Chapter 26: Ain’t That a Shame

Medway High School, Arva

2:40pm, Thursday, February 22, 1979

“Okay, class,” Mr. St. Georges called out after the warning buzzer sounded at the end of our last class of the day. “Seeing how we lost a day this week, the final papers and/or presentations on your Aussie topic will be due next Wednesday. If you are just doing a presentation in class, you’ll need to provide me with an outline of your presentation so I can take notes on it. If you are doing a detailed paper only, that will obviously suffice for your grade. For those of you doing both a paper and presentation which could earn a few bonus points, you can turn in your paper prior to your presentation. Also, you have the option of doing your presentation on Thursday, if we need another day for all the presentations. Any questions?”

Several students immediately raised their hands and waited for Froggy to call upon them. Meanwhile, Lynette and I eyeballed each other for a few seconds before she whispered to me, “We’re doing both, right?”

I simply nodded yes back to her question and listened as Mr. St. George answered the first question. “Our unit test on Australia will be a week Monday. As far as I know, there aren’t any music, athletic or other school activities scheduled, so that our best option.”

Mr. St. Georges’ answer to the last question before the school ending bell caught Lynette’s and my attention. He said, “Please let me know if you’ll need any A-V equipment for your presentation. If you need any special equipment,” and he looked directly at Lynette and me when he emphasized ‘special’, “please try to make your own arrangements.”

After everyone but Elizabeth, Samantha, Lynette and I had vacated the geography room, we heard Elizabeth ask, “Can my group go first on Wednesday? I always tend to do better getting presentations like this over and done with, then I can focus on taking notes from the other groups.”

“I’ll hand out the signup sheet, tomorrow and I’ll make sure I give it to you first, Elizabeth,” our geography teacher replied. He then added with a smile, “It’s always a good thing to have someone who will do a topnotch job set the tone for these group presentations.”

“Hey,” Lynette chimed in, “what about us, then? Ours will be great too, won’t it, Mike?”

“It will be different, that’s for sure,” I replied.

“Different, how?” Froggy asked with a bemused look on his face.

“Well, I was hoping to use some of our SPECIAL equipment in our presentation,” I said.

Both Sam and Lynette giggled at my answer, which caused our teacher to calmly ask, “I’m afraid to ask, but just what are you guys thinking of using?”

“Well, Coach,” Lynette softly replied as she looked between Mr. St. Georges and the three of us standing near his desk. “We’re doing Aussie entertainment, so, uh, we thought we might like to spice the class up a little with a little medley of Aussie music, and movie quotes to highlight our information.”

Mr. St. George simply smiled and shook his head in fainted shock as he listened to what we had planned for our presentation. He then asked after Lynette finished, “Would you like a little extra time to do all this in class?”

“Uh, we,” and I looked at Lynette and Sam for confirmation, “we hadn’t thought about asking for or having extra time, but, uh, I think it might be good to have a little more time to do our performance, AND share our material with everyone.”

“Okay, then,” Froggy replied as he jotted down a note in his calendar. “Let’s have you, two, and I’m guessing Ms. Labatt here is going to sit in on your medley ... do your presentation on Thursday. You’ll have from two-twenty to two-forty to do your presentation and your medley. Does that sound good?”

Samantha nodded her head in response to Froggy’s initial inquiry about her, and then both Lynette and I replied, “Sounds good,” to his final query.

“Down and done. Oh! Lynette! If I don’t see you before you head on out to Sarnia in the morning, here’s to wishing you good luck.” Mr. St. Georges then gave Lynette a high-five, which caused all of us there to ‘whoop it up’ at his show of support.

“Thanks, Sir,” Lynette said as I took her hand and we started for the door.

As we walked to our lockers, Lynette said, “We had fun at Sam’s place on, Tuesday, but it just wasn’t right without you there. We worked on a couple of songs that Sammy and Jennifer wrote, but neither of them could get the lead guitar riffs like they wanted. We all think you’ll be able to come up with something for them.”

“I’m looking forward to getting with everyone, tonight after basketball practice,” I replied as I put my geography notebook up, and took out my gym bag from the bottom of my locker. “You’re going to choir practice, now?”

