The Wedding Gig
Encyclopedia
The Wedding Gig is a short story by Stephen King
first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
in 1980 and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew
.
, the story centers around a small time racketeer, Mike Scollay, who hires the narrator's jazz band to play at the wedding of his 300-pound sister Maureen, and her 90-pound fiancé. At the gig, Scollay's enemy, the Greek, blackmail
s a man to come to the wedding reception and insult Maureen in front of the guests. Shortly after, Mike is shot down in a hail of gunfire from the Greek's men.
Maureen takes over his business, making it into a large criminal empire, and getting revenge on the Greek, until she dies of a heart attack years later.
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is an American monthly digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction...
in 1980 and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew
Skeleton Crew
Skeleton Crew is the second collection of short fiction by Stephen King. The first collection, Night Shift, was published seven years prior in 1978. Different Seasons, a collection of four novellas, was published between the two in 1982. Skeleton Crew was originally published in hardcover form by...
.
Plot summary
Told from the viewpoint of a bandleader during ProhibitionProhibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
, the story centers around a small time racketeer, Mike Scollay, who hires the narrator's jazz band to play at the wedding of his 300-pound sister Maureen, and her 90-pound fiancé. At the gig, Scollay's enemy, the Greek, blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
s a man to come to the wedding reception and insult Maureen in front of the guests. Shortly after, Mike is shot down in a hail of gunfire from the Greek's men.
Maureen takes over his business, making it into a large criminal empire, and getting revenge on the Greek, until she dies of a heart attack years later.