Jordan

Jordan

By

Retta Michaels

Disclaimer:

If you are under the age of eighteen, or live in a locale which doesn't allow you to read these sorts of stories legally, then please don't. Come back when it's legal for you to do so and it will be great with us who are here legally. In fact, we'll support you and in the right circumstances help get you laid. Now, skedaddle and shut the door on your way out!

Now, for the rest of you who are supposed to be adults, act like it!

Chapter 5

When we got back off of the stage, my mom was standing there with tears streaming down her face. She came up and hugged me and said, "They had the concert on simulcast radio outside. I heard the concert and the song he sang to you. I thought to myself, if your dad had sung that song to me, I'd be hopelessly in love with him. So, now, I can see that it's not the sex of whom you love, but that you're in love that should be making me happy."

"Mom, I love you and I love dad. I love Chad and there's not much which I can do to stop it. I know you like him and Dad likes him, so what could be better. If I was straight, and I brought home a girl that you didn't like and I couldn't love with all of my heart, would you be concerned for me? I think you would. This way, I'm happy. If you can't like Chad for being my boyfriend, then like him because he loves me and is my sanity out here."

"You know we love him and he's not the problem. I'm the problem. I'll try to deal with it as I was taught all my life it was wrong. When you were born, I was happy you were healthy and had all your fingers and toes. Why shouldn't I still be that happy? I didn't make a pact with God to say, "I'll love him, but...." No, I made a pact with him I would be the best parent possible and to keep you in a happy and healthy environment. I wasn't fulfilling my end of the agreement."

We hugged and I said, "You all want to come into the dressing room?"

"Are they all dressed?"

"They better be or someone's gonna be in trouble!"

We went into the dressing room and mom went over to hug Chad. The guys gave us a look like, "What the fuck???" and my mom said, "Boys, I owe you all a big apology especially you Chad. I can't make any excuses for my behavior earlier."

I saw the little girl in the wheel chair sitting over to the side and Chad was sitting with her, I knelt down and asked, "Did you enjoy the show?".

She looked rather pale and gaunt, but her voice was clear and bright. "You guys are awesome! That Cherry Pop song is the best!"

"You liked it!"

"Yeah! I can't wait to get home and sing it to my little sister!"

"Why didn't your sister come to the show with you?"

"She's sick and they're keeping her away from me since I'm not supposed to be around a lot of people."

"Did anyone think being in a large room with twenty five hundred people wasn't enough!!!"

"Oh, they said I could come to the concert, but I'd probably get a virus from the air, but I just had to."

"Well, how about if we stop by and see your sister and sing Cherry Pop to her with you!"

"Would you?"

"Yeah, how about if we take the limo to your house and then do it. Chad, would you bring a keyboard with us?"

He gave me a look, and said, "Sure." with a look in his eyes like, "Don't I always!"

I pointed across the room at my mom and dad and said, "You see my mom and dad over there? They came all the way from Florida for this concert. So, when your family tells you your sister shouldn't be with you, tell them that shouldn't matter, but what should matter is who you spend your days with and the love you find with them."

Chad looked at me and said, "I've just thought of a song. I'll hum it and start the words, you help."

He started humming a ballad and then went over to get a keyboard. He started playing and the words started flowing out. He was looking into my eyes as he sang and the end result was "The love I found with you."

He looked at her and said, "How about if I dedicate this song to you since you're the one that's inspired it."

She blushed and said, "Sure!" The way she said it and the droop of her eyes told me she was getting tired. I said, "Chad, she's getting tired. Let's get her home, so we can get to the hotel."

We went over to my parents and I hugged them. I said, "I'll be at the hotel later, Chad and I are going to take her home and sing her little sister the Cherry Pop song."

Mom said, "What's the cherry pop song, they ended the concert when your first set was over. I never got to hear anything after the rest of the boys sang their songs."

Dad smiled and said, "Honey, it might not be good for you to hear it. He sings the words so fast that it's probably a good things since there's a lot of double entendres in it that allude to sex."

"Oh, well, would you play it for me?" She pined.

I looked at Chad and he said, "Go ahead, make her day, I dare y you!"

I said, "Mom, wait a minute, let me get the video of it and then you can watch it when I'm far far away."

"If it's bad enough you don't want to sing it in front of your mother, then why are you going over to sing it to a little girl?"

"Oh ck., but you made me...remember that. Guys! I need your help here."

Several of the guys all said at once, "Don't get me killed by your mom!"

We all laughed and they said, "Go ahead, we'll sing it from where we are."

Chad turned on the keyboard and basicly put it on auto play. He went over to sit with the little girl and said, "When that woman blows, I want to be far away from it."

I began to sing and really concentrated on seeing how fast and clear I could get the words. Not one time as I was singing, did I look at my mom. If I had, I figured, I'd lose concentration.

At the end of the song, mom looked at me and said, "Jordan Daniel Johns! I've never heard such a thing! Would you please say it slower so I could understand half the words?"

Everyone laughed and I said "Mom, I'll get you a lyric sheet. It's an hour long song stuffing into three minutes."

She laughed and said, "No honey, I heard it the first time. I think it's rather humorous how you came up with something I'm thinking lots of kids will think is really cool, but it's a song that hardly makes any sense."

"Yeah, but that's the key part of it. Sometimes, it doesn't make sense why people pick the people they do to lose their cherries to, but they still do it."

"You're right there. I just want you to love whomever you do it with. The way I see you with Chad, I'm sure you're in love, so that's what's best."

We kissed them goodbye and RJ came up to the limo and said, "Guys, we'll be back at the hotel. Stay up late and expect company at eleven pm., as we'll be over then. We'll bring the pizza and soda pop."

As the limo pulled away, the little girl said, "Guys, I thought you were the only ones in the group that were gay?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"Those other boys couldn't keep their hands off each other. If they think they're fooling anyone, they need to stop that. They were acting more gay than you two!"

"Well, they're all friends", is all Chad could come up with.. He said that chuckling and then put his hand upon my knee.

She said, "You guys really are going to sing that song you just made up?"

"We hope too. We're putting together a few other cds right now and we're all submitting music to it. If we don't use it for the group's cds, then we'll use it for our duet album."

She smiled, and said, "That song's going to go number one. I'll tell you now. I listened to it and got a funny feeling in my heart like I was falling in love listening to it. If everyone feels like I did listening to it, they'll go out and buy it."

Chad looked at me and said, "Did you get that feeling with any of our other songs?"

"No, but the one which you sang to Jordy really made me cry. That's why after you sang the second one, and then came down and gave me your shirt and his hat, I was so surprised. I expected you to be up there listening to everyone applaud your songs."

"Well, Jordan and I decided to get you the outfit before we thought too much about the show."

He paused and then said, "If you hang onto the jersey and the hat, I'll tell you now, they're going to be worth a lot of money. That's the very first edition of a bunch of shirts we're going to have coming out like that."

"Really!"

"Yeah, we decided to change our stage outfits to those and sell them to the fans. We're also selling the hats and the pants too. I'd give you my pants, but then I wouldn't have anything to wear home!"

She gave him a look like, "Go ahead!" and I said, "We'll get you a pair of them sent too you, o.k.?"

"Sure! Could you send my sister one? Her favorite color is pink."

"O.k., we hadn't thought about doing them in many colors, but I guess that would be a good idea. We'll tell it to our merchandising manager. He'll like that idea."

"One other thing I think would go good for you guys is if you sell an ipod that comes pre-loaded with your songs on it and a picture of you all as a screen saver."

Chad looked at me and said, "That's a real good idea!"

He pulled out his cell phone and called Jill. When she answered, he told her what was suggested. She said she'd tell her boyfriend, Matt."

