Back in 2006 the conquest-of-Florida-themed band Ponce De Leon (John P. Hogan, Greg McKenna, and Dave Reich) decided the appropriate showcase for their latest batch of material would be a rock musical to be written and directed by John and to be performed by Hogan, the band, and some friends.
This musical, entitled The Island of Florida: A Foundation Myth, would be performed at CalArts as Hogan’s thesis project for his master’s degree, and a little later at the Velaslavasay Panorama Theater. In the years since, perfectionism, attention deficits, the ebb and flow of life, torpor, and a total absence of financial capital meant that the soundtrack to this work of unequivocal genius laid incomplete for years, but now, as if Brian Wilson, Axl Rose, Samuel Beckett, Stephen Sondheim, and Freddie Mercury had an orgy and made a baby out of steroids and cement, the extremely strong and powerful soundtrack is complete and ready to be distributed in some kind of listenable format (TBA).
In order to celebrate this momentous stage of completion, nearly four years in the making, John P. Hogan and Ponce De Leon will be performing a much leaner, meaner, revised and shortened version of The Island of Florida. A version meant to accentuate the cathartic wallop of the first time you heard Ol’ Dirty Bastard jam with Gentle Giant. You haven’t heard that yet? Well get ready for a comparable experience anyway!
You might also listen to the Heretics Lost Podcast by John while you’re at it here.