IN INCUBATION UNDER THE SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE OF
IN 1977, NASA LAUNCHED A PAIR OF UNMANNED VOYAGER SPACECRAFT ON A SCIENTIFIC "GRAND TOUR" OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. EACH CRAFT WAS OUTFITTED WITH A "GOLDEN RECORD" OF MUSIC, GREETINGS, AND IMAGES OF LIFE ON EARTH TO CARRY BEYOND THE PLANETS INTO INTERSTELLAR SPACE.
THIS IS THE STORY OF TWO VOYAGERS WHO MADE A RECORD AND TOOK IT ON TOUR.
SAGUARO CITY MUSIC THEATRE is proud to partner with songwriter Cameron Hood (Ryanhood) in the development his new work, Voyagers: A Space Rock Opera. Highly researched and richly allegorical, Voyagers is a sung-through musical about a space-obsessed musician who wrestles with his own ever-expanding ambition as he and a female partner create a gold record and embark on a grand tour inspired by NASA’s twin Voyager space probes.
Inhabiting a theatrical space between Pink Floyd's The Wall, Broadway's Hadestown, American Idiot, and Once: The Musical, Voyagers uses rock music storytelling, dramatic acting, and immersive visuals to explore the aches, dreams, and fears of two ambitious musicians. Their story is told symbolically through the actual mind-bending history, science, and sounds of NASA’s Voyager program.
Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager space probes are the farthest things humans have ever launched from Earth. They visited and studied all four outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—in a flight path officially called “The Grand Tour.” And they both carry a phonograph record nicknamed, “The Golden Record,” as a time capsule of life on Earth in case they are ever discovered a million years from now by another civilization somewhere out in the Milky Way.
CAMERON HOOD is a singer/songwriter and graphic designer from Tucson, AZ for whom inner transformation is the most important precursor to societal change. Interested in both big-picture, systemic thinking as well as the detailed nuances of wordplay, Cameron has been fusing together his interests in songwriting, narrative storytelling, spirituality, and theatre for the creation of Voyagers: A Space Rock Opera, co-written with college English teacher John D. Larson.
As part of the indie-folk acoustic duo Ryanhood, Hood has released seven albums of original music, performed over 1000 shows in 3 countries and 47 US states, and been named, along with Green, “Best Group/Duo” in the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards.
In 2017, Hood co-created a modern ballet about the life of gangster John Dillinger with Ashley Bowman of Artifact Dance Project, called Surrounding Dillinger, about which Arizona Daily Star said, “It’s contemporary dance. It’s theatre. It’s a concert. And it is, simply, astounding.” More recently, Hood spoke and performed along with frequent collaborator Ryan David Green at the 2019 TEDx Tucson [R]evolution Conference, in a TED Talk called, “How Bad Things Can Make Us Good People.”
THE FOLLOWING ARE SELECTIONS FROM VOYAGERS, WITH MUSICAL DEMOS AND ACCOMPANYING LIBRETTO
"THE NIGHT SKY"
ONE
Too many cars like me on the road
Too many idiots pushing to go
Carving our own headstones, we groan
Beneath the crushing weight
The crushing weight
Of life
There's too many buildings, too many rooms
Too many endless things to do
Too many empty days just scraping through
But looking up does it reframe you?
Where you fit and who you pray to?
Does it make you want to close your eyes
And cry?
Oh, to the night sky
Oh, to the night sky
How to do reach out, touch it, taste it?
How do you rise above the race?
How do you get some sense of space
In billions and billions?
How do you reach out, touch it, taste it?
And fly to the place where there's no pain?
And how do you climb above the weight
Of billions and billions and billions and billions
And billions and billions and billions and billions
And billions and billions and billions and billions?
Maybe I could be the first
To write it all inside a verse
To rise and leave this heavy Earth behind
And fly
Oh, to the night sky
Oh, to the night sky
"THE BALLAD OF ONE AND TWO"
TWO
One, two, one, two . . .
ONE
“There is the sister of my soul”
I remember thinking
From the first two moments
She is like me in a way I know
We could be gold
I caught her eye at the JPL
Where there were rumors of a Mariner 11 and 12
But I told her that I planned to go beyond the belt
And she should go
We fell in love and we left the ground
Burning through the stages at the speed of sound
Ganymede and Io and Europa bound
Feeling bold
I've always been afraid to stay for too long
Afraid of missing out on something else I want
But I don't want to get too far ahead with this song
So here we go
Words she said to me
Always stay with me
The words she said to me
Words she said to me
Always stay with me
The words she said to me
TWO
One, two, one, two . . .
ONE
What does it take
To change your eyes?
Can you do it alone
And is it worth the price?
