CHAPTER THREE
Now thing’s were getting pretty rowdy in the land. The people on both sides of the fence were frustrated and fed up. The Discoers had taken to blasting their tunes, while the HM’s drowned them out with a beat so deep that anything not bolted down was subject to movement. It was a mess! After a while, no one could hear anything but a mash of ear shattering noise. Something had to be done!
Mayor Ollie was so distressed. As the day of the Inaugural Ball crept closer, his hands started to twitch and he seemed to be in a constant state of the dropsy sweats. He couldn’t sleep or barely eat he was so worried. And each and every day, the same thought would run through his head:
‘Why hasn’t he called?!’
Meanwhile, way down deep in his little neighborhood near the ocean, at Disco High, Genie waited back stage in the auditorium and listened to the sounds of the audience filing in. He did not pace. He did not twitch. He was calm. He stood with an air of confident power about him.
Maxy touched his shoulder and gave a nod. They lowered the lights and brought up a spot on a podium. Genie adjusted the collar on his crisp blue shirt and walked onto the stage to an excited crowd. They cheered and whooped and stomped.
Genie quieted them down.
“Thank you.”
This made them cheer more. Calmly, with an even hand, he brought them back down to a quiet settle. Maxy, looking on, was amazed. He’d never seen Genie quite like this before.
The air was electric as Genie spoke:
“We have been spat on, beaten, discriminated against, shunned, exiled, betrayed. Ignored and patronized and persecuted by our government, by our own people. We have begged and pleaded and grovelled for the chance to live and be recognized as citizens with full rights in this land, but we have been denied, and I…
have…had…enough.
We have been patient. And kind. But we have been cowards. Made fearful by the conditioning of a people, of a land that does not care for us. That merely tolerates us and demands that we accept it and stay silent. That has somehow managed to convince us that we are doomed and should walk in this world ashamed, and self-hating.
I have been scared. Afraid. And I know you have too. Who could blame you. Standing up for yourself can sometimes get you killed. But so can standing by and letting your rights be taken away.
We can not allow this.
From this day forward, we must no longer be satisfied with the tiny leftovers of greedy and judgmental bigots who use archaic and inaccurate rhetoric as their weapons.
We must no longer wait for the rights that were promised to us long ago by law. Promised by God.
From this day forward, we must take decisive action!
No stopping. No backing down. We must not be swayed from our purpose or accept half of our rights with a bit here and a snatch there. We must band together and play and sing our House Music…out loud! Until the very vibration of our tired voices beats down the doors of the ignorant and rocks the foundation of those who seek to legislate hate!!
Now is the time and this is the way! I am House Music! And I will play and sing and dance and celebrate it without shame, and without fear!! I will live free!”
The audience couldn’t wait. It was on its feet. They cheered and cheered and stomped and clapped.
Genie let them for a moment, feeling joy from their appreciation. Then he raised his gentle hand once more and the auditorium calmed again.
“I have been asked by Mayor Ollie to be a part of the Inauguration Ball. To represent our voice in the ceremony. I was going to decline, but this made me think better of it…”
Genie held up the bloodied shirt of the high school boy who had died. A gasp went over the crowd.
“I understand that this has become a symbol for many of you…because of his death. But I ask you to instead honor his life. Don’t wave this because of the blood that stains it. Celebrate what he wrote on it. What he created.
JESUS LOVES DISCO…AND HOUSE.
As we take our place at the table and demand to be recognized, let’s not become like our oppressors. Using hate and fear to get what we want. Let us instead include a place for all people in the land to live in peace. As we stand our ground, let us not take from others theirs. Let us only take what is rightfully ours and join the whole of the human race.
Remember: JESUS LOVES DISCO…AND HOUSE.
And so does God.”
There was such quiet after he spoke, that Genie stood there frozen, and a bit concerned. Then came a roar of approval that was so loud, it was heard far and wide. Genie thanked them all and finally walked off the stage and into Maxy’s embrace.
‘That was incredible, Genie!’
But Genie just held on to Maxy. He was shaking now from all of the excitement all around him…
…and from what he saw deep in the shadows of the backstage.
‘You okay?’
Genie couldn’t answer, he was too busy watching Mayor Ollie slip out of the back door into the night.
Mayor Ollie shut the door of his limo. He watched the neighborhood flow by as it passed. He’d gotten many angry calls already. He watched the phone ring and ring, until…
…one particular call came through. He quickly picked it up.
