A/N - Hello again everyone and welcome to the newest chapter of Lightning Part 3. There seems to be one chapter in each book of this series that has little, if anything, to do with the main plot and is put in as a fun interlude. In Part 1 it was Harry going to the Nirvana show. In Part 2 it was the trip to Antarctica and the Savage Land. In Part 3 it seems to be this chapter which actually builds on Harry's education with Rock music throughout the story. All of the bands mentioned in this chapter, with one very obvious exception, are or were real. Although it closed in late 2006 the club featured in this chapter was real and anyone who went there in mid to late 1990s, especially if it was on Sunday afternoon, will probably recognize the scene and the bands. If you're one of those people I dedicate this chapter to you.
Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.
10) SUNDAY MATINEE
Hank McCoy, being the intellectual that he is, made a point of obtaining a copy of the New York Village Voice every week. It came out in the middle of the week and he tended to devour the articles pretty quickly. He wasn't the only one who read it though. Bobby and Warren both usually leafed through it to see what shows might be happening in the city that week, both big concerts and in the clubs.
It was on a Thursday evening near the end of August. The newer students had all gone back to their side of the mansion leaving the team mostly hanging out in the main livingroom downstairs. Warren and Harry were playing video games while Hank was close reading a book on advanced biology and Scott and Jean were playing chess. Meanwhile the professor, Sirius, and Remus were having a quiet discussion over in the chairs near the fireplace (even if there was no fire in the hearth). Remus would be leaving in two days to return to Hogwarts and was enjoying some last quiet evenings with his friends at the X-Mansion before returning to Britain. Neville had gone back to Britain a day or two earlier to also get ready for the upcoming year at Hogwarts.
It was into this relatively tranquil scene that Bobby arrived in a bit of a hurry. He was carrying the Voice in one hand and seemed rather agitated.
"Guys, guys" he said, "you all gotta see this!"
"What's wrong?" asked Scott looking up from his side of the chess board.
"I don't know if anything's actually wrong" said Bobby, "but you should all see this." He went over to the coffee table in the middle of the room and laid the paper down on it while everyone else gathered around to look at the pages the paper was open to.
"Looks like a lot of music clubs and their show listings" said Jean looking at all of the ads on the page.
"Yes" said Bobby and he pointed to one club, "look at that one."
"CBGB and OMFUG" Harry read out loud looking at the top of the ad, "I've heard of that somewhere."
"Of course you have" said Hank, "that's the club where American Punk Rock was born in the 1970s. The Ramones played there, along with many other bands."
"Right" said Warren, "I think we've all heard of the place."
"What does CBGB stand for?" asked Harry.
"Come By, Get Baked" said Sirius with a grin. Hank rolled his eyes.
"Actually it stands for 'Country Bluegrass and Blues'" said Hank, "and OMFUG is 'Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers'."
"Yes, yes" said Bobby a little impatiently, "that's actually not what I want you to see. Look at that." Bobby pointed to a specific spot on the CBGBs ad and Harry looked at it more closely. Bobby was pointing to the show scheduled for that upcoming Sunday at 3:00 PM. There were several bands listed for it and Harry looked over the names: Madball – he didn't know that band and figured he wouldn't know the others either but there had to be a reason Bobby was pointing at this show so he kept reading – Sheer Terror, the X-Men –
Wait. What?!
Harry briefly noted that the last two bands were called Maximum Penalty and Inhuman but wasn't really paying that much attention as his head popped up and he stared into the equally surprised faces of everyone else.
"Is this for real?" asked Harry.
"It would appear to be so" said Hank, "unless the whole ad is meant to be a joke but I can think of no reason why that would the case."
"It's no joke" said Bobby, "I recognize the names of some of the other bands. They're all real. Maybe one or two of the bands use jokes but they're still real bands."
"But why would a band use our name?" asked Jean before looking at Professor Xavier, "did you know about this?"
"No" said Xavier, "and I wouldn't have approved of it if I had. Unfortunately I haven't trade marked the term 'X-Men.' I'm not sure if it's possible to do that and even if I can I don't know how I would be able to do so without possibly putting all of us at risk of being found and exposed."
