Chapter 9: Don't You Love It When A Plan Comes Together?

I wasn't rich by any means, but I certainly had enough money set aside for a nice engagement ring. When Gina finally was able to discuss the situation with me, we decided to look for a ring on the weekend. We couldn't decide on a date for the wedding, but that didn't seem to be important to either of us. It would be a simple civil ceremony, we decided, with my grandparents, Gina's father, and of course, the band members. Gina was more interested in when and how she would tell everyone. I suggested that when she had her ring, there would be no avoiding the subject.

I phoned my grandparents and told them that I was engaged and we would see them on Sunday to show them the ring.

"Ed," my grandmother said quietly, "you know I have your mother's rings. I wonder if you would like to pass that ring on to Gina. Despite how she died, she did love you and I think she would want you to have her ring."

"Grandma, I didn't even think of that. Do you think Gina would be alright with that ring? I mean, it has sentimental value to you and me, but maybe not to her."

"Why don't you ask her, Ed? It's a simple enough question. It's a very lovely ring and she won't be embarrassed by it."

"I'll do that," I said happily, "And thank you. I hope she accepts it."

She did. She was very appreciative that it would stay in our family. She understood the meaning of the gift from my grandparents and she promised that she would thank them on Sunday when we saw them.

Now, we were off to her father's place of business to let him know we were engaged. I was wondering just how he would feel about his daughter marrying a musician.

"Congratulations, Gina," Arden smiled and then hugged his daughter. He extended his hand to me and again, with a big smile, we shook.

"I think she's made a very good choice, Ed. Welcome to our family. Have you decided on a date?"

"Not yet, Daddy. It will be a civil ceremony and you and Eleanor will be invited, along with Ed's grandparents, Fran and Olivia, and the band members. This all just happened in the past day and my head is still spinning with excitement. Fran knows. I won't have to surprise her."

"Okay ... but I don't think it's going to be a big surprise to anyone. I think almost everyone could see how you two felt about each other. Your sister told me she expected you to marry Ed someday."

"Yeah, well I guess we didn't really try to hide how we felt," Gina admitted, looking at me with a loving smile. She had chosen not to reveal why she had stayed with Fran and Olivia for a few days.

We went to my grandparents' home and were greeted with great affection. Grandma handed her the ring and we could tell in a moment that Gina was very appreciative of it. Grandma beamed happiness and a broad smile, embracing Gina with a loving hug. I received a warm handshake from Grampa along with his congratulations.

"I'm so happy for you, Ed," Grandma said, smiling through her tears. "You've made a fine choice, and I know you two will be very happy together, just like your Grampa and me."

"That's all we could hope for," I said, with Gina smiling agreement.

We spent some time with my grandparents and assured them they would be included in the wedding and reception. They wanted to meet Gina's father, Fran, and the rest of the band. I assured them that they would never be left out of the festivities.

That evening, we called Fran and told her we were coming over. I had met Olivia a couple of times and she was very friendly toward me. She was everlastingly grateful for my saving Fran back in January and promised never to forget my good deed. When we arrived at her apartment, Gina simply dangled her left hand in front of the two women and the explosion of joy went from there.

"I knew this was going to happen all along, Ed," Fran told me when everyone calmed down. "I could feel it in my bones. You two are so right for each other. My little sister has captured the man of her dreams and he just happens to be my hero as well."

"I'm still in shock that she said yes," I admitted.

"There was never a doubt," Fran assured me. "She loves you, Ed. I know my sister, and you can rest assured that she loves you with all her heart. I know that she had a secret to reveal, but it wasn't my place to reveal it. I hope you aren't angry with me for not telling you."

"No, I understand now. I didn't at the time, but now I do. I'm just happy that it's out in the open and not a secret between us any more. I'm just counting my lucky stars and thanking the gods at how happy I am."

We left the apartment and headed back to our place. The elation was still with us and we would celebrate once more in our bed. My worries of the past week were gone completely. It was as if our separation had never happened.

A few days before the big ten day Spokane County Fair began, Doreen brought some boxes into the rehearsal area. I was curious and walked over to have a look. The markings were in English, but the shipper was from China.

"What's this, Doreen?" I asked.

"It's our first marketing effort," she answered, opening a box. Inside were dozens of t-shirts, all emblazoned with our logo and this time, with the slogan "Spokane's Own" in stylized script on the front above the logo. The logo and type on the red and black shirts were three color, while only two color on the white shirt.

"There's three colors and four sizes," Doreen said. "White, Red, and Black, in small, medium, large, and extra large. They cost a little less than ten dollars landed and we should sell them for just under twenty dollars. That seems to be the going price for band t-shirts I'm told."

"Hell, did you pay for these yourself?" I asked her.

