The People of Simbria: Bewickton: Chapter 12.9 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part IX – The Beginning Of All Things That Will End.

In Flames – 'The Beginning Of All Things That Will End'

(acoustic instrumental)

Wednesday September 28^th – Driving to Sunset Valley

It was noon on the day after their concert and their trip to the swimming pool. Everyone in the band was still in bed, snoring heavily and dreaming about cars, endless stretches of asphalt, trees, hills and mountains drifting by and playing the same songs over and over again.. with only one album released their repertoir was rather limited.. anyway, it looked like it would be a fine day in the city until, of course..

..the rain started pouring down again, so I guess I shouldn't have said that.. this could only mean that it was time to leave again to head for their next destination..

Gerda was the "morning bird" this time, as she was already up to prepare what was effectively dinner when Merete woke up, feeling stiff and sore all over her body from having been up all night swimming..

Though that didn't stop her from turning on the stereo shaking her body again to some groovy notes, wile waiting for dinner to be ready. ;)

..and of course, this music attracted a couple of other dancers as well and made them emerge from their caves to join the party... ;)

During their.. breakfast.. Gerda was already thinking out loud about some song ideas for their next record. If they were serious about their ambition to live as full time musicians they would need to have a real catalogue of albums and songs to pick from while doing concerts.. so she had hopes of beginning the process of writing new songs not to long after they had returned home and had their last concert of the tour. Maybe not right away, as they would probably need some time to relax, but they shouldn't wait to long either to get something done.

Kajsa had no objection there, she totally agreed, but still had to raise the question about the musical direction for their next album. Should they continue in the same vein with their folky punk rock or should they mix it up by trying other styles. Kajsa was thinking about the long term, and thought it would be a good idea to gradually introduce something new to their music to keep it fresh and exciting, not just for themselves, but also for their fans.. or potential fans, that is. Yet of course, it had to be rooted in some core sound that was unique to them, so as to as much as possible avoid accusations of selling out...

They didn't reach a conclusion yet, but atleast it planted the seed among all of them to give it some more thought, before it was time for them to leave the apartment and the city to head south along the coast...

The rain had cleared and the sun had already began to set as they drove off, perhaps as a hint to where they were going..

Sunset Valley was their next destination, it was just up this hill and onto the highway and they would be on their way...

..to say one last goodbye to the city, and hello to the very last part of their adventure...

It was almost midnight when they finally reached Sunset Valley, and the rain was pouring down as it often did this time of year, making the town look a little grey. That didn't matter to much, because there was only one thing to do, and that was to drive through the town and up the hill past the old mental hospital to locate the house they had rented in the New Town area, right at the end of the road..

"I hope this place isn't gonna be another dump" Sam said as they stepped out of the car and headed to the front door. What awaited them inside wasn't necessarily a dump, but it wasn't anything modern either. Though the area went under the name of "The New Town Area" it wasn't really all that new, as everything there was built in the 1970s to mitigate a housing crisis among the then young adults of the town looking for a place to stay on their own..

Once inside it was time to find the beds and go to sleep..

Thursday September 29^th – Getting ready for the show

Next morning Kajsa woke up first to conclude that it looked like yet another rainy day of their tour. So much for going to the beach...

Eating her breakfast in solitude with the rest of the band still asleep suited her just fine. They had more or less lived on top of each other for a week now, and she felt like she needed some space to be alone – or atleast away from her band members for a while..

So she left a note on the kitchen counter that she had gone out on her own for a while, but also with a reminder to the band to remember to show up for tonights concert, before she took Gerdas car and drove to the Sunset Valley Art Association... being the band member who is most interested in art, she had of course heard of it, as it apparently was quite the place back in the day...

Some background history of the Sunset Valley Art Association.

The perfect place for Kajsa, who didn't mind at all a little bit of rebellious and anti-authoritarian behaviour...

