Venus A Love Story

MEMPHIS PERFORMANCE

2006-10-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

Conrad Reeder and Pamela Wolfe performed four songs, and snippets of dialogue from the new musical, 'Venus A Love Story' at the fabulous Sleeping Cat Studio’s Venus Envy event in happenin' downtown Memphis. More than 700 people filed through the chic mixed media space of art, dance and music, located just off of jazzin’ Beale Street.

The soiree promoted women in the arts, indeed a noble cause, but PLENTY of hunky, and most likely talented men added testosterone to the colorful evening. Just take a gander at that $8,000 quilt of 'Venus Rising' on the wall behind us…lots of talent in that room.

Many thanks to the crew {{{David}}}, to Dagmar for suggesting we perform, and for her usual stellar performance of some of her signature songs.

Venus A Love Story is on the rise, and more news will be comin’ down the wormhole.

VENUS A LOVE STORY - CREATION

2006-10-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE FOR CREATION

AFRODITE: (to Immortals) OK folks, gather round, this is the story. You know how grouchy Chaos gets, just like his cousin, Yahweh. Chaos decreed that if the seed isn’t planted by tomorrow, and I quote, “I will blow Terra Firma back to oblivion” unquote. There’s just no reasoning with him when he gets in one of his moods. Now I don’t know about ya’ll, but I, Afrodite, the Goddess of Love, will not stand in line at the unemployment office on Mt. Olympus! Apollo, sugar, is your Oracle ready?

Apollo puts his ear to his cithara.

APOLLO: Aye Afrodite! We are ready to go forth!

AFRODITE: Cupie, your arrows ready to fly?

Cupid takes a nip out of a flask.

CUPID: Rock and Roll, Sister!

CREATION

©2005 All Rights Reserved

EXCERPT FROM VENUS A LOVE STORY

2006-10-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

DOROTHY: I worry about you being alone in the world.

OLIVIA: Mom, I’m fine. I’ve got you.

DOROTHY: I was hoping for a grandchild…

Cupid takes a nip.

CUPID: We’re workin’ on it Granny!

OLIVIA: Mom!

DOROTHY: I’m not going to live forever, Olivia.

Apollo puts his ear to the cithara and motions ‘maybe’.

OLIVIA: Could we change the subject?

DOROTHY: Why don’t you come to church with me next Sunday? I met a very nice man who is a lawyer, just like your father.

Apollo puts his ear to his cithara again.

APOLLO: Tis a scoundrel who hath wives on two continents!

Olivia jumps up and lights another cigarette.

OLIVIA: Mom, I don’t want to meet anyone right now.

AFRODITE: Girl, you know you’re tellin’ a fib!

DOROTHY: After your father died, I don’t know what I would have done without my faith. (pause) Maybe if you just tried going to church? Gave it a chance.

OLIVIA: I have faith, too. I know something…bigger than me is out there, bigger than all of us. But I’m not comfortable with a religion that threatens me with hell.

Olivia puts out the cigarette on ‘Hell’.

DOROTHY: Jesus promises us Heaven, but the Bible says there is a Hell.

OLIVIA: Well, I don’t believe in that Hell.

AFRODITE: You go girl!

DOROTHY: What do you believe in, Olivia?

OLIVIA: Mom, I don’t want to argue about religion with you.

DOROTHY: Can’t we have a friendly conversation about things we believe in?

Afrodite takes one of the roses and drops it on the floor. Olivia picks it up and smells it.

OLIVIA: It’s easy to say what I want to believe, but it’s hard to put into words what I do believe…

Music starts. Olivia sings half of first verse of "I Believe" to Dorothy and the rest to audience.

© 2005 All Rights Reserved

I BELIEVE

2006-06-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

I BELIEVE in beauty
The fragrance of a flower
The color of a blue bird’s wing
I believe in music
The drum beating a rhythm
To the melody of voice and string
I believe in things that I touch and feel
I know I’ve been here before
And as long as the stars shine above me
Someday I’ll walk back through this door
I Believe

Kingdoms come and go
And in the name of God
Soldiers fight and die in war.
But wars are never won
And if the truth be known,
Love’s the only thing worth living for.
I believe that heaven is in the here and now
Not somewhere distant and far
No need to wait for another life to find it
I feel it right here in my heart
I Believe
I Believe
(In what I feel for you)
I Believe
VENUS A LOVE STORY

Reeder/Wolfe
©2005

Venus News April 2005

2005-04-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

Dahling...
Olivia, our heroine, sums it up for me with her statement, "I'm not comfortable with a religion that threatens me with hell."

In one of our many conversations about faith, love, raising children, our parents etc., Pam and I agreed about many things, but one thought blossomed into a full-fledged musical.
VENUS A LOVE STORY

Heaven is here on earth, before our very eyes, yet people allow pollution, greed, war, addictions, and a myriad of preventable problems muck it all up, and the reflection of this can be found in our institutions that allow this behavior, the biggie being religion.

Don’t deal with things now, because GOD will fix everything later, and you better follow certain rules set into stone by other FLAWED humans, or you’ll burn in hell. It sure scared the bejeeswax out of me growing up. I mean I really lived it on a daily basis. In High School I was President of AMERICAN YOUTH FOR GOD AND COUNTRY, doing my part to proselytize…not an easy gig during the Vietnam War riots going on all around my inner-city school near Ohio State University.

This bubble of belief nearly suffocated me, but with the grace of Diety/Whatever I came to recognize that ‘we’ are an expression (like everything and everyone else experiencing life) of the mighty energy that created and sustains our Universe.

Our musical is embedded with that thinking. (and memorable songs) My hope is to prick some bubbles of belief to let these ideas in; 1) Loving each other unconditionally is why we are here 2) The garden of Eden is still all around us 3) We were NEVER expelled from it in the first place 4) Listen to your heart, but think with your mind, don’t borrow someone else’s. Oh, and don't forget to DANCE.
Amen.

The idea of any leader going to war behind the shield of ‘god’ is just a joke. I would suggest that all the major religions at the moment have failed to create a viable world of peace for humans, and our systems of government are only slightly better when the judicial system works.

This has more to do with integrity, not political affiliation. On a planet where 43 million children suffer daily in abject poverty, half of which die each year before the age of five (UNICEF), we have religious leaders still condemning birth control. Huh? Who died and made them GOD?
THAT'S NOT MY JESUS

From my star to yours,

Conrad