Roadie In Love - 9. Touring Ends, Recording Begins

So Kevin began rehearsing 'Songwriter,' which was somewhat ironic, since he had no input writing the song. It would debut during the penultimate date of the tour, October fifth, in Gilford, New Hampshire; practically Deja Vu's backyard.

They had another two-day break after Charleston, West Virginia, so Kevin got in a lot of singing practice before he had to perform it on stage. The group also worked on what Kevin would play on his keyboard for their original eleven songs. They kept it simple because Kevin didn't have much time to practice. There were only some variations from the bass line he'd already played while Mike was out. Kevin would take the stage for the full concert in Gilford, and the next day, in the rest of the band's hometown, Manchester, NH.

Buffalo and Syracuse went well. The caravan arrived in Gilford on the fourth and Kevin's nervousness ramped up a few notches. He needed another confidence boost.

"Eric, I'm really worried about singing tomorrow."

"Kevin, you'll do fine. Like your first shows, focus on me, and pretend you're just singing in front of the road crew. They've heard you practicing. They've told you it sounded great. This is your big chance, you don't want to blow it. Once we get into the studio, if you're not taking part, you can kiss that thirteen thousand dollars goodbye, it'll have to come out of your savings."

"Can't I play on the record but not on stage?"

"In a word. No. Maybe, just maybe, if we had another choice for 'Songwriter,' that might be possible. But I have a feeling our local fans are going to love it and there will be no way it doesn't get on the next album."

"I don't know..."

"Look. I was behind you before, and what happened? You got good reviews from the industry publications. You got cheers when you were introduced. You were cheered when you opened with 'Dagger.' You can do this. I know you can. Hell, close your eyes while you're singing on stage."

"I might lose my place on my keyboard. I know, I'll wear dark sunglasses like Roy Orbison and I won't be able to see the crowd."

"There you go. It's Sunglass Hut or Walmart tomorrow to pick you out a real nice pair of shades."

"I hope it works."

"Hey, maybe we'll find you something freaky, like Elton John used to use."

"I think plain, black frames like Roy wore would be best."

"We'll see."

Eric continued, “So, are you willing to sleep in a house tonight, not a hotel?”

“Yours?”

“Yeah, well, my parent’s old house. They moved into an attached apartment last year."

Kevin jumped at the chance.

The next morning, Eric got his car out of storage to take Kevin to the local Walmart to pick out a pair of sunglasses for Kevin. His wish won out, choosing a pair with square-ish black frames. Kevin hoped the sunglass idea would work that night.

**********************************

BankNH Pavilion, Gilford, NH, Seven-thirty PM, October 5

Playing in their own back yard, Deja Vu was the only band on stage. They were in a cozy, eight-thousand seat venue. Having started out as a club band, they previously played covers of other artist's songs. They received permission to play another seven songs they hadn't recorded or written. The theater lights went down. The boys walked out onto the stage. The show began. Cary was lit brightly, the others only a little.

"Hello Gilford/Concord!"

Cheers met Cary's announcement.

"It's great to be back home. We had a lot of fun on the tour. Some good things happened, a couple bad things, too. But we're back, New Hampshire!"

Cary had to wait a minute before he could continue.

"Thank you. Thanks a lot. We've got a couple surprises for you all tonight. First of all, we've been working on some new songs, and you’ll hear two of them tonight."

Another cheer filled delay.

"We'll also be playing a few blues and southern rock standards that anybody that's been following us for a couple years will remember from our club days. If you've been following our tour..."

Cary had to wait once again while the cheers died down.

"I guess some of you have! Anyway, we had a period of time where Mike Taylor was out of commission. For those of you not familiar with him, our keyboard bassist, Kevin Lewiston!"

Kevin was lit up a little brighter and took a bow to cheers just as loud as Cary was getting.

"While Mike was out, Kevin started us off with ‘Dagger in the Back.’ We're going to start off like that again tonight."

The lights dimmed. Kevin played the first bar, then he was in the spotlight. He finished his part of the intro and was met with another round of cheers. As in the other shows, Pat took over the spotlight for a few bars, then the stage lit up in a shower of sparks. The show was really on.

