Picus Maximus

The Tragedy of Johnny Patriot is a sixteen-song rock opera and a
sophisticated tragic romance in parity with other Greek and Shakespearean
stories of tragic vision. It commences with a young couple
falling in love and marrying… and it eventually leads to their separation
and tragic end. It is a classic romance about the professed undying
love between two young sweethearts being crushed by the aftermath
of 9/11. In this story, patriotism leads to a young husband’s
joining the Marines to fight terrorism, where reality strikes back and
faith in their eternal promise is put to the ultimate test.
As an operatic work, the music’s lyrics prod at the escalating clash
between world cultures and the hardening of political and religious
ideologies surrounding the aftermath of 9/11. The Tragedy of Johnny
Patriot speaks to the moral struggle our soldiers face in fighting
an unconventional war. At its core, the storyline insinuates good
and evil as mutually antagonistic and morally exhausting. The opera
takes no hard political or ideological position, yet speaks directly
to these issues as they impact the life of the story’s central character,
a young brave marine who is caught up in circumstances where
there can be no happy ending.
“The CD is like the worm in a mescal bottle, wonderfully mesmerizing,
but tragic nonetheless!”
Accompanying the CD is a 36-page libretto that documents a series
of interviews conducted by the reporter with some of the acquaintances
in Johnny Patriot’s past. The interviews help shed light on
the story and its tragic conclusion. The interviews are provided in
the libretto along with the song’s lyrical compositions. Although the
music is wonderful by itself, to fully appreciate the rock opera you’ll
want to obtain the original CD with libretto, rather than download an
MP3 digital copy.
I wanted to dive deeper into the psyche behind the story, as I have
personal interest and empathy for this particular story, so I asked
Jim “Picus” Soldi and R. “Maximus” Sparhawk a few questions:

Revolt: Wow, delving into this project I knew would dredge up a
lot of old feelings. Being that my father is a Vietnam Vet, who I’ve
seen probably less than a dozen times in my life. He has, what I
would call, committed emotional suicide, becoming a recluse since
the war, I feel we have suffered a severe loss. So now that I have
dried up my tears, here some questions about this most amazing
tragedy

Q: Who or what, inspired the story of Johnny Patriot?
A: Soldi - Well, obviously 9/11 put a big lump in our collective throat.
And whether or not you agree with the actions our elected leaders
have taken since then, it’s opened up a lot of old wounds that hearken
back to the 70’s and beyond.
Sparhawk: That certainly is the inciting incident underlying the story.
The resulting war continues to tear this nation apart… as much as
Vietnam did. But it really wasn’t until several years after the attack
that I was inspired to write about it. And to be honest, Jim here
played a small unknown hand in my commencing writing the story. I
had run into him at a very small club in Leucadia. And you need to
first understand that Jim is a much sought after guitar player. He
played with Johnny Cash for a number of years and is considered a
top guitarist within the circles, nationally. I had played with him for
about a decade before that. So I really know he’s one damn fine
guitar player. Yet, that night in Leucadia there was just a handful of
fans. Totally underwhelming! …especially compared to the days
we played together, back when the fans wrapped around the buildings
to get in.
Well, I left the club that night and over the next few evenings, with
the help of perhaps far too many bottles of Pinot, I convinced myself
that I could get back into music and rattle things up by writing a rock
opera. To my knowledge the issues facing America as a result of
the now lingering war on terrorism wasn’t being addressed in the
music I was listening to… at least not like the 70’s. The emotional
context of those songs resonated with the fans. It united us as a
movement. So I figured, this was something I could sink me teeth
into and a subject to build a rock opera around. I guess you can say
the emotional trigger of the 9/11incident inspired the story - but the
motivation had a lot to do with my wanting to re-trench myself in a
vibrant music scene.

Q: This is such a well written story, who all contributed to
the dialogs and the songs?
A: Soldi: Rick had the thing mostly completed when we first
got together, but we had some conversations and fleshed out
the story with a little more detail as we recorded it. Actually, it
started out with about twelve songs, but that wasn’t enough to
tell the story the way we wanted, so Rick came up with some
more. On the other hand, we cut out verses and shortened a
lot of the songs when there was just too much information. We
tried to be mindful that the end result was to include a visual
element, so there’s a lot of imagery into crafted into what you
hear.
Sparhawk: Well first, thanks for liking it. I literally shut myself
in for nine months to give birth to it. I just decided one day to
choose a contemporary subject and set it to the classic structure
for a dramatic Shakespearian tragedy. I wanted to write it
specifically for cinema. The film side will allow us to incorporate
actors to give it the youth quotient the industry requires.
That’s why the central characters in the story are in their 20s.
The first several songs in Act I were written to establish a Romeo
and Juliet-esque romance; song five, Four Horsemen,
is the inciting incident. It deals with the 9/11 attack and the
shock and outrage in American attitude that followed. Act II is
the rising action in tragedy-speak. It deals with the immediate
aftermath and sentiment. Shadows of the Street is the turning
point where the protagonist, Johnny Patriot, falls from grace;
and the following song, Heartburn up in Heaven speaks to the
battle for his soul. The remaining songs in Act III deal with the
falling action and tragic conclusion. I would say the lyrics and
dialog in the Libretto co-evolved over those nine months.

