Authors: K.T. Hastings
Suzi briefly considered saying something about Janelle leaving with Brandee, since part of the arrangement that Janelle had agreed upon was that she would pull Suzi's weight when it came to setup and break down. Things had definitely changed. The group had become two separate entities. Not only did it not surprise Suzi that Janelle had left the two- to three-hour task of breaking the show down to the other members of the group, but she actually found herself feeling relieved that Janelle had left the post show routine to the members of the group. She no longer even pretended to be with the group as a whole. Suzi decided to keep her mouth shut.
Jake had just begun his portion of the breakdown procedure when he was approached by a middle-aged man. Jake had briefly noticed him during the show for two reasons. First, he had been standing near the stage but away from most of the crowd. In fact, he hadn't been far from Jake's location during the show. Second, his attire had stood out from the others in the crowd. The majority of the County Fair crowd was dressed in cowboy and work attire, but the man who now approached Jake was dressed in a business suit, covered by a rain-repellent topcoat. Jake was no fashionista, but the London Fog label on the topcoat told Jake that this man saw nothing out of the ordinary about paying $500 for a good raincoat. Jake greeted the newcomer with a smile and his right hand.
“Good evening, sir. I'm Jake Evans. What can I do for you?”
“Tom Ferrari, Mr. Evans. Pleasure to meet you. I know you're with the band. Are you their manager?”
Jake laughed. “I'm not sure that I know the answer to that, Mr. Ferrari. My wife and I started the band, but we pretty much all work together.”
“Your wife? Oh, oh, yes. My apologies. You're Brandee's husband.”
“That I am. Is there something that I can do for you? You don't strike me as an autograph collector, but if you are, I'll see what I can do.”
The well- dressed stranger laughed, exposing a mouth full of capped teeth.
“I think that I have all the autographs I need, Mr. Evans. You said that the group works together. If I could have a few minutes of the group's time, I would like to tell you what I'm doing in this corner of the world tonight.”
With that, he opened his wallet and handed Jake a gold-embossed business card. Jake took it and tilted it a little so that he could read what it said.
Thomas E. Ferrari
New Talent Evaluator
Arista Entertainment Group
912 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY. 10020-2244
(215) 725-3152
Jake read the card and looked at Mr. Ferrari. “Would you have a seat in the dressing area, Mr. Ferrari? Let me get the group together and we'll be right with you.”
Tom Ferrari peered into the backstage area, looking for a dressing room. Jake saw that he was confused.
“Let me take you there. It's behind the furniture dolly. Nothing like a county fair. is there?”
“Nothing at all, Mr. Evans. Nothing at all.”
Jake stopped talking and led the visitor toward the dressing area of the fairgrounds, stepping around the car parts that were indiscriminately scattered in their way. Jake hid his excitement as well as he could but knew that his babbling about fairs to Tom Ferrari had told the tale of how excited he was right now.
“You just have a seat right in there,” Jake said, indicating the chair that Brandee had used earlier. “I'll be right back.”
Jake left Tom Ferrari in the dressing room and ran outside. Diane was the first person that he ran into, almost literally.
“Diane! There's a guy from a record label who wants to talk to us!”
Diane's eyes opened wide. “WHAT!?”
Jake bobbed his head up and down. “It's true! He wants to talk to us!”
Diane absorbed the news. She looked around and saw Suzi and Bruce Then her face fell.
“Where's Brandee? She has to be here for this!”
“Damn it!” Jake said. “I'll have to go get her! Let me go get Bruce and Suzi, and we'll all go into the dressing room where this guy is. Then I'll go get Brandee!”
Jake took off at a dead run. He corralled Bruce and Suzi and got them headed for the dressing room, but not before Suzi had thrown her arms around his neck in her excitement.
“This could be our biggest night, Jake! It really could be!”
Introductions were made in the dressing room. Tom Ferrari distributed business cards around to everyone, and prepared to get down to business. Jake stopped him.
“I need to go get my wife, Mr. Ferrari. She spent a night in the hospital after our last show and she's not back to being at her best yet. She should be here, though.”
“First of all, enough with the Mr. Ferrari business. Call me Tom. What's this about Brandee being in the hospital? What happened?”
Jake quickly recounted the story of the electric shock that Brandee had suffered at Cache Creek and the subsequent trip to the hospital. He assured Tom that Brandee was no worse for wear, at least from a permanent standpoint. He went on to tell him that the injury was the reason that Brandee had left early tonight.
“I'm glad to hear that she's okay,” Tom said. “Looks like I missed an interesting stop.”
Bruce spoke up. “Missed an interesting stop? You've seen us before tonight?”
Tom inclined his head toward the keyboardist. “You might say that. I first saw you in Utah. I missed the Wyoming show, and just went from Salt Lake down to Grand Junction. I missed Jackpot, saw you in Winnemucca, and now here tonight.”
“Why watch us so many times and wait until now to us?” Suzi asked.
“It's what I do. I trail acts that we might be interested in signing if they are on the road when we hear about them. I wanted to see what kind of range you have. That's part of what makes up marketability.”
“What kind of range does
Brandee
have Mr. F--, sorry, Tom?” Jake asked.
“We think you have good range. The first two shows that I attended were somewhat alike, and I wondered if you could do more than just power ballads and angst rock. It was your show in Winnemucca that showed me something different.”