“Good evening, President Shrub.”
Mayor Ollie listened for a long time as his car wove down the lane. He wasn’t sweating anymore. He leaned back easy. And even though it was mostly dark in the backseat, every once in a while the ray of a passing streetlight would catch his face and illuminate the slow turning up of an ever-growing, ominous smile.
CHAPTER TWO
Not many folk can keep a level head in a time of chaos and injustice. That’s just a fact. Oh, plenty try, but most just don’t know what to do with themselves ‘cept rage and spit, then burn down a barn.
Well, Genie was one of those remarkable people who knew how to keep it chill. Oh, he was cool when it was needed. Could keep a steady hand in the middle of any kinda storm. Now, don’t get me wrong, he was emotional for sure, but once he cried his piece, he could set his mind to something with such acute ferocity, that he was like my good friend’s sister’s momma, Gladiola, with a bushel of spiced steamed crabs, NOT TO BE MOVED!
And so it was with this incredibly level-headed ferocity that Genie decided, along with Maxy and just about everyone he knew, which was alot o’ folks, to organize a plan.
They started with an all night House Music party to get people aware of their lack of civil rights. Folks performed and danced and just set it off right. Even had some fireworks. Which, Maxy sarcastically pointed out,..was legal.
It was also decided that they would no longer keep silent. (Well, per se.) Since hummin’ was allowed as well as finger poppin’, the organized masses took to hummin’ their House Music in public and if they were too scared to do that, then they would wear the government headphones, but snap their fingers to the beat.
Oh, the land was shifting and changing quite fast. Even the birds seemed to know something. They flew out south way ahead of the winter season and the air took on a restless prickly heat. House Music was suddenly everywhere and so was the growing frustration of quite a few folks who were dyed-in-the-wool Discoers. They didn’t like the way things were going. They didn’t like it one bit!
Yeah, all you had to do was take a minute and look around, and you’d know that an epic battle was coming, but ole Mayor Ollie wouldn’t budge.
Well…believe it or not, but the humming and finger poppin’ campaign was very successful. The folks in the land were gettin’ hip to their rights, or rather the lack there of, but quick. So much so, that a few of the young ones started to get heavy hot and fueled up under their collars. They wanted things to move faster! And as youth is sometimes happy to do; they took matters into their own hands.
When a few of them went into a little soda shop and tried to get the owner to change the music on the Hi Fi to House, a fight broke out and some of these antsy younguns were arrested.
Genie was troubled. Maxy was elated. The people of the land were furious.
Since President Shrub was due to speak in the land, and present an award to the students of the local Disco High School, Mayor Ollie sent out a strong letter to Genie and “his friends” warning them “to cool it or else.” This added fuel to the fire. So, despite his growing worry, Genie and his friends just kept up the racket. They’d wear headphones, but now, some would sing out while standing in line. (Technically not legal, but there was a tiny loophole.) They’d wear t-shirts with slogans like:
I AM HOUSE MUSIC!!!!
HOUSE MUSIC IS LIFE!!!
FREEDOM TO DANCE!
FREEDOM TO SING!
FREEDOM TO SHOUT!
FREEDOM TO LIVE FREE!!!
Oh, they caused quite a ruckus. And the more equal rights they marched and shouted for, the more they incensed the rest of the land, hell, the whole world. In opposition, Disco lovers matched them slogan for slogan, t-shirt for t-shirt.
DISCO SAVES!
HOUSE MUSIC = DEATH!
JESUS LOVES DISCO!
DISCO IS THE RHYTHM OF AMERICA!
Oh, it was all turning into quite a mess for sure.
But the topper came when President Shrub, in his speech to the students of Disco High School, made a careless joke about House Music and a shoe from the audience came whizzing by his head.
The student and guilty shoe thrower was tackled to the ground and beaten so badly, he was hospitalized. His bloodied t-shirt, one from the pro-Disco opposition that he’d doctored a bit to say:
JESUS LOVES DISCO…and HOUSE!
was saved by one of his friends. It became the symbol, the flag, that led the charge. Genie’s people, now being called HM’s, were electrified by his courage and wanted to show their support by marching all the way to the town hall (even through some of the very neighborhoods that were against HM’s.) They were fast becoming a steamroller just waiting for the right leader.
