by Charlie Morgan

In the Beginning, there was nothing.  And then a Voice said, “Let there be Sound.” And it was a barely distinguishable Voice, and so there came to be amplified Sound. And it was good.  Well .. just OK, because the amplifiers were rudimentary, the speakers imperfect and the cabinet designs poorly conceived. And there came forth from the sum of these devices much distortion. 

And so the Voice said, with poor intelligibility, “Let there be better Sound.” But it was very Dark and improvements could not be made in the Dark, and so the Voice said, “Can we have Light?” And there was much agreement and the Light was summoned and they did wait, and wait, and the Light sat on the Earth for many days while the Voice asked again and again for Light. 

And none could say why there was no Light. And finally the Great Mystery was resolved and the Light came forth and it did rise until it was overhead and shone with great Brightness that created much Heat and the Voice then asked for less Light and Heat.  And none could be sure that the Light would respond for there was yet to be Control. And yet, to their wonderment, the Light began to fall, and it fell to the edge of the Earth and was no more, and the Darkness came again, and none could say why. Only the Voice spoke and said, “Bummer.” And so they pondered this poor distortion and sought improvements to the Sound in the Dark until it was noted that Light was returning. 

And so it came to be that there was Light again for only half the Day and thus Overtime was created. And for some it was good, and in Local 1 it was very, very good. And Overtime begot Synthetic Light, for Sound needed improvement and the Voice had spoken, for in Eight Days there was to be a Show. And the great quest for better Sound took on new shapes and forms as men spread across the Earth is search of rare metals and materials with which to create the new Sound.  And it got better … not great but better. 

And Brands were thus born as men banded together in hopes of being the Sound for which the Voice did seek. And these Brands did bring forth mighty sound with less distortion that was barely audible in the back of the Valley, and many men did labor through the Light and Overtime to assemble these great devices seeking Orders from the Voice.  And one such Brand did carry their devices up the Mountain for what purpose was not known only to discover it was too hard to reach the top and so they did rest at forty feet and verily it was known to all with great suddenness that higher was better, for the Voice could be heard in the back of the Valley. 

 And though it was not known why, it was of no concern, for the Voice was Ordering and many did climb the Mountain and they did Point and Cover.  And for much time all was good, and distortion was low and yet some could not rest for there were Problems.  And with the Dawn came one man in robes with great pockets and tablets that bore strange and unreadable symbols, and verily he began to Calculate.

And his quest did reveal more Problems for which there would be more Calculations.  And these Calculations did yield Great Results that were verified by Measurements and further supported by men Marching back and forth as Dan of The Steely did emit from the devices in an age-old ceremony followed yet to this day. 

And it was pretty darn good, and Brands began to bend and shape like fruits from the Earth and thus Marketing was born and yet some scorned Marketing and continued to Measure and March until one day they did stumble on The Concept of Linear.  And this was also very, very good. And it came it came to be that the Voice could no longer select that which was best by Measurements and Marching and thus Shootouts came to be and there was no Brand that could claim the highest position for the Marchers had read the Marketing and some had done their own Measuring and Calculations and the Brands did divide and thus began Discounting. 

Yet some would not Discount and because there were Budgets Large and Small, some scorned Discounts and assembled Great Rigs from which Sounds no man had yet heard would emit.  And thus they prepared to go forth for Forty Days and Forty Nights to Twenty-Nine Great Cities to spread these Sounds and they came upon The Venue and The Promoter and the gates were closed as no Promoter held enough gold and silver for which to pay for The Great Rig and the many Beasts and Wagons needed to move The Great Rig (plus Catering), and all was lost until there came The Casino.  And it was just OK.