LEVEL 2 = Christ Killer follows the LEVEL 1 = Peace Of Mind album by American Zen. Richard Del Connor “Richard O’Connor” a.k.a. “The Coyote” and in 2007 became, The Hippy Coyote, moved to Salt Lake City in 1991 when the Mormon religion was 74% of the population. They didn’t get along with any other religions, especially the Catholics. Richard was raised Catholic and in the last years of residence in Utah, joined the Hibernian Society which was entirely Catholic. So Richard got to hear many stories of their religious battles with the Church of Religious Saints over the last 100 years.
But Richard Del Connor was unable to support himself in the music and movie industry of Utah, so Shaolin Kung Fu and Yang Tai Chi Chuan became his best way of making money. “My Kung Fu hobby became my business, and my record company became my hobby,” explained Richard to his Shaolin Chi Mantis students.
Since 1980 Richard had been studying Shaolin Kung Fu and while attending film school at UCLA from 1984 to 1987 he studied Buddhism and Taoism. Since Shaolin Kung Fu was established in a Zen Buddhist temple and Tai Chi Chuan was from the Taoist temple on Mt. Wutang… Richard transformed from an atheist to a Buddhist/Taoist. This really pissed off the Mormons when word spread through the Church of Latter Saints that a long-haired California Hippie Buddhist was teaching Tai Chi classes in Liberty Park, their ancestral stronghold.
LEVEL 2 = Christ Killer begins with intense religious conflicts but as Richard Del Connor, who was named by the Chinese in 1993, Zhen Shen-Lang “Spirit Wolf of Truth,” became close friends with many “disenfranchised Mormons” in his Kung Fu classes–he learned to appreciate how the Mormon religion had actually benefitted the Utah pioneers and supported the success of their families. Richard even learned to appreciate the benefits of polygamy as some of his students confessed to being raised in them and he got a first-hand view of their workings in Salt Lake City.
So LEVEL 2 = Christ Killer ends on a positive friendly note with Richard Del Connor being accepted by the Mormons and Richard accepting them.
- The Hippy Coyote: songwriter, singer,acoustic guitar, flute
- Rory G: electric guitar, slide guitar, ukulele, analog synthesizer
- Steve Hixon: drums, percussion
- Tom Calder: electric bass, backing vocal
- Don delaVega: recording engineer
Produced by Richard Del Connor “Richard O’Connor” for Shaolin Records.
Copyright 2007 Shaolin Music. All rights reserved. ASCAP
Copyright 2007 Shaolin Records. Distributed by Shaolin Communications.
