Magic
I have been wanting, and meaning, to write this post for a few weeks, and in part due to the subject at hand, time has been in short supply. I would be remiss, however, if I did not make the time to put down my thoughts about what Abigail has catalyzed for me. I’m writing this off the cuff; I don’t want to edit my emotions or rework them. This is from the heart.
For those of you who don’t know, Abigail is a rock opera about the Salem witch trials; it is a completely original work, created by Michael Xavier, Daniel Knop and Kurt Brown. This marks their first original rock opera after producing a number of successful rock opera “covers”, i.e. The Rocky Horror Show, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar. Few debuts are masterworks, but in my estimation, this one is. Aside from being an outstanding work of art and music, it has also been the catalyst for several momentous milestones in my life, all of which revolve around my return, in earnest, to the joy of music I thought I’d had to leave behind.
Some of you who will read this know my story; most probably don’t. Very briefly, I have been singing and performing onstage since I was six years old. I was active in competitive choir for my elementary, intermediate and high school years. After high school, I joined a band called The Mimsies, which would eventually make something of a splash in Hollywood and tour North America. I left the band under tragic circumstance in 2003, after ten years of nonstop gigging and recording. At that point, in the words of one of my new songs, “I put down the microphone and called it a day.” (more…)
