Chapter 4: The First Pass Through the Studio

Following the Saturday session and a short review of some of the recording, Bob let the girls know they could pack up the gear and take it to the next practice garage if they wanted, but that he was going to look for some place where they could spread out like on a stage and practice that way. They could also leave things set up so that when they went to practice they wouldn't have to spend time doing that and could get right down to business.

As the girls were packing their things, he and Judy were standing there watching the progress.

"I owe you a big thanks Bob," she said looking him in the eyes. "I didn't expect all of the equipment you provided. I only hoped for some direction. Now they have that and more."

"Judy I think it's me that owes you! I'd still be sitting on my ass wondering what to do with myself if you hadn't sent Sara that demo. Sweetie, I heard a ton of their potential in that recording. Wait until I dump this recording at the studio and Bill works it over."

Judy's eyes grew as she heard what he said, "Studio? Bob, what are you telling me?"

With a sly smile he answered, "What I'm telling you is with their approvals, I have plans for these girls. In three to five years I would expect them to be multimillionaires, in ten, multi-multi, they're that good Judy; I wouldn't even consider these girls to be diamonds in the rough. These four are very highly polished stones. They may not have a final finish yet, but give them 6 months with me and we'll be touring around the country, and maybe even around the world. My intention would be to limit the tours. I don't want them doing the kind of tours that I've been on in the past. They should do short tours more often than long tours every now and then."

Judy just stood there aghast. She couldn't believe what Bob was proposing to do.

"My biggest challenge is to help them overcome their stage fright. I can see a few CD's as well. These girls will do very well!"

"Touring? Bob, isn't that a little much for their age?"

"Are you kidding? Heather is already years older than many band members who started touring. They were fifteen, sixteen and touring the world, let alone the country. Hell Judy, I was still fourteen when I started my first real tour, but because of the way we did things, I burned out. I'm twenty-five years old Judy, and I'm fried from the road. I want to help the girls avoid that and trust me, there will be some greedheads out there that will try to convince them they can make a boatload of money if they go with them. I don't want these 4 to burn out like that. I want them to stop when they're ready to stop, not because they have to in order to save their sanity and/or their health."

"But you're a man Bob," Judy said.

"Huh? What fucking difference does that make?" Bob asked incredulously. "Janell drums better than 90% of all the 'boys' I know. Michelle is far better than a majority of the 'guys' that play keyboards. Heather is far and above 99% of all the "premier guitarists" of any sex, and Maryanne? Shit, what can you say about Maryanne? I don't know ONE guy that can do what she can do." He looked right into Judy's eyes and finished, "Being a man or a woman has nothing to do with it Judy, not a god damned thing!"

"Ok, ok ... Sorry," said Judy meekly, holding her hands up in surrender!

"Your daughter is going to be a fairly wealthy woman very soon Judy. She'll work for it, believe me, but she'll be doing something she loves to do, and it doesn't get any better than that Honey. We just can't let it go to their heads. I know Chelly the best, and I think she's got a damned good head on her shoulders Judy. You have done an incredible job of raising her. Maggie too, I'm sure. I sense that the other three are of like minds, so it's just a matter of keeping them away from the dark side."

She just looked at him with "deer in the headlights" eyes while she was thinking about the ramifications of what Bob had just said. She's losing her daughter? No, not really, she just won't be at home all the time anymore. She's eighteen so that eventuality is going to be reality soon enough anyway. This way she can make something out of all that practice and hard work. All of them have worked incredibly hard to become as good as they are. The money wasn't an issue in Judy's mind; she was more concerned about her daughter's sanity. Judy was a very torn woman at this moment.

Bob could see the internal conflict on her face, but it really wasn't his place to say anything more at this point. Michelle could essentially do anything she wanted without parental consent being required. He just didn't want any ill feelings, however this was really Chelly's future that they were talking about.

When she was finished packing, Michelle came over to sit with Bob and her mother. She had worked up quite a sweat helping everyone get their stuff into cases, ready to load and move.

