‘Patience is a virtue’
The quote above is more than just a phrase. It’s something that most of us try to live by. It is hard to patient.
Remember when you were a kid, and it was Christmas Eve?! You placed a couple of chocolate chip cookies on a plate, along with a half-filled glass of milk on a table near the Christmas tree. The sweet treat was for the jolly man who would shimmy down the chimney and drop off presents for you and your family. Your mom and dad would tell you to head to bed, and you would just lay there-wondering when he would arrive. Late in the evening, you would tip-toe down towards the tree just to see if Santa arrived earlier.
How about going for a job interview, and being told that you will be called within a couple of days. This is the job that you have been waiting for since you can remember. All the time you stayed in, studying your craft when you could have been out and about. Putting in the extra work to make sure that when your name is called on, you were going to be ready to roll. Now you have met with the one person that will make or break this dream. Days feel like years.
It’s those moments in our lives that make having patience extremely difficult. I will admit-I have struggles with being patient sometimes. When it comes to one of my favorite bands releasing new music, I can’t wait to get my hands on it. It happens to all of us at one time or another. You get excited. You can’t wait to see what will happen. However, we have to understand and come to grips with that whatever is supposed to happen will happen. We have to remain calm and cool and the endgame will be worth it.
This was the mindset that Kevin Heider had to have when he was courting his wife. “It took me four years to have go on a date with me. (Laughing) Four years!” Heider says to me during our sit down together recently at Ghostlight Coffee on Wayne Avenue. “She didn’t think that we could work, and she was coming off from a relationship. I just had to wait.” Heider would make subtle comments along the way, making playful remarks from time to time, mentioning that they are perfect for each other. Heider was never pushy, though. He knew that patience was in order. So after four years of waiting and wishing, the day finally came. Heider finally got that date and the rest is now history.
Kevin Heider is a hometown boy that is starting to get his feet back on the pavement here in town after recently living in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area for a couple of years. For the past few years, Heider has been traveling the United States, playing music full-time. It was living in this area where he would meet the future Mrs. Heider. As much as he enjoyed living in the area, the Dayton area just calling him back. So Heider came home for the holidays. The move back home quickly became a no-brainer for Heider and his new bride agreed. “I always loved this city”, Heider says he slipped on his cup of coffee. “It would take me over an hour just to meet up with friends who weren’t far away from me. It was nice for a while, but I really wanted to get back home. When we came to see my folks, my wife feel in love with the city also.”
Heider recently released his newest double album, The Spark back in March of this year. His first album To Whom It May Concern was released in 2009. The acoustic piano album provides a warm, heartfelt view of the world in his eyes. The following year The Salzburg Revolution came out. This album started to feature what is now Heider’s indie rock/folk sound. In 2011, Ready, Set, Become… dove into the good and bad that is involved with families.
Recorded in Innovation Studios in Steubenville, Ohio, The Spark is the biggest album that Heider has done to date. He dives into the human spirit, with the first half of the 
album diving into the dark side of a person who is dealing with some dark undertones. ‘St. Brigit’s Fire’ is a fantastic Irish drinking song that should be added to all pubs around the United States. One of the most powerful songs in the first half of the album is the bonus track ‘The Spark (A Reprise for the Folks in Newtown)’. “I was in the studio when it all was unfolding”, Heider talked about when describing the unfortunate events that took place in Sandy Hook. “I was like everyone else I am sure-completely horrified with what was unfolding. So I went into the recording area and just starting playing. I didn’t think much of it while I was recording it, but it turned out wonderful.”
The second half dives into the individual having a ‘spark’ fire up inside them, and finds the beauty and love in the world. Some of the songs are actually pretty personable to Heider, for they are footprints from his life. ‘Lonely In St. Louis’ starts with an acoustic guitar then builds to a crushing rush of guitars and organ play as Heider talks about not wanting to wait to see his love. ‘Girl from Frederick’ explains his wife and his first date. The French horn and mandolin add a beauty to the song that is written and ready to be placed in a romantic comedy. Overall, the album is blistering with full-fledged folk rock to be sure to make everyone who enjoys national acts like The Lumineers and Phillip Phillips will for sure dive into The Spark with pure enjoyment.
Kevin Heider is about to embark the road again after getting married and settling in back home in Dayton. Has I have learned from talking with Heider, and hearing about being on the road, meeting his wife and waiting for her to go on that first date-he’s not afraid of being patient.
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