Rodan – A Monster Talent
--- Article by Phil Harris, Pittsburgh Magazine and WQED
--- Photo by Flanagan

Due to the eccentric cast of characters that tumble down from the Heights, being an individual is not only accepted in Sewickley it is admired. I remember seeing an older model car (I'm being generous) driving around Sewickley with the name Rodan stuck to the back bumper with plastic letters. From my Chiller Theatre days, I remember Rodan as being one of the monsters, a flying reptile, from the Godzilla movies. A Rodan-mobile? Hey, it was alright by me.

I don't quite remember how or when I first met musician Dan "Rodan" Weikert but I do remember the first time I heard him playing guitar. He was playing outside on the sidewalk during a Spirit Fair at the Open Mind Bookstore about five years ago. The quality of his guitar playing was outstanding. It was obvious that he had done some serious studying of country blues and ragtime music. And his voice, strong with a great range, was mature way beyond his years (he was in his mid 20s). Rodan had his own world weary bluesy style that was pure, and was not 'affected' in the least. His voice seemed soaked in whiskey, cloaked in Chesterfields and projected a perfect pitch sadness.

I was shocked when a year later, after we became friends, when I went to see his band, the Delian League. Gone was the bluesy style: this was a very heavy rock band. While I didn't care much for the band as a whole, it was obvious to me that not only was Rodan a talented musician but versatile one as well. He was just as comfortable and interesting on the electric as the acoustic guitar.

His versatility became even more obvious when he gave me some recordings that he had done with Dave Hanner of the Corbin Hanner Band. Working in the studio is not an easy process, but it was clear that Rodan felt just as comfortable in this environment as he did performing. There was one track in particular, a gospel tinged reworking of Willie Dixon's "Evil is Gone", that featured Rodan singing in 9 part harmony. It was more than impressive, it was beautiful.

Rodan's latest project is Moonlit River, a CD he produced and arranged featuring the songs of Fred Molten. Pulling together a stellar line up of the area's finest musicians, including Max Leake, Ernie Hawkins, George Heid, Pete Freeman, and Nelson Harrison (among others), the project gives breath and life to the songs of Molten with meticulous arrangements that complement but never encumber or become overbearing. Holding rein on this talented group is an accomplishment in itself.

But this talented man of many hats (and instruments) is not only growing as musician but as a person as well. Rodan has been exploring his deepening faith by writing songs and recording material about the darker side of his Christian spirituality. His new songs bravely explore his struggle with who he once was and who he had become, and illuminate his deepening understanding of grace, redemption and salvation.

Rodan is the real deal.

Artist's Music Reflects Life Struggles, Healing
--- Laura Halleman

As a child Rodan Weikert recalls his father listening to "The Banks of the Ohio," a traditional, folksy ballad. He would listen to the song as his father played it over and over. "The song is beautifully tragic," Rodan wistfully speculates, and then a wide grin crosses his face. "It's kind of funny that I think about that now and here I am, back along the banks of the Ohio." It is this reflective nature of Rodan's that spills over into his musical style.

A resident of Edgeworth, Rodan moved back to the Pittsburgh area in 1991. Growing up, Rodan's mother, Julie, listened to spiritual music while his father, Gerald, had an ear for the old American bluegrass style. "Music was a pretty large influence in my life from the beginning," he ways.

With his strong vocals inflected with a soulful, affected quality and his skillful performances on instruments ranging from guitar and harmonica to drums and piano, Rodan has forged a musical form that is inspirational and thoughtful.

"Pain, Love, Suffering and God" is his latest CD. Rodan considers it a culmination of varying aspects of his life, but says it is relevant to others lives as well. "When people listen to the CD, they hear sincerity, realness, they hear struggle and redemption. It's all about why we are here, what are we here for and what's going on afterward."

When he first heard Rodan sing, Richard Brandt, of Sewickley, was drawn to the authenticity of Rodan's music. "His range is incredible. He embodies a 'roots' kind of thing and his range covers everything from Mississippi Delta blues to current styles," says Brandt.

