“Assuming that happens,” Obie said.
“I think it’s a pretty good assumption that they’ll go Platinum at the very least,” Jake said. “Have some faith in me.”
“That I do have,” Obie assured him. “You’ve proven yourself time and time again.”
“I have faith as well,” Pauline said. “And it’s a good thing. No other record company would have signed them with the numbers we have. At their fifteen percent royalty rate and with all the money we’ve spent on them so far, they need to sell at least eight hundred and fifty thousand CDs before KVA is in the black on them.”
“Even more if we finance half a tour,” Jake added. “But I believe it will happen. They’re good solid musicians who put out good solid tunes.”
“I agree,” Nerdly said. “I’ve been working with them while Jake and Laura were traveling. Their music is commercially viable in the alternative rock music genre and will be radio friendly when properly mixed and mastered.”
“Damn right,” Jake said. “They’ll be hitting the studio on February 1. I’ll get them up to Oregon and tucked into the house on January 27th so they’ll have a few days to acclimate. Obie has our usual team assigned to the project and we have unlimited use of Studio 1 through April 1 for the actual recording and through May 1 for the mixing and mastering.”
“For my usual fee and royalty rate,” Obie added helpfully.
“Right,” Jake said. “Your usual fee and royalties.”
“Okay then,” Pauline said. “It sounds like we have our plan well in hand for Lighthouse ... uh ... sorry, V-tach.”
“If that’s the name they settle on,” Jake said.
“Right,” she said. “Now, how about we circle back to what we were originally talking about: Brainwash II?”
“Sounds good,” Jake said. “Aristocrat agreed to terms offered. Did they say when they can have songs on the radio and CDs on shelves?”
“Songs on the radio by spring break,” Pauline said. “CDs on shelves by April 22. They are also interested in financing a US and Canada tour if the CD goes Gold by June 15.”
Jake shook his head in disgust. “They want to finance a tour? The same people who have claimed since the beginning that Brainwash could never make it because they’re not attractive enough?”
“That’s right,” Pauline said. “Market value ticket pricing is a game changer for the industry. Now there’s profit to be made by sending a band out on the road to tour. They figure that with one multi-platinum CD under their belt and with another breaking Gold and getting favorable saturation airplay, people will pay for those hundred-dollar tickets to see Brainwash live no matter what they look like.”
“Maybe y’all could send them out with these heart attack people?” Obie suggested. “Have your new band open for your old band?”
“That’s actually a pretty good idea,” Pauline said. “Something that bears thinking about.”
“Let’s see how things go when the CD is released,” Jake said. Though he had not told anyone this, he was not as fond of the second Brainwash CD as he had been of the first. The tunes were solid and the Nerdlys had done a good job on them, but when Jake had heard the master for the first time he felt some doubt. The tunes were over-engineered to some degree; the victim of his absence in most of the recording process. Without him there to temper them, the Nerdlys had gone hog-wild and tried to create a musical masterpiece instead of simply making good music that would appeal to a mass audience.
“Well ... obviously,” Pauline said. “Still, it wouldn’t hurt to put the idea in their heads. I would suggest you bring it up the next time you talk to them.”
“I’ll plant the seed in their minds,” Jake promised, “but I can’t guarantee they would agree to tour. They would have to quit their teaching gigs to do that and I’m not sure they’re ready to take that step yet.”
“If their CD sells as well as the last one, they’ll be quite financially secure,” said Nerdly. “Every last one of them.”
“I know that, and you know that,” Jake said. “But will Brainwash be willing to take that step? That’s the unknown here.”
Chapter 14: Urban Legend
Los Angeles, California
December 20, 1996
It was just after ten o’clock on Friday morning and Jake had just touched down at Whiteman Airport after flying Elsa and her baggage to LA so she could start her two-week Christmas vacation. Her agreed upon time off period did not actually begin until Friday evening, but Jake had cut her loose the night before so he could fly her here now, when he was coming to LA anyway, instead of making another flight on Saturday morning. He tied down the plane on the ramp and then went to the hangar to get his truck. After driving it back to the plane, he loaded Elsa into the front with him and then put her bags in the bed of the vehicle since there was no rain imminent.
“I really do like your new airplane, Jake,” she said. “It is much more comfortable. It even bounces around less.”
“And it has a bathroom,” Jake added.
“That is an advantage for Laura on those long flights,” she said.
“She gets kind of a thrill out of peeing in her own private bathroom while in flight,” Jake said.
Elsa nodded in understanding. “I do appreciate Laura’s ability to find happiness wherever it may be found,” she said.
“She is pretty good at that,” Jake agreed as he pulled out of the airport and onto the main road. He began heading for the Granada Hills house, where Elsa would be staying for her time off. He looked over at her, a little hesitant to bring up the subject he needed to bring up. He had meant to talk to her about the issue in flight but had put it off. He was not sure why he was nervous to talk to her about it, but the feeling could not be denied.
“Is there something on your mind, Jake?” she asked him.
“Why do you say that?” he enquired.
“Because I know you. You are not usually quiet and withdrawn. You seem like you have something of importance you wish to discuss.”
“Uh ... well...” he said, amazed, as always, by how well she could read him, “as a matter of fact, there is something.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Laura and I have made a decision on something,” he said. “Something pretty big. I wanted to discuss it with you and give you forewarning.”
She looked at him carefully with her brown eyes. “Forewarning about what?”
“We want to have a baby,” he told her.
Elsa blinked. “A baby? That is what you wanted to tell me?”
“That’s right,” he said. “We talked it over quite a bit on the flight back from Pocatello and decided we were ready for this. You’re the first person other than her doctor and the pharmacist at the Alpha Beta that we’ve told. She’s put a hold on her birth control pills and we’re going to let nature take its course. The doc says it may take a month or two for her hormones to return to normal, but there is no reason we know of why she shouldn’t be pregnant early next year.”
“You were hesitant to tell me that?” she asked.
“Uh ... well ... yes, actually.”
“What in the world for?” she asked. “I think this is wonderful news.”
“You do?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “You and Laura will make phenomenal parents. Perhaps unconventional, but phenomenal all the same. Why would you think I would consider this anything but good news?”
“Well ... when we have a baby, that is going to increase your workload to some degree. I mean, we’ll hire a nanny to take care of the baby those times we can’t be at home, but there’s going to be dirty diapers in the trash, baby clothes to wash, breast milk in the refrigerator, crying in the night, a little toddler running around destroying things and making messes eventually.”