Positively Patsy Part 31

After we had all gone down to the dressing rooms and change back into normal clothes, Lucy took charge of the stage gear for cleaning and transporting to New York. I went to see each of our stars and told them that we would get together in a week Friday at their hotel in New York and to enjoy their break. I told them to watch the Seattle show on the weekend as it was a bit different.

We let the Nashville choir go home with their families, carrying their make-up cases and the Cotswolds choir was in for a treat as we had organised a trip to Disney World for a few days, followed by some more time in Los Angeles. Greg and Peggy were heading back to the Manor for a few days for him to get his breath back and I warned him to be at the hotel in New York on the Friday or I would come and find him this time. Out in the foyer we mingled with our guests. The TV guys were now happy and their sound and light guys were comparing notes and making a plan of camera positions. Simon told me that there would be several requests for more shows in the future and I told him I would think about it. He said he had come to an agreement with Roger over the book and that I would have to go on a signing tour when it comes out. He also told me that the TV guys had asked who the producer and director was and he had told them it was my show from start to finish.

They also wanted me to go to New York to record some comments about why the Seattle show was different. I said to tell them that I would get Chris to film me in Nashville and we would send it to them, just email the questions. If they did it quickly I would do it tomorrow as I was going with the Cotswolds choir to Disney World. Finally the headmaster of the Nashville High School collared me and told me how wonderful the show was and how much I had given his choir in training and exposure. He said it would put the school on the map and it was a pity I had not attended it. I nearly burst out laughing as I had, indeed, gone there as Patrick and that he was my maths teacher at the time. I stifled my giggles and turned them into a big smile and I told him it would have been a pleasure to attend such a forward looking establishment.

As he left the Mayor came up to me and told me that I would get something in the post regarding a citation from the city as I was bringing so many good vibrations. I saw Simon talking to the TV guys as I left and he gave me a thumbs-up so I went up the stairs to Chris and asked him to come out to the ranch tomorrow with a camera and sound man as we needed to film additions to the show that was to be played next Saturday night.

Those of us staying at the ranch went home. I was worn out. That night Joanne made me a hot drink and gave me a cuddle as I calmed down. After a good nights sleep I checked my emails and printed off the list of questions the TV guys wanted answered and, when Chris turned up, we went into the studio to record the clips. Knowing how the show went I could give the answers required, with a bit of extra insight into the situation. I gave Chris the email address to send the clips to and thanked him for his help and asked if he was out of pocket. He said that having a copy of last nights show was reward on its own as it was gold for twenty years in the future.

That sorted, we saw Greg and Peggy off to the UK and Riordan, Nina and Julia left for New York. We packed our bags and left Mary to look after the ranch and went to the hotel and pick up the choir and choir master. Our security man drove us in my SUV and we waved him off when we got to the hotel. We had a bus take us to the airport and we flew down to Florida. At Orlando airport we had a bus take us directly to the hotel at Disney World and gave out the two day passes, warning them that too many hot dogs would mean they couldn’t get into their stage dresses or suits.

After a great time that tired them all out we flew to Los Angeles and a visit to see Lorraine at the studio. She had organised a tour and a social gathering and we had a lot of fun. The choir was awed by the TV and film stars they met and they knew Lorraine from her first film but had not realised that she was one of our original band. All the girls were a bit fluttery at meeting Burt Jackson but he spoiled his image by backing into a barbeque to put a mark across the back of his pants. I said we had to call him Burnt Jackson from now on and there was much giggling. A lot of pictures were taken and I saw some of the stars give choir members a hug and thought that it would be a wonderful memory to take back to Oxford. We took a tour of the sights and went to one of the shows on at the time and then we all flew directly to New York on the Wednesday to be bussed to our hotel.

I called Simon to say we had arrived and that both choirs were back together. He asked me if I had seen the Seattle show on TV and I had to admit that I was too busy having fun. He said that the ratings were through the roof and that the clips I had done really gave an insight into life on the road. He told me he would bring the clippings when he saw me next. I told the choirs that night at dinner that Thursday they were going to be immortalised as models. I said that we would be all day at the premises of L’Estrange and there would be a photo shoot for the Fall and Winter collection. I added that the payments for modelling would be paid into the choir account and not to be surprised at the amount. I told the girls not to wear any make-up as it would all be done for them.

