Chapter 16: Tribute

The next morning found the whole crew up early. While the concert wasn't until four in the afternoon there was a lot to do. The Gilchrist foundation had promised a stage and a piano but that was about it. Over breakfast, Kyle, Chrissie, and Gwen were discussing just how one got a piano onto a stage that was on a beach. That wasn't really the problem though. There was a stage on the beach, and there was a piano, and there was everything else.

Anita was with the Smith's for the day so all of the band plus Cheri pulled up to the pier at ten o'clock that morning with both vans and the truck full of equipment. There they found not only a stage and a piano but stacks, monitors, microphones, amplifiers, tweeters, a PA and a sound board with several people already milling around.

The battle that ensued was epic. Kyle, Chrissie, and Gwen went to investigate while the others unloaded the truck. Gilchrist had gone through the Performance Actors and Music Association (PAMA) union to have the stage set up. Set it up they did, with equipment that would have done the Beach Boys proud in the mid-sixties. Gwen was not pleased.

Apparently the union took a very poor view of what they called the 'slave labor' practices of musicians who employed sound technicians and those that set up the equipment. The fact that Gwen and Chrissie had always earned an equal share of the band's earnings didn't seem to sway them even though they made less. If they had no union card, they weren't doing sound for this show in New Jersey. It made no difference to them that you had to be 18 to actually join the union.

No one knew exactly what to do with the situation. Most of the equipment in place was really old. It was expertly hooked up and worked, these guys knew their stuff, but what the band had was much better. Only Rebecca, and to a lesser extent Tony, by association, had a clue as to what the whole union thing was about. Basically PAMA was threatening to simply dismantle the stage and walk off if the teens installed their own equipment.

Chris Harris was a lifetime member of the International Brotherhood of Longshoremen and vice-president of the Savannah chapter. A phone call to him set a chain of events in motion that no one could possibly follow. That was probably just as well, it may not have been strictly legal. It may not have been even close to legal. Several men showed up and presented Chrissie, Kyle, and Gwen with 'honorary' union cards and PAMA buckled; probably because the large men didn't leave. Quite possibly the Longshoremen's union had a bit more clout in New Jersey than the artists union.

In any event the union workers were effectively under the control of Kyle, Chrissie, and Gwen for the rest of the day. The band's newer equipment was swapped out for the older stuff that had been provided, where appropriate. Some of the old amps and stacks were added for their extra punch as sound wasn't going to carry nearly as well on a beach as in a club. By one o'clock the beach was full but the sound needed to be tested. The only way to do that was to play a couple of songs and let Gwen and Chrissie get a feel for the acoustics and how to mix it.

That definitely caught the attention of the beach-goers, as first Tony played the acoustic intro to Crazy on You then Rebecca's crystal voice started to pound out the lyrics. That went into the song that had the single most titillating song title for females everywhere, Boston's Foreplay/Long Time, what girl doesn't want both?

Tony waved his arms to Gwen after the second song and she gave him an 'OK' sign with her fingers but then pointed to the piano which hadn't been played. By then a couple of hundred people had started to gather around the stage and he addressed them. "Hey folks, the concert actually doesn't start until four. We are going to do one more song to complete our sound checks, then that's all for now, but if you'll be back at four we'll have a great concert for you!"

Tony and Rebecca had worked out two versions of the new Leonard Cohen song with Tina's help. Well Tina helped with the piano version mostly. Tony and Rebecca were leaning towards a twelve string accompaniment even more so when played on the new Rickenbacker electric, both versions only had the single instrument for accompaniment so the rest of the teens started moving things to the vans. For the sound check though they just did the piano version of Hallelujah much to the amazement and applause of those assembled on the beach.

Tony, Tina, and Rebecca stopped by the condo they had reserved for the siblings' parents to check on Anita. They found her eating a sandwich and chips in the dining area. Leave it to their mother to stuff food down her whenever possible. Anita was a waif to start with. It wouldn't do at all to let her fail to eat at a time like this.

"Tony!" she cried, abandoning the meal to race into his arms.

"Hey little one, how is your day?"

"OK, Mrs. Smith says there is no problem with the, the, the lawyer guy."

"Mr. Wainright?"

"I'm not sure, he told me to call him Mr. Scott."

"That's good to hear. Where's my mom and dad?"

"Right here Tony," Carol Smith said walking out of the hallway.

"How did it go Mom?"

"It's fine Tony. We won't have any trouble with temporary custody. Scott says the permanent thing is a bit more complicated, especially if it's contested. I don't think it will matter in the end."

"Mom, can I talk to you?" Tina asked. It was Tony who first voiced the idea, but it really was Tina who had made that first promise. She wanted to know what her parents thought of her.

"Sure Tina, do you want to come back here?"

"Yes, with Dad too if that's OK."

"Tina, don't bother," James Smith said coming up behind his wife. "We have no reservations and no questions at all. Just relax OK? Look there," he pointed at Tony who was sitting Anita back down at the table and imploring her to finish her lunch.

Tina just laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I see what you mean. I love her too but it's kind of hard to compete with that."

"Tony can I still come to the concert today?" Anita asked him.

"Well little one, I don't know."

"You don't?"

"Nope, I'm just the brother; don't you think there are other people you should be asking?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess you're right aren't you."

"Yep, they will let me do a lot of things, but today I really don't know if they have more meetings you need to go to or things like that. You have to ask them."

"Oh, OK." She turned to Jim and Carol Smith. "Do you think I could go to the concert today?"

"I don't see why not Anita, we were going anyway."

Anita turned back to Tony and whispered something in his ear. He shook his head and asked, "Who's the Captain of the boat?"

"You are."

"And who's the leader of the band?"

"Oh, yeah, Tina. Tina, could I still sing?"

Tina flew across the room and swept Anita up. Perhaps that anti-gravity thing was a female thing and you didn't really need to be a mother. "Yes Anita, if that's what you want to do, you can certainly sing with us if you want. Better leave the guitar back here though. We have some more work to do on that." Both girls giggled. A giggle from Anita at that point was worth her slight weight in gold.

Tony, Tina, and Rebecca headed back to meet the other teens after stopping off for a sub sandwich. Carol and Jim had really only picked up enough food for themselves and Anita but it wasn't a problem. They had no idea how long they would be staying in New Jersey but with the temporary custody seeming like a sure thing it might only be a couple of days, perhaps just till tomorrow if a certain judge could hear the case.

It was a mob scene. There were several hundred people in the beach area during the sound check, now there were several thousand. It was a combination of the local paper, word of mouth from the sound check earlier, and local radio. Well it wouldn't have registered on the teens but it wasn't a normal radio station as such. The local publicradio station was actually going to broadcast the show, though two other rock stations were covering the event and doing live broadcasts. The kids weren't sure if the NPR station had any idea what they were broadcasting, other than a 'Gilchrist Concert', but they were about to find out.

They weren't a lot older but they were much more stage savvy than before. Quite a few feet in front of the stage Tony saw a security guard giving a group of kids a hard time. Three of them he recognized. He jumped off the stage and headed to he security guy who seemed to be protecting the roped-in area in front of the stage.

"Whoa," he said to the guard. "What's the problem here? These are my friends."