January 24, 2025

Putting a lot of time into the Stropes Foundation Archives and website. John (Stropes) and I spent a lot of time on a new post he prepared on Michael Hedges' "Because It's There", a very special work to me. I saw Michael play this on PBS on a concert called Live at Wolf Trap. All Windham Hill artists, at the height of the new age movement in the 80s. Most of it was not my cup of tea, but my 15-year-old brains were on the back wall after hearing and seeing this beautiful and subtle execution by this androgynous rock star guy with this huge Dyer Harp Guitar. I would soon go to my first guitar lesson and see he and Steve Vai sharing a soundpage in that month's Guitar Player magazine. I was so smitten by this piece, and began searching every video store for a Japanese film called "Shape of the Land" or the "Naomi Uemura Story". I wasn't exactly sure what it was called, but I had a visual and sound in my head thanks to Michael's description of the piece. "This is music for him to drive his dog sled across the tundra by", or something to that effect. You can read more and watch the movie here - including Because It's There over the opening credits. It sounds exactly like I imagined it would, and I'm grateful to finally hear and see the film. Link to the post.