Moving Music

To say Moving Music was affected by the passing of Tom “Ukulele Man” Harker would be understating reality. You never anticipate editing words from a person no longer around to hear it in the body. We took a week off to breathe and think. What we came up with, we believe, is appropriate and tender enough to feel right. I have long wanted to get Ty in the other chair for an interview and this seemed like a good start. Between the two of us, it is him most affected by this afterlife graduation. In weeks ahead we will resume our format as you have come to know it. For this moment in time, please join us in our Captain Tom Harker’s life celebration.

TC

It has been said, each one of us has a gift. These endowments are unique and just as an orchestra collaborates to yield great music, so it should be in our daily encounters. This film, “Five Easy Pieces”, illustrates one man’s struggle to see his gift as a gratuity rather than a cursed burden. Many of us struggle in this way, so instruction is needed. We now offer to you, in a teaching effort, Mr. Tom Harker’s words, as we all attempt to reconcile gift and acceptance.

O Captain! My Captain!

Tom Harker meant the world to me. He was a father figure, a mentor, a confidant, a rebel, a partner in crime, my fearless leader, a supporter, an inspiration, and a friend. Tom gave me the book, “The Velveteen Rabbit” and he told me I was real and that was damned important. I did not know what he meant by that proclamation or his gift of the book. Who was the Boy and who was the Rabbit? Tom is the most real man I ever met. I am proud to have worked closely with him for years and to have been the other half of his “Dynamic Duo”. So please join me in listening to his inspirational words about music, movies, and life.

TY

It took 15 episodes to get to this moment, but it’s here and it begs revelation. Moving Music, in grand part, is about leaving something behind for posterity. The audience will change, but the message will remain personal and exclusive. For me, it has been about the one most important lesson I have learned so far in life; you need people. Ty and I could not do this alone. We need every person who has, or will agree to interview about the precious influences that led them to discover a gift or endure the artistic hard times. I think perhaps that is why Tom Harker starts a band with the name “Tryin’ Times”. It’s not the times but the people who comfort each other through those times that matter. I only worked with Tom on 3 occasions, but I actually learned so much. Now, just one more time, Moving Music is humbled and proud to offer the Tom “Ukulele Man” Harker interview about “Five Easy Pieces”.

TC

PART 2

Chances are you have been affected by an artist that burned out, rather than faded away; the bright promise of a star that quickly emitted too much light. The pain kept within an artist that influenced the rise can assist in the fall. But what happens when an artist is smothered by expectations and not allowed to evolve? When Eddie Wilson from our next film, “Eddie and the Cruisers”, takes the chance to expose his progression only to be rejected, his solution to the dilemma creates a mystery decades in the making.

The day Moving Music launched its first episode with Shaun Booker, Ty and I wanted to share a drink and a good time in celebration. We met at the Turtle Creek Tavern on an unusually warm February Friday night. The band playing that night, The Martini Affair, left me wanting to interview them all. Fourteen episodes later Will Newsome, the guitarist for that band, sits down with us for an epic two part discussion on life, the business, and his film that moved him, “Eddie and the Cruisers”.

TC

Rated PG

PART 1

Chances are you have been affected by an artist that burned out, rather than faded away; the bright promise of a star that quickly emitted too much light. The pain kept within an artist that influenced the rise can assist in the fall. But what happens when an artist is smothered by expectations and not allowed to evolve? When Eddie Wilson from our next film, “Eddie and the Cruisers”, takes the chance to expose his progression only to be rejected, his solution to the dilemma creates a mystery decades in the making.

The day Moving Music launched its first episode with Shaun Booker, Ty and I wanted to share a drink and a good time in celebration. We met at the Turtle Creek Tavern on an unusually warm February Friday night. The band playing that night, The Martini Affair, left me wanting to interview them all. Fourteen episodes later Will Newsome, the guitarist for that band, sits down with us for an epic two part discussion on life, the business, and his film that moved him, “Eddie and the Cruisers”.

TC

Rated PG

What happens when we die? Death will come to us all, so I am sure the answer has interest. Many look to religion and faith for answers, while others insist on scientific enlightenment. The truth is nobody really knows until you get there. How does suicide affect that path? Introduce that to the equation and the answers turn into more questions. Do soul mates actually exist? Trace Marie from the band Blue Level chose the film “What Dreams May Come” to illustrate her point of view.

It was Jeff Tayama that sent Trace Marie to us. He wanted to know what her film would be. I’ll be damned if she didn’t pick a hard movie for me to examine. It is with kid gloves that I touch this one. You may learn a little about me, but I assure you, Trace Marie holds nothing back. Her bond with her husband clearly influenced this choice. As musical soul mates that collaborate to create art, their story lends to her perception. Get a glass of wine, sit back, and enjoy as she explains how “What Dreams May Come” moved her.

TC

It is said that American corporate hierarchy views it as fertilizer that’s good for growth, but often it’s really crap that stinks. True artists are rarely comfortable in such environments. Every company wants you to believe they are “outside the box”, but most are jailed squarely inside. A lack of vision and flexibility cause many to fade. Ironic that they call on artists to create marketing, yet shun the independence that makes great art. “The Hudsucker Proxy” is a reminder of how corporate America can suck the identity out of you.

