July 10/11, 1998

The Transcription
 

PART ONE
 

Art Bell:
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Benjamin Creme began studying art at an early age, developing into an accomplished painter in the modernistic style. His paintings have been exhibited in a number of prestigious galleries. Throughout the early years Creme also studied various aspects of esoteric philosophy, in particular the teachings released in the late 1800’s... he’ll tell you about those.

 

Those teachings led him to believe in the existence of "Masters of Wisdom", a group of perfected men who are the custodians of "The Divine Plan" for our planet. It nevertheless came as a complete surprise to him when in ’59 he apparently was contacted by one of these "Masters". He was told, among other things, that Maitreya, "The Master of All Masters", would return to live in the everyday world in about 20 years, and that Creme would, if he chose to, have a role in this coming. Wow.

 

More than a decade later, in ’72, Creme began a period of arduous training under his master’s direction, to prepare him for this coming task. In ’74 he gave the first public talk on the emergence, soon giving weekly lectures in London. He has now, actually I believe, spoken all over the world... as many as 70... actually his magazine is produced in five languages by a volunteer staff, and read in 70 countries. He normally resides in London with his wife and children, and now is a representative, uh, of Maitreya. A roving ambassador at large, if you will. I wonder if he’s really, uh a, here is Benjamin Creme... Benjamin, are you a dangerous guy?
Benjamin Creme:
Oh! Yes I suppose I am...


Art Bell:
Are you?
Benjamin Creme:
Very dangerous indeed! (Art laughs) Because what I am talking about is nothing less than the complete transformation of this world, along better lines.


Art Bell:
Well, it could use some of that...
Benjamin Creme:
Yes indeed. So I guess I’m a very dangerous person to be if you are talking to people who are totally encased in the values of today, and in love with the present day structures, however evil, however insane they might be.


Art Bell:
Uh huh... well, evil and insane are a couple of good words I think that describe today in an awful lot of ways... I wrote a book, I understand you read it, or at least excerpts...
Benjamin Creme:
Actually I have been enjoying it, yes, I’ve been reading it over the last few days...


Art Bell:
...called "The Quickening"... and unfortunately much of what I wrote a couple of years ago, uh, is now manifesting itself around the world.
Benjamin Creme:
Yes, yes, absolutely so...


Art Bell:
...and, um, perhaps in your unique position, you could explain to me what’s going on?
Benjamin Creme:
Well, something quite extraordinary is going on... nothing less than the emergence into our midst of that group of perfected men that you spoke of, "The Masters of Wisdom", and the master of all the masters, "The Lord Maitreya".


Art Bell:
Are these what others call "ascended masters"?
Benjamin Creme:
Well, some of them are ascended.. it’s a, it’s a hierarchy... there are masters of different degrees. ("Uh huh...") There are the ordinary masters, as it were, who have taken all five of the major planetary initiations, which eventually has a master... then there are degrees above that of cosmic awarenesses which make you an ascended master. But not all the masters are ascended.


Art Bell:
Um, take me back to when you were first contacted... uh, it has to be, uh, at least it had to be at that moment, a very strange unsettling experience for you... what happened?
Benjamin Creme:
Well, a man came to me, and told me that I was receiving messages, communications, from the Masters. I knew about the Masters... I’d read about them through the Theosophical teachings, through the Alice Bailey teachings, the Agna Yoga {?} teachings... and firmly believed in their reality, but had not the slightest expectation of any kind of contact with them.


Art Bell:
Was this a mortal man who came to you?
Benjamin Creme:
Yes, absolutely!


Art Bell:
Just, I mean, not... one day, you know, knock on your door, or what?
Benjamin Creme:
Well, I knew him in another function, but he told me one day that I was receiving communications from the Masters, and I said "No, I’m not!" He said, "Oh yes you are, and I’ve been sent to tell you that you are!" I said, "Well, I don’t hear them" It is normally a telepathic rapport which they establish with their disciples. He said, "No, the messages come to you, but they just bounce off you". I said, "Why is that?" He said, "Because you’re not open." Now, I didn’t know what that meant, because as I say I believed in the fact of the masters, but I wasn’t thinking about them, I wasn’t expecting any communications... I just believed in their existence. He said, "Don’t worry, It’ll come, it’ll settle down". And probably because I had been alerted to the fact, they soon, about, hmm, I’ve forgotten now, about five, maybe six weeks, the first contact got through.

