THE BEAT BROTHERS ARE HERE
Beatmania spreads to all corners of Kalistan as Valruzian Band plays AnantoKaliburg Ananto
July 2, 4418Valruzian Quartet The Beat Brothers arrive in Kaliburg on July 1 to thousands of crazed teenaged fanaticsIt finally happened. History has been made in Kalistan, and music tastes in the Republic will likely be altered for the foreseeable future.
If you hadn't heard that the Beat Brothers were coming to Kalistan, you must have been living under a rock since early April. But every kid between the ages of 13 and 19 know they'd be here, and sure enough they have arrived.
In late May,
The Republic confirmed that the "Beat Brothers" referred to by the commercials was in fact the Valruzian Pop-Rock band of that name, and it was released a couple weeks later that the Valruzian government had agreed to allow the foursome to visit the Republic, which is still technically under embargo. A deal was concluded between the Beat Brothers' Management and the extremely popular KRTVN-4 program "Complete Music" to bring the Beat Brothers to Kalistan in June or July.
All of these arrangements were kept secret from the general population: The goal of the whisper campaign was to generate interest in this band which nobody in Kalistan had ever heard of before April. "Of course, we owe the Beat Brothers royalties," said "Complete Music" producer Josephine Guerrero. "We intend to hand them a fairly sizeable fee at the first opportunity."
The gambit payed off. By the time the Beat Brothers touched down in Kaliburg yesterday, they had already captured the hearts of the Nation.
The Beat Brothers arrived at Kaliburg International airport at precisely 13:35 on a Valruzian charter flight. Everyone there knew, without a doubt, that history was being made. When the four musicians stepped out the door of their plane, the assembled crowd went wild. Local security reported a crowd of more than 9,000 people were there to greet the Beat Brothers. As the band moved from the plane toward the waiting bus which was to take them into the city, the crowd beat the barricades down and mobbed the band. Local security forces sprung into action and immediately surrounded the band to keep them safe from the crazed teenagers. Slowly the scrum made their way to the City Bus, chartered for this event, and the band slowly left the airport, followed by the mob.
As the bus made its way through the city, the main streets were lined with screaming fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their idols. The bus slowly wound its way toward the Kalistan National Opera House. It turns out that "Complete Music" had organized a special show for that day, and announced that the goal was to fill the National Opera for the show. But they did not tell the fans who were in the Opera that the day's live band would be the Beat Brothers. The Host of Complete Music, Gregory Guerwitz got the word that the Beat Brothers were ready about 15 minutes into the live show.
"Friends, I've just got word that we're ready... alright. Now, I know we've had some great acts on this show, but I think... well, I think you're in for a treat." At this point, a rumor began to spread around the room, via text, from outside the Opera, that the Beat Brothers were in the house. The word slowly spread, and here and there, groups of audience members started yelling hysterically.
"Friends, here we go. Ladies and Gentlemen..." Before Guerwitz could complete his introduction, the curtains opened and there were the Beat Brothers, and the assembled crowd of 12,500 screaming teenagers lost their minds. Though Guerwitz said "The Beat Brothers", nobody heard him, because of the deafening roar from the crowd.
The Beat Brothers played a total of 5 songs, each about 3 minutes, of perfect pop rock: Songs like "Here to Please", "Darling, It's Me", "Shackles of Love", "Shake and Shout", and "Ezbieta, You Deserve Him" are all certain, in their own time, to become number 1 hits on the Pop and the National Charts in short order. The best song of the set, "Shake and Shout" has been playing on constant rotation on several private Radio stations since yesterday.
Unfortunately, the only people who heard most of it in the Operahouse were the sound operator and the members of the Band themselves, who had monitors in their ears. The television audience at home only really heard a few minutes here and there of the whole performance over the crowd noise. Nonetheless, rest assured, early reports demonstrate that the concert reached nearly every livingroom and Dorm Room in the entire country. The cameras spent the concert butting between the band and young women, and men, appearing to lose control.
The Beat Brothers play to a standing room only crowd at the National OperaThe concert lasted less than 20 minutes in total, but many of the youngsters present described the event as timeless. Following the concert, Guerwitz asked one of the band's Lead Singers, Hanuszek Leminski what his impressions of Kalistan were. He smiled and said, "It's... very loud." and the crowd went wild once more, as if to prove him correct.
"And what do you think of our young people?" Guerwitz said with a smile.
Liminski smiled, nodded at the crowd and said, "They're my favorite in all of Kalistan." And the crowd let out a massive, deafening roar again.
Following the show, the Beat Brothers were returned to the airport. This of course was a sign of the still existing tensions between the Governments of Valruzia and Kalistan. But the fans of the Beat Brothers didn't care about international relations yesterday. As the bus departed from the National Opera, the audience departed out the front way and formed an impromptu parade behind the bus, walking the 3 miles between the Opera House and the Airport. The bus obliged, at the Band's request, and slowly crept through the streets of the town, allowing the fans to see the band. The Beat Brothers hung out the windows and touched the hands of their fans who flanked both sides of the bus as it moved along.
Once at the airport, the Beat Brothers gave one final press conference, to a throng of reporters. Here they displayed incredible wit and confidence before a foreign press, even if they spoke Luthori in a heavy accent.
Q: How did you find Kalistan?
A: Turned Right at Lodamun.
Q: Will you come back to Kalistan?
A: We have not left.
Q: Did you know you were this popular in Kalistan?
A: Did you know you were so popular in Valruzia?
Q: What's your favorite song?
A: (from Drummer Rysiek Starewski) The one I did not write.
And so forth. The press conference, which was broadcast live on all television and radio channels of KRTVN, lasted for more than 10 minutes where the band also discussed their their new record, "Here to Please", which has just has been released in Valruzia, but which cannot be legally sold in Kalistan at the moment. "We will be sure to send a couple of copies to Kalistan," joked bassist Pawlik Mareczek. After taking pictures and waving, they were escorted out to the Charter flight, where they climbed the stairs to the flight and waved at the crowd, who was still screaming at the sight of the departing band.
At 16:45, the Charter flight lifted off and disappeared into the clear blue sky. All told, the Beat Brothers had been in Kalistan for 3 and a half hours, sung 5 songs, and given two interviews. They had been seen by more than 25,000 fans, and countless more at home. The Kalistani fans who watched the plane until it was out of sight hung around the airport for nearly an hour, discussing their experiences. Most interviewed said the same thing:
"This changed my entire life," said one young fan. She summed up the afternoon for millions.
By 17:15, Online sales of "Here To Please" began through third Parties, and it is alleged, though not confirmed, that more that 650,000 copies of the record had been sold to Kalistani consumers by Press time this morning.
Penny Georges, Age 15, who claimed that she stood less than 5 feet away as the Beat Brothers passed, was overwhelmed with emotion