"But why would a band name themselves after the X-Men?" asked Remus.
"A band can get its name from almost anywhere" said Warren, "Radiohead took its name from a Talking Heads song. They Might Be Giants got their name from a movie."
"There was even a Punk band in the late 70s called the Avengers" said Hank, "although they didn't get their name from our fellow superhero team unless they possess a time machine." (1)
"Stranger things have happened" muttered Scott, "what are we going to do about this?"
"I'm not sure what we can do" said Xavier, "unless they pose a danger to us I'm not going to use my power to make them take a different name."
"We could go to their show" said Bobby, "that might be fun. I'm curious to see them. Maybe they're good."
"I want to go too" said Harry.
"That might be a problem" said Bobby, "I think you have to be 16 to get into the club."
"That's easy" said Sirius, "a little magic can whip you up a fake ID that'll get you in easily enough. No one will know the difference."
"Fine" said Xavier, "but you go incognito. You don't show yourselves unless there's an emergency."
"No problem" said Bobby, "anyone else want to go?" Although there was a little interest in the end no one else signed up to go. Hank felt that his large size might cause problems in a club like CBGBs. Scott and Jean weren't really that interested in going. Warren had a date that afternoon. Everyone nixed the idea of Sirius going (much to his chagrin but he didn't fight it) and Remus had to return to Britain on Saturday to prepare for the upcoming year at Hogwarts.
In the end only Bobby and Harry went to CBGBs that Sunday. Bobby drove himself and Harry into Manhattan and they left the car in a garage near Harry's penthouse before taking the subway downtown and heading to the club. Although he was looking forward to it Harry was a little nervous. He'd been to large concerts before but this was his first underground club show. Also, he'd heard about CBGBs before and had even seen some pictures of it. It looked like a real mess and Harry wondered how it could have survived for so long.
The reality was more than he expected. CBGBs was a messy place, there was no denying that. It was long and relatively narrow with a bar running down the right side as you walked toward the stage. At the end of the main room was a relatively small stage although it was big enough for full bands. The stage didn't take up the whole front of the room. An aisle between the stage and the wall at the far left side of the room existed for people to get past the stage and into the area behind it. This consisted of two backstage rooms for bands to store equipment and hang out. Beyond those rooms the hall ended with a door to the outside behind the building directly in front. To the left of that was another open doorway which led to a staircase going down one level to where two restrooms were. Unfortunately the restrooms didn't have doors. This wasn't a problem for the women's room. It was set off to the right of the stairs as one came down them and one couldn't see into the room while walking down the stairs. The men's room, on the other hand, opened right out on to the bottom of the stairs. Anyone walking down the stairs, whether male or female, had a good view of the inside of the men's room all the way to the back. There were urinals on one side and sinks on the other but at the back of the room was a single sit-down toilet set up on a platform a couple of steps up from the floor. Harry later learned that this toilet was nicknamed "the Throne" and no one remembered ever seeing anyone sit on it to do their business.
The whole club was covered in grime. There were fliers and band stickers and graffiti on just about every available surface of the place except the floor and that felt like the sweat of countless club goers had fallen on it and gotten absorbed by it so as to never come out again.
And yet despite the place looking at first glance like it should have been closed down by the New York City Board of Health it was actually quite inviting and friendly. The club had character having soaked up the residue left behind by countless shows over the decades. It had the kind of ambience and authenticity that came only with long experience. You certainly couldn't fake something like it.
Harry wasn't sure what kind of crowd would be at the show so he dressed in basic clothes. As it was August he didn't wear anything heavy. He wore jeans, a t-shirt, trainers, and a baseball cap just to cover his scar. He didn't expect any of the other club goers to know who he was but you never knew when you might run across a stray magical. It was better to be safe than sorry. It was actually fairly cool for August in New York so he also wore a solid blue pullover hoodie although he figured he'd probably be taking that off before too long.
