Back To School Boogie - The Maverick Room

Back To School Boogie - The Maverick Roomhttp://www.backtoschoolboogie.comMaverick Room Posters & Tees - https://teespring.com/re-maverick-room-posterIt was 1980. Me and my best friends, Will and Jerry, were just eleven years old heading to our very first go-go. We got off the Metrobus on Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast Washington D.C., not far from one of the busiest intersections in Northeast D.C., with gas stations, Convenience stores, liquor stores, row houses, small apartment buildings and the newly built subway station just down the street. We were on our way to the Maverick Room, a popular night club in the Edgewood section of Northeast.Will and Jerry were walking ahead of me, because I was walking careful and slow, for a reason. And it wasn't because it was a hot spring night either. I could feel the sweat running from the back of my neck down my back. "I Can't believe it's our first go-go together," Will was saying, smiling and excited. "Our first time seein' Essence. "And we gettin' it on tape," I said, smiling myself, all excited. Jerry stopped all of a sudden and checked his money green slacks he bought from the Cavalier Men's Clothing shop at the Eastover shopping center, in Oxon Hill, MD. He was wearing a long sleeve, silk paisley shirt that went perfectly with those slacks. Jerry was funny like that about his clothes and he had every reason to be. Every month he got a check from his father, and his mother let him buy whatever he wanted with his money, including the latest in fashion. He shook his head, disgusted. Me and Will stopped to see what he was checking for. Wondering what the problem was, I said, "You all right, Jerry, man?" Frowning, Jerry said, "Man, ever since that funky ass crazy lady on the bus jumped on me, I can't stop smelling ass. I hope that smell ain't get in my clothes, that shit stink!" "Yeah, we should've known somethin' was gonna happen at the Saint E's bus stop," said Will, still smiling, still happy. He didn't care about crazy women from Saint Elizabeth's mental hospital, bums throwing up on buses or Jerry's slacks. He was just ready to party. "Don't worry 'bout it though, Jerry, man. We taken some older honeys back to my mother's house tonight'" he said. "And my mother gone for the weekend too." Will's mother was always gone for the weekends, leaving him the house to himself. He was pretty responsible like that, even at the age of eleven. My smile grew wider just thinking about the fun night ahead of us, and I said, "Yeah, we definitely got some older honeys comin' home with us tonight." Even at eleven we thought we were players. All three of us gave each other five, we just knew the night was going to be special. Jerry looked at me, concerned, and he said, "Hey, Thomas, you got the tape recorder ready, right?" We all stopped walking at the same time. I raised my shirt. We all checked the tape recorder that I had taped with duct tape to my stomach, with the duct tape wrapped around my stomach and the tape recorder like a belt. Will kneeled down, examining the whole thing like he was a doctor or something, to make sure the tape recorder was tightly secured to my stomach. "Oh, yeah," Will said, nodding his head with confidence. "We good to go. We good to go-go." We started back walking again, headed for the Maverick Room. I was still walking slow, making sure I didn't disturb the adhesive of the duct tape. I didn't want the tape recorder to loosen and fall from my waist, as we were adamant about getting a copy of our first RE show together.Finally we reached the entrance of the Maverick Room. It was an old brick building, probably as old as our great-great grandmothers, painted white. We could hear the go-go band Rare Essence cranking, and we could hear the people inside partying hard, screaming and clapping. It was as if I could see inside, seeing them waving their hands in the air, waving like they just didn't care, to the go-go beat of Rare Essence. Standing at the entrance were two huge ass bouncers. They were laughing and talking, as if they were so big and muscular, they didn't have to take their jobs seriously, like if you got out of line they would punch, kick, stomp and bounce your ass from D.C. to South Africa somewhere. We all stood there, looking around, wondering where everybody was, wondering why there wasn't a line wrapped around the corner, like we’d heard about at most of the go-go's with people cramming to get in before the bands started. "Where everybody at?" Jerry was asking, looking around suspiciously. "You know we late," I said, figuring everybody was already inside. The first bouncer walked up to us, towering over us like a giant, scaring the hell out of us. As always, trying to be cool and acting grown, Jerry asked the bouncer, "Where everybody at, slim?" "Inside with Essence. Partyin'," said the bouncer, all serious, his face and lips barely moving. "Where ya'll think ya'll goin'?" Jerry stepped back and away from the bouncer, frowning, checking his clothes again. "Damn, slim," he said, "you got jurry-curl juice drippin' all over the place, all over my clothes." While Jerry was stressing and wiping at his clothes, me and Will took our money out to give to the bouncers so we could get in, without missing much more than we already had. This is when the second bouncer, who was also a giant, walked over to us, looking us up and down as if he had a problem with us about something. We tried to hand him our money but he just looked at us like we were crazy. "First of all," said the second bouncer, his voice deep as a bass drum, "ya'll too young to be gettin' up in this club." We all looked at each other. At first it was as if we didn't understand what he was saying. Then realizing what he actually said, it was if our world came crashing down, knowing that we wouldn’t be getting in. Will almost looked like he was about to start crying. "Second of all," continued the second bouncer, "if ya'll don't get ya li'l bad asses in the house I'ma take my belt off and whup ya'll li'l asses my damn self." Now Will was mad, and was ready to fight somebody. He said, "Man, Jerry...I thought you said it was no problem gettin' up in here! Man, dag!" "It's for teenagers and adults," said the first bouncer, raising his voice. With nothing else to say or do, we headed back toward the bus stop, all of us so mad we couldn't even speak. We were walking as if we were lost in space on another planet somewhere. Jerry slowed down, looking back at the bouncers like he was about to start throwing rocks at them. He yelled back at them, saying, "Big jurry-curl wearin', Full Force lookin' bamas!"For More About Back To School Boogie Visit;http://www.backtoschoolboogie.com