Series 1, Episode 45: Benny The Comet

I think it was about nine months ago that I was doing my morning read of the New York Times and I came across an article about a recent discovery of an asteroid that seemed to be heading our way. I remember thinking, “Good lord, what next?“ Thus began Benny The Comet – An ancient/modern tale of a boy, Benjamin Exnod, whose father worked at NASA and his discovery of a comet threatening Planet Earth. When comets are discovered, they are often named after the discoverer. Hence Benny The Comet. Should you be alarmed? Only if you miss this wonderful tale of the imagination. It’s a story for the ages presented as a Podcast Musical. Take the Trip! This one’s a doozy!

Theater of the Imagination is presented by Watchfire Music: watchfiremusic.com 

Learn more about Peter here 

Transcript

Peter Link 0:08

Welcome to Scattershot Symphony, the music of Peter Link. That's me. Hey y'all, this week being the 45th episode of this podcast, I prefer to let the music do the talking. However, if you need to know more about me, please visit Wikipedia.com, Peter Link. This episode is entitled Benny the Comet. I think it was about nine months ago that I was doing my morning read of the New York Times and I came across an article about a recent discovery of an asteroid that seemed to be heading our way. I remember thinking, good lord, what next? Nearly every day I was waking up to a world of confusion. I felt that our core was falling apart, and that the word truth had lost its true meaning. And so, now we were even about to be attacked from outer space. An asteroid was coming to visit us, whether we liked it or not. Three days later, my curiosity got the better of me, and so I Googled to see if there was more to the story. There was more. What was first perceived as a threat was no longer the truth. Scientists had run their numbers and found that the trajectory was now not what they thought it was three days before. And that the asteroid would miss us for sure. I smiled and simply went on with my life. One particular scientist, in explaining why the numbers were off, stated that had it been a comet, that the threat might just have been real. I thought to myself, what's the difference between an asteroid and a comet? I looked it up. It turns out that there was an overwhelming amount of information on the difference between an asteroid and a comet. My favorite explanation was this. An asteroid could be the size of one's entire house. A comet could be the size of one's entire town. Ouch. Also fascinating was the fact that a comet could have a tail that would be millions of miles long. Most impressive. The end result would be that an asteroid hitting us could present some very serious problems to our world. But a comet hitting us would clearly be the end of us all. Because it would throw dear old planet Earth off its trajectory around the sun, and we would go spinning off into space. A most unpleasant thought. I also learned that comets can have an orbital trajectory around the sun that might swing out as far as Neptune and back again around our own sun. On occasion, a comet can break out of its trajectory and either go spinning out on its own, wandering through space, or sometimes spinning in a different trajectory and take a dive into the sun to its spectacular flaming death. How dramatic a comet with the longest known orbit takes more than 250,000 years to make just one trip around the sun. Wow! Whoever figured that out? Best known for their long streaming tales, these ancient objects are leftovers from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Now that's what I would call an ancient tale. Was there somehow a song in all this? Of course, said I. There is a song in all things dramatic. Both comets and people can get off course and out of their trajectory, leading to moments greatly unexpected. A story began to develop in my imagination, whose journey paralleled that of Odysseus. A journey that is one of the foundational stories of ancient and consequently modern drama. I would need a name for our central character. And since the name Ulysses was already taken, I of course naturally turned to Benny. And so Benny, the comet, was born. Would it have a happy ending? Or would it be a tragedy? The muse in me spoke up and suggested that I trust my imagination and allow the tale to simply unwind and leave fate to another day. My heart leapt at the moment. My story would be like life itself. A journey into the unknown. I first imagined Benny as an innocent. Having broken loose from his orbit around the sun every 250,000 years, he became well bored. Same old, same old. He thought to himself, there must be something more to life than just going round and round. There must be other adventures. So he took off with the expectancy to find new worlds. He began to search the stars, and before he knew it, he found one particular star that was different than all the rest. For orbiting around it was an orb whose energy was very different from all the rest. He would change his direction and head that way. He would pay a visit to that blue speck in the sky. And so a song was born. But not yet. First, let me dabble in becoming an epic epic poet. Here goes. Travel with us now across space