brockmann-andrade

airs - a rock opera

music by steve brockmann

words by george andrade

“Owen Doane is returning home by ferry to Manisses Island, a circular deposit of gravel, clay and rock, after serving a 6 year sentence in a state psychiatric lock down facility for rolling through a stop sign and driving a vehicle carrying two tourists from the road to strike a stone wall…”

based upon the subplot to a novel idea, and inspired by Steve Brockmann’s powerful, vintage rock score, this was my first attempt at writing words for music as an immersive experience; by working to incorporate narratives within the lyrics which matched the emotional and dramatic dynamics of Brockmann’s evocative score, I hoped to convey more deeply the loss, disillusionment, reconciliation, and ultimate redemption that is Owen's journey.

track list

lyric links

fateful days

grounded

kites

flight

current events

heritage

experiments

annabelle

the center

fateful days ii

hannah

the great salt pond

grounded ii

flight ii

owen

lyrics

fateful days

prologue

Owen Doane is returning home by ferry to Manisses Island, a circular deposit of gravel, clay and rock, after serving a 6 year sentence in a state psychiatric lock down facility for rolling through a stop sign and driving a vehicle carrying two tourists from the road to strike a stone wall.

Ferry Captain

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard the ferry “Manisses”. Our sailing time today will be approximately 50 minutes over calm seas.”

He had been drinking in an island bar at lunch, and was returning to a job site where he was a foreman for his father’s company of stonemason’s – Derrick Doane Stoneworks – when the combination of alcohol and anti-depressants that he had recently been prescribed caused him to drift from consciousness.

The vehicle carried a mother traveling with her 9 year old daughter, Hannah… and the accident caused the girl to suffer injuries that paralyzed her from the waist down, confining her life to a chair.

Hannah’s mother sued Owen’s father and his company, winning care for her daughter at “The Center”, an old home converted to comfort and attend to the island’s disabled and infirm. The building is situated at the highest point of Manisses Island which, ironically, can be seen from the Doane house and property.

As a result, Derrick suffered the collapse of the company that had been built upon the Doane family heritage of pulling stone from fields before harvest and building walls after milling grain since they had settled Manisses Island in 1664. In danger of losing the company altogether, he eventually was forced to sell to his oldest son, Craig - a further embarrassment - while Owen was still in prison.

Owen has been released from prison early with time served as a political favor to his father, who is dying…

fateful days

Owen

when I was a boy I played in fields by the sea

winds in the grass surrounded me

when I was a boy I watched my father before me

heirs in the fields surrounded

now I know there was no moment’s way to see

what I could have done to change that fateful day

and now I can see what I’ve done to my family

and I know that now I am not

I can see

an island at sea

I can see now that I am

what I am

windmills at sea

father it’s me

and I can see now what I

that I am

when I was a boy I learned to fly by the sea

kites in the air they pulled on me

when I was a boy I watched my father flying free

airs in the fields they pulled on

now I know there was no moment’s way to see

what I could have done to change that fateful day

and now I can see what I’ve done to my family

and I know that now I am not

Hannah

“I saw it… I can see you… I saw it.”

Ferry Captain

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now entering The Great Salt Pond. We ask that all passengers with motor vehicles to please go to their cars at this time.”

The ferry settles in and glides through the breakwater separating the ocean from The Great Salt Pond, and Owen rises and goes to the rail. Nothing appears to have changed, time seems to have stood still; the family home sits on a small rise up from the mouth of the pond, angled on the land in such a way as to bear the brunt of strong winter winds, with the long dormant windmill in the foreground by the shore, turned away from him and his return home.

And then Owen notices another, newer construction down by the shore. He walks the long rail back to the stern as the ferry sluices the water easily past… it’s most certainly new though it’s been weathered, a lookout perhaps, a post that resembles a lifeguard’s chair surrounded by a stone foundation. It sits at the very edge of the pond and is turned looking out empty towards the sea, dark under the overcast sky.

Owen

when I was a boy no mother’s voice called by the sea

she saved her last breath to give to me

when I was a boy I watched my father comfort me

my head on his chest breathing

no one knows there was no moment’s way to see

what I could have done to change that fateful day

and now I can see what I’ve done to my family

and I know that now I am not

I can see

father it’s me

I can see now that I am

what I am

winds of change

lives exchanged

and I can see now what I

that I am

The ferry throttles down and begins to slowly turn its bow around gracefully sweeping past the faces of the bars, shops and hotels hugging the harbor. Some have new paint and there are name changes to be sure but the facades have remained the same, though new lives no doubt walk those halls.

Owen watches the ferry churn the waters of the Great Salt Pond as it backs into its berth. The smell of brine is pungent. He breathes deeply and watches the dock workers catch heavy tossed ropes which they catch and hold and pull leaning back to cleat along the dock.

