LESTAT on Broadway

Dear Friends & Loved Ones:

I'm still a big fan of Anne Rice and pleased that she's returning to the gothic genre with THE WOLF GIFT to be published soon. I read INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE in 1976 when it appeared and no one knew who this woman that wrote it was. Been hooked on her ever since.

It's not easy to believe it's already been six years since the brief run of the muscial LESTAT on Broadway, an amazing and promising show that involved a lot of mega-talent, yet was dreadfully mis-managed by Warner Brothers which funded it and apparently knew little about producing stage musicals. At a cost of many millions, it flopped big-time, fast, but not because it was a bad show.

Any of you who are Anne Rice fans may recall this. Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote wonderful lyrics and gorgeous music. The handsome and gifted Hugh Panero played the lead, and the fabulous Carolee Carmello played his mother Gabrielle. Both are tremendous actors with great singing voices. Perhaps the show suffered creative problems and appeared prematurely, yet it deserved better than it got. It could have been great!

Though an Original Cast Recording was made, this OCR has never been released, to my sorrow. I seriously hoped to go to NYC to see the production, but it closed after only 39 performances. Fortunately I've got a rare pirate DVD shot from the audience, shaky and fuzzy and without great sound quality. Still, I recently re-discovered this DVD and I've transcribed a powerful and beautiful song "Make Me As You Are" in which Lestat's mother Gabrielle, makes a curiously Oedipal request of him to…

“Make Me As You Are” (Lyrics by Bernie Taupin & Music by Elton John)

(Lestat’s mother, Gabrielle, who is dying of tuberculosis, comes to visit him in Paris. She observes him closely, confronts him about his new nature and he confesses to her that the Gothic legend is true: he has died and yet he still lives, transformed…)

GABRIELLE:

And from that truth I feel no fear

Two kinds of death are present here

Mine’s the age-old act of dying

But yours is like the Phoenix rising

Your mother’s frail and feeble husk

Will soon be nothing more than dust

So let’s not dwell on wasted years

My time is short, my choice is clear

Make Me As You Are

Tear the hands off clocks

that tick away my final hours

I want to rage against the light

And leave the Sun behind

I want to feel the power

Of everlasting youth inside

Take me, give me new life

And we’ll live beneath the Stars

Together and forever

I beg you, Make Me As You Are

LESTAT:

This cursed gift with which I live

I know not if it’s mine to give

I’m still a fledgling in this frame

I’ve only killed when hunger reigned

GABRIELLE:

The risk is mine, and if we fail

I’ll shake the Devil by his tail

Oh blessed thoughts of sweet release

From nagging nurse, and hovering priest

Make Me As You Are

Tear the wings off angels

That would lift me from your heart

I want to dance beneath the Moon

And slip into the dark

I want to feel the night

Awaken when I leave my mark

Take me, give me new life

And we’ll live beneath the Stars

Together and forever

I beg you, Make Me As You Are

Make Me, Make Me, Make Me As You Are

BOTH:

Tear the hands off clocks

That tick away my final hours

We’ll rage against the light

And leave the Sun behind

I want to feel the power

Of everlasting youth inside

GABRIELLE:

Take me, give me new life

BOTH:

And we’ll live beneath the Stars

Together and forever

GABRIELLE:

I beg you, Make Me As You Are

(He does so…!)

Peace,

Bruce

The Stars Within You

Dear Friends and Loved Ones:

