'Lilith' a Family Affair; in this Family, You Start Young

George Varga

2009-12-07

Jonah Davis is only 12, but his parents don't bat an eye when he sings about shooting someone "in the head ... three times," a lyric from a song he has been practicing and honing for the past month at his family's home in San Diego.

"Jonah has perfect pitch, which I don't," said his proud mother, Cynthia-Aaronson Davis.

"He learns music very fast and has an amazing ear," added Anthony Davis, Jonah's equally proud father, a music professor at the University of San Diego at California (UCSD) for the past 11 years.

As for the violent subject matter their son is studiously articulating in song, his parents are keenly aware of the lyrics, as well they should be.

The menacing words come from "Shoot Him in the Head, Aunt Claire," which Jonah performs as a part of a duet with his mother. The song appears in the 12th of 15 scenes from "Lilith," the fifth and newest opera of envelope-pushing music composed by Jonah's internationally celebrated father.

A mix of contemporary classical and blues, jazzy sonorities and propulsive Cuban rhythms, "Lilith" features a libretto by veteran playwright Allan Havis. The opera addresses its biblically inspired subject matter with both serious contemplation and wry humor.

Jonah's opening line in the duet with his mom — "Shoot him in the head, Aunt Claire, three times / It's like Nazi zombies, it's so unfair" — might sound like a gory, fantasy-inspired couplet from a gangsta-rap song. It isn't.

"Once you hear the whole story of what's going on in 'Lilith,' you'll understand the lyrics I sing better," said Jonah, a seventh-grader.

"I think it's really cool to be in an opera with my parents because I can always ask them questions, if I need help with something. My dad's been writing operas for a long time and my mom's been an opera singer a long time."

Cynthia is a soprano and a former member of the New York City Opera. She and Anthony were married in Manhattan 15 years ago last week. Their wedding came two years after the 1992 premiere of "Tania," the Patty Hearst-inspired opera Anthony wrote as a musical showcase for Cynthia's soaring singing and pinpoint vocal execution.

Anthony, who wrote the music for "Angels in America," Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play, has four other operas to his credit. The first, "X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X," debuted in 1986 at New York City Opera. It was followed by "Under the Double Moon," which debuted in 1989 at the Opera Theater of St. Louis and "Amistad" in 1997 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

In 2007 came "Wakonda's Dream," which was commissioned by Opera Omaha and earned rave reviews in the New York Times, Opera News and other publications.

"Wakonda's Dream," which featured a libretto by Davis and Pulitzer prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa about a contemporary American Indian family, also marked Jonah's operatic performance debut.

"The director of 'Wakonda's Dream' asked me if Jonah would be interested in doing it," Anthony recalled. "And I had never even considered him, because he had never sang anything except some concerts with a children's choir."

Cynthia laughed.

"Anthony asked him if he was interested. After he found out he'd get paid by Opera Omaha, Jonah said: 'Yeah, I'll do it.' He auditioned and they hired him. He'd never been on stage before and he got better reviews than me! We did a concert at the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina and the review said Jonah's performance was 'flawlessly moving.' Mine was 'expertly sung.' His musicality is amazing for someone his age."

Jonah is also a budding guitarist who counts Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page among his favorites. His parents brag that, while riding in the family car with them, Jonah is able to accurately sing the instrumental solos — not just the words — to songs by everyone from Hendrix to Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.

"Lilith" features Jonah less prominently than "Wakonda's Dream," but that suits him fine.

"It's not as big as a part, but it has a lot more harder rhythms in it," Jonah said. "In 'Wakonda's Dream' everybody had the same timing, whereas in 'Lilith' I don't really have a background (of instrumentation) to hear what pitch you need. It's more of a video game (music) background, so you have to memorize the pitches. I think my dad got the idea from when I play video games, like 'Call of Duty' and 'Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots'."

That is precisely the inspiration cited by the elder Davis.

To create the beeping melodies and skittering rhythms inspired by Jonah's favorite video games, Anthony used a Kurzweil digital synthesizer. He uses the same instrument for only one other scene in the opera, which he composed and scored — for the first time in his career — using a Finale software program rather than working by hand or employing a musical copyist.

A skilled pianist and an ingenious improviser, Anthony has made several landmark albums with such jazz-and-beyond visionaries as flutist James Newton, trombonist George Lewis and contrabass great Mark Dresser.

The "Lilith" cast also showcases two stellar singers who each teach at UCSD, bass baritone Philip Larson and soprano Susan Narucki. In addition to Dresser on bass, the opera's eight-piece instrumental ensemble features Cuban expatriate Dafnis Prieto on drums. Now a fast-rising band leader in New York, Prieto has been working with Anthony on "Revolution of Forms," an opera inspired by the Cuban revolution's failed quest to create a network of arts schools in Havana.

"Dafnis is incredibly flexible and his expertise in Cuban rhythms will play out all over the place in 'Lilith'," said Anthony, who will conduct the ensemble.

The roots of the opera date back to 1999, one year after Anthony began teaching at UCSD. Havis gave him a copy of his 1990 play "Lilith," which debuted in a New York production that featured future "West Wing" TV star Allison Janey.

Anthony quickly saw the operatic possibilities for "Lilith," a classic battle-of-the-sexes morality tale inspired by the mythology of a woman who was regarded as both a goddess and a demon. The transformation of the play's text to a libretto that could be set to music and sung required a great deal of work. The often striking results suggest it was worth the effort.

"What appealed to me in the play was that 'Lilith' engages in a serious discussion of what it means to be a woman and addresses the undertones of the liberation of women," said Anthony, who in 2002 collaborated with Havis on "Restless Mourning," a 9/11-inspired work commissioned by the Piccolo Spoleto Festival.