Maxy created a special mix to give them a soundtrack.
Genie just walked away home. When they all turned around for his go-ahead, he was nowhere to be found.
Genie closed his front door and sat in the first chair he came to. There in his little house in the lower income part of the land near the ocean, he sat in the dark and thought and thought and pondered and mulled ’til his mind was just about putty and he was interrupted by a knock at his door.
It was Mayor Ollie.
Genie could tell from the look on his face that Ollie was a sad.
“Come in, Mayor Ollie.”
Ollie walked in and fell into a seat… ‘That high school kid just died, Genie.’
“Oh no.”, said Genie, turning on a light.
‘Turn it off.,’ said Ollie.
“Why?”
‘I don’t want people to know I’m here.’
Genie snapped the light off. “Then you should leave!”
‘No…’, Ollie sighed. ‘Sit down, Genie. There’s some things I need to say and then I’ll go. Once it’s out this kid has died, your people will tear up the entire land.’
“You brought this on yourself, Ollie. I can’t control-”
‘Let me finish.’, said Ollie. ‘Then it’s on you.’
Genie was sure he heard some kindness in Ollie’s voice. “I’ll listen to you, Ollie.” But he stayed alert…just in case.
So they sat in the dark, and Genie listened to his old friend for nearly an hour. When Ollie left Genie sat stunned and terrified. He couldn’t believe what he’d heard. His phone rang and rang. Maxy was trying to find him. But Genie ignored it. In that moment, a shaft of moonlight caught his eye as it happened to land on the high school boy’s famed bloodied t-shirt. The boys mother had given it to him in a frame.
JESUS LOVES DISCO...and HOUSE!
That’s when he knew what he had to do.
As the front door closed behind him, that same shaft of moonlight now rested on the broken glass of an empty frame.
CHAPTER ONE
Greatness, back in the day, was something to aspire to, or perhaps even something you were born with. No one knew for sure. Most people would just watch in awe as several key events and components came together in a mystical way, and in doing so, form a more perfect union. And a true leader who’d wear the mantle with such grace that the country could do nothing but yield to their wondrous power.
Greatness today…is achieved through marketing . Especially when you talkin’ politicians. Oh yeah…and preachers too.
Uh oh, now look at what I did. I just married you ‘fore I even popped the question. Best to back up a bit.
See, it all started with a shoe.
No, not like Cinderella tryin’ to fit in one, an old woman livin’ in one, or even the angry Iraqi man who threw one. (Is it me or did anyone else happen to notice that no one caught that joka in time or jumped too quickly to wrestle the shoe-r to the floor?) In that fairy tale, he was able to throw both of his shoes, not just lucky to fire off one of ‘em.
In this fairy tale…hmmm…I’m still doin’ it all wrong. I know. Let’s try this:
Once upon a time- Yeah, that’s better.
Once upon a time, the world was in quite a state. There had been a long war and misery and strife among the people in the land. The constant draining of their resources and their need to have a lot of stuff had gotten them into a lot of trouble. And their leader, President Shrub, was always cranky. See, he didn’t know what he was doing exactly and the only thing that outweighed his ignorance, was his vanity. So it was agreed by all that Shruby had to go, and soon!
Meanwhile, deep in the lower income part of the kingdom, way on the other side of the brier patch near the ocean, lived an unlikely hero, Eugene Pooft and Eugene was a very well known such and such. When folks needed help, he was always there to lend a hand. Why it was said that Eugene or “Genie” as he was nicknamed, woke up in the morning huntin’ for ways to do good. There was just one problem. Genie had a big appetite for House Music. Oh, he couldn’t get enough. And the biggest purveyor of his love was Maxy Boneventura, the baddest brotha in town. If Maxy was spinnin’ at the club, then Genie was twirlin’ on the dance floor. Sometimes people whispered things, but no one took much stock in it. Afterall, Genie was practically a real live angel on earth, who cared if he liked the stuff. He wasn’t hurting anybody, and plus, he never played it out loud in the streets. The party was always inside. As was the law of the land regarding the playing of House Music.
Now, along that time, Genie had a good friend named Ollie Icon, and Ollie was so charismatic, that he once almost convinced the Mayor to actually build a special highway for animals. They’d nearly brought all of the supplies when the Mayor fell out of Ollie’s trance and canceled. Still, it had been very close. Supposedly even some tar was laid and pictures was took, but no one ever saw any proof, so eventually, the rumors died and along with them, so did the Mayor.
