Joe Roman & The White Angels in My Cousin Fred

Club Philly, home of The White Angels. The fans
always enjoy coming to see the band play. Joe's
finishing a guitar solo as the band played. After the
song, Frank said,
"Before we break, tonight were celebrating a
birthday. Ben Sanders is 24 today, so our birthday
boy will pefrform for us."
Ben was blushing as the fans applauded. Then the
band played a rock beat version of "With A Little Help
From My Friends". Ben played rhythm & sang it, then
he played an awesome vibes solo.
Backstage, Ben blew out his candles as Velma &
the band cheered. Ben's cake had a vibes pic. The
band members gave Ben his presents. Frank was on the
club computer logging on to the internet. Then he
grabbed Ben & covered his eyes, leading him towards
the computer.
"Happy birthday, Ben." said Frank removing his
hand from his eyes. On the screen, Ben saw a
vibraphone website. Frank told Ben to click on
Vibists. There, a list of jazz vibists appeared. Ben
scrolled down & saw "Outside Jazz" (vibists playing
other types of music). And below Michael Damian &
Kevin Matthews, Ben saw his name.
He clicked his name to find his pic & bio. Saw a
photo gallery of him in action & downloaded sounds of
his soloes.
"COOL!" he yelled, "Thanks for putting me on this
awesome website!"
A few days later, Ben was home looking @ his
section. When he checked the main message board, a
fan left one telling him to go to his webpage. So Ben
typed it & when it loaded, he couldn't believe it!
"Aww man!" groaned Ben.
"Computer froze on you?" asked Velma from the
kitchen.
"Worse, come here." he said as Velma saw what he
groaned over.
It's Fred Sanders' Webpage, Ben's cousin from San
Antonio, Texas. Fred's a super marimba player. The
webpage had pics of him playing marimba in the high
school marching band pit & in a mariachi band. Fred
had a sound section for all his marimba soloes,
including a song that won him a mallet percussion
contest!
"Velma, this is my cousin Fred." explained Ben.
"Handsome," she said, "He'd make a great White
Angel."
"No." said Ben firmly, "Fred's not right. He
plays a Mexican instrument."
"And you play a jazz instrument. What's the
difference?" she asked.
"Fred's always trying to compete with me.
Besides, there's no room for a marimba for our type of
music. Frank wouldn't allow it. I'm logging off &
checking my e-mail."
When he did, Ben screamed when Fred wrote saying,
"Moving to Philly to join you, cuz!"
Weeks later, Ben drove his motorcycle to
rehearsal. When he arrived, he saw a big U-Hall truck
parked.
"It couldn't be." said Ben, getting off the bike.
Then when he entered, he heard marimba music playing.
In the studio, he saw Fred playing a super marimba
solo. Then he went over & played an awesome vibes
solo on Ben's vibes.
"Off my vibes!" yelled Ben as Fred went over to
hug his cousin, but Ben wouldn't let him.
"You drove a U-Hall all the way from San
Antonio?" he asked, "Why? So you could be our 8th
White Angel! There's no room for a marimba in the
band."
"Why don't you give me a chance." said Fred,
"When I was 13, I wanted to be just like you. So I
took up the marimba & played basketball in junior high
& high school. Just like you, only you played
football."
Fred went to his mallet case & got out a pic of
Ben playing the vibes in a football uniform.
"I thought I destroyed that pic." said Ben, "I
made a fool of myself."
"It proved you had guts, man." said Ben asking,
"Where's Frank? I'm suppose to audition for him."
"No audition, go back to Texas." ordered Ben.
Fred got mad & fought Ben. Frank saw what happened &
broke it up.
"Ben! Fred!" yelled Frank.
"Did you get him to audition?" asked Ben, "The
marimba's a stupid instrument, it won't fit the band."
"I thought the vibes were stupid myself." said
Frank, "I wanted you to play on some songs, not all
songs. But you proved to me that you can make the
vibes work. Why not do the same for Fred.'
So Ben gave Fred a chance. They sat down &
watched Fred played a funky marimba solo. Then Ben
got up & played rhythm vibes. When Fred chord rolled,
Ben played a vibes solo.
"Cool!" said Frank, "If you wanna be a White
Angel, you also got to sing."
Fred played & sang a song.
Afterwards, Fred turned his U-Hall truck. Frank
& Ben loaded his belongings in Frank's car as Fred
drove his motorcycle out of the truck.
"Awesome bike." said Ben, "Look, why not stay @
my place for awhile. Frank, take Fred's belongings to
my apartment. Fred & I are gonna get some food."
"Race you." said Fred as they drove their
motorcycles.
Velma liked having Fred around the house to help
her out. Just then, Ben brought out a box. Fred
opened it to find his own white tuxedo along with
shoes in a shoe box.
"Welcome to The White Angels." said Ben as he
shook Fred's hand.
"I'm so happy you two got along." said Velma
joyfully.
The nest performance @ Club Philly, the band
arrangement changed. Ralph had his organ below Eric's
tympanis. Next to Eric's tymps was Ben's vibes & next
to Eric's drums was Fred's marimba.
The band performed their new theme song,
"We're The White Angels, a combo band of 8.
White Angels, our band sounds so great."
After Eric sang & soloed, Fred's up.
"I play the marimba, that's done & said,
Meet Ben's cousin, my name is Fred."
Fred plays a marimba solo.
"Let's hear it for our 8th White Angel, Fred
Sanders!" said Frank as fans cheered.
A few numbers later, the band played a tropical
instrumental featuring Ben & Fred. Ben played a vibes
solo, then Fred a marimba solo (with the other playing
rhythm during the others solo). As he played, Ben
went over & played rhythm marimba with Fred playing
lead. Then he let Ben play a marimba solo as Fred
went over & played rhythm vibes. Fred then played a
vibes solo.


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