Drama. Music. Opera. Literary Nonfiction.

As Ashley tells it: “An over-the-hill entertainer, and his somewhat younger pal, Buddy (The World’s Greatest Piano Player), find themselves in a small town on the Midwest circuit playing at The Perfect Lives Lounge. They become friends with the son and daughter of the local Sheriff, and the four hatch a plan to do something that if they are caught, it will be a crime, but if they are not caught it will be art. They’ve set themselves a kind of metaphysical challenge.”

This book includes the complete libretto, in seven episodes, followed by thirty-eight pages of Robert Ashley talking about his ideas and the making of the opera.