April 5, 2018, 8:00 am. WNNX Radio Station,
Lindsey and the guys show up for the morning interview by George Burstock. They are escorted into a room with an octagon table. At each seat was a pair of headsets and microphone. They could see the control room through the glass windows.

Once they take are seated. George Burstock joins them at the table and give them a little run down on what he is going to talk about. He had already given the demo that Lindsey brought with her to play.

“Good Morning, Warrenton. I have in the studio with me this morning one of our own local bands. Their name is Dusty Gasket and you might have seen them on channel 26 performing at one of the local Steampunk conventions. We have the talented Lindsey Weathers who plays the synthesizer and saxophone, The famous guitar players of Dan Welles, Jamie and his older brother Terry Knotts. Last, but not least their killer drummer Ian Smith. Welcome to the show guys.”

“Thank you, Mr. Burstock, for having us this morning.” Terry had been selected as the speaker for the interview.

“So, tell me, Terry, how did you guys come together as a band?”

“I and my brother have always been into music. We both loved the guitar and our parents suggested that we should think about forming a band. Our father had his friends had one while they were in High school like us. So, like most bands do, we held auditions. Jamie heard the music written by Lindsey while her and her mother were in the music store he worked at. She suggested to us Ian Smith and he was killed on the drums. We asked Dan to join us because Lindsey suggested we should have someone who could play the synthesizer, while she switched to the saxophone on a few of our songs.”

George looks over towards Lindsey “how many instruments do you play, Lindsey?”

“I play four instruments, George.” A pleasant smile appears on her face.

He turns to face Dan “I take it, that you Dan play as many instruments as Lindsey?”

“Yes sir, I play as many instruments as Lindsey does. I’m not as proficient on all of them as she is, but I come in a good second.” Dan knew Lindsey was very talented and dedicated to what she did.

“Do all of you write songs or is it just one person in your group.”

“Well, actually George we all write songs for our band, but Lindsey is our main songwriter. She goes over all our music and makes corrections.
She suggests different notes or how we should approach a particular piece.” Terry looks over towards their youngest member.

George looks at the clock on the wall notices that they were running out of time.

“Well, Warrenton you heard it here. You can catch the Dusty Gasket on the weekend down at the Airship restaurant on Thursday and Friday nights and at the Station on Saturday and Sunday night. I have it on good authority that Dusty Gasket will be playing at the Covington Let’s how traffic is.” George clicks over to Channel 35 weather chopper. He turns to face the group.

“I want to thank you guys for coming in this morning. I may have you come in again.”

“Well, you know how to get in touch with us.” Terry stands up and shakes his hand.

Lindsey lets out the breath she had been holding. She had been nervous and excited during the interview. As they are leaving the studio “hey guys, I and Brenda have been checking into the legal aspect of playing other artist songs and we came across the regulations we have to follow to do it. So, if there is a song we want to put on our cd’s or perform. We can get permission for it.”

“I didn’t know you and Brenda have been researching this.” This was the first Terry had heard about it.

“Well, you guys had talked about doing some of the popular songs from the 80’s and such. I figure it would be good to check into it. I figure if the rules allowed us, we can add a few familiar songs to our repertoire.”

“Has anyone given any thought to what we are going to be wearing for the Renaissance Festival?” Dan and Ian had been wondering what their outfits would be.

“I have some ideas. Why don’t we go and visit a few shops for our costumes?”

“You and shopping.” Ian just smiles at Lindsey as they start hitting a few costume shops for the Renaissance Festival and Pirate Festival as well.

For the next six weeks, the band practices and learn new songs they plan on playing at the two festivals. Ian’s mother volunteered to go and chaperone the band members for the two festivals. As for the California gigs, Barbara and the parents of Terry and Jamie have volunteered to accompany the band member. Brenda was coming along as well to network with the organizers there.

The guy they used before has become swamp by his business, that he recommended a person he knew, that was trying to break into the music business. Her name was Beat Box Maxine and she had her own Yahoo website. She has helped him out on a few gigs of his own.

Maxine handled the sound systems and special effects. A friend of Dan’s name Krist Cobain was looking for work. He was hired on to load and set-up the equipment.

