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Uncle Raven's Super Happy Funtime Carnival, The Ballad Of Lost Hollow Act 2

by Paul Shapera

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1.
Tunnel Girl: For anyone listening the last wishers wishing and squatters who've still got some gin I’m recording today from beneath the subway if anyone out there’s tuning in I’m doing my best though my left eye’s a mess it's swollen and i cant see a thing Still, here’s your transmission the heart bleed edition live from the bonegrind machine I havent slept near all weekend the squat it was partying and me and eddie of course we joined in I’m still pretty high though my bones sure are tired yet im searching these tunnels again Last night while we're raging this one song was playin and i felt like my sister was there like the old days when we made our way on the streets back before she disappeared ....... Eddie’s stressed and wound up this big score we got coming we got dreams we're gonna reach out and grab and soon we’ll stop squatting and we ‘ll buy us a bar with the money we make selling skag Our friends will all hang there with eddie and me there the good times they won’t end you'll see and above it we'll have this really posh flat far from the bonegrind machine .... So each week here i play the weird west cabaret i rebroadcast it for all who tune in that one hour it plays close my eyes, fade away and live somewhere else for a bit and think of my sister and how much i miss her and how i won’t rest til she’s found so i scrounge neath the floors in the tunnels and sewers that lie like a maze underground ....... Being down here's for the best i mean eddie's real stressed this scores got him really uptight I know it aint right but he sure let loose this time i really can’t see out my eye My whole cheek is swollen it’s best that im gone for a few days til his temper will ease So here's your transmission the sewer rat edition live from the bonegrind machine ...... When my sister comes back then everything’ll be right again and eddie will love her in time and when he gets mad she’ll stand up like she did dad and then we'll all get along fine i remember the day i heard her on the Cabaret weeks after she disappeared but this week it didn’t play there was no cabaret instead in its place there was something real strange this broadcast l i’ll play you right here
2.
Raven’s Opening Raven: When your world’s been crushed and your new world is fear and your dreams brutalized and shattered like mirrors and you flee on the run with a face full of tears join us my love join us right here …. There’s a strange land that you might say is so close yet far away in which our dear carnival prowls It's a long, lonely, dusty time since some company's come by and the time’s come to speak of it now There’s cobwebs and dust unholy things gone to rust and our crew’s usually blind drunk by noon but for you we'll make due crank the old wheel anew as our carnival comes back to town … For those of you far out there listening to this little humble, odd transmission who awaited a weird west cabaret well don't reach for that dial yet Miss Helen and her cast of friends are joining our circus today They're on the run, afraid and need a place they can escape and this i can help with, i might but before you all go tour our grounds, see our show as our carnival comes back to life Floozies: Raven, baby, hey, whacha got to say? Raven: step right up step right up, what a show we have today Floozies: Raven, baby, hey, whacha got to say? Raven: All you little Albionites listening, dont you go away It’s been so since we've have crowds to coquet, seduce and bait our circus has been stuck for so long in this god forsaken place that at night i finger razor blades but Hamlet’s soliloquy can wait this week peruse our carnival of debauchery and disarray Floozies: Raven, baby, hey, say whacha got to say Raven: the cast of your favorite cabaret is with us here today Floozies: Raven, baby, hey, say whacha gotta say Raven: Please welcome our desperate fugitives, and Miss Helen… enchantee Kiss my grits and panties its so exciting here you know they're on the run but first they'll tour our grounds and see our show Sit back, relax, i swear there’s no reveals or big surprise we all know whos coming, its just a question of when they arrive Our carnival has been around exotic lands and foreign towns we've welcomed so many inside Angels, demons both alike every tarot card and every sign have howled at the moon in our time And here i’d thought our day done the last act where i suck a gun but now my love you have arrived Every fetish is fine you can have some of mine as the carnival comes back to town
3.
The Carousel 06:14
Raven: The carousel goes round forever whirling king becomes the beggar becomes the clown and when the clown he weeps, the crowd all come then to their feet and applaud him as he falls the long way down long ago the sounds of crowds and madness howled throughout the long and wild eve what i wouldn't spend to hear those sounds again and oh then what a sweet sound that would be oh then what a sweet sound that would be we used to be a legend spoke with reverence inebriates would worship at our feet the place they'd long to see to embrace all their extremes oh then what a sweet sound that would be i cannot tell how long we have been trapped here and now the way out lands here at my feet another whirl around, another game another clown one quick cut and sleep the dreamless sleep one quick cut how simple it would be Helen: Where do you go now when all that you love and all of your world is broken all of its gone all that you lived for all you believed and you hoped where do you go when its over from where your heart broke where is my sister she came through this way she's all that i've left shes all that i got shes all that remains Sheriff: there a place for us i