Chapter 9

Amanda Payton had initially been almost relieved that the Goo Goo Dolls had requested to select the participant.  She took that as a good sign; they were willing and ready to get involved in this project.  She had to admit, though that she was a bit puzzled by their choice.  The person that held their strongest recommendation, the one that they had pushed so fervently to get, was in her thirties and had virtually no on air experience of any kind.  She worked in the offices at a radio station in Oklahoma, for God’s sake!  She had a few worries about how this was going to work, but was confident that her crack camera guys could handle the job and help to steer it in the proper direction, if they saw things getting off track.

 Amanda was pleased that her project was finally coming together.  They had the band on board and ready to take on their temporary addition in a few weeks.  Concert reviews were going well right now…great actually.  She was excited to get to the production stage.    This lucky person had passed what seemed like a million security checks with flying colors.  That was another good sign.  Things were going to go well. All she had to do now was to notify the winner.

 Running her finger down the page, she quickly located the winner’s home number.  She hoped she would be able to reach her, because she had stayed late on this beautiful mid-July evening to make this call.  She didn’t want to end up leaving a message.  She could have done that hours ago.

 The phone rang and Amanda sat with baited breath; another ring, and yet another. This was making her nervous, or maybe she was just plain mad.  As she was composing in her head the things she would say, an out of breath voice spoke up.

 “Hello?”

 “May I speak with Genevieve Redlin, please?” she stated in a businesslike tone, but inside she was really getting excited for this person.  She hoped she would be thrilled.

 “May I ask who’s calling?”

 “This is Amanda Payton from MTV Studios.” She said with an obvious smile in her voice.

 “Oh!  This is Genevieve.” She replied and instantly got butterflies in her stomach.  This could be really good news or really bad news.  But, judging by the timing of the call, a few weeks before production was scheduled to begin, she thought it must be good.

 “Ms. Redlin, I’m very pleased to let you know that we’ve selected you to be the host for the pilot episode of our ‘On The Road’ program. You’ll be spending a week with the Goo Goo Dolls!” She could tell by the nervous giggles on the other end that, yes, she was excited.

 “That’s great!  When do I go?” Gennie was perhaps a little overanxious.

 “In a few weeks.  The plan at the moment is for you to meet up with them at their Denver show on August 3^rd.  Does that work for you?” Amanda asked, thinking ‘she’d better say yes!’

 “OK, cool.” She tried to down play her enthusiasm.  She didn’t want to sound like a freak.

 “I want to tell you that you came highly recommended”

 “Yeah, I know you called my best friend.  I’m sure she had good things to say…she’d better have, anyway.” There was that nervous giggle again.

 Amanda laughed.  “There were lots of people that said great things about you, but that’s not who I’m talking about.  The guys, Robby and Johnny, they’re the ones that really wanted you!”

 “Excuse me?” This was a little strange.  From what she’d read, they weren’t supposed to have anything to do with the selection process.

 “Yeah, their choices were pretty different from we’d have picked, but since they will be spending the time with you, it makes sense, I guess.” Amanda realized that what she was saying might be taken as being rude. “That doesn’t mean that we don’t think you’ll be great!  We have and the band certainly has every confidence in you.  I just mean to say that, well, you read the information, we were looking for someone younger, with more experience in broadcasting, but I guess that just goes to show you, you don’t always know what’s best for you!   I personally really liked your plan of attack- the studying the interaction with the audience thing.  That should be interesting.  I wish more of our applicants had shown the same forethought as you. I’m glad you entered.  We’re really looking forward to working with you.”

 “That’s good to know.”

 She tried to start over again. “So anyway, the plan is that you’re leaving on August 3^rd from Denver and you’ll be through on the 9^th, and you’ll be leaving from Chicago.  You’ve seen the tour schedule, I take it?”

 “Uh huh.  We’re going through the Midwest then?”

 “Right, not a lot of new territory for you, I guess.  Let’s see, Denver, of course, Minneapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis and finally, Chicago.” 

 “Sounds good.” What else could she say? She had a million questions, but she didn’t know if this was the person to ask.  She quickly got her answer.