As it turned out he fit in with the crowd just fine. What he was wearing was similar to what many of the other kids were wearing, although most of the hoodies he saw people wearing had band names on them, same with t-shirts. One thing that caught his attention was that some of the kids had shaved heads although this wasn't the bulk of the crowd. Nevertheless there were enough to be noticeably mixed in with everyone else. Harry had heard about skinheads but not all that much and a lot of what he'd heard had to do with the Neo-Nazi ones that had been in the news in the recent past. That didn't seem like the type who would come to shows in New York though and none of the skinheads in this crowd had anything on them to identify them as Nazis or White Supremacists. They were mixing just fine with everyone else and there was no hostility being expressed toward them or from them.
Since Harry and Bobby didn't know anyone they mostly kept to the back or to one side against a wall and watched from there. Eventually they wound up against the wall with the aisle leading backstage and that's where they stayed for the first bands.
The opening act was a band called Inhuman and from what Harry could tell they were a new band although from the way some of the members acted, especially the singer, they were not new to the club scene. The singer in particular made mention of an earlier (now defunct) band he'd fronted that some in the crowd seemed to know about so obviously he already had some experience.
The music was a lot louder and harder than anything Harry had ever heard up to that point. Bobby told him that the name for the style was Hardcore Punk but it was usually just referred to as Hardcore. More to the point this kind of Hardcore was New York Hardcore which Bobby informed Harry tended to be harder than pretty much any other Punk scene that called itself Hardcore. Harry could believe it – especially when the singer began to sing (or was it growl?). Whatever it was Harry wondered how the singer could do it without shredding his throat. He supposed there was a good amount of practice and skill involved if he did this regularly.
So it went. Inhuman finished their set and was followed by Maximum Penalty.
"Now for the main event" Bobby whispered to Harry after Maximum Penalty finished their set. The X-Men were up next and Harry wondered what exactly this band would do. As soon as the changeover ended both he and Bobby found out.
The band was a four piece band featuring a singer, guitarist, bass player and drummer. They all wore masks but no one would ever mistake them for the real X-Men although the singer and guitarist both wore blue and yellow outfits. The singer had on a blue shirt that had yellow lightning bolts across the chest and on the sleeves while the guitarist wore dark glasses that had a reddish tint to them. The bass player was dressed mainly in white while the drummer didn't wear anything particularly distinctive but he was noticeably the biggest of the band.
"Hi everyone!" the singer called out the crowd as he and the band took the stage, "we're the X-Men. We've got Cyclops shredding on guitar – " the singer gestured at the glasses wearing guitarist before gesturing at the bass player " – Iceman on the bass – "
"That's what he thinks" Harry murmured to Bobby who snickered.
"On the drums" the singer continued "is the one and only Beast! And I'm Lightning."
"Little does he know" Bobby muttered to Harry who just shrugged. Truthfully he was trying not to cringe at the singer's shirt since it seemed quite cliche if he was going to call himself after Harry's alter ego.
"So let's kick it up into high gear!" said the singer and the band began playing. Their music was played at a breakneck speed that made Harry wonder how the singer could keep up with it while singing (or screaming) the lyrics, not that he could understand many of them from the way they were sung. The titles of the songs, however, were stated quite clearly and it seemed the band was writing songs specifically with the X-Men in mind. One song was called "Optic Blasts," another was called "Mutant March," while a third was called "Ice It Up!"
"I'm not sure if I should die of embarrassment or freeze them all to death" commented Bobby at that point although there was obvious humor in his voice as he said it. It was clear that this band didn't take itself too seriously. It was a gimmick with jokes only they were very hardcore jokes.
"They're pretty good" said Harry when the band finished a song and began getting ready for another, "I just hope they don't play – "
"This next song is a cover from Live and it's called 'Lightning Crashes'" said the singer.
"I'm gonna kill them" said Harry. Bobby put a hand on his shoulder.
"Nuh uh" said Bobby with a smirk, "you mustn't spoil the entertainment now." Harry looked at Bobby and couldn't help laughing. He didn't hate Live's "Lightning Crashes" or Throwing Copper the album it was on. He liked them both very much. But he also knew that the song had nothing whatever to do with his alter ego. Having this semi-serious hardcore band trying to turn it into a much harder song than it originally was and connect it with Lightning the X-Man was both funny and annoying. In the end all he could was shrug and let it wash over him.
