ISBN: 0971588201Author's Note: Just so you know, this book is intentionally written in "Yous Guys Brooklynese"
ISBN: 0971588201
ROCK, AND A HARD PLACE
By
J. Vincent Martin
Page 1
20The day of the concert we met at Moe's pad at one. Everyone showed up except Space. He had to be at the stadium at eight that morning to fine tune the electronics. Barry told me that they spent the previous day there rehearsing. They had met some of the guys from the Thugs, but Stevie was no where to be found. It seemed the "Star" had this thing about only one rehearsal before going on. They also managed to miss Sid somehow. But his nephew told them that he would catch their final rehearsal before show time.
"So you mean to tell me that Sid still doesn't know that you're opening the show yet?"
"Hey, his nephew did right by us. He told Sid we were great, real pros. He even got us the ten G's in advance."
"This should be really good, Barry. Thanks for the invite."
"Hey Duff, we wouldn't let you miss this for the world."
The guys had turned down the offer of a limo and decided to take their own cars. It had been a quite a few years since I drove to the stadium, so I was at the rear of the convoy in my renter. Strangely, when the stadium came into view, a kind of eerie feeling came over me. It was the house that Ruth had built, okay, but it was also palace where the Beatles were crowned. I felt like it was twenty years earlier and we were the sorcerer's apprentices about to do something we shouldn't be doing. But the feeling passed when we entered the parking lot.
We made our way to the infield where Space was still putting the finishing touches on the stage. He told us The Thugs had already headed back to their hotel for dinner and a nap. Then he cut himself loose from Mickey and his crew and led us to a "dressing room." The guys changed into their tuxes for the dress rehearsal and then we just hung out for awhile shucking and jiving. Then at ten to four, a guy wearing a headset suddenly popped in, "Mr. Trip wants you guys out on the stage. We all looked at each other, and Chick barked. "This is it!. Let's do it"
I walked out on to the field with the guys and wished them luck. Then I hopped a fence and took a seat in the stands. While the guys setting up on the stage, I lit up cigarette and I glanced around at my surroundings. My eyes were quickly drawn up to the bleachers. There were six guys sitting there, about fifteen rows up. Four of them were wearing suits and hard hats. The other two were in jeans and sweat shirts. The guys did a final tune up, and one of the sweat shirt people stood up with a bull horn.
"Okay, let's hear it from the top, people."
There were two loud shills through the PA system, and the guys hit their first song. Within seconds the guy in the white hard hat stood up and yanked the bull horn out of the other guy's hand. He quickly raised it to his mouth and yelled, "Hold it! Hold it a damn minute." Then he quickly advanced down the steps pushing the other five guys in front of him. When they got on the field it they looked like the Wyatt Earp gang heading towards the O K corral. Two minutes later, the whole entourage came to an abrupt halt before the stage. Sid did a squinting stare up at the guys, turned, and screamed at his nephew, "What the f_ck is this?"
Page 121
"These are the guys I told you about Uncle Sid. Tempo." Chick and the guys gave him a big Stymie smile and waved, "Hi... Sid!" Snarling, Sid quickly turned back to his nephew and shoved him with both hands, "Get security you half wit, and throw these bastards out. Now!"
"Uncle Sid, they’re the opening band. It's too late to get another band. Give them a chance, they're really good."
"I don't give a sh_t! I don't care if you have to go to the Bowery and drag a drunken harmonica player out of a bar. I want them out of here! Now!!!"
Coolly Wild Bill chimed in from the stage, "Hey Sid! You don't have to get nasty. We got our dough, we'll leave. Come on guys, let's pack it up." With that, the guy in the blue hard hat immediately grabbed Sid's shoulder and growled, "Sid, I think we need talk about this first."
A big conference broke out right in front of the stage, as the guys were putting their guitars in their cases. Then Suddenly, Sid stormed off, and the guy in the blue hard hat yelled up to them, "It's okay boys. You're going on tonight. Let's hear the rest of the set." When they finished the guy shouted up to them, "That's good. Real good! You go on at eight."
I retreated with the guys back to the dressing room. They quickly changed back into jeans to relax. Then Space told us he had to do a final systems check with Mickey. On the way out he smiled, 'I'll be back in an hour. Oh, and there's coffee and sandwiches in those bags guys. Knock yourselves out."
We sat around, munched, and bull sh_tted for awhile. Then the guys started playing with the costumes for their after hours event. An hour later, Sid made an appearance at the door. He quickly gave the guys one his crocodile smiles as he walked in.
"Hello boys!"
Chick nonchalantly returned the smile, "Have a seat Sid. How the hell have you been?"
"Oh, I've been doing alright. How have you been?"
"Can't complain."