“Yeah, for an hour or so. Mr. Feelt has some new music he wants me to play accompaniment to. After that, we’ll wait for your practice to finish.”

“Have fun with it,” I replied and gave her a kiss after she closed up her locker. “I’m heading this way, so I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Okay, Mike,” Lynette said as she turned down the upstairs main hallway. She looked back over her shoulder at me and added, “Get yourself ready for the big game, tomorrow. Can’t let Strathroy come into our house and steal a ‘W’!”

“We’ll do our best, Cano!” I shouted at her as I headed up to the front-upper hallway.

“That was a pretty solid practice, guys,” Coach Williamson said in the locker room as we all sat for a moment. “Andrew, (Matthew and Kollin Werring’s younger brother, who was called up from the JV team to replace Dennis and Jimmy) you did a great job with our 1-3-1 trap. Just remember to get a body on Big-Murray when they put a shot up. He’s a lot bigger, stronger that anyone you’ve seen on JV this year, so really focus on getting inside rebound position with him or possibly Pete Stryboshe.”

“I’ll do my best, Coach,” Andrew replied, which earned him a quick head nod from our coach.

“Last thing,” Coach Williamson said as he looked around at all of us. “You guys did a decent job keeping your composure and thoughts on the game, yesterday at Mundi. However, we can’t have any let downs or mind wonderings like I saw a couple of times. Strathroy has the firepower to turn one of those three minute brain-cramps into an eight to twelve point streak. We just can’t have it. I know you’re all concerned about Jimmy’s health, but for an hour and a half tomorrow, Jimmy or Dennis can’t be on your mind. Matter of fact, when I talked with Jimmy’s dad today, he said Jimmy wrote on a piece of paper, and, uh, excuse my language for a moment, but Jimmy wrote, ‘Kick some Saints’ ass and clip their damn wings.”

That last comment put some smiles on our faces as that indeed sounded like something Jimmy P would have said if he was with us in practice. Kane then stood up and addressed us. “With it being Strathroy, we normally don’t need another ounce of motivation to play them. However, I think we need to come ... extra ready to play our best. We need to do it for both Dennis and Jimmy.”

“For Dennis and Jimmy!” most everyone shouted out as we moved to the center of the locker room for a group bonding hug and shout.

“Okay, guys,” Coach said after we hugged and danced in place for a couple of seconds. “Hit the showers and uh, definitely come ready to play your best game of the year.”

5:20pm, Samantha’s Guest House

“Lynette, did you call that girl from Glencoe, yet?” Sam asked as the six of us got our instruments ready for our first, complete band practice.

“Oh crap!” my girlfriend replied as she hooked up the wireless unit to her keyboard. “I’ve got her number in my bag. I’ll get it.”

“You can use that phone, there, to call her,” Sammy pointed out to Lynette as she dug through her gym bag for her day planner.

“Why don’t we use my computer,” and we saw my computing device materialize in front of me as I sat on the couch with my Silverburst guitar strap around my neck. “That way, we can all hear what Stephanie has to say about this gig.”

“Your little device can make telephone calls?” Jennifer asked as she set her gold, tenor saxophone down on her wire sax stand.

“Sure does,” Paul chimed in as he rested his bass against the end table. “We used it last week in our garage when Lynette called to talk with Mike. Pretty cool, huh!”

“Here’s her number, 519-555-2929,” Lynette called out as she walked over towards me on the couch. “Do you have to do anything with that, Mike?”

“Doesn’t look like it,” I replied, “this thing is dialing the number you called out, now.”

“You and Lynette speak to her, Mike,” Cathy chimed in as we heard the standard ringing sound from the computer’s speakers.

“Hello,” Stephanie’s voice said through my computer’s speakers.

“Is Stephanie there, please?” Lynette asked.

“This is Stephanie.”

“Hi, Stephanie, this is Lynette.”

“And Mike,” I chimed in.

“From Medway, you know, the ones you spoke to about playing at your school’s dance in early April,” Lynette explained.

“Oh, hi, guys! How are you doing?“

“We’re all good, thanks,” I replied and then added, “I have you on a speaker phone, and everyone in our band is here and listening. Is that Okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Hello everyone,” Stephanie’s voice came over the computer’s speakers.

