audience hears you perform in Nevada, they’re going to want to hear more as soon as they get home, and we need to be ready to give it to them.”
As always, Dagger’s logic was spot on, but he’s been in the music industry for decades and knew how it all worked. We all cheered at his suggestion to record. This part of the job didn’t sound like work. We’d all been eager for an opportunity to get into a recording studio and lay down some tracks using professional grade equipment rather than the crap we’d been using. From what Dagger was telling us, he was about to make yet another one of our dreams a reality.
How did I get this lucky to have crossed paths with the likes of Dagger Drummond?
I followed Mike and the guys to the bar down the street from the rehearsal studio with a handful of Dagger’s security guys in tow, and we ordered a pitcher of beer while we occupied a booth in the corner. The security detail hung out together nearby to keep eyes on fuck-knows-what while we got comfortable. I still didn’t see the need to have these guys following our every move, but who was I to second-guess something Dagger did.
Dallas was still working with the equipment at the studio and told me he’d meet me here once he was done, but I knew I’d have time to have at least one beer. Jeff and Potter started a game of pool at a table that had become vacant. Mike and I stayed behind at the booth to talk, which immediately put my spidey-senses on alert. I wondered if this was when Mike would have “the conversation” with me about Dallas. Then again, maybe now was a good time for me to tell Mike I was hooking up with Dallas.
“Hot date tonight?” Mike asked me while he took a gulp from his beer.
“Nah, just hanging out with Dallas,” I said as I tried to remain calm and ambivalent. “We’ll probably play a video game or something. How about you?”
“I’m meeting up with Passion later at her club,” Mike declared.
“Who?”
“The stripper from Cat Tails,” Mike explained like I should already know this information. “Her stage name is ‘Passion.’”
Of course it is. Insert eye roll.
“What is it with you and strippers lately?” I asked, making a sour face.
“Ummm, in case you haven’t noticed, strippers are fucking hot,” Mike said and chuckled lecherously.
“Well, I suppose it’s a step up from the randos who sucked you all off at the same time in back of the bar.”
“That was epic.” Mike laughed and slapped both his hands onto the top of the table where we were sitting.
“Epic? I’m glad I wasn’t there.”
Mike drank the rest of his beer and then refilled his mug with more. “Are you feeling better about our set now after practice today?”
“I am,” I admitted, “but playing the set here is nothing compared to what we’ll be facing in Nevada, and that’s what worries me.”
“What’s your biggest fear with the show?” Mike asked. “Are you afraid you’ll choke and forget the lyrics or fuck up the music? If that’s the case, I don’t think anyone will know if we miss a phrase or mess up the words. Our music is pretty much new to anyone who’ll be hearing it there.”
“Can I tell you something?” I asked him.
“Goes without saying, Fletch. We’re the best kind of brothers because we don’t share DNA,” Mike pointed out.
“Brothers by choice,” I added.
“Yeah, exactly, so tell me what’s on your mind,” Mike said and leaned across the table a bit.
“My biggest fear are large crowds.”
“Are you being serious right now?” Mike asked and I nodded.
“I see big crowds and I want to panic. It’s all I can do to talk myself off the ledge,” I explained. “Being stoned helps somewhat, but I don’t want to go on stage so baked I fuck up for that reason.”
“Why am I just now hearing about this?” Mike questioned with the lift of one brow, and I shrugged.
“It’s embarrassing to admit.”
“I think it would be more horrifying to see you have a full-blown panic attack on stage.”
“I see your point.”
“So, what’s your plan to counter this fear while we’re performing?” he asked. “Please tell me you have a plan for this because you know the audience for this event is going to be enormous.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” I said and rolled my eyes again.
“At least now that I know you have this issue,