Rock and Roll Angel Pt. 02

"More like she's never SEEN a black girl before," Jenna said.

"Could be," Lisa said. "How many black people do they have in our this tiny hick town?"

"Since you moved in? Six counting both our families," Jenna joked. The girl stopped looking at Jenna and went back to praying. The weird tingling and goosebumps subsided. "Next time I do the booth and YOU get to deal with the local fauna," Jenna said.

"You wouldn't know a dimmer from a gobo," Lisa said.

"A what from a what? Jenna asked as she stepped onto the stage to round up the mikes.

"My point exactly," Lisa said.

Jenna knew what a gobo was, she was playing along. "Dumb ass. How many mikes does the next band need?"

"Four according to my notes," Lisa said. " I see why that white girl was giving you the eye. You look down right eatable tonight in those tight jeans."

"Keep the latent lesbian comments to yourself," Jenna said.

"How do you keep your hair so straight?"

"My quarter Lebanese I guess," Jenna said.

"I'm constantly fighting my fucking fro."

"I like your hair," Jenna said. "Because of my straight hair, everyone accesses me of trying to look white."

"Do the Cher Bono thing!"

"God, you are such a fucking idiot!" Jenna said with a sigh. She put her hands on her hips turned facing forward, looked up at the booth and brushed her hair aside with a distinct rock of her head.

Lisa roared with laughter in Jenna's ear.

Chapter Three Angel With a Guitar

As Jenna went back to placing the wireless mikes, members of Angel's Nest filtered onto the stage. Jenna frowned and said, "Lisa, you see the tall blond chick?"

"Yeah, she's a hottie."

"No fucking way is this a Christian rock band," Jenna said. "I know that chick. I went to high school with her. Back then she had a band called Bitter Byle, named after our charming little town."

"I know that band," Lisa said. "They were hot shit on the Ohio campus a couple of years ago."

"THAT is Sarah Logan," Jenna said, "and I remember her being a total lesbian."

"Maybe the born agains have gotten more liberal," Jenna said.

"Did you say that with a straight face," Jenna asked.

Sarah Logan wore a black t-shirt with a leather vest over the top. Below, she wore jeans faded by honest wear just tight enough for esthetic appeal and stuffed into cowboy boots. Around her hips was a studded belt with a silver and black buckle of a circle with a hand at the center. Her blond hair was long and spilled down her back. Her womanly figure would put a Victoria Secret's model to shame.

"That Logan is my kind of chick," Lisa said. "Tall, blond with mucho legs."

"Honestly, Lisa," Jenna said, "declaring yourself a lesbian don't make you one until you sleep with a chick."

"What makes you think I've never slept with a woman?"

"If you HAD I'd be hearing about it in nauseating detail every other second."

"Wow, check that one out," Lisa said.

An Asian woman walked onto the stag and was just as pleasing to look at. She was a half foot shorter than Logan with long black hair. She had a slim pleasing figure and wore a skin tight black top that accentuated her firm B-cup breasts. Bellow, she wore tattered black jeans that showed pale skin through strategic rips at her thighs just below her shapely ass. The jeans were tucked into high ankle leather boots.

A guy, a little on the chubby side with an oddly conservative haircut walked on stage and sat at the generic drum set. For speed's sake, all the bands had agreed to use the same drums. Some had complained but everyone made the adjustment. Jenna knew the drummer. It was Keith Haverdink. She went to high school with him too and they dated for a couple of months in her senior year. Come summer it ended between them. He went off to play with the band and she went off to Ohio State.

"Hey Kieth," she said.

Keith looked up, smiled, walked her way and gave her a friendly hug.

"How you been?" she asked.

"Okay," Kieth said pulling back. "Work for the justice department now."

Jenna laughed. "Explains the boring haircut. Does the justice department know that you have the words -legalize grass— tattooed on your left butt cheek?"

"I've managed to keep the tattoo a secret," he said with a mischievous smile. Boring haircut and little bit of extra weight aside, Jenna still found him appealing. Mostly it was that smile. That smile of his had lead to some serious heavy petting back in high school. He wore a wedding band so quickly filed that thought away. "Who did you marry?" Jenna asked.

"Dorthy our keyboardist," he said, "Two years ago."

On cue, Dorthy Rose, now Haverdink walked on stage to set up her keyboards. She had blond hair cut short and butch. She wore tight jeans and a blouse that allowed for maximum cleavage. The woman had a lusty German barmaid's figure.

Jenna smiled. "So you finally caught her. Thought she only dated biker types?"

Keith smiled. "I own a Harley now."

Jenna laughed and gave him a thumbs up.

