by Rob Jones
“Perhaps we should give them their space, Dan, so they can focus and do what they need to do to put on an epic show tonight,” Bella suggested.
Ligon returned from the bathroom with his blue eyes glassy and bloodshot, but a little more energetic than he was when he first walked in. There was a knock on the door.
“For god’s sake, can we just have one moment to get our bearings?” Wes said as he leaned on the wall with his arms folded.
“Sorry for the intrusion, gentlemen. Let me introduce myself, my name is—”
“Allen Downs!” Wes interjected as they all stood in absolute shock. Standing at close to six feet, Allen had dishwater blond hair that shared streaks of gray. It was spiked and intentionally disheveled. He was sporting eyeglasses that had rectangular lenses that covered his grayish-green eyes, disclosing a cluster of tiny wrinkles around them when he smiled. His face merged a rugged and soft characteristic that echoed fading traces of what was a masculine pretty boy vibe.
He was dressed down with faded blue jeans with holes exposing both of his knees and a tight white V-neck shirt that clung to a chiseled torso. Suspended between his index and middle finger was a lit Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Eye of the Shark cigar, its expensive aroma quickly filtering into the room.
“Well, yes, I am. You got a good crowd out there tonight. They are an intense bunch.” His voice was coated with a southern drawl. “I just wanted to encourage you rockers to be yourselves and do what you do best. I know all about the pressure of being in a showcase. Knowing that you only have one chance to make a first impression, but that’s the fun of it all, embracing the unknown and owning the moment.” He took a heavy pull from his cigar.
“I trust Dan’s instincts, he has a good feel for talented artists, so that gives me confidence in you guys. That being said, if all goes well you boys could be the flagship act for what will soon be the biggest record company in Nashville—scratch that—in the nation. I put big money into this business and I’m expecting big things from those I invest in. Again, no pressure, boys.” Allen took another drag and gave a devilish smile.
“Pressure produces diamonds, so we welcome any and all types of duress. We were created for just this type of environment. We got this, there is no need to look any further. We are all that you need. Our band will single-handedly make Meltdown Records as legendary as Warner Brothers,” Ethan declared confidently as Allen regarded him through the smoke from his cigar.
“I must say I like how you flex your hubris there, my man. That’s the type of moxie that you need to make it in this business. If you guys play half as good as you did when Dan first saw you, I’m confident that you will be picking up the crowd’s jaws off the floor.”
“Get those contracts ready, because after you witness the personification of rock-n-roll you’re going to be begging to sign us.” Ethan talked with his hands. “I guarantee you, Mr. Downs, we will be the biggest and most successful act on your label. No one will be able to touch us.”
“You remind me of me when I was your age…that moxie, that attitude, it’s like looking into a mirror.” Allen stationed his arm around Ethan and offered a laugh that suggested approval. “That is exactly the type of impenetrable resolve that you must embrace in order to make it and be relevant in this heartless game.” He tapped the middle of his cigar and a head of ash hit the floor. “Good luck tonight, boys!” He inclined toward Ethan’s ear. “Looks like your guitarist over there likes to party a little too hard and a little too early. You better curtail that before he ends you guys before you even get started…just saying.” He winked and pointed his cigar at Ethan.
“Trust me, it’s handled.” Ethan cut his eyes at Ligon.
“Bye, Allen Downs.” Wes’s voice cracked.
“Wow, how cool was that! He’s the real deal and he knows the real deal when he smells it, and I can tell that he smells it all over us. Wahoo! He has gotten me so freaking jacked. Let’s get out there and rip these guys a new one!” Wes lifted his arm with his index and pinky fingers in the air to indicate the sign for rock-n-roll, and headed out of the dressing room.
***
Zoe
Zoe and Tori walked in the Black Dive in time to hear a radio personality from 102.9 F.M. The Buzz announce the band. The stage suddenly went black as the lights went down. Ominous string music began to leak out of the sound system that rivaled the volume of the screams from the crowd that ascended to a vehement frequency that permeated throughout the bar. A group of girls violently shook their heads with hysteria when a silhouette of Ligon walked out on stage and strummed a chord aggressively that rang out like thunder. Guys in the crowd started fist-bumping each other, pushing each other, revving up to a vigorous and hostile level that might soon spillover into a mosh pit.
