Chapter 9.7 - Can we make a deal...? Part II..

Remember the band the "The Bushweeds", who got their first 'major' gig at Sofia and Palashs wedding a little over a year ago? I hope you do, because heres an update on what happened to them since then...

 The band playing at Sofia and Palashs wedding, about a year ago, which led to them getting a little more recognition and another gig a little later at the summer festival and potentially a deal with a record label..

..so a few days (or more like a week and a half) later the band had taken the trip to the mainland, to Orange Music Records, located in the business district of the county capitol of Cyme Ixotic, to have a meeting with the label, after sending over a few of their tracks..

Excited that they would finally get their music out to a wider audience, they gathered outside the building to already discuss all the new music they could make and include on their brand new future debut album..

 This, they hoped, would prove to be the most important day in the history of the band...

So.. they greeted the woman at the front desk, asking for directions before taking the elevator to the 8^th floor where the manager was set to meet them. They were then let into his office by his secretary before they were finally welcomed to sit down on the couches in his office.. They felt a little like superstars already. Imagine that, this small town punk band from an island almost in the middle of nowhere got an invitation to this fancy office in the city...

 

The conversation went well initially with the record labels representative even saying that he liked their music and that he thought their songs had.. potential. They just needed to, the way he saw it, switch their music up a little, perhaps tone down some of the punkier aspects of their music, maybe soften some of the lyrics a little and well... make the music have a more marketable appeal as he put it...

 

"So you want to turn us into some kind of pop group then?" guitarist and frontwoman Gerda asked him, not to pleased about what she just heard..

"Well... not excactly, but you have to understand that signing a new band that, let's be honest, nobody has heard of is a big financial risk for us and..."

 

"..and what? You heard our music.."

 ..and it all pretty much went downhill from here, with the representative from the label continuing to insist that they should "maybe tone down some of [their] lyrical content, and (...) make it a little more radio friendly" which wasn't at all what the band wanted to hear...

 

 It made Gerda a little agitated as she got up from the couch saying that "[it] sounds like a load of crap to me!" and continuing on to explain who they are and what their mission in music is... then she said something I'm not going to repeat here..

The tables now looked like they had turned and the manager immediately took a more defensive position, but still continued to insist on having things done the way the label wanted...

 

The situation began to look really locked in as Gerda also got support from the drummer Kajsa..

    "We're just not gonna do what you're saying. That's not us. We're not gonna accept that kind of deal."

"You're making a big mistake..." the represantive tried "I could turn you into big stars, give you a deal to record a music video..."

"Not at that cost" Gerda said pointing his finger at him "we just can't do what you're saying with our music..."

 It was pretty obvious by now that this wasn't gonna end up in anyone signing anything, and after some more bickering back and forth the band finally decided to march out of the office with Gerda still muttering a few words under her breath..

 ..but they weren't done yet. Kajsa had to leave behind a small signature as a last goodbye to the record label before they went for the elevator... "The Bushweeds was here.. and they thought it sucked!"

Now the band found themselves in a bit of a situation.. their first real meeting with the music industry wasn't excactly what they had hoped for..

 

Even though Gerda was the one doing most of the talking and being quite hard headed during their meeting with the record label, she was a little concerned now about the bands future.. how were they going to record their songs now? And how would they arrange and afford to go on tour when or if they even get to the point of releasing an album?

 

They didn't really know yet, so all they could do after discussing their situation over a meal at one of the citys cheaper restaurants there wasn't much else to do but for them to take the ferry back home to figure out some new game plan..

They were adamant to not want to change their sound, so after a while they did what they probably should've done to begin with... they worked at their day jobs to save up some extra cash to buy their own recording equipment and sort of set up their own little home studio in their rehearsal room over at "The Party House".

It took a lot of fiddling around with buttons, sliders and various settings to get a sound that sounded something like what they would want, as well as writing a few more songs here and there while they were recording..

They found it best to leave all the more technical stuff and messing around with the buttons to Gerda, as she was the most tech-savvy of the bunch...

 

..but even for her figuring out everything took a while, and there were a few occiasion where she forgot to press the record button or even managed to overwrite a previous recording...

