Easter fell on 4-20-2025. Oliver Bane and his wife’s dog 128×2045, 30, 4056 hours $30 for $30. I thought they were 21 I could’ve sworn 21 anyway that’s why I bought it from Bob to get like five. We have a day we have the days I’d like the return line you have to leave the store. I know you’d like to be CA Bandit had been living with us since January 7, 2025 the day of the terrible fire that ravaged the Pacific Palisades and destroyed the home that Oliver had grown up in. Even though Oliver had lived in the home most of his life when I tried to console him, he was not sad about his home burning down and everything that he and his father had collected in their lifetimes being destroyed. Oliver had let the house go. The floors were coming up in the living room, the cabinets were falling apart and there were giant holes in the deck. The house needed lots of repairs but now it would be built brand new all covered by the insurance. It was good to be one of the “Chosen People”. Oliver told me it was all part of God’s plan and that God had chosen me to spread his message. When I asked him what that message was Oliver told me that it would be revealed to me. We would have to wait for Eve’s return.
Oliver’s wife Tara had run off to Egypt with her boyfriend and they were now living in Cairo raising their child together. Oliver was convinced that Tara was coming back to him. After all, he had given her $750,000 and he still had her dog Bandit and she he had never filed for divorce. For years I told Oliver that Tara had never filed for divorce because she was waiting for the marriage to last 10 years so that under California law she would be entitled to half of Oliver’s income for life. Oliver and Tara had been married since August of 2015 and the 10 year mark was fast approaching. I begged Oliver to file for divorce from her before the 10 year mark but when Oliver filed for divorce from Tara she told him that she was coming home as soon as she could get a passport. Months went by with no sign of Tara and still Oliver waited.
Oliver now explained to me that Adam had to be reunited with Eve to make the Trinity whole and that when Tara came back from Egypt we would all figure out God’s plan together. Oliver was now starting to worry me but as I said Oliver, unlike any of my other friends, actually did help me. Faith needs doubt and I told myself that if Jesus walked on earth today people would probably think he was crazy or at least call him a communist. It was not easy but to keep faith, but I had to keep faith with Oliver. Blind faith.
I wrote day and night and kept Oliver up to date with the progress of the book. After all, if Jesus really did burn down the Pacific Palisades, I’m sure people would want to know why. I had known Oliver for years and he knew that I had grown up in the Hare Krishna movement but when Oliver found out that I still worshiped at the Hare Krishna Temple he decided to put a stop to it. I had just returned from the morning service at 7:00 on Easter Sunday when Oliver decided to have it out with me.
“So it’s Easter. Jesus is paying the bills now, not Krishna.” Oliver said, lighting up a joint while standing in my front yard.
“Happy Easter. And happy 4-20. I said”
I held out my hand for Oliver to pass me the joint.
“Get your own. We need to have a talk.”
Oliver pointed to a pack of Grace joints on the table.
I took a joint out of the pack and lit it.
“So what do you want to talk about?”
“What has Krishna ever done for you?’
What does that mean?” I replied.
“Sure you do. What has Krishna done for you?” Oliver asked.
“Well, if by Krishna you mean God I would say he has done everything for everyone.”
“But what has Krishna done for you lately?”
“Is this a trick question because I really don't know what you want from me.”
“It’s a simple question. What has Krishna done for you lately?
“Well He sent you to me when I needed help paying our mortgage didn’t he?” I answered.
“”No he didn’t send me, because I work for the Jew. The guy who was nailed to the cross. The guy who paid for your sins.” Oliver answered, pouring himself a glass of Kirkland red wine from Costco.
“Nobody is paying for my sins but me. After all, who else would pay for them?” I argued.
“The Son of God paid for them and it’s time you recognized where the manna from heaven is coming from.”
“What does that even mean?”
“You told me that you couldn’t pay your mortgage until I came along and Jesus sent me to pay it” Oliver challenged me. “So what has Krishna done for you?”
“I just told you. Krishna is God. Jesus is the Son of God. Maybe Krishna told Jesus to send you to me?" I shot back.
“Krishna is a false god. There is only one God and his name is Yahweh and I work for Yahweh, not some blue guy who played the flute and danced with all the girls.”
“I think that if you do a little more research on Krishna you will find that he did a lot more than that. Krishna was born in prison and faced many attempts on his life as a child but still he rose to become a great king. He worked his entire life for peace but could not stop a great war and only then did he recite the Bhagavad Gita to his friend Arjuna because he was his friend.