A petite Asian girl shouldering a roll of wire walked on stage and helped Dorthy set up her two keyboards. The Asian girl looked very young. If the chick was more than twenty one, she probably got carded all the time.

"You still got that hot blond guy who played lead guitar?" Jenna asked.

"Ethan," Kieth said. "Yeah, he's here. He's a little crowd shy lately, going through some things. He'll come out when the show starts."

"Sounds like the band's still together," Jenna said. "Why the name change?"

"A couple of years back we had our farewell concert. We all agreed that Bitter Byle should be laid to rest. We do original stuff now."

The members of Jesus Weeps were done with their prayer and the lead member headed Jenna's way. "Jesus loves you sister," he said to Jenna.

"Um, thank you," she said. "You should take your signs down for the next band."

"I was hoping I could leave them up," the guy said. "if it's okay with the next band." The guy looked at Keith Haverdink the drummer.

Kieth turned and looked at the banner behind the stage. TRUE LOVE IS BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN ONLY, screamed in ten inch tall black letters on a yellow background. Keith looked back at the guy, gave him a smile and said, "Go ask Sarah, she's the leader of the band." Kieth pointed at Sarah Logan.

The guy nodded and headed toward Sarah who stood just off stage talking to the two Asian girls.

"Sarah is a lesbian right?" Jenna asked in a whisper.

"Oh yeah," Keith said with a big smile. "And with her is Ashley Grant, the taller Asian chick. They just got engaged."

"Uh, oh," Jenna said. The house lights dimmed to half quieting the murmuring crowd. "Lisa? What are you doing?" Jenna asked.

"I heard it all," Lisa said in her ear. "I hear how this plays out."

"Gotta learn to turn my mike off," Jenna grumbled.

Jenna, Keith, Lisa in the booth, and probably most the audience, watched the Jesus Weeps guy talk to Sarah Logan, the two Asian girls stood close by listening too. Jenna cringed anticipating Sarah's response. Back in high school, Logan had punched out her share of homophobes. Back then, people quickly learned NOT to mess with Sarah Logan.

"Leave up the signs?" Sarah asked loud enough for everyone to hear. "Let's go check them out Ashley." Sarah, Ashley and the Jesus guy walked out to the stage apron, the shorter Asian girl followed. They looked at the big yellow banner. Ashley pointed to a smaller sign stage left that said, SAME SEX MAY FEEL GOOD BUT IT'S WRONG. The smaller Asian girl pointed at another on stage right. MARRIAGE IS SACRED GIVEN TO MEN AND WOMEN BY GOD.

"Okay, leave them up," Sarah said with an agreeable node. Jenna, Keith, Ashley and smaller Asian girl stared at Sarah slacked jawed.

"Not what I expected," Lisa said in Jenna's ear.

The Jesus guy gave two thumbs up, and said, "Praise Jesus!"

Sarah took her fiance Ashley into her arms and pulled her in for a deep soulful kiss.

Quick on her feet up in the booth, Lisa put a spot light on the kissing couple, dimmed the stage lights but left a glow on the yellow banner so all could still see TRUE LOVE IS BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN ONLY.

The audience broke into whoops and cheers. Soon, the whole place was filled with thundering applause. Sarah and Ashley kept kissing as the Jesus Weeps band members hastily took down the signs and banner.

"Check out You Tube tonight," Kieth said to the departing band. Kieth, along with perhaps dozens of others in the crowd, recorded the moment on cell phones.

Holding back a smile, Jenna said into her headset, "Cut the crap Lisa, let's get this show rolling."

The women on the stage ended their kiss and the band get back to setting up minus the contentious signs.

At one point, Ashley Grant, the taller of the Asian women and Sarah's fiance, went to the the members of Jesus Weeps gathered backstage with the other bands to wait the end of the show. Anticipating a confrontation that she might have to quell, Jenna slipped closer to listen and this time, she made sure that her mike was off to keep Lisa out of the loop.

Ashley addressed the lone female in the group, a pretty shapely brunette with freckles and unusually large eyes a la Christina Ricci. "You have a terrific voice. We're looking for a backup singer for our coming tour." She handed the girl a card.

"You will not corrupt this child!" her band leader said snatching the card from Ashley and tossed it to the ground.

To Jenna's relief, Ashley shrugged and went back on stage. Jenna was the only one who noticed the Jesus Weeps girl pick up the card when her band mates weren't looking. Music started up on stage. Jenna shifted her attention back to her job and clicked her mike back on.

"House lights down," Jenna said.

"It's MY show now!" Lisa yelled to be heard over the music.

Jenna yelled back, "Do your lighting thang!"

