They just stared at him. A faint amused smile growing on Eliza’s lips as she weighed up this new angry Jim Bob. Just so unlike him.
“Give me one good reason why we have to change things now.” He went on, throwing his hands up in the air, before setting them back down on his hips.
They all looked at each other.
“Samsara,” said Eliza simply.
Jim Bob dropped his hands from his hips. “Oh… It’s that good?”
Jonny squeezed Eliza’s hand. Dirk and Kurt nodded in unison. Silence prevailed. Just Jim Bob’s laboured breath sounding out.
His face gradually calmed towards its usual shade and he went back into “Mr Organiser Extraordinaire” mode. “Okay, so are we replacing one of the songs, or adding it on, or putting it in as a bonus track? What we doing guys?”
Each shrugging their shoulders in response.
So he continued, “If you don’t mind me saying. I prefer the last option. Bonus track. We can just request a sticker is put on each cover that way. The vinyl centre label artwork is easy enough to change.”
After a few minutes of debate they decided to go with Jim Bob’s suggestion. A bonus track on the album, but it would be released as a single in its own right.
“What about the CD and cassette versions?” Kurt asked.
“We’ll have to do the same thing there, otherwise it will be confusing. We can re-release the album at a later date on all formats with the new song. If it’s a success that is.”
“Let’s cut to the new song then. Make sure that we get the best possible version down now.” Kurt coordinated the sound engineer and they each assumed their positions. An additional microphone brought in for Jonny.
Jim Bob sat back in the sound box with the engineer. Fingers placed in a triangle shape in front of his face. Listening intently to their new song. As they wrapped up he just nodded slowly and silently. Wiping a solitary tear from his eye before it was noticed. He had experienced all the emotions today.
He shuffled in his seat. Words stumbling from his lips, “Right. Yep. Wow.”
Chapter Eleven
“Do you want to check that in?” Jim Bob had run back from the checking in desk in the first class lounge to where Karma Life were sat having a preflight drink.
“Erh, no.” Jonny hastily put his hand on his guitar case.
“Are you sure? They can mark it up and put it in the hold through the VIP baggage service.
“No.” Jonny repeated, a tad too aggressively.
“Okayyy.” Jim Bob turned on his toes and with a flick of his wrist returned to the desk.
Jonny had stashed the engagement ring into an inside pocket of the case. He wasn’t letting go of it for anything. Never mind the Les Pauls it was tucked in next to, that engagement ring meant the world to him. He’d stashed it for weeks now, cursing himself for getting it in London and not going to the diamond store Amsterdam where he’d purchased the necklace for Eliza all those Christmases ago. Like Tolkien’s elvish ring it had grown metaphorically heavier the longer it stayed in his possession. That ring wasn’t leaving his side until it was safely on her finger.
And he had formulated a plan. A daring but romantic idea of how he would propose. The plan did, however, cause Jonny to question at what point he had decided to make things complicated for himself. He wasn’t usually like that.
Jonny didn’t put effort in, or so he thought. He did easy, and because most things in life came easy to him he didn’t have to compromise. That wasn’t the case were Eliza was concerned though. The only thing in his life that he really had to work for, to chase after. This ring was the perfect example of that. He could have asked her to marry him on a number of occasions already. Easy occasions, but he didn’t. Now he had hatched a risky proposal plan, fraught with potential mishap.
Ugh, he needed a drink. He interrupted a waiter clearing away dead drinks from the table next to them and asked for a Jack Daniels and Coke. The waiter rushing off to get his order before the rest of the party had chance to order.
Kurt, Leesa and their kids were with them this time and Jonny observed what a happy little unit they were. Dirk was fooling around with the eldest, ruffling her hair and tapping her shoulder from behind so she would look the wrong way to see who it was. Kurt was bouncing the little one on his knee to keep her from crying. Eliza and Leesa looking through the menu of in-flight beauty treatments on offer.
Jonny picked up a couple of papers from the complimentary reading racks. Thumbing through to the music section, he saw a report from the journalist that accosted him in the mens’ room at the awards after-party in Amsterdam. It was a piece on the Brit pop craze. Well written. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so hasty with him.
“Do you remember this guy?” Jonny showed Eliza the paper.
“No, why should I?”
“Reckons he did a piece on us at Glastonbury in ninety-two.”
“Let’s have a look.” Jim Bob peered over at the reporter’s photo.
“Yes Thompson, Kevin Thompson.”
Jonny shrugged his shoulders. “You wasn’t there, how do you know we did an interview with him?”
“No I don’t. It’s just he’s been trying to get an interview with you recently. Like last week. He’s rung a few times. I’ve palmed him off for now with a standard press release and said you’ll be available for interviews when you’re back from the US.”
Jonny had an uneasy feeling about this reporter, but there was nothing he could do about it. Another Jack Daniels and Coke would stop him thinking on it.
“Would you like a drink Eliza?”
“Green tea please.”
“Green tea? That’s not very rock and roll.”
She smiled sarcastically at him.
“Dirk? You’ll join me won’t you?”
“Is the Pope Catholic?”