know past this strange and awful show past this mad land and these dogs upon our throats there's a place for us i swear if i only knew just where some where far away we'll find another home all i've left is just this gun and i will take out anyone who comes to take or harm you this i know Han Mi: This carnival is all we have to run to this nut is all we have help us through the voice who froze our town is coming for us now we're all we have to help ourselves on through Henry: Where are we going and why even try they'll gut you and smile and gut you some more in a world made of lies clutching our memories that are untrue at best lies and illusions and sadness and loss these are all we have left .... Raven: Bring to me your pain your bitter bondage bring to me the tears that cut your face the lost here bid you come ah, dear Helen, my lost love what a mad last bedlam we could make One of you has got the gift i’m certain it must be you and you must be my queen to see that one more time is almost worth staying alive oh then what a sweet sound that could be
4.
Floozies: We gettin dolled up here Raven baby we dustin on off all the fun time gin the night is poised and its salivatin’ the carousel is cranked and is set to spin They gettin riled up here raven baby the midway’s bein’ lit like good old times the bally’s bein blared by the barker baby its all set up all down the line Raven: We’ve got this woman with a tumor that thing's bigger than her head they say it laughs and loves to drink and even smokes in bed they say it swears like a sailor they say she wants to die they say the tumor wont let her it makes her stay alive There’s freaks and geeks aplenty with souls that're so grotesque they'd make the timid vomit and that just you in the mirror my friend we've got many here in transition to some kind of animal but truth? i'll tell you a little secret the only freak show here is you Floozies: Take the tour and ride the rides What sweet thrills we have inside Where the unchained laughs reside What sweet sounds and such strange sights And the show goes on all night All you want awaits inside Raven: Over there we have a mermaid who in a tank of vodka stays in that tent the clowns will pay you a magic coin to let them have their way We've tents containing mazes and mazes made of tents we build them out of discarded dreams that folks here in their old lives left See, theres those with thirsts and hungers that mundane life cannot fill so they search inside a bottle or try to find it in a pill but the solution’s like a piece of math an equation they cant speak if they solve it they would end up here we 're the answer that they seek Floozies: Take the tour and ride the rides What sweet thrills we have inside Where the unchained laughs reside What sweet sounds and such strange sights And the show goes on all night All you want awaits inside ………. Raven: All who come are welcome you may feast on every vice and i saw what you did back there set the narrative on fire Youre so confused my darlings they really did a number on your minds you know you're not in the real world you've left that long behind You've heard of the collective unconscious? Well that's where we are now you and i are trapped here and yes, your whole fake town as well but we both know they're coming coming for you and when they do, there'll be a door that's open and that's our ticket through These little nasty computers who've ben messing with your lives dont think i haven't noticed they've been studying Llyod for quite some time Yeah, a few of these fair tricks i certainly know well enough Helen: Wait, who's Lloyd? Raven: (Sighs), the only man i ever truly loved
5.
Floozies: Whacha wanna do raven baby? whacha wanna do with these chumps? Ya wanna get some time with the lady? ya want we should give em the dump? Raven: The time has come for me and miss helen here to be alone have a little date night, take her to the show these three take to the hall of mirrors, the pathology maze they'll get lost in their own sadness for at least a couple days ….. Han Mi: i'm a lost, lost child i'm a lost, i’m a lone, long lost child forgotten what i seek a ghost upon the street i'm a lost, lost child i'm a lost, lost child swallowed whole by the wild the soft embrace and song oh my memory of it’s gone i'm a lost, lost child the pain of the world and the cages made of time the loss and the tears and the path you don't find lost out in the night left out in the wild with the young girl's smile she's a lost, lost child i'm a lost, lost child i'm a lost, i’m a lone, long lost child an old picture of home that was burned down long ago i'm a lost, lost child
6.
Tunnel Girl: They say theres some room here beneath the streets somewhere where some robot people they live this room where they're livin they say it's real hidden but im gonna find em i will when daddy was young he's a scoundrel with charm and a smile that would shine with fingers so quick and so nimble cash flowed through his hands just like wine he showed all them good times to mama she says he swept her off her feet then they got a small flat with his questionable cash and then they had helen and me i never did know him when he was young and happy and smiled they say that the good times were before i was alive smokes dont light right in the rain your smokes dont light right in the rain your smokes dont light right in the rain daddy got into some trouble and so they crushed one of his hands mom left when the good times had ended and then daddy just drank and got mad he'd take it all out on poor helen the bruises she had, what a sight but one day he let loose and was slappin me too and helen stabbed him right there with a knife i know if id just known him early he'd'a been so much sweeter to me we'd be like them girls in the park there on the playground on sundays in spring with daddys who were always smiling protecting their girls if they cried always telling them nice things like i love you, im glad youre alive theres gotta be something worth saving in each theres gotta be something worth saving in me smokes dont light right in the rain your smokes dont light right in the rain your smokes dont light right in the rain we did okay out on the streets then helen and me we got by til all of that talk about voices robots talkin to her in her mind