When Chad got off the phone with Jill, he turned to me and said, "They're going to be putting that color thing into boys billfolds and girls purses too. The name of the group will be on the the strap of the purse."

"That's a good idea!" she said, "I'd buy one!"

"We'll send you and your sister one of whatever we have, o.k.?"

"Sure, but you guys don't have to do that!"

"No, but we want to. We don't get to see many real people outside of the group, so when we do, we really cherish those times."

"Why don't you get to be away from the group?"

Chad looked down and said, "It's a matter of time really. Today, we got to be away for four hours and that's the longest we've been away from the group in several weeks."

I looked at him and said, "Chad, it's been almost eight weeks."

"Man, that's terrible!" She said with a shocked face.

"Well, being with Jordy is what makes the time go by so nicely."

I put my hand on his and said, "Thank you babe."

"Well, it's true. Just think about how long it'd be if we didn't have someone special to make it go by faster?"

"Well, that's true. It'd be terrible."

The whole time, he was sitting on the edge of his seat with his elbows on his knees talking with her. I think he was leaning up so she wouldn't feel so alone sitting in her end of the seat. The seat in the limo was like a huge doughnut shape with a spot for the door to climb through. She sat by the door and we sat on the other side. Chad sat back on the seat and then he looked at me and smiled.

To be honest, I hadn't been looking out the window to where we were going. I didn't know how far away she lived, but riding in the back seat always made it seem like the trip too longer. It was something I'd learned to get used to on the road as talking made it seem to go by sooner.

We were talking about the differences in the songs from the first album and the other songs the guys all had sang when out of nowhere, WHAM! The car skidded and I felt it start tilting towards Chad's and the little girls side. The car rolled over and I fell towards Chad. The sounds of the car rolling over and the sounds of glass breaking were all I heard. Then the world went black.

When I awoke, it was to the sound of a steady, "Beep. Beep. Beep, Beep" I opened my mouth and looked around me. Everything wasn't the same. I was in a hotel room, but the equipment was hospital equipment.

No one was in the room with me, and I wondered to myself where I was, where Chad was, and why no one was with me. I tried out my hands and feet and they all were fine. I tried lifting my arms and they were fine and then my legs. They worked, so I got up to see where I was, or look for a phone to see what town we were in and have them contact me with the managers to see where everyone was.

The problem with moving was there were I.V.'s attached to my wrist and my dick had a tube running out of it to a bag. I had the sensation I needed to pee, but trying brought nothing.

When I sat up, the world seemed dizzy. I grabbed ahold of the bed and steadied myself. The sensation passed and then, I began to feel a sense of euphoria. Don't ask me to describe it, all I can say it was light headed, happy, and like there was absolutely no pressure on my chest to breathe at all. That's when I passed smooth out.

When I came back too, my parents, Chad, RJ, and Jill were all in the room sitting and staring at me. It was the same room, so I knew it wasn't an issue of some strange horror flick.

Chad was smiling at me and he had the signs of a badly bruised face that had about a week to heal.

"Where am I and how'd your face get that way?"

"You're at the hospital and we were in a car wreck."

"Who was in a car wreck, the whole band?"

"No, you, me, and a little girl."

"We have a little girl?!"

Everyone gave each other a startled look and then Chad continued, "No, we had a little girl with us that was a Make-A-Wish recipient."

"She o.k.?"

Again, the startled look.

"No, she didn't make it."

"Oh, man, tell her parent's I'm sorry."

"No, it wasn't the car wreck and it was. She was going to die anyway, and then we had the car wreck and they took her to the hospital for treatment and she caught a staph infection. She died last week."

"How long have I been in here?"

"You've been out six weeks."

"Wow, so what is today's date?"

"It's late August."

"Oh, who's doing the tours in my place?"

"They canceled the tour dates until you could get better."

I looked over at RJ and Jill and said, "I'm sorry guys. Help me up and I'll get out of here."

"No, you stay here until we get a doctor's permission to let you work. I doubt if that will be for a while" said Jill.

"I remember waking up once before. No one was in the room and then I had a sensation of euphoria and then I don't know what happened."

"That was the morphine. You were on that and they were trying to keep you sedated. You had a severe concussion and you nearly didn't make it."

"What happened?"

"The limo driver didn't yield when he entered another highway. It was nearly a broadside wreck with a semi. You were all lucky you weren't killed." said my mom. "Your car went off a very steep embankment and overturned several times. Chad was only saved because you took most of the blows of things flying around in the car."

"Well, that little girl can't say she's lucky"

RJ said, "He'll be better, that sarcastic humor is back."

I looked at him and said, "RJ, what are we going to do about the group? Don't disband it because of this."

"No, it's not going to be disbanded. Just as soon as we can, we're going to go back into the recording studio and we're going to get the cds recorded. What we've done is we've released the videos from the concert and we've said you all were back in the studio re-recording the music. That bought us some time and we didn't have to let it be known about the wreck."

"So no one knows?"

"Well, that's not true. There are some that found out. Word of you being in the hospital slipped out and it was even reported by the National Enquirer you were dead."

I turned to my mom, "Did you buy that copy! I want it so I can have it blown up and put on the wall in my room! In fact, make it a bunch of copies. "

She smiled and said, "You would enjoy that, wouldn't you."

"Oh yeah, then every time someone tells me to drop dead, I can say, "I already did, they sent me back to put you through hell. You're not getting a moments rest now!"

They all laughed and RJ said, "We have you in a hotel because the Rev. Fred Phelps was protesting the hospital where you were. Chad rather embarrassed the Reverend though because he dressed up in his leather outfit and then put on a collar and some really mini leather shorts and went out and handed the Reverend the other end of his leash and said, "Beat me off daddy. Beat me off!". He had Wend recording it and they sent it out to every news outlet in the country besides YouTube."

"Did they play it?"

"YouTube did! Chad snickered and then after it got so many hits on YouTube, CNN and the other media picked it up. CNN sent a reporter who then got the other side of the story."

"So, you guys put me in a hotel to make me safer?"

"Yeah, Fred Phelps had signs telling anyone they'd pay a hundred grand for someone in the hospital to lace your I.V, line with something which would kill you."

"Can we sue him on that?"

"Well, the company took photos of it and Chad's going to put the signs into a video protesting them and putting out a contract on Fred Phelps for the same hundred grand. We figure if Phelps can't get arrested, then Chad can't either."

"My suggestion would be to have the hundred thousand dollar bounty be a million dollar bounty for someone that could come up with a credible video of Phelps doing something bad enough to get a warrant and put him in prison."

"That's a good idea. That way, we could get promotion and he could get put away where he couldn't hurt anyone else."

"Chad, I've got an idea for a song. Put the Fred Phelps pics in a video that also shows a soldier being buried. Start getting recordings of all the soldier's funeral picketed and we'll have a video that starts off with a zoom in of John 3:16 and then as it zooms out, we see the President saying something about the soldiers being someone's Sons, etc...etc...etc..., and then show that Fred Phelps sign and then, Have you in a grave yard with the National Enquirer of me by yourself with the guys all dressed in black and you singing, "I miss you. " Then have file footage of Fred Phelps picketing a funeral and a close up of one of those signs showing GOD HATES FAGS, and then confront the sign in a song saying, God doesn't hate you, because he sent me a piece of heaven when I was with you. I know you went to be with the angels above, I just wish I could keep your love." At the end of the video, have Chad on his knees crying and make the video look like Fred Phelps is standing over him so the outcry is terrible."

Chad said, "That's great!"

RJ said, "No, because that would have everyone saying you are dead."

"No, that's having the National Enquirer saying I'm dead and when the next song comes out and it says I'm alive, then Phelps, and the National Enquirer, and everyone else will know we know how to manipulate the media so don't fuck with us."