“Hi, Stephanie!” Cathy, Sam, Jennifer and Paul simultaneously replied.

“So, what is the verdict on playing here on Friday, April Sixth?“

I took a quick look at everyone and then to Lynette, who mouthed, ‘Go ahead, tell her.‘ Everyone else nodded their agreement.

“We’d love to come to your high school and play for y’all,” I replied.

“Great!“ Stephanie called out. “Will you guys have enough songs to play from seven-thirty to about ten? You’ll obviously have a break or two in there, as well.“

Lynette suddenly looked concerned after hearing Stephanie say she’d like for us to play about two hours’ worth of songs at this dance. I could also see a touch of worry on Jennifer’s and Paul’s faces. However, both Sammy and Cathy excitedly bobbed their heads as they looked at Lynette and me.

“Are you still there?“ Stephanie asked over the speakers.

“Yes,” I replied. “I was getting the consensus from the guys on being ready to play two plus hours’ material for you. We’ll be ready by the beginning of April.”

“That’s great! Our Social Club is going to put up a few posters around the school and at a couple of local businesses advertising this concert, so what’s the name of your band?“

“Uh, we haven’t come up with a final name for our band, yet,” Lynette quickly chimed in. “We have it narrowed down to about three choices, and, uh, I promise we’ll get it finalized later this evening as we’re all here for a practice. Can I call you back with the name, later tonight?”

“You sure can. Hopefully before ten pm, or my mom might get a little hot about the lateness.“

“Okay, I’ll definitely give you a call before ten,” Lynette assured Stephanie.

“Is there anything else you can think of that we should know before we come up there to your school?” I asked, which earned a few head nods from the other band members and a mouthed, ‘Good question,’ from Samantha.

“Well, uh, I’m hesitant to ask this, since you guys are just starting out, but... “ Stephanie’s voice dropped down on the speakers as she progressed with her request. “The teacher-advisor for our social club would like it if you were able to play several Blues-oriented songs. See, we are doing a school wide instructional unit on the Southern United States, and uh, from a musical perspective, we’re going to cover some southern rock and blues songs, in our history and music classes.“

My ears perked up at hearing Stephanie’s unique request. A huge smile crossed my face, which the others around me immediately picked up on. Once again, I noticed a couple unsure faces around me, so I asked Stephanie, “Just how many southern rock or blues songs would you hope to hear at this dance?” I figured knowing that, it would give us an idea of how to response to her unique request.

“Uh, I don’t really have a number, but if you could play like four to six songs in a row, maybe in your second set, I think that would be awesome. Our teachers would really appreciate it ... Oh!“ Stephanie suddenly exclaimed as a new thought obviously popped into her mind. “If you are willing to do this for us, we will up your band’s pay another one-hundred dollars, to four-hundred dollars.“

That got everyone’s attention, and only Paul seemed to remain slightly ill-at-ease with this request. I made sure to capture his attention and mouthed to him, “We can do this, my man. Honest, a piece of cake.“ He raised an eyebrow at me and then barely nodded his acceptance of my words.

I took a moment to rescan the room before I said, “We’re good with that request, Stephanie. You can tell your teacher-advisor that we’ll be happy to include a series of southern rock and blues songs for y’all. Just so we’re clear, if we play something by or sounding like ZZTop or Lynyrd Skynyrd, and then maybe from Credence Clearwater Revival, you know, CCR, will that be what you’re looking for?”

“Lord, yes! I’d love to hear some of that. I’m sure that’ll be fine. I think our teachers want something we can discuss in our classes after the dance, so if you can play something with a good story or with, uh, some southern heritage ... it will be perfect.“

“That sounds good, Stephanie,” Lynette replied as she looked around at the others. “If that is all the ‘key stuff’ we need to know, then we’ll let you go, and uh, I’ll call you back sometime before ten, tonight.”

“I’m getting excited about you playing over here, guys,” Stephanie enthusiastically replied. “I really appreciate you taking on this special request for us, and I’m just ... really looking forward to seeing and hearing you down here at Glencoe in early April. Have a great night and I’ll be waiting for your call, Lynette.“

“Bye, Stephanie,” I said, which was quickly echoed by the other five people in the guest house living room.

