TODAY on Vir­tu­al Com­mu­ni­ty Radio — Fri­day, Feb­ru­ary 25th, noon or 4pm Pacif­ic / 8pm and mid­night in the UK, the EIGHTH install­ment of…

MOON OVER MOROCCO

Once in a far away land there exist­ed a knowl­edge of nat­ur­al mag­ic that has been lost to mod­ern man. Jack Flan­ders treks to Moroc­co, believ­ing that in this prim­i­tive coun­try, where mag­ic remains an inte­gral part of dai­ly life, he may find this knowl­edge. Jack dis­cov­ers far more than he expect­ed when he steps through the Gate of Pea­cocks, the entrance to that lost world. Jack has stepped out of mod­ern day Moroc­co and into the realm where the knowl­edge of mag­ic is a req­ui­site sur­vival skill. Here’s a cou­ple of tastes of this week’s episode…

The envi­ron­ments in Moon Over Moroc­co were record­ed by author M. Ful­ton while trav­el­ling around that coun­try. You’ll hear the Med­i­na, the Cas­bah, the music of the snake charm­ers, the lone­ly call to prayer from the minaret of the mosque, the dogs of Tang­i­er as the moon becomes full, the music of the desert tribes record­ed in the Sahara and Berber music record­ed at fes­ti­vals in the Grand Atlas and Rif Moun­tains. Music was record­ed by Paul Bowles. Ten hour-long episodes.

Fea­tur­ing Robert Less­er as Kas­bah Kel­ly, Dave Adams as Mojo Sam and Tau­re­an Blacque as the Sto­ry­teller Mustafa. And of course Robert Lorick as Jack Flan­ders / King Has­san Bizel / El Kabah

Fol­low­ing on the suc­cess of The Fourth Tow­er of Inver­ness, Meat­ball Ful­ton set about work­ing on a sequel in 1973. Ful­ton described the sto­ry “a mys­tery fan­ta­sy with a whiff of Casablan­ca about it”. He spent a month in Moroc­co record­ing ambi­ent sounds and music for the pro­duc­tion. Ful­ton stayed with the writer Paul Bowles in Tang­i­er and learned about Moroc­can mag­ic prac­tices from him. The pro­duc­tion also used tra­di­tion­al Moroc­can music record­ed by Bowles for the fes­ti­val scenes. The record­ings helped inspire his writ­ing, Ful­ton told Bill­board mag­a­zine. “It’s so real, you’ll even be able to smell the flow­ers and spice and dry earth of Moroc­co. Ah, yes. Escapism at its finest,” he said.

About ZBS

“ZBS is a not-for-prof­it arts orga­ni­za­tion. They have been in exis­tence since 1970. For 50 years they’ve been pro­duc­ing radio/audio sto­ries. These are com­ic and cos­mic adven­tures, sci­ence fic­tion, mys­ti­cal mys­ter­ies – some with spir­i­tu­al wis­doms woven with­in. Their inten­tion has always been to raise con­scious­ness by using the media, radio and audio. Of course, some of these sto­ries are just down right fun, fine fam­i­ly enter­tain­ment. Laugh­ter is a great heal­er, as you know. We’re all liv­ing in the Cos­mic Joke, and one day we may actu­al­ly “get” the punch line. But in the mean­time, remem­ber, kind­ness to oth­ers, peo­ple, plants, ani­mals, even the earth and the clouds, we can all do. It makes us feel bet­ter, it prob­a­bly even makes the clouds feel bet­ter. We hope you enjoy their stories.

“If there are sto­ries you fall in love with, and would like to own, you can buy them at www.zbs.org”