Chapter 12.4 - The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part IV - Bright Neon lights

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Merete had been driving as fast as she dared to on this last stretch of road to try to reach the venue in time, and finally they could see the town ahead of them. So this was Lake Onebega.. they had heard about this place before, and learnt about it in school that it was an important area for the Sámi people, but they had never been here before.. As fascinating as all that could be, they had no time to think to much about it, or get to know the town yet. They had to get to the Grotto fast to do a quick warm up at the very least, and then start playing..

"This looks like the downtown area, so it has to be one of these buildings..." Merete pondered out loud as she slowed down looking for something that could be a bar..

"The Grotto! This is it! Stop here!" Kajsa commanded from the backseat as she saw the bright green neon sign above the entrance of the bar. They had found it, and almost just in time..

 

Sam was happy they had made it, and thought that nothing more could go wrong this evening. Eager to get to play a concert again and potentially win a little more fame, he had to cheer excitedly after exciting the car. ;)

Kajsa however didn't feel like letting out a sigh of relief just yet, as she had to talk the bar owner first and apologise and explain to her why they were late.

There was only one thing to do now, to walk over there and get the job done.. Kajsa wasn't usually easily intimidated, but this time there was a slight feeling of apprehension as she walked in the direction of the bar.. Sam was in his own world there, and didn't understand why she would be nervous. They were there in time, and there was no problem at all!

"I'm sorry for being late miss" Kajsa began a little stutteringly "we tried to come here as fast as we could. There really is no excuse, but you see we had a little trouble with the... uh, the weather along the coast and uh..."

The bartender only rolled her eyes at Kajsas attempt at a story. She didn't believe a word of what she said, yet she wasn't angry with them, like Kajsa had feared she would be. She had been in the business for quite a few years and have had her experiences with various bands from here and there, and had gotten used to the fact that hiring a new and up and coming band from out of town was always a little bit of a risky business.. hence, of course, she hadn't pay them a single penny in advance. ;)

The bartender was just happy they were all there – and after all, right on time – so it wasn't really a huge problem. It was probably worse for the band as they had to go from spending hours in a car to going up on stage and still be expected to give it their all to entertain an audience, if any....

No the bartender wasn't mad at all, as she pointed Kajsa towards the stage. Finally Kajsa could relax a little more, even though the stage did look a little smaller than she had hoped for, and the space around it was perhaps a little to cramped for her liking.. but still, now was probably not the time to act like a diva and start complaining...

Upon inspecting the stage she tried her best to keep a positive spirit to not ruin the night for the bartender and the other bandmembers.. and herself.. and just maybe, if she looked closely, those bright neon lights behind the stage.. didn't they have some kind of star quality to them? Maybe Sam was right, they were there after all, and what could go wrong now...

-- The Concert --

 

 

If anyone was in need of a toilet break, now was the time to get one.. Sam and Merete both had the same idea, as there hadn't been any time for such in between Ravenswood and Lake Onebega.. but now that they were and, relatively speaking, had plenty of time such a luxury was definately affordable... ;)

Gerda wanted to warm up her fingers by playing some scales and random doodles on the guitar, and it seems the paparazzo and their first and sadly only listener in Marjánná Onébegajávrre were already present.

Kajsa was still a little stressed out and felt like calming her nerves with a drink before calling the remaining band members up to the stage to start the show... Merete had just been in a quarrel with the guy on the right, and if it weren't for them having to play a show, she probably would have given him a good beating...

 

..but that would possibly have to wait until after the show if he dared to stick around. Time to get up on stage, make sure the instruments that needed to be in tune sounded alright and than start the show..

The paparazzo was clearly a fan of Gerda already, but Marjánná, though she enjoyed the show, was getting tired and decided to call it a night and head home to sleep, afterbriefly visiting the bathroom..

They may have earned themselves atleast a couple of new fans here, though, and yes, this includes one of the paparrazi...

The other paparazzi was clearly more of a football fan than a music fan, but has gone out to cover the band playing anyway.. rumours about Kajsa having an unfortunate incident in Bridgewood was already spreading, and if the band could do something scandalous, he would be certain to get a good story out of it..

 

So far he was a little out of luck and should probably instead focus on writing a good review of the band, like any decent music journalist of course would have done. ;)

..and maybe that's what he would end up doing, as it looked like Gerda especially was on fire tonight, possibly winning the band its third fan for the night. ;) Well, that can only be deemed a success I think, so far.. relatively speaking.. even the guy that made fun of Merete earlier was now listening in on the band playing, albeit from a safe distance by the bar...

 

Well, atleast until he's had a few more drinks in his system, and it looks like Gerdas guitar playing had earned them their fourth fan for the night, quite possibly. Well done! I suppose with her flashy flying V she has come a long way since their very first concert back in their hometown just a little over two years ago, when was so crippled by stage fright she didn't even dare to face the audience at first.

 

Kajsa was certainly pleased with the show after she got up from her stool. The band had performed pretty well, in spite of having spent almost all day driving to get to the show in time. Though they still only played at small bars and clubs to a small audience, there seemed to be a different atmosphere among their usual tiny audience this night. Maybe this was for real, or maybe she was just imagining it. Maybe it was just the drink she has had prior to the concert, or maybe she was just tired after, but she felt that there were indeed some bright neon lights, fame and fortune ahead.. this could only go one way now...