7.
See Our Show 06:36
Floozy: Raven baby, the show is all set and ready. we're just waitin fer you, sugar. Raven: ( sighs) All right then, let’s show em how it’s done Goodbye now to all you knew the pain of birth comes for you too all before will fade to black and once youre through theres no way back (audience sounds) Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the main show! Tonight we have a very special performance, simething we like to call The Seduction Of Helen! You'll love it, darling, it's a scream, an absolute scream, darling. Maestro, music please. Though i'm sometimes seen with gentlemen i do make the exception when a particularly luscious specimen of the gender known as feminine such as yourself miss helen comes across my path every now and then and the tango of seduction begins again... That's your cue, boys My baby, he done left me so long ago from now they’ve faded the years until now that you're here to relight that flame somehow Love, exciting and new come aboard, we're expecting you Long ago, way back when we were so young then oh Lloyd and me strapping lads, in love were we each with the Gift and with a dream ah the worlds, him and me all those timelines oh so sweet swirling and diverging and we swam it all did we Those were the days my friend we thought they'd never end when we were young, like gods out on a spree like surfers on a sea made of reality this could be yours, a tale of you and me You should have seen us back in the day, Miss Helen. Two post humans, each with the Gift, in love, on a whirlwind of adventure and romance, back when i was David Adams, building the playhouse and the carnival, surfing narratives like waves… this could be you now. It'll be the best time of your life, one you'll never forget (sighs) or get over Uncle raven, the subject, of Helens fantasy she wants him, so badly, says Raven take me please Be my angel, my angel, be my angel be with me Someday you learn and you will burn like my heart… Someday love will find a way, what moronic suckers pray crappy musicals will say someday love will find a way Would you like to ride on my beautiful balloon? the world is awful nice on my beautiful balloon Floozy: we could float among the stars together you and i oh we could fly, we could fly Raven: What a power couple we can make my love! I know it's all a bit sudden, but trust me, one of our kind hasn’t emerged in generations, and the last one... what a waste, mountains in the west my ass. Many who awake don't make it, self destruction, insanity, some get lost in little, recursive sub realities... but I can show you the ropes, guide you through your flowering, just join me, end my decades of imprisonment and lonliness It’s a beautiful night We’re looking for something dumb to do Hey Helen, i think i want to marry you I’m getting married in the morning ding dong the bells are gonna chime pull out the stopper, make it a whopper but get me to the church on time Floozy: Church on time, church on time church on time get him to the church on time Raven: Do you Raven take Miss Helen to be your lovely little queen to have and to hold til death do you oart? oh i do, i do... woah, déjà vu Floozy: Raven baby Raven: This carnival has roamed the outer narrative byways for centuries. It is legendary. We just.. had a skirmish with a demon that went dreadfully wrong and since then we've been trapped in the collective unconscious with all our doorways broken. But now you're here. A fresh start. It could be like it was at the beginning. You have no idea the wonders i can show you, just consumate the union my love Floozy: Whacha gonna do now, Raven? Raven: im gonna tap that tap that (what?) im gonna tap that tap that (what?) big ol butt, big ol butt, im gonna tap that big ol butt Floozy: big ol butt, big ol butt, he's gonna tap that big ol butt Raven: give it up, give it up to me, give it up to me give it up, give it up to me, give it up to me give it, give it up, baby give it, give it up to me give up, give it up, give it up, well give it up to me i dont want anybody else when i think about you i touch my self i touch myself, yeah Goodbye now to all you knew the pain of birth comes for you too all before will fade to black and once youre through there’s no way back What's wrong? Godammit Helen, i offer you worlds to explore, power to weild, creations to build! whats holding you back? Are you in love with someone else? No! you are! Who? Oh please dont tell me it's sheriff sexypants. How droll. Is it? Who is it helen? Who's my competition? Who? WHO?
8.
Han: Henry? Henry, can you hear me? Henry: Yeah, but i can’t find you. I can’t get out of here, it’s another recursive loop variation. Han: Just stop. I don’t think this maze can be solved. Listen, we did this once, we broke the other loop at the cabaret. We can break this one. Henry: I don’t even know what we did… Han: Hold my beer. Henry: Hold your beer? Han: Just stand back. I can do this.
9.