“Bye.“

After Stephanie hung up, my computing device slowly faded from our sight. Looking around the living room, I saw that Paul and Jennifer still had semi-concerned looks on their faces after learning about that new musical request. Cathy and Sam were moving like their panties were on fire, while Lynette just had an ‘eat-shit’ grin on her face.

“So, Mike,” Paul finally said to break the fifteen seconds of silence in the room. “What are your thoughts on this southern rock and blues play list, seeing how you are our resident southern?”

Before I answered Paul’s question, I took a moment to think about what I wanted to do regarding my band mates’ ability to write songs or lyrics from their future, my past. Paul, Cathy and Lynette already knew that Sam had written a couple of songs, Alone and Love Will Keep Us Alive, which will be future hit songs. I also mentioned to them that it might be good if none of them knew that amazing factoid about those or any songs we come up with or ‘write’.

After I took a deep breath and weighed all the pros and cons on this issue, I mentally shared this with my five band mates. ‘Feel free to come up with your own songs, lyrics or musical sounds. None of you will consciously know that this material maybe from our future, but we’ll experience that ‘future-trace’ to aid our learning and playing of these songs.‘

I didn’t see any outward change in any of my friends but I experienced a mental thought from the Energists, which let me know my thoughts were received and incorporated in my band mates’ minds.

“Yeah, Mike,” Samantha then said as my silence was apparently driving them a touch crazy. “What songs do you think we can play to meet that request?”

“Shoot, there’s a gob-load of songs we can play that will fit that bill,” I replied as I rubbed Lynette’s left thigh with my right hand. “Just off the top of my head, we can play, Swamp Music, Call Me the Breeze, or Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd. A couple of good southern bluesy rock songs from ZZ would be, Tush, LaGrange, or Cheap Sunglasses. Then there are CCR songs, Elvis or Fats Domino songs. Heck, even some newer bands like Journey or the Blues Brothers offer a variety of cool bluesy songs we could play.”

Everyone was smiling as I gave that brief rundown of possible songs, or singers we could snag a song or two from for this Glencoe request.

Finally, Samantha asked, “Do you guys want to get started on this, now?”

“Hell yeah!” Paul quickly replied to his new girlfriend’s inquiry. His attitude had definitely changed after hearing the variety of songs we could choose from for this southern rock and blues set.

Cathy, on the other hand, offered up a different issue for our immediate future when she asked, “Shouldn’t we get our name figured out, first? If we leave it ‘till the end, we might run out of time before we have to hit the highway.”

“She has a point,” Jennifer replied and everyone quickly agreed with the two older girls.

After we all sat down in the nicely furnished guest living room, Lynette took my hand as we sat together on the couch. She then turned to me and said, “Mike, everyone here talked about band names on Tuesday, while you were at basketball and we came up with three ideas for our band’s name. Don’t be upset with us,” she added which immediately piqued my attention. “But, because you’re the driving force behind this band we focused on names that we think reflect you or your unique situation with us.”

“I don’t need any special consideration for our band’s name. Heck!...” I hotly added before I took a moment to calm down a touch. Having Lynette rub my neck helped, too. In a calmer voice, I added, “Paul and Cathy were the originators of this band, and I simply agreed to join with them. So they should have the major say in our band’s name, if you ask me.”

“Just shut up and listen, will you, Mike,” Cathy retorted with a smile on her face.

I immediately ran my hand over my mouth with a ‘zip-it’ motion after Cathy’s playful admonishment.

Lynette then kissed my cheek before she said, “Okay. Here are the names we talked about, and you’ll probably recognize where or how we came up with them. Oh, we like them all, so they aren’t in any particular order. The first one we thought of was, Right Now. The reason should be obvious, yes? Uh, the second name was, Time Bandits, which we got from your playing Pink Floyd’s Time in music class, and also ... because you’re a time-bandit, sorta.” Lynette smiled when she called me that, and the others chuckled when I flopped against the back of the couch.

“I thought of that one, Mike when we were talking about names on Tuesday,” Paul chimed in. I gave him a quick nod of approval, and mouthed, ‘I like it.’

