2018-19 Guide To Yellow Springs

15 Y e l l ow S p r i n g s N ews the Guide to YelLow Springs y 2018 - 1 9 • Submitted photo courtesy of mikecimages Rob Heiliger during the recording sessions for “Crazy is Forever,” recorded in the home studio of “Crazy Joe” Tritschler, local musical polymath and electrical engineer. By Joe bachman There is no accounting for timing. Rob Heiliger, the patron saint of Yellow Springs troubadours, has at times seemed poised to break out and shoot the rays of his talent past our little landscape and into the great beyond. Many is the local concertgoer who has watched Heiliger and seen past the Johnny Cash persona for what he is: a singular and unique talent. Heiliger has long taken aim at country music’s fondness of double entendre. He holds his guitar high, poised to strike like a sledgehammer at the hypocrisy of subtlety. His music is crude, sexual and politically irreverent. His songs are catchy, well-con- structed and packed with impossibly clever word play. His audience, kept at arm’s length, is constantly challenged to keep up. On its surface, Heiliger’s music appears to be simple: some sex, some laughs and plenty of dancing. But darkness crowds the edges. The inse- cure anti-heroes who populate his songs are wrapped in the cloaks of false mascu- linity, drug addiction, mental illness and self-inflicted pain. You can laugh and dance, he dares, but don’t forget that actual lives are being lived this way. Time has rarely been on his side. He remains a local act, and at times retreats even from that — going for extended stretches without playing at all. It was during one of these stretches in 2013 that Heiliger recorded “Crazy is Forever.” The album, his first and only studio release, found the smallest of audiences, selling around 300 copies through the online retail site CD Baby. But when you listen to it on Spotify or Bandcamp, or any number of digital stream- ing platforms, there is no mistaking it. “Crazy is Forever” is a minor masterpiece. “Mature” is not an adjective easily attached to Heiliger, and perhaps that’s why “Crazy” failed to catch on. Produced and performed by “Crazy Joe” Tritschler, along with a swinging team of keyboardists at Tritschler’s handmade studio, the album is a polished, roundly conceived hour of musical craftsmanship. It’s a mature work. Heiliger’s naughtiness is subdued, and his weariness is more immediate. The album provides enough Heiliger raunch to stay true to form, but the gems are found in the nooks and crannies. It kicks off with some showy tunes. “Coming Back Home” shows off his country bona fides. “Road Head,” “Clothes Hanger Repair - man” and “Kentucky Jelly” provide the requisite Heiliger lewdness. In “Searchin’ for My Unders,” Heiliger dials up the wordplay with lyrics that are at once dizzying and hilarious. But somewhere in the middle, the album takes a turn. With a gentle pour, “Valium and Honey,” “Roll Up The Rug” and “Tomor- row’s Gonna Hurt” slip into the proceed- ings. Upon repeated listenings, this trio of ballads reveals itself to be full of sad, beautiful dimension. Essentially bookending the album’s second act, these songs are achingly lovely in their conception: slow, melancholy dirges  ‘Crazy is Forever’ —  y  a lost masterpiece y rounded out by exquisite playing. They inhabit the space of the weary traveler who desires little more than the soft glow of romance but who finds empty prom - ises around every corner. In these songs, laughter takes a back seat while the pain it masks gets to sway in the moonlight for a moment. Even as the melancholy tugs and pulls, Heiliger continues to sprinkle in tales of soiled underwear and creative uses for sexual lubricant. Romance is for suckers, he says, but what are you going to do? He’s a sucker. We all are. It has never been enough for Heiliger to be funny, succeed though he does. He has always demanded that people not only get up out of their chairs, but more importantly, get up out of their comfort zone. “Crazy is Forever” is the sound of Heiliger leaving his. It is the sound of an immense talent coming to terms with itself and hear- ing nothing but echoes in return. 1 sexual expression sexual identity Ohio Institute of Sexual Health Assessment, Education & Professional Counseling in Clinical Sexuality New Publication: The Gender Revolution& New Sexual Health Peterson, Bley & Frabotta; Cognella Academic Press Clinical Directors: Dr. Frederick Peterson, 937-479-0008 Dr. Ronald DeLong, 419-305-7213 An affiliation of DeLong, Peterson & Associates Clinical Consulting Specialists SexualHealthEducators.com Orthodontic Specialists of Ohio (937) 324-5700 Springfield 2100 E. High St. (Suite 105) Governor’s Manor, 1st Floor Springfield, OH 45505 James A. Tetz , D.M.D., inc. Change A Smile & Change A Life www.TetzOrthodontics.com Join, Support or Volunteer! Yellow Springs non-profits deserve our attention and commitment!