 

It was the 3rd of January, 1959, and I had... it was as if a beam of light or energy had been focused at my head and my consciousness was raised by several notches. And there was created a kind of inner tranquil space. All my own thoughts disappeared, and into that space was placed a message as clear as your voice over the telephone now. It said, "Go to", if you know London, "Blackfriar’s Bridge, south side, Blackheath side". And it gave me a date, it was about three weeks ahead... 18th of January, 9, uhh, 9:30pm... and I wrote this down so I wouldn’t forget it, ("Right...") and uh, on the time I went out there with quite a thrilling expectation, I didn’t know what I was going to find, and I crossed the bridge down to the south side. There was no one about... it’s a very, uh, business area, south side of Blackfriar’s bridge, and at night it was pretty deserted.

 

And there was a car waiting at the far end of the bridge, and I sidled up and sort of looked inside it, and there were some people in it who I didn’t know, but one of them was the man who had come and told me I was receiving these, these communications from the masters. ("Oh, my...") The whole thing started from there. ("Uh huh...")

 

The master’s voice got louder, as I might say. He told me to get a tape recorder. I got a small uh, Grundig{?}, uh, tape recorder, and he began to give me long dictations, which I simply mouthed aloud while I recorded. And he kept doing this for about three months and the, he was really perfecting the telepathic rapport. I got quicker and quicker and quicker at it. I could get it, you know, without hesitation... in the beginning it was a bit slow, but I got very good at it and just recorded whatever he said.. And then it was sometime in March, um, same year, in 1959, he suddenly said, "Now switch off the machine and kneel down."

 

Then he said, "Now our master, Maitreya himself, has something important to tell you." Then I had the most extraordinary experience of my life to date. I was overshadowed, as it’s called, by Maitreya. Some probably some minuscule fragment of his consciousness entered into mine, and I was filled with the love of all the world.

 

An extraordinary experience of total identification with everything and everybody in the world. A kind of universal experience such as I had never felt before. I was filled with this tremendous energy, of love.. and at the same time he gave me a vision of how the masters see reality. It was as if I was inside a great sphere, a white sphere of light, and.. what I have to say, on the right side and the left side, because there weren’t really sides, but just as a way of describing it...

 

On my right side I could see all the events of the past which had ever taken place, going back and back, so in full{?}, back and back and back into the predawn of time. And I could see events about which I seemed to recognize from, from history in school, and so on... ("Uh huh") Kings and queens, and battles and, and terrible catastrophes and various events in history. And there was a kind of thin film over everything so it wasn’t sharp, but it was quite clear nevertheless, and all in color.

 

And then on my other side as it were, my left side, I could see all the events of the future, which were simultaneously taking place. I could see myself in the future, I could see Maitreya, I could see the Masters, I could see crowds of people filled with joy shouting and calling for Maitreya, and weeping and so glad.. it was, it was an extraordinary scene, and on and on into the future. And all of this was taking place simultaneously. ("What a rem...") That is how the Masters see the world.


Art Bell:
What a remarkable story! Now, I, I’m... it’s sort of impertinent, but I have to pose this question. There are many people who see visions and hear voices, and, uh, it is a rather common psychological malady, so it’s a question that, er uh, should be asked right away... How are you sure that you were not suffering some sort of, um, psychological malady when all of this occurred?
Benjamin Creme:
Well, I was prepared by the master, you know, this didn’t happen in a kind of vacuum. This happened in response to the overshadowing by Maitreya, which had never occurred before, and was prepared in advance for me by the master, with whom I had been working daily for the three months before that time... from the beginning of January till sometime in March. So it wasn’t something that just happened and I didn’t know where it was coming from. ("Uh huh") I knew very well where it was coming from!


Art Bell:
But even slowly, uh, even in, in a, preparatory manner, um, how could you be sure that what you were being told, what you were seeing and hearing, was real? Prepared for it or not, how could you be...
Benjamin Creme:
Well, I uh, if I may say... put it this way: When I was first contacted by the master I made er, him prove his reality to me in dozens and dozens of ways. And he did, he made things disappear, he, he healed animals, and birds, he healed people... He did the most extraordinary things at my request to prove the validity of his being.