“The third name ... I came up with,” Lynette said as she squeezed my right thigh with her left hand. “And even though I couldn’t tell these guys exactly how I got this, they agreed to let me offer it up for your consideration.” She then took my hands in hers and asked, “How does, Best of Both Worlds sound for our band’s name?”

I raised my eyebrows at Lynette after she mentioned that last option. I pulled myself up to the edge of the couch and said, “I really like that name, Lynette.”

However, when I paused for a few seconds, she quickly surmised something was up with that option and opined with a touch of disappointment in her voice, “But you don’t think it’s the right name for our band, correct?”

“Yeah, Lynette,” I softly said to her. “It ... probably hits a little too close to home to, uh, use as our name.”

She weakly smiled at me before she scooted forward and gave me a simple kiss on the cheek.

“What’s the story behind that name, Mike?” Jennifer asked.

“Well, I’m not going to go into all the details, but ... you could say I’ve lived in two different worlds, and had, uh...”

“You don’t have to say anymore, Mike,” Cathy interjected when she saw me struggling to explain it in non-descript terms. “If you don’t want that as our name, we’re good with your decision.”

I winked at Cathy and let a sigh escape my body before Paul asked, “Which of Right Now or Time Bandits do you prefer?”

“Tough choice, my friend,” I replied to his question. “Both names are either based completely or somewhat from song titles, and other groups have named themselves after one of their songs. So, Right Now might be a good choice.” I then smiled at Paul and added, “However, I think I like the name Time Bandits best because it really does capture the flavor of me, here with y’all. It also ... in a backdoor manner, reflects how we’re able to play such awesome music right off the bat.”

“Heck, yeah!” Paul shouted out as both Sam and Cathy clapped once and then high-fived each other.

“That’s a good choice, Mike,” Jennifer then added as she walked over and gave me a tight hug around my shoulders. As a sixteen-year-old, you never complain over a tight hug from a beautiful girl, especially when her youthful boobs are mashed against your head.

“Are you good with it, Lynette?” I softly asked after Jennifer released me from her delightful grip.

“Yeah,” she replied, and then whispered in my ear, “for selfish reasons, I liked the other name better, but Time Bandits was my second choice.”

“Okay, then,” Cathy said to get us back on track. “I guess we’re now known as the Time Bandits. Does anyone have anything else to say or can we finally begin to rock this wonderful guest house?”

“Time Bandits, that’s a killer name,” Sam blurted out as she moved over to give her new boyfriend a hug and kiss.

When they stepped apart, Sam turned to me and smiled. She not surprisingly changed topics and said, “I like the wireless microphone system we’ve got, Mike, but uh, I think I’d be more comfortable with my mic being held in a traditional stand or in my hands when I’m not playing an instrument. The wireless headset mic just doesn’t work for me. Am I the only one who feels that way?”

“No, Sammy, you’re not,” Lynette quickly replied, “I’d rather have a mic-stand, too, when I’m playing at my keyboards or piano.”

“Me, too,” Paul added.

“Hey, I’m game with whatever you guys are most comfortable with,” I replied with a smile.

“I’ll keep my wireless headset,” Cathy chimed in. “When I’m drumming, it seems like it would be easier for me to sing into the head-mic instead of having a traditional mic hanging down over my head.”

“Okay then,” I said, “Y’all can use the wireless microphone stands if that how you are most comfortable. I’m gonna stay with my wireless headset ... for the time being. Do you still want to use the earpiece monitors, or should we go with the traditional floor monitors?”

“The earpieces are great in my opinion and work a lot better than floor monitors, in my opinion,” Samantha replied. “Mine fit comfortably, and we can also communicate amongst ourselves with them, if I recall.”

“I definitely like the earpiece monitors,” Cathy said, which was quickly followed by a couple of ‘Me, too’ salvos from Lynette and Paul.

“Have you tried them, Jennifer?” I asked our newest band member.

“Yeah, the ear monitors were great when I used them on Tuesday.”

“Okay,” I said as I pushed up off the couch, and turned to help Lynette up, as well. “I think we have that little sound issue resolved and...” As I turned to where Lynette and Cathy’s instruments were set up, I saw four regular wireless mics and their stands materialize in our playing space or at Lynette’s keyboard setup.