Zoe and Tori participated in the pandemonium with screams of their own. “This is so exciting, but scary! This crowd seems dangerously aggressive!” Zoe secured her arm around Tori’s. Another eruption came from the crowd as Wes and Owen arrived on stage arrayed in rock star swagger.
“What’s up, my fellow rockers?” Ethan’s voice penetrated through the sound system. Zoe, along with the crowd, looked eagerly at the stage, awaiting his entrance. But to their surprise he came walking behind and through the crowd, high-fiving guys and getting manhandled by the girls, who were grabbing, groping, and screaming as he made his way through them.
“Oh, there he is! Wow, they are losing their minds for him!” Zoe’s eyes followed him as he worked his way to the stage.
“Let’s get turned up!” He leapt on stage, flexing his charisma and sex appeal like a rock icon. He began singing and prowling on the stage like a lion in a cage, dangerously teasing and electrifying everyone in the crowd with an animal magnetism. He was in savage mode. He looked up and saw Zoe and Tori in the crowd. He seemed to become more animated, his vocals roaring with emotion, the energy from his body palpable. Zoe could feel the crowd feeding off of it.
When Zoe’s and his eyes locked, he submitted a sexy smile and a wink to acknowledge her. She retaliated by blowing him a kiss which he pretended to catch.
“Gross, I think I’m going to be sick!” Tori expressed her disapproval at the display of their playful affection. “You two need to quit acting like you’re in a rom-com!”
“Jealousy is not a good look on you, girl!” Zoe replied.
“Whatever, Puritan, let’s work our way through this cesspool of posers and super tramps so that we can get a better view!” She took hold of her hand.
The band went into an energetic, fierce, and fist-pumping song. Pandemonium broke out as the crowd stomped to mosh, yelled, and danced. The lights were synchronized with the music that made the band look like they belonged, that they were larger than life.
“Wow, they look and sound incredible!”
“I barely can hear you, Zoe. What did you say?” Tori tried to talk over the loud music.
Zoe positioned her hands next to Tori’s ear. “They look and sound incredible!”
“Yes, they do. Ethan is the real deal. He will definitely catapult them to the next level!” Tori confirmed.
Zoe was completely blown away by Ethan’s stage presence. She stood there with her mouth parted, transfixed in complete wonderment. Nothing could have prepared her for what she was witnessing. His rawness, his sexiness, his powerful voice. It was a total one-eighty from when he sang at church and to her at the winery. He was like a lamb then, but tonight he represented another beast, something wilder, something vicious, something savage. At that moment she found him dangerously hot, causing her heart to gallop fervently underneath her honey gold skin. She was now seeing his true self, his true north, what he was born to do. He was more electric, more alive than she had ever seen him or anyone before. She found him more beautiful, more provocative, and more intriguing than she ever thought he could be.
Her attention veered from the stage to her surroundings. She heard the voices of what she determined were trashy, impudent girls screaming
out his name, flinging their racy and skimpy lingerie upon the stage. She even saw a girl on some guy’s shoulders lifting up her shirt, revealing her concealed weapons to the band.
“Repulsive!” She quickly understood that she wasn’t the only one who thought that he was incredibly gripping and sexy. She saw her life with him flash before her eyes, a life of competing with a catalog of women trying to lure him with their wiles. This was going to be a challenging relationship, but he would be worth it she hoped.
Their incendiary play ignited a fire throughout the crowd that burned in the throes of moshing and singing.
