Chapter 11: Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers

https://myrockmixtapes.com/2016/04/20/cbgb-and-the-birth-of-punk-rock-and-new-wave/

     "Mio dio" laughs Karma's hairdresser from across a little wooden table beside the bar, "that little prick got what he deserved."

"Yeah" she agrees tapping her longneck to his, "I got the fuck out of there as soon the shock on the Grand Poobah's face turned to rage."

"But now more important things" Dan smiles, leaning across the table to whisper "how is your professor in bed?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out" she taunts, "Matt should be here any minute."

__________

     They're sitting at one of the few tables in a newly opened East Village club called Country, Blues, and Bluegrass. The owner Hilly Kristal couldn't fit all that onto the awning banner so it was shortened to CBGB, and it was already attracting raucous crowds with edgy new music soon to coalesce into the punk movement.
     December of 1973 also brought the coalescing of evidence that the United States President had led the wiretapping of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel. A gap of almost twenty minutes in a taped phone conversation about the break-in between Richard Nixon and chief of staff H.R. Haldeman was discovered and widely believed to have been an erasure of evidence despite denials from the White House. It was the beginning of the end for Nixon, and the beginning of the beginning for punk rock.

__________

     "I'm so hot and bothered that you two came here for Christmas eve" spouts Dan as Matt joins them below the stage. "It's this chick who morphs poems into music."

"Right on" smiles Matt, bending down to kiss Karma who's standing on tiptoe to reach him. "Interesting news from Annandale, the FLC has dismissed Dr. Honaker."

Karma screams and is joined by a packed house of three hundred and fifty jumping people as a skinny poet with wild hair slowly speaks her first lines to a lone bass backdrop:

     "Jesus died
     for somebody's sins
     but not mine."

Chapter 10: Instant Karma

https://www.travelblog.org/Photos/9736382

     "Come with me Miss Karma" commands Dr. Honaker dressed in a black robe and standing in the library doorway. "It's time for our winter solstice ritual in the Temple of the Lost Pyramid."

"I'll meet you there in a minute" she stalls while stepping over toward the bathroom, still uncertain about what she'll do.

"If you must" he sighs, "but then go in the rear entry and stand beside the altar."

__________

    Unbeknownst to the Grand Master, Karma Czarcinski had already been initiated before returning east from San Francisco in the Spring of 1973. She was well versed in the craft of Dianic wicca through training with Szuszanna Budapest of the Susan B. Anthony coven,. Unlike other emerging pagan groups at the time, this coven was all female and worshiped only goddesses. While many esoteric spiritual traditions practiced raising life force including sexual energy, Budapest's also taught that hexes and binding spells were appropriately used on men who were abusive toward women.

__________

     "Have you, Karma Czarcinski, improved your mind and will through the practice of virtue and the avoidance of vice?' begins Dr. Honaker as she approaches the dais, their candlelit shadows dancing on the stone walls.

"Yes" she answers softly, peeking at the small group kneeling before them in white robes.

"Do you have a yearning for wisdom?" he continues, tilting his head to look down at her over his thick glasses.

"Yes" she responds more strongly, staring at the red rose encircling a cross stitched onto the front of his robe.

"What is the beginning of wisdom?" he booms, leaning toward her in imperious fury.

"Hearing the Black Madonna speak" she asserts, stepping up onto the altar to gasps from the initiates as Dr. Honaker steps back, tripping on his long robe and landing squarely on the waiting divan.

Chapter 9: Hill House

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/white-settlers-buried-truth-about-midwests-mysterious-mound-cities-180968246/

    "Last night I had the strangest dream" begins Karma brushing snow off the shoulders of her red cape as she leads her boyfriend up the creaky wooden stairs to her third floor room.

"Do tell" encourages Matt while shucking off his navy pea coat and ducking into the double-mulled dormer window.

"A beautiful Indian woman came to my room" she begins, lying back on the sleigh bed and staring at the carven oak door. "She looked at me with dark eyes and was slowly lifting her doeskin skirt when I awoke with a start."

__________

    The LaMonte estate had decided to rent out empty bedrooms of their decaying Evergreens mansion as the aging widows of Old Ladies Hill began to pass away in the 1960s. Eventually even the two former children's rooms that had served as storage for family furniture were made available as furnished studio apartments. Karma had the cheapest rent in town for a hot third floor bedroom, but it was equipped with ornate furnishings salvaged from reconstruction Virginia by a family of means.
     The original source of the wealth was a brisk trade in Africans for the growing farms of the Shenandoah Valley. Major Seth Mason was able to parlay his land grant for service in the War of 1812 into Wheatlands, a Loudoun County estate replete with auction block and a fleet on the nearby Potomac. Just before the family would have lost it all in the Civil War, his granddaughter Rebecca Thweatt Mason Kerns happened to marry a Yankee teaching colleague at the Academy at Winchester. When the cause was all but lost, George A. LaMonte was able to caravan north of the Mason-Dixon line with the family wealth and belongings intact.

