Far Beyond Broken

August 31, 1984. Friday

The girls and I ran into Darrell's garage.
“We ran three stop lights and a few stop signs to get here. So what's the news?” Mad blurted out.
“Take a seat ladies, get comfortable,” Darrell said with a smile.
“Stop fucking around Darrell, what is it?” Victoria said.
“So I gave the owner of Savy's a call. I told him how great you guys are. He said he'll give you a shot. Tomorrow at ten.”
I looked towards the girls.
“Are you serious? This is great but tomorrow. We won't have any time to prepare,” I replied.
“Bill is very unexpected kind of guy. You'll just have to go with it.”
We sat in silence for a minute.
Mad jumped up and grabbed Victoria and I.
“Come on guys, show a little excitement!”
She pulled us into a hug.
“Thanks Darrell.”
We stayed a little longer before heading to Savy's.
The parking lot was practically empty. When we entered the building there was one man sitting in a booth.
“Hi there!” Mad blurted out.
The man quickly turned his head and jumped back a little.
“Good lord you scared me!” He had a thick southern accent.
“I'm sorry sir, I'm Mad, this is Katie and Victoria.”
He shook our hands, “I'm Bill, y'all must be the new band Darrell was tellin' me about. Velum, right?”
I responded, “Yeah. It's not very busy for a Friday evening.”
“Once a month I close, so I can clean and get stuff together. Follow me.”
He led us to a small office in the corner of the building.
Bill flashed a flyer at us.
The word Pantera was in large bold words with a black and white picture of the guys above it. Underneath Pantera was Sheer Threat in a smaller size. Below that was Velum.
“I just need y'alls stage names or whatever, so I can finish up these flyers.” He pointed to the bottom of the page where the names would go.
“I'm Mad.”
I gave a little thought before deciding on a name. I wanted something different than Katie. I didn't want people to look at me and see some teenage girl singing. I wanted to be a Janis Joplin, not a Madonna. Also, I didn't want anything too flashy.
“I'll go by K,” I stated.
I looked over at Victoria. She was in a deep thought.
“I want to go by Vic. Not just when I'm playing, permanently.”
Mad and I just nodded.
“Let me make sure Darrell told me this the right way. Mad you play guitar. Katie you sing and play bass and Vic you're the drummer?”
“Yes.”
“Can I get a phone number from one of y'all?”
“Mine is 817-620-7856,” I replied.
“Well I think that's all I need from y'all for now. I'm excited to hear y'all play. Darrell sure does talk highly of ya.”
“We appreciate you letting us play. It really means a lot,” Mad said.
“Everyone deserves a chance, I'm just glad I can help out.” Bill looked at a clock above his desk.
“Y'all better get going so you can practice. I suggest coming here at about seven. Just in case there are any problems.”
“Will do. Thank you so much Bill,” I responded.
He smiled and waved us out.

just pretend the flyer at the top is more like the one described in the story