and time. Benny the Comet, epic poem by yours truly. Benny the Comet broke loose from his orbit around the sun. Benny the Comet is coming to visit us. Uninvited and yet delighted to break from his journey of ten million years. Benny the Comet, named after the boy who first spotted its tail. There in the heavens, the burning dust and icicles, gases and masses, and the billions of particles stretching behind for millions of miles. Benny the Comet coming to visit us. Coming to visit us, uninvited and yet delighted to venture the universe and check out the stars. On he comes, streaming his tail behind him, coming round Neptune, past Saturn and Mars, invading this space that is ours. Benny the Comet is coming to visit the Earth. Benny the Comet, regrettably, we are just not so thrilled to see him, to welcome him into our homes and roll out the red carpet to usher him in. Forget about it. Huh. Benny the Comet rejected, unaccepted, shunned, repulsed, cursed. That Benny the Comet is far too pollutional, downright circumlocutional, wandering his way through space. You might say it's unconstitutional. Heading for America. Frightening children, scaring, tormenting, threatening destruction, dismaying the experts, distressing the birds, panicking women, confounding the scientists, confusing the animals, bewildering men, striking terror in the hearts of the human race. Penny the Comet, coming to visit us, coming to visit us with not a clue of the ruin he's doing, not a clue to where he's heading, rushing on headlong to Armageddon. Benjamin Exnod, amateur astronomer, lying on his back in the grass one night, watching for shooting stars, thought he saw something that night inconsistent, like he'd never seen before. Benny the Comet coming to visit us, coming to visit us, knocking on heaven's door. Russia in the Middle East, China too, anyone who's got 'em, shooting H-bombs, blowing holes in the sky. But Benny just keeps plowing on, barely feeling the wrath of man, scoffing at the state of our science, ignoring our feeble defiance. Benny, the comet. Benny, the comet, and the people down on Earth just keep coming the days. Walking round in a day, wondering what's to become of me? What's to become of us? What's to become of planet Earth now? Can this possibly be the end of the world? Nothing seems to stop it. Where did we go wrong? What did we do to deserve this? Who would have ever thought that this would be the way it all ended? Who is in control? Who is in control? Who's in control? Danny the comet. Danny the comet. There's a little known fact that some comets dive right into the sun. No one knows why, but they are never to be seen again. Perhaps our only hope. Won't you go back there where you started from? Trippin' around the sun. Benny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny the comet. Won't you turn around, Benny? There's a big old universe out there. Benny penny penny penny penny penny penny. Come around no more. Penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny, penny. And so you must ask, how did it all end? Or how does it all end? If you are truly interested, perhaps you might want to listen to the song to find out. That's not a promise, mind you, but we will promise you a treat for the ears and mind. Who will save us from destruction? And now, Benny the Comet, the Song, Music and Lyrics by Peter Link. Travel with us now across space and time. Dive with us into the Milky Way. Join us on our channel with a third star on top left. What about that bluish planet over there? Bend in a comet. Bend in the comment. Yes, comment. I'm not yet decided to break the brothers, dirty up the comment. Yes, you find it. Come and round. It's coming to the comment. We are just not so free to see it to find it into our holes and roll up the red comment and after him. Benny the Comet rejected it. Should the ghost cursed. That Benny, the comet, is far too pollutional. Alright! Circumlocution wandering his way through space. You might say it's unconstitutional for America. Frightening children. Dismaying the experts. Distressing the bird. Confounding the scientists. Striking terror in the hearts of the human race. One night. Watching for two stars. Anyone's gonna take bomb. But then it just keeps powering on. Ignoring our people defiance. And the people down on earth just keep counting the days. Walking round in a day. Wondering what's to become of me? What's to become of us? What's to become a planet? Earthman. Can this possibly be the end of the world? Nothing seemed to stop it! Where did we go from? What did we do to deserve this? Who would I never dump? This would be the way I did. Well, there you have it. Penny, the comment. Many thank yous go to both Jenny Burton and our president, Julia Wade, for their fabulous vocal support on the song. Two of my favorite singers on the planet. Also to Phil Klum, my favorite master in the cosmos. A special thank you goes out to Benjamin Exnod, the astronomical young man who first discovered his namesake and brought Benny to intergalactic reality. Oh, and I could never forget our extraterrestrial graphic artist, Sky Malone, for all of his stellar visual creations surrounding this celestial project with a name like Sky. How could we miss now? You must ask it all.