The Most Important Album You've Never Heard About

October 24 was the 15th anniversary of the release of Dead Winter Dead by Savatage. I meant to write about it then, but with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra coming to Austin this week, it is still timely to write about The Most Important Album You've Never Heard About (at least if you are a TSO fan).

Dead Winter Dead is the most influential rock opera written about the Bosnian War. That doesn't say much because as far as I know, it's the ONLY rock opera written about the Bosnian War. However, this epic tragedy led to the formation of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. TSO has become one of the biggest touring acts ever, spreading holiday cheer and bringing classical music to the masses.

A Little History

Savatage was a high concept heavy metal band from Florida which released seventeen albums from 1983 to 2001. Their most popular album Poets and Madmen debuted at #7 on the German charts. However, their highest placement on the Billboard Charts was #116 for Hall of the Mountain King. Two of their albums, Streets and Dead Winter Dead, took the form of rock operas, and there are plans to make a Broadway musical out of Gutter Ballet.

Here is what Savatage looked and sounded like in 1996.

Dead Winter Dead

Dead Winter Dead was released on October 24, 1995. It is the story of a Serb boy and a Muslim girl who fall in love during the Bosnian War. It marked Al Pitrelli's debut as lead guitarist. Pitrelli had previously been a member of Alice Cooper's touring band and is now a member of the TSO West touring company. Dead Winter Dead was not one of Savatage's most successful albums. It did not crack the Billboard Top 200 and only made it to #80 in Germany and #68 in Japan. However, I will make the case that it was much more important than its sales would suggest.

The album's thirteen tracks tell the following story:

In the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, there is a town square surrounded by buildings that were constructed during the middle ages. The square has a beautiful stone fountain at its center and at one corner there is a thousand year old church with a gargoyle carved into its belfry. Now this gargoyle, for the last thousand years, has spent all his time trying to comprehend the human emotions of laughter and sorrow. But even after a millennium of contemplation, these most curious of human attributes remain a total mystery to our stone friend. (Sarajevo).

Our story begins in the year of 1990; the Berlin Wall has just fallen, communism has collapsed and for the first time since the Roman Empire, Yugoslavia finds itself a free nation. Serdjan Aleskovic cannot believe his good fortune to be alive and young at such a moment. The future and the happiness of all seem assured in what must surely be "the best of times". (This Is The Time).

However, even as Serdjan celebrates with his fellow countrymen, there are little men with little minds who are already busy sowing the seeds of hate between neighbors. (I Am) Young and impressionable Serdjan joins some of his friends in a Serbian Militia Unit and eventually finds himself in the hills outside of Sarajevo firing mortar shells nightly into the city. (Starlight). Meanwhile in Sarajevo itself, Katrina Brasic, a young Muslim girl, finds herself buying weapons from a group of arms merchants and then joining her comrades firing into the hills around the city. (Doesn't Matter Anyway).

The years pass by and it is now late November 1994. An old man who had left Yugoslavia many decades before, has now returned to the city of his birth, only to find it in ruins. As the season's first snowfall begins, he stands in the town square, looks toward the heavens and explains that when the Yugoslavians prayed for change, this is not what they intended. (This Isn't What We Meant).

As the old man finishes his prayer, the sun begins to set and the first shells of the evening's artillery barrage are starting to arc overhead. But instead of heading for the shelters with the rest of the civilians, he climbs atop the rubble that used to be the fountain and taking out his cello, starts to play Mozart as the shells explode around him. From this night forward he would repeat this ritual every evening. And every evening Serdjan and Katrina each find themselves listening to the thoughts of Mozart and Beethoven as the drift between the explosions across no man's land. (Mozart and Madness).

Though the winter does its best to cover the landscape with a blanket of temporary innocence, the war only escalates in violence and brutality. (Dead Winter Dead). One day in late December, Serdjan, on a patrol in Sarajevo, comes across a schoolyard where a recent exploding shell has left the ground littered with the bodies of young children. It is one thing to drop shells into a mortar and quite another to see where they land. Long after Serdjan returns to his own lines, he cannot get the faces of the children out of his mind. Realizing that what he has been participating in is not the glorious nation building that their leaders had described, but rather a path to mutual oblivion, he decides right then and there that he can no longer be a part of this, that you cannot build a future on the bodies of others. (One Child). At the first opportunity, he resolves that he will desert.

