After today, two more agonizing days until you can download our funky fresh new jams.
As loyal followers know, this 1986 EP will contain five (5) selections of our original indie-rock opera 1986. So, without further around-the-bush-beating, we present to you now:
THE STORY OF 1986
On January 1st, 1986, a prostitute, Mary, gives birth to a son, Joshua. We learn that the father, Joseph, met Mary on an impromptu, late-night tryst and developed a brief, secret, and passionate relationship with her, despite his prominent (and public) position in military politics and his blond-haired, blue-eyed wife back home. Mary gets pregnant and, wishing to start fresh and shed her ill-repute, decides to have the kid. By this time and despite many promises to provide for Mary, Joe has fled back to his "happily married" existence in Washington and won't return Mary's many attempts to get a hold of him.
[Riveting! The plot thickens...]
It turns out Joseph is an appointee of the National Security Council, who are deeply entrenched in a secret weapons-for-hostages trade with Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. As if that wouldn't draw enough intrigue, the NSC, on a somewhat random power trip, decides to funnel some of the profits from their arms dealings to subsidize the Contras, a Nicaraguan guerilla group who opposes the communist regime in that country. [Oh no they didn't!] Due to the subversive nature of these activities, Joseph is made to keep them under wraps by the rest of the Reagan cabinet. (Joseph's character and plight is very literally based on an amalgam of real-life former National Security Advisors Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter, perhaps with a little Ollie North thrown in for completeness.)
[Now THAT'S edu-tainment!]
Mary spends the year trying to track Joe down, both to get him to acknowledge his son and to do what she can to intercede when she realizes she can sway her baby's father from his ill deeds (which she picked up on via happenstance pillow talk during their romance). Mary [Magdelene, anyone?] is convinced that since Joshua [ = Yeshua = Hebrew for 'Jesus'] has "saved" her from her former life of prostitution, so can he save Joseph [of Nazareth? Snap.] from his shame of deceiving the American people and many of his colleagues in Washington (notwithstanding his adultery with Mary).
[Brain has officially exploded. I don't think I want to know what happens next.]
Too bad. Joseph travels overseas to nullify the NSC's deal with Iran. The whole thing ends in a standoff between Joseph and the NSC's Middle-East middleman, a high-ranking Hezbollah militant. Mary, still in pursuit and baby in arms, get caught in the conflict and is taken hostage.
[How ever will this situation be resolved?!]
Sorry, you'll have to wait for our big premier in May. But know that the ending is pretty epic.
-S
Great! Do it. www.LEJ.org
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