Picturing himself on stage

Jennifer K Mahal

A homeless man huddled on the sidewalk inspired “Aqualung.”

Impressions of extremist groups prior to Sept. 11 led to “Roots to

Branches.”

Some people write music from words. Some from melody. Ian Anderson,

lead singer and flutist for Jethro Tull, writes music from images.

“With ‘Aqualung,’ I have picture of a homeless figure, indicative of

the kind of ostensibly sad figure who inspired a lot of mixed emotions in

us, the observer, the better-off city walker,” he said from his office in

England. “You can pass him on the street . . . We’re uncomfortable with

homeless people, who are the ill, the aged.”

Anderson, who will play an almost sold-out concert at the Orange

County Performing Arts Center tonight, said that image is among those

that have stayed with him the longest. Thereare usually pictures in his

head when he writes songs and when he sings them in concert.

“Look at the visual arts -- form, tone, color -- those are words that

curiously apply to the form of music,” said the 54-year-old, who quit art

school to become a working musician in the ‘60s. “There’s a common

language that works here.”

The job of songwriters, he said, is to make sense of all of the

conflicting and confusing emotions. It’s a job that will never be boring.

“As a songwriter, you draw off [emotions] to the surface and let them

bubble up,” Anderson said, “but not because they’re nice and pretty and

tied in a pink bow.”

Pink bows and Jethro Tull are incongruous -- for all Anderson’s antics

in the ‘70s with tights and codpieces, neither of which he wears anymore.

The band won a rather controversial Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance

Grammy in 1989 for “Crest of a Knave,” controversial in part because the

band has never been a critic’s favorite, no matter how popular with the

masses.

Tull, named after an 18th century English agricultural pioneer, has

changed members a number of times over the years. Anderson, playing flute

and mandolin, has always been at its center. The current members of the

band include Martin Barre on electric guitar, drummer Doane Perry,

keyboardist Andrew Giddings and Jonathan Noyce on bass.

The group is currently on its 2002 tour, “Living With the Past,” which

coincides with the release of a new CD and DVD. The music may have the

sounds of a flute, but no one would mistake it for classical, even if it

is being performed at the Center.

“What better place to hear a group like Jethro Tull than Segerstrom

Hall, an actual concert venue that is acoustically ideal for great

performers,” said Jerry Mandel, the Center’s president.

Anderson has a more practical reason for enjoying venues like the

Center -- clean bathrooms. Being a flute player, he is very particular

about the cleanliness of his hands.

“The good thing about these places is, on average, the backstage

plumbing is of a much higher caliber than the sports places, where the

closest thing to a working toilet is an empty Evian bottle,” he said.

And though Len Fico of Fuel 2000, the record company behind Tull’s new

album, may enthuse about how the venue creates a more intimate experience

with Tull, Anderson said he plays his music for only one person --

himself.

“I’m there to make me feel good. That’s why I’m a musician and not a

bank manager,” Anderson said. “On a good night, if things go my way . . .

that communicates to audience and then they have a good time. But if I go

out there and try to entertain, then I become a despicable low life Vegas

entertainer, and that’s not what I want to do.”

What he wants to do is have a good time, and the number of tickets

left at the concert’s box office -- only around 160 of 3,000 as of

Thursday morning -- show that there are plenty of people in Orange County

who will pay to see it.

FYI

WHAT: Jethro Tull

WHEN: 8:30 p.m. today

WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

COST: $35-$65

CALL: (714) 755-5799