The Association of the Bar of the City of New York hosted a scotch tasting evening last night. Clunk on the floor. My favorite was that 19 year old dark one with the smokey aftertaste, but please, at one point my throat was emulating the Strept Condition. Barley and malt ferment. Single malt? The Scotland Highlands. The problem with a promotion like that is afterward you can't remember a thing. Last night my innards were burning. That's a hearty crew. Later on I ran into Turner Cody, Brer Brian, Spencer Chakidis, Monica, Turner went back to tip the bartender, our anti-hoot friend George Levy, hey, the Cinema Place on East 11th got its liquor license. I walked with him to discover all this.

Brer helped improve the Cinema VII collective with some worthwhile links to be found on his star galaxy page, and I note here his info about Surf Reality (open mikes Sunday hosted by Face boy) and Collective Unconsciousness (open mikes Wednesday hosted by Rev. Jen) <- that's the info. I saw him twice yesterday, once in the morning and once in the evening.

Hey, tonight the moon is very full.

Dear Terry and Yuko, I include in this email an informative, if completely outrageous, speach given during one of the early runs of Prepare to Meet Your Maker.

Here's an announcement:

The theatrical centerpiece of the WAH Center's Apocalypse '99 returns to the stage June 2nd, 7, 8 & 9 & 14, 15 & 16.

Celebrating the release of the WAH Center's first musical theatre soundtrack album, the WAH Center Theatre Wing will present seven encore performances of Prepare to Meet Your Maker.

For your consideration: The Essay: Prepare to Meet Your Maker and the Issue of Consent (Please note that, herein, kiss may be substituted for all terms of passion.)

Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. Allow me to introduce to you Prepare to Meet Your Maker, the heavenly musical mystery play by Peter DIzozza (celebrating the release of its soundtrack album with seven performances at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center.)

This surrealist masterwork depicts the meeting of a corpse, Cementeria, and a gravedigger, Quasimodo, who, through contact with one another, are both invigorated and revitalized.

The action takes place in and around a pearly-gated community, called the Ordered World. Only people who have been to the baptist may enter this exclusive enclave.

Cementeria (an unwashed cindergirl) takes drastic, and some may say offensive, steps to be with the baptist -- in doing so she follows in the footsteps of Salome.

By beheading the baptist, she gains entrance to the Ordered World, but, once inside, she meets her maker, dies and is promptly removed by Quasimodo and other hunchbacked gravediggers, who treat her lifeless body like so much after-dinner garbage.

The male romantic lead in this work, Quasimodo, initially sees himself as repellent and solitary, certainly not above administering rohypnol, the "date/rape drug," if such were available. Instead, he satisfies himself with the dead. Therefore, the only Ordered World residents he embraces are corpses.

The discarded Cementeria offers much to those with whom she comes in contact, and Quasimodo is the first to discover this.

When Quasimodo's graveyard lovemaking awakens Cementeria, her first order of business is to improve his health and posture "I don't like you hunched over like that. Stand up straight."). Then, applying lessons in personal hygene learned from her experience with the baptist, she and Quasimodo return to the pearly gated community of the ordered world (through a side entrance) and present themselves as a proud couple that the ordered world residents wish to embrace and include among the best of them.

All goes well for a time until Quasimodo reveals their secret, "She's dead and my fucking her is what's keeping her alive."

Upon learning this, a strong-arm coalition of necrophiliac-bashers force them to separate.

The rest of the story portrays their reunion and subsequent rehabilitation as participants in an ancient Egyptian tale of resurrection, the legend of Isis and Osiris.

(Kerrigan Webb as Cementeria and Charles Herold as Quasimodo)

Along with the dead, many issues are raised within the breathtaking scope of this work, not the least of which is the issue of preservation or disposal of the dead, currently an issue of cryonics or cremation. Furthermore, as a surrealist work, Prepare to Meet Your Maker defies explanation, yet one issue does reoccur which is worth considering during the Dawn of the Age of Romantic Enlightenment announced within the work, and that is why, I suggest we consider Prepare to Meet Your Maker and the issue of consent.

"'At the moment of consent I say, 'It wasn't what I meant.' It only takes an instant to be cured of a forfeiture.'"

That quote from one of the 12 songs in the show (The Cage is Chilly) is important because both Quasimodo and Cementeria act in ignorance of consent at some point early in the story,

Cementeria in kissing the baptist,

and Quasimodo in kissing (fucking) Cementeria;

both actions occur at times when the object of their affection is unable to refuse,

the baptist, because he has been beheaded

and Cementeria because she is dead.

There is little more to be said on the subject except that Cementeria does come to appreciate and instruct Quasimodo on the importance of consent for mutual satisfaction in long-lasting growth relationships. It is she who advises him, "a woman should be conscious before you start getting excited about her."

Here is yet another example of how Prepare to Meet Your Maker contributes to the greater goal of Romantic Enlightenment for all. Go forth in a state of exuberance. Thank you.

And thank you, for wading through this. Perhaps it will be of some assistance in promoting the show.

We can sell the soundtrack CD at the performances and on the WAHCenter.org site to raise money for theatre development there...

Yours truly, Peter