After a few songs, Cary stopped again, "I already introduced Kevin, he'll be in the spotlight again for the next song..."

Kevin got another round of cheers.

"But here's the rest of the band."

Cary introduced everybody else, said who he was, and then silence filled the theater. The lights went back down, Eric began the intro, and Kevin sang. As he sang, the spotlight on him went from dim to bright. Once the slow first verse was completed, the rest of the band was lit up and the the tempo increased. As the song drew to its end, it slowed down again, and the lights faded once more. Cheers filled the theater, louder than any yet tonight.

“It took some convincing to get Kevin to sing for you guys, so how about another round of applause for our newest member?”

The audience apparently loved Kevin. There were an especially large number of high pitched screams. Apparently the ladies agreed with Eric’s initial impression that Kevin was gorgeous.

“We’re gonna stop for a moment so Luke and Danny can roll a real piano out here for Kevin to play one he knew well when he joined us as a roadie. Yeah guys, right out front here... Okay. Kevin’s going to tickle the ivories with a classic from Jerry Lee Lewis.”

Pat kicked off ‘Great Balls of Fire.’ Cary joined in on vocals. Kevin tickled. When the song was over, they were given a standing ovation. Kevin returned to his electronic keyboard with a huge smile for the rest of the night.

After several more songs, the boys finished out the main part of the show and took their bows. The audience wasn’t going to let them off that easy. They came back out and did their planned encore of ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ and Stevie Ray Vaughn’s ‘Pride and Joy.’

Backstage, Kevin was still floating, “Oh man, what a rush. I can’t believe I was afraid.”

Eric reiterated what he’d said before, “I told you; you’re better than you think you are. Listen.”

The crowd was chanting.

Kevin was floored, “Are they chanting my name?”

Jason was there and pushed Kevin back toward the stage, “You best get back out there and take another bow before there’s a riot.”

Kevin stepped back on the stage, the lighting director was watching for him and put a spotlight on him.

“Thank you. Thank you all. I hope you enjoyed the show and maybe we’ll see you all again tomorrow night in Manchester.”

The cheers continued for another minute before they finally started dying out. The boys retired to their dressing room for some snacks and drinks. Soft drinks for Kevin, but he didn’t want anything stronger anyway. He was drunk on adoration.

“I need to keep busy, I can’t sit still after that. I’ll be back after I help the guys pack up.”

Eric told him, “Hey, you don’t have to do that anymore.”

“I know, but I want to. I’m too hyped up to not burn off some energy. I’ll be back.”

Kevin got high fives and back slaps from the road crew. They were impressed that he still wanted to help them out, even though he was now a full-time member of the band. Kevin was happy to do it. The band was still partying after everything was loaded on the trucks. Kevin returned to the dressing room.

Eric approached Kevin, “So, back to the house again?”

“Sure. But I have to warn you, I still have a load of energy to burn off.”

“Well, as long as you’re not too loud.”

“I can’t make any promises, maybe we ought to warn your parents.”

“I don’t know...”

“Got ya!”

“You suck!”

“That’ll be a good starting point. Let’s get out of here Eric.”

They said goodnight to the rest of the guys and headed out. As soon as they said goodnight to Eric’s parents, they were in Eric’s room and tossing clothes all over the place. Like he implied, Kevin started out with sucking Eric to an extreme orgasm. Eric barely fondled Kevin before Kevin slipped on a condom and started working Eric’s ass. Eric knew Kevin was excited over more than sex and was very willing to be submissive for the night.

Kevin took Eric twice, with a session of Eric having Kevin in between. Like the Four Seasons sang, oh, what a night.

The next night went pretty much the same. Kevin wasn’t quite as excited as the night before, so maybe he was only floating on cloud seven when the concert was over. He and Eric were still quite satisfied when they fell asleep.

**********************************

Kevin woke up the next morning realizing he and the band had nowhere to be.

"What do you guys do between tours?"

"Well, this time, we'll be getting together some more to keep working on new songs. We owe the studio another record, preferably by the end of the year."

"Where do you record?"