Art Bell:
All right, let’s understand who we’re speaking of here... uh, Maitreya, you.. is Maitreya Jesus, and Buddha, and uh, Allah, and um, all that is worshipped on earth now?
Benjamin Creme:
No... ("No?") No, Maitreya is the World Teacher in that group of, from our point of view, perfected men, who are the spiritual hierarchy or uh, spiritual uh, esoteric hierarchy of the planet. They are the custodians of the plan of evolution for this planet. Most people think, I imagine, that evolution proceeds in a kind of haphazard way... it does not! It proceeds according to a very definite plan, for the unfolding of the potential of the human race, and of the subhuman races, until a certain stage of perfection of that evolutionary process is reached, and the planet will have fulfilled the, the uh, plan of the heavenly man, the, The Planetary Logos, whose body of expression this planet is.


Art Bell:
Well, believe me when I tell you that right now a lot of Christians are listening. And, um, they will of course, uh, talk of Jesus, and they will consider the, the, oh, I want to say "person", is it.. is it proper to ret... the Messiah...you ref, you refer to Maitreya as the Messiah, correct?
Benjamin Creme:
Maitreya is expected by all religious people, under different names. Christians await the return of the Christ as Jesus...


Art Bell:
Right!
Benjamin Creme:
Maitreya overshadowed Jesus from the Baptism to the Crucifixion, 2000 years ago in Palestine, and manifested himself as "The Christ". Maitreya is the Christ in that he embodies in himself... he is so advanced and so pure, he can actually embody, not simply channel through himself, but embody in his own being what we call this "Christ Principle". So this planet has created a "Christ". However un-advanced this planet is... and this is an extraordinary achievement... we, the earth, have created a being high enough to embody "The Christ Principal". And that is what Maitreya is... he overshadowed Krishna, and worked through Krishna.

 

He overshadowed Shankilacharia{?} and others and worked through them. He overshadowed Jesus, from the Baptism to the Crucifixion, and he showed the love aspect... the Christ aspect is the love aspect... and he is the embodiment of all, of love. He showed that love in a man, in its perfection, for the first time, through Jesus.


Art Bell:
Well, Benjamin...
Benjamin Creme:
And Jesus is now one of his closest associates, ("Associates?") one of the advanced, as we mentioned earlier, ascended masters.


Art Bell:
Well, what would you say to Christians who await the return of Christ?
Benjamin Creme:
Well, they are right! They, he, they are awaiting the return of Christ. The Buddhists call him Maitreya Buddha, foretold to come now by Gautana Buddha, who said at this time would come into the world, another great teacher, a Buddha like himself, by name Maitreya, who from his great spiritual stature would galvanize and inspire humanity to create a brilliant golden civilization ("There’s also...") based equally on righteousness and truth.


Art Bell:
Benjamin, there’s also one coming who might be called "Betraya". It’s gonna be the Antichrist, and there are many I bet who believe that what you’re talking about may be the emergence, or the appearance of the Antichrist. So we’ll ask you about that when we get back, ("Very good") and also it, it is true, that you believe that Maitreya, as you call him, is here on Earth right now, correct?
Benjamin Creme:
Right now! Living in London, England.


Art Bell:
Living in London? All right. OK. Uh, we’re gonna break here, at the bottom of the hour. Zillions of you have requested Benjamin Creme and tonight he’s here. I’m Art Bell, and this is Coast to Coast AM.

 

The Transcription


PART TWO


Art Bell:
All right, uh, the same person who said Benjamin Creme is dangerous now writes and asks, "You ask what’s dangerous Art? Why don’t you ask one of your favorite guests, Malachi Martin, what he thinks about Benjamin Crème?" Well I will. Because Malachi Martin will be here Monday night. (promotion etc.....for other shows)
Let’s go back now to Benjamin Creme, I think he’s... Benjamin, you’re in New York, aren’t you?
Benjamin Creme:
I’m in New York, yes.


Art Bell:
And uh actually you that is the very same place Father Malachi Martin is, been advisor to a couple of popes, remarkable man, and my fax here says why I should ask Malachi Martin about you. Why do you think a Catholic priest would have to say about what your saying?
Benjamin Creme:
He would think I was talking about the devil, Art, as you said "The Antichrist"... yes. ("Yes...") Betraya!


Art Bell:
Yes, Betreya I’m calling him. ("Yes...") How do you know that you’re not?
Benjamin Creme:
Well, there is a total misunderstanding of what the antichrist is. Most Catholics...most Orthodox Christians see the Antichrist as a man who will come before The Christ and could even be mistaken for The Christ...


