“It’s like looking at my younger self,” Connie said when she saw Mitchie wearing her new-wave outfit. “Lorraine nailed it.”
“You wore colors like this all the time?” Mitchie asked.
Connie flashed a big smile. “Every day.”
Normally, Mitchie would have changed before working in the kitchen. But they were supposed to stay in character as much as possible during the day. Besides, she wasn’t going to be doing any messy food preparation. Most of the appliances and equipment had already been scrubbed clean. Mitchie and Caitlyn were just moving them into Connie’s catering truck.
“This truck is so cool,” Caitlyn said as she slid the side door open. “It’s like a kitchen on wheels.”
“It is a kitchen on wheels,” Mitchie said as she carried a stack of pots onto the vehicle.
Mitchie’s parents had turned a delivery truck into the ultimate catering operation. It had a grill, an oven, a small sink, and a microwave. A large skylight in the roof made sure it stayed nice and bright.
There was a wall filled with cabinets and drawers designed to hold specific items. The names of these items were written on the drawers, making it easy to put things away. Mitchie opened the one marked POTS and slid them in. They fit perfectly.
“What do you think Brown meant earlier when he said there were musical mysteries?” Caitlyn asked.
“I have no idea,” Mitchie said. “With Brown it could be anything.”
While Mitchie and Caitlyn were helping close up the kitchen, Colby and Shane were with Dee La Duke, the camp’s music director, doing an inventory of all the musical instruments and equipment.
Colby was used to helping organize the band room back at his school. But he was impressed with how hard Shane was working. Colby had been intimidated by the star when he first came to camp. But now he felt comfortable with everyone. Even Shane.
As they cleaned, they tried to get some info out of Dee on what Brown had been talking about, but it was useless. If she knew anything about Brown’s plans, Dee wasn’t letting on.
Meanwhile, Lorraine and Tess were working in the Wardrobe Studio. Actually, Lorraine was working while Tess was on her cell phone trying to get in touch with her mother.
At first, Lorraine thought it was very cool that Tess’s mom was a pop star. She was even a little bit jealous. But as she observed Tess during the summer, she had seen that there was a definite downside.
Tess always had trouble getting in touch with her mom. And when she did, there was never time for more than a quick hello or e-mail. This made Lorraine appreciate how great it was that her mom was always there for her.
My mom may not be famous, Lorraine thought. But she’s a star to me.
“I understand,” Tess said into the phone, trying not to sound disappointed. “I’ll call again after the photo shoot.”
When Tess snapped the phone shut, Lorraine tried to look busy. They were friendly, but Tess was not one to open up about personal problems or anything that cast her in any light other than the spotlight.
“My mom’s doing a cover shoot for People magazine,”Tess offered. “She hates that kind of stuff.”
“Who wouldn’t?” Lorraine answered.
Tess nodded absently and quickly changed the subject. The topic was off-limits.
Within an hour, they had all finished their work and were sitting in Brown’s cabin. Even Dee and Connie had come along. They all wanted to know what Brown had planned.
Unlike the rest of camp, Brown’s cabin hadn’t been packed up at all. He was staying on for a few more weeks. Some of his old bandmates were coming by, and they were going to jam.
“Hello, everybody,” Brown said as he entered the room. “I want to play a record. You do know what a record is, don’t you?”
They all laughed. Brown was always joking about how old and out-of-date he was.
He had a huge record collection that was stored along one side of the room. Reaching over to a shelf, he pulled out an album.
“This is a record album,” he said jokingly, pointing to it. “Inside the cover is the sleeve, which protects the record from getting scratched. And inside the sleeve is the actual record.”
He held it up for them to see.
They played along and oohed and aahed.
“Back in the days before you could download songs or burn your own CDs, if my mates and I wanted to listen to music we could either turn on the radio or play a record.
“We played them on these,” he continued as he placed the large round disk on a turntable. “This, by the way, is called a record player.”
They laughed.
He set the needle down on the record, and a moment later music started to play. The first thing Caitlyn noticed was how scratchy it was.
“Who can tell me who this is?” Brown asked.