It is through his music that Rodan reflects on his past and future. A self-described former "subculture radical," Rodan attributes an occurrence three years ago to his realization that there was something missing in his life. "Three years ago I was seized by the power of great affection. Southerners say that's a way of finding faith," he says. Prior to that moment there was a lot of decadence to the point of harm. I had the wrong kind of motivation. I really needed to get my life back on track." It is the hardships that he speaks of that contribute to his musical style and comes across to his audience.

His daughter, Olivia, adds her own blend of influence. At six and one-half years of age, Olivia has inherited her father's ear for music. "Sometimes she gives me input on how I should put a chord in a song," says Rodan, smiling.

Rodan has not only written and produced his own CD, but he also teaches music theory and guitar several days a week at Sweetwater for the Arts and other locations. He is a part time music director at Christ Church in the North Hills and speaks at colleges and churches on the implementation of songwriting programs.

Rodan also has founded MGO Media, a music company that is in its second year. "It's a small operation but it's going to continue to grow."
Although he usually performs solo, musicians Martha D'Avruzzo, Mark Le Cornu, Charlie Barath and Ryan Kerekis sometimes accompany Rodan.
It is through his music that Rodan hopes people will take the time to stop, or just slow down their fast paces lives long enough to listed and to look at what is going on around them.

"We're all such unique individuals but I also believe there is one fabric we are all made from."

---Photo by k.flanagan

From Radical to Reverent and Back! for The Pittsburgh Catholic
By David Mills, editor@touchstonemag.com

Ignoring prison rules, the guards let Daniel "Rodan" Weikert bring a Bible into his cell while he awaited trial. Bored and unhappy, he started reading it a lot, "drinking it like water in a desert – with desperation, " he says. A month later, he was exonerated of all charges, but he knew he deserved punishment for his sins. And from reading the Bible, he also knew Jesus had taken his punishment on himself.

Although Daniel had grown up in a Christian family and a traditional Episcopal church outside Washington, D.C., "I was a professional heathen," he ways now. "Basically, my whole life was preaching against the gospel." Touring the eastern seaboard in a punk rock band as a high schooler, he'd lived the life punk rockers live.

He kept up his musical career while jumping into what he calls "leftwing environmental activism" and membership in the Socialist Workers Party in his twenties. He didn't believe in heaven, but he thought he could help build it on earth, while having a really good time. He thought being a radical heathen was fun. (And has the tattoos to prove it.) It wasn't as much fun as he thought. "With heathenism comes pain," he says. "As St. Paul said, the wages of sin is death. Sin kills things inside of us." Lust was a big part of the rocker/activist life, and lust, he found, "kills the desire to be committed to someone else and sacrifice yourself for another."

All of his musical success – he worked with three Grammy winners – and all his activism couldn't deaden the pain of being unable to live the kind of life he really wanted to live. But coming to Christ changed it all. He returned to the Episcopal church, becoming a popular speaker and Bible study leader, and working as a music minister at several churches in the Pittsburgh area. He founded a music ministry, MGO Media. As Rodan Weikert, he performs ragtime, jazz, blues, and gospel music, and produces albums for a variety of musicians.

So far, Daniel Weikert's story is a typical conversion story, but unlike some converts he kept going. Leaving heathenism for Christianity was "a total paradigm shift," he says. He saw the world completely differently. For one thing, he now knew that God could work miracles. And knowing that God worked miracles, he suddenly began to wonder if God was working one particular miracle.

Kneeling in an Episcopal church one Sunday during a Communion service, he looked at the minister holding the bread and thought, "If faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, why can't God be in the Eucharist?" "What if the Catholics are right about it?" he asked himself. "For two years, God had been speaking to me, saying 'If Christ is risen, and he lives in your heart, where is he now?'" He looked and looked and finally found the answer in the Mass. Daniel found himself enthralled by the idea that Jesus is really with us in the Mass and in the Tabernacle. "Heaven on earth was real. I had never seen something so broad and inclusive and universal and expansive, and yet so narrow and literal as 'This is my body'," he says.

