On February ninth, nineteen-sixty-four...
something happened that changed the course of American history.
Ladies and gentlemen... The Beatles!
"Oh, yeah - I'll tell you something"
"I think you'll understand" "When I say that something"
Seventy-three million people sat in front of their TV sets
and looked into the future.
"I wanna hold your hand" "I wanna hold your hand"
It was wild. It was exciting.
"I wanna hold your hand" We'd never seen anything like it.
"Oh, please say to me"
"You'll let me be your man"
"And please say to me"
"You'll let me hold your hand"
Of course I was only eight years old at the time...
But in those flickering images, I sensed a new era had been born...
A seed had been planted...
A dream that would someday lead me from John, Paul, George and Ringo...
To...
That guy.
The first time I laid eyes on Larry Beeman, I knew I was...
Looking at someone...different.
Hey, what's happenin'?
Nothin' much.
Sure, he was weird, but he was also kinda...
Interesting.
You, there!
Not always the best thing to be in junior high school.
What's goin' on here?
Me?
What's your name, mister?
Beeman. Larry Beeman.
You're new here.
Just moved...from 'Frisco.
Well, Mr. Beeman... From San Francisco -
let me acquaint you with our rules.
Hey, that's cool.
Specifically, pertaining to the playing of... Musical instruments...
In school.
It's not permissible.
Now this was technically none of my business.
Still...
Mr. Diperna?
Arnold.
Is it permissible to play musical instruments...outside the school?
What are you getting at?
Well, technically speaking, sir...
We are outside.
I mean, this is a courtyard.
Anything in the rules about courtyards?
You're new here. Don't let it happen again.
Thanks, man. I owe ya one.
So, ya really play that thing?
Sure.
Like in bands, and stuff?
Sure. Matter of fact, I'm thinkin' of putting together a band here.
You play?
Oh, not exactly.
You oughtta try it.
Yeah...But don't ya have to practice a lot?
Hey, it's rock and roll, man.
All ya need to know is like three chords.
Tell ya what...
I could teach ya.
You could?
It's great, man.
The music...the babes. Nothin' like it.
You interested?
Interested? Of course I was interested.
Still...
No.I don't think so.
Think about it...
Sure.
But there wasn't much to think about.
Not really.
After all, I was a child of the suburbs.
I'd grown up on peanut butter, and station-wagons, and Tang.
The whole idea of me...Playing rock-and-roll guitar was...well...it just wasn't me.
Which may be why, the next day... I found myself in Larry's garage.
How's it feel, man?
Fine.
Still, standing there... Actually holding that guitar...
I knew I'd made a mistake.
'Kay, man...
Who was I kidding? I felt...foolish.
Go ahead. Play it.
I felt square.
I felt...
I felt forty billion volts of power...
Run through my body.
Play it.
Six trillion megawatts of pure energy...Seared my brain.
Let me turn up the juice.
Let her go.
In the lingering echos of that wall of sound...I realized a new door had been opened.
It was...
Rock and roll, man. Rock and roll.
Whoo!
And so, I knew what I had to do.
At least theoretically.
Dad? I need a guitar.
Great. I'd just made an announcement that would shape a generation...
And what was I getting?
More potatoes, honey?
What do you want a guitar for?
Well...I was...thinking about... Joining a rock-and-roll band.
Something amusing, here?
Look...I just need to borrow the money, OK?
What - you're not serious, are you, honey?
Well, I mean, you paid for my piano lessons.
Honey...that was different.
Why? Why was that different?
There.
I had her stumped.
That was...real music.
So, what's rock-and-roll?
Noise.
Noise? Noise?!
OK, maybe that was true.
But I wasn't gonna be derailed just by simple logic.
I was determined.
So, Dad, can I have a guitar?
Here it came.
There was only one answer I'd accept.
No.
What do you mean your parents won't let you have a guitar?
I was gonna have to educate Larry aboutthe complexity of interpersonal family dynamics.