RJ smiled and said, "Jill, Chad, go get the guys and get busy. We're going to have this on MTV in two weeks, so get to hopping."

Jill looked startled and said, "Chad? Do you even have a song written?"

"No, but Jordan and I had just written it before the accident and he gave me the melody, so I can get it."

RJ smiled and my dad snickered. He looked at me and said, "Your fans are going to be pressed here, you know that."

"No, they don't know if it's real of if it's just a video. If we do it right, it will get them moved to hate Fred Phelps and not to trust the National Enquirer ever again. I'll be forgotten in the outpouring of emotions."

"Or so you hope."

"Dad, one thing I've learned is they love the next record and forgot the last one. What was last month is forgotten, and what's brand new this hour has to be good enough to get them to drop the remote and go buy a record. We're not competing against other bands, we're competing against a bag of potato chips and a glass of soda. We're not even competing against another channel. So, we've got to make them remember us from all the rest."

RJ smiled, and said, "You know the business. That's what I've been trying to tell the board, but they don't seem to understand. They think money still grows on trees and people will still run out and buy a record."

"If we had a way of them downloading the song from their television set for ninety nine cents, then we'd be onto something, but if they go to their computer, they can watch the video for free."

"Yeah, and there's not really much we can do about it."

"No, but it's up to us to find a way to rope them in and get the buck."

"It's not likely to happen. This is the information age."

"Well, there is, but I don't know how to explain it."

"What do you mean?"

"We need to go against MTV and the video companies and have a file system enacted that when they show a video, it allows it to be shown in the entirety, but if someone tries to record it digitally or on a computer, it comes across as a black screen advertising to watch the video for a download fee, and the music they're hearing sounds like it's coming from a tin box without any equalization."

"Someone would have a crack on that in no time."

"Yeah, but what if we make a deal with IPOD to only do our videos there? And, on our IPOD we're going to have out by Christmas. You are pursuing that aren't you!"

"Yes, the guys picked the color of pink out the other day, They've got blue ones and black ones with a red Cardinal on it. The video the guys made in memory of that little girl showed the ipod as being in memory of her and it was quite touching."

"How about if we get over the death and dying videos and come out with a live cd? We could use the CD to promote the other cds and the concert tour. Then, we could push a big stadium tour with a limited number of dates."

"That's in the works, we just need to have you out of that bed."

"Well call the doctor, I'm feeling fine."

"We need to get you up and get you to walking."

"O.k., well, get me a walker and someone help me up."

By the end of the day, I was walking up and down the hall of the hotel. The next day, I did it for most of the day while talking on the cell phone with Chad and Jill who were in recording the song with the guys.

Somewhere along the line, I decided I wanted the video to be in black and white with the exceptions of the flag and the signs of Fred Phelps. I wanted it to look like it was raining in the scene with Chad in the grave yard and the guys to all be in black tuxes with Chad being in a black tux with overcoat.

I kept up the recuperative therapy and the only side affect of the car wreck was an occasional headache...well, my dick would itch, but that might've not been the accident...lol.

Chad told me the car overturned and I landed upon him and the whole seat and bar I was sitting on came loose and landed upon me. He thinks the wood counter of the bar hit me in the head. He was undamaged by it or anything. It was my head that had hit him in the face. He said my head hurt him worse than the entire car wreck.

As the days progressed, I got stronger and didn't see much of Chad. The production schedule and editing for the video were such it was a sudden full time obsession of his to get it out. This led up to the release of the video.

At one pm on Friday, the video was released and by two pm, we were in trouble...or I should say the company was in trouble. Records flew off the shelves, but the cancellations of concerts wasn't something we had foreseen. It seemed that if I wasn't going to be singing, the promoters didn't want the band.

By Saturday, RJ was begging me to get up and have a press release to tell our fans and the world it was a video and to admit I'd been in a car wreck and hospitalized. He got the media together and said the group would make a statement at five pm.

I dressed up in the same black outfit as the band and then Chad and the guys went out and performed it. The media went silent and then I came out to read the statement. The flash bulbs and the screams of the fans and media asking questions all at once were incredible.

As soon as they stopped long enough to let me speak, I said, "Can't a guy get a little rest around here!"

Then, the media and everyone went wild again with the questions. I finally said louder, "HEY! LET ME SPEAK AND I'LL ANSWER QUESTIONS!"

It was funny because the whole place was quiet in about ten seconds. "Ladies and Gentlemen who are all my fans, I was in a car wreck and seriously hurt. I've been in recovery and recuperating. For six weeks, I was unconscious and the National Enquirer reported me dead. As soon as I came to, I discovered a certain asshole was protesting the hospital and running off my fans. That same asshole had put a bounty on my head and was trying to get me killed."

I paused and then said, "Do YOU think I would tolerate that! NO, I had to do something to strike back and the video was what we came up with. It's powerful and it pulls at the heart. It struck you where we needed you struck and it caused the National Enquirer to retract the story and hopefully, it will inspire every young person out there to think about the message of the Bible and love one another as I have loved you. Not as that asshole is loving his fellow man."

The media began asking questions and Chad came up and stood next to me. He said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this was not a gimmick to have you buy cds. This was a protest of the protesters and to tell you the National Enquirer shouldn't be trusted. If you read those points into it, and think we did this for anything other than what we're telling you, then get over it. It's that simple."

For some reason, RJ had me walking with a black cane with a gold eagle handle. He said that would be a part of my future and the future media shots would all show that and it'd be an underlying message to the media, "We fucked you once, we can do it again."

What was interesting was when we got in, my mom called and said the press conference was on all three media channels and CNN was doing it up like they had the towers collapsing. What I do know, was Larry King had asked for an interview and we had more interviews than RJ could get scheduled. He had schedulers scheduling us down to the minute for appearances and then had us in New York for the press tour.

The way it went was the entire group would perform the song and then, we'd have an interview where we gave our opinion of what we thought about Fred Phelps style of protests. Surprisingly, everyone had stayed silent while this was happening until we came out against it and then the whole world was up in arms over it. I loved it because the media didn't hang onto the fact we were gay, they hung onto the fact we were trying to get up against the arrogance of one man's terrorism on his fellow Americans.

What was funny about all this was every time Fred Phelps insisted upon having an equal billing, we would counter with asking one of his ex followers being on with us and insisting the photos of his group with the placards of the one hundred thousand dollar bounty be shown. He'd suddenly refuse and then we could go on and do it as we had intended.

For three weeks, we did the press tour and during all that time, RJ and Jill were having us promote a new line of men's tuxedos and scheduling the release of the i Pod and asking us to promote different items casually on the interviews. RJ was smooth and bought air time on the shows advertisements and had enough i Pods pre-ordered so we could give them away at the interview shows. We'd show the audience putting them on and then mentioning they'd be released for Christmas sales along with our new cds and clothing. Somewhere along the line, RJ had us several different fragrance companies in so we could start selling colognes and perfumes. The group had it's fragrance and then we had a different one for each of us and a gift set that had little bottles of each individual one in it plus a bigger bottle of the Group's fragrance. The one I had picked out for mine was really nice. As soon as I smelled it, I wanted it. Chad's was a musk scented one. When I smelled him with it on, we had to go snuggle. He felt the same about mine, so it was hot. What's funny was I really didn't care for the other guy's scents and we found out they didn't care for ours. It was so personal we found out later the colognes caused a lot of snuggling to happen amongst us couples.

In November, the word came out we'd be featured on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade and were requested to be on the same sponsor's New Year's float. RJ got on the horn and had the sponsors jangle out cash for us and to have our entire families staying in the city at the Carlisle so we'd all have a joyful Thanksgiving.

On the float, we handed out the i Pods. Someone who received one gave it a demo and plugged it on a morning show and suddenly the orders skyrocketed. I personally liked it because for each one that sold, we got a dollar. When millions of the things flew off the shelves, it suddenly became a very Merry Christmas.