__________

    "Karma, come see these kids" commands Matt pointing out the window. "They're sledding down the only hill in this little town between the brooks."

"Matthew Berry" she chides, "were you even listening to my dream?"

"Yes I was and that's my point" he responds, reaching an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "This old house was built on an Indian mound."

"How do you know this stuff?" she exclaims, leaning into his side and nestling her head into his chest.

"It's my thesis, remember?" he laughs, turning toward her and placing a hand on either shoulder.

"Oh yeah" she laughs, reaching up to hold his forearms. "So what does your thesis say about an Indian woman lifting her skirt?"

"Not a single thing" he winks, "but I've heard what's happening in a dream represents something within the dreamer."

Chapter 8: Our Ladies Of Czestochowa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Madonna_of_Cz%C4%99stochowa

 


   "Sorry to bother you Sister Franciszka" squeaks Karma to her black habited former teacher at the door to the convent house on West Second Street. "I need to talk to someone about something."

"You come right in Miss Czarcinski" commands the stern nun while stepping back into the front room and calling out "Sister Genowefa, put on a pot of tea for our young visitor."

__________

    The Sisters at St. Mary of Czestochowa (chens-toe-HOH-vuh) were a small but dedicated group of teachers, nurses, and general administrators for the Roman Catholic church. Most were of Polish descent, some born there, and all were drawn to a contemplative life inspired by a religious icon from their ancestral homeland.
     The revered painting of the Black Madonna had mysteriously arrived in Czestochowa in the 14th century, reportedly via first Jerusalem and then Constantinople. Once enshrined at Jasna Gora monastery, she had repeatedly protected the ancient structure from invading armies, herself surviving a slashing by protestant Hussites from Czechoslovakia in 1430.

__________

     "This doctor at my library job wants me to have sex to keep the job" Karma blurts, unable to contain her distress despite a lingering fear of the nun known as Two-Fisted Franciszka from her considerable skill with the wooden ruler.

"Sit down moja piekny" commands the sister as she guides Karma with a strong hand on the shoulder to a black wing chair beside a glass-topped coffee table, bending into an identical seat on the other side. "Now tell me exactly what he said."


"Well let's see" ponders Karma, picking up a floral china cup that Sister Genowefa had just poured with steaming oolong. "Something pretentious like 'working with the secrets of the Fraternitas Lilia Croesis requires initiation into it's ancient mysteries'."


"I see" responds the nun with raised eyebrows, pausing before continuing with "we must consult the Black Lady."


"I don't see" Karma answers with a nervous laugh.


"You will my pretty, you will."

Chapter 7: The Game

Bound Brook High School Echo 1974

     "Little Charch" exclaims Blaine Reed in mock surprise as he hobbles his way through the home crowd to join her along an old picket fence around the playing field, "what brings you out to a football game?"

"Hey Bleeds" she calls back to her old high school friend, turning toward him with a warm smile and a big hug, "I hear there's a kick-ass Santana show."

"Why am I not surprised it's the band that brings my hippy friend out on a chilly morning?"

"Just call me freak" she proclaims, running a palm across the top of her spiked hair. "You're looking good these days!"

"A slow form of ALS" the former Bound Brook player whispers. "I'm getting off easy."

"It's good to get off" she laughs while punching him in the chest. "Want to watch halftime with me?"

"Mickie's over there" he blurts, nodding to the wooden stands painted red for the home team colors. "Come sit with us after the show?"

"Nah, no controlled violence for me" she declares turning back toward the field as the brass blares the opening notes of Evil Ways, "but meet me at Patullos after the game."

__________

     The Thanksgiving day game was the culmination of the marching season in the 1970s just before band tournaments broke the football monopoly on scheduling and timing of performances. After eight previous halftime shows the musicians, dancers and twirlers all had their routines into muscle memory for a finely tuned performance. Too bad most of the audience and all of the players and coaches were more focused on the oldest football rivalry in central Jersey barring the very first intercollegiate match ever played between Rutgers and Princeton. They missed some amazing performances.

__________

     "The bartender told me that White Rock was once a lookout for Washington's troops" blurts Karma as Blaine leans into the brass rail next to her stool. "He thinks the first Betsy Ross flag was flown there."

"Yeah, and Herbie was probably right there to serve them a round of Bud" laughs Blaine, holding up a finger for Mr. Patullo across the bar. "What're ya havin?"

"He's already topped me off twice" she smiles while placing a slender palm over the snifter. "I've reached my frangelico limit if I'm going to drive to the library tomorrow."

"I heard you were working out in Hunterdon County" Blaine continues as the owner slides a nonic pint his way. "How's it hanging over there?"