“Leesa? Kurt? Jim Bob?”
They all shook their heads.
He went up to the bar and placed his order. Downing the contents of the glass at the bar and asking for it to be refilled, before returning with a tray and the three drinks.
“I’ll have one of those though.” Eliza plucked out an ice cube from his glass.
He leant over and whispered in her ear. “Don’t you be turning me on again, you little minx.”
She crunched it loudly in his ear in defiant response.
“So how’s the house hunting going?” asked Leesa.
“We’ve found one, in Primrose Hill. It’s a nice part of London. An old house and needs a bit of work before we can move in, but has some lovely features. Original fireplaces, plaster cornicing. That sort of thing.”
“So have you commissioned any work on it yet?”
“We’ve got an architect working on some plans. He’s going to fax some stuff across next week. He can project manage too and send the plans out for some builders to quote against.”
“Exciting.”
“Yes, we’re very excited aren’t we Jonny?”
“Yeah we are, and do you know how wonderful this woman is? She’s even suggested my grandparents coming to live with us.”
Leesa squeezed Eliza’s arm. “Family.”
That’s all she had to say but it meant the world to Eliza. Overcoming the loss of her parents had been a long journey, but it was thanks to Jonny that she had finally started to trust in people that loved her. Rather than push them away she welcomed them all in. Jonny’s family was now her family.
“Fantastic, can’t wait to see it,” said Leesa.
The receptionist came over to tell them it was time to board their flight. Jonny tripped over his guitar case, which if he hadn’t of done, he would have forgotten all about.
The sooner the ring was on her finger the better.
Chapter Twelve
“Do you know they had an earthquake here in January?”
“What?” Eliza snapped upright in bed.
“Yeah. Middle of the night. People were woken up by the earth shaking. They went to lo
ok outside, and found the city blackened out and an ominous cloud glowing in the sky. Loads of people called 911 thinking there was some alien invasion or something.”
“Really?”
“Well it wasn’t visitors from another galaxy, it was just the milky way, but they’d never seen it before. Light pollution they call it. Kills the ability to see the stars.”
“How do you know all that shit?”
“Read about it in a mag on the plane.”
“When was you reading a magazine?”
“When you were asleep. You know me I’ll read anything. Books, magazines, papers, ketchup labels… minds.”
“Ha. Just not music, eh?”
“Yeah. No words there Angel.”
“Urgh. I’d forgotten about all that earthquake crap.” Throwing her head back on the pillow. Visions of the San Francisco earthquake they experienced flooding into her mind. “Hope there’s nothing like that when we’re here.”
“Don’t worry Angel. I’ll keep you safe.”
She snuggled into him, he responded by wrapping a protective arm around her and kissing the top of her head. He loved it when he could assume the role of her protector. Angel protector. Yeah he liked the thought of that. Protector of the angels. No. Too much. Just Angel protector would suffice.
He could just ask her now. It was just like the other thousands of moments since he had bought the ring that felt like this but no, he had a plan and he was going to stick to it.
“What time do we have to leave?”
“Not sure, let me check the itinerary.”
“Does that mean you getting out of bed to get it?”
“Yeah why?”
“Don’t bother. I’m sure Jim Bob will come and get us if we’re late. Let’s just stay here a while.”
They lay there enjoying the warmth of their love shown through a simple wrap in each other’s bodies. The breeze lapped around the curtains from the patio doors that they had left open all night; a distant hum from traffic on the street fourteen floors below.
“Did you know this hotel is featured in a John Travolta film that’s on release this year?” Jonny coming out with some of his random facts again.
“Mmm,” was all she managed to emit; dozing off again.
“Yeah. ‘Get Shorty.’ It sounds good, we’ll have to go see it.”
Silence. He craned his neck to look at her. She’d fallen back asleep.
“Yes Jonny, we will,” he answered himself.
He lay for a while, until his arm went numb and his mind a little crazy, stressing over the marriage proposal. Again.
Run time.
He slid out from under her sleeping form and flung on a vest, running shorts and his trusty sneakers. Creeping out the room so as not to wake her. Note left on the pillow as usual.
“Hey Jonny.” Jim Bob was at reception.
Jonny returned the greeting.
“We’ve got hair and make-up in…” He looked at his watch, “forty-five minutes.”
“Nah, I’m good. You might need to wake Eliza up though, she’s sparko. I’ll be back before the pick up at twelve.”
“Are you sure? I mean who’d take a pass on a bit of pampering?”
Jonny laughed. Well, let out one laugh. If you can strip down a laugh to just one that is. He wasn’t sure if Jim Bob was joking or whether he was just being American. Jonny couldn’t think of anything worse than being pampered like a pooch.
He jogged through the car lot and onto the streets. Turning right out of the hotel, he headed onto Hollywood and then down to Sunset Boulevard. Street running wasn’t the best, but he figured he would get lost if he went up into the hills that he saw in front of the hotel. As enticing as they looked, turning up late because he had gone loco in the desert with no water and no sense of direction, was really not worth it.
The sun on his face spurred him on.