Having been drawn to the Church by the Mass, he then began to explore what he calls "the typical Protestant issues": apostolic authority, the nature of the Church, the development of doctrine, who Mary is, who the saints are, the nature of Scripture." He also began reading the early Church Fathers. At the same time, God kept sending people to help him. A friend, who'd grown up a Pentecostal but "had walked with me in the sins of the past," started exploring Catholicism. He became a Catholic three years ago. One day in a local coffee shop, Daniel saw a Catholic book laying on a table and started talking to the man reading it. Ed Milburn later said that he always puts his Catholic books face down to avoid getting into conversations about them. After a few minutes of conversation, Ed took him out to his car and pulled a new copy of the Catechism from the trunk. He gave it to Daniel, who started studying it. A friend put him in contact with Father Drew Morgan at the Oratory. Meeting with Daniel once a week for a year, Fr. Drew led him through a close study of Catholic teaching, filling out what he had known as a Protestant Bible teacher, then received him into the Church this past March. Ed served as his sponsor.

Now, as a Catholic, Daniel wants to use his gifts as a musician and a teacher for the Church, while continuing to perform music for secular audiences as a way of reaching them as well. "I believe in being a domestic missionary, trying to change things in our own backyard." Like many converts, he never expected to become a Catholic, and never expected to find that only by becoming a Catholic could he get from life what he really wanted. "You have to be counter-cultural to follow Christ, but you have to really counter culture to follow Christ the way he intended." That's why he titled his conversion talk "From Radical to Reverent and Back Again." And why he has a lot more tattoos than the kind of convert you're used to seeing on television.

David Mills, also a convert, attends St. James Church in Sewickley
and is editor of Touchstone magazine (www.touchstonemag.com).
Daniel ”Rodan" Weikert (www.mgoarts.com) can be reached at mgoarts@yahoo.com

---Photo by B. Kritsch

"Singer Rodan has a powerful voice, and the guitar riffs stick in your head!"
PITTSBURGH MAGAZINE

"Blues informed ……creative and soulful……the musical adventurousness pays off."
IN PITTSBURGH WEEKLY, review

"Reinterpreting southern music and blues…… . Studies of country and western, blues, and ragtime find their way into his writing styles."
IN PITTSBURGH WEEKLY, article

"Strong vocals and unyielding instrumental vigor……sing along lyrics and an overall surge of energy."
CITY PAPER WEEKLY, article

"Wrapping tones around lyrics that have a deliberate mix of blues and psychedelia……takes a bite from traditional soul and blues standards and laces the repertoire with some biting modern day social comment."
SEWICKLEY HERALD, article

"In regards to the Buzz Poets, I think Pittsburgh could be a little more original."
Rodan, PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE article and interview by Ed Masley, pop music critic

"Soulful southern anguish saturate his songs and vocals……an obvious passion for vintage blues and country!"
MGO Records, old press release

Comments from Dave Hanner (National songwriter, producer, engineer with #1 and top ten Billboard country hits, Emmy awards. He has worked for years with Mercury and Polygram Records.)

"Rodan has a very enjoyable and unique vocal style, the thing that makes you really appreciate his sound, is his deep knowledge and respect for the music that has gone before him. The combination of his voice and knowledge makes for a rootsy yet contemporary sound. I was surprised what a great harmony singer he is!"

Comments and review by Phillip Harris of single "Blood on My Back" (Longtime pop music critic with Pittsburgh Magazine and talent review for WQED Pittsburgh).

"Exploring a less heavy sound than his work with the Delian League, singer/songwriter Rodan stretches towards a more acoustic sound, best described as sad and beautiful on this latest recording. The sound is warm and engaging, lush acoustic guitars and bells embellish "Blood on My Back" with Rodan's beautifully multi-tracked voice expressing exasperation and resignation without irony or anger. The Gospel tinged "Evil (Is Goin' On)", an offshoot of an old Willie Dixon song, features seven part Gospel harmonies and is a joy to listen to over and over again. Rodan, an excellent guitarist in many styles, has a unique sound that is timeless and modern but not without significant roots.

Email: mgoarts@yahoo.com
Phone: 412-259-ROCK (7625)