Sound-off! An Underage Battle: Land of Pines
What's that you're looking for? Land of Pines? Heard it was one of the last peaceful groves around here, a veritible free-standing history book in bark, a—eh, what's the line?—verdant copse of repose? Someone back the way you came said just go further? Well, they didn't tell you wrong. But they didn't tell you everything.
See, back in aught nine, Fate intervened to separate two fast friends, like Fate will. Came calling in Education's guise, sending one East and one West with the whole of our great Country in between. And you can imagine what it's like to be alone somewhere new, wanting only to share it with a person—that one person—who understands. Can't you? Well, they had no need of imagining. They was living it.
So, being enterprising young folk, like young folk usually are, they start leveraging the post. They'd write ditties and jingles and melodies and fanfares and various what have yous, box them up, and send them out into the sunset. Or the sunrise, depending on who was doing the sending.
Anyhow, all that mail got them pining for each other something fierce, so when summer came on again, they found themselves a nice quiet island to set up camp. That island right over there. Every night, they played until the dark turned crepuscular. Every night, filling the very air with poppy melodies and mesmerizing words. Every night, all summer long. But when fall came thumping in, they didn't come out. The trees would not reveal them.
Their campsite was a suggestion when we found it. Just an evergreen dent. They weren't nothing more than memories. And still the night sang. Still does too, a breathy little aria in the wind. After a while, the whole place came to be known as Land of Pines, which was a damn sight better than Missing Friend Island, and people mostly forgot about what happened.
No one goes there much anymore. It's real pretty around this time, specially up where the campsite was. You can't find it on your own, though. There's no clear path. Tell you what. We'll take you.
Land of Pines will welcome Micah B, The Oh Wells, and Kids and Animals this Saturday at the EMP|SFM's last semi-final for Sound-Off! Take a friend.
Saturday 7:00 p.m. // EMP/SFM // $10 ($7 students / EMP|SFM members)