"Yes, but if we sell them all, we'll have some rainy day money for the band. I bought five hundred, but not even numbers in colors and sizes. I called a friend who worked at Walmart and she told me what their normal size and color mix for t-shirts was. So there are more black than white, and more white than red. Lots of large and extra large with less medium and less again small. We should be fine with that mix, and we can adjust if they sell well and we want to order more."

"Wow. How much do we owe you?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's a gamble, and Stan and I didn't ask permission. We just thought it was a good idea when a bunch of people asked us if they could buy the t-shirts we were wearing. We should know pretty quickly if we're right."

I shook my head. I sure did like working with these folks.

The Spokane County Fair arrived and we prepared for our first evening set. Our thirty minute play list was set and featured some new material we had been working on. The time we set aside for additional preparation and rehearsal was paying off. The crowd, and it was big on opening night, was ready for us. They knew who we were now and expected something special. We gave it to them. From the opening bars, we were on our game and grabbed the audience right from the beginning.

We had a couple of wrinkles up our sleeve as well. We had already discovered that Doreen could sing, and we "miked" her to bring her in on the harmony segments. She was good, but the hair thing when she really got going on the drums caught the crowd's attention. I thought it really added something to our presentation. We now had three female voices to go with four males. Once again, our sound had subtly changed, and it didn't go unnoticed.

Stan was sitting off stage, enjoying every minute of our short performance. It was the first time he'd been able to be in the audience, rather than part of the show. He told me afterward that it shocked him just how good we were. He had no idea that our sound was so well developed. I could tell that it really gave him a lift.

"I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up when you guys got going," he told me.

The thirty minutes went by in a flash and, once again, we were called on for an encore. We were prepared for it this time and launched into one of our new selections, the very dark old Lefty Frizzel song, Long Black Veil. I thought it might be too dark for a finale, but everyone else felt it was going to be okay, so Bud and Al got us going with the intro and I stepped up to the mike and began our version of the song. Gina, sang the female part, while Fran, Doreen, Al, and Rollie sang harmony. It sounded great, but how did the audience react.

I shouldn't have worried. They loved it, downbeat lyrics and all. We left the stage, waving to the crowd, and smiling that we'd scored another win.

"I guess we can include that song in our programs fairly often," Bud smiled. "How did it sound to you, Stan?"

"Like we should have recorded it," he said with authority. "The audience was right there with you all the way. I didn't realize it would have that much impact, but I was happy that it did. I don't want us to forget all the old stuff just yet."

We'd listened to three or four different versions of the tune, but the one we liked best and that suited us best was the Dave Matthews – Emmylou Harris version. It was smooth and hit just the right mood for a dark subject. I thought all along we'd chosen the right version and the audience agreed. My doubts had been about the timing.

With our first session out of the way, Gina and I decided to visit the fair on Saturday afternoon and just be like everyone else, wandering around to the various exhibits. We enjoyed ourselves, stopping for a snack and a soft drink while we thought about where to go next. We were over by the bandstand stage when I spotted Doreen.

"Can't get enough of this place either, huh," I chuckled.

"Not yet, Ed. Besides, I've got business to do. Those t-shirts won't sell themselves."

When I looked at where she was looking, I saw a table and a professional looking sign advertising Street Find t-shirts, $19.00. A young man was standing behind the table, talking to customers.

"How are they going?" I asked.

"Like hot cakes, she grinned. I've sold over a hundred in a couple of hours. I've got a couple of conscript volunteers to look after the table when we're on stage," she grinned, looking at the fellow behind the sales table. "I suspect that will be when our peak sales occur."

"So, a hundred already, with just one concert in the bank? That sounds like a re-order might be coming," I grinned.

"I was pretty confident, Ed, but I didn't want to put out too much cash on a hope. But I can get more pretty quickly, I'm told. Maybe not in time for the fair, but I'll have some ready for our next date. We'll take names and addresses for the orders we can't fill."

I picked up a t-shirt, as did Gina. "This is really good quality cotton," Gina said.

"Yes, that's what sold me. Their graphics are excellent as you can see, and the cotton is very good. It's a great price for a souvenir."

"I'm glad it looks like you're going to recoup your investment," I said.

"Yeah. Well, it's all in aid of the Street Find Rainy Day Fund, " she smiled. "You never know when some cash will come in handy in the future. I thought it would be a good idea to get one started."

"It's a hell of a good idea," Gina agreed.

The ten days was a real test of our voices and endurance. Even though we were only on stage for a little over thirty minutes, we were tense and very aware of the audience's reaction to our music. It was as if we were always testing ourselves, always auditioning to see if we measured up. Our success had come so quickly we were doubting that it was real. Now, with a full summer behind us, we had come to the realization that this band had arrived and we could move on from there.