On Friday evening the 20th of January, 2012, we had the chance (chants!) of a lifetime to enjoy an evening of kirtan singing with Krishna Das at a Presbyterian church in Austin. Just before the actual event began, I made one more quick pit-stop in the church basement, then on my way back towards the sanctuary I came face-to-face with the great man himself! KD looked at me rather blankly, I felt slightly star-struck, and all I could do was a quick Namaste.
       That was a far later night than I'm used to any longer, however once KD appeared with his tabla player and bass player, his humor and total authenticity + that amazing voice and soul, it seems everyone on board ascended. I have no idea what kind of man KD would be otherwise, but all that singing has made him radiant. Peace beyond understanding, indeed. What a total blessing of bliss!
       Early next AM: A steady whir of low cricket-song stitches the night seamlessly, and a touch of visible breath wisps through the beam of my little brow light. Cool predawn, yet not cold. Curious weather for January, the two-faced.
       Apparently everyone marches directly into 2012 already; however, few people look back, unless they actually live in the past.
       Time. It's among those mysteriously powerful, yet almost undefinable and useless words like "God" or "Love." Time is every bit as elusive as those other important BIG words. Only what really seems to make the most sense is that the present, Eternal NOW is the only actual Time...
       Still, in this moment, and this one, and THIS one seeming to march along between past and future--in fact it seems most plausible of all that everything happens at once.
       Simultaneously. Perhaps our amazing nervous system and brain, with their processing far more powerful and potent than any computer in most ways, simply must create this "Time is like a river" sense of flow so we can function in 4-D spacetime. Only it all happens at the same Time.
       This 4-D (3 spatial + 1 time dimension) Universe may only be a thin slice of infinite possibilities, still it's what our Body Temples inhabit... and yet the Holy of Holies within this Temple is BEING--call it SOUL or the Third Eye, if you like--a kind of StarGate that opens to the Infinite...
       So I circle back for grounding to the predawn darkness where the gurgle of the little waterfall on the lily pond knits the frayed sleeve of care and balms my thoughts to silence with wonder.
       "As Within, So Without" really means that without me and within me (and YOU!) are actually One. It's this non-duality obsession I have lately, which naturally, inevitably sorts thing out when you grok it.
       Everything that seems to happen "out there" is actually inside of you. The Universe, the stars, me, the winter crickets, and the happy babble of the little waterfall. This makes it more plausible to accept 100% responsibility (no guilt or blame involved, of course) for everything that appears in your participatory, co-creative Universe. It's the only true freedom that exists!
       Within you and without you are One.

Peace & (((HUGS)))
Bruce
http://www.9realities.com/homepagebooks.html
_________________________
Nada Te Turbe*
      -- Theresa of Avila
*(Let Nothing Disturb You)

The Eye of Wisdom and Health

Dear Friends and Loved Ones:

Distant times and places live within us here and now...
       Gentle morning sunlight slants across the liquid surface thronged with the leaves of water lilies, and between the gaps fish can be seen swarming. Frogs crouch on the alert for dragonflies that zoom about, and Sacred Blue Lotus flowers that nod on the gentle breezes and exude their delicate fragance. Amid the teeming life a pleasure barge drifts slowly, and aboard it is a small boy with wide eyes for all these living wonders. He sits by the feet of his beautiful mother, a woman called Queen Tiy, and their barge is called "Aten Gleams."
       His mother speaks to the boy in quiet, soft tones. She tells him of the invisible, unseen creator of all these living things, of everything--the living essence of the world, which she calls the Aten. Though some in the Two Lands of Egypt fear this formidable woman, she adores her younger son, and he adores her. Their discussions about the Aten will change the world forever...
       These images are among those I recall from a children's encyclopedia that I loved in my own childhood: beautiful volumes illustrated with glorious color lithographs. The story of the boy who grew up to be the Pharaoh Akhenaten struck a deep chord and also changed me!
       Now over 50 years later, the human world around us has become a science-fiction landscape of miracles and wonders and also some rather scary things at the same time. Yes, of course we hope that our species is ready to mature enough now to really get our act together and live on the New Earth with greater wisdom. This does not mean a Utopian vision, simply a necessary shift towards meaningful values and sustainable ways of living.
       In order to deal with Future Shock, it always helps to look deep within yourself, to exert within you the Taoist Inner Smile meditation, in which you can consciously send loving energy to every part of yourself.
       It also helps, as the great sage Ram Dass suggests, to look at things from the perspective of your SOUL. No need to wrestle with what the SOUL is, or if we have one. If you don't over-think the matter, you know there is some elusive and powerful essence of Self, who and what you really are, that you cannot put your finger on, and yet it is there.
       As 2012 shapes up to be a fascinating interval, one great way to deal with Future Shock is also a bit of time-travel. Consider coming along with me and some kindred spirits on a journey of "RECLAIMING YOUR ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOUL." I offer this workshop on SUNDAY, MARCH 4TH, 2012 in Wimberley, at HEART OF TEXAS YOGA STUDIO.
       May the Eye of Wisdom and Health open for you!
       For details: http://www.9realities.com/egyptian_soul_workshop.html

Peace & (((HUGS)))
Bruce
http://www.9realities.com/homepagebooks.html
_________________________
Nada Te Turbe*
      -- Theresa of Avila
*(Let Nothing Disturb You)

The Universe Swarms with Life!