"Neon Cross Studio in East Nashville. At least that's where the Crowes and us recorded our last ones. I'd guess it'll be there again."

"Oh. Okay. What do I do?"

"Duh! You come along and give us whatever input you have. If it's enough, Cary and I will go to Daniel and get you a full share."

"I doubt that input will amount to much, but just being part of that will be great."

"There you go, selling yourself short again. You may surprise yourself once you start getting into it."

"Okay. I know I need to start listening to you about my talent. You've been right every time."

"I'm sure I'll be wrong sooner or later, but not about this."

"Okay. When do we start?"

As if on command, Eric's phone rang.

"Hey Cary."

"You busy?"

"No. Kevin and I were just talking about what's next."

Eric put Cary on speaker.

"Wow. Which one of you is psychic? I was calling to see when you might want to head over to Revelry and work on songs."

"I know I'm free anytime. Kevin?"

"Yeah. I don't have anything planned."

"Cool. I'll give them a call, see if I can get a few chunks of time this week. It's probably going to be too chilly to hit one of the parks like we did last year, so indoors would be best."

"They're open twenty-four hours. Even if it's late at night, it'll work."

"True. I'll let you know."

"K. Bye."

"Bye, Cary."

"Bye bros."

Nothing was planned for that day, so Eric took Kevin around the city to see his old stomping grounds and other sights and attractions.

Kevin's possessions were still packed away on the roadie tour bus, except for his keyboard, which was with the rest of the group's things on one of the trucks. Everybody else was clearing out for different assignments until they were needed again by the band. Kevin wondered aloud to Eric what he should do with everything.

"Everyone else is clearing their stuff off the bus and things. I don't have anywhere to put my stuff."

"Sure you do."

"Huh? Where?"

"I have a three bedroom house. You can keep everything in one of the spare bedrooms. Where did you think you were going to stay, anyway?"

"I didn't know. I didn't want to presume..."

"I'll make it easy for you. Kevin, would you like to come live with me?"

"More than anything."

"It's settled. Dad has an SUV. I'll see if I can borrow it and we'll get your stuff today before we start working on songs."

Cary was able to get them studio time every day for the rest of the week. The weekend was already booked pretty solid, so they worked pretty much a normal work-week. Granted it was afternoons on Wednesday and Friday, evenings on Tuesday and Thursday, but it was still less pressure than touring.

After everything was moved into Eric's house, he and Eric relaxed for a little while, listening to music, and letting the world do its thing without them. Kevin couldn't remember a time when was happier. Well, except for right after the last two shows on the tour. He still found it hard to believe he was where he was. He kept looking at Eric, wondering if he was going to wake up from an extended dream in his parent's apartment.

Eric noticed Kevin looking at him with a somewhat lost look on his face, "What?"

"I keep expecting to wake up in my old apartment after an unbelievable dream."

"Yeah, I guess it could be hard to believe everything that's happened to you in the past four months. But, it's real. If it was a dream, would you have gotten yourself arrested?"

"Maybe. Who knows? I know it isn't a dream, it's just so unbelievable."

"Yeah, I guess it's like someone was writing a story about us."

"Heh. Yeah. The asshole should have left out the arrest. That sucked."

"Hey. Watch it. If your life really is a story, you don't want to piss off the author."

"Ooof. Sorry, whoever you are."

Kevin and Eric had a good laugh about that. Soon it was time to head to the local studio to start the work on more songs. They were busy for a while doing that, but by the third week of November, they had another nine songs drafted. With fourteen possibilities, they all felt it was time to hit the road again. This time there were no buses. Although, there was still a truck they arranged to have their equipment sent to Nashville. Kevin got to fly on an airplane for the first time. Dad was a school teacher, mom worked in a bank. All their vacations were within driving distance. Chalk up one more new experience for Kevin.

Kevin had provided a little input on some of the new songs, mostly some changes in his parts. He didn't think it was sufficient to be elevated to having a full share of the profits. So, he was surprised when they got to East Nashville and Daniel was there with a new contract. The tour had given a healthy boost to the sales of the first album, and the rest of the band felt Kevin contributed sufficiently to get a full writing credit for the nine new songs. Therefore, they felt he should be given an equal share of everything. Daniel didn't care how many ways the band's cut was split. More members didn't mean more money overall. Kevin was thrilled though.