We went to the premises of L’Estrange Fashions and Beauty in our bus and when we arrived, Maxine ushered everyone in to the big studio, where Alexi was waiting with his crew. Meg had a crew for the dressing and Ann was there with her team of make-up artists so the choir was quickly sorted into groups. As there were only eight boys, they had their own group and were taken off to the dressing rooms by Meg. There were the sixteen girls then to sort into three separate groups, one of the taller blondes, one of the taller brunettes a, one of everyone else. They were taken to three of the cutting rooms that had been converted to dressing rooms. Alexi had a strict listing of the clothes that were to be photographed and it was up to the dressers to choose the models so it wasn’t long before the first few came back in Fall get-up.

I knew now why the air conditioning was set a bit cool as I would have hated to be modelling fall and winter clothes in the middle of summer. As that group finished, another arrived and Alexi was in constant motion until lunch time when everyone had a catered lunch, standing around in whatever they were wearing at the time. Maxine then told me that it was our turn so Joanne and I were taken off to be made beautiful and dressed in the height of cool weather evening wear. We were fitted in between the other sessions and must have changed a dozen times. I could see some of the choir looking a bit tired and mentioned it to Maxine, who assured me that there was just one session to go. At the end of it they were told that they had handled themselves like professional models and that everyone could choose one outfit they had worn to take away with them.

As they went off to pick their clothes, Maxine told me that it looked like it would be a very impressive catalogue. She wondered whether we could all get together in January to do the Spring and Summer shoot and I told her I would ask the choir masters but to make sure it was somewhere warm. She said she was thinking about a shoot in Australia.

We finally got the excited singers into the bus with their clothes on hangers in garment bags and took them back to the hotel where, after allowing a half an hour for freshening up, had a dinner with Riordan, Nina and Julia joining us. I told them that we would be doing a morning of sight-seeing and would go out to the stadium in mid-afternoon to have a look only. I knew that we would have to treat a few cases of the jitters when the choir saw the huge stadium so I got the band members together to warn them to look out for signs the next day and to make sure to say that, just as two thousand people loved them in Nashville, the audience here will love them as well. I didn’t say that the expected TV audience was predicted to be about a hundred million.

Part 32
Next morning we got our bus and went for a cruise around New York, with a stop at Coney Island for a hot dog and burger lunch. We then meandered our way to the stadium, arriving at about three pm. We took them through the main entry and walked through the vendors sites being set up, many greeting us warmly and some giving the choir little keepsakes. There was my crew from the music store setting up our stand and I noticed our favourite car company had a couple of cars on revolving platforms. There were a few stalls selling posters and the choir were amazed at seeing themselves being displayed.

There were also stalls with the different CD’s and DVD’s on. I explained to the choirmasters that the stock was purchased from our distributors and there will be a percentage being paid into their choir accounts. The English one said that as we had paid for their whole time in hotels and Disney World, airfares and everything else, how could we afford it and pay the choirs as well. I just said “When I take you up on to the stage you will see the auditorium; just try to work out what the ticket sales here will be at around a hundred and fifty dollars a seat; and remember we sold out last week.”

We finally got around to the dressing rooms where Lucy was already setting up the stage clothing on racks and the beauticians were setting up their make-up tables. One of the Cotswolds girls said “Back home my mother didn’t like me wearing make-up. She is sure to get a shock when I step off the plane.” The stage here was quite wide so we had set it up so there was a decent wing each side that was out of sight of the audience. We had put a couple of porta-loos each side to take care of on stage jitters. There was also a set of steps either side so we split the choir into the grouping they would be for the later sets and I led one group up the right hand side and Joanne led a group up the left.

When we walked them out to the centre of the stage there were audible gasps from the choir. I saw one girl turn white and quickly went over and gave her a hug and got her to sit on the floor with her head down for a few minutes. I could see a couple of others in the same situation so told them sternly to sit. When they were all feeling better I told them to stay as they were for a little while longer and went to the front of the group and asked for their attention. I said “I know this is a bit of a shock as we have never told you the size of the audience tomorrow night to keep you from worrying. This is the situation; you sang to two thousand in Nashville and they all loved you. Tomorrow night you will sing your hearts out to sixty thousand and they will all love you as well.”

“One of the things that someone said to me early in my career was that the people out there have paid good money to come and hear you sing. It is your responsibility to give them the best you can. We will have more wattage behind us as it is a very big room so tomorrow I will supply everyone with genuine rock and roller ear buds. This is all a big step for you all and it will give you something to talk about for years to come. I bet you will annoy the hell out of your children and grandchildren with it – you first big gig.”