Ferry Captain

“Ladies and Gentlemen, now arriving Manisses Island… we ask that all passengers with bikes and on foot to remain on the upper decks until all vehicles have exited the vessel.”

Mothers call out to children running on the upper deck while fathers gather the family belongings; lovers stand at the rails and smile in each other’s, amused at the antics of seagulls that appear motionless before them, bawling for treats; elderly couples move slowly and easily to the stairs where husbands and wives assist each other down with encouraging words and gentle hands.

Owen waits to walk last out of the cavernous car deck and into the light on island for the first time in six years. He shoulders what little he has brought from prison, lowers his head and begins the long walk home.

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lyrics

grounded

lyrics

kites

lyrics

flight

lyrics

current events

lyrics

heritage

lyrics

experiments

lyrics

annabelle

lyrics

the center

lyrics

fateful days ii

Hannah

when I was a girl my mother played by the sea

she saved all her breath when I would plead

when I was a girl I watched my father running free

mom said: “Save all your breath” when I would

now I know there was no moment’s way to see

what I could have done to change that fateful day

and now I can see what’s been done by my family

and I know that now I am not…

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hannah

Owen walks up to Hannah and introduces himself. she looks up at him and says how much she’s been looking forward to this day. he drops and sits back on his heels, shocked and amazed, and after a moment says, “Me, too.”

Owen

“I will help you fly

here… now hold the string

my father wrapped and held me in his hands…”

“I will help your arms-

am I hurting you?

Are you ready? Now… ok - let go!”

I drifted off went through the sign

look what I’ve done

I didn’t know - how could I know?

oh, Hannah

Hannah

“I feel you lift my arms-

you’re not hurting me.”

yes, lay your head and rest it on my chair

“There- why do you fly?

Owen, can I try?

I’ve seen you stand up to your waist in the pond…”

I’ve been in chairs more than you know

I’ve been pushed

You didn’t know – how could you know?

Oh, Owen

she had seen him in the pond? well, could she know it was him - had she guessed? or had Annabelle told her?

Owen can feel the excitement coursing through Hannah’s arms as the string plays rapidly out and becomes heavy with atmospheric weight and drag…

… Hannah’s arms bob and sway in his hands - and then she begins to laugh most beautifully, explosively, a laugh laced with the breathless giggles of a little girl, a laugh that had been buried away and is resurrected!

Owen looks to Annabelle and smiles, who he takes her hand from the invisible arm at her waist and raises it to her mouth, smiling back.

the sun glints through the tissue of the kite as it struggles to climb in the wiles of island airs, infusing the frame with diaphanous colors and light…

… and then the kite bows and dances and runs free, pulling more string from Hannah’s hands, reaching for the massive clouds that sail muted through the afternoon sky, trailing long shadows on the ground that sweep up the fields and swim over them for a moment…

Owen

I watched all signs drifting off

our hearts on strings

she couldn’t know – I’d like to show

oh, Hannah

Owen asks Hannah if she would like to fly from in the pond as she’d seen him – he explains that he has learned how to fly there from a book that’s been in his family since they first settled the island. he could push her into The Great Salt Pond in her chair, perhaps? she turns as best she can and looks to Annabelle with excitement.

Annabelle asks The Center’s director for permission to take Hannah to visit Owen, under the guise of visiting the windmill, and the director tells her that she sees no reason why Hannah shouldn’t be able to see “up close what she’ll eventually own – if there’s a God.”

for more than the first time, Annabelle begins to wonder if Hannah knows that she’s in her chair at the hands of Owen - and she wonders if she has been told.

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the great salt pond

Owen is waiting for Annabelle and Hannah up at the house, sitting astride his bike as The Center’s van pulls into the drive. he takes Hannah from the attendant at the lift and pushes her into the empty cart. Annabelle sits on the seat behind him and holds on with her one arm as he pedals down the hill to the pond.

Hannah asks about what appears to be a large round tent in the field beside the windmill, and Owen explains that it’s a kite he’s building from one of his father’s designs, one he’d found in the “Book of Airs”.

he pushes Hannah into the windmill and her eyes go wide at all the kites hanging from the rafters. Owen opens the “Book of Airs” and shows them the charts and tables of wind and ocean currents, the flying experiments of his grandfather, and his father’s penciled in drawings.

he steps out while Annabelle changes Hannah, and then he pushes her, takes them both down to the pond.