Ollie won his spot by a landslide.
Afterall, Genie was his campaign manager. And Genie knew everybody.
He had single-handedly turned the tide for Ollie Icon. See, at first, some of the people in the land weren’t too sure about Ollie. He was smart to be certain, and he was handsome and even wise, but he had never been a mayor before, so they were worried. Especially the colorful folk that resided in Genie’s part of town. But after Genie gave Ollie Icon a heartfelt introduction and Ollie followed with a rousing speech that addressed the residents worries and concerns, it was cake. They all knew they had their man and they were pleased.
Things soon fell into an easy rhythm after all of the tussle of the election and such died down. Mayor Ollie was good at his job, and most felt he had found his place in the world. He wore it all so well.
But deep in the core of the land, there was something simmering. See, Genie had thought that he might be a part of the new Mayor’s staff or at least be an adviser to his old friend, but alas, he was overlooked. Mayor Ollie assured him that the next go round, once the land had progressed a bit, he might be able to include Genie, but right now, well,…
‘Well, you see, Genie, uh, most decent people simply don’t listen to House Music out loud. They don’t think it’s…right.’, he said.
Genie was astonished. “Do you feel that way, Ollie?”
‘Of course not, Genie. I like your music…uh, well, I mean at a low volume.’
“Low volume? But I thought…in your speech you said-?”
‘I’m the Mayor now, Genie, and I have to make sure that certain things are in place for everyone before we can allow you to just play House Music out in the open like that. You understand, don’t you?’, said Mayor Ollie.
“No. How else are we suppose to listen to it? We don’t sing it out in the streets anymore. And we’ve only been allowed to play it at home or in clubs. In secret. Some of us even have to wear headphones for fear someone will hear and object.”
‘Headphones! That’s it!’, cried Mayor Ollie.
“Huh? I don’t understand.” Genie almost whispered, he was so broken-hearted.
‘See, if you listen to it that way all of the time, you can still hear your music, but not disturb anyone else.’, decided the Mayor. ‘I’m glad we had this talk, Genie.’
“But wait…!”, Genie ran after him pleading. It was too late, Mayor Ollie had already made up his mind, popped into his car, and driven away.
And that was that. At least it was to Mayor Ollie. But for Genie, things were just getting started. After Genie had sobbed on Maxy’s shoulder for two solid days, Maxy finally had to put his foot down and demand that Genie pull himself together.
“I’ll throw us a party, Genie, like no other. And we’ll invite everybody who is anybody and before you know it, you’ll be your old self again.”
So they did.
Oh, Maxy put on quite a bash. The place was packed. And sure enough, once the beat went through him, Genie was on the floor twirling and twirling until Mayor Ollie was just a distant memory. “Ollie won’t make us wear headphones. How silly. He’s my friend. He’s smarter than that.”, Genie thought to himself. “He’ll probably end up changing everyone else’s mind about us. He’s so charming and wise. I don’t know what I was ever worried about.”
And with that, Genie’s heart was light and free. He danced all night and had the time of his life.
The morning came, and with it, a very darkly cloudy sky,…and a ton of noise. Why, there was so much chatter and twitter and rumblings outside his window, Genie nearly screamed at the birds, “What is going on, for heaven’s sake?!”
‘Mayor Ollie has…has…’, Birdy stuttered.
“What? Has he decreed we wear headphones?”
‘No.’, said Birdy. ‘He has asked Lucian RickRabbit to DJ at the Mayor’s Ball for his inauguration.’
“What?!!!”, shrieked Genie. “The ever-loving King of Disco?! It cannot be! He hates House Music!”
‘And us!’, squawked Birdy
“I just don’t under-”, said Genie interrupted by a knock at his door.
It was Maxy and Maxy was pissed. ‘That’s it, man! We have to organize! I will not play House Music in secret!”
“I don’t know, Maxy, I’m sure Ollie would never-”
‘Wake up, Genie! He’s sold us out. Lucian RickRabbit is bad news. He thinks House Music comes from the gutter. What do you want to do?’
Genie froze. Ollie was his best friend. He just couldn’t believe that something like this could happen. It was so heart-breaking. So, Genie sat down and cried and cried and cried, until…
Maxy handed him a nice new pair of government issue House Music Headphones…
And that woke him right on up.
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