Chapter 10

The band sat around a table at the local pizza parlor getting ready to discuss both the talent show and the battle of the bands coming up at spring break. Billy pulled out the flyers to show everyone but they had already seen them around school.

He started the meeting: “Hey guys, I guess we’re at that point where we need a name for our group. Anyone got any ideas? I always thought ‘Split Infinity’ would be pretty cool, but I’d like to hear your thoughts.”

Janneke forcibly elbowed Beth and gave her a look hoping to prevent a careless comment, causing Beth to jump.

“Beth, you have a suggestion?” asked Billy seeing the interaction between the two sisters.

“Yeah, but you’ll think it’s stupid” replied Bath. Janneke glared at her.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“OK, here goes ... Oceanborn.”

Billy sat there with a shocked look on his face unable to say anything when Beth’s eyes started to tear up. “I knew you’d hate it!”

Doortje did a double take at the name so it was obvious they hadn’t discussed it with her.

Billy reached out and gently cupped Beth’s hands while trying to sort out the whirlwind of thoughts and feelings swirling through his mind. When the words finally found their way to his mouth, he shouted: “I LOVE IT! Carl, do you have an objections?”

Beth looked confused and began furtively glancing at everyone. Carl blurted out in a blasé tone: “Dude, I don’t care, I just want to make music.”

Beth was nearly shaking by now, “I can’t believe you guys like it. I even made some logo drawings” she said while pulling out some wrinkled papers from a folder, “I figured this discussion would happen one day.”

“OK, now that that is settled, I think we should sing ‘Ghost Love Score’ (Nightwish) for the talent show but we’ll have to shorten it a bit to fit into the time slot allotted.”

Janneke’s eyes got big. “What? Why that one? Maybe we should do something that doesn’t rely so much on me. Why can’t we do one we did at the Christmas gig?”

“Well, we need something nobody’s heard and you’re the best singer and Karina isn’t a student which makes her ineligible. Singing is the main focus of this band but there is something for everyone. Fast beats, guitar riffs, double bass for Carl, varied musical genres and we both get to sing. I guarantee it will take them by surprise.”

Beth took a jab at Carl, “We have cavemen who drag their knuckles on the ground and bang on bongos ... if you like that sort of thing.”

“Hey!, I resemble that remark!” Carl exclaimed.

“I don’t know ... I guess” stammered Janneke bringing the conversation back on track, “What about the battle?”

“We have three songs for that. We should open with ‘Dark Chest of Wonders’ (Nightwish) followed by either ‘Hear Me’ (Nemesea) or ‘When Angels Fall’ (Beyond the Black) and in closing we’ll do the full version of ‘Ghost Love Score’. We’ll have Karina for that one, so you’ll have some help if you want it.”

Doortje rarely ever expressed an opinion but found herself talking “How about ‘Running To the Edge’ (Beyond the Black)? I really like the driving bass line and your screamo part is really interesting.”

“OK, we’ll work on both “Hear Me” and “Running to the Edge” and then make a game-time decision.

“Wait ... What?” Doortje said while holding her hand up. “Game-time decision?”

Billy scratched his head. “Ehh, last minute decision. Sorry for the slang.”

“For our first official gig, it might be best to not experiment too much with different genres. Janneke, you are our voice so you’ll have to do some talking between songs. Karina will be onstage and be available should you need bailed out.” He wasn’t sure if using her in that capacity was good or bad because of the rivalry they had, but he wanted Janneke to know she didn’t have to carry everyone on her shoulders.

The forms for the talent show were filled out and turned in the next morning. On the next night of practice, Billy rubbed his hands together in a cleaning motion and said “Well, it’s done. No backing out now. I never thought I’d be in a band that had a groovin’ chance at winning.”

Now that there was something concrete to play for, the practices got really intense. Along with that intensity, Janneke started making more mistakes which caused her mood to darken and everyone prayed she’d snap out of it.

Two weeks before the talent show, Beth approached Billy privately and expressed her concerns about Janneke. “You’re our leader, you need to think of something if Janneke can’t do it. Doortje and I can do the vocals if need be but we aren’t anywhere near as good not to mention I’ll struggle to play my instrument and sing lead on that song. Karina can’t do the vocals because she’s not a student which rules her out.”

Billy spent his available time trying to build up Janneke’s confidence and things seemed to improve until Billy got blindsided three days before the contest.

“What do you mean we got bumped from the contest?” Billy asked the teacher in charge of the talent contest. She kept avoiding direct eye contact and was squirming around in her seat.