Art Bell:
Right!
Benjamin Creme:
...or promise, you know, the moon to humanity but in fact he is really the devil incarnate. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not a man. The Antichrist is an energy. A force. A destructive force which is deliberately released to break down the Old Order and prepare the way for the Christ. It’s in the Revelation of Saint John as you know. The beast, 666, is unchained for a time and then chained down for a time, and half a time. This refers to what we call the Antichrist Energy.

 

It is the destructive aspect of the first aspect of God ,God the Father aspect of God, the will aspect in esoteric terminology... two phases, in its constructive positive phase it is the will to good. In its destructive phase it is what we call the Antichrist. It is deliberately released to break down that which precedes the advent of the Christ. It was released in John’s own day through the Emperor Nero to bring an end to the, uh, the Roman dispensation to prepare the way for Christendom. It was released again in our time through Hitler, a group around him in Nazi Germany together with a group of militarists in Japan and a further group around Mussolini in Italy. And these three powers, the Axis Powers in the war with the Allies, from 1939 to 45, embodied the energy we call The Antichrist.

 

Not just their evil, but the evil of all humanity from the very beginning. By the defeat of the Axis powers, by the Allies, behind whom stood Maitreya and the forces of light; the virtual hierarchy of our planet and the Masters of Wisdom and Maitreya at the head, the forces of evil on this planet are defeated. Not destroyed but defeated for the time being. So the beast has been released, now it must be chained down for a time and half a time. That refers to the time the age which was now opening, the Age of Aquarius as we call it, ("Yes...") which will be the next 2350 to 500 years plus half the succeeding age: The Age of Capricorn, when the beast will be released once again.

 

There will be another great war at that time which will be fought out on the mental planes and one day will end with the complete destruction of the forces of evil on this planet. It has been released on the Astral Planes for 1000’s of years. Over the last 100,000 years that war has been going on on the Astral Planes. Precipitated by Hitler and company onto the physical plane, really from 1914 through 1918 and then again from 1939 to 1945, because from the Master’s point of view that is really one war which went underground in ’18 and came up again above ground in 1939.


Art Bell:
You said that you...
Benjamin Creme:
So, the Antichrist is gone! It’s been, it’s gone, it’s done its destructive work. That is the little Armageddon. The True, GREAT Armageddon will not take place until the middle of the Age of Capricorn in about 3,500 years from now.


Art Bell:
Al right, you said that you were shown the past, ("Yes...") and you were also shown the future. Well, I’m particularly interested in the future. What, uh, what can you tell us about what you saw. What lies ahead for us.
Benjamin Creme:
What lies ahead for humanity if it makes the right decisions, and Maitreya is convinced that we shall make the right decisions due to his work. That is why he’s here.... to inspire humanity to make the right decisions, to create what will be a completely new type of world. He brings heavenly energies and we change the world so we have a new heaven and a new earth as it says in the Bible. And Maitreya puts it this way: "When you see and hear me you will realize that you have known for long the truths which I utter: sharing and justice. Brotherhood and freedom are not new concepts.

 

From the dawn of time mankind has linked his aspiration to these beckoning Stars. Now my friends shall we anchor them in the world!" These are the words of Maitreya through me. ("Okay") And that’s what we shall do. We shall create through sharing of the world’s resources for the first time on the world scale: Justice in the world! A new brotherhood! A realization of the brotherhood and sisterhood of all people! ("Well, right now...") One Family!


Art Bell:
Right now resources, uh, in the world are severely limited and appear to be finite and are being used up rather quickly... so how are we going to do this sharing?
Benjamin Creme:
Well they are in fact used up by the developed 1/3 of the world...


Art Bell:
That’s correct...
Benjamin Creme:
...the third of the world which we are a part usurps 3/4 of the world’s food and 83% of all other resources.


Art Bell:
Uh, well for example...
Benjamin Creme:
(tries to speak)


Art Bell:
Let’s take oil for example, Benjamin, if we continue to use oil that we pull from the ground at current rates in 40 to 45 years or less all of the oil is going to be gone. ("Yes...") Now if 1/3 of the world or less is using all of this oil and the other 2/3’s of this world is quickly trying to become what we are, again I ask, how are we going to share these resources?
Benjamin Creme:
Well we don’t bother about the oil for we shall have a new technology...("We shall?") Maitreya calls it the Technology Of Light, which will give us unlimited power for all our activities for all industry for heating and lighting and transport and every other aspect! We shall have unlimited energy directly from the sun itself.