In the middle of their set Ethan looked over at Ligon, then he walked up to him and mouthed, are you okay? Ligon was as pale as winter. He offered a nod and a self-assured grin to indicate that he was. He stumbled toward the edge of the stage, got on his knees, and started a blazing guitar solo that evoked cheers from the crowd. With his head leaned back and eyes closed he played like he felt every note, but his face indicated that he was feeling something else. He looked into the crowd with glazed eyes and pale skin, his throat contracted and his mouth fell open, then he violently and rapidly ejected vomit all over a girl who was standing in front of the stage. She stood there shocked and humiliated while a few guys and Goth girl were pointing and laughing at her.
A guy with dreadlocks and a snakebite piercing tried to console her but she cursed and stomped away in a huff. Ligon kept on playing with vomit clinging down his chin and on his guitar. The guy with the dreadlocks rendered a look of daggers toward Ligon and threw a Corona beer bottle at him but missed. Ligon flipped him off with an excessive smirk on his face. The guy began to heckle Ligon and then charged the stage, along with two other guys, and the fisticuffs began. Ligon tried to get up quickly but lost his balance and got stomped on. Ethan took a mic stand and attacked the guy that was stomping on Ligon, hitting him in the face with the base of the microphone stand until blood surged from his nose and splattered on Ethan’s mirrored shades. Everyone on stage was hitting and being hit.
Feedback from the guitar rang out intensely, and piercing screams echoed across the crowd as pandemonium swelled throughout The Black Dive. The bouncers swooped in like a SWAT team to regulate and manage the precarious situation. Cascades of boos and cheers from the emotionally charged crowd littered the atmosphere as two bouncers rushed the band off stage. Owen immediately did an about-face and ran back on stage, grabbed a mic and yelled, “Thank you, we’ve been great,” to the crowd. He dropped the mic and gave an offensive gesture. The
boos and cheers continued as the crowd launched beer bottles at him as he exited the stage. Zoe and Tori rushed out.
“Oh sugars, that was totally insane. Is it like that every night they play?” Zoe desperately tried to catch her breath while she and Tori worked their way to Zoe’s car.
“Not always, but it’s never a dull moment when it comes to those guys. They have an innate way of creating turbulence. Chaos is always swirling around them.” Breathlessly Tori slid in the car.
Zoe was thrown into a state of confusion. She was exhilarated and at the same time fearful of what could have happened to her and Tori. Even Ethan. He could have been seriously injured in that pandemonium.
What a violent and unpredictable world he lived in. That world brought to her mind the song Welcome to the Jungle because everyone behaved like wild animals in there and Ethan was just as wild, acting like he was the king of the jungle. She’d never seen that side of him, that violent, reckless side, and that somewhat frightened her. How could someone who could be so tender, so caring, so loving also be so savagely fierce and dangerous? There were so many layers to him, some of which were not too flattering, but didn’t everyone have unflattering layers?
“Let’s get out of here and get something to eat, Tori. I have worked up an appetite from dodging moshers and running for my life.” She strapped herself in while her thoughts were drifting to Ethan.
Chapter Seventeen
Ethan
“Woo! Man, that escalated quickly.” Ligon lit up a cigarette.
“Yeah, I don’t know if what happened out there was a good thing or a bad thing. All I know is that they will never forget this night.” Owen tried to catch his breath.
“It was a stupid thing, Owen,” Wes said with an aggressive tone. “We blew a golden opportunity tonight. We can kiss that record deal goodbye. After this colossal fiasco they will want to get as far away from us as possible, not to mention it will probably be our last show here at The Black Dive. Big Mike is going to flip his lid over this.” He grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat from his face. “Man, we were so freaking close. Way to go, Lig. You sure screwed us royally on this one! Ugh.”
Ligon regarded Wes with a cold look as he leaned back on the couch with his arms folded, sweating with a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth.
“That was the biggest crowd that we ever played for and we had them eating out of our hands, right where we wanted them.” Wes glared back at him. “You ruined the whole night for everybody. You’re like a dysfunctional child that poops everywhere, makes a mess and stinks up the place, and then points at it and says, ‘Look what I did, guys. Isn’t that cool and funny?” Wes said in a goofy voice that sounded like a guy that was high on drugs. “Believe me, it’s not funny, it’s not cool, and it sure ain’t charming. It’s sad and disgusting, just like you.”