"Look fellows! Why don't we let by gones be by gones "
"That's cool with us."
"Tell you what. If you guys are good tonight, I'll bring you on tour with us. How's that sound?"
"No can do, Sid. We don't do tours."
"Actually, that works out perfectly. I've already got other groups booked for the tour. I just thought I'd be nice and ask."
"We appreciate the thought, Sid." Then Space walked in and took a seat. A minute later the guy in the blue hard hat walked in with some concern on his face. He quickly announced, "Sid, we got a problem. I need to talk to you."
"Okay, Mike. But let me introduce you to Tempo first. We go back a long way."
"Boys this is Mike Hanna. He's one of the tours major backers."
Mike nodded with a smile and offered his hand. After the hand shakes he turned back to Sid, "It's 6:30 Sid, and the Thugs aren't here yet."
"Don't worry about it, Mike. I got a man with them to keep them out of trouble."
"Sid, they were suppose to be here at 6:30."
Page 122
"They're probably just tied up in traffic. I'll phone the limo." Then Sid smiled back at us as he withdrew with Mike, "I'll talk to you guys after the show. Good luck!"
"Thanks, Sid."
When they walked out the door, Wild Bill turned to Barry, "You think old Sid has mellowed?"
"No, I think he's setting us up for some kind of screwing."
Space kicked in, "He sure is guys. He still doesn't know that Mickey works for me. He gave him orders not to record a single note or camera frame from our set."
Barry smiled, "So what else is new? We'd never let him use it anyway."
Moe quickly queried, "Did his check clear, Barry?"
"Moe, did we ever get ripped for a nickel since I've been managing the band?"
Chick kicked in. "You know Barry, I always wanted to ask you about that. Remember that star's wedding we did in Vegas two years ago."
"Oh Yeah!, I remember it."
"Well after the fight, Didn't that ass hole said he was putting a stop payment on our check?"
"That's what he said okay."
"But I got a $1,000 transferred into my account from that job. What did you do, pay us out of your own pocket?"
"Hell no! Hey, I love you guys, but I ain't your mother. That was the jerk's money."
"How did you get it?"
"I'm a banker remember. All I need is the check in my hand and a phone. I wire drafted the clown's account the minute I got the check. There was nothing to put a stop payment on. The money was already in the account, and you can't put a stop payment on a completed transaction.." Just then, another head popped in the door, "7:30, a half hour to show time, guys." They started to get dressed and it was time for me to split. So I wished them luck and went outside.
I took a standing position by the stage and lit up a cigarette. I looked around at the lights, and scanned the stands. It was a full house, okay. Everyone was there from punks and little old ladies to three piece suits and teeny boppers. Then I caught a glimpse of Sid, Mike, and four other guys in suits arguing like hell at the other side of the stage. I couldn't hear what they were saying so I just stared at them for a while. It was something major okay. Then a stage hand elbowed me, "The Thugs ain't here yet, man. This might get real interesting." I turned back to look at Sid's group again, and Barry was now standing in their midst. Hands started flying up in the air and feet were stomping the ground. Suddenly, Barry turned around with a big shit eating grin on his face. He stuffed something in his breast pocket and trotted up the steps to the darkened stage. Two minutes later notes rang out over the PA system and the stage lit up to the cheers of the crowd.
Chick was standing in mid stage holding a mike and began the show. "Good evening folks and welcome to the Thugs Trash America Tour. We're the warm up band in case you haven't guessed. We call ourselves Tempo, and now we're going to warm you up!" Instantly Space's drums kicked in and the show was on.
Page 123
The guys took hold of the crowd and held them solid for the next half hour. While they were playing, I started getting more feed back from stage hands around me.
"Looks like these guys got a long night ahead of them."
"What do you mean?" .
"The Thugs are in jail, man."
"What?"
"Yeah, Quinn shot a cop."
"Get the f_ck out of here, man!"
"Hey, I ain't kidding! Their limo got into a fender bender on the way over here. Clash got pissed and started beating on the guy. When the cops arrived, the Thugs starting fighting with them. Somehow Quinn grabbed a gun from a cops holster and shot another cop in the gut."
"You're out of your mind, man!"
"Hey, that's what those guys talking about over there. The Thugs are in jail and the cop's in critical condition. There ain't a judge in town going to let them out on bail tonight."
I took a quick look at my watch and it was 8:35. Something wasn't right, okay. The guys should have been off at 8:30. Finally at 8:45 they did their last song and Chick took the mike.
"It seems the Thugs are running a little bit late folks. But if you can just stay cool for fifteen minutes, it will be definitely worth your while." That puzzled the crowd they started to rumble as the stage went black.
