GROOVY

THE BLUE BELLY

A futuristic roadhouse encased in a giant, turquoise-glass dome.

Atop the dome there’s a just as giant holographic blue-belly lizard, napping under the sunlight.

The lizard yawns and thumps his thick tail on the glass.

Boom, boom, BASS.

INSIDE

LENNY, SAM, SYD, and MIMI sit close at a crazy-colored woven booth -- basically a psychedelic Aeron Chair for 4, with a table.

Lenny and Sam are 30-40. Syd and Mimi are co-eds.

Everyone rocks a kinda future-luxury-flower-power vibe, think Black Mirror meets Electric Ladyland.

Everyone except Lenny, who looks like a bad-trip version of all it.

LENNY Question.

Syd and Mimi glance up.

LENNY Did you two have holo-sex before you had real sex?

SYD Pfff. That all got corrupted a while ago.

MIMI So fried.

Syd and Mimi giggle.

SYD But I remember my Mom said that she’d rather I have holo-sex, because it was safer.

MIMI (annoyed) I remember Little Arty Fangoli did a bunch of butt-stuff with my mom, because she was on a chip… Creep.

SYD I did that chip, too.

MIMI (laughing) Noooo.

Everyone laughs. Except Sam. Who barely forces a smile.

SYD And we did a bunch of stuff with you guys.

MIMI Duh. But only because you were famous.

Mimi puts her head on Syd’s shoulder, laughing.

LENNY What?

SYD You two couldn’t slay a circuit if your dicks depended on it.

Lenny cracks up. Sam looks bored.

SYD But your shows. Your tunes. The lights! That felt better than all of it. All the dick-butt-tit chips I could ever jam down my brain matter.

MIMI I lost half my mind trying to win front row Sam and Lenny chips.

Sam perks up.

SYD Everyone did.

Beat.

SYD And then you blew it.

LENNY Yeah well bass-man Sam, baby bro for life, had a little glitch didn’t he?

Sam scoffs.

Lenny whistles an arrestingly cool little ditty.

A coldness settles over Sam and Lenny.

SYD Well don’t act all malware about it.

MIMI Yeah, you can tell us what happened. We’re your fans.

Sam shakes his head.

SAM Tell them whatever you want.

Lenny leans in.

LENNY Here’s the truth.

BEACH

Sam and Lenny sit crosslegged on a turquoise beach blanket

Lenny writes excitedly in a note pad while Sam noodles on his bass.

They are surrounded by a crew of groovy beach babes.

LENNY (V.O.) We were just chilling on the beach, playing some licks for these chicks, seeing what jives, you know?

Lenny hands Sam the note pad.

LENNY (V.O.) And I pass a little something to Sam, something I just finished, some of that cool blue noise he was born to rip...

Sam strikes up a killer groove on his bass.

Almost instantaneously, plumes of a singing holographic mist shoot out of Sam’s bass strings.

Musical light.

LENNY (V.O.) ...And everyone is goin’ for it...

The bikini babes juke and jive in the musical mist -- setting off beats and melodies that build on the groove.

LENNY (V.O.) ...But I can tell there’s something bothering Sam. And I knew what it was...

Sam is clearly agitated.

LENNY (V.O.) ...But I also knew he’d never bring it up. So I say, Bro, I write the tunes, that’s the way it’s always going to be. If you try to change that, you’re going to fuck this whole thing up...

The beach girls sense the change in tone and slow their jive.

The groove gets darker.

LENNY (V.O.) ...I know you’ve got ideas, but you can’t write, not like I can.

A hellish screeching light shoots out of Sam’s bass; which also kinda rocks.

MULTIPLICITY MACHINE

A coin machine, but for memories.

LENNY (V.O.) ...So he cashes it all in, the memories of everything we created together...

Sam pounds impatiently on the top of the machine.

Hundreds of turquoise-glass casino chips clang into a dish.

CRAPS TABLE

Sam dances wildly as he chucks the dice.

LENNY (V.O.) Blows it all on a bunch of chip-heads.

Groupies at the craps table match Sam’s every move -- like hedonistic tik-toks come to life.

STAGE

Lenny, alone, scared shitless, looks out over a crowd of 100,000, all spread across a desert oasis, all silent.

Sam disappears backstage.

LENNY Been some not-so-good years since Sam left me all alone up there.

The lizard, standing atop his dome at the back of the crowd, shakes his head.

THE BLUE BELLY

Syd and Mimi hold Lenny’s hands. Comforting him.

His hands are dirty, his nails are a sickly green. He’s unhealthy.

He’s not like the other three, not anymore.

LENNY You walked out on the music, bro.

The lizard, almost as if he’s been listening, thumps his tail on the glass.

Boom boom bass.

Sam glares at Lenny. He tries to hold back, but can’t anymore.

SAM (cold) All I ever wanted was to make the music, bro.

Bass bass bass

SAM (even colder) All I ever wanted was to be just like you.

BOOM BOOM.

LENNY (pissed) Ah well fuck it then, at least I can still dance.

The lizard strikes up a dance overhead, pounding out a righteous beat.

Lenny shimmies away from the booth, busting some beyond-groovy dance moves on his way out.

Syd and Mimi follow Lenny.

Sam sits by himself, jotting something down in a notepad.