literature

Gimme Shelter NOW

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Mick howled into the microphone, prancing and preening as he normally did on stage.  Waving his arm in the air he tried to get Keith and Bill to keep with the rhythm.  It was all he could do now.  
He tried his best to put on the face the crowd wanted, the face of the pretty boy rock star everybody has known him for, but it was too little too late.  The dread and tragedy had long caused their hearts to plummet inside their chests, and Mick couldn’t blame them.  In fact he was surprised his own heart hadn’t fallen straight to his feet to be kicked into the audience.    
Only fear kept him going now, fear of something far worse happening than what already had.  ‘I dunno if that’s possible’ he thought in response, but it seemed if he and the boys didn’t keep playing (even though no one could hear them through the in-sufficient sound system) that anything could happen.
Murder doesn’t seem so bad, Mick thought, because at this point he was ready to kick their tour manager’s head clean off his neck.  It’d been his idea to hire the Hell’s Angel to do security, it’d been his idea to supply them with free beer, and he certainly had a hand in switching the location from Golden Gate Park to the Altamont Speedway, a shit location out in the middle of nowhere (after changing the date what seemed like half a dozen times).  He noted in an act of cosmic irony that the Angels were the only thing protecting him from the riled up crowd now.  Not only was the sound system worthless, but the stage itself was barely four feet above the ground.
All he could think was who’s bloody idea this was.  He and the band had played shit gigs before, and they’d certainly play shit gigs again.  It came with the trade.
But this was different.  Much different.
After a moment of trying to think of whose head to kick in, his mind quickly turned to a singular question: “What If?”  What if Mick and the boys hadn’t announced they would make a surprise appearance at the Altamont concert, their mere presence creating the need for the bigger venue?  What if they hadn’t hired the Angels?  What if one of them had been attacked while they performed, like Marty had been?  What’ve they’d just turned tail and run like the Dead did?  As much as he wished he did, he didn’t have the answers.
Looking out into the ever restless crowd, he still saw a few peace signs being flashed, and still heard a few pleas to “love each other like brothers and sisters”.  Mick would tell almost no one this, in fact would even deny it later, but at that moment he felt nothing but disgust.  They all looked so pathetic, so flaccid and ignorant to what was going on around them.  To basic human nature.  This is what the flower children had wrought.  All things considered the violence was no surprise, but the reactions of these strung out idiots was nothing short of mind-blowing.  
Mick kept singing, swearing if he got out of this alive, he’d kick a few of their heads in too before hauling out of there.
We had to do a short writing assignment for my Literature class. 500 words on a specific time or event that took place before we were born. I chose from the perspective of the Rolling Stones performing at the ill-fated Altamont concert of 1969.
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this is great i read about that event some guy god shot by a hells angel one of the dark moments inrock and roll