My lovely wife was able to send me a box of goodies to the hotel! It contained three boxes of Girl Scout Cookies (can’t get them in Kuwait), two cool books of short stories, some papers to sign and my CD from the Czech Republic.

Yes – I said from the Czech Republic. It is a CD of the revolutionary band The Plastic People of the Universe. I read Tom Stoppard’s play Rock ‘N Roll, which was about the summer of love, communism and the Prague Spring. The Plastic People feature prominently in the play as the symbol of revolution against the Russian invasion. They were fans of Zappa and the Mothers, the Velvet Underground and the Fugs. A bunch of fairly communal hippy activists who the regime could not shut up no matter how hard they tried. I found this CD on Ebay and it is a recording of some live performances from 1976-77. This is right around the time many of the underground and member of the band were sent to jail for disturbing the peace.

I can’t wait to hear it!