Friday and the Face Punchers

            The band walked slowly across the stage while fans mildly cheered their entrance. Sven, the lead singer and lead guitarist, picked up his guitar and stepped toward the microphone.

            “Hello Chicago how you feelin’ tonight,” he shouted.

            “Fine”, said the crowd.

            Sven stepped back and counted off the time for the first song. The beat was average. A normal 1980’s pop beat from their drummer, Mikala. Hendry was the bassist and he started on his strings. He was always the least interested looking in the band. Coogan was the rhythm guitar and he filled the small room with average musical ability. The crowd reacted with a smattering of applause as a few folks recognized the song as one of the bands few hits. Sven stepped back toward the microphone as the song got into its full swing.

            “Your face, is the face I like”, sang Sven, “It makes, me ride a bike”.

            Sven was not known for his lyrical genius yet he persisted.

            “I’ll make, your favorite, for dinner, if you’ll, sleep with me tonight”, he sang.

            The crowd that had gathered and paid eleven dollars and fifty cents to see Friday and the Face Punchers was slowly starting to enjoy the onstage antics of Sven and the rest of the band. Sven was clad in his tight red leather pants and sleeveless black tee-shirt. His yellow thinning hair was corralled by a white headband with the word, “Meh”, on it.

            “I’ll break, for you, if I, see you,” he continued.

            Hendry the bassist seemed to yawn. He was wearing his customary, ‘I have something better to do after this’, gray suit and yellow tie. Mikala was wearing only her tank top and what looked like old bike shorts from the 80’s. They were neon green. Coogan was impressed with himself so he only wore some tight blue jeans, no shirt. Although he probably should have since the back hair was starting to turn gray.

            “Make love to me tonight, and everything will be alright”, sang Sven as he gyrated his pelvis toward the three 18 year old girls that likely thought this was something else when they bought their tickets.

            His movements were strangely hypnotic though and the beat provided by Mikala was slowly getting the crowd moving, even swaying, with the music.

            “Baby, don’t turn on the day, baby don’t turn on the day, baby, don’t turn on the day, what else is there to say, baby, don’t turn on the day”, sang Sven.

            He closed his eyes when he sang the chorus, as if the words really meant something to him. It was like the words were taking him back through his memory when he might have said something pithy to his girlfriend, Callie, one Sunday morning. The chorus really seemed to have a lot of meaning for Sven. He sang it with enthusiasm and vigor.

            After a few guitar flourishes from Coogan the song came to an end and there was a few excited folks in the crowd.

            “We love you Sven,” they shouted.

            “I love you too,” said Sven back.

            The band then broke into their second song. A slower ballad song about the time Sven lost his virginity to a creepy Goth chick that liked to cut herself during sex. The song was called, ‘Make me Bleed’, and was one of the bands more popular songs off the album, ‘Personal Day’.  The concert goers were pleased to hear Sven’s mournful guitar as the song began. They actually started to cheer with a little more heart.

            “I don’t know how you make me need,” sang Sven as he cozied up to the microphone, “But you make me bleed”.

            The guitars blasted ever faster and the crowd began to dance and sway. Heads started to bob and hands went up in the air. Sven thrusted his hips and Hendry sighed. Mikala smiled as she drummed and Coogan closed his eyes.

            “In your mother’s basement, the wine was so nice, what’s with the razor blade, I can do it twice,” continued Sven. He cooed and strutted across the stage with Mick Jagger type aplomb.

            The sound of the music echoed across the front of the buildings for this street fair concert and bounced across toward the opposite side of the street where a young man and his girlfriend ate elephant ears and chugged down beer as they each wondered how long it would last with each other.