She recognized that there was a little tension between Bob and her mom. That was very strange to Chelly, but she decided she didn't need to say anything about it for the moment. She's sure she'd find out what it was sooner or later.

"Let's leave all that stuff here for a couple days sweetie, I'm going to see if I can find a larger place to set it all up. If I can pull that off it can be left set up and we won't have to spend time setting up then tearing down, we'll be able to get right into the session."

She nodded an ok as she was taking a big drink of iced tea.

Judy looked at her daughter and said, "Bob's talking about you girls maybe going on a tour, Sweetie. How do you feel about that?"

Michelle looked at Bob, surprise registering, "Cool."

Judy nearly deflated hearing that her daughter liked the idea.

"Don't you think it's a bit soon to think about that honey?"

Chelly shrugged her shoulders, "I dunno, Mom."

Then looking at Bob, "How long do you think it will take us to be ready?"

"Probably six months, maybe a little more," he replied thoughtfully. "There are a lot of variables to work through, but I believe we can do it in that timeframe."

Michelle looked at her mother with her answer. "No, I don't think it's too soon to think about it. I love the idea. It scares me a little, but I agree with Bob. I think we can do it."

"Honey, I think..."

"I'm too young? Mom, I'm eighteen, for gods sake. I'm going to move out soon anyway, what's your point?" Chelly and Judy were on the exact same wavelength but with totally different interpretations.

Now it looked like Judy had been hit with a 2x4. "Soon? You've never said anything about moving out before."

"We've all been talking about it for a couple months. Well at least since Maryanne turned eighteen. Heather is already looking for a 4 bedroom place with a 2 to 3 car garage, but just hasn't found the right place yet."

"Oh," Judy sighed, sounding and looking a little sad. She looked at Chelly with undying affection, but was wondering what life would be like around the house without her there. First Maggie moved, now it'll be Chelly. She guessed that it was something all parents had to deal with. Janell and Maryanne's parents would have to deal with it as well.

Bob marked housing in his head, with a mental note to talk to Heather about it. There may be something he could do to help the process. He didn't say anything because Judy was already bothered that Michelle would even consider moving, but it's really an inevitability that she's going to have to face sooner or later. It sounded like Chelly was solidly in the sooner corner.

"Listen, I'll let you two talk for a bit. I'm going to go chat with the others before they get away," Bob said taking the opportunity to both allow Judy and Michelle the opportunity to discuss the issue and give him a shot at talking to Heather about the housing she's looking for. This could work out to everybody's liking, and it would be damned convenient to boot.

The three of them were sitting on some of the instrument cases talking. Bob sauntered up quietly, with a smile and sat down with them.

After waiting for them to wind down the subject they were discussing when he arrived, in a low voice so that Judy couldn't hear Bob asked, "Heather, Chell says you're looking for a place so that you can all move in together."

Heather nodded, "Yeah, I've been looking for a couple months, well ever since Maryanne turned eighteen and we all thought it was possible."

"Yeah, that's what Michelle said. Her mom isn't particularly thrilled with the idea."

Heather looked over at the two talking between themselves apparently oblivious to the conversation going on at the front of the garage

"I'm not all that surprised," Heather said. "Michelle is the one that suggested we all could live together. She really wants to get out of the house. There aren't any big problems other than she feels like Judy is clinging, and Chelly feels like she's ready to spread her wings some. It's scary for all three of them, but I'll be there to give them shit and kick their asses. I've been on my own for a couple years now."

Janell and Maryanne chuckled at her comment, but nodded their heads.

"Ok. I hear you. I'll have to tread lightly at this point, but I mentioned to Judy that I felt you four will be polished enough to tour in six months or so."

Two of three jaws dropped and eyes enlarged significantly.

"What?" asked Janell.

"Well, I think with some serious effort, you four will be polished enough to do a concert tour relatively soon. There are things that have to fall into place, but I really don't see any serious impediments. I do think the first one should be short and probably west coast only, but I honestly believe you are all that good."

