Positively Patsy Part 45

I settled into a life of being a song writer and business woman. The partnership in K Beat meant that Joanne and I were in there on a regular basis, taking care of administration and even backing new singers with Jake and the boys. Alice looked after every day things very well.

The music store was doing well and we were working hard to fine tune our on-line sales. Unfortunately, the Memphis project did not pan out. One good thing was that I was offered a price for my motel chain by one of the majors in that business and sold them for a handsome profit. I used the money to buy out the tenants on three of the supermarkets that I was already the landlord for and rebranded them as ‘Patsymarts’, doing great deals with the suppliers. They took a few days to get repainted and spruced up and I made sure that we had the best computer control and point of sale that was on the market. They did so well that the tenants of the other three supermarkets, where I was the landlord, negotiated a deal to become ‘Patsymarts’ as well, as long as I paid for the upgrade. Part of the deal was that I became a minority partner in their businesses as well.

With all of this happening it wasn’t long before we started to get invitations to municipal events and also some put on by the other business organisations. I usually chatted with Peter and his wife at those and resisted being drawn into the inner circles. I was, however, asked by the councilman from my district to accompany him in his official party when he took part in the opening of the State Fair in September. He made sure that we were seen together and that the reporters got some pictures. I was a bit intrigued about his intentions. He also took this opportunity to cajole me into becoming a registered voter. This, as far as everyone else was concerned, put me into the circles of power and I was also asked to have a stall, with our bakeries, at the Cultural Festival in October where the Mayoral party dropped by for cakes and a chat, getting our photo in the paper again.

Also in October, Roger asked us to sit with him at the annual Festival of Books where he had a stall selling his books on the various bands. Joanne and I signed a lot, under his signature, especially the ‘Amazon’ ones with the DVD. The year came to a head in November with the Country Music Association Awards. K Beat won an award for contribution to the Nashville Industry and Alice, Joanne and I were again photographed with the mayor and other dignitaries. In the Christmas period we joined the choir in singing at various homes and hospitals and so 2019 came to an end. Joanne and I had a very quiet holiday at home and toasted each other to bring in 2020. Little did we know what was in store!

It started out well as Shantel won an award at the Grammies with an album of mainly my songs and she gave me a good mention in her acceptance speech. Also, early in January, my district councilman asked if he could ‘pop in for a chat’. Well, that turned out to be a delegation that included his campaign manager and our local congressman. The pitch was that he needed to retire due to health problems and they made a good argument for me to run as his replacement. I had the image and the proven managerial background from my shows. The fact that I was a Grammy winner as well as having an OBE was sure to get the voters out. After consulting Joanne I agreed and he announced his resignation the next day with the election in late February.

It really was not much a contest, with my being able to get some Nashville stars to open my campaign rallies it was a certainty and I won in a landslide. The politicians were very happy but became less so when they found out I was not some bimbo who followed party orders. I stood up for my district at the Metro-Nashville meetings and was able to win more arguments than I lost. However, it all went up in the air come the middle of March.

As the virus was spreading around the world I could see that we were not going to be bypassed and so sat down with Alice, Joanne and Minh to nut out some plans. We decided that we would work towards closing the studios for as long as it took and made sure that all our artists knew that live shows were likely to be banned. Minh moved out to the ranch and I got Chris in to set us up with camera and audio feed to the web so that Minh could continue to run her ‘Songs from Mouseland’ TV show. I suppose that Joanne and I would need to be in the cast now. Jake was caught in the UK working with Greg on a new blues album. That would be interesting as he and Peggy had been circling each other for a couple of years.

I also organised the best screen protection I could for the Patsymarts and made sure they had lots of sanitiser. I organised a daily delivery of essentials for us which they could leave at the gate. We got two of our security guys to move in to bedrooms in the house so we had 24 hour coverage and, lastly, we got Mary to come back from her apartment in the city and we put one of the other girls in charge of the office. I was sure that we would need someone there every day to ensure that the Patsymart and Meyer Music Store bills got paid, at least. As things got worse we needed to move all of the café/bakeries over to take-away only and close the music store, keeping the whole crew on the books to handle the on-line orders and enquiries.

The car yards went to a minimum staff and I suspended any lease payments to allow them to operate. In England I made sure that Jake, Greg and Peggy were all right and that the charity continued to pay the school manager, even though we were unlikely to have any students for some time. I spent a lot of time on the computer, discussing city business with my people and getting the latest news. We were able to get a link with the other TV show members and the ‘Songs From Mouseland’ continued seamlessly with the station getting a recording every week.

