Juliet Silver woke up from her nap sweating and terrified. She stared at the Bonefinger and Viper's Spit posters on her ceiling as the tears welled in her eyes and the lump reappeared in her throat. It was 1983 and tonight was an important night. Earlier that day, she pulled an early morning shift at the music store after a long night of playing some dive bar in Glen Burnie.
It was fast becoming a trend, a good one too. Her father Bob could hardly afford to feed his family. Since her mother passed away from lupus, Bob worked two shifts at Bethlehem Steel and had a girlfriend on the side so he was hardly ever home. At twenty, Juliet was responsible for her sister and taking care of the house, working a full time job and playing bass in Baltimore’s fastest up and coming band.
Onyx was huge. She formed the band with her three best friends, Angela, Lily and Janelle. On a normal night staring at Bonefinger’s poster motivated her to shine. They were Onyx’s idols in every way. Tonight, staring at the three raven-haired musicians and the blonde haired blue-eyed surfer made her want to vomit.
Onyx played at Hammerjacks tonight. It was a very big deal. Hammerjacks either made a band or broke a band. The fans were ruthless and the crowd was rough. Juliet was used to that. What she wasn’t used to was that there was a very distinct possibility that Finger was going to be at the show.
The news already reported that Finger had arrived early for their concert at the Baltimore Arena. Every metal band that came through Baltimore with time to spare stopped and partied at Hammerjacks. It was where the skanky groupies and the metal heads hung out and new bands were discovered. Finger had just started a new music label. They were sure to be looking for action, alcohol and possibly new talent.
Juliet’s phone rang. “Hello,” she said in a half Maryland, half southern drawl.
“You up hooch,” Lily asked. Lily had moved to Baltimore from Indiana in the eighth grade, about the time that Angela and Juliet were getting the idea to have a band. They asked Lily to join because she could read music and write poetry. The friendship grew from there. In fact, Lily and Juliet were now closer than Juliet and Angela.
“Yeah,” Juliet said as she reluctantly sat up, “Getting in the shower now.”
“You think they’ll be there?”
“Dunno, part of me hopes so. Part of me is praying they aren’t. We aren’t ready.”
“Sure we are. We’re too big for Baltimore. I mean that tour this summer…”
Juliet interrupted, “Angela and her drug problem. Janelle and her drinking. Yeah we’re set dude. It’s only gonna get worse Lil.”
“Janelle is better than any guitarist out there, including Rik Powers. Angela gets the guys. Look it’s now or never.” Lily explained, “We are ready. We are rock and roll baby, sex, we all got covered, some of us more than others, drugs we all got covered, some of us more than others and rock and roll we got period.”
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