My dad said no!
Man, you're hopeless.
You think Jimi Hendrix asked his dad for a guitar?
So what are you saying?Are you saying I should go by myself, and just buy a guitar?
"People try to put us d-down" "Talkin' 'bout my generation"
"Just because we get around" "Talkin' 'bout my generation"
And so I handed over the proceeds...
From a summer spent mowing lawns.
It was time to declare a little independence.
It was time to put the older generation on notice,
and take what was rightfully mine.
I bought my first used electric guitar and amp for thirty-eight dollars and change.
And the moment of truth arrived.
As I strapped on that guitar...
I felt awed...
To be in the presence of a rich musical tradition...that was as old...
As I was.
I knew something was about to happen.
Something extraordinary.
Kevin!
And so, from the humble beginningsof Larry Beeman's garage...
A new musical force was born.
And what a band it was.
OK...We had our equipment, we knew our three chords...
It was official.
We...were a rock and roll band.
OK, let's get goin'.
Let's play..."Sunshine of Your Love"...
I don't know "Sunshine of Your Love".
That's cool, cool.
What do ya know?
Um..."Satisfaction"?
No, no. I don't know "Satisfaction".
How about...
"Louie, Louie"?
How's that go?
OK - so it wasn't an auspicious beginning.
But it wasn't gonna stop Larry.
Why don't we just jam?
That's the spirit.
Rock and roll.
Let it all hang out.
One! Two! Three! Four!
Hmmm!
So. What are we gonna call ourselves?
"The Electric Shoes"?
Yeah.
"The Electric Shoes"?
Yes! "The Electric Shoes"! We're called "The Electric Shoes", OK?
Why?
Because we -
What difference does it make?
Well...it just doesn't make any sense!
Boy! Talk about a couple of stick-in-the-muds.
Paul! Does "Strawberry Alarm Clock" make any sense?
Does "Vanilla Fudge"... Make any sense?
So, ya any good?
Look, Paul - we practiced once, awright?
Do you think the Beatles sounded so great the first time they played?
I just hope you don't make a complete fool out of yourself.
I don't know.
I guess I could see Kevin as a musician.
Well, well, well. What have we here?
Potential groupie material?
You know...
I think he kinda looks like Paul McCartney.
He does?
Yeah.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Pfeiffer!
Actually...He looks more like Donnie Osmond.
Huh?
I just hope you don't make a complete fool out of yourself.
Ah, who needed friends, anyway?
I had a band!
One! Two! Three! Four!
"So you want to be a rock-and-roll star" "Then listen now to what I say"
"Just get an electric guitar" "Then take some time and learn how to play"
"And with your hair swung right"
For the next two weeks... The Electric Shoes practiced day and night. "And your pants too tight, it's gonna be all right"
Well, day, anyway. "Then it's time to go downtown" "Where the agent man won't let you down"
We explored new rhythms. "Sell your soul to the company"
We found our sound. "Who are waiting there to sell plastic ware"
But mostly...
We just had fun. "And in a week or two if you make the charts" "The girls'll tear you apart"
And pretty soon...
We'd actually gotten better.
- Alright! - Yeah!
In a manner of speaking. OK...so we were lousy.
But who cared? No one had to listen to us...
So what difference did it make?
Guys - I meant to tell ya. I got us a gig.
And suddenly, it made a difference.
Yeah! Alright!
What'd you say?
Amy Ermin's birthday party. Friday night. We're booked.
You're kidding, right?
A real party?
With people...
That we know?
It's gonna be great, man...
Larry, we're not ready!
Hey...we're never gonna know, unless we get out there and do it.
Yeah, but...
Come on... What are you afraid of?
What was I afraid of?
How about, say...total public humiliation?
For starters.
Look, Larry...you've played in bands before...you know we just can't -
Larry?
You have played in bands before, haven't you?
What difference does that make?
And then it all came clear.
Paul had been right.There was potential for real disaster, here.
Look, Larry - I'm not going to goout there and make a complete fool out of myself!
It's up to you, man.
We're gonna be there.
You're either with us...or you're out.
What could I say? I wanted to be with them...
I wanted to take the chance and throw caution to the winds...
I wanted to rock and roll!
But the fact is...I didn't have the guts.
Sorry, guys.
You can count me out.
And so I quit the Electric Shoes.
Won't you paddle Madeline home?
"Cause when I'm paddlin' Madeline home..."
That Friday night, I actually felt relieved. Or, so I told myself. "Paddlin' Madeline home..."
Don't you want some cookies, honey.
No, thanks.
I mean, playing in Larry's garage was one thing, but...
risking my reputation? That was just...
Dumb. "Then I keep paddlin' Madeline home..."
So, Kev...I heard you quit the old... Electric Shoes, huh?
Thinkin' about...goin' solo?
You're not playing in the band, anymore?
No, Mom...
Oh. That's too bad.
Yeah...I was kinda looking forward... To watching you crash and burn.
Ooh, hah-hah!
Well...least you got it out of your system, sweetie.
What's that...supposed to mean?
Well, I...just mean that... it wasn't really you.
What?!
It was pretty dumb, Kevin.
Dumb?
Now wait a darn minute here!
Who were these people tellin' me who I was and wasn't?
What did they know?
I don't have to take this!
So what if it was dumb?
What - you've never done anything dumb in your life?
Look! I'll decide what's dumb and what isn't!
And nobody's gonna tell me I can't do somethin' dumb,if I wanna do somethin' dumb!
Yep! I was on to somethin', here.
Honey, what are you talking about?
Never mind!
But I knew what it meant. Dumb or not, it all boiled down to one thing.
I was back.
Yeah, Kevin made it!
Yeah, right.
I was calm.
I was ready.
I was a man with a mission.
Kev, is that you?
Yeah.
Heh-hey...What do you say when finally confronted by a hero of rock-and-roll?
In the flesh.
Is that your sister's shirt?
Good luck!
Thanks.
As I stepped up to that patio...
I felt a wildness welling up inside of me.
I understood what Larry had been trying to tell me all along.
Anything was possible up here.
Anything!
He's cute!
Hey, Larry.
Larry?
Including stone-cold panic.
He's freakin', man.
We've been warmin' up for like fifteen minutes.
As he gazed into a sea of eight-grade faces,reality finally caught up with Larry Beeman.
So...are you guys gonna play, or what? Come on...what's up?
What should we do?
It was up to me.
And I made my decision.
I wasn't gonna let this dream die.
If we weren't gonna play good...
We were gonna play loud.
Let's do it!
One...
Two...
One...two...Three!
Boys?!
Boys! Boys!
You're gonna have to stop.
- The neighbors are complaining about the noise. - Dad-dy!
It was the end of the road. We'd been shut down.
Busted.
Just one song!
And then it happened.
Let them play! God, just one song...
Let them play! Let them play!
I couldn't say exactly why it happened. Let them play! Let them play!
Maybe no one there could. Let them play! Let them play!
Maybe it was... The impatience of youth.
Or maybe it was the times. It doesn't really matter.
For one brief moment that night... Larry Beeman and I...
Lived out...
A dream.
Rock and roll, man.
Rock...and...roll. Let them play! Let them play!
The Electric Shoes broke up a week later.
And for a time, there was talk of a reunion...
but it never happened.
Still, that dream never really died.
What we felt in those years...
The hope, the joy, the possibilities...
the sense that anything might happen - no matter who we were...
Will always be a part of us.
After all, people said the Beatles would never last.
And they were right.
Except, of course...they did.
"Then I'll say that something"
"I wanna hold your hand"
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"I wanna hold your hand" Á¦ÀÛ : iamy1004 (iamy1004@hanmail.net)