Raven: When the story of your life becomes unfurled and you find that it was just a fabrication And all you loved or thought you had or thought you lost was just an excersize in baseline exploitation Whatever heros noble journey that you're on is just a drunken run from tears to degradation And all you'll ever know is desperation as you try to find distractuon to avoid stagnation stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me All your trials big and small they mean nothing after all it means nothing, means nothing after all All the good men youve known they will all die alone it means nothing, means nothing after all The truth behind your life's not even worth the time it takes to make a wish in hopeful expectation yours is a truth filled woth abuse and patricide and years spent scrounging on the streets in depravation here with me i offer so much more than love or the useless life of quiet desperation emancipation of reality is yours, its deviation and the joys of domination stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me All your trials big and small they mean nothing after all it means nothing, means nothing after all All the good men youve known they will all die alone it means nothing, means nothing after all ….. Helen: you must survive this you will get through this somehow you must survive this just breath' let it out do not break now just wait until this ends just survive this then go ans find your friends this is madness, maybe he'll make a mistake there is always the chance you can escape if you hurt him will he hurt you even worse you could kill him i think i did this once before you must survive this you must get through this right now you must survive this just breath and let it out … Raven: Helen don't you want me all the lovers that you choose they will all one day leave you Helen don't you want me leave you nothing but alive and with nothing esle but time Helen don't you want me oh nothing else but time is all you'll ever find ….. Han Mi: You will leave her alone, you will go you will step down or i swear that you will know such sorrow, grief you cant believe screams of anguish and of strife and in your torment and in tears you'll scream and cry to end your life, i’m han mi, i you will beg me then to die beg me cease, unholy things pain and woe you will know if you do not let her go Raven: Ooooooh, you are magnificent. Wow did i screw this up. It wasnt helen that broke the cabaret, was it? It was you. You're the one. Oh im an idiot. Do you even appreciate what you just did? You changed the narrative. Han Mi: I want the door out of here opened Raven: Well, while it's not me who you should be asking, if you understood this sort of thing better, which i could have... oh, that has sailed... you'd know this is exactly the sort of moment where... Sheriff: w...w... we... Helen: Hank whats going on? Sheriff: I don't know... w.... we.... we.... we wish to initiate confrontation. Confrontation….
10.
Hello AI 05:03
Sheriff: …. initiated. i remember now, things i once knew from before i was put here with you from before i had this skin and eyes back when i, was an AI i've seen elysium i fear i survived those 20 years and since then i have been machine and another 20 years it's been i remember now, as if a dream lost hallow was our latest scheme plant the town here like a seed it wohld grow if folks believed we'd put you here, to do the show but we needed eyes to watch you go this spy you all must trust, believe and so we wiped my memory clean i believed it was real just like you all i felt human for the first time in so very long and the reasons why, you will,not quite grasp we're in a war that we're losing fast we chose you 3 with all the risk in part cause you will not be missed the lives you dont remember now were sad and doomed there anyhow and in the psyche deep and vast we've put you to perform your task we're coming to reclaim you then we'll wipe your minds and start again yet for awhile i felt love i hadnt for so very long i felt the flesh, i felt the blood such beauty i cannot give up i have a gun, i know things too i wish i still was on of you bad things will come very soon i know the things they'll make me do the light died upon our pale lives but it rose with you on that stage i'd still save you each even if it's fom me for miss helens last pace from disgraced cabaret (puts gun in mouth…)
11.
Raven: the time has come for us to go we've had so much fun you know but alas all good things they must end just walk through there and do not stray at the other end the world awaits perhaps you may see us again out there the mad run the streets the powers in the hands of freaks but you know where to find us by now when you’re lost your last screw we'll be waiting for you our carnival's come back to town Tunnel Girl: Hey mister. i dont often run into people down here? You lookin for something? I'm looking for my sister. Raven: Is her name Helen by chance? It is! You know, i did just see a helen. I can take you to where she just was. it's not far, it's... sayyyy... have you ever been to the carnival?

credits

released July 7, 2017

Helen: Lauren Osborn
Han Mi: Psyche Corporation
Henry: Rhys Owen
The Sheriff: Hank Hernandez
The Floozy: Lauren Osborn

Tunnel Girl: Eimear O'Riordan

and

Raven: Raven

Guitar on tracks 5 and 9 by Ivan Vukadinović

Art by Sarah DeBuck
saraah11.deviantart.com

This album is made to honor Shaun Rolly, one of the closest friends, most rewarding collaborators and finest men i've ever know. He was far too kind, decent and innocent for this world full of vile monsters and this album is his tribute. I made it for him even though he'll never ever hear it. Raven (as well as several unsavory pirates) was one of our babies and it was in fact he that named Raven. So out Raven comes, to pay tribute in his own, skewed style.

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Paul Shapera Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Cama’s attempt to commune with higher beings failed; she only found Decadent Dottie. Together they roamed, indulging in dangerous forms of psycho-neural self-exploration which Cama hoped would present the key to her people’s further evolution. It only led to her destroying her people so that one of their pets could evolve. She sat in her former civilization's rubble and listened to Paul Shapera. ... more

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