Jack
THE MOMENT I’M officially ‘on the road’ is one of my favorite feelings in the world. I love being in the studio, rehearsing and writing, but it’s all for nothing if we don’t get out and play for the people. Being in motion soothes my soul. Once the band was over, I’d lost myself in travel. I suppose a part of me doesn’t know how to stay in one place for too long.
“You ready, Jackie boy?” Rex asked as we began rolling.
Rex had tricked out our old tour bus years ago, and even though it had a couple of bunk beds and a private bedroom and bathroom, we needed more creature comforts now that we were older and sober, so we’d negotiated (well, Lucy had) for the label to pay for hotel rooms for the bands and their families. Touring these days was a much smaller affair with much smaller budgets. RatHound was footin’ the bill for the crew and roadies for both bands (that part Hadley had negotiated so Roses for Anna didn’t have to pay). In the end, it worked out better for us financially and it meant I could have Hadley to myself.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I smiled. “Thanks for this, Rex.”
“Thank me? You’re the one who made this tour possible, by saying yes. There was no way we were going to go out without you.”
“Fuckin’ A,” Robbie added.
“To the band,” I said raising my plastic water bottle for a toast.
I was joined by the others with an unsatisfying dull clacking of plastic, a reminder that the days of champagne and blow were long gone.
Our first show was tomorrow night in Portland and I couldn’t wait to hit the stage. My passion for music had been reignited by the faith of my best friend and my passion for just about everything else was off the charts thanks to Hadley, who was currently behind us in the Roses for Anna bus.
I shot her a text. Wish you were here.
See you at the first pit stop ;)
The mood on the bus was electric. Spirits had never been higher in the RatHound camp and it was great to be back on the road with so many familiar faces. Lucy was doing an amazing job as the band’s new manager and she was able to hire several key members from our original tech crew including Teddy and Spike, who we’d dubbed “The Road Hounds” back in the day. They were amazing roadies and certifiably insane.
Teddy, who had now been promoted to stage manager, was a very large man, and not to be trifled with. Spike was a skinny, pale little runt—they were a sort of Laurel and Hardy of their trade. Teddy was now missing his left pinky and eye due to a pyrotechnic malfunction while touring with the Clergy, a band we knew well from back in the day. We joked and told him even though he’d been promoted, we’d have to pay him less now since there was, well, less of him these days.
Spike was serving as our bus driver, and as was tradition, driving the first hundred miles naked as a jaybird. This may have been our fist sober tour, but I had a feeling it was going to be far from boring.
“Come on Spike, you pasty sonofabitch, get this bus moving!” Robbie yelled as the bus engine roared. Music, laughter and plenty of stories from our past filled the bus as we drove through the night.
* * *
Hadley
“Boyfriend?” Ray asked, sitting next to me at the little banquette in the bus.
“Hmm?”
He nodded toward my phone gripped in my hands.
“Oh.” I felt heat in my cheeks. “No. Just working on some last-minute details.”
Ray Samuels was Bam’s drum tech. He had been a roadie for the band for over five years, and was a trusted member of their camp. He was nice, but a little too much in my space at times. He’d always had boundary issues when it came to me and I was fixin’ to either say something to him… or make Bam do it. However, for the moment, I was stuck with him hovering because I wasn’t interested in making things tense on the first day of the tour.
“You excited?”
I nodded. “I am. How about you?”
“Shit, yeah. Total access to RatHound? Never thought that would ever happen.”
“I know.” I smiled. “It’s kind of a mind-bend.”
“Totally. It’s gonna be a great tour, I’m stoked.”
I smiled and nodded, and saw him slide, ever so closer, to me.
“Yeah, so I guess we’ll be… uh, seeing each other around,” I said.
Real smooth.
He continued. “So, if there’s anything you need, you just let me know. Anything at all.”
He shot me what I assumed was supposed to be a sexy ‘come hither’ look, and it took every ounce of my strength to contain my laughter.
“Okay, thanks,” was all I could squeak out.
“Had, can I talk to you a minute?” Bam asked, and I excused myself from the table and walked to the back of the bus to sit next to him.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“You just looked like you needed saving.”
I giggled. “This is why you’re my favorite.”
“Do I need to have a conversation?”