“Did Krishna die?. Yes or no.” Oliver asked me point blank.
I had just finished writing a play called “The Fig Tree” which was about Lord Krishna’s final hours on the earth and a conversation with the hunter Jara who had shot him in the foot.
“Yes, Krishna died.” I answered Oliver truthfully.
“So Krishna was a man, not god. He died didn’t he? Oliver spoke as if he had delivered the final word on the subject. I really had no idea where this was coming from.
“So is there one God or are there many gods?” I asked Oliver.
“There’s one true God.”
“So if there is only one God, are you saying Krishna a different god than Yahweh?” I asked Oliver.
“There’s only one God and his name is Yahweh and he says that you shall have no other Gods before me.” He replied.
“So there is one God but people all over the world worship Him or Her in different ways. Ask yourself why. Do you like to eat the same thing everyday? I don’t. If we are all made in God’s image, how do you know that all religions aren’t worshiping the same God just in different ways, just like we enjoy different recipes from different cultures?” I wanted to know.
“There is only one God and there is only one way to get to him. No man comes through the father but through the Son.” Oliver insisted.
Jesus said “No man comes to the Father but through the Son” but Krishna says that when someone is ready to approach Me, I take away everything so they must depend on me completely. My father who dedicated his life to building temples for Krishna built this house, so tell me after your home and all your material possessions were taken away, where did Jesus Christ lead you? To his father Krishna’s house?” I asked Oliver, very pleased with my answer.
“You’re fired?” Oliver said, setting his wine glass down on my son Brady’s computer desk.
“Really? I didn’t know that I was working for you. As of right now you haven’t asked me to do anything other than get business cards that read “Angel of the Lord” whatever that is supposed to mean.
“You know what it means.” Oliver replied.
“No, I really don’t know what it means and if you do I really wish you would tell me.” I blurted out.
“Sure you do. You know exactly what it means.” Oliver insisted.”
“No, I don’t. All my life people have been telling me that I’m blessed and that I know what to do but I really don’t. So maybe the lesson I am supposed to take from this all is that I’m really just like everyone else. Maybe we’re all swinging like Tarzan from miracle to miracle and we just don’t see it because we are busy grabbing the next one. ” I reasoned.
“That’s not it. That’s not it at all. I wouldn’t have given you the money if you weren't the Angel of the Lord.”
“Dude, You gave your wife $750k when she left you for some other guy. Now I really am trying to be your friend here but you are living in my house so I need you to stop this. I appreciate what you have done but I’m not the Angel of the Lord. Hell I don’t even understand what that is supposed to mean.
“You have to understand that I am just His lawyer. I handle His business. I don’t decide on it. I just do what he asks.” Oliver continued.
“Again I still have no idea what that means. I’m just trying to get through another month.” I shot back.
“Do what you have to do. I’m through with you.” Oliver
“That’s fine by me. You are the one who told me not to sell the house and that God had a plan for me here. So did God change his mind or did you because it looks like we are back to selling the house now.”
“Whose fault is that? My father worked this whole life and left me well taken care of. Your father was a lothario and hedonist and look at you. Banging on your drum, chanting and dancing like a monkey. If I hadn’t come along, you would be out on the street. Now you expect me to listen to you.”
“All the temples that my father built for Lord Krishna are still there. My father has over 30 children and grandchildren. Everything your father worked for his entire life to build and collect is gone except for you and you have no children. After you are gone there will be nothing left of you or your father. Your name and your line will vanish from the earth.
“It’s not gone. I just got off the phone with my accountant this morning. My property even burnt to the ground is worth 3 million dollars and the Bane Family Trust is up to $975,000.”
“So what? You say you hated your dad because he hoarded his money and used it to make everyone around him do what he wanted? Now that you have that money and what are you trying to do with it? The same thing.”
“So, what do you think I should do? Just let you be in charge of the money?”
“You say I’m the Angel of the Lord. If you can’t trust me to double your money, who can you trust? But seriously I can’t tell you what to do because I have never been in your shoes before. There has never been a day when I didn’t have to worry about anyone depending on me but you don’t have to worry about anyone else. So no, I don't know what to tell you. You are the one who told me not to sell the house and said that I had nothing to worry about .”
“Now I’m telling you. You’re fired.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked him.
“It means you can take your dog and pony show on the road. I’ll find somewhere else to live.”
“Ok, You are welcome to stay as long as you want but if that’s what you want to do that’s fine. I just don’t understand. First you tell me that I am the Angel of the Lord. Now you don’t want to hear what I have to say.”
