T H E W E E K L Y E Z I N E F O R M U S I C A L O M N I V O R E S

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August 29, 1997

FLAME THROWER
BY DENISE SHEPPARD

Rainer Ptacek. It doesn't exactly roll off your tongue, does it? Let's help with that: repeat after me. Rye-ner Pa-ta-seck. Good, very good. Now that you've got the phonetics down, it's only fair to clarify further. This foreign-sounding word is actually a living, breathing human being; a killer dobro player who was himself nearly killed after being diagnosed with brain cancer last year. Not only is Ptacek's recovery good news, so is the fact that a few talented friends rushed together (a la 'Sweet Relief') to create an album designed not just to honor him, but also help offset a growing list of medical bills. The result? 'The Inner Flame' (Atlantic), a testament to the songwriting and playing of the Tucson-based musician, features the likes of Robert Plant, PJ Harvey, Evan Dando, Emmylou Harris and former band-mates Giant Sand (to name-drop just a few). Even 'Sweet Relief' recipients Victoria Williams and Vic Chestnutt contribute their unique versions of Ptacek tunes. The whole process, it seems, has honored and humbled this truly gentle-man, who took a few moments out of his day to discuss writing, recovering and recent revelational thoughts.

epulse: With no offense intended, you are a man who is the subject of a tribute album and yet outside of the musical community, most would have trouble pronouncing your name. Where exactly did you come from?

Ptacek: Hmm. I did a lot of work with a local band here called Giant Sand. They're a great band. Me and Howe Gelb (who did a lot of work for this record) had pretty much started that band a long time ago. I bowed out after about a year but they continued on and that turned into what it is now. Every once in awhile I record with them still. It's kind of a family thing. I also did some work with The Grid. I did 'Nocturnes,' an instrumental record, and they kind of took a song off of that, cut it up, added their parts, mixed and matched and sent me back what they came up with. It was great! At the time, I was kind of getting into techno music and really dug where they were coming from. Real slow.

epulse: You mean you don't sit out in a field in the hot sun, plucking your dobro, shutting out the sound of anything over 60 beats per minute?

Ptacek: (Laughing) No, it's true. I like that kind of stuff.

epulse: Time to drop some names. How did you meet Robert Plant?

Ptacek: I had done a radio show in London ... an interview show. I was one of four guests. I was on with a society woman, a couple guys that took society photographs. A real oddball mix, kinda like Politically Incorrect, that show that mixes people up. So I got to play a couple numbers on the air. In the listening audience was Robert Plant. He made a note of what my name was and got in touch with the record company. It was four or five years ago, something like that. Six months later he had been making an album called 'Fate of Nations' which was the last solo album he did, I think, before he hooked up again with Jimmy Page. He released that album and needed some b-sides for the singles, so I went to London and we did a blitz session, where we were making things up as we went along. Four songs came out of that session.

epulse: Had you been a big Zeppelin fan at any point in your life?

Ptacek: Yeah! I had to pinch myself the whole time I was recording. This was before I had my brain tumor. Back then, I nonchalantly tried to pretend that this was all fine and nothin' special about it. That's kinda the way I did those sessions, even though I was in complete awe of where I was and who I was playing with. No big deal ... even though it WAS a big deal. And he turned out to be such a lovely human being; a wonderful personality, so open. It was a real treat to write songs with him. Very much interested in improvising just as I was. It turned out great. And when I had my uh ... the, the hospitalization thing, he contacted my friend Howe who was already organizing a benefit recording. His involvement in it really elevated the project.

epulse: Were you in the hospital the whole time this was happening?

Ptacek: Some of it, yeah. I had the radiation and chemo treatment for a month.

epulse: Where you trying to play guitar throughout the chemo process?

Ptacek: Always. And some of it -- particularly toward the beginning -- was just unbelievably difficult. Because I just had this notion in my mind that I would just pick up a guitar and play, and it really was not like that at all. I had to learn this stuff over again. I'm still learning and I'm still at step two. I play gigs but I have to practice days before I play to re-learn old material.

On the 'Inner Flame' record, the only song that was written after the cancer experience was the song "The Inner Flame." Every other song was old stuff. If you listen to the lyrics to that song, some of it makes sense, some of it is written just as stream of consciousness. Some of the lyrics turned out to be pretty damned profound after I had read 'em! It was my favorite out of all the songs on the record, not just because of the sentiment but because I think my music has improved too.

epulse: Heard a certain song on Dobro and had to find the instrument or did a Dobro find you?

Ptacek: You were exactly right the first time. It's almost like I heard it in my sleep, and then when I heard it, I made a mental note of "you will hear this sound again, Rainer, and when you do you will find out what it is." It must've been in my childhood when I made that mental note and then later on as a teenager I heard it again and I pursued it.

epulse: Back to the present: How wonderful that the two recipients of 'Sweet Relief' played on your album. What great symmetry there is to that. Did you know either of them before your diagnosis?

Ptacek: Before the project, I had known Victoria Williams through Howe [Gelb]. When they came to Tucson one time we hung out together. She is incredible. A great songwriter and a great singer. That easy flow of goodness that she exudes is wonderful. You meet her once and she's instantly beautiful.

epulse: Had you known Vic Chestnutt before?

Ptacek: No, I had not. I met him a year before the album ['The Inner Flame']. He came over to the house and we played guitars, played around outside. When he came to the project, he was a natural.

epulse: Did you ever sit around the campfire and compare illnesses?

Ptacek: No, we didn't. One reason is because when we were together, it was only for short periods of time. We had conversed, but that subject just never came up. Victoria, with her illness (which is MS), has over time dealt with it in her own way. That illness comes and it goes and sometimes comes for a long time. She has handled her illness in her own way and has come to terms with living life with it. She has tried to overcome it with different methods, things like diet, meditation and attitude. I just admire that in a person that has taken the bull by the horns and just dealt with it.

epulse: What is the current status of your health and your ability to go on tour?

Ptacek: That will remain to be seen. If I go on tour, I'd probably have to take somebody with me just so I don't fall face first into the pudding or something.

epulse: Finally, do you have any white-light wisdom, heightened awareness, or last words to share?

Ptacek: I've always said that the illness that I had was the best thing that ever happened to me, 'cause you really do get a different perspective on life. You gain wisdom that most people don't ever gain and you get to see what's important. The words that you speak are really important. People who love you come to you, looking towards you for help. The words that you speak are very important, so you try and help them with advice and loving. You know, love is the most important thing in the world, it really is. There's nothing more important than that.

--DENISE SHEPPARD [!]