The money had came in from the difference between the Hummer and my little electric car. We'd contacted the family of the little girl to see how much her hospital bills had been. We took a plane and went down and presented them with the check for that amount and then presented them with a lot of the groups items. Chad gave her sister a keyboard and then told me we were supposed to perform Cherry Pop for the sister that night. I performed it and she absolutely loved it. The parent's weren't amused, but they smiled politely.

When we left, the father came out and told us he had intended on suing us for our part in the death of his daughter, but saw our hearts were in the right place. It angered me, but at the same time, I was reminded his sense of loss couldn't be measured on any scale I could fathom.

When we got home to his mom's new house, I was amazed at the size and scale of it. Chad was all smiles and all I could think was how big it was for one person and what the yearly property taxes could be on such a house. He assured me there was a trust in place for his mom so she could make the monthly bills and the taxes from it. I later found out he'd put his first million from the i pods into the trust. I couldn't deny him that as I'd just threw mine into an account and hadn't done much useful with it.

In early November, we filmed a Christmas variety show which guested several of the boy bands and was our first foray into the world of television. What was different for us was the amount of takes and retakes needed to get the different camera shots they needed. It's hard because I'd be totally into singing a song and someone would yell "cut". After the first few times, you get used to it, but the first few times, it really pissed me off. It takes the human factor out of a performance and makes a machine out of someone real fast because rather than being into a song, I was prepared to hear the word "CUT!". It wasn't until afterwards when we were discussing it with RJ, he said he'd change it so it wouldn't ever happen again. He said we could afford enough cameras to get the shots and do switches so everything would be edited later.

In the second week of December, we began the press tour of Christmas wishes on the interview shows. It was a headache because some of the guys who interviewed us were real homophobes and let it be known in a variety of ways, but on air, we'd be all smiles. The fakeness got to be so much I really resented it. By the week before Christmas, I was ready for a vacation.

RJ could get to me mentally by telling me all we needed was another week and I'd hold true like a trooper, but after enough of those weeks stacked up, I was tired and didn't really want to hear he only needed another week. I was wanting days off, or a week off. He promised it would happen in January, but I reminded him we had the super bowl in January and February had us doing a press tour, Daytona week, and then Mardi Gras and that wasn't including anything Valentines which I knew they'd want us to do.

Each month, had a holiday and each month would have us performing at a different venue and a different town. The good thing about it was we got used to the grind enough we could afford a treasured couple of hours and be able to go out and be ourselves.

What was interesting was I got a disguise by accident and used it with enough success, I could afford to go out and be by myself to purchase Christmas for everyone. The bad thing was Chad couldn't disguise himself with the success I could. I could throw on a wig and a pair of dark rimmed glasses and when I was dressed in a pair of dockers and a polo shirt, no one could tell I was me. Chad, he couldn't hide his good looks no matter how he attempted it...someone would always recognize him.

For Christmas, we split it with two days at my parents and two at his mom's. Then, we had to be back with the group in L.A., for a Hollywood bowl performance and the parade in Pasadena.

What was neat was for Christmas, RJ surprised everyone with a post tax check for five million and the keys to an exclusive subdivision where each of us guys had a house. Chad smiled at me and said, "Let your parents live in my house and I'll live with you."

I told him, "No, I'll live with you and let my parent's have mine."

It wasn't until we got to tour the houses I found we'd each been given a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe in the garage. I'm not much into autos and or houses, but that car was beautiful. I wasn't sharing it with anyone because it was in Chad and I's colors....white with gold trim. They'd even made the convertible roof look like gold leaf, so it was a custom job.

As we toured the houses, Chad smiled and said, "Well, I guess you're going to have to get domestic now, aren't you?"

"No, mom and dad are going to be living next door and I imagine mom will want to be over here taking care of me."

I wasn't wrong. As soon as we presented my parents with the house, mom saw where we lived and demanded a key so she could be sure we had home cooked meals and the house was constantly presentable.

The good thing about the houses were they each had recording studios built in and at the end of the cul-de-sac, there was a large building to house the bus and to practice choreographed routines.

One thing through all this time, the group was really clicking together. We got along great and we really strove to be uplifting for each other.

Jill became like a mother to us out on the road. Matt, her boyfriend proposed for Christmas and he'd told the group his plans in late November. For Christmas, the group gave them a week long vacation in the Napa wine country. Along the way, we'd discovered that was a dream of Jill's and we made it possible.

After New Year's day, Jill left for her vacation and RJ said the group could take a week long vacation as he was going to head for the hills without a cell phone and/or any forwarding details where he could be found.

What was funny was we found him by accident as Chad and I hadn't really gotten a chance to know before hand it was happening, so we quickly looked for someplace warm and Cape Town, South Africa offered some really beautiful resorts and nice weather. We booked and used the Cardinal to fly us over.

When we got there, the man who drove our taxi...a really junky car who had wholes big enough in the floorboards to be active in a Flintstones movie...in broken English said, "So, you are with that boy band too!"

Chad and I looked at each other and instantly knew someone else from the group had the same idea. We tried to pick which one it was from the man, but all he would say was, "Tip Good...He tip Good!" We smiled as we figured if we tipped good, we could get the news who it was. What we didn't know was RJ had tipped the guy really good to not tell anyone who he was." It didn't matter, as soon as we checked in and got into our swimming suits and went to the pool, I saw Roger, RJ"s lover and knew who it was. I motioned to Chad and about the time we saw RJ in the pool, he saw us and dove under.

"Roger, if he doesn't come up in a minute, I'm going to have to dive in and save my career!"

Roger turned and saw us and motioned us over...discretion wasn't one of his strong points to a real friend. Together, we stood there with arms crossed until RJ finally surfaced and gave us a nervous glance. As soon as he saw us with Roger, he knew he was found.

We set out our stuff and lay out next to Roger. I told Roger, "If it makes RJ uncomfortable, we'll go to a different area and we won't bother you guys. This is supposed to be a vacation from the group and I don't want to disrupt yours."

He waved the comment off with, "Oh, forget that! You guys are friends and if he wants you gone, I'll set him straight real fast!"

RJ came over and I could tell by a glance of his face he wasn't thrilled. I stood up and said, "Chad, we're about to move. RJ isn't thrilled with us being here and I'd rather not upset him."

When I said it, it was my intention. That was until Roger turned to RJ and said, "Babe, these boys are here for a vacation too. It's a vacation from the band, but if you're on a vacation to get away from friends, then I won't have it."

RJ said, "Guys, the deal is we don't discuss one word of the group except in this conversation. I don't want to hear you sing, I don't want to hear a song. I just want a vacation."

"Deal" we both said in unison.

During that vacation, we got to go out on the tundra and see some really beautiful wildlife. We saw gazelles, elephants, and giraffes in their natural wild habitat. By the end of the different expeditions we had taken, RJ, Roger and us were super close friends. That was when Roger told us RJ had invited us to attend the next vacation with them in late February up in Yellowstone. Chad and I readily accepted.

When we got back home, we did a few concerts in stadiums and then Jill snuck in a few performances in smaller venues on Wednesday nights. What was neat about it was one was in St. Louis, Missouri at the Fabulous Fox theater. If you'd asked me before we went if I was thrilled, I would have told you I'd preferred the big stadium performances due to the choreography involved. Well, that thought ended at the Fox. The place is awesome beautiful and the acoustics there were perfect. They were such that Jill called RJ and told him we needed to rebook the theater again to get a live recording there. The group readily agreed.