I’m on the Ravine Bench just outside the southern gate of Paradise Garden—1:20 AM. The frosty stars are somewhat challenged by brilliance of the gibbous Moon that swims in place above the western hills. Still, there are plenty of stars visible as I lie on my back along the barn wood seat, bundled up in the delicious cold, eyes wide for a meteor shower that is supposed to be peaking right about now…

            For a short while, I wonder if the meteor shower is over, or if I need to be looking in a certain part of the after-midnight sky? I forgot to check about that last detail. At any rate, before long, a tiny streak of light drops across the southeastern heavens above. It really seems like something dropping into the atmosphere, I think, like falling stars really do seem to fall, not move across—somehow!

            Now and then another luminous scratch drops into the Earth’s atmosphere and my entire body smiles inwardly with the delight of feeling so connected with the world I’m in and part of. Despite the nice winter chill (a delicious contrast with the hot dry summer we had) I’m feeling warm inside, warmed by happiness.

            There is a brief flurry of meteors, however nothing too spectacular; I realize perhaps I’ve come out a bit late. No regrets, however—the connection has been made!

            Plus I’ve already noted before I saw the first one, how the human body and nervous system detects something even more fascinating: after I first lay down on my back, full of expectancy, at first I began to think I saw little tadpoles and fishlets of motion upon the inky vault overhead. It teemed like the minnows when I sprinkle flakes of food on the lily pond…

This was almost a sort of swarming texture here and there… and while I was not literally seeing motions out there, in a sense, I observed motions within myself that spoke of something totally true and actual. Within and Without are One. The Universe is alive; everything is sacred. Anything less than this, and we miss the boat, we begin to judge and slaughter. Better to just clean our inner energy constantly.

Yes, I could see what I know via gnosis: Everything is alive!

Fingernail Moon

Dear Friends and Loved Ones:

The delicate curved white slice of lunar light that inspired me to write this has already widened considerably. On New Years's Day it will be at the First Quarter, 7.4 days after the New Moon. I breathe through this awareness, for after all, the nature of such a cycle is that comes around again and again. During recent excursions outside for celestial viewing, well bundled up, my breath puffs tangibly in trailing clouds. Clear and cold nights now...

This lovely planet that we ride into the next year speaks for itself, when we're able to slow down enough for a really, really REALLY deep DEEEEEP listen. It's delicate as a shimmering, iridescent soap-bubble, and tough as a mother tigress guarding her cubs. The planet has a flavor of persistence and intensity that you can actually taste, when you realize it's the taste of your own mouth. No difference. We're ALL its Children.

Though that Fingernail Moon's in my mind at this moment, outside my window it's late afternoon, what I call the Time of Long Shadows. I've closed up the greenhouse for the night already, so it can hold onto the heat its absorbed today. I've dispatched the latest draft of a new non-fiction book to the editor at my publisher... Tomas is outside pouring concrete for a project, so maybe I'll call my mother up in Colorado, just to check in.

Of such details, is life made, not so much of the sweeping romances and huge events, but the little nibble on a lover's ear, or scooping out the kitty's litterbox and peeling some sweet potatoes to steam for supper...

I'm not so fixated on the numbers of 2012, though that year looms large. My take on it is it's nothing special, except that we will (as a certain famous starship captain says) "Make it so!" Plus the cycle of the Moon has synchronized exquisitely with the transition to CE 2012. According to my beloved friend Rowena Pattee Kryder, ( http://creative-harmonics.org/ )--among the wisest and most beautiful people on the planet that I know--the Moon waxing from New to First Quarter can be described in some detail:

The Sickle Moon is the Mother of Galactic Space (someone I call NUIT!); The Crescent Moon is the Sea and Moon Mother; the Emerging Moon is the Child in the Garden; the First Quarter is the Sacred Marriage. Indeed, as we glide into this upcoming annum, it's time for our species' childhood to end. Time for humanity to grow up and perform the Tantric Rite of the Inner Marriage, to achieve balance within.

This prepares us for the impending Singularity when the rate of change truly goes exponential! No problem, so long as we listen to the Voice of the Silence, and feel that Stillness Beyond understanding.

Enjoy and feel joy!

Peace & (((HUGS)))
Bruce
_________________________
Nada Te Turbe*
      -- Theresa of Avila
*(Let Nothing Disturb You)