 “I’m sure that you have questions, so I’ll have Kevin, my assistant, get back to you in a few days, once we get the details ironed out. OK?” Amanda said, her brain switching gears and starting to think about dinner plans for this evening.

 “Sure.  Thanks, Ms. Payton.  I appreciate you, MTV, giving me this opportunity.  I’ll be talking to you soon.”

 “Alright, bye Genevieve.  Congratulations.”

 Gennie was numb.  She dropped into the nearest chair and sat staring into space for a moment.  When she finally collected herself, she did the first thing anyone would do under the circumstances; she jumped in the car and drove to see her best friend.

 She pounded heavily on the door.  She was pounding so hard; she thought her hands might penetrate the heavy oak door.  She could barely contain herself.  She was getting her phone out of her pocket to try calling, since she wasn’t getting an answer, but at last Josh came to the door and let her in.

 “Genevieve,” he said with genuine concern in his voice, “are you OK?”

 “Yeah, yeah, yeah!  Please tell me that Stace is home! I gotta talk to her!!”  She was jumping up and down by now.

 A knowing smile spread across Josh’s face.  He thought he probably knew what this was about. “She’s in the kitchen Gen. I’m sure she wants to talk to you, too.”

 Before she made it in there, Alex and Megan stopped her. 

 “Gennie, did you come to eat dinner at our house?”  They both ran toward her with outstretched arms, grabbing her as she bent down for a giant, three-person hug.

 Stacey was wiping her wet hands with a dishtowel as she walked toward the huddle of hugs, an enormous smile on her face.

 “I did it!  They picked me!” She squealed, her face framed from between two little blonde heads.  “I’m going on tour with the Goo Goo Dolls!”

 The kids broke away from their embrace, allowing Gennie to stand up. “Can we come too, Gen?” They asked.

 “It’s not the kind of things kids would like, guys.” Stacey laughed.

 “Maybe not Alex, but I like dolls, Mom!  Can I go?” Megan asked.

 “No, sweetie, The Goo Goo Dolls.  It’s a band Meggy, I’m going to a concert.  I’m going to lots of concerts, actually,” she realized.  “But I’ll only be gone for a week.  Then I’ll come back and show you pictures, and tell you all about it.  And you know what?  Some day they are going to make my trip into a TV show.  Maybe you can watch it then!”  Now that she had put that out there, she hoped it would be something the kids could actually watch.  It would be hard to back down from that promise now.

 “Gennie’s going to be on TV!” Alex shrieked.  “I wanna watch too, Mommy!”

 “We’ll see when the time comes, OK?  Now go wash your hands, it’s almost time to eat.”

 The kids ran off to the bathroom and Stacey finally had a chance to congratulate her friend with another huge hug.

 “See,” She exclaimed, practically gloating.  “I told you you had to do this.  I was right. I just had a feeling.”  She was almost as excited as Gennie. “I’m so happy for you! I know you’re going to have a fantastic, wonderful, unforgettable time!” she exclaimed as a happy tear rolled down her cheek.

 Just as Amanda had said, Gennie received another call a few days later. This time she spoke with Kevin who happily answered her abundant questions.  After setting up her air travel itinerary, he outlined the plan for her living arrangements.  She would be receiving her own hotel rooms, naturally, when they spent the night somewhere, but when they had overnight travel on the bus, she was stuck with them.  He said they’d arranged to set up a bunk for her, so she’d still have a little privacy- as much as a small curtain could afford anyway.  He told her about the two camera guys from MTV who would accompany her practically everywhere, except the bus- not only would their equipment be a tight fit there, they weren’t allowed on - at the Goo’s request. They would, however, allow Gennie to use the hand held camera, and MTV expected her to use it!  He laid out the basic rules of conduct to which they expected her, and everyone involved, to adhere.  There would be a lawyer contacting her tomorrow to sign the multitude of legal documents that an endeavor such as this required.  Finally, he told her to expect a phone call from the Goo’s people on Saturday.  They would be taking over from this point and would tell her about getting to and from the airports, etc.  He imagined she would have an extremely busy schedule and suggested that she take it easy for the next few days, before this whole circus began.  He congratulated her again, and wished her well before he ended the call.  This was all a little bit overwhelming to Gennie, but she was really looking forward to the experience.  The departure date was just a little over one week away.  Her mind turned to more practical concerns…what to pack!