The last week of May, before the Renaissance Festival band practice and everything else is put on hold. Finals were that week. Lindsey and the band members needed that time to study for the test. Dan’s SUV was put in the shop to make sure everything was okay. All the fluids were changed, and new tires were put on the SUV.

May 25th was the last day of school for everyone. Maxine and Krist showed up at the Knotts house Thursday night to load everything. Maxine made sure all the special shipping/transport boxes the band bought for their equipment fit properly.

Two new members were added to the band. Maxine was hired to handle the sound systems and special effects. A friend of Dan’s name Krist Cobain was looking for work and was hired to move and set-up the equipment.

May 25th-27th, 1600hrs Covington Renaissance Festival Grounds:
The band arrives and is shown where they can park to unload their equipment. They also are shown where they could set up their tent and such. They weren’t scheduled to go on until tomorrow, so they had time to get into character and get set up.

Maxine looks at the clothing that she and Lindsey were wearing. Lindsey had picked out a minstrel outfit for herself, while Maxine looked like Maid Marian from Robinhood. Terry was dress as Robinhood, while the rest of the guys were dressed as his merry men.

Ian’s mother was dress as a Royal lady with the band members being her children. She looks over at all the kids.

“Well, how do I look?” Mrs. Smith looks at all the kids.

“Mom, you look unbelievable.” Ian couldn’t believe how his mother looked dressed the way she was.

“I have to agree with your son, Mrs. Smith. You look like someone from the past.” Lindsey wonders what her mother would look like.

“Thank you, Lindsey.”

“Well, let’s go and see what we can find for dinner.” They leave their camp area and mingle with the other people.

Jamie’s girlfriend had come along with them. Her parents had given her permission since Mrs. Smith was with them. They had set-up three separate tents. The girls were sharing one tent, the guys were sharing another tent. Their instruments were locked up in their trailer.

Lindsey, Ian, and his mother were exploring the different vendors and watching some of the mock combat that was going on. Maxine ran into a few people she knew and joined them. Jamie was spending time with his girlfriend. She wanted to talk with some of the other performers that were at the festival. Terry, Dan, and Krist went off to have fun. They were warned not to do any drinking either.

Lindsey was the first to wake-up. She heard movement outside their tent and slowly made her way outside. She managed to move outside without waking Mrs. Smith, Maxine or Christy, Jamie’s girlfriend.

She notices Ian was fixing coffee. She saw the old-style coffee pot on the one burner propane burner.

“I'm impressed.” Lindsey walks over and sits down in the lawn chair they brought with them.

“I and my parents use to go camping a lot before my father died.”

“This is my first-time camping.”

“Your parents never took you camping?”

“Nope and neither did any of the foster parents I had.” Lindsey picks up an apple out of the cooler and starts cutting it into pieces.

“I’m sorry to hear about that.”

“It’s okay. I have Barbara now and she’s been the best mother I’ve had so far.” Lindsey offers a slice of apple to Ian.

“No thanks.”

Lindsey takes the slice and bites into it. She has gotten into the habit of eating fruit first thing in the morning. Ever since the doctor told her that her iron levels have a tendency to drop, because of a disease she inherited from her mother. She had a strict diet that she kept to.

“So, what’s for breakfast and is there anything I can do to help?”

Ian pours her a cup of pineapple and apple juice mixed together.

“Do you know how to make pancakes?” Ian was getting the box of pancake mix they brought with them.

Lindsey saw the box “using that, yep I can.”

She digs out the hot plate and the measuring cup, along with everything else she will need. Lindsey starts making the pancake mix, while Ian brought the other propane stove out and set it up. Lindsey watches him as he moved about their camp. She was enjoying the camping experience.

Once the stove was set-up. She makes pancakes and sausage links for everyone. By the time everyone was feed and fully awake. They were going to need to get set-up and ready to perform.

After breakfast, she and the rest of the band get dress for their performance. Maxine and Krist head to the stage where they were going to perform and set-up the sound systems and such. Krist knew how to play a few of the instruments, so while Lindsey and the guys were getting ready. He helped in doing a sound check.

After the sound check. The band gets on stage and does another sound check. Once they are done doing the soundcheck, they put on a show for the crowd.