“You are the Angel of the Lord but I’m His lawyer.”
“Again. What does that mean?”
“It means you need to recognize who the one true God is. Krishna was a man. You admitted it yourself.”
“No, I said that even if Krishna was just a man everything he said about living an honorable life is true today. Sanatan Dharma, the science of self-realization doesn’t require a belief in anything. It’s like going to the gym. If you practice it you will evolve spiritually. I don’t have to believe Krishna was God to follow his advice just like you don’t need to believe Jesus was the son of god to follow his commands and love your fellow man.”
“He wasn’t just the Son of God. He was his only son. And that $40,000 came from Him.”
“Again, I’m not going to argue about this because I’m actually living on a cloud of Lord Krishna’s mercy at this point and I really can't look down. I should have crashed and burned a long time ago but I haven’t and I can’t afford to lose faith because I actually go from miracle to miracle like Tarzan swinging from vine to vine. I have to keep looking up to catch the next miracle or I fall. To most people having someone give them 40,000 would be a once in a lifetime thing but it has happened to me before. That’s how I got my first movie made. You are not the first person to come stay with me when they lost everything in a fire either. Nick Nolte’s family came and stayed with us after they lost their home the Malibu Fire. So, have I come to expect miracles? Yes. Do I depend on them? Absolutely.” I admitted.
“I am the miracle you depended on, and I was sent by Yahweh not Krishna.” Oliver insisted.
“That was a miracle and I am eternally grateful to you but did Jesus or Krishna really burn down the entire Pacific Palisades so that you could come live with us and pay our mortgage for a month? Do you really believe that?” I asked.
“That house was falling apart. Jesus burned down the Palisades so that I could be free of my problems, not so I could take on your responsibilities.”
“So Jesus burnt down the Palisades and then he sent you to the wrong house? Is that it?” I asked him.
“I work for the Jew and if you want to chant and dance around you can ask Krishna to pick up the tab. You are dismissed” Oliver said in his best Colonel Kurtz voice.
I paused for a moment not knowing what else to say. During the last month Oliver’s behavior had become increasingly more erratic. When he wasn’t playing the part of God’s chosen one he played the part of different characters from movies like Godfather, Scarface and of course Bane (like his last name) from Batman. He had even told me on a few occasions that he was Lucifer. Now he imagined himself to be Kurtz from “Apocalypse Now”. Maybe he thought that I was Captain Willard coming to kill him.
I had been trying to make sense of all this but I was more confused than ever. I was used to eccentric behavior but this was something else. I was genuinely concerned for Oliver’s mental health, but what really frightened me was that in all the world Oliver was the only person who had helped me. None of my friends or neighbors had offered to help me and the ones that I did ask turned me down flat. I still desperately wanted to believe that Krishna was watching over me and had sent someone to help me and that Oliver was not just crazy. After all, if Oliver was crazy did that mean I was crazy too?
“I wish you all the best.” I said.
I got up and walked out, closing the door quietly behind me, not wanting to excite him further. It has been my experience that just as pretty girls get boys to hang on their every word and then think of themselves as intelligent, the children of inherited wealth get their way so often they think they are inspired when they are actually prone to insanity. This could not be how Christians and Jews really act? Did they really just move somewhere, and then decide the place belongs to them and try to convert the locals? I was starting to feel like a like an Native American or a Palestinian. It had been 3 months since Oliver had moved in and as much as I appreciated his help I was getting tired of walking around on my tiptoes waiting for Oliver to make it rain the “manna from heaven” as he had promised. I walked upstairs to tell Lisa what had happened. We both agreed Oliver’s mental state was becoming a concern but what could we do?
Three days later Oliver Bane and Bandit moved out. He was polite but left all the gifts that I had given him behind. I have tried to contact Oliver but he has never answered my calls or returned my texts. Who knows. Maybe Olivier and Tara reunited and they are raising her baby together or maybe he was off helping some other people he ran into. It would be easy to dismiss Oliver as a madman but I can’t bring myself to do it. Oliver had helped me more than any of my sane friends ever did.
It was early morning the next day and I was busy typing when the phone rang. It was a New York number. Thinking it was probably a telemarketer, I let it go to voicemail. Then I remembered that I had sent a query letter to Jay Shetty’s talent agency asking him to represent me in distributing my first film “Karma to Burn” in India. Jay Shetty is a famous internet influencer/guru who had grown up in the Hare Krishna movement like me and he recently opened a talent agency in Beverly Hills. I had reached out to Mr. Shetty about his agency representing me but did not hear back from him.