Narrator

pushing her chair into the waters up to her waist

he sees her legs dead white shimmering below there

she wades out and holds up the kite

then holds the string with her, their fingers laced

Owen wraps his arms around them, her missing arm there

Chorus

and they fly

fly for freedom

currents deep and strong that pull them on

they fly

fly for freedom

currents in the air that pull them there

they fly

in the ocean of sky

Narrator

he says he’s learned of a way to reach the sky from beneath the surface

will she trust him to help her to fly from out of her chair there?

she watches as Hannah is raised - she looks scared from an awkward embrace

she holds her breath - eyes wide - waits in Owen’s hands there

Chorus

and she dives

dives for freedom

Owen holds her there, his arms her chair

she dives

dives for freedom

currents differing, she holds the string

she flies

in the reflected sky

Narrator

bent at the waist, he cradles her wrapped in his hands

his heavy breath ripples the water, her hair waves like grass there

she leans in and says, “that’s enough” - she sees the string still held clutched to her chest

with her one hand supporting her under, they pull her to air there

Chorus

and she flies

flies to freedom

currents strong and deep, inducing sleep

she rises

rises to freedom

she laughs and rests her head on Owen’s chest

Owen and Annabelle and Hannah

“We fly!”

Hannah

“You’re my sky!”

Annabelle

“You’re my sky…”

Owen

“You’re my sky.”

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grounded ii

Hannah asks Owen if she can visit again, so that he can show her how the windmill works. he says he would need to learn how to operate it, if it could still turn in the wind, by reading the “Book of Airs”.

on the way back up the hill, she asks if she could watch him try to fly his father’s kite and he says “of course”. at the house he asks his sister-in-law, Rachel, to call for the van while he waited with them.

Rachel eyes this odd group with curiosity and goes in to place the call. and then she dials one more number.

Owen

I read from the masters how to operate the windmill in the “Book of Airs”

turn sail and be aware of ever changing fickle face and wiles of the wind

then the vaguest smell on wisps of white surrounds the wooden gears

smoke! thick and hot reserved for only those who are lost and have sinned!

searching for the truth

surrounds me in the air

I see father’s kite a ball of fire disintegrating up into the air

fabric curls in layers like the sneering lips of demons sent to feed upon

oh no - the frames in danger of igniting within every flare!

I hear now a boat running off on the waters of the Great Salt Pond!

searching for the proof

disappears into thin air

Owen rushes up the hill to the house for the phone. Craig roars into the driveway – he had seen the smoke rising from a growing orange light on the property, as if a pit had been opened up by the Great Salt Pond.

he hauls himself out of the truck and nearly runs into Owen as he bounds down the hill to the mill, both brothers drawn from the dark in the dancing glow of the fire.

Owen

(spoken)

Craig! Craig!

Craig

(spoken)

Owen- what the fuck?!

Owen

(spoken)

Someone burned the kite– Dad’s kite, Craig!

Craig

(spoken)

Someone– wait- what?!

Owen

(spoken)

I don’t know! I don’t know!

Craig

(spoken)

What the hell are you talking about-

Owen

(spoken)

-the mill is burning!

Craig

(spoken)

Okay- okay. They’re coming. I already called. Here they come…

Rachel appears out of the night.

Rachel

(spoken)

Oh my God… what’s going on?

Craig

(spoken)

You didn’t see this?

Rachel

(spoken)

See-?

Craig

(spoken)

The mill, Rachel– our mill is on fire!

Rachel

(spoken)

No. I had no idea-

Craig

(spoken)

-you had no idea?

Rachel

(spoken)

no-

Craig

(spoken)

-then why are you here?!

Rachel

(spoken)

I… I just heard the sirens…

Owen

(spoken)

Craig– forget her! Help me turn the windmill! C’mon! We gotta turn the sails away from the fire!

the brothers race down the hill and lean into the long wooden pole sticking out at an angle from the dome of the mill and begin to push against to turn the rusted, deflated wheel on the end…

slowly the wheel tears away from the undergrowth and rolls along its path, rotating the windmill dome and sail frames away from the blaze…

… the Island Fire Department arrives and barrels down the hill. Owen and Craig watch their friends draw water from the pond and work to save the windmill. Rachel has disappeared…

… the flame roars up in a swirling arm that sways like a tentacle in the air and attacks the windmill, leaving broad black swaths across the stone foundation and threatening immolation of the wooden structure and the dome…

… suddenly headlights sweep up over the top of the hill and hold the brothers in their glare as an engine guns down towards them.

it’s Coleman Burke, who gets out of a “Doane Stoneworks” truck with Annabelle. he waits for her to round the ticking engine and places a hand where her arm would have been, only instead of flesh he grabs her by the fabric at her hip and pulls her along with him to them.

Burke

(spoken)

What the hell’s going on?

Craig

(spoken)

Someone tried to burn down the mill. Wait… who called you?

Burke

(spoken)

Well, what does it matter?

Annabelle

(spoken)

Owen – are you ok?!

Owen

(spoken)

I’m fine, Belle. I got out in time.

Burke

(spoken)

Oh? In time for what? He’s fine.