Sitting in his bunker on December 24th, he listens to the sounds of Christmas carols from the old cello player mingling with the sounds of war. Katrina, on the other side of the battlefield, is also listening. (Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24). It had just stopped snowing and the clouds had given way to reveal a beautiful star-filled sky when suddenly the cellos player's music abruptly ceases. Fearing the worst, Serdjan and Katrina both do something quite foolish and from their respective sides, start to make their way across no man's land toward the town square. Arriving at the exact same moment, they see one another. Instinctively realizing that they are both there for the same reason, they do not start to fight, but instead, together walk slowly to the fountain. There they find the old man lying dead in the snow, his face covered with blood, his cello lying smashed and broken at his side.

Then without warning, a single drop of liquid falls from out of the cloudless sky, wiping some of the blood off the old man's cheek. Serdjan looks up, but he can see nothing except the stone gargoyle high up on the church belfry. Overcome by what he has seen this night, he decides that he must leave this war immediately. Turning to the Muslim girl, he asks her to come with him, but now all she sees is his Serbian uniform. Pouring out his feelings, he explains that he is not what she thinks that he is. (Not What You See). Eventually winning her to his side, they leave the night together.

Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24 and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

The story is a curious mix of tragedy and hope. One of the tracks, "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) became a breakout radio hit for Savatage. The song is a an instrumental mix of "The Carol of the Bells" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." Given the warlike theme of the rock opera, it takes on a very martial air. In the story, it is a real downer, ending with a dead cellist. However, in an ironic twist, it became a radio hit as a hard rocking Christmas carol.

This inspired the members of Savatage to pursue the Christmas concept further. They formed the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and released Christmas Eve and Other Stories in 1996. TSO re-recorded "Christmas Eve" and produced the following video:

While the video keeps the tone of the music, it transforms the story into one about a little girl and the wonder of Christmas.

The track "Mozart & Memories," which features the opening theme of Mozart's Symphony No. 25 was also re-recorded by TSO and included in their 2009 release Night Castle.

Lyrics

Dead Winter Dead is also memorable for its lyrics. Here are a few of my favorites:

But this is the time
And this is the place
And these are the signs
That we must embrace

The moment is now
In all history
The time has arrived
This is the one place to be

These lyrics from "This is the Time (1990)" carries a bold optimism about the future. However, that optimism is perverted by greed.

I see a little man thinking
That he might need more
And so his eyes are drifting
To the house next door
And he wonders if his neighbours
Might be leaving

So he makes a little offer
That they'll understand
There is no point in letting
Things get out of hand
For no one wants to see
Their widows grieving

These lyrics from "I Am" capture the lust of coveting that is as old as King David and as timely as the clashes between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq. The story goes from optimism to greed to sorrow.

We dared to ask for more
But that was long before
The nights began to burn
You would have thought we'd
Learned you can't make promises
All based upon tomorrow
Happiness, security
Are words we only borrow

For is this the answer to our prayers
Is this what God has sent

The future couldn't last
We've nailed it to the past
With every word a trap
That no one can take

Back from all the architects
Who find their towers leaning
And every prayer we pray at night
Has somehow lost its meaning

For is this the answer to our prayers
Is this what God has sent

Please understand this isn't what we meant

This plaintive lament of "this isn't what we meant" fits in well with the disillusionment of the story's partisans. However, in a larger sense, it captures the cry of those whose pride has come before a fall, the realization that our schemes can take on a life beyond our control. I especially like the way the song is designed as a prayer to God that "this isn't what we meant."

Why Dead Winter Dead Matters

Dead Winter Dead is a great piece of musical story-telling and I return to it again and again. However, it's larger significance is that it paved the way for my favorite band, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

George W. Bush and Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction

In his new memoir "Points of Decision," former President George W. Bush says "No one was more shocked or angry than when we didn't find the weapons (of mass destruction)." For my part, I believe him. I think that based on the evidence at the time, it was logical to believe that Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons, but that this was not a sufficient reason to invade Iraq.

