by
Dimitris
When I met my friend that day, I had no idea what was in store for me. He knew I needed a challenge, something that could entice my creative spirit again. My friend knew I couldn't find any work that moved me. So, he asked it...the question that changed my life.
"How about the Gettysburg Address?"
It was the spark that ignited this whole project. I had no idea that simple question was going to start me out on the most spiritual journey of my life...a journey down a road that would ultimately lead to VISIONS.
I embraced the project, carrying the Gettysburg Address with me wherever I went for the next three months. But what seemed like a simple task at first, grew more involved and launched a new series of dilemmas for me. How could I write music that could capture the courage of this vision?
But as I continued to adapt Lincoln's immortal words to music, I realized that what drew me to this historic work was the universal spirit that laid behind the words. Written by an American, it was a vision that spoke for all humanity. It intrigued me...what of the other visionaries that left us messages throughout history. Could they be put to music as well?
I began to search for these men and women of destiny who illuminated the world with their individual revelations. No matter where I turned...no matter where I looked; Buddha, Mother Teresa, Jesus Christ, Gandhi and all of the others seemed to speak to me in a common language.
Even though they were expressed in different philosophies and languages, their message never changed. It was the vision of the unfailing spirit of humanity. Studying them became a necessity for my life, like food and water.
Now, it's been more than five years, and I'm still trying to put it in perspective. The long, sleepless nights, the agony of trying to honor these incredible individuals, and the effort that drained me in every physical and spiritual sense was worth every minute of my creative struggles.
Why? Because now, more than ever we need to be inspired. When you share their visions, you feel their energy. Once you hear their words, you are tied with them, in a very unique way.
You've been where they suffered, loved, and lived their lives. And by their visions for humanity you live, you create, you cry, you think, you feel, you dream, you walk, you eat, you work and you learn. In this simple way, you are bonded with them forever.
It was a gift, to try to create something that would honor what they've said. Now, it's a mission: to spread their words, so different, but so similar...so powerful, but so true.
Why did I create VISIONS? It's a pretty simple answer. It's not about money. It's not about fame. I created it for me, and for my children. For all the children. For the future. A new millennium, a new beginning, a new journey.
Article from LA Times/News Press Composer based character on woman who has lived on Glendale streets for years. GLENDALE -More than a decade ago, Glendale resident Dimitris Papakostas ran across a woman living on the streets and made it his personal mission. to improve His interaction with Antonia Listo would serve as an inspiration for the main character in his rock opera, "Visions -Words ofWisdom" - which opened Friday in Los Angeles. Listo has been a fixture of the Glendale streets for about 15 years. The details are hazy, but she tells those near to her that she lost her job, her husband and her home in quick succession. She's not homeless, she stresses, just in search of affordable housing. "I spent $89 for a hotel room one night because they raised their rates around New Year's," she said. "I just have welfare, once a month. I need a [Section 8 housing] certificate but when I get it, I can't find an apartment. You need somebody with a car to drive you." In the meantime, people like Papakostas stop and lend a hand. One night, Listo sat huddled under a blanket on a bench at the corner of California Avenue and Brand Boulevard as Papakostas tried to find someone to help him keep her company through the night. "It's freezing, I'm 70 years old, I can't stay out here," she said. "I want to lay down and go to sleep." Then she turned toward Papakostas: "I want you to get me a motel room. It's freezing and I can't stay on the streets." She can barely walk due to kidney problems, and Papakostas often takes her boots off and puts talc and medicine on her feet and ankles. It would take her an hour to walk to Kinko's, less than a block away. "I take care of myself," she added. "When I get an apartment, I'll get help for my legs." Passersby frequently stop to ask why she isn't at the shelter. The answer is simple, Listo replies: "There are two flights of stairs [to get to the bathroom] and I can't climb them." "We've run out of options," Papakostas said. One day about five years ago, Papakostas stopped by to see her, as had become his custom. She told him her Bible had been stolen; he was surprised she had a Bible at all. "I said, After everything that has happened, living on the streets, you still believe in God?"' She replied that she still went to church weekly, and that's when the idea for the rock-opera character was born, he said. The central figure ties together what the composer - who uses the stage name Dimitris -calls "the most spiritual journey" of his life. "Visions -Words of Wisdom" features a homeless woman sent to save the soul of a young stock market executive. Tired and broken by her life on the streets, she has nothing to convince him life can be more fulfilling except for her visions of the great leaders of the past, including the Buddha, Mother Teresa, Jesus Christ and Gandhi. "You have good and evil fighting over these two," he said. "If this homeless person changes her life around, then both people are going to go to the good." The play ends with the woman's death, and all her homeless friends sing a tribute to her as she rises to the heavens. "It's a good ending, but I don't know how this [with Antonia] will end," he said. "Every day, people take care of her.” Papakostas said he is trying to carve off $1,000 from the musical's budget to fund hotel rooms for Antonia. "We need to buy time," he said. "If she had housing from Housing Section 8, she would get money from the government and that is our solution.” |
From Antonia; |
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