And Lisa did. She brilliantly set the mood for the hard rock sound that filled the old Byle Theater. The audience cheered and yelled, probably thankful for the merciful end of the Christian rockers. Jenna realized that the band was still short the lead guitar player. She saw the small Asian girl, bouncing with excitement nearby holding a guitar cable in her hands. Jenna went up to the girl and and yelled, "Where is the lead guitar?"

"Behind you!" the Asian girl yelled over the music.

Jenna turned and there he was. "What the fuck?" she whispered when she saw that the guy had, of all things, wings.

He pushed passed her in the cramped space between the curtain legs and his costume wings brushed her face. The manly cologne she smelled earlier returned this time mixed with the smell of red wine. The Asian girl handed the guy the cord for his guitar, he plugged himself in and walked out on stage. Along with his wings, he wore a modified red leather vest and faded 501 Lees. The vest hung open putting his nicely muscled chest on display. The guy's skin was pale and his weird wings matched his light completion. Lisa took advantage of the unexpected and washed the stage with blue light giving Ethan Grant and his wings an eerie angelic look.

"Fucking far out!" Lisa yelled in the headset. "THAT is one hell of a costume!"

The crowed agreed with her as the building swelled with screams and applause.

"Um ... yeah," Jenna said still reeling from her odd close encounter with the guy. Jenna moved closer to the stage to watched the strangely garbed guitar player. The smell of clean bed sheets and fresh basil came her way then was gone just like that. She wasn't the only one on her side watching Ethan Grant do his thing, the female singer from Jesus Weeps was there too.

On stage, the band was halfway through Rod Steward's Maggie May. Ashley Grant, the taller Asian woman, sung lead. It didn't seem to matter at all that she was a chick singing about forbidden love with an older woman.

"What's your name?" Someone yelled at Jenna. She turned to see the little Asian chick standing close by.

"Jenna!"

"I'm Joy," the girl said and held her hand out. Jenna shook it.

"That costume is very ... convincing," Jenna said.

"You mean sexy as hell!" Joy corrected.

"That too," Jenna said. "But why? Doesn't seem to fit the kind of rock you're playing."

Joy shrugged. "Something Ethan's going through."

"He's an angel," the Jesus Weeps girl said jumping in the conversation.

"What's your name big eyes?" Joy asked the girl.

"Kat with a K."

"Well Kat with a K," Joy yelled. "Ethan, the dude with the wings, is real impressed with you. If you can find the balls to dump the holy rollers, you might just find a spot in Angel's Nest."

The main guy from Jesus Weeps was suddenly among the woman. "Katrina? Why are you talking to these people?" he yelled over the music.

"Just checking out the guy with the wings, Allan," Kat said. Allen grabbed her by the hand and dragged her away.

After Maggie May, Angel's Nest went into Otis Redding's Hard to Handle, followed by Guess Who's 'American Woman. After that they did two Beatles classics 'Helter Skelter' and 'Revolution.' They slowed it down with Roberta Flack's 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.' Ashley Grant sung the song with so much heart, Jenna heard Lisa sniffing on the head set.

"She's breaking my heart," Lisa said. It took a lot make Lisa all gooey. Jenna was a little choked up herself.

Through the whole song, Jenna's eyes were glued on Ethan as he playing his guitar barely ten feet away from her. One would think being so close, the illusion of the wings would be broken, but she saw no obvious seams or wires. The wings seemed like a real part of him. They moved as he played: flexing, folding, dropping, raising, spreading and widening.

"Those wings are unreal," Lisa said. "What do they look like from down their?"

"Amazing," Jenna said.

"Is it covered with feathers?" Lisa asked.

"No, looks more like fur on a short hair animal," Jenna said.

After Roberta Flack, Ethan approached one of the mikes. His wings folded behind him and he said almost shyly to the crowd, "Hey."

The crowd exploded into applause. His wings opened up high and wide as though responding to the clapping and cheering. The clapping doubled, maybe even tripled. Lisa yelled something in Jenna's ear but she couldn't understand a thing because of all the noise. A long time later, when the crowd settled down Ethan said in the mike, "I wanna sing you all a song close to my heart 'Wind Beneath My wings,' by Silbar and Henley." He strummed a few cords on his electric guitar, stopped then said, "Just fucking with you."

The crowd laughed.

"I'd like to share with you a song I wrote based on a Sci-fi story I read. It's about a spaceship that disappears through a wormhole. The spaceship is a luxury liner named Reagan's Heart. There were thousands of people aboard. None heard from again. It's like the Flying Dutchmen and the Titanic all rolled into one tragedy. The title of the song is 'Famine of the Heart.' Hope you like it."