One thing I'd forgotten to tell you was we'd released Albums two and three for late November releases. What was interesting was we didn't promote them. We let them sit there and sell while everyone else was out hawking theirs. What we'd chosen to do was place huge poster banners across any music store that would take the twenty five dollar donation to place them and hope the customer seeing the banner would change their mind when entering the store. Apparently the tact worked, because Christmas sales without publicity had us nearly at five million units without a publicity tour.

We already had the fourth album's material recorded and printed. It was a collaborative effort, but wasn't Risqu'e. We released album four when we began the publicity tour for albums two and three. The enterprise was we would go out and push the records and then perform the material from the new cd and would casually mention it being in stores now. The sales of four went through the roof at over seven million units two weeks out of release. That's when we really began to start promoting ourselves and pushing for a summer concert tour in which we would be performing four different shows a week.

We had no idea how popular we were. Our faces were all over magazines and we were always being interviewed, but when we're pretty isolated from the world and working all the time, it's hard to relate to how huge we were. That was until we started promoting the tours and they were selling out multiple billings in shows as fast as Jill could schedule them. Our clue was when Jill came in and said, "Guys, we have to ask you a question and you can say no, but I'm begging you to say yes. We've got to start scheduling Thursday nights and we'll do this as long as we're in the same city performing Wednesdays through Saturday. I won't ask it if you don't have a sell out in those towns."

"Until she said the word sell out, we had no clue. Red was the one that caught it first and said, "So, you're saying these cities are selling out Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and a Saturday matinée too?"

Her one word answer of "Yes" quickly had us looking at each other.

Wend said, "How many are you putting in these venues, can you make the seating chart so it will be more?"

She looked exasperated and said, "Guys, some of these places hold sixty five thousand and that's for a ball game. We're booking for shows of forty and getting sold out. In Chicago, you'll be working for two weeks and they're all sold out. The same for L.A, Boston, New York, Houston, Denver, Phoenix, and for Nashville of all places."

That's when bedlam broke out in the room. Chad calmed the guys and said, "Jill, schedule Thursdays and then if you need, schedule Sundays and a Sunday matinée, but don't ask us for Mondays or Tuesdays, we're going to be recording another album."

She smiled and said, "Guys, Risque's material is being released in May. We're going to push a live album in August and then in September, we're going to put together a compilation. Your individual albums and materials are getting a bit dated, so what I'd do is concentrate on those and then think about what you want to release for next Christmas. You've got whatever you want and your fingertips because we're talking about you and you're damned big stars. Matt just released some posters of you guys from publicity shots without your shirts and several of you guys sold out in three days. The other ones sold out in five. The money is flowing in so fast, Stuart over there is making daily deposits into your accounts and you're really needing to get an investment advisor in here so you can earn more."

Chad asked, "How much of a cut do we get if we invest in other star's careers?"

"You get producer cuts. That means you get a dollar for the first three albums like someone did for you when you first started."

"O.k., then RJ was our producer, so he's the one that made the dollar."

"Yeah, off the record, he was, but he's also the one that came in and managed you guys and took the cut in his percent. He believed in you guys and he really put more money into you than you realize."

"We're not complaining. Heck, we realize it took money, but what we're asking is if we can do the same for new and upcoming acts and put them on the tour with us as a lead in performer. That way, we're getting a cut off who we're promoting to tour with us and they're benefiting from who we think is an awesome performer."

She looked up shortly and said, "I'll get RJ in to discuss this with you. Now, I've got another item we need to discuss while I'm in here."

"O.k., what is it?" Chad asked.

"The i Pod people want you to promote a larger i Pod and a new phone they're going to put out."

Chad said, "So, do they want a commercial, or they want another with us on it?"

"Both"

Chad looked at us and said, "Guys, we got two million for the last commercial. We weren't a known group then and they took the gamble. This time, they're coming to us after we sold twenty million of their other ones. They gave us a cut of a dollar per person on the last one. My suggestion is if our name and faces sells things, then we set a price cap on it and ask we make five dollars each on the next ones. That's thirty dollars on something they're making for in a factory for four dollars and making a hundred and fifty dollars at the cash register on. Now, you figure they're selling them to the store for a hundred, then they're making sixty plus dollars on the things."

The math didn't take long for me to figure, I agreed because I figured if we sold five million of the things, then we got twenty five million. If we promoted and got twenty million of the things out the door it'd be a hundred million. That's when I asked about the phone.

"It's something revolutionary and is a cross between the larger i Pod and a cell phone."

"Tell them to send us one and we'll see. Some of those things are crap. I bought one for six hundred and it fell apart in my pocket. I took it back to the store and they told me it had to be refunded through the company. I don't know if I ever got my money back because we got this job."

"I'll tell them you guys want a free trial version."

I then went out on a limb and said, "Tell them we're going to want one that isn't black and we'll want one that is pink neon for the girls and colors that match the i pods. And, we'll push it like we did the i Pods, so we'll need a bunch of free ones to pass out on interview shows."

"You guys are invited to several award shows. The Golden Globes want you, and the Academy Awards want you. Then, there's the MTV awards, and several others."

I sat up and said, "I'm in, and if some of you don't want to go, then that's fine. I know Chad can't stand going to those things. So, If some of you don't like going, then I'll go with you so the group is still represented. I mean, it's not like we're getting an award at movie awards. They just want us there for window dressing."

Jill agreed and said, "Guys, I normally don't ask you to go to these things, but I'll tell you now, this year is going to be really busy for you. It's like a wave, you paddle out there and you happened to catch a huge wave. Your riding the crest of it, or you will be this summer. It will probably last for a year and then by a year from now, we'll be having you guys touring Europe and Asia. Hopefully, we can get that drug out and then we'll be having a talk about when we're ending things. If you're lucky, then we'll have another year after that, but even the longest ride for a boy band has been seven years. My suggestion is for you to think about looking into other opportunities. If you're interested in television or movies, then we'll start now getting you bit parts and working towards that in three years for you. If you're interested in solo careers or furthering your duet careers, then we'll look at those. I'm not telling you it's over, but what I'm saying is if you're going to be another Madonna, then you've got to think about it now, so the switch in personnas is gradual and we can get you promoted."

Chad looked at me and said, "We've got to work on getting material together for at least two more albums of our duet material. We've been snoozing on this shit."

"Yeah, I didn't think it would go so fast, but we should have been doing like we're doing with the group and putting new material out there each time the group put out another cd."

He smiled and said, "The advantage we have is we're good together and we work good off each other."

"Yeah, but how much are we making on the cd we did? I'm getting a clue now the others are doing really well."

"Well, talk with the accountant and he can give us some figures. He might even be able to tell us what songs are downloading so we can get a pulse on things."

"O.k., we've really messed up on this, let's not let it happen again. We've got after hours and Mondays and Tuesdays to work on things, so we can have a bunch of songs written in time for a release for the May and the August releases."

He smiled and said, "At least we're seeing the light now and we'll be surfing with two surf boards at the same time."

He turned to the guys and said, "If you didn't just hear what Jordy and I were saying, My suggestion is you get to working on new material for your new releases as duets. We'll start scheduling a group meeting once a week to work on the group material. O.k.?"

Everyone agreed and then we turned to Jill, "Can we have a meeting with the accountant so we can get numbers? None of us knows really what we're making and we don't know what the numbers are with the sales of our duet records."

"O.k., we'll get that meeting scheduled for tonight...after hours."

"O.k., you all pay for the pizza. We're still pushing two and three."

"You guys don't forget a thing, do you!"

"No, as long as we can write something off, we're pushing that."

She said, "Guys, I need to speak with you about something else." The way she looked, I wondered what she had to say. She began slowly and said, "As you know, Matt proposed. I accepted. And I'm wanting to have the wedding in June."

"O.k., you want us there we hope!"

"Yes, and if you would, I'd like for you to perform love songs, not my cherry popped!"