 

This is the new Technology of Light, which when we share the results with the world, and guarantee justice for all people everywhere, and therefore the possibility of peace for the first time - because without justice there will never be peace and without sharing there will never be justice - so if we accept Maitreya’s premise that we are One and that the resources of the world are given by divine providence for all of us, and share more equitably the resources of the world, create justice and create for the first time peace in the world, then that technology will become ours ("Even the most...") it will be most powerful technology that we can imagine, cosmic in source, but without peace in the world it would be the most dangerous technology that we could use.


Art Bell:
Well, even, even Christians, uh, Benjamin, uh, tend to take the attitude that, because what they, uh, read in the Bible, that resources are given to us to use... no problem, go ahead and use them, that’s what they are there for. That kind of attitude and that sounds a little like...
Benjamin Creme:
It’s foolish! (Creme laughs). I mean we are destroying the planet by, by misusing the resources.


Art Bell:
All right, well you said that, uh, Maitreya said that we will make the right decisions. I don’t see any evidence of that just yet.
Benjamin Creme:
Well according to the Masters we are beginning to do so. According to the Masters, and I think its clear if you look at the world today even compared with even 10 years ago or 15 years ago, Maitreya came into the world, I mean literally into the modern world, into London, in July, 1977 and since that time, from behind the scenes, through certain individuals in the, uh, heads of government and so on, he has been creating the conditions which we now see. The end of the cold war, the opening up and the freeing of the states of, of Russia, ("Well, yes...") the coming together of the two Germanys, Capitalist West Germany and Communist East Germany.

 

An unthinkable thing has happened! The, the uh, extraordinary transformation in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was for 27 years was incarcerated in prison as the head of a proscribed organization and he, he is now President of a, a new South Africa. ("Yes...") Apartheid is a thing of the past. All of that is really the result of the inspiration of Maitreya. He inspired Mr. Gorbachev to come to America and to talk peace and to open up, eh, er, through glasnost the Soviet Union. He, He uh, came to Nelson Mandela in his prison cell and told him to write to the president for a meeting and Nelson Mandela smiled and said, "Look, I cannot even get a meeting with the, with the governor of the prison" And Maitreya said, "Never mind, I know that...but you write the letter and you’ll see. I will do the rest.


Art Bell:
Okay, uh, is Maitreya, uh, Maitreya is now a physical mortal-form being who lives in London. Was Maitreya born as an infant?
Benjamin Creme:
No, ("No.") He is in a self-created body. Many of the Masters appear in a self-created body which is called the Myavirupa{?} which literally means the body of illusions...


Art Bell:
So in other words, Maitreya, Maitreya then appeared as, in an adult form, is that ...
Benjamin Creme:
In adult form, yes...("Okay, in 1977...") and he has the ability to change that form at will! ("Oh...") He can be old or young, fair, dark, a man, a woman, a child, whatever he wishes to be.


Art Bell:
Have you, in the physical, met with Maitreya in London?
Benjamin Creme:
I have, but not in his real form. I met him, uh, as a woman, a refugee woman in a train in London with a child and she, heheh, so-called "she", asked me for some money, I gave her some money. The child looked miserable and she went up and down the, the uh, train, you know, begging, but ("Yes...") in the carriage where I met her there was no one else in the carriage so she wasn’t making much money. And uh, the child actually was the Master Jesus. And this sort of happening occurs all the time. The Masters work together. Maitreya and the Master Jesus seem to be incredibly close and they work together all the time. Sometimes one is a man. The other time the other one is a man, and so on... they change positions and change appearance and so on.


Art Bell:
Do you realize what you just...
Benjamin Creme:
The last time I met him was in California.


Art Bell:
California?
Benjamin Creme:
In Berkley, where...


Art Bell:
Berkley
Benjamin Creme:
Yeah, Berkley, California where he appeared as uh, I suppose you would say as a modern day, slightly hippie, quite casually dressed, but nicely dressed, uh, with a little bomber jacket on and uh, and a hat and he asked me for a couple of dollars to, for gas for his uh, truck. I couldn’t see any truck so I gave him a couple of dollars. And that was Maitreya!