The following day, Gennie sat at her desk reviewing the ratings figures for the station.  Her desk was cluttered with giant printouts and spreadsheets.  This was the same job she did every month, but this time, she had her mind more on her upcoming vacation, if you could call it that.  The phone rang somewhere under the mass of papers, startling her and in her nervous, giddy state it made her jump practically out of her chair.  It rang again, and she frantically pawed at the piles of paper in search of her phone.

 “This is Genevieve. May I help you?”

 “Ms. Redlin?  This is Bill Franklin. I’m an attorney here in Tulsa and I’ve been asked by the MTV group to review some contracts with you.  They said you would be expecting my call.”  He sounded as if he had a thousand other, more important things he would rather be doing than talking to Gennie.

 “Oh…yes, I knew you’d be calling.” She said with some trepidation. She didn’t like dealing with lawyers of any kind.  It had never been a good experience.  Frankly, she was a little surprised that he was making this call himself.

 “Will you have a chance to come by my office today, so I can go over this with you?  On your lunch hour would be fine.  I’ll be here.  It shouldn’t take long.”

 She was glad of that. “Sure.  Will 12:30 work?”

 “That should be fine.  I’ll tell my secretary to expect you.”

 He gave her directions to his office and got off the line.

 At the appointed time, she entered his office.  She knew this was no big deal, just a technicality, but still, law offices made her feel slightly sick to her stomach.  The receptionist welcomed her and showed her to Mr. Franklin’s office where she sat in front of his desk and waited for him to return from a brief meeting.  After a few minutes of nervous fidgeting on her part, he walked into the room.

  “Ms. Redlin, hello.” He had a broad smile as he shook her hand.  He wasn’t nearly the cold fish he sounded on the phone. “I’ve got the papers right here.  I just need to review these with you before you sign them.” He made his way behind his desk and took a seat.  Grabbing the papers and turning them to face her, he looked over the top of his reading glasses.  “Looks like you’re a very lucky lady.  This should be an experience for you!”

 She smiled demurely.  “I think it will be a great opportunity to study the band and their fans. I’ve always wondered what that life must be like.”

 “In a couple of weeks you’ll know more than you ever wanted to know about being a rock star.” He remarked with a little laugh that made it sound like he was a smoker.

 Gennie just smiled and nodded. “Mmm.”

 “Ok,” he stretched out his arms and pointed to the contract with his Montblanc pen. “Let’s get started.  First of all, I need to state that MTV, The Goo Goo Dolls, or Warner Brothers and their employees are not responsible for any accident or injury that you may encounter during your journey...” He went over the contract, ad nauseum and it was all the standard stuff.  She couldn’t sell photos or her story; she basically couldn’t use any part of the experience to make money.  She agreed not to harass or cause anguish of any kind to the band or their employees.  She was under legal obligation to film a minimum amount of footage on her hand held video camera, which by the way, she would be allowed to keep after the project was completed.  But because this was her camera, she did have certain rights under the law as to the content of what was on those tapes, she may, in certain circumstances, be able to keep MTV from airing parts of them, if she so desired.  ‘That was interesting,’ she thought. What did they think she was going to do?  She also would not have any say on what went in to the final TV broadcast, with the exception of her videotapes.  “So, you’d better not make a fool of yourself, because they can use that in their show.” He laughed the smokers laugh again. “Lastly,” another chuckle, “before I have you sign this, you have to agree not to…uh…you’ll love this word…molest the band or their employees in any way, physically, or otherwise.” He grinned. “Sorry about that.  My daughter says they’re ‘hotties’.” He did a big belly laugh at that one.  Gennie couldn’t help it; she let a laugh escape too.  Must have had something to do with this stuffed shirt calling anyone a ‘hottie’. She signed the papers and thanked him before she jumped in her car and returned to the mountain of paperwork that waited for her on her desk.