"O.k., but why the down face."

"Well, we're wanting to have children and if things go as we hoped, we'll be expecting in February or March of next year."

"So, you're saying you want a baby, where does that bring us in. Matt can do that job!"

"Yeah, but if I have a baby, I'm going to want time off."

As soon as she said it, I knew we were losing her as our manager.

"So, you're saying you're wanting to stop being our manager?"

"I'm wanting to take some time off. So, I realize I'll probably work again, but for me with you guys, it probably won't be because you'll have someone else in here and that person will have the reins and won't let them go."

"So, is Matt going to take time off?"

"I don't think so! He hasn't said that, so I doubt it."

"Then, let Matt inside your head and then he can do both jobs and when it's time, you can come back in and he can share the job with you."

"That's a great idea! I'll ask him."

The meeting broke up and Chad and I went to our suite.

Chad said, "Jord, I need to ask you something."

"O.k, why are you asking, because you know you don't have to have permission."

"I'd prefer it if you didn't go to the award shows without me."

"Why not?"

"Well, the way I see it is we're a couple and we need to present a solid front."

"O.k., then you expect me to not go just because you don't like them?"

"No, I'll go, but I just hate them."

"O.k., so that's decided. All you had to do was discuss it with me."

"Well, I was worried you'd get the wrong idea."

"No, I'm patient. I'll listen as long as you don't hand it down as an ultimatum and we can discuss the reasoning behind it."

"O.k., another thing I'm going to discuss with you is about the life after the career. I'd really like to act."

"O.k., by then, maybe I will too. I doubt it, but if not, then I'll go out as a solo artist."

"It's that easy for you to say you'd rather spend time separately?"

"Let's see...being with you doesn't mean you get ownership rights, and being with you means I don't have the right to call the shots with you, so you trying to slip in a double standard here?"

"No!"

"So, you want a career and you want to go to Hollywood. So, I'm to go out and polish my nails while you establish your career?"

"Well, I thought we'd be together!"

"So, let me get this right. I'm to not go do what I want, but you're allowed to. If that's what you're saying, then get over it and think about it for the next year so when the time comes, I don't make you really disappointed by going after what I want."

"You can make us split up just like that?"

"What aren't you hearing here? I'm not saying we'll break up. What I'm saying is I'm not going to sit around and wait on you for all that time and rest on my retirement funds at an age of nineteen. That's bullshit and you know it. I'll go out and I'll sing solo. I love singing and by then, I'll be established enough it won't be a tour like it is now. I'll have the Cardinal and I can fly in and out. So, the money will roll in and some of the promotion fees can pay for the jet rather than a hotel and all the good while I'm in the city."

"What happens if it's like it's going to be with us and you sell out in cities."

"Then, I'll be in those cities. You'll know where I'll be and the Cardinal will still fly. You can fly to me when you've got a spare moment, but you need to realize you'll be out on location for like six months at a time. So, think about what you're asking me to consider."

"O.k., I just don't want us to split up."

"We're not unless you ask to have an affair with someone else. Then, buddy, I'll dump you and won't look back. I've got enough money to definitely keep you away from me if I want."

"It sounds like you've thought about this."

"Chad, look at me and understand one thing. I never think things through really strong unless that's what I've decided. If I ever find out you've went elsewhere, then you're history. That much is a "Thou Shalt Not" with me...I'll tell you that now. As soon as I ever find out, then we're history. I'll move out and get my phone number changed. You've got but one time to break my heart and when that happens, then I'll recover, but it won't be with you."

"O.k., so you don't do it either."

"Oh, so you'd like to imply I'd ever be a hypocrite?"

"No, I'm saying what is good for the gay gander is good for the gay gander...o.k!"

"Oh, that sounds like a song."

"No, that sounds like a train wreck."

"Chad, what about us redoing some other people's songs and putting some of those in with the new albums."

"O.k., what are you wanting to do?"

"I don't know, but there are a list of favorites that I have which when we go through a hotel or when I hear them on the radio, then I find myself singing along and liking the songs. Now, we can put them in and redo them so, I'd like to do it before we're 'has beens'."

"If we play it right, that won't be for a long time. We're good looking enough, we could be the classic older stars like Wayne Newton, Sinatra, or Air Supply."

"What matters to me is this... and you can make a pact with me on this, or not...but, what matters to me is we don't begin drinking or doing drugs. We don't smoke and we always look our best when we're out in public. I've seen some of the older stars with cigarette's in their hands and they're dead now. I've heard stories of Sinatra and his pals all being totally drunk and making really huge asses out of themselves. Then, there's the cases of the stars that got so off into drugs that they overdosed or ended up in rehab after rehab. Their money's all gone and all they have to show for it is bad memories."

"You don't have to worry about that."

"Just tell me if anyone ever offers you anything because even if you don't, I'll call security and get them out of there. The people working for us are going to be the ones who are on our payroll soon and when that happens, I'll fire them to get them away from us. They can become someone else's nightmare."

He nodded.

"O.k., we're on agreement on that because its' going to be tough when you're in Hollywood and alone on location."

"No, the phone is always going to be my connection to you, or the Cardinal will fly."

"O.k., we're in agreement with that. So, our pact is made?"

"Yes, if that's what you want."

He came over and walked into my arms. "Mm mm, I love you so much!"

"I love you too babe."

We went over to the keyboard and he said, "I've been thinking about a song that sounds like this..." He began to play and as soon as he hit the rhythm, I knew he was looking at another railroad gang song.

He said, "Here's the story and then you can think of the words. The work is hard, their backs are breaking and they're not making enough. The sun's hot and they're sweating. They're not getting enough to eat and they're facing discrimination by the man."

"O.k., and the story?"

"That's it."

"Then, let's just put the thoughts into order that you just spoke. With this style of song, the lines have to be short and the rhyme is where we pull it together. Do you remember that Billy Squire song, "Coal Mine"? The song wasn't much except the rhythm and it worked. If you did it in this style (which it's not much different anyway) and you throw in a few grunts and some clangs, you've got a gang. All you have to do is put in some foot stamps and it's working the rails. Now, I'm going to throw another song at you that's in that style. It's "Promises Promises" by Naked Eyes. The underbeat of it is a gang working and then it's got light rock on top which is pretty cool."

He went over to the computer and went to YouTube and quickly found it. He began to play it and said, "You've got a heckuva memory for music. That's almost exactly what I was thinking about."

"So, you want to work on that song, or do you want to write our own?"

"Let's work on this one and see what we can do to change the under rock into something funkier. I think we can make it a bit faster and yet, keep the gang under the whole thing."

"O.k., here's another one from the eighty's that's called "Tainted Love". If you hear, it's faster, but underneath is the gang beat. The gang beat is faster and to me, that says they're working in the morning because someone that's been doing that for several hours is a lot slower. Either that, or they're replacing the guys in that gang fast and everyone's getting a good break."

"You seem to know the gang."

"No, it's pretty much common sense. If you and I went out and we began running in the morning, we would be fast. By two hours down the road, we'd be slower and by one pm., we'll be doing what we can to lift our feet. That's why they did the beat. It invigorated everyone and it kept everyone working as hard as everyone else. The beat kept the guy next to you in rhythm and the only way he could not do it was to fall out because that's how they worked them."

"O.k., so is their a library of old railroad gang songs?"

"I don't know, check the Internet. I'd say there are probably some, but it's about a dead art because the people nowadays do it all with machines. It's amazing how easily a machine does things today that it once took twenty men to do."

"Yeah, but in some cases, the old way is better. Silk doesn't get made the new way now because it sucks."

"No, but look at what rayon does now. Our jerseys are rayon and it's doing what silk used to do."

"Cool, I didn't think of that....here's a subject switch, do your nipples get sore wearing the jersey?"