“Three members of your band are exchange students and thus not eligible for the talent show. I’ve very sorry.”

“But they’re not exchange students, they just moved here and are enrolled just like every other student would be.”

“I’m sorry, but their enrollment papers show they are exchange students. They can have their parents bring the necessary papers to show their status, but I’m afraid it would be too late to get you on the schedule.”

“How about you put us on the schedule and remove us if it can’t be straightened out?”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, young man. I’m sorry.”

“I can guarantee my mother will be in here this afternoon all lawyered up and there will be hell to pay.”

“Language! Young man! You do what you think but it’s against the rules and what does lawyered up mean?”

“It’s not important” he muttered as he left the class. He was mad at himself for using a modern colloquialism. I know Cindy is behind this. She works in the office and has access to forge the necessary paperwork.

Upon telling Tiffany about the shenanigans going on, she picked up the phone and made a few calls. “I’ll let you know by tomorrow afternoon, but I think they’ll change their mind” she said with an ornery smile.

Sure enough by the end of the next school day Billy was called back in to see the teacher to learn that not only had they had been reinstated to the program, but they would get to perform in the coveted last spot. As with most contests with judges, the later someone performs, the better chance they have to win, besides; it was a pretty standard practice to put the better talent towards the end. Tiffany was waiting outside the school and it turns out she was there to pick up the girls and take them costume shopping at one of her dress maker friends. They discussed costumes the prior week and the idea was to have Doortje and Beth be dressed in black leather dresses and Janneke in white which went against the developing trend but who would know that in 1979?

The night before the contest, the band worked on the vocals one last time and then did several walkthroughs to get both entrance and stage presence as choreographed as possible so it wouldn’t look amateurish. Billy explained one final time how stage presence and presentation was just as important as the music. Nobody wants to see a bunch of frozen bodies playing music like scared robots nor does anyone want to see a bunch of spazzing musicians running around the stage having epileptic seizures. Karina devised a rudimentary lighting plan for the song and worked on it with Tiffany over and over for days until she was confident everything was perfect. The girls tried on their dresses but wanted to keep them a secret from the guys until show time. Carl and Billy would wear denim with black t-shirts since the plan was for the girls to draw all of the attention. The last thing for the night was to load up the equipment into the rental van which would be delivered to the community playhouse where the contest was to take place. The school gym had been the original location of the talent show but it grew over the years as the acts got more complex. The increase in popularity with the parents was a large part of why the time was moved to later in the day so they didn’t have to miss work. The community playhouse was the best location because of the increased capacity.

Tiffany and Karina would oversee the unloading, setup and even had secured the right for Karina to run the lights for the entire talent show. The drum set was assembled on a rolling platform to make it easy to put into place since they only had ten minutes of setup time allowed. Tiffany pulled some strings to get Billy into the Playhouse a few days earlier so he could examine the soundboard and work out an interface to their own equipment. All the instrument cables were neatly rolled up off to the side with their names on them. Karina would switch the sound out of their soundboard to use the facility’s speakers plus a few of their own. They were using every advantage they could get.

Janneke was a bundle of nerves all day long and despite the bands’ best efforts to assuage her nervousness, in the end each person has to handle it themselves. Carl and Billy would take the van directly to the venue from school while Tiffany picked up the girls to get dressed and have their hair and makeup done. Tiffany loved taking care of the girls because they filled a hole in her life that only a daughter could fill.

Billy and Carl thought they would be the first ones there, but Karina had been there all day continuously testing the cutover process and becoming familiar with the room acoustics and the existing soundboard. The only thing left for Billy and Carl to do was sit back and watch the performers arrive and do whatever it is they do to prepare. One of the drawbacks of going last was the wait, especially if you’re the nervous type.

Many comments were made about the large array of Marshall speakers stacked on the backstage and Billy and Carl just grinned and shrugged their shoulders. The master plan was to attack the audience with sight, sound and tactile feedback. There was something special about being able to experience music physically in addition to hearing and seeing it. The girls showed up with trench coats to hide their dresses but there was no hiding the makeup and hair. Janneke looked like a supermodel with long radiant hair that moved in a graceful way as she paced relentlessly muttering to herself. Doortje looked a little nervous herself but Beth was relaxed. Doortje assigned herself as Janneke’s bodyguard in case her older sister decided to bolt so she tried to keep her occupied. According to the schedule, Cindy and her “band” would be performing second to last which was no surprise since it was long suspected she manipulated as much as she could.