 The paparazzi was still hanging around and taking notes, but since they have shown themselves to now be new fans of the band, perhaps they no longer hoped for them to do anything to reckless.. or maybe they still did, a paparazzo also needs money and food on the table.. but anyway, it was now time for Kajsa to walk past them for now and head over to the bartender to, hopefully, collect some money herself to share among the members of the band..

To make money on their music was necessary in order for them to be able to hopefully one day focus on it full time. They were lucky now, that the theatre they all worked at, had given them all a 'vacation' in order to tour with their band, but money wasn't their – and Kajsas – only motivation to do what they did of course.
    Though she was happy that the concert appeared to go so well, she was also a little anxious to approach the bartender again – not because she had to ask for money – she felt that was her right as they had fulfilled their part of the contract. No, she was anxious now about what the bartender really thought – did she like their music? Did she enjoy their show, or was it the worst thing she has heard since The Broken Dolls released Lulu?

Well, Kajsa of course had nothing to fear there as the bartender thought they had put on a splendid show, and awarded them with 2700 simoleons. That should about cover their expenses for gas, food and for renting a house in town for the night, and perhaps a little extra for each of them..
    Nothing to get rich off of just yet, but they had to start somewhere... what pleased her the most right now, and what gave everyone in the band a reason to celebrate – as if they needed one... - was the feedback they received from the bartender. She absolutely loved the show and was "delighted by the new atmosphere". Kajsa was so happy to hear what the bartender said, she felt like she had just made a new friend right then and there, and maybe she had. ;)

 

She couldn't have hoped for a better result after this night. Now, let the party begin.. Merete had already gone off to the cafeteria section of the Grotto to find her own disk to dance on, while Gerda was up and shaking her stuff on the one in the bar area.

 

Kajsa and Sam, though also elated after the show, focused on taking it a little more easy, ordering a meal to go sit in the backyard to eat by themselves.

Atleast for a while until the paparazzi sniffed them out..

 

..either this one on the right has set her eyes on Sam.. or she's about to make up a story about them sneaking away from the other band members because secretly they're having an affair with each other.. guess we'll find it by reading the gossip magazines tomorrow. ;)

 

The night went on with the band having an afterparty of sorts with the paparazzi in the bar, seeing as how there weren't anyone else there..

 

This one was definately feeling happy and star-struck to hang out with the band after the show. A tale to tell if they should ever truely make it big one day. ;)

They continued to fill up their bellies with tasty drinks for the remainder of the night, returning a good portion of the money they just received back to the bartender, and one may ask for whom this business is really the most lucrative? ;)

Merete had to climb on the bardisk to dance one more time before closing, while Kajsa went over to the bartender to give her a hug and say a finaly goodbye for now and thank the bartender for receiving them so well. Maybe one day they would come back and play here again – only time will tell. They would most certainly be very welcome. ;)

..but still, even with how welcomed they had been, closing time is closing time and they had to leave for now to try to find their way to the house they had rented for the night...

 

Let's not talk about how they got in their car to drive there after having had several drinks already...

There weren't many houses for rent in town, actually there was only one house available on the very outskirts of town and Gerda wondered for a second if Kajsa was about to drive them out of town again before she at the last minute did a left turn up the hill to the house.. She was not ready for a lengthy road trip again, atleast not now..

--­

The house didn't look at all bad, and it shouldn't as it was the most expensive one they had rented so far. It almost broke the bank for them, but if they wanted to play here, they didn't have much of a choice.. all in all they for now ended up with a net negative, so they could only hope that it would be worth it in the long run, by gaining a reputation, fans, record sales and a bigger audience next time..

Merete and Sam were to tired to inspect the house, and went straight to bed.

Gerda logged on to leave a few drunken chat messages to her friends back home at how awesome this gig was, or something like that...

        "Wee just foud n the house we're stayimg ar! what a lovely h.ouse, ftpm the most aqesome hig evee! Ot waas reall. y great! Miss yyou lots and xan't wait to come nack and pñay for you!!"

Kajsa was taking a look at the house in her own way, by scoffing at the so-called art the owners had decided to litter the place with...

Though as a sign of gratitude towards Gerda for having contributed to what was their greatest gig so far, she wanted to gift her the most expensive book she had carried with her all the time since they left home, which was to Gerda a very heart warming surprise. Kajsa wasn't usually the first to hand out gifts to people, so Gerda thought she must have done something really good to be given this honour!

Very tired and pleased with herself after all this Kajsa finally walked up stairs to find a bed in the same room as Merete had fallen asleep in a little earlier. Gerda still hadn't eaten yet, so she stayed behind for a last meal before joining as well.

 

Interestingly Gerda chose to sleep in the same bed as Kajsa, even though there were a spare bed in the room were Sam was sleeping on the opposite side of the house, making it one room for the girls and one room for the uh.. boy, as Sam was sleeping in a room all on his own..

...but maybe it was better for him that way, in case any of the others should be snoring or something. May they all get a good nights sleep, because there is still a long way left to go for them.. luckily they have no gig scheduled anywhere for tomorrow, which gives them two days to make it to the next one..

 

...but as they're now going all the way down south and back to the coast again it's also quite the distance to drive, so if they're going to show up relatively well rested at their next place, they're probably gonna need that time too.. good night. ;)

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