Different Circles

In the studio version of Down, the outro had faded out. That was obviously not an option when performing live so they had rehearsed up a new ending to put the tune to rest. They played it out now, Jake and Lenny both stepping up, shoulder to shoulder, and hammering out a blistering finale that was accompanied by the pounding of Ted on the drums before cutting off abruptly and letting Lenny’s final note fade out.

The roar of the crowd washed over them once again, the loudest they had heard so far. Jake and Lenny both flipped their guitar picks into the crowd, creating minor scuffles for possession of them where they landed. They walked back to their stations and pulled new picks for the next number, which would be Hit the Highway, Jake’s song about his breakup with Helen, another of his top hits. G came trotting out and sat down in front of his keyboard set, hat and sunglasses firmly in place. Since the cheers remained at the same level, it seemed reasonable to believe that no one had recognized him. If they noticed anything at all, it was just that—as G himself put it—some anonymous brother had come out to play a little keyboards for Jake.

Celia and Obie sat together in folding chairs in the third row of the special VIP section just in front of the stage. Both were drinking draft beer from large plastic cups and having quite a good time so far. The SVIP could accommodate about two hundred people and was pretty much full to capacity. All of the musicians and their special guests for the entire festival had access to it. Most of the other people in the section, Celia did not know. A few she had only met today. There was Jessie, Lenny’s girlfriend, sitting a few seats over. There were the two men that Phil had invited (she had already forgotten their names). There was Mark, Natalie’s husband, and their copilot on the first Celia Valdez Tour. He was sitting on Celia’s left. Suzie had been invited but had been unable to make it (which was a bummer because Celia was approaching the line again with her horniness). A few of Ted’s paramedic friends were sitting just in front of them and had been in those seats all day (and were quite intoxicated). Ben Ping’s wife was sitting just to the right of Obie (and seemed very awed to be in his presence) and, interestingly enough, Rabbi Levenstein, who had married the Nerdlys in Heritage and presided over Kelvin Archer’s circumcision, and his wife were present as well, sitting next to Ben’s wife, both of them dressed in ratty jeans and Intemperance concert t-shirts.

Celia was genuinely enjoying the show so far. She had, after all, played a major part in the production of all of Jake’s music, had played the rhythm guitar on the opening song in the studio when it had been recorded. She had sung along with the lyrics and swayed to the rhythm all throughout Can’t Keep Me Down. And now, as they launched into Hit the Highway, she smiled and began to sing along with that as well. Jake had played both rhythm and lead on the recording of the song, but she had played the lead parts throughout their initial workups of the tune and she knew every note intimately. She played air guitar as she sang along, her fingers fretting imaginary strings in perfect synchronicity with Lenny.

Obie was also enjoying himself. He was dressed in jeans and a tank top that showed off his upper arm tattoos. He had his signature cowboy hat upon his head and his full beard was neatly trimmed for the occasion. He sang along as well. Though his love was primarily country music, classic country in particular, he had a strong affection for any music that was well done and well-engineered. And Jake’s tunes most definitely fell into that category. He even liked the stuff that Jake had done with Intemperance, though only Jake’s tunes, not Matt’s. And, as he sang along and considered the huge crowd of the TSF and the amount of money that Music Alive was making for this shindig, the business part of his mind began to ponder if maybe a country music version of the show could be arranged and if maybe he had the balls to pull it off.

As Jake and the band finished up Hit the Highway and the crowd cheered and whistled and overwhelmed everyone’s eardrums once again, Obie took a little look around, trying to gauge just how the engineering of such a festival might be improved upon. It was then that he spotted a familiar figure standing by the small opening that led from the roped off access area into the SVIP section. He thought he was imagining things at first, but then realized that what his eyes were seeing was accurate.

He pulled on Celia’s shirt to get her attention. She looked at him to see what he wanted. It was far too loud at the moment for verbal communication, so he simply pointed. She squinted in the direction he was indicating for a moment, not understanding what he was trying to show her, and then he saw the figure as well.