Chapter 63

A few days later I got called to see my counselor, and she said she had some questions about my new schedule. “Mister Culver, it seems you have a full class load, and another half class load in the evening. And looking through your transcripts, you dropped most of your first semester classes and then transferred to Glendale Community. Are you sure this is wise? It shows that since then you have made up not only your regular credits, but are almost a semester ahead.”

I told her I was sure, and that I hoped to graduate early. “I have yet to get accepted at the law school, but I keep submitting applications. I was hoping that would help show whoever approves the applications that I am serious about it.”

She looked at me, and shook her head. “OK, this is between you and me. And I will deny it if you ever tell anybody else. But the odds of you being accepted are somewhere between slim and none at this time.”

Now this shook me, and I asked her why that was. “Well, they can only take on so many students a year. And your academic performance at the start was sub-par at best. Then you got most of your credits at a community college and not here.”

“But it’s the same thing! California law even says so.”

“Mister Culver, I know. But it is not about what you or I think, it’s about what those who make the decisions think. Now I’ll tell you right now, your record the past two years has impressed me. I’m going to sign off on your new schedule, but I would also suggest you start looking into other law programs.”

She then ran down a list of several in the area, from UCLA and USC, to private schools like Pepperdine, Loyola, and Purdue. I thanked her for her time, and after studying with some of my friends in the Student Union headed on home.

At least it was nice to actually be told that I should give up my plans for getting my entire degree at CSUN. When they had refused my application earlier in the year I had even retaken the LSAT. And I had studied like crazy and raised my score from 150 to 162. But even that was apparently not enough, even if I got a 180 they would likely still refuse me.

But it also seemed it was nothing personal, but college politics. And mom was right in what she told me years before. That while under the law the credits at CSUN and Glendale Community were equal, the staff at CSUN did not like students who did not attend the entire program at their college.

I called mom that evening, and told her what I had discovered. “Well, I did warn you, George. Honey, want a suggestion?”

“Sure mom, what ya thinking?”

“Well, I agree with what you said, give up on CSUN. Stay there, get your degree. Then take a few months off, and start shopping for another law school.”

I asked her if they had one at Idaho State or Boise State yet, and she said no. That the only law school in the state was still University of Idaho in Moscow.

“You know, there’s also the University of Utah.”

“That’s true. But if I went there, if I set up in California I would have to retake the bar exam.”

“That’s right. Hold on a second, ok, here it is. Honey, I just brought up a web site. A Utah bar exam is good in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Oh, and Washington DC and the Virgin Islands.”

I actually whistled, that was a lot of states. She said she was going to look up what states California had that with, and I laughed. “Mom, don’t bother. I can tell you this right now because I looked it up before. California recognizes passing the bar in no other states. And only a few states will recognize a California bar exam.”

“Wow, you’re right! They recognize the exam from nowhere, and only a few states recognize theirs. I wonder why that is?”

“Oh, as usual money. I heard about that from a gal I knew who was going to be a nurse. She was already a nurse in Arizona, but when she moved here they would not accept her credentials. So she decided that if she was going to take it all over again, she would go ahead and get an RN. That way even if another state did not like her California credentials, she had an actual degree.”

“OK, that’s smart. Makes me glad that there is none of that nonsense in Journalism. Now if I was to ever move, only two or three states would not recognize my CPA and I would have to take the exam again. But I think I’m at the point now that if I had to move, I would just retire.”

When we hung up an hour later, I still had not made any real decisions. But I had decided that I would try and rush my diploma as fast as I could, then just wing it from there.

On Friday I was looking at a web page about events in LA, and saw that a band called “Cosmic Thing” was playing at FM station. I quickly called Becky, and asked her if that was Gorilla Banana. She laughed and told me it was. So at just after noon I called to make reservations. And once I had, I called Gina. I told her we were going to a place with a kind of dinner concert, and she told me she knew just what to wear. We talked for a while, and I said I would pick her up at seven.

I decided on a dark blue button down shirt and tie, and I was a bit surprised when Gina opened the door. She was in a black knee length dress, not quite a cocktail dress but not far from one. I smiled and after walking her to my truck I got in and drove to North Hollywood.