I did not hear back from Mr. Shetty and so I called Mr. Shetty’s guru Radhanatha Swami and asked him to help me get in touch with him. Ricard Slavin AKA Radhanatha Swami was one of the most influential Hare Krishna gurus in India and had written a book called “The Journey Home.” Radhanatha Swami had stayed in our home in New Vrindavan when he first arrived there as a long haired hippie in the early ‘70 and I had known him for years. Radhanatha Swami’s disciples were very kind and wonderful devotees and I have great respect for him.
Radhanatha Swami was rumored to be one of the co-conspirators involved in the murder of Steven Bryant who was threatening to expose Kirtananda Swami but I truly believe that he thought that he was doing the right thing at the time. All religions have a bit of fanaticism to them and our religion while claiming to be non-violent justifies the killing of blasphemers. Radhanatha Swami survived the legal battle and went on to become one of the most powerful and influential gurus in India. His followers had built hospitals and shelters and fed thousands of people a day and were known for their exemplary behavior. Whatever he may have done in the past, like Robert Dinero in “The Mission” I felt that Radhanatha Swami had more than atoned for any sins that he may have committed. I had called Radhanatha Swami who had a New York phone number and left him a message. Thinking it might be Radhanatha Swami, I decided to call the number back. I picked up the phone and hit the call back button.
“This is Eva Mcann from CNN?” The voice on the other end answered. This was a total surprise. CNN? WTF?
“This is Jason Detamore. What can I do for you?” I replied.
“Was it you I was talking to? Are you part of the group that was protesting last night?”
“No, that wasn’t me. I was here at home.”
“I’m looking to speak to someone from Felons 4 Trump.”
“Felon’s 4 Trump”? I asked. “What do you want to know about it?”
“I got this phone number off the Facebook Page Felons 4 Trump. So, you are not the person I was talking with yesterday?
“No, that wasn’t me.” I answered her.
“Do you own the Facebook Page Felons 4 Trump?”
“Yes, I do.” I replied.
This was a total shock. After Donald Trump had been shot I had designed a bumper sticker of Trump with his fist raised and flipping the bird that read “You Missed. I created a Facebook Page called Felons 4 Trump to sell the “You Missed” merchandise. Using an AI program, I designed a flag that combined the US, Mexican and Canadian flags. All and all I spent about an hour total on the Facebook page Felons 4 Trump. The page didn’t have a single follower or like but now I had a reporter from the CNN Political Desk in Washington, DC on the phone asking me about it.
You Missed Sticker created by Author
This absolutely blew my mind. For years I had been trying to get someone in the media to pay attention to my story but they could care less. Now that I made a Facebook Page as a gimmick I had a reporter from CNN on the phone calling me. Unreal. I told Ms. McCann that I had created the Felons 4 Trump page after the State of California had sent the National Guard to raid and close the business we had spent 10 years building after we refused to pay a $100,000 bribe to a former California state senator. I told her that I had reported this to the FBI and that when I first heard that it was someone from CNN on the phone, I thought that maybe someone was finally investigating my case and paying attention. I was wrong. Ms. McCann was not really interested in my story. She was following up on another outfit with a similar name. It seemed like some cosmic joke that after being robbed, kidnapped and having my life’s work taken away from me the only thing that anyone in the media noticed was a stunt I pulled on Facebook to try and sell bumper stickers to Trump supporters. What a colossal joke it all was. I had to laugh.
I asked myself what the point of writing this book was. After all, I had failed spectacularly at almost everything I had tried. I had been duped by predators and had let them walk all over me. I was facing prison and bankruptcy and so I didn’t feel qualified to give anyone advice on life. Sure a lot of things had happened to me but did I really have anything important to say? That is unless Jesus really had burned down the Pacific Palisades so that Oliver Bane would get me to tell the world the story of the “Angel of the Lord.” Oliver Bane was gone by now. We had quarreled and he vanished without a trace, but I really did feel responsible to fulfill my obligation to finish what I started. I decided to take Ms. McCann's call as a sign. I told myself that all I needed to do was finish the story and the rest would take care of itself.
“The wind it was a-howlin', and the snow was outrageous
We chopped through the night
And we chopped through the dawn
When he died, I was hopin' that it wasn’t contagious
But I made up my mind that I had to go on”
“Isis’”
Bob Dylan