It was the day after the fair closed that I got an excited call from Fran.

"Ed, have you seen the bootleg video of us on YouTube?"

"Huh? What bootleg video? What are you talking about, Fran?"

Gina could only hear my side of the conversation, so I put it on speakerphone. "Someone took a video of our Labor Day concert and uploaded it onto YouTube. It's gone viral, Ed. What do we do now?"

"Damn good question, Fran. I'd better get a hold of Doreen and Stan. They may have some thoughts on this."

Gina took over the phone and I headed for my computer and googled Street Find Labor Day. Seconds later, I was looking at a high definition video of our concert, from the introduction right through to the encore. The sound on my computer was lousy, so I got my ear buds and ran it through again. The sound was incredible. It was almost professional grade, as was the video.

I picked up my cell phone and called Stan. Doreen answered.

"Doreen, I've just watched a bootleg video of our Labor Day concert, from start to finish. This is no cell phone recording, this was done with a Hi-D camera and good sound. It's been posted on YouTube and Fran, who discovered it, says it's gone viral; whatever the hell that means."

"I'll have a look, alert Stan, and call you back," she said, immediately hanging up.

I watched it again, this time with Gina beside me. "Is that how I really look and sound?" I asked, not sure it was really me I was seeing.

"That's you alright, Ed. Boy, this is really good quality. I wonder who shot it."

"Is this guy ... or girl ... making money off this?" I asked.

"I have no idea," she answered. "Maybe Stan or Doreen will know."

"Wow, Ed, we really look and sound good, don't we?"

"Yeah. I can see what Stan was talking about. We look as good as some of those big time bands. I even sound like I know how to sing," I kidded.

I got a smack on the shoulder from Gina. "Cut it out, Ed. We've been over this before."

"Yes, Dear," I said, something that would become very common in the not-too-distant future.

Doreen called me back two hours later.

"Well, we've got copyright on both our band's name and our t-shirt logos. So, we can insist that YouTube take the video down. That's all fine and good, but who knows how many people have copied it already. That's what going viral means. Nothing we can do to stop that. However, talking to our lawyer, he wonders if taking it down wouldn't do more harm than good. The quality is good and the performance was great, so it might be thought of as advertising and promotion."

"I hadn't thought of that," I said. "It's not like all our performances are the same. We came across really well too. Maybe that's the approach. Let it go before we call YouTube on a copyright violation, then see what happens."

"Let me talk to the others in the band, Ed, "Doreen requested. "Let's see how they feel about it. I'm thinking it won't hurt us, and it might help us. We need to think about this some more."

"I agree. Whatever you decide, Doreen, you'll have our support. Do what you think is right."

"Thanks, Ed. I'll get back to you."

The subject didn't come up until our next rehearsal. We had some revisions to go through for our club act and Fran and Olivia wanted to present a couple of song ideas to us. I was interested in hearing just what they came up with. We didn't get far before the video issue came up.

"Here's what you guys told me," Doreen began. "If there's no harm to us and no one is making big money off it, we can let it go for a while. I'm sure copies of it are going to show up elsewhere, but it's too late to stop that and it would take a big effort to track them all down and put a stop to them. So, unless any of you have changed your mind, we're going to let it ride until the end of the month, then contact Youtube and have them pull it for copyright infringement. Any objections?"

No one disagreed. "Okay," Doreen concluded, "That's what we'll do."

Olivia had accompanied Fran to the rehearsal and we asked the two of them to give us an idea of what they've been working on. Fran was on keyboards and to my surprise, Gina picked up the Gibson and sat with them. I was expecting a slow, romantic type song, but what I got was anything but. In fact, it was an upbeat, fast-paced number that went right to the main theme. The song title was Frozen Sister, written as a thinly disguised story of Fran's rescue and the way her life had turned out. It rocked!

As the girls got a little further along in the tune, Doreen picked up her sticks and joined in, followed by Bud on Guitar. I was late to the party with a bass line, but the melody was easy to follow. I saw a lot of acknowledgement from the group that it was pretty damn good for a first effort. With most of the band now joined in, I could see this piece becoming a regular, even to the point of being one of our signatures.

When the girls finished after running through the song twice without stopping, the congratulations were genuine and hearty. I think we were all surprised that it wasn't something soft, but quite the opposite. We'd need to flesh it out more and decide how to vocalize it, but the guts of the song were there and they were good. Both Olivia and Fran basked in the glow of our approval. I felt good for them. They had earned it.

It was the Thursday rehearsal that Doreen once again opened the session with a discussion.

"Well, the feedback from our video has been coming in steadily in the past three days," she said. "I've had all kinds of inquiries about our availability and how much it would cost to book us for a venue. I'm getting calls from personal agents, booking agencies, and some directly from arena managers. We have got both a hit and a problem on our hands. I think we need to talk about this before it gets out of control."