I had to go out at times to carry out city business and they always sent a limo for me that smelled of recent disinfectant. It was sad to see the streets so empty. This changed when the White House fermented revolution with the ‘Free the States’ tweets. We all had to pull strings for our police and fire crews to have proper personal protection but we did manage to keep things under control, unlike a couple of other states. By the middle of May we had a bit under a quarter of the cases in the state but only fifteen percent of the deaths, due, in part, in our having one of the highest concentration of health companies in the country. When I heard about covid parties where people got together to try and get infected I almost broke down. There was certainly no vaccination against stupidity.

The papers were now full of the presidential election. I thought it didn’t matter which old man won as they had no idea of how to run the new world they lived in and would find themselves side-lined by the events. All in all, it was not the finest hours in the history of the country.

Eventually it all played out and things got back to something like normal. Well, if you consider normal to be having memorial services for a lot of people once we could get back to having crowds. Big concerts, political rallies and even big congregations were still out but most of the shops opened up, if a bit leaner and meaner. We were able to get the Patsymarts working as usual and there were still two girls available for our office. Mary moved back into her apartment and Minh went back to the house, but not before getting Chris to duplicate the video feed system in the studio there.

The car yards were mainly open for repairs and servicing but we did sell a few cars. Neither yard had the full crew back as some had been victim of the virus and we didn’t move to replace those we had lost. We opened up K Beat and spent a lot of time recording new songs that our artists had written while they were at home. Our record sales were huge in the second quarter of 2021 so we managed to offset a lot our losses. I was sorry that I just did not have the spare time or the impetus to write much myself, and what I did write I destroyed as being too dark.

I did have some very dark feelings at a memorial service for ten members of our ‘support crew’ from the nursing home. Fortunately Roger and Jim were still there but some of the staff, including Kay, had been very ill but recovered. Jake and Peggy finally tied the knot in England with a small and intimate ceremony which we watched on the computer feed, Joanne and I both cried with happiness for them.

Part 46

My own second half of the year had been taken up in city business and I don’t know how I would have coped without Joannes’ help. We had a city to get back into order and there were many meetings and visits to large companies to ensure that they continued to stay with us. One of the highlights of this period was that, while I was in talks with the Nissan Company, I was asked if I wanted to take on a dealership where the owner had been a virus victim. They offered a very good deal and it was too good to pass up so we became the owner of yet another car yard. One positive, or so the boys thought, was that we now had a company box at the Nissan Stadium and they would take every chance they could to see the Titans once they got back playing. I can’t say that I was interested but was able to use it to further my political end.

The politics was getting interesting as I was invited to sit on several committees and learned a lot about the machinations of government. The more I learned, the more I became aware of the good that I could do if I had the right moves. I made sure that I kept in the good books of our higher level politicians, attending several parties with Joanne. By now I was being taken more seriously with my suggestions and I made sure I allowed those above me to get the credit they needed, so building up an impressive bank of favours.

I had made sure that Joanne had been included in all things that she could be, and this came to a head in 2022. There was a meeting of the main players in the state and I was asked to run as Vice-mayor at the upcoming election and they offered Joanne my council seat. I think that the innocent concept of the band name died that day as we both took the carrot being offered. It was, yet again, pretty much a non-contest as we were inundated by offers from the industry to open our small rallies. It helped that the Rock and Roll Marathon race took place in April and we could put together a team of Patsy Pacers in very garish colours that did quite well, with Joanne and I welcoming them at the finish.

Another festival that restarted that April was the Rites of Spring Music Festival. This was mainly towards the more classical music but we were able to put together a cast to perform one of the acts from my ‘Drake and Reece’ opera and I did several shows singing cabaret with Joanne on piano. Lots of column inches and photos in the news were good results. We both won the election and so I became the Vice-Mayor with Joanne as a district council-woman. The one thing that came out of this was that the Vice-Mayor chairs the council meetings and the usual rowdy antics became serious and productive meetings under my guidance.

One of the meetings I had with the upper levels of the party was with our Senator and the party leader who told me that I should set myself to run for president in 2028 or 2032, when I would be a better age and we would be a long way from the ridiculous events of 2020. I pointed out that I did not have that kind of money but was assured that, should I run, there would be a big team behind me. It certainly gave us food for thought but it was only just a thought as my own history would not stand up to proper scrutiny. Still, “Patsy for President” does have a nice ring to it!

But first, now we can travel freely again, there’s a christening to attend in the Cotswolds.

The end of Book 3.

I have started to write Book 4, Potent Patsy, but it is a bit of a grind and will probably not see light of day until later in 2021.

Marianne G 2020