The members of the group looked at each other and smiled. They remembered how the Winnemucca show came to be. It had been a different kind of show, for sure. Brandee's voice couldn't handle the dusty prairie, so they adapted.
“I need to get my wife back here, Tom. The group is named after her. We can't really talk to you until she gets with us.”
Tom stood up. “I'll tell you what? Let her rest. Talk to her tomorrow. I'm going to be with you for your next show anyway. I know it's in Eugene. Is it another fair?”
Bruce said, “Yes, it is. The Lane County Fair this time.”
“Great, I'll probably ruin another pair of Italian loafers at that one. Oh well, never mind. Anyway... Talk amongst yourselves as a group. Arista is interested in signing you to a three year deal. Three records and two singles in the three year span. One domestic tour, one international tour, and one mixed tour. It will be hard work, but you'll have publicity support, the finest tour transportation that money can buy, five star accommodations, and a twenty-person crew to set you up and break you down.”
The silence was palpable. All the members of the group had the same thought: they needed to have Brandee with them before they talked to Tom any more. However, Tom had just left out one tiny little part that was kind of important, letting them dangle for a few seconds longer.
“Oh yes. How much are we offering? 1.5 million a year plus 8% on every CD you sell. We can negotiate the clothing and gear sales when we sign the contract.”
The members of
Brandee
collectively held their breath. Tom was offering $375,000 per year for three years to everyone in the group. That was just the beginning. With the clout of Arista behind them, their record sales would be limited only by how hard the group worked to stay relevant. Jake calculated their probable individual income at $400,000 in royalties alone if they sold a million records. There was no reason that the deal wouldn't gross the members of the group $1,000,000 a year for three years.
Good God!
He thought.
We're going to be rich!
Out loud, he said, “This is all very interesting Tom, but like you said, we need to talk as a group. Right now, we need to break this show down so we can get some rest before tomorrow night. Will we see you backstage tomorrow?”
“Count on it, Mr. Evans. I look forward to it.”
Jake laughed. “Call me Jake, Tom.”
“Right Jake. Thank you.”
With that, Tom turned to the others. He shook hands with all three of the musicians, showing his manners by starting with the ladies. Later, Suzi would say that it was all that she could do to keep from kissing the lips that had offered her so much money. Bruce would respond that, not only was he not jealous, but that he had considered kissing the man himself.
After Tom had made his way across the muddy parking lot and into his rented Cadillac, the members of
Brandee
stared at one another in amazement. That only lasted a moment, though.
“Go talk to Brandee,” Diane said to Jake. “Do it now, before she's been asleep for long.”
Jake looked out at the equipment that was still unpacked. “I need to help wi--” he started.
“Go talk to Brandee!” Suzi said.
“But--”
“GO TALK TO YOUR WIFE!” Bruce thundered.
Jake smiled at the people that he had grown so close to in the last months. It had been a long ride from when he and Brandee had auditioned musicians. It had been a fun ride, though. Now, it looked like it might start raining money on them all. He couldn't wait to talk to his beautiful wife.
“I think I'll go talk to Brandee, if it's all the same to you guys. I'll walk back and leave the Nissan with you.”
Jake stopped talking, remembering something else. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the jewelry box from Araxa Jewelers.
“Timing is everything, isn't it?” he said to his dear friends, and headed for the parking lot with a spring in his step.
***
Brandee had every intention of going straight to sleep when she got back to the hotel. Janelle followed her into Room 116, talking to her about the show that night. Brandee promised herself that she would have just a few minutes with Janelle before sending her to her own room.
Janelle kicked off her shoes and placed them beside Brandee's. Then she sat on the bed behind Brandee, who was seated at the table removing her makeup.
“Another magnificent show tonight, baby,” she said to the singer. “You just get better every night.”
“Tonight was a hard one. I'm sore all over.”
Janelle waited until Brandee had finished removing her makeup before starting to massage Brandee's neck.
“Mmmm, that's nice,” Brandee said, closing her eyes and leaning into the massage.
“I like to take care of you. I want to make you feel so good. You work so hard on stage.”
Janelle's hands moved down to Brandee's shoulders, smoothing knots that the singer had been fighting most of the evening. Brandee rolled her head, first clockwise, and then counter-clockwise, loosening further the places that Janelle had rubbed.
“Try some deep breathing again, love,” Janelle said quietly.
Brandee got up from the chair and sat down beside Janelle, taking her hand.
“All right, but just for a minute. I have to get some sleep.”
Brandee breathed as deeply as she could. She felt her lungs filling with new air. When she let the air out slowly, she felt some of her stress go with it. At first, she barely realized that Janelle's lips were on her neck. When she did realize it, she looked at the bedside clock and did some quick calculating. Satisfied with the answer, she started to unbutton Janelle's shirt.
***
The Northwoods Inn is only a three-minute drive and a ten-minute walk from the Del Norte County Fairgrounds. Jake felt like he could have run it in just about three minutes, too. His mind was racing with the news that he had to tell Brandee. He knew that this news, finally and at last, was going to be the thing that would draw the two of them closer again. It meant that their lives were never going to be the same again! It would provide for a new start. A new start doing what Brandee loved to do and what Jake loved helping her do.