The phone rang early on Saturday morning. It stirred Gennie from her sleep.  She contemplated whether she should answer it or not.  Who would call this early?  As it rang again, she glanced at the clock- 8:37, it read.  Before it rang for a third time, she chose to answer figuring it must be Stacey wanting to make plans for the day.  Moms- why couldn’t they just let their child-free friends sleep in?

 “Yeah, hello?” she mumbled in a groggy tone.  She was still partially face down on the pillow.

 “I’m really sorry to wake you.  Is this Genevieve Redlin?” the deep, also rather sleepy, voice asked.

 “Uh huh.” She slowly sat up in bed. The voice was familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.

 “Hi!  I’m really sorry I called so early, but I figured, since I had the time…” he trailed off.  “Uh, this is Robby Takac.” He paused. “From the Goo Goo Dolls.” He still didn’t hear much on the other end.  He hoped she hadn’t fallen back asleep. “I hear you’re our lucky winner!”

 Upon waking up and realizing who she was speaking with, her eyelids sprung up like window shades.  Her immediate alertness reminded her of a cartoon character. “Hi!  I really wasn’t expecting to speak to you.  I thought it would be somebody else.”  She didn’t quite know what to say.  This was an odd call indeed.  So much for keeping rock star hours, huh?

 “Yeah, somebody else will probably be calling you about the business stuff later.  I just got your number and since I had a little time on my hands this morning…I’m calling about something else actually.  John and Mike and I were talking last night and we were thinking that if we’re gonna be spending so much time together, it would be nice if we were to at least meet you before hand, y’know.”

 “That’s probably a good idea.  What…well…when do you mean?” she stuttered, still a little sleepy, apparently.

 “You’re in Oklahoma, right?”

 “Uh huh”

  “Well, we’re in New Orleans, right now but we’re gonna be in Dallas in a few days.  That’s not too far for you, is it?  We were thinking we could get you in to the show and we’d get a chance to meet you before the big event.”

 “My friend and I already have tickets for that show actually. So I’m gonna be there.”  She was already excited.  This made it even better.

 “Cool!” He exclaimed eagerly. “How are your seats?  Cause, I’m thinking we may be able to do you one better.”

 “Gee, I don’ t know.” He didn’t expect her to know where she was sitting.  He was giving her better seats than she could have ever bought. She laughed at herself. “Uh, yeah, I think we might just take you up on that offer.”

 “Great.  Tell ya what.  Can you get there by around three?”

 “Oh, sure, I suppose.  I’ll check with Stacey.”

 “Well, if you can, we’ll have passes waiting for you.  You can come see the sound check and we can all meet you before the show. Sound good?”

 This was turning into a great conversation to wake up to.  She was glad she’d decided to answer. “That sounds groovy!” She said as she whacked herself on the forehead with the heel of her hand.  Groovy.  Who says groovy?  What a ridiculous word!  She was just glad he couldn’t see her turning forty-seven shades of red right now.

 Robby snickered.  He could tell he was going to like her.  No pretensions with this girl.  She had a way with words too.  In their conversation last night, the guys had discussed just what they should do with this goodwill gesture.  How far should they go?  Do they just meet her beforehand or let her backstage after, or what? They decided to offer her the passes to the sound check and choice seats and if Robby got a good feeling about it then he could extend the ultimate invitation: they would offer to get her and her friend a room at the same hotel so they could all go out on the town that night after the show. “I’ve got to get going, but before I go, I wanted to know if you and your friend, Stacey is it? If you’re available, we’d like to reserve a room at our hotel for you guys so that you can hang out with us after the show.  Y’know, after parties and stuff.  Then you won’t have to drive back or anything.”

 She wasn’t expecting this. But instead of thinking it bordered on creepy, which she might have otherwise thought under other circumstances, she decided to go for it. “Sure, why not,” she shrugged.  “I take it I can trust you with Stacey’s reputation...or is it the other way around?” She giggled; now she was just being plain silly.

 Robby let loose one of his loud fun loving laughs. “Alright, then we’re on.  Just get to the venue around three and see the person in the will call booth. We’ll see you after that! I gotta go now.  You get back to sleep.”  He hadn’t misjudged her at all.  He figured she’d be a pretty good fit.  He just had to tell Mike and John…whenever they woke up.

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