Brendan Michna and I met as he engineered lights for the 2015 HighBall on High St. I was on a “day in the life of downtown Columbus” photography exercise and seized the opportunity to make a friend. We exchanged pleasantries, spoke briefly, and then returned to our artistic craft. Some grand time later, we found ourselves on Thurman Café bar stools talking about local arts. An exchange of contact info gave me the chance to reach out once Moving Music found footing. Here are two behind the scenes blokes, articulating the drudgery of the corporate life we strive to avoid, and the quest to minimize the manure.

TC

Who were you in high school? Did you hang out back with the hoods, or have practice every day as a jock? Was it prepping for college that drove you, or just trying to survive while navigating a tough domestic life? Did you have a friend, teacher, or coach that affected you? Are we doomed to accept the stereotypes tendered by others? What can we learn from this study of “The Breakfast Club” with Jeff Tayama? We might find, just maybe, “each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal.”

Jeff Tayama and I met 19 years ago on that same live tv show I have mentioned so many times. At the start, it was live at 7:00 am, so Jeff and gang showed up in pajamas. The band, Cleopatra Grip, literally played in their underwear, providing humor and levity to live broadcasting pressure. Since then, Jeff and I have seen each other at Comfest and other concert venues. I have seen him play guitar several times with various artists. His sound is true and comes from the heart. His choice of film is special to me on numerous levels. Take the hour long journey into 1985 as Jeff Tayama reveals how the movie “The Breakfast Club” moved him.

TC

Prisons, walls, glass ceilings, and even pacifiers all have one thing in common, they are devices of control. On Moving Music, we have discussed liberating from even the self-imposed chains that bind. “The Matrix” stunned me in April of 1999 as I sat there watching this theme play out in a whole new visual way. The Wachowski‘s first installment in this series was mind blowing and right on target with its message. What I am sure was a metaphor for what society has become, "The Matrix" found a contemporary audience to spread its warning. This film changed the way we received the message.

Oh Captain! My Captain! Where do I begin? It is not exaggerating to say that Tom “Ukulele Man” Harker has been like a Father to me. From the early 2000’s to now, every moment I have spent with Tom I have learned something. As I began to perform music with him I could see a rare depth in thinking through the songs he wrote. It is easy to guess that he was a teacher by the gentle way he deals with everyone he meets. We have performed across state lines and in small pubs in Columbus, using every opportunity to interpret life together. This movie choice gives The Ukulele Man a device to further teach us all about an alternate way of thinking, and living.

TY

I met Tom “Ukulele Man” Harker during a live televison show that I directed in 1998. He set up in the corner of the studio with his ukulele and sang “Pee Wee, Where Have You Gone?” and I laughed until I almost peed! He has a comical way of writing about the most serious stuff. With songs like “Jesus Chrysler”, “Pea Green Boat”, and “King of the World” he, at times, holds a mirror to those who refuse their own reflection. His writings carry an honest introspective message that continues with his movie that moved him, “The Matrix”.

TC

I have long romanticized the role of the revenant. A person, normally dead or near death, who is allowed to remain on the Earth to right a wrong, then slips away into the afterlife. Hollywood has borrowed from this theme several times. From Brandon Lee’s “Crow” to Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Revenant” and well before, audiences have taken this journey with fascination and wonder. The revenge story of “The Count of Monte Cristo” with only the remuneration of things set right. In a tale that surely, at some point in the past must have happened, Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe craft a spectacle of a film that achieves this homage. “Gladiator” won 5 Academy Awards including best picture and best actor for Crowe.

You might say Mike Hockenberry and I have held perspective from behind the local music curtain. We officially met through a mutual friend in the 90s, however I would frequent the music rehearsal space that he owned off Rich Street, MMS studios, in the late 80s. While my experience took me into live tv and music production, Mike would install equipment and engineer for many in the local scene. He now owns and operates a business that assists other performing artists in their presentation. Through sound and lighting he engineers a setting that yields many stories. When I recently turned the subject to movies that moved him, Mike had one that rose above the rest. It seems he too was fascinated with the revenant role and chose the film “Gladiator”.

TC

We all dream when the unconscious brain takes over while we sleep. This dream state carries us through a nonlinear world that changes at the will of our own mind. Our hopes, fears, disappointments and desires are explored without inhibition. If it is this way while we live, what happens as we take our last few breaths? How does the mind react to dying? Do we dream, and if so, is it only about regrets or memories? Is it possible to live another lifetime of altered reality within those last few moments we still breath? In 1990, Adrian Lyne directed a film, “Jacob’s Ladder” that would explore these questions in a very surreal fashion. I watched it in the theater and left asking these questions for the first time in my life.

TJ George is a local artist who has written music for television and film. As a singer/songwriter he performs locally in Columbus and has been on “Songs at the Center” with host Eric Gnezda. When writing and performing he collaborates often. I asked him to take part in Moving Music and his film of choice got my attention immediately. TJ had seen “Jacob’s Ladder” and asked himself those same questions I had. Buckle up as we take you on a journey of the mind’s eye, and explore what happens when we die.

TC