What We Knew

While a lot has been made of inflated intelligence reports or even outright prevarication, there were certain facts which were undisputable in 2003:

1. The Hussein regime had used chemical weapons against the Kurds and Iran on multiple occasions the war with Iran in 1980-1988.

2. In 1991, Iraq invaded Kuwait without justification.

3. During the Gulf War, Iraq fired missiles into Israel.

4. When the U.N. forces invaded Iraq in 1991, they found and destroyed a large chemical weapons complex. In a terrible irony, Hussein did not use chemical weapons against the invading multi-national forces, but hundreds of thousands of troops were exposed to chemical agents when the Kamisihah stockpile was destroyed.

5. After U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998, they were not allowed to return until shortly before the war. Thus, Saddam had four years in which to replenish his stocks of chemical weapons without oversight.

It seems logical to conclude that an unstable dictator with a history of unprovoked attacks on other countries and who had possessed and used chemical weapons in the past and was refusing to allow third parties to monitor his compliance with U.N. disarmament resolutions was up to no good. However, Saddam Hussein was not logical. After his capture, he stated that he had used the bluff of having weapons of mass destruction to deter Iran from attacking. However, he assumed that the U.S. intelligence had thoroughly infiltrated his government and would know that he didn't really possess the weapons. That turned out to be a bad bluff for him.

Why It Didn't Make Sense to Invade Iraq

So, if Saddam Hussein gave us every reason to believe that he had chemical weapons, why shouldn't we have invaded? The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have given us an object lesson that war is an ugly, unpredictable thing. In war, decent people are ordered to perform indecent acts. It is an inevitable consequence of war that civilians are killed and atrocities are committed, even by the good guys. In fact, this was true to a much greater extent during World War II, but was accepted due to the much greater threat that was posed.

Since war inevitably dehumanizes us, it should be pursued as an absolute last resort. It should have been apparent that war was not the last resort in 2003.

We did not have incontrovertible proof that Saddam was planning to use weapons of mass destruction. If we knew that Saddam was planning a nuclear strike on Israel, we would have had a moral imperative to stop that act by any means possible. However, we did not have absolute proof (as opposed to simply logical proof) that Saddam intended to use weapons of mass destruction. While Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons in the past, he notably did not employ them against U.N. troops in 1991.

Further, he was not taking steps to expand during 1998-2003. Before Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, he reoccupied the Rhineland, annexed the Sudetenland and added Austria to Germany's territory. These were the points when the allies should have stepped in. However, in 2003, Saddam Hussein was not even in control of all of his country, since large portions constituted no fly zones.

Saddam Hussein was a brutal and inhuman dictator who posed a grave threat to his own populace. However, he did not pose a threat to the security of the United States. While preventing the slaughter of innocents at the hands of homicidal maniac is and was a laudable goal, an invasion was not the right means to accomplish it. As I said before, war dehumanizes us. You cannot achieve a humanitarian result by dehumanizing means, or, to put it another way, you can't save innocent human life by taking innocent human life. That's why what we did was wrong.

Do You Have a Ninth Favorite Band?

“Devo is Johnny’s ninth favorite band”

--Sarah Jessica Parker from the Muffy's Bat Mitzvah episode of Square Pegs (1982)

Hulu - Square Pegs: Muffy's Bat Mitzvah - Watch the full episode now.

High school was a time when music was crucially important. It gave meaning to our lives and gave us something to talk about. I remember a friend breathlessly telling me that the Electric Light Orchestra was going to change its name to the Electric Laser Orchestra (it didn’t happen). I met my first girlfriend because she was wearing a shirt from one of my three favorite bands. High school was a time when it was possible to have a ninth favorite band and be overwhelmed about seeing them play.

