Patsy Power Part 19

Peter laughed and said “There are no limits to this girl; I would not be surprised at anything she gets up to.” He went on “She wrote and produced that advert in two weeks at one tenth of the cost of my usual advertising people. The folk set was perfect for our launch of the new look dealership, yet I was blown away the other night by both halves of the concert. “

“She made me see what I was becoming, an old fuddy-duddy, at my own birthday party and now even my doctor greets me with a smile. Look around you Riordan, what do you see? There are lots of customers in my lot, talking to smartly dressed men and women salesmen. If you had been here only three weeks ago you would have seen a group of suited men, talking, mainly, to men. Our percentage of women customers has shot up since I hired a couple of female sales staff. Oh! There were a couple of hold-outs among the older sales staff but I bought them slacks and sports coats and they now mainly talk to men and have become our specialists in 4x4 and tradesman’s vehicles. The dealership sales are sliding upwards instead of downwards and even my supplier has taken notice; I have been visited by the owners of large dealerships from other cities. Patsy changes peoples’ lives for the better, where-ever she goes, and it is a joy to see. Now, before you go, there is a bunch of my mechanics who want you to sign a couple of posters.”

Before he went about his business I asked him about the Thunderbird and he told me it was on loan from the owner who was now driving a new loan sedan ‘with a fuel card we take care of’ and that there are often families who want to take selfies in front of it. We gathered up the others and walked into the workshop area to the sound of wolf whistles and cheers and we spent about twenty minutes signing. Before we left, the mechanics quickly got into a group and whistled the ear-worm riff from the advert as we laughed and walked back to the bus, having to sign some more pictures on the way. “That was different” Riordan said as we drove away. “Julia and I have been secretly supporting a chain of care homes for disadvantaged children over the past few years. Do you think that it would be possible to do an acoustic set for them when we are in cities where there are homes? I would never have asked Ashley as it was not her scene at all but, now I have been transformed by the ‘Patsy Pill’, I feel that it is time to be more open to things.” I said that it would be easy, it just needed organising and we would need to work out a set, with variations to allow for the age of the audience; all we would need is the time between concerts and a little time to rehearse.

As we were driving back towards the city I looked at my watch and saw that we had time to visit the nursing home if the others were up for it. I stood up and asked if everyone was good to see our ‘support crew’ and, getting a positive response, asked our driver to take us there. When I sat down Riordan looked at me and said “Support crew?” Joanne leaned over and said “Just wait until you meet them, no fan club has the clout that this lot have. I know that Jim will be happy to meet you.” “Jim” asked Riordan. “Yes, Jim Maxwell, a retired producer.” said Joanne. Riordan looked a bit stunned and said “Jim Maxwell was nearing the end of his career when I was a little girl; he produced records for some of the best bands of the time and it’s the music of my childhood.” She was humming old songs and tapping her fingers by the time we pulled up outside the nursing home. It looked like an invasion as we walked through the doors and Kay called out “They’re in the day room, Patsy, I think they will all be happy to see you all.”

As we walked into the dayroom I called out “Hello everyone, we can’t stop long because we need to be back at the theatre for a sound check but I’ve brought “Amazon’ to meet you.” There was an immediate hubbub and Jim stood up and came to shake Riordans hand saying “It’s a pleasure to meet you” when he was grabbed by her in a big hug as she said “No, Mr Maxwell, it is an honour to meet you. You produced the music that made me what I am today!” Everyone mingled and I went over to my ‘Aunt Ruby’ and asked her how she enjoyed the concert. She said that the first half was even a bit better than the previous concert she had seen but she was amazed by the second, seeing a band she had admired years ago with me on guitar and Nina out front. “And you were so much better than I remembered!” she said as she hugged me. I told her that this was a quick visit and that we may be busy Saturday and that Sunday we needed to be in Atlanta for a dance show. She said “Don’t worry about me, Patsy; it is a pleasure being here now with this lively lot; just look at them now. You brought this to me and I thank you for it.”

I looked around and saw Jim and Riordan in a deep conversation; Julie was talking to a guy that I knew had played keyboards; VB, Max and Kevin were in a conversation with a couple of drummers while Carl, Jake, Dan and Kurt were chatting with some old guitarists and Boss and Paul were chatting to a bass player of renown. The Innocent girls had a group of ladies around them and the room was buzzing. As I looked I was reminded of Carls’ comment about serendipity and thought of the few words I had come up with and had a sudden vision of us, in acoustic mode, as a whole group singing words about chance and luck and good fortune being the result of good works to a bunch of disadvantaged children. That will need some work and input from both Minh and Riordan when we have the time.

