
The Biblical prelude to Vaselina Springs Part III, Moses and Ramses draws on the traditional blues influences of the steamy Ark-La-Tex to take the listener back to the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers. But being cognizant of the modern American attention span, The Arkie DeLeon’s cut out all the fat from the original accounts. As the Arkies’ intrepid personal manager, Ricardo Richards, noted, “Big Arkie does in three minutes what it took Cecil B. Demille three hours to do. And while I have the utmost respect for Elmer Bernstein’s superlative soundtrack, there wasn’t a single song in that movie that made you want to grab a beer and dance.”
Despite his steely blue eyes and the fact that he has been welcomed into the Egyptian Royal Family, Moses chooses to identify with the enslaved Israelites. As an advocate for their release from bondage, Moses is forced to resort to extreme measures to convince his adopted brother to give in. Moses and Ramses begins by outlining the first nine plagues that will be rained down upon Egypt as incentives for Ramses II to acquiesce. Ramses II makes a counteroffer, which Moses refuses. Moses then plays his trump card, and Jehovah’s Angel of Death kills all the firstborn sons of Egypt. Needless to say, this gets the Pharaoh’s attention, and he is swayed to allow Moses to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land.*
*The following events were cut from Moses and Ramses in the interest of brevity:
After a little dust-up with the Pharaoh and his charioteers at the Red Sea, Moses promptly gets lost for forty years. Despite the pleading of his wife, he refuses to stop and ask for directions. This causes friction between them, but Moses is steadfast. While Moses never reaches the Promised Land, as conciliation prizes along the way, he does pick up the Ten Commandments and an Oscar for Ben Hur.
Vaselina Springs, Part III will explore how the continuing saga of The Oppressors and the Oppressed plays out in a post-WWII Arkansas town.