascination and stand and scream in exhaustion when it’s over. (more…)

For those yet unable to attend, we’ll try to bring the Watchfire Music Listening Room to you through the wondrous pictures taken this past concert by friend and follower, John Johnson, photographer extraordinaire – an evening of Inspirational music both inspiring to the ear and eye.

With its graceful arches and most expressive lighting, the two-story space was home this past Friday night to both Chieli Minucci, world-class guitarist and Jenny Burton, a chanteuse of heart-stopping abilities, and their devoted fans.

Located at Park Avenue and 63^rd Street, NYC, even the outside of this gorgeous building promises a rare experience of visual and aural delights.

As the concert begins, the first thing one notices is that they’re not barraged by waiters serving drinks or food, but instead sit in comfortable seats with excess legroom and not a bad seat in the intimate, but packed space.  The ever-changing atmospheric colors of the evening reflect the multifarious moods of the music as light and sound coordinate to present a concentrated music listening experience. (more…)

Jenny Burton at the WFM Listening Room

I thought you all might be interested in a recent comment regarding Inspirational music and the frustrations of one of our readers with living too far away from the NYC hub of music.

“I love reading everything from you, Peter, but why can’t we ever hear this marvelous music online? I am nowhere near NYC and have no opportunity to hear any of it!” — Joan

Joan,
It’s the Age of Information — the age of instant communication — if we can ever get cell phones to really work. Though world distances are certainly shrinking, there still remains a problem for some of us mere mortals.

(more…)