On the way back to the theatre Riordan said “Do you know that Jim calls you his ‘Angel of joy’? He is such a lovely man and I am going to have to ring my mother today and tell her I have met him, as well as the ‘support group’. Jim says they will take us under their wing now. He told me that a friend of his from Baltimore had told him to leave after the first half of the concert as he would be disappointed if he stayed but he said that with a dose of ‘Patsy Pills’ he thought that we would be OK by the time we got here. That would sound strange if I had been told that a month ago but now it feels normal.”

We got back to the theatre as the caterers arrived so we sat about in the stalls and ate and chatted. I asked Angela to find out if there were any of the care homes in cities we were going to and told her we may be able to do a short acoustic set at them, or at a nearby hall. She went over to Riordan and got the information about the homes and the person that Riordan was dealing with in New York. After our lunch was cleared away we got up on stage and the ‘Party’ kitted up and we ran through our set. Afterwards I asked Carl if we could do the record version of ‘Dancefloor’ so I changed guitar for the SG and we did that at a moderate level set by the mixer control. Then I kept the SG on and ‘Amazon’ got kitted out and we did the full set with the new song at the end. Riordan suggested that we keep ‘Dancefloor’ as an encore as it was closer to the ‘Amazon’ tempo and would be a good link between halves so we got together and made sure everyone had the same list. We went back to the hotel for a light dinner and salon session and came back to the theatre to wow the audience again with both halves. Everyone was happy.

Saturday morning saw us sitting at long tables in the music store signing posters and photos and even a few guitars. Everyone was very supportive of Riordan and her band and she had a good time. Pierre said to me that his profit margin on Patsy Picks had boosted his bottom line. I asked him if he could put together a set of equipment similar to the caryard set for shipment to use in charity shows at care homes and he readily agreed. I told him that Angela or I would get back to him with the exact set-up needed and the venues when we put something together. I told him it was to be purely an ‘Amazon’ inspired show if and when it happened. He gave me a hug and said “You are such a good person, I am sure there is as much of you in this as the others.”

Part 20

We did, indeed, have a matinee to perform on Saturday afternoon so we left the music store and went straight to the theatre. I asked Angela if she knew how our double disc DVD was going, seeing it was to be released at the beginning of the week. She told me that the stand in the foyer had sold enough to put it into the top ten if she could wangle a way to get them to add the figures but, without them, it was already showing in the top fifty. She said that our other live DVD was still selling well but the figures for the new one seemed to be on a steeper curve. The album had stayed in the top three for a few weeks and was steady.

We did the afternoon show to a nearly full house without problems and went back to the hotel to have dinner and freshen up. Sitting at our dinner we were joined by Jock Watson, the promoters’ representative who thanked us for saving the tour. He said he had flown in this afternoon and would see the new look tour for the first time tonight. We had a quick tidy up in the hotel salon and made our way to the theatre for our final night in Nashville. I must say that it was a blast! We did our full set with the ‘Dancefloor’ addition as an encore and then the rest of the ‘Party’ went off to change and mingle while Nina and I went to do our change. I must say that being in a legendary band so suddenly was getting to me. I, like Nina, had to stop and force myself to breathe slowly. We got into our outfits and hugged each other before joining the rest of the band in the wings. We put on all our kit and went to take our starting places.

Once again I heard the growing buzz of the audience as it got closer to start time. We had decided on a teaser based on the delay in the earlier show so just on time Kurt played the base notes of the first song. The sound on the other side of the curtain grew and he then played it a second time and it became a roar as he played it a third time as the curtains opened and I followed him in with the lead riff. The set went brilliantly; we all moved about the stage so that there was someone close to each side during the songs and, in the final number, we did our line across the stage.

The roar from the crowd was amazing and then there came the stamping of feet to signify the need for another. Riordan held up her arms for quiet and thanked Nashville for being so good to us and that she hoped they would see ‘Amazon’ again in the future. She then said “Nashville has given me back something that had been missing in my life of late. Here, in this town, I have regained my faith in humanity and the joy that having friends around can bring. Thank you, Nashville! Here is a track from the next ‘Amazon’ album”. She turned and nodded to us and we did the new number as the encore. Finishing to an even louder roar as we took out bows until the curtain closed. I was a bit weepy when I got off the stage; must be those damned hormones starting to work! But, when I looked, Julia, Nina and Riordan were as well. I didn’t have to look at VB and Kurt as it is a well-known fact that bass players and drummers never cry.

