34

Jack shook his head, smiling wryly, feeling warmth and admiration towards young Jason who supervised the technicians as they finished their assembly of the most complex sound and light system ever constructed. Because of the way the sound-system was set up, the audience would be small- only around one-thousand. This was because the speakers and lights were set up in a half-sphere which surrounded the audience on all sides. The stage itself was set just inside this dome of lights and speakers.

The speakers and lights hung from a specially-made lattice that in turn hung from the ceiling. Each light module consisted of coloured lights that in turn were controlled by a single computer. At the flick of a switch, the lights could morph or dissolve into images or shapes, could pulse with the music, or both simultaneously.

At the centre of the floor were seats, one section of which made Jack feel a twinge of anxiety. As word had got around, bigwigs from all over the world had purchased advance tickets. Several critics from Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, South Africa, Brazil and the United States, were going to be present.

Jack was thankful for one thing, at least- they didn't expect anything from the band, so the pressure was off the girls. No, what the concert-moguls, critics and sound-experts were interested in was the sound and light show.

Jack chuckled to himself as he spotted Yelina, on stage, sitting on a folding chair looking bored, keeping Boom-Boom Kitty amused by means of a laser-pointer. As usual, the little furry ball of energy never tired of chasing the elusive and enticing red dot that frustrated his best attempts to catch it. But he kept on trying his best . . .

Kiko, Tina and the other girls, too, looked bored as they waited for Jason's signal that would begin yet another sound and light check.

It was three hours before the concert, which would begin at 7:00 PM and end roughly at 9:00. Jack checked his watch yet again, and decided it was time to order supper.

Jason's decision to continue doing light- and sound-checks until the last minute was rewarded as yet another previously-undetected problem was discovered and sorted out. He checked his watch: it was now 6:47 PM, and despite the small audience, the auditorium buzzed with excitement. He stood atop a platform on the outside of the sound/light dome, and grimaced as he surveyed the big-shots sitting in the expensive seats that had been brought in just for them. What a bunch of assholes! It seemed every one of them had some put-down to offer. Saskatoon was a backwater town; the girls were a bunch of untried amateurs who didn't know the first thing about professional showmanship or performance; the band was going to flop for any number of reasons: the name was crass and lewd, the girls were going to choke because of their lack of experience, the untested system was going to break down . . . it seemed there was no end to the slights they could concoct.

He sighed, went back to the control table and sat down, gave the panels one last glance, reopened his pizza box, uncapped his pop, and nonchalantly began eating a cold slice and washed it down. He caught Tina's dad's, Mike's, eye where he sat before a rack of monitors. Mike's answering smile was as confident as his own. These out-of-towners were going to get a show all right- something never before seen on the face of this planet!