Back in the New Town Area the rest of the band was now awake and having breakfast. They had found Kajsa note, and all agreed that she was onto something... that it would probably do them good now to go to each their own to get some time away from each other for a while.. Gerda had already decided to go to the nearby junkyard to look for collectables...

Sam decided to head downtown to the Amundsen and Co. Cartoon store, the towns nerd hangout, to play some arcade games...

Merete pointed her nose in the direction of the Åtindbugen Fisherman's huts on the pier to do some fishing in the rain.. "The fish bites better in the rain..." she told herself as she ran across the wet sand..

At the junkyard Gerda didn't excactly find a lot of treasure, just old trash.. as well as catching a cold. The trash had a resell value of 20 simoleons. Not a lot, but it was something to cover atleast a part of their gas expenses.. as it was raining and due to the cold she didn't bother checking the dumpster and went back to the house to rehearse the songs on guitar while staying warm and dry and hoping for the cold to pass before tonights concert...

Sam enjoyed his day at the arcade, and was being noticed by local resident and aspiring politician Ingrid Kråkesen- Karlsen, who had decided to skip work to play some games herself..

Kajsa had found a stereo to do the smustle dance to her favourite classical music, before starting a painting whom she thought might be their next album cover – if she could make it good enough.

Merete had limited luck with the fish, as she only caught what looked more like bait than an actual catch.. but she was still satisfied considering how she was fishing without actually using any bait. Merete caught three small anchovies and one jellyfish which she sold for 26 simoleons.

Kajsa finished her painting while being creepily watched by Inge Reppes father Jarle, and decided it was much to amateurish to work as an album cover and sold it for the grand price of 3 simoleons..

The rain eventually cleared away and Merete didn't catch anymore fish, but instead she noticed that she actually had a pretty nice view of the town. In fair weather Sunset Valley was actually a pretty looking place, she thought..

Kajsa had ventured outside in the sunshine to pass her judgement on some of the outdoor installations, when she was approached by Thornton Wolff who wanted to take a picture. For some reason he wanted to take it in the shadows and not in the sunlight, but nonetheless, Kajsa was more than happy to pose for a shot. She hadn't gotten this kind of recognition since.. well, she had never actually gotten this kind of recognition. Was their hard work now finally starting to pay off?

..and then it was time for everyone to head to the venue to get ready for the concert.. Sam didn't want to be late, because knew that Kajsa would get mad with him if he did, so in due to time he went outside to hop on his rental bike to head for tonights venue..

Kajsa was as usual first on the scene to inspect the venue.. The local "Garage Pub", which was one of two in the country, the other one being in the city they had just left behind.. another legendary rock club. "Hmm, this place doesn't look to bad" she thought as she stood there for a while to gaze through the windows. "I wonder where the stage is..."

The Garage pub had two floors, with the ground floor being a pretty standard bar type environment with the concert stage located in the basement. In spite of trying to be there early, Sam was the last of them to arrive as there was no sign of him yet when Gerda walked in the door just in time to catch a glimpse of Merete heading down the stairs..

- The Concert -

Downstairs Merete had walked over to check out the stage. This would be their last concert outside of their hometown before they would head back to end the tour at the local autumn festival. Merete felt a little happy that this journey would soon be over, but a little sad at the same time.. This was their first tour, and what an experience it had been with it's ups and downs and travelling from town to town. She had gotten so much closer to her band members than she had been ever before.. for better or for worse.. and she felt that they were much more like a real band now.

Merete and the others weren't aware of it yet, but outside there was already a disorganized line of people waiting to see the show... they were no longer that one local band who nobody outside their little hometown had heard of or cared about.. She was pretty sure that this, all of this, would be memories she would keep with her for the rest of her life.. This was just the beginning for the band, and this concert was the beginning of the end of this tour.. All good things eventually come to an end, which just made it more clear to her now that she had to really play her best this night. This was their last chance to show to the outside world that they were The Bushweeds, and that they had come to stay...

