Jeff Falconer will perform his one-man show “High Road to Doomsday” on Friday, May 23 at the Sonoma Community Center. The show explores some Americans’ belief in the rapidly approaching end of the world. Submitted photo
It’s taken Jeff Falconer three and a half years to merge onto the “High Road to Doomsday.” That’s the amount of time the Glen Ellen resident spent writing his first one-man show. The tragic and comic exploration of some Americans’ belief in the rapidly approaching end of the world makes its premiere Friday, May 23 at the Sonoma Community Center.
“The basic theme of the show is that the human race is going to hell in a hand-basket because of our self-destructive nature,” said Falconer, who took time out from his work on a roof on the Sonoma State University campus to answer a few questions via phone.“But within every destructive behavior is a seed that could grow into a cure.”
“High Road to Doomsday” is not all doom and gloom. The 90-minute show is broken up into two distinct acts. The first is titled “What the hell’s wrong with us” and the second is “What the hell’s right with us.” Writing the show proved to be a creative way for Falconer to work through his obsession with apocalyptic thinking and his frustration with doomsayers who should know better.
“My show is not a harangue, because it’s all done tongue-in-cheek using bogus Latin terms to describe things we all know and should be thinking about,” said Falconer, using the same stream-of-consciousness-speech he employs in his show to great effect. “I use over-the-top negativity and over-the-top optimism to prove that the truth lies somewhere in between.”
The Sonoma Valley native has been writing songs since 1969 and has been performing his music both solo and with several rock bands, mostly on the East Coast. The 57-year-old has recorded four discs, including “Complicated World” and “Vic Perp: New Age Private Eye.” After years of touring, he left the music business to settle down and start a family, but never stopped writing songs.
“I developed ‘Doomsday’ over a long period of time by first working on the concept, then making noises with my mouth before it turned into the actual material,” said Falconer. “The show is really stand-up comedy with a guitar; satire with music.”
Performances are at Friday, May 30 and Saturday, May 31 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15 and are available by phone at 707.938.4626, ext. 1. The Sonoma Community Center is at 276 E. Napa St. in Sonoma.