Art Bell:
How do you know?
Benjamin Creme:
It looked like Maitreya... {?} as he looked


Art Bell:
How do you know?
Benjamin Creme:
Well, I’m in touch with one of the Masters, I have a moment to moment contact with one of Maitreya’s closest disciples. And through this moment to moment contact I can verify any experience I have. And if Maitreya wishes to appear as a, as a beggar man as he has often does, and hundreds of people have such experiences, I can ask the master, "Was that Maitreya" and some days "No it wasn’t at all" and some days "Yes it was, and that was the Master Jesus". I have seen the Master Jesus years ago, who came to my house in London, and uh, asked if I could give him something to eat...


Art Bell:
Do you have any idea... do you have any idea of how many toes you’re stepping on with this?
Benjamin Creme:
Oh I know that! That’s why I’m dangerous.


Art Bell:
I, I, I’m beginning to agree with the faxer! You, you are kinda dangerous...
Benjamin Creme:
Well, dangerous in the sense that this upsets the conventional view of life and the future.


Art Bell:
Oh! This upsets nearly everybody!
Benjamin Creme:
But it must! Times, as you know, are changing.... ("Yes...") and the changing times bring new personalities in different ways into the world and old conceptions of the Bible story and the gospels and so on have to change. The people who will find it probably hardest of all to accept Maitreya are the leaders of the Christian and uh, the Jewish organizations!


Art Bell:
Absolutely! All right, let me try and ask you a really hard question...
Benjamin Creme:
But, they had the same problem 2000 years ago ("Yep, yep, I know...") when Jesus was there among them and they didn’t recognize him.


Art Bell:
Look, let me ask you a tough question. You said it was proven to you in so many ways that Maitreya was real. You saw miracles. Miracles were performed for you.
Benjamin Creme:
By my master... ("Yes, now...") My master is not Maitreya, ("now...") my master is a disciple of Maitreya


Art Bell:
I understand that, but, um, from the point of view of those who are listening to you right now, uh they, they would ask if this is all true, then why not request and receive for the world, undeniable proof in the form of some sort of miracle that would cause people to believe as concretely as you do.
Benjamin Creme:
The world today is filled with miracles. Let me just mention a few of them. Maitreya says, "Those who search for signs, will find them. But my method of manifestation is most important" But the world is filled with signs of his presence. Take for instance, in the Christian world, the appearances of the Madonna all over the world. The moving Madonna, the statues which literally move, which open their eyes, clasp the hands and unclasp themselves. These are made of, uh, plaster or stone, wood, and so on. The icons of Jesus which cry, the, the Madonnas which cry real tears, sometimes blood, this is happening by the hundreds of thousands all over the world.

 

Now, in the, in the eastern world among the Hindus we have the extraordinary milk miracles, in September, 1996 when for four days the statues of, of Gadasha{?}, and Shiva and so on... when offered milk, lapped up the milk. The milk literally disappeared by the millions of gallons. The, the milk ran dry in India. The, the shops "shut all of its stuff"[?]. The streets were filled with long queues going to the temples, many of them to the temples for the first time in their lives to watch this miraculous happening. We saw it in London, in the temples in London, where the cameras were taken in, the television cameras and even the operators, the camera operators of the, of the, uh, the interviewer would hold out the milk in a cup or a spoon to the statue which is made of wood, which is made of copper, bronze, silver, brass, and the milk literally disappeared every single time.

 

That I think is the most widespread and the greatest type of miracle which has ever happened in the world. It was all over: north, south, east, and west... wherever that ritual was performed. The milk was not, of course, drunk by the, by the statues made of brass and teak and so on... ("Right...") It was made to disappear by Maitreya and a group of Masters who do that kind of thing.


Art Bell:
Was it in any way announced beforehand?
Benjamin Creme:
No. ("No...") It suddenly happened. There is a window in Clearwater, in Florida... there is a, a building...


Art Bell:
I’ve seen it. I’ve got the photograph. I know, I know
Benjamin Creme:
It’s got a huge icon of Madonna, 35 feet high, in brilliant color, and when it was damaged by vandals , the color reasserted itself...


Art Bell:
Oh, no, That’s absolutely true! Uh, Benjamin, hold on, we’re at the top of the hour. Uh, the building he refers to... yes! It was vandalized and miraculously the image, overnight, was suddenly cleared up. That is an absolutely true story. Benjamin Crème is my guest and we’re going to open phone lines when we come back, and I imagine they will be blistering! From the high desert, this is Coast to Coast AM.