“Not yet,” I said. “He hasn’t done anything that would warrant it.”
“You let me know.”
“I will, buddy.” I smiled and leaned back against the seat.
What I really wanted to do, was tell Jack. It was as if I had some sort of teenage urge to “go tell my boyfriend” that some little creep was hitting on me, but Jack wasn’t my boyfriend, and I certainly shouldn’t be thinking of him like that. I simply couldn’t turn my thoughts away from him, or help the way I was feeling.
I changed the subject. “You missing Lucy?”
Lucy was traveling with RatHound, but I didn’t know how long that would last because they were both ridiculously attached to one another.
“Yeah,” he admitted, and waved his cell phone. “Thank God for texting.”
I giggled. “Well, she and I could always swap. We’re going to be together for six weeks, and we’re essentially doing everything together, so why doesn’t she travel with you and I’ll travel with them?”
I wasn’t about to admit the real reason for my suggestion.
“That’s not a bad idea. I’ll talk to her,” Bam said.
“Sounds good, just let me know.”
We drove in relative silence for the next hour, arriving at the amphitheater just before one. Being a little claustrophobic, I was ready to get off the bus, so I rose to my feet as soon as the brake was set.
“I’m going to meet Lucy,” I said to no one in particular, and rushed off the bus.
Walking into the hot Ridgefield sun, I took a deep breath. I loved the Pacific Northwest. Not as much as home, but definitely a close second.
Lucy walked toward me with a huge grin on her face. “You ready?”
I looked around, hoping to spot Jack, but to no avail. I hoped he was as excited as I was about opening night, but not as nervous as I was.
“So ready,” I lied, and we made our way to meet with the venue manager and Jimbo Reno, the concert promoter that was backing most of the tour. My feet froze after five confident strides. “Lucy, what if I’m not actually ready? What if I’m terrified?”
“Terrified of what?”
“Of everyone knowing how new I am as a manager?” I whispered. “What if I make a fool of myself in front of this guy?”
“Jimbo?” Lucy chuckled. “You’re afraid of embarrassing yourself in front of Jimbo Reno? When you meet him, you’re going to see how funny that is.”
“No, not just Jimbo… all the Jimbos. I feel like any minute Bam and the band are going to tap me on the shoulder and tell me they’ve made a horrible mistake in choosing me as their manager, and that I’m being replaced.”
“Sweetie, you’re spiraling.” Lucy put a hand on each of my shoulders and looked at me in a way that reminded me of her father, a man that could truly charm anyone into a relaxed and pliable state.
“Don’t you ‘Rex’ me, Lucy Nelson. I’m serious.”
“I am too. What you’re feeling is totally normal. This is your first tour as the band’s manager, but this is not your first tour. You know these people and you know this world. Nothing has changed, except that you don’t have to go through Chas to get your job done. This is your show now, and it’s show time.” She made ‘jazz hands’ and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s better. C’mon, let’s go show these stinky boys who’s in charge,” Lucy said, hooking her arm into mine, leading us toward our destination.
Even though Lucy was younger and technically less experienced than me, she had a deep knowledge of the business and people that I admired. I trusted her judgment and valued her opinion. I’d spent most of my life around boys and it was nice to be forming such a close bond with a woman I admired.
After a few twists and turns we found the office of Kurt Varney, manager of the Sofa King Amphitheater, and entered to find him sharing a drink with the aforementioned Jimbo Reno. Jimbo was undoubtedly the biggest concert promoter on the west coast, and he had a well-earned reputation as a being a very tough guy.
“Lucy, my dear! Come here and give your Uncle Jimbo a hug and a kiss!” The hulking man, rose to his feet and embraced Lucy before she could even extend her arms, causing her to momentarily temporarily disappear from sight altogether.
“Jimbo, I can’t breathe,” Lucy wheezed.
He released her and stood back a pace. “My god, look how you’ve grown. I still remember when you a little girl and your dad almost missed your birthday. He was on tour at the time and had to borrow my plane to make it home on time,” he said, puffing up his massive chest proudly.
“And this beautiful young lady must be—” Kurt asked.