She looked at the poster in front, and asked me who the band was. I told her it was a group I had met a month or so earlier, and they mostly did covers of B-52 songs. “In fact, my Aunt Becky suggested they try here, as this place has a lot of bands that cover that era. She said this is them under a new name specifically for this, so I thought we would check it out. Do you like the B-52s?”

She cocked her head, and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, I’m not really sure. I know ‘Love Shack’, I think everybody knows that one. And a couple of others, but I don’t really think I’ve heard many more of their songs.”

We went in, and as I asked were shown to a table towards the front along the wall. The menu was kinda typical “bar food”, so we just got a large plate of chicken strips and shared it. About fifteen minutes later the announcer had us welcome Cosmic Thing. And as we started applauding I saw Stacy, Rina, and Jason come out on the stage, along with their new bass player. And if anything, Rina and Stacy’s breasts looked even larger than the last time. Of course, this time their dresses were even tighter, and lower cut than what they had worn at New Dawn.

I could tell that their opening song “Rock Lobster” was confusing Gina, and while not quite their “pop sound” in the late 1980s, a lot of it could be heard in the song. After they finished Rina introduced them all, and they continued playing many of the groups earlier songs. And I could see that Gina was starting to get it a bit, and their strange syncopation, almost fast list-like reading of the lines, and Fred’s rather strange way of singing.

During one instrumental section, she actually said they were not bad. And finally after about an hour they took a break. And about five minutes later Rina and Stacy both came up. “I thought that was you!” Stacy said as she gave me a hug, followed quickly by Rina. And Gina had a very surprised look on her face when they did that. I quickly introduced them to her, and she seemed surprised I actually knew them.

“So that’s why we’re really here, you all are friends.”

Rina crinkled her nose and laughed. “Naw, we only met once. But his aunt runs a music place we perform at sometimes. We were kind of stage testing our new bass player we had hired, as he sounded good in the studio. But that did not always work well on stage, so we arranged a performance with Becky. And Stacy and I had found these wigs a few days before, so it kinda turned into a B-52 tribute show. She liked it so much, she suggested we do it more often. She even contacted the owner here and got us this gig.”

“In fact, Bill Carothers loved the idea!” Stacy added. “And he said if this works out tonight, he will bring us on at least once a month.”

I told them that if this was any indication, they likely had a permanent gig. We talked for a bit longer, then they both hugged me and smiled at Gina before heading back stage again. Gina looked at me closely, but she was smiling as she did so.

“Wow, they’re really cool. So do you know them well?”

“Actually, this is only the second time I met them. But I think they liked that I actually knew who the B-52s were, and actually liked their music.”

“And your aunt knows them?”

At that I nodded. “Aunt Becky is not really my aunt, but an old girlfriend of my brother. But they are still really close. She owns a music and printing business in North Hollywood called New Dawn.”

At that she nodded. “I actually know the place. I’ve never been inside, but I’ve passed by it many times. In a big two story building with a big parking lot.”

“Yep, it used to be a bank at one time. But she has these free concerts every Saturday. Mostly local groups, either hoping somebody hires them, or in this case wanting to check out a new member on stage. They were introduced as ‘Cosmic Thing’, but I was told they normally perform as ‘Gorilla Banana’.”

At that Gina laughed. “Really? Gorilla Banana? What kind of name is that?”

I just smiled. “I have no idea, I never asked. But is it really no worse than Humble Pie or Mothers of Invention?”

At about time they returned to the stage, and as soon as we recognized the introduction of “Love Shack” Gina stood up and asked me to join her. So we headed to the dance area in front of the stage where about a dozen others (mostly gals) were already dancing. And it was certainly energetic, as the gals were all singing where the ladies on stage were and us guys were following along with Jason. And being one of the most popular songs of the group, this was a real crowd pleaser.

However, I was shocked when they ended the song and Rita said she wanted somebody to come up and join them in another song from the “Cosmic Thing” CD. I was wondering who it would be, but was shocked when Rita called out for me to join them on stage. I tried to balk, but even Gina was no help and she encouraged me to go up and join them.

I went on up, and both gals hugged me as I moved in front of the synth that Rita had been using. “I already fed in the right bank, Jason is gonna stick to background.” I nodded, and leaned into the mic and once again started out like the original. Singing “I am living on Channel Z!”