Jennifer Heieck is taking on the world
Premier singer performs Wednesday at Artpark

Review by Joshua Maloni
August 17, 2006

“It will be worth your wait.”
APub Live emcee

It’s an unbearably warm Saturday night in Rochester. The APub Live bar is crowded, and its inhabitants are getting restless, trying to find some semblance of ventilation, and waiting for Jennifer Heieck to start her set. The show was slated for 9 p.m., on the adjoining patio. But, when inclement weather set in, the stage equipment had to be torn down, transported inside, and reassembled. The rain forced the barflies inside, further adding to the sticky atmosphere.

At 10:30 p.m., Heieck, like some sort of apparition, appears at the bar, talking with some of her fans. She is smaller than expected, almost waifish – but striking – and decked out in a purple top with a silver skull on the front, complementing her jeans, silver bracelets and purple shoes. Her petite size is in stark contrast to her stage persona, which is larger-than-life, a modern day pairing of Janis Joplin’s sass and Madonna’s sultriness.

As the hour nears midnight, the crowd has bandied about the bar and bounced back and forth to an adjoining country-themed pub (think mechanical bull and cowgirls). The rain, ironically enough, ends just as the stage is completed. Heieck stands behind the speakers, converses briefly with her mother, Sue, and puts her dark blond hair down, giving it a shake.

The APub emcee takes the stage and thanks the crowd for its patience, saying, “It will be worth your wait.” Heieck begins playing her piano, singing the first words of “Breathe,” a Beatles-sounding ballad off of her “Real Woman: Part One” album. She pauses, the backing band – two guitarists (Eric Neu and Ken Ferguson) and a drummer (Joe Lana) – changes its tone, and the foursome segue into an amped-up version of her unreleased rock track “Unafraid.”

She finishes the song, again thanks those in the bar for sticking around, and promises, “The rest of the night will be nothing but rocking.”

The crowd, which had been wandering, all at once stands as one, fixing its gaze on Heieck, who is pounding out notes in much the same way the rain was formerly pounding the bar’s pavement. Her piano work is almost surreal. The sound is so powerful, but the movement creating it is graceful and effortless, as Heieck glides over the keys like they’re an extension of her hands.

With the music rocking, the multitude is transfixed, hypnotized by Heieck’s gazes and awed by her voice, a throwback to another time when singers were singers and not reality television stars. To say the set is hot would be cliché, but there’s a fire truck and half-dozen firefighters sitting outside the bar, just waiting to see what’ll happen next.

With the crowd fixed firmly in her grasp, Heieck lets them down easy, stepping from the piano and dancing around the window corner stage. The crowd relaxes, loosens its tie, and starts dancing along with the singer, cheering its approval.

Heieck bursts into a boisterous version of “This Is It,” a song in which she declares, “Haven’t you heard? I’m taking on the world.” This particular song could be understood to reflect her livelihood of late.

After three years working with a pseudo-producer, she hit a dead end and returned back home to jump-start her career. With a barrage of new material, a new rock-heavy sound and a backlog of unbeatable ballads, she seems newly confident and focused on future musical dominance.

As she works the song, she sings, “You want me? Well, this is it!” as she semi-circles herself with her finger.

This, as it is, is more than fine for the crowd of 50 or so. An hour later, the audience is exhausted, but satisfied with Heieck’s performance, and fans come over to commend the singer on her set as she disappears into the pub in much the same way she entered.

Jennifer Heieck performs as part of “Artpark Wednesdays” on Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. Also on the bill is the Alison Pipitone Band.