The Guitar started in, the keyboards followed, then the base guitar and drums. Ethan sang in a soft rough voice. The guy was no singer but he could hold a tune and he sung with all his soul.

My heart is hungry for word of you.

My soul starves for a clue. Where are you?

End this famine of the Heart.

I saw a falling star.

And wish for a nourishing sign.

But my hunger is vast.

Mere needles of light will not sustain.

Did she go where life is foreign? A place where darkness is favored and silence devours reason?

The Reagan's Heart cast from time, space ... and life.

End this famine of the heart.

Did the end come quickly in a fiery ball?

Is she still there, somehow, somewhere, some when?

Existing ... not existing ... for all eternity?

End this famine of the heart.

End MY famine of the heart.

The song ended and the place was stone silent. Jenna cringed for she had seen this happen way too often in the past. Most rock crowds enjoyed hearing familiar old stuff but had little patients for anything new. Then the clapping started and quickly got louder, bigger, monstrous. Jenna joined the clapping and cheering and found herself crying again.

Through the din, Ethan yelled into his mike, "Enough of this depressing shit!"

The band started in on George Thorogood's 'Bad to the Bone' with Sarah Logan singing lead. It was their last song and they brought down the house. When the judges started in on who had won the battle of the bands, the audience started chanting ANGEL'S NEST! ANGEL'S NEST! ANGEL'S NEST! ANGEL'S NEST! The judges threw their hands in the air and declared Angel's Nest the winner. The band stepped on stage to accept their prize. Ethan spread his amazing wings as he held the trophy up high. They played an encore set starting with the Stones and ending with Van Halen.

Chapter Four Party With the Band

"Is this the place?" Lisa asked from behind the wheel of her beat up gold Land Rover.

"Yeah, that's the right street number." Jenna said.

"Not what I expected," Lisa said looking at the upper middle class two story structure in a boring white bread neighborhood.

"Yeah," Jenna agreed. "You would think that a band like Angel's Nest would throw a victory party at a log cabin on Lake Oliver or somethin'."

"Don't knock it," Lisa said, "Some of my best parties have been up at Lake Oliver."

"What you call a party, the rest of us call a police raid," Jenna said.

Lisa laughed as they got out of the Rover and walked up the flower strewn walkway to the front door. "I think the fucking Brady Bunch lives here," Lisa said as Jenna hit the doorbell.

A few seconds later, the door opened and the tiny Asian girl named Joy greeted them. She wore silky white gym shorts and a black t-shirt. Her figure was slight with well defined muscle tone of a person who used their gym membership regularly. She barely had any breasts to speak of yet the girl gave off an irresistible sexy aura.

"You came," Joy said sounding truly happy.

"This is Lisa," Jenna said. "She was in the booth. She did all the cool lighting."

"I'm Joy roadie extraordinaire. Come in."

Before the women could step in, a black shape darted past their feet.

"How the hell do you get out on your own?" Joy said to a sleek black cat rubbing against her legs. "This cat is Temporary," Joy said as she bent to pet the animal.

"Pet sitting?" Jenna asked.

"No, the cat's name IS Temporary," Joy said. "It showed up a month ago and Kieth has been threatening to take it to the pound." In a mocking deep male voice, Joy said, "That cat is just temporary, don't get to know it." Joy laughed. "Kieth's been saying that all month long. The name Temporary kinda stuck." The cat arched its back as Joy stroked it. "You're a pretty boy," Joy said. The cat seemed to agree then it tore off deeper into the house.

"Nice place," Jenna said.

"Guess its okay if white middle class splendor doesn't make you barf," Joy said leading them across a spacious living room to sliding glass doors that led out to a swimming pool and pool deck.

"Swimming pool, cool," Jenna said.

"Sorry, should have told you to bring a suit," Joy said.

"Jacuzzi too," Lisa observed.

"All the amenities," Joy said. "Most the people staying here are chicks with real figures, unlike me. Someone can spare some suits if you guys wanna swim."

"You have a nice figure," Jenna said.

""Thank you for being kind," Joy said.

"I like your muscle tone," Lisa said.

"Girls with nice shapes like you two AWAYS sat that."

Lisa and Jenna laughed. It was clear that Joy knew that she was on the sexy side of petite.

The party was on the pool deck. Kieth stood at a smoking grill cooking thin strips of meat on skewers. He wore black surfer jams and a green Nirvana t-shirt. A table with bottles of wine, vodka and whiskey stood nearby, a chest stuffed with iced Coronas rested on the deck not far from grill. Kieth held a near empty Corona in one hand as he turned grilling meat with metal thongs. Temporary, the black cat, sat on a deck chair nearby licking his chops watching the man cook.