Q: This is a story of life, love and faith lost. Johnny’s loss
of faith, meant no eternity with Maria, what message do
you think is being sent by this?
A: Soldi: Just that war is, indeed hell, and that our soldiers
have chosen to put their lives on hold and essentially give up
a part of their humanity so that the rest of us can go about
our daily lives griping about whether we have too much foam
in our latte.
Sparhawk: As the principal author, I’ve tried to take a fairly
neutral stance between the obvious political and religious
messages being expressed in this story. They’re there as
the big elephant in the room, but I don’t want to necessarily
express, or profess, my own beliefs. It’s different than the
anti-war protest movement in the 70’s. We’ve gotten older
and more sophisticated, hopefully. I want the listener to question
and understand our involvement, mainly because war has
such a price, emotionally, physically, ideologically, and even financially.
Johnny wasn’t necessarily big on religion, but in the
face of terrorism and the god-awful things these fringe Islamics
commit in the name of God, those questions surely arise
in the hearts of every soldier in combat. It breaks them down
psychologically and causes discernment – when is violence
and destruction of life, O.K.? . At what price and point does
war safeguard or destroy our freedom?

Q: What do you hope for people to take from this story?
A:Sparhawk: I want them to be moved to tears rather than
spew mindless hatred for one another.
Soldi: Johnny Patriot could be any of us, and our response to
events is in a large way apt to determine our future. But it’s up
to us to truly know in our hearts what we believe, and stand up
for that, whatever it is. But at the same time realize that our
beliefs and our actions have consequences.

Q: Any words of encouragement for anyone going through
some similar loss, love, faith, etc.?
A: Soldi: I’m truly sorry for your own loss, Leslie, but that
makes you the perfect person to relate to this work – you’ve
had to live with the sorrow and anger of having an absentee
father, but your father has to live with his nightmares. Is one
any worse than the other?
Sparhawk: If I could relate it to the story’s central character,
Johnny’s heartfelt remorse, in the end, does find him redemption
– that in forgiveness there is peace.

One thing I’ve learned no matter what the connection you
have with another human, ultimately you have to live your own
life. Here is a little background on our artists:

Jim “Picus” Soldi is considered by many as a musical guru. As
the lead guitarist for Montezuma’s Revenge, he was eventually
swept up by the country legend, Johnny Cash. Jim toured
with Cash for four years which led to future gigs with Ricky Skaggs,
Waylon Jennings and Johnny Paycheck. Cash claimed
Jim was the best in the business, which is no insignificant endorsement.
Ironically, Jim owns Cash’s very first guitar, a guitar
that was signed by Cash in the early 60’s when he traded
it in for a new one at Valley Music (Jim’s father’s music store
in El Cajon), stolen from the back of a van when Montezuma’s
Revenge was touring, discovered in a pawn shop, and signed
a second time for Jim by Cash several years before Cash
asked Jim to join the band.

R. “Maximus” Sparhawk, like Soldi, first found fame as a 70’s
bluegrass musician with Montezuma’s Revenge. With several
independently produced albums to his credit, Sparhawk has
performed on stage with numerous recording artists including
appearances at the Grand Ol’ Opry, Calgary Stampede,
and Academy of Country Music Awards. He is a consummate
performer and lead vocalist on this album.
And for the band’s name, Picus Maximus, it was no accident.
It is the Latin name for a large white-billed North American
woodpecker considered extinct since the mid-nineteen hundreds.
In the same year Soldi re-joined with Sparhawk to
commence recording their Rock Opera (2006), a single lone
woodpecker of this genus was reported sighted in Arkansas.
Hence the analogies that live music, at least in San Diego, is
being resurrected from near extinction with the arrival of Soldi
and Sparhawk as the musical thrust behind Picus Maximus.
Current world events have dictated a response from theses
veteran samurais. Picus Maximus has been sighted alive,
and The Tragedy of Johnny Patriot is coming soon to a venue
near you.

MAGAZINE DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE at www.revoltsd.com (June Issue pp. 46-47) - Revolt in Style www.revoltsd.com June Issue