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• Rock the Garden

The Cloud Cult experience can be called many names. It is captivating. It is overwhelming. It is bone-chillingly pure. It is beautiful. And it is raw in a way that exposes many facets of emotion.

It must be the string section.

There is something about a lush cello and violin washing over a room that cuts right to the core. It strips away any posturings and pulls at those feelings hidden deep inside.

Or maybe it's Craig Minowa's painfully delicate tenor.

Hidden in that warble is a heart ache that hurts the whole way through. As it stretches thinly across his tales of losing and getting lost, it breaks through the band and turns itself into a victory chant. It sings a theme song for that moment when you've figured out that everything is going to be all right.

Triumph is Minowa's story. But first there was sadness. The sadness in his song is often about his son, Kaidin, who died mysteriously in his sleep in 2002. Kaidin's memories shock through Cloud Cult's music. The triumph, however, shows in his life — in how Minowa overcame grief and has become a conduit to reflect and heal all the dark patches in listeners' lives. Minowa is a shaman, a medicine man and a troubadour all in one.

Minowa wrote Cloud Cult's first nationally released album, They Live on the Sun, shortly after his son died.

"What came out of that was because it was so personal. A lot of fans came out of the woodwork that had gone through similar losses, and I had felt like the loss of Kaidin could have a positive aspect," he says. "If there was a silver lining at all — that by being open and honest about the grieving process we could perpetuate his legacy in a way — it's something positive to do with the music."

Cloud Cult tours with two artists who slap paint onto huge canvasses while the band plays. One of the two is Minowa's wife, Connie. Kaidin is a theme within her art, as well. Tonight a packed crowd at First Avenue looks on through the course of the set as Connie's image comes to life. It's a family bathed in an earthy green hue. But there is a distance in their eyes. They are looking at the ground, or maybe to the past.

Yet there is so much life in this band. As much as Minowa eyes the past, he is ever focused on the future and works to make it a healthy place for everyone.

Another theme in Minowa's life is roots. He's got roots that wrap around the planet. Minowa is a never tiring campaigner of eco-consciousness.

"We have a responsibility to live like that," he says about his green lifestyle. "You choose to recycle at home. You choose to buy green products for your personal life. It's the same thing [as a band.] The t-shirts are organic cotton. For posters we do 100% post-recycled. Touring is tough to really truly green."

The band tours in a bio-diesel van. But with earth-friendly fuels becoming big business, Minowa says he feels some of the business practices are becoming at odds with the ethics he holds. But he has other plans.

"We're going to put big sails on the van and sail across the street," he jokes.

Tonight he and Connie are ecstatic because they get to spend the night on their farm.

"I miss our front porch where we sit and enjoy the stars at night, and I miss the peace and quiet," Connie says. "The scenery is wonderful, especially in the spring and fall. It's just gorgeous. I miss our garden a lot, too."

Minowa agrees.

"It's getting to be the season to start growing things," he says. "It's really nice to walk out to the garden and make your own food for the day."

Touring, though, has become a barrier to their goal of being self-sustaining.

"Last spring we did our seedlings and those died while we were out on the road," he says. "You can't achieve those sustainability goals if you're not there to take care of the farm."

The future of Cloud Cult will likely be a lot different when the band finishes this tour. Minowa says he wants to focus on the farm and only play in cities near enough that he and Connie can quickly trek back to tend the garden.