When the fight broke out both Harry and Bobby were taken by surprise. Neither of them knew exactly what had occurred to cause it but just after "Lightning Crashes" was finished and the singer said they only had a couple more songs to play something happened. Bobby noticed it first. It was just two people who were getting hostile towards each other but it began to spread (Harry guessed) to their friends and soon several people were throwing down right in the middle of the pit while some other people in the crowd were trying to break things up.
"Stop that!" the singer yelled from the stage, "stop fighting right now!"
It didn't help. Harry noticed the bouncer from the door approaching the fight to try and stop it but didn't think he could do it alone.
Next thing Harry knew Bobby was tugging at his arm.
"Quick" he said to Harry, "come with me."
Bobby led Harry to one of the backstage rooms which was, fortunately, empty.
"We have to stop this" Bobby said to Harry, "do your magic thing."
Harry didn't argue as he wandlessly changed Bobby out of his clothes into his shorts and boots so he could ice up before switching out his own clothes for his X-Man uniform. He knew the professor had said to stay incognito unless there was an emergency. He wasn't sure this really qualified but Bobby seemed to think it did and Harry thought it was probably close enough. If they could stop things before anyone was seriously hurt that would be good.
"Let's go" said Iceman and he and Lightning left the room and went back out by the stage where they could see that the fight was still going strong. Lightning floated himself up a couple of feet off of the floor and began exerting his telekinesis on the crowd while Iceman sent some ice across the floor and got people to start slipping. That caused the fight to stop pretty quickly as the fighters began slipping on the ice and falling before suddenly finding themselves pushed down to the ground and held there by Lightning's power.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" yelled Lightning as he floated into view and hovered in the air above everyone while Iceman walked out next to him.
"You tell 'em" said Iceman as he came forward, "I thought we were here to have a good time."
"I was until this stupid fight broke out" said Lightning, "I get enough fighting dealing with supervillains, thank you very much. I don't need to have it happen when I'm trying to have fun!"
"What he said" echoed Iceman. By now most of the crowd had recovered their wits and were staring first at Lightning and Iceman before glancing at the band on stage before looking at the two superheroes again.
"What are you doing here?" somebody asked.
"We were enjoying the show" said Lightning to the amazement of the listeners.
"Don't look so surprised" said Iceman rolling his eyes as he turned to the band, "did you really think you could name a band after us and it wouldn't get our attention? Actually I thought you were pretty good."
"So did I" said Lightning, " although – " here he addressed the singer, " – if you really want to be like me you need a little more of this." He held out his hands and let electricity dance around them to the amazement of everyone watching him.
"Uh, yeah, right" said the singer, "I'll try to do that next time."
"Good" said Lightning, "I look forward to seeing it. And get rid of that shirt. I would never wear something as obvious as that." The singer momentarily looked offended before he tore off the shirt and threw it to one side leaving him in just a white undershirt.
"Much better" said Lightning with a nod.
"If everyone is done trying to hurt themselves" snarked Iceman before the singer could reply, "perhaps we can get back to enjoying the show?" Anyone who wasn't being held down nodded. Lightning floated back down to the ground and removed his telekinesis before wandlessly vanishing the ice on the floor. The people who had fallen all began getting up. Two of the bigger boys who had been involved in the fight looked at Lightning and Iceman as if they wanted to challenge them.
"Don't even think about it" Iceman said to them in a stern voice which caused them both to gulp and back off, "you may resume playing now" he added turning to the band.
"Uh, yeah" said the singer, "right. Let's do that."
Now that things had settled down again the band started playing again while the two real X-Men moved back to the side of the room to be out of the way of the moshers in the pit. After two more songs the band was done and began breaking down their equipment to make way for the next band (Sheer Terror). During the changeover one of the club staff came over to Lightning and Iceman. He was carrying a pair of large glasses in his hands that were filled with Coke.
"Thanks for stopping the fight" he said.
"No problem" said Iceman. The staffer held out the sodas.
"I don't know if you two are old enough to drink alcohol – " he began.
"I don't know about him, but I'm not" said Lightning.