The pavements were quiet and he could pick up a good pace, pounding out the uninvited concern that was building up in his overactive mind. This one overshadowed even the engagement proposal.
His new song. “Beautiful Angel” would make a public audience for the first time. Bearing his soul again. Why did he keep doing this to himself? “Samsara” was one thing. “Beautiful Angel” quite another. He had an idea about the performance tonight and he was sure Eliza would go for it. She would perform anyway, anyhow. She had been doing it for that long now on her own, that she had ultimate confidence singing in front of audiences, large or small. Unlike him. He was still uneasy about it when he finished his loop and arrived back at the hotel.
Eliza was in the middle of being preened when he got up to the room. Hair all glossy and curled, make-up being applied. She didn’t very often wear make-up and always asked the beautician to go easy, but TV studio lighting was harsh and no-one would go on without at least a bit of face powder. No-one that is, except Jonny.
“Hi Jonny.” The beautician stopped attending to Eliza and batted her eyelashes at him. Twirling the bristles of the blusher brush with her fingers.
“You not getting anything done Jonny?” Eliza asked via the mirror.
“Do I need to?” He leaned in to kiss her.
Glancing back to the mirror, she just caught the make-up artist stiffen.
“No, not at all. You’re gorgeous just as you are.” She rubbed her hand over his stubble. A bead of sweat ran down his nose and dripped onto her upper lip. “Was it hot out there?” Licking away the salty taste.
“Yeah. Scorchio. I’m gonna get a shower.”
“I might join you,” she joked, looking in the mirror as she spoke. The make-up artist’s mouth wide open, furiously dabbing the brush into a palette.
He closed the door behind him in the bathroom. The faint noise of him singing drifting through to them.
She smiled. He never sang in the shower. Must be practicing for tonight.
They met the rest of Karma Life down in the foyer. Leesa was going exploring with the kids, keeping them out of the way of the business end of being in a rock group. The rest pumped up for their latest TV appearance.
“All set?” Jim Bob asked, checking them over like school children, ready to board the MPV to take them to the TV studio. They were recording for a late night show. The usual, interview and one song. It was a well rehearsed interview, having done it practically word for word every day for the last ten days at various studios. The performance was one of their new tracks “All That Glitters”.
The modus operandi had been set on their first interview: Eliza and Jonny answering all fan based questions, Kurt anything technical and Dirk pretty much doing whatever he wanted. It was referred to as “adding charisma”. They couldn’t stop him even if they wanted to.
Later that afternoon they were going on to rehearse for their debut at The Rose Bowl Stadium. It would be their biggest gig so far and their first on this tour.
Having not done so before, they had arranged to use an off stage keyboard. Hoping it would add to the depth of the sound that they found difficult to recreate on a gig this size. Kurt had orchestrated this side of it and they were all a little apprehensive of how it would work out. The keyboardist was under strict instructions to keep shtum about them using him. They didn’t want it to be misinterpreted in any way. Stories of one of the guitarists lacking on stage would likely be the ruse angle they would use.
Eliza had purposefully kept away from alcohol for a while to ensure her voice wasn’t restricted in and pleasingly she sang note perfect at the rehearsal.
Jonny was nervous about his duet with Eliza on the new song he had written “Beautiful Angel”. He only ever usually sang backing vocals and the enormity of singing in front of sixty thousand fans for the first time on stage had been on his mind ever since they had landed in Los Angeles. He had worked himself up into a minor frenzy over it and expressed his concerns to Eliza. They thought it best not to mention it in any of the interviews. If it didn’t work, then they just wouldn’t do it again on this tour. No need to bu
ild up any false expectations.
“I think I need us to sit down when we do the duet,” he suggested to Eliza.
“Are you sure?” Weighing up his demeanour. “You normally move around on stage. Don’t you think you’ll feel restricted?”
He looked slightly nervous.
“I know. But I feel like I need to get into the moment. As if it’s just you and me.”
Eliza paused, considering his suggestion. She needed him to be comfortable.
“Do you know what Jonny, I think that would be great. If we can pull it off, being intimate like that in front of a huge crowd. It would be so right.”
He kissed her as thanks for her understanding and lifting the self-imposed weight off his shoulders.
The rehearsal went well and at the concert the following night they started as planned with “Hollow”. It used to be their finale, but that place was now held by their mega-hit, “Samsara”. The crowd knew every word and the tone of the night was set.
Fifth song in and the time was right. As planned, the stage lighting cut out and the band was plunged into darkness.
The audience quietened. Not sure if it was a technical hitch or a purposeful statement.
The crew discreetly brought a couple of high legged chairs and microphone stands onto the middle of the stage. Two simple white spotlights switched on, both focussed on the performers who were now sat on the chairs, centre stage.
One the guitarist.
One the muse.
Jonny started the song, a brief acoustic guitar intro, Eliza gently introducing her vocals soon after.
They didn’t take their eyes off each other throughout the whole song. The emotion between them raw and private.
When they finished Jonny finally averted his gaze from Eliza and looked out to the audience, as if just becoming aware of their existence.
Not a single noise.
For a split second he thought they had got it horribly wrong.
Loving his ANGEL Page 8