2017-18 Season Artist Feature

A BRIEF ENCOUNTER WITH HEATHER CHRISTIAN

Jesus is lit. Well, flickering, really — all three feet of him. He's a statue (literally) standing at the foot of the piano, one of those small uprights. On top there’s a slide projector, a few shade-less antique lamps, a plastic corded phone, a red Santa Claus figurine, and a matching red Coke bottle. Behind the piano is Heather Christian, Coke bottle. Behind the piano is Heather Christian, belting: “Don’t own the houses we live in but own our fucking graves.” Her musical, Animal Wisdom, is based around the idea of a requiem mass, and speaking to the dead. Story goes that her great-grandmother and grandmother could do it, and that her grandmother used to channel the deceased during migraines. Heather gets migraines too, but, rather than holding court with the dead as her migraines fade, she writes songs. Songs like this one, which has now stopped. “That tin pan alley thing is too innocent,” percussionist Eric Farber says during the pause, observing his own playing. Across the room, Christian addresses guitarist Sasha Brown: “Make it feel real wail-ey.” In the center of the room are more of those antique lamps, piled high and looking like a Christmas tree-shaped antique catalogue collage. "I feel like I have a very active spiritual life, but it mostly manifests itself in front of a microphone or behind a piano," Christian would say later, after explaining that she worked for the Catholic church for twenty-five years. But now, designer Andrew Schneider walks across the room, carrying another one of those light-up statues. This one is not a Jesus, but a Mary. He plugs it in. It doesn’t light up. Something’s wrong. “She needs a little repair,” Christian’s voice says from behind the piano. “Mary needs some work.”

PLAYING AT THE STARR OCTOBER 11 - DECEMBER 9, 2017
VIEW DETAILS HERE