Arts gi Entertainment

ROCK VIRTUOSO from page 31

beautiful, and some has a heavier
sound," explains Rudess. "So we can
tour with Yes., which we did last sum-
mer, or with Megadeth, like now,
when we're tailoring our sets to suit a
heavier element.
"It's a little rough. I'm more into the
more melodic, harmonic songs, but I
like everything we play."
So do his fans. With diligent audi-
ences traveling great distances to see
him perform — including those from
Israel, where Rudess says he'd love to
visit one day — the musician always
seems to have something new up his
sleeve.
In addition to his work with Dream
Theater, he's teamed up with that
band's drummer, Mike Portnoy, and
influential bassist Tony Levin to form
the Liquid Tension Experiment.
Having lent his talents to works by the

likes of David Bowie, jazz drummer
Tony Williams and guitarist Steve
Morse, both with and without the
Dixie Dregs, he and fellow Dregs man
Rod Morgenstein formed the Rudess
Morgenstein Project (together, they
wrote a song called "Masada," based
on Morgenstein's spiritual visit to the
mountain).
Solo projects include the impromp-
tu 4/VYC, a largely improvised live-
concert disc which the firmly rooted
New Yorker and his wife, Danielle,
pulled together to benefit the
American Red Cross after the Sept. 11
attacks on New York City. (Included
on the CD is "Lamb Chops," a spirit-
ed version of "Mary Had a Little
Lamb," which one of Rudess' two
daughters requested five minutes
before the show.)
Rudess has written books on piano

The Return
Of Megadeth

technique and even offers his own ver-
sion of "private" lessons in an online
conservatory, offered on his Website at
www.jroc.us.
Although Rudess admits that he
doesn't really practice Judaism, he
points out that it is important to him
and his wife — who often joke that
their grandparents were probably
neighbors in the old country — that
their daughters grow up with it in
their lives.
Raised attending a Conservative syn-
agogue in Long Island, Rudess says his
own father became more religious after
the death of his mother (Rudess'
grandmother), and the lasting effects
of Judaism's stories and values are
something Rudess intends to pass
along to his children.
"[My father] was looking for a way
to connect. It means a lot to me and

Danielle to have that connection, and
we want our girls to have it too," says
Rudess.
He has not forgotten, however, his
own hard-learned lessons, adding, "I'm
very open to whatever they end up
with, if they connect with a different
spiritual path. But they've got a clear
line to Judaism, and I want them to
know where they come from." ❑

Dream Theater headlines with
Megadeth in the daylong rock fes-
tival Gigantour at DTE Energy
Music Theatre on Wednesday,
Aug. 10. Doors open at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $42.50/pavilion;
$20/lawn. For tickets, call
(248) 645-6666.

Dave Mustaine
of Megadeth

Dave Mustaine, lead singer of the metal band,
has a special place in his heart for Israel.

DAVID BRINN
The Jerusalem Post

T

hree years ago, Dave Mustaine was look-
ing at a future without a guitar. The
founder and creative spark of American
metal band Megadeth had suffered nerve damage
to his left arm and hand from a compressed radial
nerve, and the prognosis was not good.
The 44-year-old California native, who had
started the band in 1983 after being asked to leave
Metallica, was faced with the prospect of ending
his music career — a career that featured Grammy
nominations, gold records and a reputation as one
of the most intelligent and musically articulate
bands in the thrash/speed metal field.
"Naturally, I felt bad. I thought, 'What am I
going to do now?' There was some sadness, and
obviously it was worrying because it was my liveli-
hood," Mustaine recently told the Jerusalem Post in
a telephone interview from his hotel room in
Munich, where Megadeth was performing on a
European tour prior to the band's first Israeli con-
cert in 10 years.
In the mid-to-late '80s, Megadeth became one
of the leading bands of thrash metal — a genre
that boasts fast tempos, relentless instrumental

8/ 4
2005

36

attacks and angry, almoit nihilistic
lyrics. While the lineup consistently
changed throughout the '90s, and
Mustaine toned down the musical
approach for a more commercial
sound, Megadeth's records still
debuted in the Top 10, but sold less
with each- release.
By the time Mustaine was diag-
nosed, he almost saw it as a bless-
ing.
"Things weren't very healthy in
the Megadeth camp anymore. It
was a relief — a gift — to have rea-
son to step out and say, 'Enough, I
need to take some time.' I wouldn't
have been able to take that break from recording
and touring if it hadn't been something physical.
There would have been someone from manage-
ment saying, 'You have to go on tour' or someone
from the record company saying, 'You have to do
a record.'
"I would have been motivated — or manipulat-
ed — to keep playing. And I really needed a break
to see how something that I created had become
something so different."

Back To The Band

So for 16 months, Mustaine didn't pick up a gui-
tar — devoting himself to physical therapy (a
training regimen that he described as "gruesome"),
spending time with his wife and two children and
embracing a new commitment to Christianity.
When he did finally sit down with his guitar, he
didn't know what to expect.
"I felt like the fire inside would go out, and I'd
live happily ever after. But the fire never went out
— it went on pilot light and kept a silent vigil,"