During the decade from 1976-1986 (ages 15-25), I saw a lot of live music. I’m not sure if this is complete, but the bands that I remember (in alphabetical order) are: Adam Ant, the Altar Boys, the B-52s, Barren Cross, the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Bloodgood, Blue Oyster Cult, the Call, the Cars, Crumbacher, Fleetwood Mac, Flock of Seagulls, the Go-Gos, Amy Grant, Herman’s Hermits, Jethro Tull, Kansas, Men at Work, the Moody Blues, One Bad PIG, the Paul Q-Pek Band, Paul Revere and the Raiders, REO Speedwagon, Standing Waves, Stryper, Styx, the Turtles, Undercover, the Uranium Savages, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Wang Chung, Sheila Walsh and Rusty Wier.

You can see that it’s a strange mix. My tastes originally were limited to bands that I thought were sufficiently deep. The troika of my high school years was Kansas, Styx and the Electric Light Orchestra (two of which I actually saw). However, I came to embrace metal, new wave, Christian music and 60s revival acts.

Somewhere along the way, life caught up with me and I stopped going to a lot of shows. During the decade from 2000-2009, I can remember seeing Cheap Trick (it was a free show at South by Southwest), Hillary Duff (this was Kristen and Stephanie’s first concert), Evanescence, Lost & Found (the most influential Lutheran pop band of the last 50 years, although they may be in a category of one) and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (although I have seen them six times). There is a big difference between five acts in ten years and 34 during a much earlier decade.

There are still a lot of bands on my ipod who I would love to see someday. However, it just seems harder to get away to a show. Weird Al was in Austin this past week for a festival. I’m not sure what I was doing but I didn’t make it. I tried to think of a top 10 list of bands who are still alive and still touring who I would like to see but I was only able to come up with nine: MxPx, Flyleaf, Linkin Park, Weird Al Yankovic, Bowling for Soup, Jimmy Eat World, the Black Eyed Peas and Nightwish. My goal is to see at least one of them during the next year.

How Much of a True Austinite Are You?

Here is a quiz to see whether you are a true Austinite or not. Let me know if you have additional questions to add.

1. Have you been to ACL Fest? (1 pt.)

2. Have you been to a taping of Austin City Limits? (5 pts. or 10 pts. if Gary P. Nunn was the guest)

3. Have you swam in Barton Springs? (1 pts. or 5 pts. if you did it in December).

4. Do you remember which downtown bank building used to have gold windows? (1 pt.)

5. Did you ever go to Liberty Lunch? (5 pts)

6. Have you been to Esther's Follies? (1 pt.)

7. Did you eat at Matt's El Rancho when it was still on First Street? (5 pts.)

8. Did you ever go to the Armadillo? (5 pts. or 10 pts. if you remember who was playing).

9. Have you run on the Town Lake Hike & Bike trail? (1 pt.)

10. Did you ever see Stevie Ray Vaughn? (seeing the statue doesn't count). (1 pt.)

11. Do you lock up your daughters when the legislature is in session? (1 pt.)

12. Did you ever go to Raul's? (1 pt. or 5 pts. if you remember who was playing)

13. Have you climbed Mt. Bonnell? (1 pt.)

14. Do you know whether FM 2244 is Bee Cave or Bee Caves? (1 pt.)

15. Have you never voluntarily gone to the Domain? (1 pt.)

16. Do you remember the Trail of Lights? (1 pt.)

17. Have you ever said that Austin was a great place before all those other people got here?

(1 pt.)

18. Have you taken a picture in bluebonnets? (1 pt)

19. Have you been to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center? (1 pt.)

20. Have you been to South by Southwest? (1 pt. if it was in the last 10 years, 2 pts. if it was in the last 10 years or 3 pts. if it was 20 years ago or more).

21. Have you stayed at the Driskill? (1 pt.)

22. Do you keep Austin weird? (1 pt.)

23. Have you run in the Capitol 10,000? (1 pt. for every time)

24. Have you ever shopped at Whole Foods? (1 pt.) Did you shop at Whole Foods when it was just a hole in the wall? (10 pts.).

