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ACT 1
ACTII
ACT III

Act 3: Towards Resolution.

ACT 3. Page 310. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Falling Ill. This picture was taken around the time I took my Border Collie Anjali out for the bike ride that caused me to fall. The long term effects of that accident would change everything.
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ACT3. Page 319. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. The Living Room: Story Time For Grown-ups. To sum up this particular evening of the LIVING ROOM STORY-TIME FOR GROWN-UPS stories, I told about how significant our “close encounters” with our children are when we raise them in a family bed and breast-feed them for three years or longer.
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ACT 3. Page 324. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Love in the Sixties. When Austin’s “Queen of Weird” Aralyn Hughes hired me as her creative coach, I invited her to turn her life into “a living art canvas”. Because I documented the years of development, rehearsal and performances together, I was able to turn the highlights into the full length documentary, “Love in the 60s.” (To view the YouTube episode of the film press the image below. Length: 1:34 minutes)
ACT 3. Page 361. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. The Alibi. When the CBS correspondent for 48 HOURS asked me, “How does it feel to have dated a murderer?” I quickly regretted having agreed to appear on the show titled REDEMPTION SONG. (To view the episode click image)
ACT 3. Page 324. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Love in the Sixties. Ali never officially released TALL MOUNTAIN but he did allow me to include the demo of it as part of the LOVE IN THE SIXTIES soundtrack. Recorded live with Charlie Larkey on bass and Richard White on drums, I include a visual montage of my children as my Mom’s tall mountain adventure with “teenagers” who in this case, were 'well worth the climb’ and more!
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ACT 3. Page 366. Towards Resolution. Past...The Confusion. Hosting Krishna Das in Austin was a way to begin heal the “unknown confusion” between us.
ACT 3. Page 366. Towards Resolution. The Confusion. Pictured here (between KD and I) is Becky Jordon who co-hosted the kirtan event with me.
ACT 3. Page 375. Towards Resolution. “That’s How You Walk on Water”, written for my original musical STRIP (with Arthur Shane composer) remains one of my favorite creations. I love it when a song has its way with me. It felt dictated. All I did was "jot it" down and because Arthur (Artie) is a mind and sound "reader", his co-composing brilliance did the rest. This recording is live. We captured at Mabou Mines Performance Studio in front of a live audience. It was the first time I ever performed it.
ACT 3. Page 397. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Finally. . .The Undoing Itself. (Click photo for link)
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ACT 3. Page 408. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Stripping It All Down. This three minute video begins with picture highlights of the Austin, Texas workshop production in 2018 followed by some pics of some of the original workshop cast in New York City when I was a resident artist with Mabou Mines the decade before. That first showing in NYC was titled SIN CITY before the musical evolved into STRIP. The video also introduces a couple of the "show tune" excerpts from the musical.
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ACT 3. Page 408. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Stripping It All Down. The second video is a “rough cut” of the actual workshop production of STRIP as produced in Austin Texas in January 2018.
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ACT 3. Page 408. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Stripping It All Down. Because I was looking for a 20 year old plus actor to play the “Mexican American Lenny Bruce” in Strip the Musical, I agreed to play Isaac Garza's mother in his short film PEPITO. In return, Issac agreed to act in my musical.
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ACT 3. Page 410. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Enter My Dues Ex Machina.Ali appeared as the Mexican American Lenny Bruce next to our Asian American Candy Barr in my first development workshop in NYC at Mabou Mines’ P.S. 122 Studio.
ACT 3. Page 413. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. The Post-Show Breakdown. Ali stands beside me as we watch the “That’s How You Walk on Water” aerial dance rehersal.
ACT 3. Page 413. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. The Post-Show Breakdown. Witnessing the sold out crowd—all standing and singing with Alejandro at Red Rocks, Colorado—as the moon began to show itself behind the stage, was a moment I will never forget.
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ACT 3. Page 419. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. The Mortal and Immortal Return. When I listen to A LONG WAY FROM ALCHEMY, a song I wrote a couple of decades before, I wonder if I was already addressing the alchemical fate that awaited me. To listen to the song A LONG WAY FROM ALCHEMY.
ACT 3. Page 438. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. On The Crowd of Sorrows. Although I never recorded OH MY LOVE (except on my computer—singing back up vocals with with my self), the song speaks accurately about the happiness of “sorrow”.
