Life Through A Glass Enclosure Part 1
June 2007
Ten-thirty in the morning was always a slow time of the day on the Toll Road between Lawndale and Swedesville. Curtis looked down at his watch and yawned. Working as a toll booth collector for the Maryland Department of Transportation may not be the most glamorous job, but it allowed him to have a sit down job that required little effort. With it being a state job, the benefits were really good. He made enough to pay his bills, keep plenty of food on his table, and his retirement fund healthy. Not a bad gig for a guy who grew up in Lawndale.
Deciding that it would not be in his best interest to fall asleep on the job, Curtis decided to catch up on his reading. Grabbing the local paper, he flipped to the Entertainment Section. There on the front page was local celebrities Mystik Spiral after they announced that they would be starting their second world tour in their home town. After several years of struggling to make a name for themselves, they were finally on their way. Curtis crumpled up the paper in disgust as he thought about what could have been.
Lawndale, Maryland 1992
Jessie and Trent were sitting on the steps of Lawndale High strumming their guitars. It was a rare Tuesday that neither of them had detention, but they missed the bus so they had to wait for Amanda to come and give them a ride home. Soon, they began to work on their rhythm and soon the sounds of "L.A. Woman" started to become clearer. A few minutes later, the main doors opened behind them. A couple of seniors started to walk past the two sophomores until they listened to Trent and Jessie play. One of them - a tall, skinny, blonde guy ran over to a big, black van and opened the back, pulling out a worn-down but acoustically sound Martin. The shorter one, sat down his books and arranged them in a pattern on the steps. Holding two pencils like drum sticks, he began to follow suit. Soon, the four of them were playing "Light My Fire" and "Hello, I Love You". Trent was having such a good time, he didn't even realize that it was almost five and his mother still hadn't shown up. The shorter senior looked at his watch and began to gather his notebooks.
****t - it's almost five and I have to be at work in a half an hour. You two are pretty good - we should jam for real next time. The name's Max Tyler and the silent one over there is Nick Campbell. I have a kit, but I'm not allowed to play it at home. My neighbors are assholes."
"I'm Trent Lane and he's Jessie Moreno. I have a makeshift studio in my basement and our neighbors stay away from us."
"Sweet - Why don't we meet here tomorrow morning and we'll go from there," Nick said.
"Cool," Jessie replied.
Max and Nick headed towards the van as Trent and Jessie put their guitars back in their cases. They began to walk towards Casa Lane talking about the potential of starting their own band. Once inside, the two went down to the basement and decided they better finish getting it ready for their possible musical endeavor. They began to arrange their speakers and microphones and checked to make sure all the wall outlets worked. After their tasks were complete, they studied the area and nodded their heads in agreement. The two left the basement and headed for Trent's room to resume their practicing.
The next morning, Trent and Jessie waited for the two seniors to show up. With about ten minutes before the bell rang, they heard the van pull into the Student Parking Lot. Max and Nick stepped out and headed towards them. The four of them quickly decided to go straight from school over to Trent's house. For once, Trent and Jessie actually focused in class so that they would not receive detention. All the two could talk about at lunch was the jam session that was planned for that afternoon. When the final bell rang, Trent and Jessie followed Max and Nick to the van and they drove to Trent's house. The four teenagers walked into the house and were almost ran over by a ten-year-old wearing a red t-shirt, black shorts, and sneakers.
"Excuse me, going out for a run. See you later Trent, hi Jessie - bye Jessie," the girl said as she opened the door.
"Be careful, Janey." Trent watched his little sister leave.
Trent led the others to the basement. Max looked around and instantly approved. He asked Jessie if he could help him get his drums out of the van. A half an hour later, everything was in place and they were ready to play. They decided to stick with Doors covers until they got used to playing together. Three hours, they were able to get through four songs. Despite the several restarts and frustrated grumbles, the four decided to get together that Saturday.
Weeks passed and soon the four of them could get through several Doors songs. They even came up with a band name, Mystik Spiral. Despite the fact that they were improving, they felt as though something was missing. One afternoon while down in the basement, they found out what it was. Jane had been sitting on the couch listening to her big brother, his best friend, and the two other guys play. Jane sat silently and began to draw a picture of loose tornado. When they finished the last chords of "People Are Strange", Jane put down her sketchpad.
"You need a keyboardist. I like that song, but it doesnt sound right without the freaky piano," Jane said staring at Trent.
The four teenagers looked at each other as if they had been collectively hit by a bolt of lightning. That's the missing link. The next day, Trent went up to the editor of the school newspaper and placed an ad for a keyboardist. The afternoon after the Lawndale Lowdown had been distributed to the homerooms, Trent and Jessie were eating lunch when a fellow sophomore approached them.
"I just read your ad and I was wondering when try-outs were going to be."
"Umm, we haven't really thought about that. Why - are you interested?" Trent asked.
"Yeah - I haven't played in a band or anything before, but I've been playing the piano and keyboard for over five years," the boy said.
Trent eyes widened. "Five years - who needs try-outs. Let me talk to Max and Nick after school. I'm sure they won't have a problem with you joining us," Trent stared at the boy for a few more minutes. "Hey - aren't we in Mr. O'Neill's class together?"
"Yeah and Mr. DeMartino's class. I'm Curtis -Curtis Stalano."
When school was over, Trent and Jessie introduced Curtis to Max and Nick. Max was hesitant at first. Curtis looked too preppy to be in a band. Nick decided that he wanted to hear him play before giving any kind of approval. Trent gave Curtis directions to his house and his phone number. Curtis arrived Saturday afternoon and set-up his Yamaha PSR-300 keyboard. Nick asked him to play the piano part to "People Are Strange". Curtis asked if he could hear the song. Trent went upstairs and brought back his cd player. Curtis listened intently to the song and right after it ended, he proceeded to play. The four sat in amazement as Curtis nailed every note as though he had been performing that song for years. About halfway through, they had him stop and start over from the beginning so that they could join him.
Soon, the basement was filled with a sounds of a much smoother sounding cover of the song. When they finished playing, Trent asked Curtis to sit on the couch so that the rest of the band could talk. Curtis looked down at the floor, nervously awaiting the band's decision. A few moments later, all four heads nodded in agreement. Trent walked over to Curtis and stuck out his hand.
"Welcome to Mystik Spiral," Trent smiled.