"Yeah a bit, but the next time you're in the dressing room and you put on the moisturizer, then put some on your nipples. If they get to hurting too bad, then ask for some of those little circular bandaids. The audience won't know until you're right up on them and if you're that close to someone, I'll be reaching down to pull you up and calling security at the same time because you'll have fallen off stage!"

We laughed because it'd nearly happened a few times already and although it'd be funny, it'd hurt like hell in some places because the fall would be twelve feet. The problem with highly skilled choreographed performances is that when a mistake happens, someone can go flying and doing what they can to keep from falling. One of the reasons is there's a trick we use called bar wax which shakes from a can like Comet powder. It makes the floor slick and shoes don't catch and dancing is easier on the ankles. The problem is that when it gets built up on shoes, and it hits an area that doesn't have it on them, it will send you skittering. I've been careful and keep a brush handy at my dressing table to brush the bottoms of my shoes before each performance. It's become so ingrained in me that I just do it naturally as a part of getting dressed.

Chad was working on his keyboard and I went to the living room to work on my laptop. The way I stayed on top of a lot of different sources of music was I listened to music a lot. YouTube was a source of my music and another was MetaCafe and Stage6. I went to these sites and browsed the various videos and listened like a hawk does for a mouse. The little nuances a normal person doesn't hear is what I pull out and when I hear a sub melody or a underbeat, I bring it to Chad. He understands what I'm hearing and although we might not use it today, he'll store it away in his memory and we pull it out for another time when we're working on something.

Today, I put in ( Remix) and pulled out a list of what I could find. What surprised me was a song which was by Sting that was older but he remixed himself. The guy singing with him was Arabic and that's what's caught my ear. His voice and the way he through his voice around all over the mix was something I grew more and more excited about. I didn't know when I would use it, but I knew I'd use it and when I did, it'd make all the difference in the song we were doing.

The next one I listened to was a new one I'd found by Bananarama. It was one "Look on the Floor" (Angel City Remix). As soon as I heard it, I was watching and then, the beat hit and it hit me so hard I nearly dropped my laptop. Chills went through me and I let out a yell, "Chad!"

The interesting thing about it is he's heard it often enough he doesn't come running anymore, he calmly says, "Yes dear, you bellowed!"

"Yeah, you've got to see this one. We've got to do it!"

Now, me saying that had him into the room. It wasn't often I'd say something like that, and he know it.

What was funny was I set him up just like I'd been at the same volume and everything so when it hit him, it'd hit him at the same everything. Then, I pressed play.

He listened and when the beat hit him, the reaction was the same, the startled expression and the chills were evident. Then, the smile hit. He started nodding with the beat and his voice hit the background and about five seconds later, he pulled the headphone and said, "We've really got to get a bigger stereo system. That song is a 'must do'. What would be so cool is if we could do it with them. They'd be on one side of the stage and we'd be on the other side and they'd do it the female way all soft and then you'd start letting lose with your growls and vocal gymnastics and the guys would be matching their softness with some deep do doos and made it a complete collaboration Let's get the guys and see what we can do when we hook it up to a large system and we add our version. What's wild is I don't hear your voice up front, but Bandy's. His voice is more in the tone that would be excellent."

He gave a worried expression which I think he thought him saying that was being disloyal to me, but as soon as he said it, I could hear Bandy's voice perfectly.

"It'd be perfect if we could get Bandy to do the vocal gymnastics, but the way he is with his voice, you'd think he's studying for opera or something."

"Let me work on him with Niles and I bet he'll give it a whirl when he finds out it's going to be his song. If he doesn't want to do it, then I think your abilities will work."

"No, if he won't do it, then we won't do it. I can hear his voice in the front part now and it's stuck in my head. It's not often you tell me someone else is better suited and when I hear it myself, then I know I can't do it better. So, why do it if I know I'm not giving the song the best we have?"

"That's the way I feel"

I said, "Babe, I'm going to show you another video of theirs and as soon as I do, I'm going to see if you see it too."

I showed him "Move in my Direction" by Bananarama and as soon as he started it, he was listening and said, the beat's all fucked up. It's like they're on the merry-go-round from hell. Is that what you're wanting me to hear?"

"No, watch the guy?"

"You're showing me a guy cause you've got the hots for him?"

"No dip shit, take a look and then look in the mirror. The guy is you in about ten years."

"Oh.... No, he's a babe and I'm not."

"You're built better and better looking, but your face will have that same character when you're his age. That's what I'm showing you. You're going to age damned good and you'll hold those looks all the way into your sixties. By then, your face will be fuller and you'll have a suave charisma to you rather than the raw sexuality you have now."

"O.k, let's get back to the other song, that's a great song. Look at the difference in that chick all grown up versus when she was young. She's hot now and not back then. What a difference twenty years makes."

"Yeah, she's got the Farrah look going for her. She's make some pretty steamy videos for us if she'd do it. She's gorgeous."

We continued to talk about the song and then Chad said, "Let's call Bandy and Red over and see if they'll work on that song with us. I can hear your voice growling in that part where they're shoving it through the mixer, but his voice out front is going to be awesome. Do you think we could get his voice to do that like you can?"

"Yeah, all he has to do is lay his hand on my throat when I do it and he'll be able to do it. One thing you'll learn with me Chad is my throat, I exercise by doing all those sounds. I learned it by accident. I had the flu once and my voice was so bad, it was like Froggie's voice off of 'Our Gang'. As it healed, my desire to sing was so much, all I could sing was low low in the throat like Tom Jones. That was when "She's a Lady, the Miss Congeniality remix was out, so I sang it until I could get his voice perfectly. He sings low...like down here in his sternum. That's why when he goes high, it's still low like about here on your throat.

The next one I could do was the lowest sister of the Pointer Sister. And as I sang, I learned how to move my throat to make their sounds. The hardest voice is Britney Spears. She sings from both her nose and her lower throat. It's like everything else she shuts off. It's damned hard because it's a kittenish voice out of her nose."

"Well, a lot of people find her hot, but I don't." he said with finality.

"No, she used to be cute, but that sister's got severe problems and I think it's because she's shut everyone out that was her support structure. There's no one there who will dare tell her no now."

"Well, just remember that because Elvis got the same way, and so did Michael Jackson. Both of them self destructed and so is she."

"Well, I think it's a part of our isolation. We pull in people who will make us forget the isolation and who are those people? They're the ones out at that time of night, or it's the ones that are around us. If they're not around us, then it's the one's out at that time of night and those are the ones taking stimulants to stay up. So, she's done it and rather than having control over it, it's got control over her...just like Whitney."

"You know what is interesting?" he asked.

"What dear?"

"We find acceptance through our music and we share it with others. They were given all the keys to the kingdom so to speak and each one of them had a problem when they had to face reality. Do you think we'll have that problem?"

"No, and I'll tell you why. The difference with us versus them is our key manager is a former star. He knows how to gain success and he's showed us how it's achieved. It's not hard if you stay focused. All you have to do is keep your eye on the prize. Now, the main difference is he's been through it. He's done all the bad boy gangster shit and he's managed to save himself from it."

"Well, why don't you call Bandy over and I'll go to the children's hospital. I'd like to see who I can help. I might be awhile because I feel like reading a story to someone."

While I was talking, Chad was doing searches on YouTube, he did something and then all of a sudden, he let out a yell. For Chad to do this, it had to be earth shattering. He said, "OH MY GOD! GET THE GUYS! GET THE GUYS! GET THE GUYS! THEY'VE GOT TO SEE THIS STAGE!!! I ran over and he had a video on by Sabrina titled "Boys" and the stage behind her was awesome. By this time, he was grabbing the phone and hitting numbers. "Bandy! Get over here, you've got to see this, call Niles and I'll get Jill, get them over here NOW!"

