A message from our fearless leader, Bob Schlink . . . aka ‘Nerd’s Corner’

I looked up the definitions of “art”, “fine arts”, and “work of art” today (hence the “Nerd’s Corner” subtitle!). These are apparently difficult to define, as demonstrated by the tendency to use the word that is being defined in the definition! The one I liked best was “Something requiring highly developed techniques and skills”, but this could also describe many technical non-artistic pursuits. I would need to add “with the intent of conveying some emotional, philosophical, or intellectual content important to the creator”. Under this definition Queen Boudicca a Metal Opera is truly a work of art.

Whether it is an important, “great”, or even a good work of art will be for others to determine and not me. However, “highly developed techniques and skills” are certainly required to write and perform a piece such as this, and the “emotional, philosophical, or intellectual content” which I hope it conveys to the audience is very important to me, the creator! 6 years went by between the concept for the Metal Opera and when the first lyre chord sounded at the Berklee Performance Center in March of 2015. At times I felt almost compelled to complete the piece, as if I was entrusted somehow to ensure that this epic story was heard by as many as possible. It is an awesome and, I might add, costly responsibility, as at this point we are self promoting the show. However, this project has also been extremely rewarding. When we finally performed this piece at the BPC I walked away thinking that I had never experienced the level of energy and enthusiasm that emanated from that stage at any other musical performance in my life. It was an unparalleled rush.

 

Now we are embarking on a campaign that is similar in some ways to the military exploits the piece describes ( with imitation severed heads instead of real ones and no actual dying planned of course). There are many substantial obstacles blocking our path towards becoming a successful touring entity, and we hope to overcome them before the promoter (also me) goes broke! I will be blogging about our progress (and about the materials and techniques that went into the writing, for composition nerds) over the coming months, but one quote keeps coming to mind. It is “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid” by Basil King.

Thanks for reading this, and thanks for being among those “mighty forces”.

Bob Schlink ~ aka ‘Nerd’s Corner’