Owen

(spoken)

Yeah, I’m fine. But the kite is destroyed.

Burke

(spoken)

Who would want to do a thing like that?

Owen

searching for the proof

surrounds me in the air

searching for the truth

disappears into thin air

the fire is finally out… and that night Owen spends at the house lying in his old bedroom, in his old bed. he looks out the window past the tree to the windmill, the acrid taste of smoke still thick on his tongue.

Owen

I dove and found the book within the smoke and now I clutch it safely to my chest

Annabelle she held me with the strength of her lone arm though she’s still miles away

I can’t be more comforted than when she held me to her breast

I’ll sleep and wake to check for damage in the light of day…

searching for the truth

surrounds me in the air

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kites ii

Owen awakens to a quiet house. in the distance, the gulls are already riding the currents of air above the surf. he looks down the hall and sees that his brother’s bedroom door is shut. he slips out into the hall and closes the door to the room he has shared with his father.

he moves quietly within what has become a shell of his old home. time moves on – things have changed. many of the faces smiling back from the pictures lining the shelves are unknown and alien to him.

he finds a picture of his mother nearly hidden, tucked away on a window ledge behind a curtain, and he picks it up and blows away the fine dust that has settled upon the glass, covering the woman behind his reflection there…

… a healthy young woman with thick blowing hair smiles up at him from beneath a large hat in a field of tall grass. he touches the glass separating him from the image, then puts it back in its place it at the window and goes to inspect the windmill.

Owen notices a hole burnt into the dome of the windmill by the fire. he raises a ladder, climbs up and peering inside is astonished by what he finds: a fibrous, undulating mass of material hidden up under the dome that trembles in the wind rushing over it, expanding and contracting in small waves that roll back and forth upon itself – tremulous - like living tissue.

he reaches inside and touches the “entity” and feels that it’s actually some sort of material. a kite? had he found his father’s kite?

Owen then studies the gears and levers on the underside of the of the windmill’s ceiling and realizes they’ve been cast from metal, not hewn from wood, which means that they’d been an addition to the original design…

… added by the person who’d placed the material up under the dome, perhaps? Could it have been his father?

he also sees that they’d been designed and machined to connect to the main center shaft and gear system which in turn was attached to the windmill’s sail frames…

… meaning that all he would have to do to engage the system (and thereby discover its purpose) was to - and then he sees it!

all he would have to do was disengage the levers on one, two, three sides and get the windmill operational for the “ceiling” to drop away…

Owen sets about repairing the four frames to ensure they had the integrity to support the sails once hung in the wind, and then he goes back up to the house and enters the cellar by the bulkhead …

he searches the deepest part of the cellar for the actual windmill sails, hoping they were still there, and indeed he finds them tucked away in a wooden chest under generations of dust and dirt.

he hauls the chest back up the bulkhead and out into the light, and then drags it down the hill where he carefully lifts the sails out and lays them on the grass to air dry. he takes the time to inspect the cloth for holes and tears, sweeping away the spiders and earwigs that scuttle over the sails, no doubt having infiltrated them from being stowed away in the damp dark for so long.

later that afternoon, Owen calls Annabelle to arrange for her and Hannah to visit again, explaining all that he has found.

and he promises a flight to remember.

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flight ii

Annabelle

“How can we help here? We’re unable… of what use?”

Hannah

“Left in my chair here… I feel so small – and of no use.”

Owen

“Help me turn to the wind… I’ll haul, hang and set the sails”

Annabelle

“With my one arm, Owen I will hold to you.

Hannah

“My legs are useless, but I can hold onto you.”

Owen

“The tail to Dad’s kite… here, hold the rope - please help me fly!”

Annabelle

the windmill dome splits, opens wide

fabric folds fill with a massive sigh

kite tugs on tethers, trembling

long dormant petals open and they sing

with a flourish Owen is pulled away

into the sky

Owen throws his head back and laughs – he can’t help braying like a little boy! the island falls away, becomes a giant play set of toy boats sitting in the harbor and winking cars that crawl past island businesses, homes and properties … all so many rectangular boxes that recede beneath his feet.

Annabelle

“Owen, I can’t hold you - I can’t hold onto you!”

Hannah

“My arms are lifting - I’m being pulled from my chair!”

Owen

“Now I can see it all! Belle, it’s ok - please let me go!”

rising on the current of errs

staccato bursts and blooms full of heirs

no longer owing alibis

diaphanous against the deep blue sky

Owen and Annabelle

rope trailing disappears from all sight

pulls at our hearts

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owen

Owen

when i was a man i watched my father flying free

he saved his last breath to give to me

when i was a man i held the girl i hurt to me

she gave all her strength to set me

now i know there was no moment’s way to see

what i could have done to change that fateful day

and now i can see what i’ve done to all around me

and i know that now i am

free

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