 

---

 

And of course, the usual discussions and disagreements that often comes as a part of such a creative process.. but overall they agreed on the direction they wanted to go, and whatever argument they had were only about minor things... a little to much guitar here, not enough keyboards there, maybe these lyrics should be like this, maybe add a drumfill there, a bass solo here etc...

..and finally, after lots of hard work, blood, sweat and tears, they could finally proudly present their own self-released debut album and their first band merchandise and web shop to go along with it!

On vinyl of course, because nobody buys cd's anymore...

Backside with track listing.

They also made a new logo for the occasion, as they figured the old one wasn't very good anyway, and also had it printed on their first merchandise. They only had a simple tank top to begin with, available for both male and female, but eventually if they became a little more popular and perhaps even started to make some money on it, they would expand it to proper t-shirts, sweaters and maybe even hoodies..

Tank top design front. All the way on the left is frontwoman Gerda Botnen (guitar/vocals) with the standard black design. Next to her is the drummer Kajsa Tangstad with the army design. Then there's the bass player Sam Mæle with the flames design, and all the way to the right is keyboard player Merete Sagmo with the skulls and crossbones design.

Backside.

...............................

I can only congratule the band for making it this far, and hope that their hard work will pay off... Now is the time for them to use whatever channel they can to spread the word as much as possible... try to get a few concerts played here and there even. The last one is easier said than done without a label and a marketing apparatus support them, but they have to give it a shot.. if they want to make it big, they need to get off of this little island they lived on and out into the world..

 

I wish them the best of luck....

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Chapter 9.6 – July 2023 – Hills like green paper elephants

The height of summer had passed now for the people of Bewickton and the night had been a little on the chilly side, but the air should start to warm up again as soon as the sun would rise above the hills, as they rolled gently like the backs of green elephants wandering on their way to the watering hole... slowly, but surely... It was still summer after all...

 

Little Yumi had spent the night sleeping on the front porch, ready to bark and bite at whoever dared to trespass.. however, I don't think anyone would be to scared of her yet.. but she has potential to be a watch dog some time down the road. It might still be of benefit for Sofia and Palash to train her to control her more aggressive impulses, though.. while she's still just a little puppy..

 

 

 

 

 

Palash was still sleeping alone in the room with Rose Marie as Sofia didn't want to have her beauty sleep interrupted by a crying baby.. Palash wasn't to happy about Sofia leaving everything on him during night time, but he didn't want to start an argument about it. He knew Sofia had her issues with parenting, how much she had feared giving birth and how much she doubted her own parenting skills.. Parenting, what was that? How would she know what parenting was, when it was almost as if she never had any herself...

 

"No stretch marks, this is good...."

..and when Sofia woke up, she couldn't avoid the mirror. Another thing she was anxious about was, of course, what the pregnancy would do to her appearance.. Sofia always had to be the best at everything, including looks. Not because anyone told her so, because nobody did, but because one day she hoped to be seen as a person... as a child, as a little human being... yet it was always that way, looking her best, doing her best was just never enough... she had to try harder..... then maybe one day it would work...
Parenting.. having a parent that was actually parenting.. what was that?

 

For Palash the parenting was almost instinctual, and finally having his first child was a dream come true. As the second oldest of his pack of siblings, he had always been surrounded by family, and he didn't want to live life any other way. Just one year ago was one of the happiest days in his life, when he married Sofia and his days of living in solitude was definately over, and just last month came another, when little Rose Marie was born... As he held her up to cuddler her he thought to himself that this.. this was just the beginning..

..or so he hoped. Sofia still had her moments where she could be a little sour. He didn't always understand why as she had the habit of becoming silent, shutting off all communication and sometimes even locking herself up inside one of their bathrooms...

    It wasn't as bad this morning, as she briefly told him she was going to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for them, but he still understood she was a little grumpy about something..

 

She didn't say much during breakfast either, as she finished it in a hurry to walk upstairs to their bedroom where Rose Marie was still in her crib..

 

Sofia had no real reason to doubt her parenting skills the way she did – Sofia had no real reason to doubt herself in any way the way she did – she was more than good enough already, both taking care to cuddle, play with and feed the baby almost immediately whenever she needed it.. It was almost as if she had an instinct there too, one that told her to do whatever it could to make sure the baby wasn't suffering or feeling lonely...