I went back stage and the guys were fixing their hair and dressing in their "Night Sky Journeys" costumes. "What's going on, I asked?. Just then Barry popped in breathing heavy. He just waved a check at the guys and yelled, "Done deal!"
Chick barked back, "Great Barry! But we got to move, man. Come on get dressed!" Then he turned to me, "Hey Duff, we're going back on. Can you give us a little space, man?"
"No problem, Chick. I was just leaving."
When I got back to my spot by the stage the crowd was really rumbling. It looked to me like the biggest riot in New York City history was just about to break out. But five minutes later the night lights dimmed and the big screen behind the stage started to glow blue.
When the first notes hit, the crowd started to silence. Fifteen seconds later the only sound in the stadium was the pulsating music from the stage. It stayed that way for the next hour and a half. When the guys finally left the stage, the crowd began to scream and chant, "Hard Place! Hard Place!" Then the announcement was made that the Thugs weren't going to make it. The chant suddenly change to "Hard Place, f_ck the Thugs, Hard Place, f_ck the Thugs." It was obvious the crowd hadn't realized that Tempo and Hard Place were one in the same. So I guess they felt they got their moneys worth. After all, it wasn't a show, it wasn't even an event. It was a magical experience that would now dwell in their souls for eternity. A fabulous dream like memory that couldn't be bought, sold, or repeated, only owned.
Five minutes later the lights were up and the crowd was peacefully exiting. I lit up a cigarette and thought for a moment. "How in the hell am I going to write this?" Then after a few drags I crushed the butt under my shoe and walked back to the dressing room.
Page 124
The guys were in a heavy conference with Sid and Mike. Sid's nephew quickly edged his way over to me and whispered, "Mr. Duffy, my uncle Sid is in a real trouble. Maybe you can talk to your friends."
"Sorry Ken, I ain’t their manager. I'm just a writer."
Then things really exploded as Barry screamed out, "I told you, Sid! We don't do tours!" Then Mickey walked in and that immediately drew Sid's attention. He turned to Mickey and shouted, "You!, I want those tapes."
Mickey smiled, "What tapes, Mr. Trip?"
"The tapes of the f_ckin show, you idiot!"
Mickey just stared back at him, "You told me not to record these guys, Mr. Trip."
"You didn't record the show!"
"Hey, just following your orders. You told me specifically not to record these guys. I was waiting for the Thugs." Mike instantly grabbed Sid by the elbow and started to drag him off.
"Come on Sid, we need to talk." Space halted their departure with a yell, "Wait a minute, Sid! We don't want you to leave empty handed, here." Sid took a 45 disc out of Space's hand.
"What's this?"
Space smiled, "It's the copy of Jungle Judy you gave us, man. Don't say we never gave you nothing, Sid."
"Very funny, but it's not going to be as funny as when you try to cash the $500,000 check I gave you. There'll be a stop payment on it first thing Monday morning, boys. You can use it for toilet paper." The guys looked to Barry and he winked with a smile. Then Wild Bill yelled to Sid as he was leaving, "Hey Sid, at least Monday we'll have something to wipe our ass with."
A few minutes later the laughter died down, just as a friendly security guard walked in, "Hey, you guys were really great. But you better be real careful leaving here. There's a mob outside screaming for Hard Place. Your friend dismissed the extra security. I'm afraid I'm it, guys"
Barry moaned, "Great we're going to get ripped apart."
I just thought for a minute and said, "Hey, no problem guys. Just put your tuxedo's back on. I'll get you out of here in one piece."
After they put their tuxes back on, we walked down the dim lit tunnel to one of the parking lot exits. I stopped the guys about 30 feet from the doors and said, "Give me two minutes guys, and then come out."
I went outside and infiltrated the waiting mob. When the doors opened again, I quickly scream out, "Look everybody it's Tempo! Let them through! Hard Place must be right behind them."
The crowd parted with a few cheers . There were a few peaceful back pats and hand shakes too, as walked through the friendly gauntlet. But thankfully, there was no hysterical ripping and tearing. I guess I was right about the crowd saving it all for Hard Place. Then the guys stopped for a second when they saw me in the mob, and gave me a special smile. I knew what it meant. So I smiled a sad good-bye back. It had been long journey alright, and it was finally over. Best of all it ended on the right note. So I just yelled out to Wild Bill for confirmation .
"Hey, is Hard Place on their way out?"
He yelled back at me and winked, "Yeah, they sure are, man. Hard Place is behind us, alright!"
Yeah, they say you can never recapture the past, and they're probably right about that. But, then again, if you have a pen in hand, and plenty of paper, you never know. You just might get lucky.
THE END... as if you didn't know.
If you wish, you can review more of my works at Authorsden. Here's the link.... LINK