HEAVENS CAFE'
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HEAVENS CAFE' |
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HOW
THINGS STARTED
FROM THE JOURNAL OF JOHN MINER
LAST
SMILE SUNSHINE
ASTRALOGRAPHY For Astralography we had to come up with a longer
HEAVENS CAFE'
The Song Heavens Cafeí changed quite a bit from
NEVER ALONE Never Alone changed in that Jon felt his Timbali
CLASSICAL MAN Classical man was the most fun number for the
LABYRINTH We were jamming to Labyrinth when someone
TOWER OF INFORMATION
I remember mixing Tower and it seemed no matter
AGAIN This silly little song took a bit of work vocally
FLOWING HOME/THE DARK We decided the ending was a bit too blaseí
ROBIN'S LULLABY
The only thing missing here is a one day old
Heavens Cafe' Live was a dream come true to me for sure.
The Studio record was really great fun but very self
absorbing to say the least! Gathering the musicians
and the cast to stage it live was no easy feat either, but once
I found a drummer with the disciple and focus to achieve
the task at hand it made things much easier. I settled
on Jon Weisberg of Philadelphia, after auditioning many fine drummers.
Jon had the right flair for the jazz/rock
balance needed and used the full dynamic range from light to
nearly out of control garage thunder!.
Bassist Jon Cornell, who was just finishing
his studies at the Las Vegas Performing Arts Academy,
fit into the group perfectly with a fresh confidence
and openness needed to take on this kind of project.
This officially being the beginning of "Art Rock Circus".
I wonít get into the motivations and lyrics as I have
covered that already on the Heavens Cafeí page, but
weíll explore the new interpretations taking the
music from the studio to the stage.
Last Smile Sunshine was the first song we worked on
and we really didnít do much to it other than
just play it with a bit more bite... Sean who
sang the number added his own touch and flair
to it and gave the number the icing it needed
to kick off the show....I remember opening night
just barely being able to hear Jonís drum sticks
clicking it off over the crowd, and I didnít seem
to have a lot of him in my monitor. The stage setup
was unusual in that we were not at all close
together....Drummer Jon, as we would refer to
him (us all being Jonís!) was all the way on the
other side of the stage and Cornell all the way
in the back like a giant triangle, and added that
we were on these 5 foot risers...it was something
we didnít think about much at rehearsals...
intro mood piece as Kristine and Charis had more
lengthy choreographing in mind. The biggest
change here was the two vocal approach by Classical
Man and Lark. On the stage this worked much
better for us as we were able to give the audience
a more visual connection between the two characters...
Musically itís pretty pedal to the metal and Iím
happy how it went down to tape...big and thunderous
with Toddís delicate voice soaring across
the top...
the studio recording due mainly to the unique
approach that drummer Jon had to the rhythm
section with Cornell.. The song is in 5/4 time
but Jon decided to play it in 4/4 so the one
count rotates around like a math puzzle every
five measures coming back to the same place it
started...Cornell locked into it and they just
do their thing and I never really knew where
they were or what they were doing!! The picking
pattern on guitar is quite unusual and the
whole thing is just very....avant guard to say
the least. Miche had been back on cigarettes
so her voice deepened slightly from the previous
recording and it seemed more earthy
and convincing live..
would serve the purpose better than drum kit...
At first I wasnít sure this was such a good idea
because I had decided to leave the acoustic guitar
in the case for the shows to avoid possible feedback
problems etc..It was really just a tone thing we had
to work out and once the settings were figured out
we did fine...Cornellís bass playing on his fretless
is first rate and Allison did a wonderful
job with the vocals adding her sultry flair
and delicacy..
band to play live...Jon and Jon gave the rhythm
a heavy groove feel in total contrast to the choppy
syncopated feel I had envisioned on the studio
record..I think the band is really in top form
here I just loved watching those guys really play
and open it up musically..The groovy 7/8 meter is
the most fun one of its kind I've ever played.
Seanís animated vocals fit perfectly and
we really had a blast here...I think you can't
help but feel it!
showed up with pizza and beer, without realizing
we were rehearsing in the black box theater on
public school property with under aged dancers
and musicians, one of the mothers came early to pick
up her daughter, saw the beer and proceeded to
turn us in... to the school board and the next
day we where kicked out and Kristine nearly lost
her job teaching there.....What a nightmare...we
had only two weeks left and no rehearsal space!
Hence the phrase ìHeadache Cafeí!î On a musical
note...Jon made another fine contribution with
his eclectic drumming banging the sides of the
drums, making fine use of the stands and other
things into his bizarre mixture of urban ethnic
prog rock... We had a bit of a hard time getting
Todd to come out of his ìLarkî shell to deliver
the vocal intro with the kind of conviction needed
to keep the piece alive... but Kristine was able
to communicate the idea and it went down well..I
wish we could show on the record all the really
cool dancing going on during the piece...heavily
choreographed yet amazingly free form... and Iím
quite sure the dancers had never counted their
steps in 11/ 8 time signature before. When we
release a video of the show someday, Labyrinth will
be one of the highlights for sure...
where I slid the faders it just sounded great..
..Iím not really sure why, I suppose itís where
Cornell and I had our guitar settings.... because
I know drummer Jonís kit didnít have any knobs!!
Toddís voice just came to life and the girls
just really got the harmonies right....Melanieís
violin shined...I remember getting chills when
the crowd started clapping as she bowed the first note
up, and it still gives me a few goose bumps when
I listen to it....very mystical I think ìTower".
as everyone comes back out on stage and the
actors trade lines with one another....we would
sit in a circle at rehearsals and just shoot it
around the room until it would flow right....We
had some real disasters when someone would forget
a line or get out of rhythm. Oddly enough the
guitar solo in this song was probably the most
technical in the show and I was very happy to
have nailed it as good as I did...I had really
botched it a few times at rehearsal!
so we added the big crescendo at the end
which I stole from ìMantra Sunriseî ...itís ok
to steal from yourself right? It seemed a nice
tribute to ìMantraî and it really worked well...it
always received a big crowd response
with ìMantraî when we would end a show that
way. Amazingly the same thing happened
here... Todd and Micheís big vocal wailings
in the back added a new dimension to it.
The "hey man it's dark in here" is a part of the
opera where Kral, played by Tim Burris, provides
some much needed comic relief!
baby crying in the background! You have to
listen to the studio record for that! We
added the final monologue which Allison
delivered nicely over the guitar and violin.
Erica Syriod who did the studio record was
in the audience and watched her former student
play what she had done totally on the fly....I
know she was amazed at the reproduction!
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