The campers looked at each other and then collectively shook their heads. It sounded familiar, but they had no idea who was singing.
“I know,” Mrs. Torres said gleefully.
Brown smiled. “Please enlighten these uncultured young minds.”
“The Beach Boys,” Mrs. Torres said. “I had this album.”
“Was yours as scratchy as his?” Caitlyn joked.
“It is scratchy,” Brown said, “because I played it about ten thousand times. I used to sit in my room and play this album over and over. This was the record that hooked me on rock and roll.”
He closed his eyes and listened to the music. For a moment, he felt like he was a kid again back in his room. “Listen to how their voices come together to make one beautiful sound. I was growing up on the other side of the world and somehow these five voices from California spoke right to my heart. It was magic.
“That is why I challenged all of you to learn about music outside of what you already know. You’ll be amazed when someone you’ve never heard of lights you up inside.”
Mitchie loved the way Brown talked about music. Most of the music teachers she’d had talked about the way to play an instrument or the importance of practicing. But with Brown it was always deeper. For him music made the world go ’round.
“So let’s get started,” he said. “Who wants to tell us about their era?”
Mitchie looked around and saw that no one else was jumping up to go first. “Okay, I’ll go,” she said. “I’m, like, totally into the new-wave sound.”
“Great,” Brown said. “You’ve got the lingo down. You’re dressed perfectly. But tell me something deeper. Tell me about the music.”
Mitchie was stumped. “What do you mean?”
“Tell us anything,” Brown said. “There’s no wrong answer. You’ve listened to the music. You’ve read about it. Tell us anything you’ve learned.”
“Well, I’ve learned that my mom was really into the Go-Go’s.”
“I love the Go-Go’s, too. They’ve got great music, but did you know they were the first all-female rock band who wrote their own music to have a number one album? They helped make it possible for you to make your mark in music.”
“Wow. I had no idea,” Mitchie said. “I just like their sound.”
For the next hour Brown led an amazing discussion in which the campers talked about their various eras. Along the way he told them a lot about musical history. He talked about how U2 formed as a band when they were only teenagers. He told them how Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles changed the way the world looked at people who were blind or had other disabilities.
Brown also explained that while dressing in clothes from a certain era or using slang from that time was helpful, it only scratched the surface. The thing that really mattered was the music, the words, the emotions.
“What were the artists saying with their songs? How did they change the way people thought or looked at the world? What did they do musically to create a new sound or to inspire a new way to dance?”
By the time he was done, the campers were brimming with excitement.
“Now for what I lured you here with—the musical mysteries,” he said with a smile.
They leaned forward in eager anticipation.
“As you all know,” Brown went on, “I’ve spent a fair amount of time on the road and have had the good fortune to play alongside some of the greatest acts of all time.”
They nodded. Brown had incredible stories about the famous rock stars and bands he’d played with—and a tendency to share them all in great detail.
“And, during that time I’ve managed to accumulate some interesting pieces of musical history and memorabilia.”
Now the group was getting even more excited.
“Tonight, you are going to have a chance to use some of these items when you perform. I’m talking actual items used by some of the biggest stars in music history.”
“This is so cool!” Colby exclaimed.
“But first,” Brown said with a wave of his hand, “you’re going to have to find them. I have hidden them all over the camp.”
Their eyes opened wide.
“Here’s a map of the entire camp,” he said, laying it out on the table. “And there is a shovel on the porch.”
“Shovel?” Caitlyn said. “Did you bury this stuff?”
“Maybe,” Brown said with a sly smile. “That’s for you to figure out.”
“How?” asked Mitchie.
“I have a clue and a poem for each of you,” he said. “If you’ve studied—if you can get past the clothes and the slang and try to understand the music—you’ll be able to find the artifacts.”
“And if we don’t?” Caitlyn asked with a gulp.
“Then we’ll have a fine show tonight,” he said. “Not an amazing ‘think about it for the rest of your life’ kind of show. But a fine one.”
They all let this sink in for a moment.
“I vote for the one we’ll never forget,” Colby said.
“Absolutely,” replied Shane. “What are we waiting for? Let’s start looking!”