"Lilith herself is a symbol of women's equality who was born as Adam's equal. I was drawn to her as this kind of Gothic character and, at the same time, to the play's very hip sense of humor. And because of the idea that Lilith also exists within Hebrew literature and the Kabbalah, I was very interested in the underpinnings of it and how the music could really enhance the story. And I wrote 'Lilith' with Cynthia in mind, definitely, because of the ease with which she sings high notes, where her voice lies and her vocal quality."

All three members of the Davis family speak enthusiastically about the benefits of working together on "Lilith." However, Jonah is quick to note that sports — especially baseball, football and basketball — are his greatest passion.

"Sports would be my first choice," he said. "If anything bad ever happened, I could go over to music."

There may be one other factor, at least as far as "Lilith" is concerned.

"Jonah is a boy soprano, but his voice is changing as we speak," Anthony said. "He's turning from a boy soprano into a baritone. We just have to make it through the performances. So far, it's going OK."

(set image) pta120709-vis.jpg (end image) (set caption) Anthony Davis, Cynthia Aaronson-Davis and their son, Jonah, all perform in Anthony's "Lilith" opera. Photo courtesy of Sean M. Haffey. (end caption)

To find out more about George Varga and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Kiss Bid Fans Farewell in 2000 And Then Kept Touring

George Varga

2009-11-30

It was billed as the final Kiss-off, but it turned out to be the ultimate big tease.

Nine years ago, with great fanfare, Kiss announced its farewell tour. The goal of the band, which had grossed $150 million alone with its "Alive/World Wide" reunion tour of 1996 and '97, was simple. It was time to say goodbye, after selling more than 90 million albums worldwide, setting a standard for bombastic, eye-popping concerts and influencing everyone from Garth Brooks and Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor to such musicians as Pearl Jam's Matt Cameron and Black Heart Procession's Pall.

In a 2000 San Diego Union-Tribune interview to preview Kiss' farewell show in San Diego, lead singer and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley said: "It's out of respect for Kiss, and our fans, that we have to stop. I'm a big believer that it's better to leave early than stay too late, and to quit while you're still on top."

These are rare and noble sentiments for any rock band, let alone a money-making behemoth like Kiss, which made additional fortunes with everything from Kiss soft drinks and Kiss pinball machines to Kiss toilet paper and Kiss coffins.

Make that rare, noble and completely inaccurate, since Kiss' 2000 farewell trek has been followed by tour after tour — and, just last month, by "Sonic Boom," the band's first new studio album in 11 years (and its first to be sold exclusively at Wal-Mart stores). Its latest tour is called "Kiss: Alive 35."

Not to be blunt, but what happened to Kiss' retirement? And to Stanley's repeated declarations the band was quitting while it was still on top?

"Um, when I said that, I certainly believed it wholeheartedly," he said.

"But what I found as I was doing the farewell tour is that I didn't want to stop, I just wanted to stop playing with a couple of the guys. The reason it was a 'farewell' tour is that it was unbearable to play with some of the guys. I realized that to stop the band (for that reason) didn't make any sense."

The "couple of guys" are original Kiss drummer Peter Criss, 63, and original lead guitarist Ace Frehley, 58.

Criss left Kiss in 1980 and did not return until the Kiss reunion tour 16 years later. Frehley was replaced in 1982, after he had been in a serious car accident. He remained out of the band until the 1996 reunion with Criss, Stanley and famously long-tongued bassist Gene Simmons, who turned 60 in August.

Their post-reunion replacements in the current Kiss lineup are ex-Black Sabbath drummer Eric Singer, who first joined the band in 1993, and Tommy Thayer, who was Frehley's guitar technician for the 2000 reunion tour.

Stanley, 59, maintains that Criss (who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer) and Frehley weren't team players. The current lineup, he stated, features "four individuals working for the betterment" of the band. The fact that Singer and Thayer emulate the stage personas of Criss and Frehley by wearing the same costumes and face-paint is better for the Kiss brand, if not the band.

"The truth is the four original guys laid the foundation for this big monument that is Kiss, but that monument needed some major renovations," Stanley said.

"One thing you want to avoid is that nonsense where people in a band are siding with each other, basically to sabotage someone else's opinion. We had enough of that."

Never a favorite with critics, Kiss this fall finally made the ballot for possible induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame —11 years after the band qualified for consideration. Yet, while Stanley hails the current Kiss lineup as "unbeatable," he believes the band can continue to thrive, even if he stepped down.

"The Yankees didn't need Babe Ruth to keep winning the World Series," he said. "This band is bigger than any member and I maintain there's undoubtedly someone out there who can give this band as much, and more, than I have. So I have no qualms about leaving the spotlight to someone else, when I can't do it anymore."

SIDEBAR

Sharp-Tongued Man

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons is rarely at a loss for words, be it in conversation or when starring in the A&E TV series, "Gene Simmons Family Jewels." Here are some memorable quotes from past interviews with Simmons about Kiss in the San Diego Union-Tribune:

"We're the cockroaches. We're going to outlive all of you."

"'Art' should be the name of a guy, until I say otherwise."

"Quality is academic. Quantity is real. I'll take quantity over quality, and I believe everyone else will, too."

"We changed the face of rock 'n' roll. Kiss was formed to be the band we always wanted to see on stage."

"At the end of our concert, you should walk out and say: 'I hate this band, but it's the best show I've ever seen in my life.'"

"Critics are the lowest form of life on the planet — nothing personal."

(set image) pta113009-vis.jpg (end image) Kiss returns with a new album called "Sonic Boom," the band's first new studio album in 11 years, and its latest tour, "Kiss: Alive 35." (end caption)

To find out more about George Varga and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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