Chapter 20
“Hey man, mind if I bum a smoke from ya?” John asked as he slouched on the bench outside the radio station. “I gotta go on in a minute and I’m dyin’ here.”
Jack gave him a disdainful look but handed over his pack, “Sure. Knock yourself out.” It always amazed him that in his time with MTV he’d met more musicians who, though they were apparently dripping with money, couldn’t seem to afford a pack of cigarettes.
“Thanks dude,”
Jack took the pack back, stubbed out his own cigarette and got up to go inside.
“Wait a minute. I wanna talk to you about something.”
“Yeah?” he sighed.
“Tomorrow we have a day off. I want you to let her have a day off too. Can you do that?”
“That’s not part of the deal. She follows you, I follow her.”
“I know, but she also told me that you want her to do an interview with us. That wasn’t in the deal either.”
“You can say no, I guess. We are sorta at your mercy on that one, y’know.”
“Listen, I got no problem doing the interview.”
“Then what is the problem?”
John rolled his eyes. “The problem is that you aren’t gonna let her have any time off. She’s from St Louis; she wants to go see her family.”
“She can see them some other time. Besides, why do you care?” he shrugged.
“I’m just helpin’ out a friend. Man, don’t be a prick. I thought you were a nice guy.”
“I am a nice guy, I just can’t keep lettin’ her goof around and not do what she needs to do for us.”
“Gimme a fuckin’ break! You’re gettin' more stuff than you’ll ever use. You know that!”
“I know, but I got a job to do, y’know. Got my ass chewed because she pulled a sleepin’ beauty yesterday.”
He shook his head, “You are gonna get potentially the most humiliating stuff on that fuckin’ camera she has because of the night out we had. I don’t think that there’ll be a problem because she wanted to sleep it off. You got your time outta her. Shit, just let her have the day off.”
“Sorry. The only one who gets a day off is you. If you really want, you can get away from me, but she can’t. She signed a contract. Seven days.”
John thought about it for a minute. If she were to do the interview, it would have to be in Chicago and he would prefer that they do it on the second day; that would be eight days. “Seven days total?”
Jack got suspicious, “Uh huh.”
John decided to lie…it was convenient. “We don’t have time free in Chicago until the second day. That’s eight.” He stubbed out his cigarette and exhaled.
“Fine.” Jack threw up his hands. “You got it.” He’d been defeated.
John affected an impish grin, “I always get what I want,” and he walked back inside.
Back in the studio, they were already on the air. “Here he is! Where ya been?” said the morning DJ.
John sat down at the console and put on the headphones. “I was outside, uh, warmin’ up the pipes.”
“Oh really? Right outside our building?”
“Yeah, I was talkin’ to someone about our day off tomorrow,” he pointed to Gen and gave her a thumbs up. “We’ve all got a day off tomorrow. We can do what ever we want. It’s kinda cool.”
“You gonna be in KC? Got any big plans?”
“Oh man, I wish I were. I’d love some barbecue, but no, we’re gonna be in St Louis.”
“Well, there’s cool stuff there too. Lots of good food in St Louis.”
Robby cut in, “Any recommendations on what to do there?”
“I always eat when I’m in St Louis. It’s a great food city. Lots of people don’t realize that. Ya gotta eat on The Hill.”
“Yeah?” Mike asked.
“The Hill, what’s that?” Robby asked.
“It’s the Italian neighborhood- great restaurants there. And the Arch. Ya gotta go in the Arch. You’ve been to St Louis. You ever done that before?”
“Yep.” John and Robby answered simultaneously.
“Actually,” John proclaimed pointing out Gennie, “our friend here is from St Louis. We’re kinda hopin’ she’ll show us around.”
“Oh, well that’s good. Always helps to have someone who’s familiar with the area.” The DJ took a deep breath. “So, tell me about the tour. Is everything going well? I’ve been reading really great reviews so far.”
“Yeah,” Robby replied. “We’re having a lot of fun. And the audiences have been great. Probably the best ever!”
“Wow! And how much longer are you out there?”
John jumped in. “Y’know, we’re almost done, so that’s cool. But ya kinda miss this stuff when it’s all over with. We see some weird sh... crap out on the road, but it’s fun, y’know. ”
“Any stories you can tell us? What’s the strangest thing you came across?”
They all three laughed.
“Well, um,” Robby began. “When we were in Atlanta, some lady jumped off the roof of our hotel when we got there.”
“She saw us comin’…aaaaaahhh. Thud.” John joked, smacking his hand on the table as an added sound effect.
“Dude, that is so not funny,” Mike scolded.
“She jumped when you walked in? Did you see her?”
Robby spoke up, “Yeah, it was while we were there, but no, we didn’t see her. Crazy shit...” He noticed Gennie making a horrified face and decided to quit making light of the situation. “Seriously, it was pretty bad. Not really somethin’ to joke about I suppose….but weird.”
“I watched Rzeznik dance!” Mike tossed in. “That was weird.”
“Yeah?” the DJ was curious.
“Fuckin’ A, man.” John replied embarrassedly. “Shut up, will ya? That’s humiliating!”
“Wow! Ok, before you go, tell us about the show tonight." The DJ nervously tried to cover for what he feared would end up sounding like one long bleep on the air. "You’ve got a food drive?”
“Yeah,” John said. “We’re collecting canned food tonight, so bring a can or two or ten with you. All of it stays in the area and goes to help local shelters and food pantries…that kind of stuff, so it’s cool.”
“There’ll be people at the gates collecting cans and stuff. We’ve done a great job so far. Tons and Tons of food. Our fans have been so great. We really appreciate them,” Robby added.
“Well, we’ll see you at Sandstone tonight at 8:00, is it…Yeah, 8:00. So nice talkin’ to you fellas and we’re lookin’ forward to the show. Can’t wait. Everyone bring your cans and stay tuned, we’re giving away more tickets to the show all morning. Bye, guys! Thanks for coming in to see us.”
“Bye! See y’all tonight.”
As they walked out of the studio Gennie leaned close to Jack and murmured a thank you.
“Don’t thank me, thank Johnny Rock Star over there. It was his doing.”