“Now, tomorrow morning is free time to catch up with your families at home; the hotel wi-fi has a special code which is A1CHOIRS for you to use so you can call who-ever you want. We will have a good lunch and come here to dress and get made up before doing a full show as a sound check so that the camera, sound and lighting people can get their settings and cues. Tomorrow night is a one and only event so we want it to be as good as we can for those punters out there. Does everyone understand that?’

They all said yes so I added “one of the effects of playing to a crowd this size is that they get so excited it tends to get you excited too. Don’t be afraid of it as it has happened to the rest of us more than once. Because of this I want you all to pack an extra pair of panties and I will hand out pads for everyone tomorrow with the buds. I know that tomorrow will be very different to anything you have ever experienced but you have been magnificent up to now and I know that none of you will falter tomorrow.”

With that we left the stage and went back to our bus and then to the hotel for dinner. The rest of the show having arrived while we were out, it was a big group that sat down that night. Simon arrived with a file of clippings from last Saturday’s show about Seattle and it was generally written up as a great piece of rock and roll history and a real insight into the inner workings when something goes wrong. One bright spark had delved into the archives and discovered that no-one had noticed anything different at the time. Didn’t he realise that this was the whole point!

Simon told the assembly that the ticket sales had maxed out and the forward sales of the TV show to international interests had been strong, so each choir, each star and each band members will get a bonus into their accounts. He also mentioned about Rogers’ book and our plan to sell it with a DVD of tomorrow nights’ show and that there would be payments for that and any record sales going our way in the future.

Shantel spoke up and said that she had come into the event because of the picture I had painted and that she was not close to being disappointed with what had transpired. She said that she had learned a lot of things about herself that will stay with her forever so the show will just be the icing on the cake. Yolande said that when she went home for a break last week she was constantly being looked at strangely by her friends as she had mellowed so much they thought that she was taking something. Barbreeza took that up and said that her partner had searched her bags to try and find out what was making her so happy. We told everyone to get an early night and to have a long bath before going to bed to relax the stress and I told them I would see them all at breakfast, ready to conquer the world!

Next day, after breakfast, I was sitting in the lounge, reading a paper, when Simon came in to talk to me. He told me that all the preparation at the stadium was complete and just needed the sound check to finalise things. I told him that we will be doing the whole show in the afternoon so the settings can be made then. He said he would tell the TV guys as they would want to film the whole thing first in case of an unexpected power cut or something. He then told me that one thing he didn’t mention last night was that, as I was director and producer of the show, I would be getting a personal bonus. I protested that all I did was to try and make everything work and he said that, if it wasn’t for me, none of it would have happened.

He asked me about my future thoughts and I said that I just had to get past tonight first. Then I said that with the charity and a couple more ‘Angels of Joy’ albums, plus my time with the music store and any other commercial ventures, it would not leave a lot of time for much else except song writing, my first love. He told me that all five of our lady stars wanted me to write songs for them as they thought I had a magic touch. Also that the TV guys were thinking into the future and saw a stage show along the lines of Andrew Lloyd Webber, as long as I wrote and produced it! I sat up and exclaimed “What!!” He nodded and said it was true, they wanted to fund a show like ‘Cats’ or ‘Phantom’ and all I needed to do was think of a story and about twenty songs. They considered it nothing for a girl of my talents.

I was staggered and almost fell out of my chair but pulled myself together enough to answer “A young girl from the choir called me ‘Wonder Woman’ a while ago but I don’t think that I have developed into ‘Miss Miracles’ just yet. That concept is just too far away from reality.”

When he left I sat there with the paper now forgotten and called the waiter for a fresh coffee. As I thought about what he had said I was firstly about to laugh it off but then I thought that I already had a story to tell. I could do something about my ancestor, Richard Reece, and his adventures with Drake. I knew we could borrow items from the British Museum – swords, armour, costumes – or, at least have access to them so we could make genuine copies that were lightweight enough to wear on stage. There were also lots of larger gold artefacts that we could copy to make authentic stage props. The man was a genuine privateer who had never had his story written up in the history books. This meant that I could, if needed, make up stories, with songs, that would never be questioned. The more I thought about it, the more I warmed to it.

Damn that Simon and send all the TV executives to the gangplank!!

Marianne G 2020