Joe Acaba
As
the saying goes: Some are born great, some become great, and some have greatness
thrust upon them. So it was with the kid from
Puerto Rico
, Joe Acaba (vocalist, musician, songwriter). As a very young teen on
the Caribbean island, he was unwittingly volunteered into a band called The
Secret Agents---007 was big at the time---to sing Beatles tunes but for no other
reason than he knew how to speak english and the other kids in the band did not.
He took them up on their whimsical coercion, and as fate would have it, Joe came to love
the art form; he became impassioned by singing. He dedicated himself to
perfecting his voice by listening to records and emulating what he heard on them
by his favorite singers the likes Lennon & McCartney, Elvis, Chubby Checker,
Frankie Valli, to mention but a few. This was followed up by his later
influences, Gene Pitney, Felix Cavalier of The Young Rascals, Jack Bruce
(Cream), Jimi Hendrix , Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, and other greats of the
late ‘60’s. From The Secret Agents to Sweet Lemon to Boris Kong and later
Music and Demian (of which but a few recordings survived), these were several
bands Joe had been a participant of during the ‘60’s & ‘70’s. When
progressive rock exploded in the early 70’s, the vocal stylings of
Greg
Lake
(ELP), Jon Anderson (Yes) Ian Anderson ( Jethro Tull), Derek Schulman (Gentle
Giant), John Wetton (King Crimson), and those of the same ilk, became his
mentors. And he didn’t look back. Because
music in the seventies took an unfortunate turn of events called “Disco”,
Joe decided to leave
New York
, and seek his fortune and fame in sunny southern
California
. In the 80’s he went on to do the strip in Hollywood
playing the local venues like The Whisky, Gazzarris, The Troubadour, The
Central and a slew of other clubs in the greater Los Angeles area playing the
sophomoric fare of the day “Hairband” music---and he hated every minute of
it. After many years of being
busted, disgusted and disappointed with the
L.A.
scene, Joe opted to return to
New York
where he met again with many of the musician friends he’d left behind years
before. It was in the early 2000’s that he fell enamored with the music he
once loved, chiefly, prog-music. With one of his old cronies, Jose Damien, who
played bass in the old band “Demian” and who himself had since become a
prolific musician and keyboard player, they both decided to pool their talents
and resources and start writing great prog-music again. The result of this
encounter was ironically enough a second chance. A stab at doing it all over
again,
but with one exception, this time they were determined to do it the right way---hence the name of the CD, “Second Chance”. The project started out as
“Zeitgeist”, but unfortunately for them, a European ensemble was already
using the name. After much travail, they settled on “Celestial O’euvre”
All this happen after many years of separation and many musical journeys. But
all things being equal, it was worth the wait.
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