Ligon closed his eyes, inhaled the smoke from his cigarette, and bent forward on the couch. “Screw you and your momma, chump. We just became legends tonight. I helped us give the most exciting show of our lives, we gave everyone in there a night they will never forget, they will talk about this forever. They will tell their grandkids about this night. Those are the moments that turn ordinary bands into rock star legends. You’re welcome!”
Ethan extended Ligon a nefarious look while on the phone with Zoe, assuring her that he was not hurt in the altercation.
Bella, Dan and Allen walked in the room. “Well, well, well, what an interesting performance you renegades put on out there.” Allen stood with his left thumb in his belt loop while holding a cigar in his right hand. “You renegades like dancing barefoot on broken glass, I see. Very good, very good. Those antics are like a double-edged sword.” His eyes narrowed as he drew in smoke from the cigar. “They can have favorable or unfavorable consequences.” The room was heavy with tension.
“Fortunately for you, the sword has swung in your favor. We at Meltdown Records want to be about the business of Slither of Light, where you will be our first rock band at the label.”
“You mean you want to sign us?” Owen’s demeanor elevated.
“Yes, unless you have other offers that I don’t know about?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Ethan shot up off the couch and draped his arms over Wes and Owen, then with an infectious grin, shook his finger at Ligon and ran toward him and they embraced like they hadn’t seen each other in years.
“You’re the only person I know that can land in a pile of cow crap and come up smelling like roses.” His hands cuffed Ligon’s face. “I gotta call my nana and tell her the great news!”
Dan popped the cork of a bottle of champagne as everyone started hooting and hollering with elation.
“I can’t wait to tell Keira that our dream has come true.” Wes’s face was brimming with euphoria. “Maybe now she can view me through a proud, regal lens instead of looks of disappointment.”
Their time of uproarious festivities elevated when two guys swaggered in with two scantily clad girls draped on each of their arms while carrying a bottle of Johnnie Walker scotch whiskey. One of the guys had heavy ebony skin that was decorated with tattoos. His eyes were big, brown, and innocent like a doe’s. He rocked a Jimi Hendrix afro, and diamond nose rings in each nostril. He just reeked of coolness. The other guy had long black feathered hair, midnight dark eyes, and a dark full beard over his soft-hued skin.
“You guys started partying without us?”
“Hey, Manix an
d Syd from the Gutter Dollz,” Ligon announced with vigor. “Ooh, Johnnie Walker! Just when the night couldn’t get any better!” They all exchanged pleasantries.
“Good lord, what a savage show you guys put on. You nasty rockers could possibly be on your way of being the most dangerous rock band in Nashville.” Manix patted his afro. “That was one of the dopest shows that I’ve seen, almost as crazy as our shows. And you know that our shows are always lit, we are buck wild. Tonight we became your biggest fans. You guys are fearless. You’re like the bad boys of the kingdom.” He nodded slowly. “In full disclosure, we’re looking for an opening band to do a few dates with us,” Manix confessed.
“Absolutely. Manix and I were talking and we think that you guys would be the ideal band to go on the road with us. We love that dangerous energy that exudes from you, along with your tight musicianship. Your songs are strong, hard, and incredibly catchy. That being said, you guys need to discuss the particulars with the founder and chairman of your new record label gents. And congratulations by the way, on being the first rock band on Meltdown Records.” Syd fist-bumped them all.
***
The summer night sky was enchanting, pregnant with stars and a sickle-shaped moon that smiled down on its audience. The sweet summertime air was warm with an agreeable breeze that was favorable for bucket lists and a real good time.
Downtown Broadway was crawling with locals and tourists who were finding love, losing love, and avoiding love. You could feel the energy and excitement pulsating from all over. Car horns sounded and drunk guys whistled at drunk girls who walked by. Dazzling lights and music that blared from the bands playing at the honky-tonks and bars created a partying, festive tone.
“So how does it feel to be a professional musician, Lig?” Ethan placed his arm around him while they walked past Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge.