What is Spark-Tower Music?
Run-down industrial areas and their tired residential adjuncts. The neighbourhood where everyone knows everyone. The look that’s given to an outsider coming in, the look that’s given to an insider who’s leaving…
The blues. The feeling of leaving home. The implacable intrusion of adulthood into a young man’s relationship with his father. The romance against which all the odds are stacked…
That's Spark-Tower Music...
It was Winter of 2003...
I was visiting my family in Austin, Texas, and my sister Stacey invited me to a party at the lakehouse of a friend. The house was nestled into some deep woods beyond some twisty little gravel path. We were a small group and we ended up outside near the house, in a circle around a campfire.
We had a guitar and two of us passed it back and forth, playing songs and singing, showing each other what we could do and taking requests. He played country-inflected tunes with a twisted sense of humor and a beautiful voice. I played folk and pop songs ad some Brazilian bossanova--Dylan, The Cure, Antonio Carlos Jobim. My jazz chords impressed him, even though I only knew a couple of tunes in that style. His voice and songwriting impresed me--he played almost entirely originals.
I've played guitar since I was a senior in high school, and one of my favorite things to do is to sit with a group of friends and play. Sadly, it seemed to be a lot more common in Austin than it is in New York City--I can count on one hand the number of times it's happened since I moved up here seven years ago. I miss it.
Music is one of the most important themes in "Spark-Tower Wilson", and in the lives of millions of people. Do you have a live music story? A concert that changed your life? A friend or lover who wrote a song about you?
Tell us about it! Leave a comment below and let us know about how live music has touched your life.
In the meantime, here is the video trailer for Spark-Tower Wilson's Silent Song. It's 11 MB in the Windows Media Viewer format.
Jeff
Labels: art, comics, progressions
8 Comments:
nice touch with the video trailer, i like it a lot
is that you, singing, jeff? =P
-dr00
Unfortunately, I haven't been to many concerts, and living in Suburbia, live music isn't quite as accessable. However, I did see the Finnish Goth/Symphonic/Prog metal band Nightwish at Chicago's House of Blues last year.
The House of Blues is a fantastic venue, managing to be large while feeling intimate, and having spectacular accoustics. I got right up aginst the stage, which put me almost in arms reach of Emmpu and Marco (Guitar & Bass) and of course, the gorgeous pillar of beauty and charisma that is Tarja.
I swear I felt that she looked into my eyes a few times as she was singing. She - the whole band - were spectacular. They sounded incredible, and had a lot of fun. When they came out for their final thank-you-and-goodnight, Tarja took the last bow and the crowd absolutely surged with adoration, arms strething toward her, everyone cheering at the top of their lungs. And the 6-foot tall siren-voiced, raven-haired, larger-than-life Valkyrie blushed. :D
i've listened to all kidns of different music, but going to the Evanescance, seether, 3 days grace, breaking benjamin concert was awesome. :D i was into punk, not metal really until then and they were just awesome. it was the only time i'd ever beenin a mosh pit at anything and it was both exciting and scary at the same time. Amy Lee was awesome and sang for her hit with seether and did their own concerts and each band had members from other bands help with certain songs!
and thanks to Bill above,i have a really good appreciation of Tarja too but haven't seen them live yet
and by them i mean nightwish :P, sorry!
I've been attending the Kerrville Folk Festival for 14 years. After a while, it became more about the family I've grown to love than the big concerts on the weekends or even the smaller weekday concerts. The heart and soul of the festival is campfires; people sitting around in a circle sharing their songs. Nothing is more exciting than coming across someone I've never heard before and falling in love with their music, and news of good songwriters spreads through the ranch like wildfire, until roving bands of normally aloof teens start seeking out the player. I wouldn't give up that experience for anything in the world.
--reed
Jeff Buckley - "Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk.." - my life was never the same (or at least my perception of popular music).
-Mark C.
and again...
with a comment i left earlier on a later entry, i said i don't feel so bad for not having accomplished as much.
this is happening again as i reread this entry.
my music is in an infant stage, but i'm determined to expand.
drums, guitar (bass specifically)
perhaps even voice lessons
i've had this crazy notion that if i had had lessons since i was very young i'd be at a point today that was acceptible to what i want.
that kind of thinking just sort of hinders any development really.
i need to realize that in the grand scheme of things i'm a lot younger than i sometimes think, and it's never "too late" to do anything.
i just expect immediate results, which is something i've managed to acknowledge.
the next step is facing this frustrating quality.
-dr00
bill you should go to music concerts more often, it's so cool, you meet friends and listen to great music !
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