Well, listen how I lost the light
And tried to find my soul
"ECLIPTIC BLUES"
ONE
Beneath the sky, far from town
The evening lights are coming out
We’re almost there, just a little more
TWO
Can you tell me what
What we’re looking for?
ONE
My dad’s a star, he’s gone at night
My mother’s sick, the bills stack high
My brothers fight who gets the bigger bed
I come out here, look overhead
And think that I was born
For something more than ordinary
I’ve been writing something
I’ve been hiding something
Quite exciting
Something grand
Now turn your head to the side
And trace between the brightest lights
That's Venus there, and Jupiter
And it makes a line around the Earth
It's all a plane, a ring that's spun
A ball and chain around the sun
I think that I was born
For something more than ordinary
I’ve been writing something
I’ve been hiding something
Quite exciting
Something grand
I think that everyone I know
Just goes in circles bending low
Tell me, don’t you wanna go
Make something gold?
TWO
We could change our lives
People do it all the time
If you wanna change your life
Then change your eyes
We could change our lives
People do it all the time
If you wanna change your life
Then change your eyes
"THE SAME THREE STREETS"
NOTE: This song is part of a medley and begins at 3:29 in the player above, immediately following "Ecliptic Blues"
ONE
Oh, hallelujah, there is so much to see
A trillion kinds of life living under this tree
And more unknown than known swimming under this sea
But I drive the same three streets
I drive the same three streets
Every week
TWO
Oh, hallelujah, there is so much to see
In the waves and all the wonder of a humble heartbeat
And more unknown than known dreaming deep within me
But, yeah, I drive the same three streets
ONE
Why drive the same three streets
Every week?
When it’s so wide
It’s so wide open!
So wide open
So wide open
For you and me
ONE
Oh hallelujah, there is so little time
Let’s make a record of it all, and you can sing at my side
We’ll find a way to leave the weight of life behind
Instead of driving round the same three streets
Crying ‘bout the same three streets
Every week
TWO
Oh hallelujah, dream of leaving the ground?
Well, I’d love to sing the stars with you
And then settle down
ONE
I’ve seen gravity pull everybody
Back to this town
ONE AND TWO
But what if it’s a gift
The lift that pushes us out there?
Beyond the belt, among the cloud
Where it's so wide open!
So wide open
So wide open
So wide open
So wide open
So wide open
So wide open
TWO
For you and me
"CAPE CANAVERAL DAY"
ONE
The air was warm, the day was golden
For being born again
By mid-morning, shaking off the ice
From the womb of night, and an unlived life
The crowd came down to Kennedy
To see it all up close
Turn on, turn on!
Counting down I saw the smoke
And felt the life below
Turn on, turn on!
I believe I was conceived and born
In Pasadena where the air is warm
But my life began on Cape Canaveral Day
Let’s get born, and get unfolded
Stretch my arms, find my star, and begin
And by the evening I’ll be on my way
With a brand new attitude
And a heart to break
The crowd came down to Kennedy
To see it all up close
Turn on, turn on!
Counting down I saw the smoke
And felt the life below
Turn on, turn on!
I believe I was conceived and born
In Pasadena where the air is warm
But my life began on Cape Canaveral Day
I believe I was conceived and born
In California, in the swarm
But life began on Cape Canaveral Day
"OVER THE OCEAN"
NOTE: This song is part of a medley and begins at 4:46 in the player above, immediately following "Cape Canaveral Day"
ONE
So long, little Mercury
You may be missing me
But I won’t be
Goodnight, to the evening light
Venus shining bright
From the horizon
And Mars, Mars, Mars
I’m only missing you
By a month or two
Goodnight moonlight
I love you but I’m leaving you tonight
Farewell, to the ocean blue
I know I’m seeing you
For the last time
Goodbye, Ma, I won’t forget to write
But I’ve crossed the Karman Line
And it’s my time
Goodnight moonlight
You’ll try to call me home
But I won’t go
Goodnight moonlight
I love you but I’m leaving you tonight
WHAT WE NEED
Saguaro City is looking for your financial support to provide Cameron and his innovative new musical the "space" to explore, the talent with which to explore, and the time to fully realize this incredible vision onstage.
Your donation will go to support:
-
Rehearsal Space
-
Actors
-
Props and Scenic Elements
-
Musical Development
OUR PROGRESS SO FAR
October–November 2022
Workshop #1(feat. Xander Mason & Celeste Lewis)
August 2022
Fundraising Lyric Videos Created (feat. Cameron Hood & Lisa Gollenberg)
March 2022
Research & Development Grant awarded by
Arizona Commission on the Arts
November 2019
First Public Performance of the song "Two" (feat. Cameron Hood)
SAGUARO CITY MUSIC THEATRE