25. Have you eaten at Jeffreys for a special occasion? (1 pt)

26. Have you been to a play at the Zilker Hillside Theater? (1 pt.)

27. Have you seen the Uranium Savages perform live? (1 pt. Extra pt. if you can name their drummer).

28. Have you eaten at Cisco's? (1 pt.)

29. Have you ever lived in 78704? (5 pts.).

30. Have you ever lived in apartments off of Riverside? (3 pts.).

31. Do you know the original name for Sixth Street (and no, it is not Drunk College Students Throwing Up Ave.)(1 pt.).

32. Do you know how to pronounce Manchaca? (1 pt.).

33. Do you refer to Loop 1 as Mopac? (1 pt. or 2 pts. if you know why it's called Mopac).

34. Have you ever been to an all-night city council meeting (5 pts.).

35. Have you seen Slacker? (1 pt.).

36. Have you ever seen Leslie at the corner of Sixth & Congress (1 pt. or 2 pts. if you know which political office he ran for and came in second; extra point if he was wearing a tiara).

37. Have you ever drunk beer at Scholz's Biergarten (1 pt. or 2 pts. if it was Lone Star).

38. Have you ever been to a UT football game (1 pt. or 5 pts. if you tailgated).

39. Have you ever seen Sandra Bullock (and no, watching a movie doesn't count)(2 pts.).

40. Have you bongoed with Matthew McConnaghey? (10 pts.).

0-10 pts. You just arrived from California

11-25 pts. Have you thought about relocating to Houston?

25-50 pts. You are kind of a slacker but can improve

51-100 pts. You remember back when or you just lie real well

100+ You are so weird that we don't know whether to be awed or annoyed by you.

My personal score was 64. I have to admit that I missed some of the more basic questions on my own quiz.

Fictional Swedes and Easter

I am reading "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest," the second book in Stieg Larsson's trilogy about an antisocial computer hacker and a middle-aged magazine editor. Much of the first part of the book takes place between the Wednesday of Holy Week and Easter. I was struck by the fact that (in the book at least), the whole country shuts down for a four day weekend from Thursday through Sunday. However, no one goes to church. Instead, they go off to their vacation cabins. It is a bit like Christmas and Easter in the Harry Potter novels. People observe the holiday, but there is no religious significance.

The "Thoughtful" Friend

My doctor put me on a two week cleansing regime because of concerns that my blood sugar was too high. The first few days weren't that bad. I was allowed to eat chicken, fish, lamb and all the vegetables I could swallow as well as a daily cleansing drink (it's not the nasty stuff you take before a colonoscopy that keeps you running to the bathroom; it's just nutrients and stuff).

As long as I could load up on chicken or salmon, I didn't mind having to give up caffeine, alcohol, red meat, nuts and dairy products (for a limited period of time). I've had some good meals: lamb and sweet potatoes, chicken and lentils, salmon and spinach. However, today I entered into a three day period where I am allowed just 3 cleansing shakes a day and all I can eat of one green vegetable. Determined to tough it out, I bought a super-sized bag of broccoli for today and several pounds of green beans for tomorrow. The good thing about broccoli is that it takes a really long time to chew it when it's raw. That way you can snack on it all day without running out.

When I arrived at work when I received a call. "Have you had breakfast?" "Yes," I said. This should not have been a surprise, since I almost always eat breakfast before work. "Can you take me to Whole Foods? I haven't eaten this morning." Willing to do a good deed, I said yes.

When we arrived, she asked, "Can you eat oatmeal on your diet?" "No," I said. "I can have the cleansing shake and one green vegetable for the next three days." (Oatmeal is forbidden anyway because it contains gluten). A few minutes later, "Do you want some nuts?" "No," I said. "I'm not allowed to eat nuts on the diet and all I am allowed today is the cleansing shake and a green vegetable." (Nuts are forbidden, although I don't really know why). A few minutes later. "Do you want to get some kale?" "No," I said. "I already have picked out broccoli for today's green vegetable."

By my count, I turned down offers of food I couldn't eat at least four times. Intellectually I realize that my friend comes from a culture where failure to offer someone food is a great shame. However, I really wanted to say, "You're a woman. Aren't you supposed to know that No means No. That applies to food also." Instead, I patiently kept saying no and went back to the office to eat my broccoli.