Well, that pretty well shut everyone up. What were we going to say? What did it mean for Street Find?

"Have you and Stan discussed this?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes, we have. I feel like I'm in over my head. I've been doing the bookings so far, but I'm weak in a couple of important areas. I think we need a proper agent. Someone who will protect our interests and make sure we are paid what we are worth and not get taken advantage of. I have no idea of how much to ask for some of these opportunities. So far, the fees have been set by the organizers of the county fairs and other events. The only negotiations have been with the headliners. Everyone else is on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Does anyone feel differently?"

"How would we find the right kind of agent for us?" Bud asked.

"Good question," Doreen said. "I don't know. The last thing we need is some shyster who'll screw us over to line his own pockets. I'm going to have to do some checking around to see what I can find out."

"Well," Gina interjected, "our video should give them a good idea of the quality they are dealing with."

"Agreed," Stan said, sitting on the sidelines but paying close attention. "That's our sales tool."

"This is a nice problem to have, in a way," Rollie offered. "I wonder if it means we can do this for a living, rather than hold day jobs."

"Another good question," Doreen said with a nod. "We are babes in the woods right now. Our first objective is to find someone to protect us ... all of us."

"What about your lawyer," Doreen, I asked. "Can he put us on to someone he trusts?"

"It's worth a try, Ed. Even if he can give us a lead to someone who can give us another lead, it would be a help."

The meeting broke up after we settled on the play list for the Friday night session at The Palomar. Gina and I drove home, both lost in our thoughts about what our music future would look like. I didn't even think to quiz her about when she had been working with Fran and Olivia on their new music.

We weren't expecting a big audience at The Palomar on Friday, but that didn't turn out to be the case. The place was packed and it dawned on us that this was the fallout from our video. All of a sudden, people wanted to see us live. We had our usual three set play list with a nice mix of up tempo and softer music. That went out the window pretty early on. The audience wanted to hear the music we played at the fair. They were shouting out song names and I figured we'd better get with it pretty quick. I walked over to Bud and said simply, "Alabama."

Bud was always quick on the uptake and almost right away he was into the well-known intro. Doreen, Al, and I followed, with Rollie right up front on the Yamaha. We didn't mess with Lynryd Skynyrd's arrangement. We stuck with his original version. That got the audience off our back. While I was singing, I saw Stan madly looking through his briefcase, assumedly for more suggestions. Stan was a packrat and I was sure he had the play lists from last week. If we could get through to the first break without too much grief, we should be able to set up the second and third pretty quickly. We'd rehearsed everything we used so many times that we didn't need any more than the song title to get us going.

We got to the first break and Stan had already ticked off a play list for the second set. He'd written them down and gave them to me. Apparently, I'd been appointed leader pro-tem. I must have missed a meeting or something. We huddled as we got some refreshments and went over Stan's list. There was no problem and I taped the list to the back of my bass. Stan was busy giving out copies of it to the others. Almost everyone had a lead-in of one kind or another, so they had to know the order of things.

We got through that night on our quickly revised play list and laughed as we packed up our instruments for the night. It wasn't our most professional show ever, but the audience liked it and that's what mattered. We'd be much better prepared tomorrow night.

Sometimes things happen that tempt you to get off the sidelines and get involved in what's happening. The first was a worrisome problem that Fran brought to our attention. Olivia was being harassed by one of her supervisors at the pharmacy. It wasn't overt, but it was certainly bothering Olivia. The supervisor had somehow either guessed or been told of Olivia's sexual orientation. He was making her life very uncomfortable and she wasn't sure what to do about it. Fran came to Gina and me for advice.

"Has she spoken to the manager about it?" I asked.

"No ... she's worried that since it's her year of residency that it might affect her getting accredited. She could get a bad review and have to start over."

"Fran, there are laws against harassment, you know that," I said. "She has to file a formal complaint and then let the law take its course. They are a big chain and they certainly don't need the publicity of a lawsuit. She can't lose her job without it costing the corporation a lot of money and bad publicity. She has to trust the system."

"So, she should just go ahead and file the complaint?"

"Look, I'm not a lawyer and I won't pretend I know all the good and bad that could come from this. I think you should talk to your Dad and Eleanor about this, Fran. He's been an employer and he must know who to talk to. Let me know what he says, okay?"

"Yeah ... okay," she said, still with a worried look.

I didn't want to just brush them off, but I wasn't in any position to give advice and the best thing for Olivia to do was talk to someone who would know what the law was ... or would know how to find out.

A day later, I heard from Fran.

"The manager said he didn't want to do anything about it and she'd better not file a complaint or she'd be given an unsatisfactory review and let go," Fran said, clearly upset.