Week 12: Barrel of Monkeys

Sounds Like A Punk Band

I’d been sleeping on Adam and Becky’s couch for about a month when they invited me to Music and Mayhem an annual three day free punk-rock music festival that was invitation only. The exact location is always a secret until only days before the event. Meaning you could only get there if you knew someone else who knew how to get there. Adam’s band would be performing the second night of the festival.

Becky had drawn the art for the promotional flyers. They were hand drawn in black and white. About fifteen band names written in different styles surrounded an intricately drawn but sinister looking pirate. He was standing atop a crumbling pile of skulls and bones and had a graphically scarred face and a decadent looking tail coat that I instantly wanted. The words “FucTup Punks Presents: Music and Mayhem 7” screamed across the top in an electrified font.

We’d left at sunrise stopping only for coffee and to buy jugs of water on the way out of town. I ride squashed in the back with Adam and Becky’s dog Gromit sitting on my lap and enjoying the scenery. I had worn a pinstriped vest with a pocket-watch, the chain threaded through the silver buttons, a pair of grey trousers cut off at the knees and my favorite felt hat with a pheasant feather and the Jack of Hearts tucked into the hat band.

“Tomb Raiders is gonna be there, “Becky says looking over the seat and tossing a granola bar at me. “They were at that last show you went to with us. Adam likes The Damned Children but I’m excited to see Barrel of Monkeys, they've been on tour and this will be their last stop before heading home.”

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