Time to start the concert and kick some bottoms. ;) Now all they needed was an audience.. even though the first floor was now pretty crowded, people were a little slow to make it into the basement to watch the show..

..but eventually as they kept on playing their first listener showed up, Narcissa Vatos, choosing to stand by the side of the stage instead of in front of it..

..and that proved true for most of the audience. "Peculiar", Gerda thought, "maybe this is just how they watch concerts here in Sunset Valley.. but atleast we got an audience, finally!"

Some things were just like home though, as there was always that one person who had no respect for barriers and wanted to be as close to the band as possible, here represented by Jamie Jolina-Sekemoto.

..and as anyone who has been to more than one concert in their life would know (or going to the cinema, I mean, it's sometimes just the same thing..), there always has to be some that has to stand or sit there talking where others wants to listen and enjoy the show.. here again represented by Pauline Wan-Goddard and Jamie. And we must not forget the barfly who is just there to have a drink or five.. such as the local jet fighter pilot Eivind Motorsen-Karlsen. ;)

And last but not least, people taking pictures or filming the concert ahead of them with their cellphones, viewing it all through a tiny screen, instead of, you know, being present in the moment and enjoying the show. ;)

But the band didn't really care about that now, this was the biggest audience they had ever played for, and if somebody filmed their show to put it up on Simtube later, that would be even better.. more publicity for the band!

..and don't forget a few flirtatious nods to the gentlemen on first row. "Well hello there.. like our music? ;) Then don't forget to buy our merchandise and record – it's for sale at the bar!"

Oh yes, what a perfect moment! Gerda felt really admired now.. this was the last song of their concert, and finally she felt she had become the star she had always wanted to be! What a rush, oh, she could feel it tingling all over the place, so much so, she had to really focus to stay grounded and make sure she didn't start playing the wrong notes!

Their concert was finished now, but she was enjoying this moment so much, she just couldn't stop and had to give the audience a little extra by bursting into an extra guitar solo while the rest of her band went off stage to get paid and then spend the rest of the night partying with their new fans and listeners..

- After the concert -

Kajsa was just headed over to the bartender to collect their money when she was stopped on the way by Bella Høigaffel, descendant of towns local chess hero H.K.H. Høigaffel, to have her picture taken, and of course Kajsa was more than willing to strike a pose. There would be many more moments like this during the night for all of the band members...

For this concert they were award another 2000 simoloens to split among them, as well as 100 additional celebrity points for each band member.

Then the party was set to continue in the bar upstairs as everyone flocked towards the one spiral staircase to leave the basement and the concert venue. The bartender was really happy about the show – he was convinced people in town would talk about this for atleast months to come and that he would get an upper hand on his rival, "The Prison Warden Pub" on the other side of town. ;)

- The snapshots -

Local police officer Amena Alnuman securing her photo of Gerda, while simultaneously keeping an eye out the window for any criminals.

Leighton Jolina-Sekemoto securing a photo of Sam upon learning that he has the same name as his son.

Pauline Wan-Goddard giving Merete some attention.. and so the night continued, with cellphones being continuously raised and band members asked to pose... over and over and over again..

It wasn't just the band members getting attention, as a local bass player, Elfrid Osnes, stole the show for the remainder of the night and even impressed the band with her playing. Kajsa jokingly teased Sam now that he had better step up his game, because if he didn't they had already found a replacement. Sam knew that this wasn't really true, and that it was just banter made for Elfrid to hear so that she would feel good about her own playing. Sam was still atleast two levels ahead of her when it came to musical skill...

The Bushweeds was pretty much guarantueed already to come back and play here whenever they wanted. The Garage pub had never been as crowded as this before and had never seen a more lucrative night than this one! There were people everywhere – in every corner of the bar, dancing, eating, drinking, flirting, kissing, playing pool, arguing, passing out, you name it.. there simply to much going on, literally, to cover it all without making a seperate chapter for all of it, or making this one to long, you'll just have to take my word for it..