"Cool job, suckie supervisor" she frowns as another wave of fans from the game surge around the bar. "This dick of a chiropractor wants to initiate me into his Church of the Holy Fucks."

"Holy fuck is right" Blaine scowls before whispering "I learned how to crack a neck the right way in Nam."

"Now that's a more permanent solution to my problem" she sings, quoting Jesus Christ Superstar in her best basso profundo as Blaine cracks up beside her. "Now take me home for turkey, you turkey!"

Chapter 6: Chimney Rock

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1NKMW_chimney-rock-hawk-watch

     "Karma, I didn't recognize you at first" confides the photographer historian once they settle into a booth with a pitcher of Budweiser and two frosted stanges before them. "I really like the new look."

"Just what the doctor ordered, Matthew" she quips, taking a gulp that drains half the little glass and flashing him a hazel-eyed smile. "Time to move on from hippy days to happy days."

"Tell me about it" he encourages, leaning toward her across the formica table top, "and while you do please call me Matt."

"Well Matt" she begins, pausing to finish off her first little glass and then slumping back in the red faux-leather of the bench seat, "I was offered a job as archivist at the Lilicroestian library."

"That's great" he exclaims, sitting up straight as a large pizza cut into squares is plopped between them. "Isn't it?"

"It would be" she responds, looking up with sad eyes as she grabs a center piece, folds it in half, and takes a big bite, "if that guy wasn't hitting on me."

__________

   They were sitting in the Chimney Rock Inn, an old brick building in an enlarging water gap. The stream trickling through the gap was known as the Middlebrook, and it was not the source the gap's widening. A basalt quarry dating from the nineteenth century was expanding operations along with increasing demand for gravel from the igneus ridges of the Watchung Mountains. A continuous line of dump trucks and cement mixers had been streaming in and out of the quarry since the early 1960s to fill the roads and lots of an increasingly suburbanized central New Jersey. Farms in the Garden State were sprouting with the subdivisions and strip malls that would feed the growing baby boom.

__________

     "Holy crap" exclaims Matt, sliding two crusty edge pieces onto his little white plate. "How can you tell he's hitting on you?"

"The usual - a touch here, a glance there, an excuse to meet" Karma rattles off without a thought. "And then this job offer out of the blue."

"That really sucks, the job could have been interesting" he muses while pouring them another round.  "They're a secretive sect with an odd history."

"Odd isn't the right word for that creepy guy who calls himself the Grand Master" she declares before knocking back a second glass.

"No, it's not" he agrees, grabbing another piece and downing half of it in one bite. "The founder of that group admitted late in life that he discovered their breed of sex magic in a Persian brothel."

"Eeuw" she blurts while scooting out of the booth, "let's get out of here."

"Don't mind if we do" he smiles, uncoiling his long frame to stand beside her.

"There's a trail up to White Rock behind this place" she winks while taking his arm, "and I know a different kind of magic."

Chapter 4: Emaus Clinic

     "Where's Dr. Honaker?" demands Grazyna Czarcinski as a tall and thin young woman in a long white coat enters the treatment room.

"And a happy equinox to you too" smiles the new chiropractor as she pulls up a stool beside the adjusting table.

"Fuck that" Grace rasps in her lifelong smoker's voice. "What's going on here?"

"I'm the new doctor at  Emaus" she explains, her straight black hair swishing as she slides the rolling stool back. "Dr. Honaker leads the Sunday service down the road at Waverly Hall."

__________

     The renowned clinic for natural healing had been started in the 1920s by the charismatic E. Hieronymous Emaus, a self-proclaimed healer with the somewhat dubious titles of naturopath, osteopath, and chiropractor. Not so well known was that Emaus was also the Grand Master of Fraternis Lilia Croesis, a secretive Christian sect claiming roots in Egyptian mysticism. After Emaus died in  1970 the leadership of the FLC and the Clinic were passed on to one C. Gerald Honaker, an officially trained Doctor of Chiropractic with both mixer and spiritual inclinations.
    Like the Lilicroestians, the American chiropractic profession had had a rift in the early twentieth century. Graduates of the original school, the Palmer College of Chiropractic, and it's affiliates believed in limiting practice to spinal adjustments. Others who advocated additional therapies like adjusting devices, homeopathy, and nutrition came to be known as mixers. Over time the latter would become predominant in both professional organizations and numbers of practitioners.

__________

     "Well whoop-de-doo" Grace scowls. "If he knows what's good for him he'll keep those long paws off my naive niece."

"Look Mrs. Czarcinski, I'm here to continue your healing if you'll let me."

"As long as you're not one of those neck crackers" Grace assents.

"It's all activator for me" she replies with relief, holding up a syringe-like device for the tapping of spinal segments. "That and homeopathic remedies to prolong the response."

"Well get cracking then so I can get over to your Waverly Hall."