His thrill somewhat hit a wall when he started to experience the long hours and long days of recording. Like fans everywhere, he thought a band went into a studio for a few days, cut the record and then everybody else put it all together. He discovered how wrong he was. But after a few weeks, he started to get used to the long days. While the goal was to have the new record ready by the end of the year, nobody was surprised or disappointed when January first rolled around and it wasn't done. But, Kevin had another reason to not have a happy new year. Eric noticed. They had taken a break from the studio and were back in Manchester.

"Bad time of the year?"

"Yeah. I know I shouldn't be that upset. I mean, I have you now, and we've been together longer now than I was with Lenny."

"You have every right to be upset. You had a connection with him no matter how long it lasted. You can't forget that, nor should you. We still have a lot to do on the record, but these next few months are going to churn up an awful lot of bad memories for you. What do you think about going to see a therapist?"

"I can't keep asking you to drive me around everywhere."

"I don't mind. But you're right. Let's take you car shopping."

"Huh?"

"It's time for you to have your own car again."

"Do you think I can get a loan?"

"Only one way to find out."

Eric did a couple searches on his phone, "Come on, there are like half a dozen dealerships within twenty minutes of here."

"Let's look at something like cars dot com so we don't have to drive all over the place."

"Good thinking."

Kevin saw a 2019 Hyundai Tucson for under twelve thousand dollars without too much mileage. It was a dark red, his favorite color. He'd already had the Equinox, so he was used to having an SUV. They hopped into Eric's Dodge Charger and headed for the dealership. Three hours later, Kevin was the proud owner of a used Tucson. It was registered in his name, at Eric's address. The next day, Kevin went to get a New Hampshire driver's license. He didn't realize right away how permanent that might end up being.

They made three more long trips to Nashville over the next two months. Three weeks after their last visit, on March twenty-fifth, the album was released. Deja Vu's first album was self-titled. There was a running joke to use Yogi Berra's famous quote "It's Like Deja Vu All Over Again" as the title, but saner minds prevailed and the record was titled "I think I Remember This." This was reasonable, seeing as it was the title of one of the songs as well.

Epilogue

The second record got off to a sluggish start, so another tour was scheduled, which significantly boosted record sales. Kevin was no longer the victim of stage fright, so his first tour as a full-time performer went well.

Deja Vu went on to make a total of eight albums before their flame burned out. Mike Taylor and Pat Dillon were the first to leave, being replaced after the sixth album. Cary simply tired of the drudgery of recording and touring and moved into a producer's role after number eight sold poorly.

Kevin and Eric saw no reason to continue the band without Cary. Without Deja Vu to occupy their time, they finally took the step and got married. Neither one had wanted to risk the band's success by publicizing their relationship. Sure there were rumors among the general public, but nobody knew for sure because they kept their true feelings hidden behind closed doors. Eric still hadn't turned thirty and Kevin was twenty-seven when they tied the knot. They bounced around musically for a few more years, playing with three more bands together, but none saw much success. They moved to Nashville and lived the rest of their lives fairly quietly as session musicians. They invested their proceeds from Deja Vu well, so making less money, still doing something they loved kept them happy.

The rest of Kevin's friends among the Deja Vu road crew continued working with Deja Vu and other artists associated with Silver Arrow studios for a few years after Deja Vu disbanded, then went on to other things.

Danny Edmunds picked up a trade and was in construction for the rest of his life.

Joe Spess had a couple years of college before becoming a roadie and became a bookkeeper at Silver Arrow.

Lucas Kenner somewhat followed in Kevin's footsteps, learning to play the drums and became a session musician as well.

Chris Lamington served fifteen years of a twenty-year sentence for aggravated assault. With limited job prospects after a felony conviction, he never had the opportunity to chase down Kevin, living the rest of his life in near-poverty, working at minimum wage jobs until he died of lung cancer at the age of forty eight.

The End