Treble Clef

As the water crashes against the rocks below a 30 ft. cliff on an overcast mid-fall’s day in Rhode Island, a young man by the name of Max Straight sits on a large rock at the top of the cliff, writing in a book as he recalls his life story. These are his thoughts and the words he wrote in that small journal.

                The treble clef, or as I like to refer to it as the “trouble cliff.” The treble clef is the first thing you learn in music, before you learn notes or scales, or how to play Mary Had A Little Lamb. You learn the treble clef, that funny little symbol at the beginning of the page. I call it the trouble cliff because learning it is the first step to falling into the miserable ocean that is referred to as “the world of music.”

                When I was 13 I taught myself how to play guitar, and a year later me and my friends started a band. There was Jacob, a pot head skater kid who had an amazing gift for playing the piano; Tahoe, a curly headed white boy from California who played bass guitar; Benji, my best friend at the time and our talented drummer; Then Benji’s sister, Emily. The most beautiful girl I had ever seen, she had jet black hair with beautiful emerald green eyes and a smile that could make any guy want to give her his bank account information. Emily was 17 and the rest of us were only 14, so her body was far more developed than any of the girls in our grade. She was curvy and her boobs were perky, and she had a thigh gap that made me go crazy whenever she wore a bikini. Anyway she was our lead singer, she had such an amazing voice I believe all the angels in heaven stopped singing just to listen to her every time she opened her mouth. Then there was me, Lead guitarist, song writer and background singer. Together we made up a band and we called ourselves the Broken Aces. Why that name? I have no idea, maybe we thought it was cool. We were just kids trying to get famous.

               

                We were lucky, Tahoe’s dad was a music producer as well as a manager for multiple big time bands, so he was able to help us get on our feet. He provided equipment transportation and a number of gigs.  Myself and Emily wrote the songs together, we had so much chemistry. One night it was just me and her in the garage that we used as our creative space, we had bad writer’s block so we were just being silly. “So have you ever had a girlfriend?” She asked. The question threw me off guard and immediately I turned red. “I take that as a no, haha why not?” she chuckled. Her laugh was so cute and I had to fight from turning even more red. What should I say? This girl is so mature, I had to be smooth. So I took a big swallow and put on my deep voice and said “Because I’ve never met a girl more beautiful than you” She quickly stopped laughing and a look of seriousness came upon her face. “Damn that was too cheesy!!” I thought, how could I be so stupid as to hit on a girl of her complexity and age, I thought for sure she’d say I’m too young and storm off disgusted with me. But slowly a smile crept on to her face that made me weak in the knees. “Awww that was so sweet!” she exclaimed. “So why haven’t you mad your move on me yet?” And just like that the redness to my face returned, I was as red as one of those old fashion thermometers. If you were to take my temperature I’d be over 200 degrees  I was so nervous. Then I began sweating as I spoke “I’ve been waiting for  the right time” I stuttered. She smiled and said “we’re alone in a garage writing music together at night. I think now is as good a time as any”. I nearly peed my pants as I leaned over staring at her beautifully glossed lips that were beginning to pucker. The lean in felt like forever, but finally our lips floated into each other that created a sensation that felt better than sun kissed skin on a spring day. I got goosebumps when she used her lips to spread mine, allowing her tongue to crash into mine. We kissed about 20 minutes. It was the best first kiss I ever had. From that moment on we dated. Our falling in love was inevitable, we had so much chemistry. We shared feelings in the songs that we wrote. I never wanted to fall in love with her, I just wanted bragging rights. But our relationship was everything I could ever want.

We started off doing birthday parties for our friends, then later we were lucky enough to open for a number of bands during concerts. Playing in front 20,000 people was quite a rush, but it was no joke and we missed a lot school because of it. Eventually we locked up an every weekend gig performing at night clubs. The crowds were smaller, but not too small and we got great vibe there. We had found our venue and our rep was still growing. In just 4 months we had our first record deal offer. We were growing in fame, I was dating the girl of my dreams, life was good. But we all know…All good things must come to an end

~End of Part 1~

---Sorry for the cliff hanger, but part 2 will be coming soon. Thanks for reading J