Chapter 15

We made good time to Chattanooga. Brent still wasn’t answering his phone, but we were only a few hours out from show time and would have to start setting up soon anyway, so I had Hanna drop me off at the club before the rest of them went to check into the motel. I assumed I would have to wait around until either Brent showed up or the guys got back and we had to start getting ready for the show.

I was wrong. I found Brent standing outside the manager’s office, except he wasn’t talking to the club manager. He was talking to my father.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying extremely hard to keep my temper under control.

“I’ve been bored out of my mind just sitting around the trailer all week while your mother is working, so I called up your manager Kent and found out where you were playing tonight. I figured I could hear you play in person and see exactly how far you’ve come. I stumbled into Brent here and we got to talking. He has some exciting things to say about your future and his plans for you.”

“I’ll bet,” I said, and then took a deep breath. “Can you give me and Brent a few minutes alone, Dad? I’ll come find you afterward and we can talk, I promise.”

While Dad being here was an unwelcome surprise, it wasn’t something I needed to deal with this second. Dad was bored, and his wanting to come see me play wasn’t unreasonable, although I’d have to nip his trying to be involved with my managers in the bud. No, at the moment, Brent was the bigger problem. Between saddling us with an opening act that cleared the place out before we played, to trying to get me to drop out of school and extend the tour into the school year, he was actively making things worse and needed to be stopped before he could do any more damage.

“If your mother and I are going to manage your career, we need to be involved in these conversations,” Dad said.

He had to be joking! I trusted Mom, which is why she’d been put as the head of the company we’d formed to manage my earnings from the record deal. Dad showed up like three days ago, and here he was talking about managing my career.

“Dad, we can talk about that in a little bit. I promise I’ll tell you what’s going on; but for now, please give me a few minutes with Brent,” I said, barely keeping the rage out of my voice.

I could see he wanted to argue more, but surprisingly, he stopped himself and instead said, “Sure, I guess. I think I saw a green room back that way. I’ll wait for you there.”

“Thanks,” I said, turning back to Brent as he walked off.

“Where’s everyone else?” Brent asked, having stood by quietly watching the byplay between Dad and me.

“Checking into the hotel. I had them drop me off early so you and I could talk.”

“Well, this will probably need everyone else, but I’m glad you’re here anyway. I was just telling your dad, I’ve got some exciting news. I’ve talked to some clubs through the Midwest, even out as far as Nevada, about booking you guys, and I think I can keep you working steadily until at least Thanksgiving. So far, you’re only getting real play on the east coast, so this could be a good chance for you to break out.”

“I can’t play through November, I have school. We talked about this and it is clearly stated in my contract, that I can only tour in the summer, over winter break, and maybe during spring break.”

“Yeah, but that was before we knew it was possible. You’d be crazy to give up this opportunity.”

“No, I’d be crazy to drop out of school, especially before my first record releases and we find out if the MAC is going to keep me around or not.”

“Look, kid, I know being up on stage and having this kind of deal can make you feel like you know what’s going on, but you’re still a kid. It’s why your parents, Kent, and I are all here, in charge of your career. We’ve all been around long enough to know what’s what. If you’re smart, you’ll listen to the adults.”

“Smart?” I said, finally raising my voice. “Smart like setting us up with an opening act in a small club where we don’t need one? Or smart like having that opening act be on the down side of their career and sucking so hard that they clear out two-thirds of the audience before we ever go on? That kind of smart had us selling no merch and having to split part of the gig fee for the pleasure of it.”

“Hey, eventually you’re going to be playing bigger venues and will need an opening act. My goal was to start working through some other bands and find ones that fit with you the best.”

“So you picked a group that plays metal, which really doesn’t work with our music, and have been around for years without really making it? I guess it’s just a coincidence that you’re also managing them, right?”

“I’m not sure I like what you’re implying.”

“I’m not implying anything. I’m flat out saying you’re using gigs you set up for us, as an agent for our label, to help another group you manage that isn’t on that label. I might be a kid and so maybe I don’t know anything, but I’m pretty sure that’s not something MAC would approve of. You’re right; I am young, so maybe I shouldn’t be trying to figure this out on my own. I guess I should call Kent or someone else at the label and get their perspective on this.”