ACT 3. Page 442. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Page 442. Some Debts Are Never Forgotten. After recovering from a rare kind of stroke, Gary D. remembered he owed me some money I had lent him in the 1980's to record at Dennis Davis’ studio. He gifting me a CD of the songs he recorded to help recover his memory. Here's one of my favs: (click photo)
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ACT 3. Page 448. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. When guided to New Orleans to work with Bradford Keeney’s SHAKING MEDICINE, he improvised the following life-affirset I set a third of the song to my beloved's.
ACT 3. Page 450. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. The Blessings of Mortality. Also attending the workshop was Bhagavan Das pictured with Ram Dass. I was touched to witness the reunion of these two since it was Bhagavan Das who first took Ram Dass (then Richard Alpert) to meet Neem Karoli Baba back in 1967.
ACT 3. Page 450. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. The Blessings of Mortality. Attending the “Blessings of Mortality: A Workshop to Discover What Mortality Can Teach Us” in Maui, ten months before Ram Dass left his body was a life sustaining experience for me. (Pictured l to r) Frank Ostaseski, Roshi Joan Halifax and Ram Dass are seen co-facilitating.
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ACT 3. Page 454. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. The Inborn Nature Of Extended Family. Surrendering into the arms of Stephanie Hunt (who would soon became my daughter-in-law) in “ naked helplessness”, I learned to expose myself the way dependent little children must do in order to get the care they need as well. Stephanie’s original song LIFE NOT ON MY TERMS says it even better.
ACT 3. Page 454. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. The Inborn Nature Of Extended Family. Alejandro and his beloved wife Stephanie, photo taken on their wedding day celebration in 2023.
ACT 3. Page 452. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Ram Dass’ Death Bed. The last time Ram Dass was in Austin, I was blessed to joined him, Lama Surya Das and Krishna Das at a private chapel overlooking the Pedernales River.
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ACT 3. Page 454. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Existence, Truth and Bliss. When I asked Bala, what her name meant, she explained it was the spiritual name given to her by Guru Swami Satchiananda known to many as the Woodstock Guru.
ACT 3. Page 454. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Existence, Truth and Bliss. The extended “rose family” when combined with Bala’s family “of the celestial music” her Guru described as “the beauty” that surrounds our human existence, is certainly palatable when we celebrate together!
ACT 3. Page 454. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. And as far as Phoebe, Stephanie’s sister is concerned, her songs speak for themselves too: (click photos for Phoebe's music)
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ACT 3. Page 463. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. And Then There Was Deeksha. Deeksha (also spelled Diksha) —like the Kunlun system are both powerful practices which seekers can only discover first hand. I could never easily do justice in explaining the profound energies of both. ( click photo for link)
ACT 3. Page 463. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. And Then There Was Deeksha. Deeksha (also spelled Diksha) —like the Kunlun system are both powerful practices which seekers can only discover first hand. I could never easily do justice in explaining the profound energies of both:
ACT 3. Page 478. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. On Living Together But Not. “It makes me happy to give you everything I have to give,” Hal insisted. And he has kept his word since. My practice now is to graciously accept his very sincere generosity and devotion.
ACT 3. Page 480. TOWARDS RESOLUTION. Peekaboo I See You. When I started to freeze in motion, a fear of falling began to distress me. Peekaboo is a love dog inside and out but when overtaken by separation anxiety for Hal, he becomes impulsive and clumsy. I do my best to avoid him which means my time alone with Hal is often affected by their inseparable co-existence.
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ACT 3. Page 452. TOWARDS RESOLUTION.In the act of telling my life story, I have to consider how wrong I may have gotten other people’s stories when writing about them. With that in mind I am creating the podcast REVISIONS INCONVERSATION in which I will interview some of the main char-acters you have met in the book. Assuming they themselves want to address what I wrote about them, we will talk about what they remem-ber happened so that they can revise their own stories by “telling” us all what they think happened. And more importantly, how does it affect them now?
ACT 3. Page 452. TOWARDS RESOLUTION.In the act of telling my life story, I have to consider how wrong I may have gotten other people’s stories when writing about them. With that in mind I am creating the podcast REVISIONS INCONVERSATION in which I will interview some of the main char-acters you have met in the book. Assuming they themselves want to address what I wrote about them, we will talk about what they remem-ber happened so that they can revise their own stories by “telling” us all what they think happened. And more importantly, how does it affect them now?
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