Wackos to Obliterate: Book Two (Chapter 16)
“According to recent polls, at least 60% of Hawaiians favor legalization, but most of the local politicians say they’re worried about the children and public safety,” a representative of NORML, who had greeted them when they arrived, said in the shuttle that was taking the TRinkets to their hotel in Waikiki.
Ryuji enjoyed listening to this woman since she resembled Winona Ryder, his favorite actress. He smiled at her and said, “Meaning they want to legalize it so the little darlings’ aren’t destroyed by incarceration just because they took hits from a bong?”
Ms. NORML giggled. “No the opposite, I’m afraid. They keep saying to ‘go slow’ since we don’t have all the facts.”
“That’s the same response by a governor from one of the states that legalized it,” Trink said.
“That’s right; he said if it were up to him, they would’ve taken more time to look into it,” she added.
“As though 1937 to now isn’t long enough,” Chelsea said.
“Exactly,” the rep said.
“By the way, is that the park where the rally’s going to be held,” Madelyn asked, pointing out a window on the right.
Sophie pretended to look shocked. “Not a stadium?”
Diamond replied, “Remember the Stones concert in Hyde Park.”
Trink smirked and said, “What do you mean remember? You weren’t even born yet.”
“No, but I watched it online.”
“Society’s memory collected and collated for our daily use,” Chelsea said.
“And closely monitored,” Bowen added.
Trink looked at him. “Not monitored closely enough; otherwise, we wouldn’t have so many bizarre comments on our pages.”
Sophie looked at NORML’s Winona sitting in the seat behind her. “Well, is it the park or not?”
“No, the rally’s in Kapiolani Park, close to Diamond Head.”
“I remember that park. There’s a bandstand or shell there, right?” Trink asked.
“Yeah, it’s pretty dated and not so many outdoor concerts are held there anymore, but it’s still a popular park for public events. We were lucky to get a permit to have the rally there.”
“So how long are we slated to play?” Ryuji asked.
The rep glanced at Madelyn sitting in the seat across from her. “I think you’re slated for thirty minutes, but …” she hesitated.
Madelyn helped her out by saying: “You’re free to play longer depending on the audience.”
Ryuji made a snorting noise as if he had difficulty breathing. “If the reception we got at the airport is any indication, we’ll end up playing about five minutes.”
“What reception?” asked Diamond.
“You nailed it, my man,” Ryuji said.
Trink turned to Madelyn sitting next to him. “That’s what I was wondering: where was the press or at least a few fans? We do have the Number One song on the charts, don’t we?”
“Wasn’t there a press release that we were coming?” Sophie asked.
“I know Summit tried to do their typical PR blitz, but the time-frame was a little short,” Madelyn said.
“That’s mostly our fault, I think,” the NORML rep said. “We weren’t planning to invite groups beyond the local suspects due to budget constraints.”
“Brad contacted NORML less than a week ago,” Chelsea said.
“So this was put together in a very short time frame,” Madelyn said.
“Actually, I think Brad just got the approval from Summit to allow the group to perform here about an hour before he told us about it at the meeting,” Chelsea said.
“Even so, press releases were put out and we even made a few direct contacts with several reporters,” Winona aka Ms. NORML added. “It does appear a little strange, but since the airport is kind of far from everything and since Waikiki is more centralized, I expect a gathering around the hotel.”
It turned out that she was correct; there was a small crowd of fans, a local-news film crew, and a couple of reporters waiting around as they drove up to the hotel entrance.
“Welcome to Waikiki,” Winona said as the fans and film crew surrounded the shuttle.
That evening, before heading out to explore the culinary delights of Waikiki, Madelyn, Trink and Chelsea turned on the TV to watch the local news program that sent the film crew. They were a little surprised that all they aired were three or four seconds embedded in a very short segment about the NORML rally. Following this was a much longer interview with a politician who explained at length how the proposed bill pending in the Hawaiian legislature could be very damaging for tourism if it passed. He stressed how it was essential for them to ‘go slow’ and look more carefully at the issue and any negative ramifications it may have for the future of their state.
After they returned from dinner, Madelyn went online to check some social network and media sites. She discovered only one news outlet had a couple of paragraphs about their arrival and the rally. She noticed that a few comments following the article were very negative in tone and one in particular had a personal attack against the group.
“Listen to this,” Madelyn called to Trink who was sitting on the sofa looking at the tourist map of Waikiki he picked up while they were searching for a good place to eat dinner. “The TRinkets were crappy in the 80s, but that’s nothing compared to the ‘loco-weed’ junk they’re pimping now.”
Trink looked at her sitting at the head of the bed with her head supported by pillows and her laptop sitting on her stomach. “Nice review.”
“Insightful comments full of love and best wishes,” she added.
Poor media coverage notwithstanding, the turnout for the rally was fantastic. The park was overflowing with people. No doubt the perfect weather for an outdoor event played a factor, but that’s just another day in paradise. There was a short rain shower late in the morning, as typical on Oahu, but otherwise, it was sunny and clear – as opposed to L.A. with its heat inversion layer.
Like other legalization rallies there were numerous booths distributing cannabis and hemp-related literature and supplies – hemp clothing stalls, et al. In the air were the typical flying objects like balloons in various shapes and colors; others not so typical like a surveillance drone and a couple of helicopters would come and go.
“I thought the state legislature banned police drones?” Trink said, watching the unmanned robot buzz above them.
“It’s still unclear. Banned or not, they can get a warrant easily enough,” Bethany, the Winona lookalike said as they stood alongside the bandstand.
“They’re just concerned about the children and the public safety; that’s all,” Trink said, remembering what Bethany had said in the shuttle from the airport.
“Probably a bootleg video will be released,” Ryuji said, standing with them.
Bethany turned to look at him standing behind her. “Filmed from the drone?”
He smiled and said, “If the sound quality is good enough, why not?”
“Doesn’t the robot make too much noise?” she asked.
Trink said, “I take it, you’ve never heard us play.”
In fact, she had never heard the group and as it turned out, she, the drone, and no one else heard them play that day because, shortly after, a garbage can on a sidewalk between the park and the zoo exploded. No one was injured, but concern for the public safety resulted in shutting down the rally and cordoning off the area.
A NORML member who owned a sports bar in the Chinatown district near downtown Honolulu offered his place as an alternative venue for the rally. Since they would occasionally host live acts, it was easy for him to set up the place by evening so at least the TRinkets could perform. Unfortunately, by midafternoon, an anonymous threat to disrupt the show was made by phone. A few minutes after the call, an employee thought it may be best to check the website and discovered it was deluged with dozens of threatening comments as well.
Madelyn with the help of the NORML staff scrambled to find another venue, but the same thing occurred, which compelled the Honolulu Police Department, after consultation with the FBI, to ban the TRinkets from performing.
“How about the North Shore? A friend of mine has a place there that may be suitable,” the sports bar owner suggested. Unfortunately, since both a violent action occurred and the FBI was already actively working on the case, the state governor decided to ban the TRinkets from performing anywhere.
Surprisingly, the ban included the band from appearing in public as well, so even when someone wanted to go to the beach or do some shopping, they had to go separately; except for Trink and Madelyn since they were a couple and since technically, she was not a member of the band. In addition, after the explosion, they were moved to separate hotels as a precaution since the location of their first hotel was compromised by the press release sent out by Summit and since someone may have recognized the hotel in the news broadcast aired the first night they were in Waikiki.
By the time they returned to L.A., the atmosphere had changed for the worse. Due to the fear mongering that had developed over the explosion, the TRinkets were no longer sought out for live performances.
“That explosion could have been unrelated to the rally. If you consider the weather and how many homeless live in the city, maybe someone put some rancid combination of crap into the trash bin and it exploded by chance,” Diamond said, sitting around the table in a conference room at Summit.
“Very unlikely, but it doesn’t matter. The media has hyped the situation into being something akin to a terrorist attack on the Motherland. I’ve heard from NORML that the FBI still has the park cordoned off,” Brad said.
“That’s been close to a week already. It was a very small explosion and no one was injured. Hell, there were probably more people hurt playing Frisbee that day. Are they going to ban Frisbee, too?” Ryuji asked.
“Stranger things have happened,” Madelyn said.
“Really, when?” Bowen asked.
“What’s our rank on the charts today?” Trink asked Madelyn looking at her tablet.
“Down to Number Eight already.”
“That’s two down from yesterday,” Sophie said. “I wonder what’s going to happen with the one we released a couple of weeks ago. Do you think it’s got a chance to go anywhere after this?”
“I don’t know, but probably a fungus-related health problem will turn up due to bat guano used by so many growers,” Brad said.
Chelsea darted him a look. “We’re just full of positivity today, aren’t we?”
They did not need to be concerned about the second single, regardless the paranoia surrounding live performances, the sales were brisk and “It Don’t Bother Me” was flying up the charts. Maybe the defiance in the title conveyed by its disregard for grammar, much like “Satisfaction” by the Stones in the early days of the British Invasion, or the apparent disregard the group showed towards the threats they had been receiving: whatever the reason, something about it captured the zeitgeist; hence, it became a monumental hit. Perhaps, it was related to a general rejection of the “War on Drugs” or the rejection of the ludicrous notion that you can have a war against the by-products of plants.
Whatever it was, it appeared the public had embraced the sentiment conveyed in new songs coming from a band that had been relegated years before to the shadows; a phenomenon akin to the rising of a Phoenix out of the ashes or a Godzilla emerging from the ocean. The recent threats on the group seemingly made in an attempt to halt its renewal may have played a factor. Whatever happened now, the band appeared resolved to ride the tide. The energy they received from the vindication reflected in the robust sales, spurred them on to write several more songs and prepare to release their first new album in decades. What reaction would this get from the powers that be? Well …
End of Book Two
Links to the previous chapters of Book Two
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Copyright (©) by Kenneth Wayne
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Thanks. I appreciate the support.
Wow this post did very well. Plus you got Curie votes. They only upvote good stuff so its like a little bit of an honor.
Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised. I was feeling bummed out so few had seen the last chapter. During a break from work, I clicked on it yesterday and found I had 124 votes! It is a little bit like an honor. At least, it gives me more encouragement to upload Book 3.
I really wish I had more time to read other posts, make more comments, and enjoy Steemit; unfortunately, I'm swamped at my day job. Vacation will be coming around in another month or so.
I'll continue checking out your interesting posts, though. You have a writing style that's both enjoyable and thought provoking. Also, I feel we have a similar take on existence.