To his credit, he held it together pretty well. Although I actually didn’t know for a fact the group that opened for us was still his client or if he was getting some kind of kickback from them his reaction suggested that was all true.

“Charlie, I’d never break my obligations to you and your band. I apologize. If you feel like I’m out to sabotage your tour, then I clearly haven’t been doing a good enough job. I will do what I can to make you feel more comfortable with the decisions for your tour going forward. Hopefully, my working to get you more gigs set up going through the fall should be good proof that I am working hard to make you a success. However, if you feel you must call Kent and tell him you feel like I’m damaging your tour, then, by all means, do so, although you should be careful. I like you, Charlie, and I don’t want you to make a mistake that could harm your career, because you could go really far in this business. Like you said, you’re still new to this whole thing and the label is using this tour to evaluate what they can expect from you. You don’t want to become known as a prima donna this early in your career. If they feel you’re too much trouble for what they think they can make off you, they’ll cut you loose, which would be a shame.”

I knew what he was trying to do, and I’d half expected it when I decided to confront him, but he also wasn’t wrong. Dad had a contract and lost it, and so had a lot of the other people I’d met back stage traveling with him as a kid. Some of them had been really good, but that hadn’t been enough for the label to maintain their contract. People who got huge could afford to be difficult, because they produced enough money to make it worth it for the label. I definitely wasn’t in that category.

“Just ... don’t choose openers like that without telling us about it first; and do not set up any gigs once we finish what we already agreed upon. If you find something in driving distance on weekends, fine; but I am not dropping out of school, not getting a GED, so I can play through the fall. I don’t want to hear about it again.”

“You’re making a big mistake on that, but you’re the boss. You should talk to your parents though. Your dad thought it was a good idea and from what he was saying, he’s got a lot more experience with this than you do.”

“I’ll deal with him. Please just do what I’m asking. No midwestern tour this fall.”

“Fine, fine,” he said, holding up his hands defensively.

“Good,” I said, turning around and leaving him to do whatever he needed to do.

I knew he wasn’t done with this whole thing, but at least he’d heard me out, and hadn’t rejected me out of hand. Right now, I had bigger fish to fry.

The green room was surprisingly big for a club this size and it even had a full-sized couch in it. This was better than the storerooms most of the clubs had us wait in until we were set to go on. Dad was sitting in the middle of the couch, his arms spread wide across its back, looking like he owned the place.

“Did y’all figure it out? He sounded like he had some really good ideas for your future.”

I took a deep breath and tried to keep myself calm. I couldn’t blame him for being here. He’d loved this life and he backed off as soon as I’d asked him to. Chef was right, I was being mad before he did anything to be mad about.

“Hopefully, although I don’t think his idea of me dropping out of school is a good one. When I started playing in front of people, I promised Mom I wouldn’t let it interfere with my schooling. Also, I’d like to go to college.”

“You’re almost a man now. Don’t let your mother sidetrack your dreams. She loves you and she means well, but she is stuck on the idea that we should be like everyone else. If I’d listened to her, I’d be spending my life sitting in some office, wearing a tie, complaining it was Monday or some shit. If you’re going to follow in my footsteps, you can’t let her hold you back.”

The fact that he thought that was a good argument was astounding, considering he’d just gotten out of prison after a lifetime of barely keeping us fed, wandering from crap gig to crap gig.

“I’m not trying to follow in anyone’s footsteps, yours or hers. I’m doing this for me, and I want to finish school. If this works out for me, great, but I’ve already seen that this business is a lot more than just being able to play well. If I’m going to make it, I need to be smart about it.”

Surprisingly, he didn’t argue or push back.

“Hey, you’ve gotten pretty far on your own, so I’m not going to get in your way. If you want to slow things down and stay in school, I’m not gonna stop you. I think you’re making a mistake and you should think twice about it, but it’s your decision.”

“Thank you.”

We talked for a little bit after that until the band showed up. It was all superficial and mostly about what the shows before this had been like, but it wasn’t as confrontational as I’d been worried it would be. It was still uncomfortable and I wished he’d stayed home, but maybe this was a step towards us finding a way to live together, at least semi-peacefully.