They Call it The City of Angels
A New Serial Novel by Joshua A. TRILIEGI
Exclusively for Readers of BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE and
our Three sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City
All National & International Copy Rights Reserved to the Author
Chapter Seventeen: Stones
The Stones had been reunited. For the past few weeks,
with Charles back at home, the house became full of
energy. For years, it had been more like a place with
a large memory. Now it was, once again, a real home.
Charles, Maggie, Micky, Calley, Grandma and Moon
found themselves thrust into the public eye, due to the
sudden return of Charles 'Big Daddy' Stone, as he had
been known throughout the art world all those years.
He had been a part of the nineteen sixties counter culture
revolution that included guys like Robert Crumb, who
had famously designed the 'Keep on Truckin' image
which had been tattooed, reprinted & even bootlegged
ever since it's inception. Charles had been made famous
around the time that Andrew Wyeth' s son Jamie had
painted a biker riding one of Charles' famous choppers.
Charles began to sell drawings and became collected
by the top notch musicians & later by everyday hippies.
Mickey had kept the legend alive by reprinting his fathers
famous, 'Dude on a Chopper' logo on stickers, t-shirts
and posters. It was the family business, helping to pay
the bills, as well as make ends meet at Grandma's
bookstore and of course, it payed for the house they
were all now living in. Since Charles' return, a slew of
interest in his art had created a bit of a controversy.
When an artist either retires or dies or in this case
disappears, the value of the work goes up, since there
will most likely be no more new works. Charles 'Big
Daddy' Stone's sudden arrival had coincided with an
interest in counter culture art and graphics worldwide.
His generation' s contribution to the art world was now
being celebrated, accepted, lauded. A new credibility
was being attributed by the current art critics. Due to
his mysterious disappearance and sudden return, the
'Dude on a Chopper' logo was slated for the cover of
Artforum magazine, he was about to be rediscovered.
Charles had disappeared in nineteen-eighty one. At that
time, there was absolutely little to no interest in his work.
Since then, people began to realize that American Rock
& Roll and the images that defined it, were valuable. His
generation had changed the way we think about our lives.
People all over the world had been influenced by guys like
Charles and the bands that his wife Maggie had taken on
tour. It was a new world and for whatever reason, Charles
was being welcomed back with full honors across the board.
Rolling Stone magazine had called recently for an interview.
Before the kids were born, Charles had been a roadie
and later handled security for bands up in Woodstock.
He had met Maggie while she was managing Bob Dylan.
It was rumored that Dylan had written the famous lyrics,
' Everybody must get stoned ... ' for Maggie and Charles.
They had become an item after being married on the road,
with Robbie Robertson as their witness in Nashville, they
had become known as ' The Stones '. When the film, "Easy
Rider" hit theaters and Peter Fonda was seen riding one
of Charles' trademark choppers, he became the man, with
a new waiting list for client orders and enough financial
security to actually have children. When Mickey was born,
they moved to Venice Beach, closer to Maggie' s mom.
The center of the music business, by then, was shifting
from New York to Los Angeles and they moved with it.
After the disaster of Altamont, the last place they wanted
to be was in Northern California. They had plenty of friends
there, but by nineteen sixty-nine, the whole movement
peaked & Maggie was touring with a new group of bands.
By the time Calley was born, she was working with a new
writer who just penned a tune that personified everything
that had happened in America in the past ten years. ' Bye,
bye Miss American pie, drove my Chevy to the levy, but the
levy was dry and good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and
rye singing this will be the day that I die, this will be the
day that I die. For ten years we were on our own and moss
grows fat on a rolling stone ...' . Music now, had a sadness.
Vietnam, the Kennedy's, Martin & Malcolm, Hendrix, Janice,
Kent State, had all left it's mark and artist' s like Carol King,
Burt Bacharach & Don McLean were explaining to the world
what we were going through. Bands from the sixties, like the
Rolling Stones, the Who & the Beatles were all going through
a transitional period. Phil Spector and his 'Wall of Sound'
vibe ended, Brian Wilson & the Beach Boys took it's place.
Maggie had managed Wilson's tours, up until he lost it.
The person most happy to see Charles was his daughter.
Calley had recently become a hair dresser & esthetician.
She sat Charles down, trimmed his hair and beard, cut
his nails, soaked his feet and even gave him a pedicure.
His toe nails had grown over his toes like talons. Like
so many homeless men who drift through life unnoticed,
Charles had let himself go. Calley had immediately forgave
him for disappearing. 'You bad boy, how dare you run off
like that.', she said to him jokingly. Maggie was struck by
how handsome he still was. A full set of hair, tan skin, he'd
lost his beer belly and after Calley cleaned him up, Maggie
got rid of the boyfriends and found herself admiring Charles
in a way that she had years ago. By the first week of his
return, they had slept in the same bed together. That
Sunday morning the entire family ate breakfast together.
The only doubters among the group were Moon & Grandma,
like a couple of birds on a wire, that chortled and fidgeted
their way through the morning, before driving off to the
bookstore together. They had wanted to ask Charles the
obvious questions like, "Where the F@%! have you been
for the past ten years ?" But they didn't want to ruin the
family reunion, so they talked about it on the way to work.
Calley was so happy to see Charles, she brought her girl
friend to the house for Sunday breakfast and announced
they were moving in together. Everyone knew that Calley
had been more than disinterested in men. Mickey always
figured it had more to do with the line of men his mother
had brought home since Charles' disappearance. In any
event, Charles' return gave Calley a new found strength
and she used it to be herself immediately. She announced
that they wanted to open their own shop and needed some
help from the family. Charles donated five thousand dollars
on the spot, it was the least he could do .
Mickey and Charles sat in the back yard playing catch up.
Charles' old studio had been preserved with a few minor
updates which included a modern hydraulic rack to lift
the bikes six feet high. Mickey had poured a slab of new
concrete inside and out. They had an account with Snap-
On tools & endorsements from a dozen small companies
that had created accessories of one sort or another.
Charles explained where he had been and what had
happened.Mickey didn't really want to know, "It doesn't
matter." But Charles knew it did , he had abandoned
the kid without word, without warning, just up and left
the boy to fend for himself. Charles had been around the
world and back again. He had a post office box in five
different cities where his partners sent him his cut of a
business he had long since walked away from. Charles
had been a dealer of various substances back in the day.
Nothing lethal, never anything heavy, he didn't believe
much in poison. He had once taken the fall for a famous
rock & roll star. He did a year & a half for possession of
illegal substances while crossing the border from Canada
into the United States. Since then, he had been supported
and respected by that particular person. By taking the fall,
Charles saved the entire North American Tour which netted
over eighty-five million dollars. It was well known, among
the underground, that he was royalty and because if this,
received royalties. He had spent a good amount of time in
both Amsterdam & Mexico, finally drifting closer to home
along the coast of California for the past few years. Once,
he told Mickey, he saw a group of kids wearing his art on
T-shirts. When Charles inquired wear they had gotten them,
the kids said, 'From a department store'. That's when Charles
knew that Mickey had preserved the catalog. But, it wasn't
that simple. Charles had no idea how hard Mickey had
fought bootleggers and rip off artists. Constantly sending
cease and desist letters to protect Charles' legacy. Mickey
didn't bother to set him straight. Not now anyway. Father
and son sat in the back yard, drinking beers & telling stories
late into the night. The Stones had finally been reunited.
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