“Hadley Simon, with Roses for Anna,” I said, thrusting my hand out in the most business-like way I could. I shook Kurt’s hand, then Jimbo’s. Jimbo’s giant mitt covered mine entirely, and I was instantly pulled in for the same bear hug style assault.
“Of course you are!” Jimbo bellowed. “You ladies are just in time to join me and Kurt here for a drink. We’re toasting to open night. I know your daddy gave up the sauce, so I figured I’d knock one back for him.”
As his adopted surname suggested, Jim Reno “made his bones” in Nevada and most certainly bankrolled his early endeavors with mob money. He was a legitimate entertainment tycoon now, but I was all too familiar with his type. Jimbo and RatHound had major history and they trusted him, but after what I had just gone through with the band’s previous manager, I wasn’t about to drop my guard, no matter how charming he was. Kurt Varney lacked any and all warmth that Jimbo had. “Please ladies, do join us,” he said, in a tone that made my flesh crawl.
“Thank you, gentlemen, but we need to get back to our bands. We just wanted to stop by and make sure you didn’t have any questions about our riders and collect our passes,” Lucy said.
Every venue on a tour is supplied with a rider from each band, which is simply a list of needs. The band’s rider contains everything from technical requirements for their staging and lighting, to what kind of salad dressing they want at dinner. Reviewing the rider was a way of making sure the band’s needs are truly being met. In the eighties, Van Halen famously asked for a bowl of M&M’s backstage, with all the brown candies removed. This seemed like the ultimate in rock star spoiled excess, but it was actually a shrewd business move that ensured the promoters had actually read the band’s entire contract carefully.
“C’mon, surely you can have one little drink with us,” Kurt continued. He was clearly many drinks into the bottle, probably in a feeble attempt to keep up with Jimbo. He was a pasty, thin, balding man with undoubtedly the worst comb-over I’d ever seen. In fact, I couldn’t tell exactly where his hair was being combed over from.
“Uh, no, that’s okay,” I said.
“It’s opening night,” Kurt countered, his hot, boozy breath hanging in the air, making me feel sick. “One little drink.”
Lucy smiled. “Like Uncle Jimbo said, we’re a dry camp these days, so we’ll have to take a rain check.”
Jimbo changed the subject. “I heard you got married.”
“Sure did,” Lucy said smiling. She quickly held up her left hand to reveal her wedding ring.
“To your drummer, isn’t that right?” He turned to me.
“Also correct,” I said.
“I don’t see on ring on your pretty finger,” Kurt said. It was all I could do to keep from throwing up. I was willing to cut this bozo a little slack, given his current state of intoxication, and certainly didn’t want to make waves on the first night out.
“Nope, just married to my work,” I smiled. “And my massive gun collection.”
Kurt’s smile dropped, and after a few moments of dead silence, Jimbo erupted into laughter.
“Oh, I like her. I like her a lot, Lucy. Come on, ladies, let’s get you those passes and make sure you guys have got everything you need.”
Once all our administrative ducks had been lined up and accounted for, we headed back to the busses. I was surprised to see Jack walking toward us.
“Everything okay?” I asked as he approached us.
“Yeah, I was just checking to see if you two needed any help. You were gone for a while.”
“Were you worried about us, Uncle Jack? You’re so sweet,” Lucy said.
Sweet indeed. As a matter of fact, I wanted to lick every inch of the man’s body then and there.
“We were just getting the passes and press packets from ‘drunk and drunker’ in there.” I said, before realizing I’d just tattled on the promoters.
“Did they give you any trouble?” Jack asked, the tone of his voice low and lethal.
“No, no. Nothing like that, they were just funny. Nothing to worry about, really.”
“We can handle ourselves just fine, Uncle Jack,” Lucy added.
“Of that, I have no doubt at all.” He smiled, but the mirth didn’t reach his eyes. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
In that moment, I decided not to say anything to Jack about Ray hitting on me, or Kurt’s proposed soiree. Jack was clearly the protective type, and the last thing we needed was him blowing our cover by losing his cool.
“We’re great. Besides, it’s my job to make sure you have everything you need, not the other way around,” Lucy said smiling. “You’re going to have to get used to me taking care of things for you for a change.”
“Fair enough,” Jack smiled.
I smiled to myself. It was Lucy’s job to take care of him now, but I planned on taking care of him later.