Sheenah did everything with Mark. Mark did everything with his big brother Perry and Perry’s four friends, they were seniors. This meant Sheenah was usually the only girl and just 14.
That night Sheenah and Mark tagged along with Perry’s posse to listen to one of the new bands on tour, Mahogany Rush. This required that the gang sneak into an old theatre of a small Texas town.
That night, that crazy awful night, was back in the ‘70s. Rock and Roll concerts finally found their way onto small town venues, “pot” was everywhere and therefore everything that went with small town Rock and Roll concerts: sex, drugs, and rock and roll were exciting to teens.
The group arrived at the theatre right before Mahogany Rush’s opening. “Let’s try going in through the back,” Perry said, “Cool?” Each teen nodded even though they knew they had not thought this out. The group worked its way around to a shadowy rear-parking lot, small, no lights.
“Do you hear that?” Mark asked. They stood still to listen. Out of an upstairs window, the teens heard guitars playing but not the sounds of Mahogany Rush performing, more like practice riffs.
Perry picked up a small rock and hurdled it at the window. The rock tink-ed against the window but the music continued. Perry moved his arms like a Sargent and his group reacted, they searched around for more rocks and took aim.
Clink, tick, clink, the window opened suddenly. Someone threw out a hand full of guitar picks. Mark turned around to his friends and said, “Nice, except not what we came here for.” They started throwing rocks again.
The same window opened, “What?”
“Let us in,” Perry hollered. The window closed and five minutes later a bottom door opened. The gang went in and started climbing a dim-lit stair case. They snaked up to the top onto a small old lighting stage. A very tight fit, but the group did not mind and jumbled in one at a time anyway.
Music announced that Mahogany Rush was headed onto the floor, speakers blared, guitars whaled, lights gyrated. “These are perfect seats,’” Perry said as he pulled out a joint from his shirt pocket.
The band rocked. Tragically, around the second set the lighting stage rocked too.