After we got changed we met up with the others in the foyer where an after show party had been arranged. Everyone was laughing and joking and it suddenly occurred to me that we had not worn our blue armbands since the first show and no-one had noticed. Vale Ashley, indeed. Jock got beside Riordan and me as we walked in and was effusive in his praise. He said there would be a multi-city ‘Amazon’ tour as soon as he could fix it and, this time, he thought it may go international as bootleg clips from the early Nashville performances had gone viral on the internet. After he left, Chris caught up with us. He said that the footage so far had gone well and that the documentary will be fantastic when it went to air. Riordan said “Documentary?” He explained that he had been contracted by Sarah to make a documentary on the birth and rise of the ‘Innocent Party’ and was responsible for the two disc DVD that was for sale this week of “Live at the Athenaeum” He told Riordan to hold for a moment and he went to the stand and grabbed one.

Coming back, he gave it to her and said “This was shot here a few weeks ago. Patsy did two shows and we took the first half of the first, which is basically the pop show you see today, and the second disc is the second half of the second show, which is dance. It was shot with multiple cameras and the audio is a sixteen track digital recording plus an effects mic for crowd noise. Riordan looked at the cover artwork and said “It’s a pity you couldn’t do that for these shows”. I smiled as I knew what was coming. He said “Who says we haven’t”. She said that she had not seen any cameramen and there certainly weren’t tape decks by the mixing desk. “Ah”, he said “that’s because our cameramen are using state-of-the-art small digital cameras with small leads to waist-mounted battery packs and” as he said this he pulled a portable hard drive out of his jacket pocket, “all of the sound is here.”

Riordan still looked a bit bothered. “Run it past me in a bit more detail. You have been recording the first half of the show every day we have played in Nashville?” He replied, “No, we have recorded every half of every show since you started the tour. The audio is tapped straight off the mixer and the hard drive is in a small box under the desk. Your audio guy has never mentioned seeing it. Our guys have attended every show and even some sound checks and practice sessions. They don’t move about much at those sessions so you wouldn’t bother with them. We also do not need guys with cameras on stage because you carry them yourselves. All of the guitars supplied by the music store have a pinhole camera mounted in the body above the fretboard and we can get odd shots from the stage or across the stage as you move about. It may only be a few seconds at a time with a good picture but that’s all that is needed to give the atmosphere. After we have culled out sufficient concert footage we will only need members of the band talking in a casual interview to make the documentary. I expect this would be in two parts of about an hour each and will make great TV."

Riordan put her hand on his shoulder and said in a firm voice “Now, can you tell me you have Ashley’s last shows in multi shot format and sixteen track audio?” He said “Yes, of course but I wouldn’t use it without permission.” She then said “OK, second question. You have similar footage of our shows here?” “Yes’ he said, ‘even the session when you trialled Nina and Patsy; you were going through the mixer at that time as well. It is intended to film and record every show in every city and to be at some of the outside events, such as the music store today. With digital it does not take a lot of space to save a lot of data; this would have been impossibly expensive in the old days or even a couple of years ago.” Riordan put her hands on both his shoulders and said “Now you listen to me and you listen well. Ashley may have been a bitch but she was a friend for a long time and a good singer in her day. I am now owner of the rights to our previous work now that Ashley is dead“.

“ If I give you written permission to use old material as well as any material that you have recorded or will record on this tour; will you make me a documentary; maybe called ‘Death of a legendary singer, rebirth of a legendary band’ tracing her and Georgina’s career with ‘Amazon’ and with footage of her final show. I am sure that part will be hard to watch; it was hard to watch on stage. Perhaps part two could start with that trial session and have footage of us all during the rest of the tour. I think that we will provide some good stuff for you over the next few weeks. I will, with Simons’ permission, give you the go-ahead for an ‘Amazon’ Live’ DVD to be released later in the year. I also have private footage from years ago on 8mm. I will give you everything of mine and there is even some of Ashley’s’ own collection because she sold it to me once to pay her drug supplier. I will pay any extra that you may incur in costs but it must, and I repeat, must, be a documentary about a great singers slide into death through drug use and to emphasise that the current band is, and always has been, clean. What do you say?” Of course, he had to say yes, please.

Marianne G 2020