"Are you talking about getting on a stage in front of people?" asked Maryanne.

Heather was being unusually quiet, as they had already talked shortly about the subject. She figured to let the other two come to grips with the idea on their own for the most part. Everyone was going to need to be part of the decision, and she didn't want to influence their thinking with her own opinion. Not yet anyway.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about Maryanne. I understand the issue of stage fright. I still get it before any show I play and I've been doing it for quite a while, but you've been on stage before it shouldn't be that big a thing for you."

"Bob, there may have been 100 people there, and it was a school function. I think 20,000 screaming people in a stadium or big auditorium is a whole different ball of wax."

"I understand Maryanne, totally. Remember, I still get very nervous before a show, and I've done a few."

Heather nodded with a smile. She'd changed her mind a little and joined in, "I think Bob's right. We can do it if we set our minds to it. It scares the shit out of me to think about playing in front of people, but Annie, you and Chelly have done it before. It's just a matter of scale."

"If we want our music to be more a part of us, sharing is the next logical progression." She had decided to just throw that out as food for thought. They would all sit down, without Bob, and discuss it and come to a conclusion, of that she had no doubt.

Bob was nodding his head. Heather had obviously thought about it after their talk and was coming to grips with the reality.

"But Heather, we can't..."

"Sure we can Maryanne. I was thinking about it earlier, and thought about one of my public speaking classes. The professor said one really good way to get over the fear of being in front of an audience is to imagine them all naked."

All of them chuckled with that comment.

"I'll have to think about that and maybe give it a try next time I'm on stage," Bob commented with a grin.

"You really think we can do it Bob?"

"Yes, I really think you can," he said softly. His face told them he was serious.

"Now I have a question about your looking for housing? Do you care where the place is located, and how much can you afford?"

"Well, I've been looking fairly local, but that's only because of familiarity and school," Heather indicated. "I can go to school anywhere there's a community college, but if I'm practicing my music all the time, I may have to postpone school until we find out if we can do this for a living. The other three can't really afford much at this point, so we talked about maybe $1200 a month so that it would be $300 each, then utilities and expenses, but I can front some money for a while if I need to. These are my sisters, so I'll help them all I can."

"How about subsidized housing about 400 miles away?" Bob asked with a serious tone.

"What do you mean subsidized, and where are you talking about?" Heather asked.

"Well, quite honestly, I'll have to think about it. The place is just north of Ukiah, north of a small community called Willits."

"I've heard of that place," said Maryanne brightly. "It's well known for growing some of the best pot in the world."

With a huge smile on his face, "Yes, that is true Maryanne, but not all of us grow weed."

"Us?" noted Heather. Nothing got by this lady!

"Yes us Heather," he sighed facetiously. "I have a very large home up there with a fully built empty studio. I've never put any of the studios equipment together because I wasn't sure I was going to do music that seriously anymore. With all your stuff and the mixing board it's a great start on a full-blown recording studio. Billy can bring the rest when he comes to give us the demo. I can probably talk Billy into moving eventually. He hates LA." Most of them didn't notice the look that came to Maryanne's face. Heather noticed!

The three of them looked at him like he'd grown a third eye in the middle of his forehead. Bob noticed it and chuckled, "By subsidized housing I mean that you don't pay rent as long as you continue to play music and practice every day. That's the only way you are going to get polished enough to tour. We can continually make recordings of our sessions to go over with a critical ear. I can keep sending them down here to be worked on, at least until I can talk Billy into moving up to Willits. I'll need to use a few contacts to see if we can get permissions from all the artists and bands that did the original music."

"Permissions?" asked Janell. "What's that about?"

"Permissions, yeah. Someone owns the rights to the music you guys play Jan, and you generally have to pay royalty money to use their 'intellectual property' in a commercial way. That's precisely what we're talking about doing. Now with that said, some of the stuff you play is old enough to be in what's called the public domain. If it's in the public domain, you don't have to pay the royalties - unless someone has bought the rights, which more or less resets the clock. It can be pretty complicated."