He got off the phone with Jill and said, "Jill, stop the presses, you've got to see this. Yeah, come over now!"

He got off the phone and said, "I don't care how much it costs, we've got to have it. That stage totally kicks ass! His excitement compounded by what I was seeing was totally blowing me away. I was seeing us on that stage and I was seeing a whole new dimension of show with us on that stage. I could see fog machines and I could see us doing gymnastics and us turning down the lights and getting it all dreamy looking for our solos, but, the amount of money I saw on that stage was overwhelming. It had to be a twenty million dollar stage.

Jill came in and said, "This better be good. I only came running because it was you Chad. I expect this from him, but not you. Her hair was wet and she was wearing a bathrobe. She clearly didn't look happy."

"Jill, take a look at the video and before you say we can't have it, I'll tell you now, I don't care what it costs, we're going to have it."

She took a look at the video and said, "Oh man, where's this at! Let me get RJ on the phone! You guys are going to have that by May, if I have to kill people to get it."

She was hitting numbers on the phone and said, "Fucking phones, can't dial out on the damned things."

I handed her my cell phone already dialing on speed dial. As soon as she got through, she said, "Yeah, it's me. Yes, I realize I'm on Jordy's phone, get to your computer man. We've got work to do!"

She waited for a second and said, "You there! Well, don't walk, RUN! Jesus!!! ....Are you there yet! Well hurry!"

She looked at it and said, "Get me what you punched into that thing to get that up there."

Chad said, "Tell him YouTube, and then do a search for 80's disco avtoradio's Sabrina Boys, then he'll pull it up. It's the top one."

She looked at us, "He's typing it in. He's cussing us, but he'll be happy in a second....he says he didn't pull anything up."

Chad was urgent, and said, "Tell him to remember the apostrophe s on the avtoradio because he won't pull anything up if he doesn't."

She held up her hand and said, "He's watching it. Oh man, he's yelling. Yes, RJ, I want it. The boys want it. Yes, you want it too, well whatever you do then find it because they want it by May. No, we're not caring how much it costs because that stage will have these guys working for the next five years....Yes, it will cost a lot. No, I don't think they'll mind the promotion by Sony to get it. Just get it!"

She got off the phone and said, "Guys, thanks for finding that. I'm going to go get in the shower and finish rinsing my body. I thought one of you was dying over here."

"Is he going to get it for us?"

"He said he'll get it even if we have to suck Sony's corporate dick to get all those jumbotrons...is how he put it. He loves it too."

Chad said, "Tell him when he comes off the ceiling, I want to make some changes to the stage because there are a few high tech add-on's I think it will need."

She smiled and said, "Chad, I'm sure when he comes off that ceiling, he's going to be apologizing to Roger. I think they were doing the wild thing when I called!"

She laughed and headed out the door.

Just about the time she was leaving, the guys came running in. She turned to them and said, "Guys, you've already missed the excitement. You snooze you lose." She laughed again and left.

"What did we miss?" said Wend.

Chad pointed at my laptop and said, "Just press play"

The guys went over and when they were grouped around it, Wend hit the pad and it started playing. As soon as it became clear, they were all jumping around the room."

The looks on their faces were priceless and yet, the screams and giggles were sinking in. Bandy said, "Tell us you got it for us and that's what she was telling us....please....please....please!!!"

"She called RJ and interrupted Roger and him humping and made him run to a computer so he could see the video. He was pissed at her until he saw that video. As soon as he gets Roger back in a good mood, I think we've got it or a copy of it."

That's when the screaming really began. They were jumping and dancing around the room and then, I said, "Guys, here's the bad news."

They calmed down and I said, "Jill said the bad news is we'll probably work five years if we have a stage like that because of the crowds it will pull in."

They started dancing around the room again and Bandy said, "Guys, hook that up to the tv and let us see it larger."

"How do you do that?"

"You mean you don't have a cable?"

"What cable?"

He ran from the room and in about thirty seconds, he came running into the room with a cable that hooked from the back of the laptop to the back of the television. He turned on the plasma and made it into an external monitor for the laptop.

"Cool"

He hit play again and suddenly it was a lot larger.

Chad went over to the plasma and said, "the neon around the stage isn't going to work. We'll need chaser lights. Those circular thingys should be stars and they should have l.e.d. flash pop lights in them. They can be ones that change colors and do strobe effects that way.

We did another search for anything with that stage on it and we found some others. When we found one, we watched it and there was an excellent shot of the stage from the air. He froze the scene and all the guys were up close to the screen.

Chad said, "Someone get a piece of paper, I need to list what we need to change it. This is going to rock!"

As they looked at the shots of it, they began to make changes to the design and shape of it and then started making a list of what they wanted. They wanted air jumps and they wanted fog, that's for certain. They then started looking at it and saying what they didn't want and by the time they were done, they'd made a whole different stage but with the same effects.

Chad slowed down and said "Guys, you realize what this stage is and you realize what I'm just now seeing?"

They said, "What!"

"If we had this stage, it'd take at least twenty semis to haul and that's on a good day. Then, it'd take a week to set up if we had trained crews to do it. So, we're going to need at least three of them. I'll tell you now, RJ's generous, but he's not going to go for that. So, what we're looking at is a permanent set up and that means the only way we could do that is if we have a variety show. That means we'd be stuck in one spot and money from a summer concert wouldn't happen. That's a 'wait to the end of our career' stage and either get it when we go to Las Vegas, or we get it on some sound stage in Hollywood. This sucks guys."

I said, "Guys, take another look at it and then tear it down into basic parts. What do you like? and what don't you like? Then think about what you can deal with having and what we can do without. Let's not look at it as something we can't have. Let's look at it as something we can have if we scale it back."

Chad looked at me and at first he had a total dejected look. As I spoke, the hope returned to his eyes and as fast as he could, he was sitting down with the guys all around the table and laying out pieces of paper.

The last thing I heard him say to the guys before I left to go to the hospital was "Guys, we've got work to do. Bandy, we've got another video for you to watch and I want you to practice it until you can't practice anymore and then, Jordy's going to work on it with you."

Notes From Retta:

As you can see, this chapter is forever long, but we've covered a lot of territory. What's exciting, this chapter does is it acts as a spring board for the upcoming tour. If you've thought we've had fun now, just wait, we're nearly half way there! Yes, twelve chapters for the twelve days of Christmas. What else would I give you as your Christmas gift!

Well, it's off to another fun filled chapter for me as I'm typing my little hands off. Three chapters today and it's a marathon of Jordy! Editing editing, editing....what fun.

If you want a job editing, give me a yell. In order to qualify, you have to edit fast because I type fast. That means at least a chapter a day. The advantage is I'm using spell check to try to keep the mistakes at a minimum, but the grammar in it sucks, so you'll have to know how to make a paragraph that's one long sentence into something that it's not. What fun, but that's the way this one's brain works.

From My Keyboard To Your Heart,

Retta

RettaMichaels@Gmail.com

Copyright Notice - Copyright © December 2007 by RettaMichaels

The author, RettaMichaels copyrights this story and retain all rights. This work may not be changed or duplicated in any form, media, ( known or unknown) without the author's expressed permission. All applicable copyright laws apply.

Disclaimer: All individuals depicted are fictional, and any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental

-- From My Keyboard To Your Heart Rhett

Here is a list of stories I've written and where to find them:

With Love - Nifty - Beginnings Section Rural Love - Author Heading - DeweyWriter.com Write Me A Love Story - Author Heading - DeweyWriter.com To Love Him - Author Heading - DeweyWriter.com Military Zone - Nifty - Military Section Evan - Nifty - Beginnings Section Jordan - DeweyWriter.com If I Could Give It All Back - DeweyWriter.com