At the Rainbow Lotus tonight, I saw a painting of the Hindu deity Krishna (the Lotus has a lot of that sort of stuff around)—and the guy had blue skin! Which prompted the question, “Why is Krishna blue?” (And yes, that does sound like a song, doesn’t it?)

According to Wikipedia, which is entertaining if not necessarily factual, Krishna’s name means “dark blue” or “black”—and early representations of Krishna show him as a black dude. It’s only in later, presumably less tolerant times that Krishna develops decidedly Aryan features and gets that Smurfy blue skin.

Krishna is presumed to be the author of the Baghavad Gita, but some sources claim Krishna doesn’t really exist—another deity, they say, actually wrote the book under an assumed name. Besides, Krishna is a kid; he’s never shown older than a young man (sometimes he’s even a toddler). He’s the only deity who had to work for a living at an “earthly” job (he was a cowherd). And he often is shown with only two arms, instead of the four that most Hindu deities have (multiple arms, I learned, indicate super powers). He is considered a Supreme Being only in certain towns in India. Some sources call him a ladies’ man (he did play the flute)—while others say the only ladies attracted to him were lady cows. Yes, Krishna might have a lot of reasons to be blue.

In the Disney movie Peter Pan, audiences (presumably comprised of little kids) are told Tinker Bell is dying because not enough people believe in fairies any more, and the kids are told to clap their hands real loud to let Tink know that yes, people really do believe. Maybe that’s Kris’s problem, and maybe something similar is called for. And then “Krishna won’t be blue any more.” Yes?

I don’t plan on mentioning intolerance at all; the message (and I’ll be understated about delivering it) is that belief determines reality. The song presently has a decent chorus, but just one or two couplets out of verses—and the song, I think, will need two or three verses. It’s a two-step, of course. Tentative title: “My Blue Krishna.”

Working on the Deathgrass setlist for the Wheeler Summerfest; biggest hassle is picking which of 80-odd songs we should do. Once I’ve got ‘em picked out, I’ll just burn CDs with the songs, in order, and distribute those along with the setlist. I expect we will be able to get by with one practice before the gig.

It’s very easy, and I wish I could “do” 45 Degrees North the same way. Down the road, perhaps—but I don’t think it’s possible right now. The advantage I’ve got with Deathgrass is I’m the lead singer, and we’re doing my stuff, so it’s easy for me to make recordings (I already have them for a lot of material). 45 Degrees North has three other singers (two vocalists and a fiddle) besides me, and I can’t sing those guys’ stuff (and I think only one of them has the ability to record). We are probably limited to going over stuff in person—and one big advantage of doing so is we work out arrangements for things while we’re doing so. (That is the way the Dodson Drifters used to do it, but the Drifters were practicing every night.) It is time-consuming to do it that way—and one of my worries is I may run out of time if I end up with a job. (I may find out about the job this week.)

Practice with 45 Degrees North Tuesday night this week, meeting Wednesday night, Writers’ Guild Thursday night. Posters are done for Deathgrass and for 45 Degrees North for Wheeler—and I have (I think) a Deathgrass T-shirt design, too. Film from the open mike to clip and manage, the “Cinderpiggy” video to finish—and Krishna has to fit in there somehow, too. Turning blue, he is…

Joe