Chapter 5: Competition

Drumming is easier now, and simpler. Faye eased up on the complicated routines she insisted I practice to develop independence. Lately, she taught me four simple repetitive beats or rhythms, common to most popular music. She taught me three times. Two/four time or common time, three/four time or waltz-polka time, and four/four time rock-n-roll. I already knew the time signatures from dance classes, and she knows I know, because we take dance class together, but, she insisted we review it as it specifically applies to the drums.

The most interesting thing she recently taught me, was stick bounces. Letting the drumstick bounce and hit the drum two or three times with one stroke, produces great speed with little effort. Hey, I can run riffs around the drums now, without breaking a sweat.

Dadada, dadada, dadada, Pop. I only used each hand twice, on a different drum each time, but got three taps from each stroke except the last, a solid solitary pistol crack snap on the snare drum.

Faye puts the word out, she wants girls who can sing, harmonize, and/or play an instrument, to try out for the band. She even chose a name already, “STIX”.

“Why STIX?” I asked, very curious.

“It sticks in your mind, it’s simple, and it resembles SEX.”

Makes sense.

The girls she selected from the dozens that applied and competed, makes no sense at all to me. Except for one girl, the first recruited, who is appropriately named Melody, and plays several kinds of horns, plays them all very well indeed. Melody plays saxophone, clarinet, cornet, slide trombone, and flute. Talented girl, but butt ugly. Worse for me, immediately, Melody is aggressively making amorous advances towards me! I’m not the least attracted to her.

Faye tells me, be nice, be friendly, we need her.

Maybe, if Faye intends building the band around Melody, that would explain why the other three girls she chose, are uglier, or at least as unattractive as Melody? Nobody sticks out as the pretty one, making the rest appear obviously homely by comparison. All are thin as rails, tall and skinny with no visible curves. Is Faye trying to fit the band member’s body types to the band’s name? I’m tall and thin myself. We’re all stick figures.

The other three finalists are Janey, Carol, and Mantha. Shortened Samantha? When I asked if that is the case, she just metal mouth grinned at me. It’s like looking under the hood of a chromed supercharged hot rod. Gleaming mechanical confusion in there!

They can sing and harmonize, I’ll give them that, but the instruments they play are going to make an uniquely interesting rock band.

Janey plays accordion, Carol plays the cello, seated, and Mantha strums a pineapple ukulele. Her ukulele doesn’t have the hourglass figure mini-guitar like box, its a more simple oval lute shape. Carol is an orchestra cellist, and is long accustomed, prefers, or needs to sit while playing. Carol and Faye are the only ones wearing dresses.

A bright spot was seeing up-skirt, Carol’s plump camel-toed panties crotch, when she opened her legs to mount her cello between them.

I’m grateful to Ruth. She taught me, even women not considered pretty, can offer some great pussy. Carol’s bright intelligent eyes are the only attractive feature in her face, but at the top of her long skinny legs, is a treasure mound I want to explore. Carol saw me looking and let me look. Faye saw me looking, smiled at me, and rapidly flicked her tongue out at me. Did she read my mind? Did she see that fleshy panties clad hair burger I saw?

Melody also saw me looking up Carol’s skirt and now stares at me displeased. Jealous? What right does she have to be jealous?

After the girls quickly demonstrate their virtuosity on their musical instruments, Faye gets right down to programs.

“Okay ladies and lad (why is she diminishing me? For a cheap laugh? It got one.)!

The purpose of the band STIX, is to make money, nothing else. It’s a job, and we have to work at it. What kind of band is it? A dance band. That is important to state and understand. We will play many kinds of music and at least one thing will be common to all those kinds of music. People will be able to dance to it. A lot of music today cannot be easily danced to. Rhythms change in the middle, the music speeds up, slows down, or sustains at bar breaks, and many are simply too fast to comfortably dance to. We won’t be playing those kind of tunes.