"I have a few more years to go too" said Iceman.
"Thought that might be the case" said the staffer handing them the two Cokes, "these are on the house. Come back anytime. We'll be glad to have you here." The two X-Men accepted the drinks and sipped them while watching everyone take a break.
It wasn't long before the four members of the band named after them came over to meet them.
"Hi" said the drummer in a rather shy manner which took both Lightning and Iceman by surprise considering how big he was. Still, shy or not he held out a hand.
"Hi" said Lightning shaking the drummer's hand after which Iceman did the same, "fight aside, that was fun. You guys are pretty good."
"Thanks" said the singer also shaking their hands, "thank you for coming."
"Yeah, thanks" said the bass player, "how did you hear about us? And what made you decide to come see us?"
"It's like Iceman said" said Lightning, "you named your band after us. How could we not come when we found out about you?"
"Right" said the singer, "are you okay with that?"
"If we weren't you'd know it pretty quickly" said Iceman, "it's actually pretty flattering. Just be careful not to let anyone mistake you for us in real life. You don't need people like Magneto or his Brotherhood to come after you thinking that you're us."
"No" said the guitarist with a bit of a gulp, "that wouldn't be good."
"Nice shades by the way" said Iceman to the guitarist.
"Thanks" was the reply. They all talked for a few more minutes before the band left to move their gear out of the club.
Lightning and Iceman stayed for the rest of the show. They hung out by the side wall where they had been before and kept watchful eyes on the crowd to make sure there was no more fighting. There wasn't but that wasn't just because of their presence although it certainly didn't hurt. Except for that one incident the crowd remained a friendly one. Whatever had caused the fight had obviously been personal rather than a scene brawl between different groups.
Sheer Terror played next and Madball followed them and closed out the show. Through it all the two X-Men stayed where they were and watched everything. The mosh pit got larger and more intense as the last bands played but none of the moshers came near either superhero.
Once the show was over Lightning and Iceman slipped out the back door of CBGBs. Lightning quickly took to the air and telekinetically carried Iceman with him as they flew away from the club. Lightning flew the two of them back uptown to his penthouse. They landed on the outside terrace. Lightning let them both inside and the two of them changed back to their regular clothes before going to pick up Bobby's car at the garage and driving back to the X-Mansion.
"Other than the fight how did you like the show?" asked Bobby as they drove home.
"It was quite memorable" said Harry, "I've never seen a show like that before. Okay, I haven't seen many shows at all but it was different from anything I've seen so far."
"Would you want to go again some time?" asked Bobby.
"Yeah, I think I would" said Harry, "I'm not sure it's really my thing but I wouldn't mind learning more. Those people on stage, and the crowd. They were really into it. I wonder what that's like?"
Bobby had no answer for him and the chat turned to other topics as they drove home. They arrived back at the mansion around eight in the evening and had a slightly late dinner. After that was over Harry went back to his room and took out the guitar Warren had given him the previous Christmas. He'd learned a few chords and strummed on it now and then but hadn't really learned how play it. He plucked a string in an idle manner and decided that, yes, he did want to learn how to play it for real. He didn't intend to be in a band or anything like that. He just wanted to know how to play it properly. He knew Ilvermorny offered music lessons to anyone who wanted to learn an instrument though that wasn't required. He would look into that when the school year started.
(To Be Continued)
(1) I don't know where the 1970s Punk Band the Avengers got their name from. Maybe the comic book, maybe the British TV show from the 60s, maybe somewhere else.
A/N - And that's that. CBGBs was my favorite club and I lost count of how many times I went there between my first time in 1994 and my last time in 2006. I saw many shows there including a bunch of the Sunday Hardcore matinees in the mid-late '90s. That period of time is now known in Punk circles as the crest of the 3rd wave of New York Hardcore (NYHC as it's known in the scene). If you were ever at one of those shows, or just went to any CBs show at some point, you know what it was like. No disrespect to any other great underground club (of which there have been many) but there's never been another club quite like CBGBs since.
Next week the main plot gets back on track with the calm before the storm as early fall arrives. Meanwhile please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. Stay safe and well everyone.