10 Minutes With John Heino: Not Dead Yet

I met John Heino on the set of Iron Will, a Disney film set here in the Northland. We were extras in the ballroom scene and spent quite a bit of time in the holding area for extras. We had shared just enough that he made a memorable impression and when our paths crossed again through another association, a friendship grew.

By day he is a respected professional, serving as president and CEO of Como Oil & Propane, an energy supplier to this area. But many know him primarily as the keyboardist for one of the region’s most popular rock ‘n roll blues bands, the Centerville All Stars. The more you get to know John the more you discover. His creative spirit and energy crosses into many disciplines, both in the arts and in public service.

He agreed to let me pick his brain last week… or maybe attempt to reflect some of his soul. This interview took place on Friday the 13th, hence the first question.

Ennyman: Is it better to be good or lucky?
JH: Well, I think from a personal fulfillment standpoint, it’s better to be good. If you measure your success by financial or materialistic things, it’s better to be lucky. If you don’t need external validation it’s better to be good.

Ennyman: How did you get into music?
JH: My mother had me take piano lessons when I was about seven years old. I quit when I was ten. I had no appreciation for classical music at that time. What really got me into music was the British Invasion. All of a sudden everyone was listening to music. Everybody was starting bands, combos… The good news for me was that everybody wanted to be a guitar player, so if you could scrape up the money for a keyboard and an amplifier, you could probably get a job with a band.

It wasn’t music theory or creative impulses, but the excitement of the scene, and maybe the girls.

Ennyman: What was it like recording music in the same studio where The Doors recorded?
JH: Our band spent seven years on the road. About a year and a half after high school we were in L.A. after getting comfortable as a group in Seattle. We were actually renting a house, and had soundproofed the garage – in Canoga Park. Kurt, a friend of the guitar player’s who was trying to help us get things going was road manager for the Butts Band… which consisted of drummer John Densmore and (guitarist) Robby Krieger (This was after Jim Morrison had passed.) The Butts Band.. they were rehearsing in our garage… Ray Manzarek came by once or twice.

Ennyman: Didn't you tell me that you saw ZZ Top’s first major performance? How did it feel to see their name in lights when your group had been working so hard to get its name in lights?
JH: ZZ Top was at a place called Starwood… down from the Whiskey A-Go-Go. ZZ Top was just coming out, doing a club show in L.A. … I remember being amazed that three people could have such a full sound.

Ennyman: You once wrote a song about passion. What are you doing these days to keep your creative passion alive?
JH: I still regularly write music. I put out a couple CDs in the past couple years. Photography… I am in the process of printing, mounting and framing photography for a November show at the Red Mug in Superior. I don’t have enough time… I could spend all my waking hours doing either photography or music. Time is limited. I am torn when I have time on a weekend to indulge. Should I write music or go out and shoot photographs. I just spent a weekend up the shore doing pictures of what happens when ice gets blown in.

The conventional wisdom is that you only have one life. But I have been trying to overcome that by living three lives at once. If I could just figure out a way to get rid of sleep. It takes up so much of your time.

Ennyman: You have a Facebook site where you’ve been showing your photography. What is it about photography that gets you so jazzed?
JH: As long as I can remember, I enjoyed looking at photography... When I did finally go to college, I started as an art major and quickly got into photography. Like a lot of people I would have great memories of the great Ansel Adams images, so I would go out with a camera looking for that image.

What broke things open for me was my photography instructor. You have it backwards. Don’t look for the picture… let the picture take you. Don’t think in advance what you are looking for. Get relaxed and just look… and at a certain point you won’t be able to stop reaching for your camera.

On the North Shore, all it takes is a camera and time… God or nature is sending us an infinite stream of images, and if you are just open to actually see…

What excites me, and what I shoot the most, are images you’ll never see again. The one-word short answer for me is “fleeting.” I’ve got thousands of pictures that no one would see if I had not taken them.

There’s something exciting about knowing other people have seen something they would not have seen otherwise.

I’ve only recently realized that a lot of my imagery is related to fractals… each an excerpt from infinity.

There are so many things wrapped up in this [process of making pictures]. The pure aesthetic of reveling in the imagery, the beauty that is there. And there is the anticipation of what you are going to see before you take the pictures. Then there is the aspect of capturing that… And then there’s what happens when people see the work… And then there’s the connection when someone appreciates your work.

I recently went with my son… not talking, but just shooting, then discovering only afterwards what he had shot and I’d shot. Every time there are individualized images and choices with different results.

Ennyman: Perhaps the same can be said with these interviews… each involves choices in regard to questions, focusing the lens at different angles, usually with unexpected and wonderful results. Thanks, John, for sitting still long enough to make this snapshot.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. With the exception of my portrait of John, the photos on this page were borrowed with permission from John’s Facebook albums.