Palash headed upstairs to after a while to check up on the baby, but Sofia could assure him that the baby was just fine and she was resting calmly in her crib.. so why couldn't they go outside and enjoy the fine weather, throwing some good old foot-to-hand ball?

 

..and since the weather was so fine and warm and since they were only hanging out in their backyard anyway it made perfect sense for Sofia to not get dressed and just walk out there in her sleepwear.. ;)

 

Throwing ball in your underwear is fun, and eventually Sofia felt good enough to share what was really on her mind..

 

She was a little disappointed this morning because she had hoped Palash would serve her breakfast in bed. She had some vague memory of cuddling up in bed with her mom when she was still alive, and her father coming in to 'surprise' them with the best french toast she has probably ever had, topped with fresh strawberries, whipped cream and homemade apple butter...

    Breakfast in bed wasn't something Palash was very used to, for him breakfast was a moment where everyone, mom, dad and all his siblings, ate together at the breakfast table taking their time and enjoying the family atmosphere that way...

 

He didn't know she wanted it any other way, he wasn't used to the bed as a place to eat, but if this was something that could bring them closer, he thought that maybe next time he would take the opportunity to make a good breakfast to be enjoyed in bed.. of course, this would also have the benefit of having the entire little family in the same room as it allowed them to be right next to Rose Marie in her crib as well...

Sofia definately thought that their one year anniversary of being married should be marked somehow, so, in spite of not getting breakfast on bed this morning, she wanted to take Palash out on a date to enjoy a few drinks together..

Palash was a little unsure at first, if they should go out now and leave the baby in the house like that, but Sofia did her best to reassure him that it would be just fine if they called a babysitter to watch after the baby... she hoped..

 

Sofia had taken them to the Red Rendezvous for some drinks, and later had plans to maybe dine out somewhere or go to the cinema to watch a movie.. Palash was tagging along for now, but wanted to set her in the mood for romance and chose to strip down to his swimwear as soon as they were inside, which may just have worked given Sofias instantenous reaction.. ;)

 

Palash couldn't really hide his excitement either as he heard her order a round of Sanguine Slush drinks from the bartender., after reading the bar menu a few times over to find the perfect drink... this was right on track, just as it should be...

Palash thought he could already smell the sweet smell of strawberry as the drinks were being mixed and poured, and he thought it looked both good and promising..the bartender didn't even break a bottle or spill a single drop!

Sofia hoped for a perfect and rewarding date as she handed the drink to Palash.... not just for tonight, but also perhaps some other time down the road...

 

..after enjoying their drinks, so sweet and good, they had to talk about the one thing right now that seemed most important to them, their latest pride and joy in life.. the hills were green, and it was still summer.. after all...

"Just so you know... I'm a fire fighter." The age old trick. Palash knew what Sofia wanted almost everytime she mentioned her profession... The morning dew had yet to evaporate from the strands of grass, the hills were still green and there were no lions in sight...

..and even if there were lions.. or even hyenas around.. there's a high chance that they might've gone by unnoticed...

..but certainly, the bartender noticed Palash and Sofia as they hung around behind his watering hole station a little to long, a little to much, but just enough to wear out their welcome...

 

Palash takes the hint and leaves the watering hole area, but Sofia stays behind a little while longer to talk about the upcoming rainy season...

..until she suddenly feels a jolt, like a lightning strike her stomach. Yumi! The poor little dog was left at home, all alone without anyone to talk to her, to play with her, to watch after her!

"Palash... we have to go home, now! We forgot about Yumi!"

"..but didn't you say the babysitter would watch after..." Palash responded, trying to calm her down..

"We have to go home.. now!"

"I'm so sorry Yumi! I'm so sorry... Mommy is here now! Everything will be ok! Mommy is here now...."

"Hush, hush.. everything is ok now. Oh my poor little girl... have you missed mommy? Everything is ok now..."

Palash takes a different approach to the dog however, and reprimands her for chewing up all their furniture again while they were away...

 

..while Sofia had gone upstairs to the bathroom..

"So so little one.... Mommy is here now...."

 

Palash orders pizza since their night was ended so abruptly and they didn't get to go to a restaurant for a meal...

Sofia calms herself down by making sure the baby gets her meal, though...

 ..and can finally let loose and feel happy again now that all of the poor little girls needs have been met...

..but the meal Palash ordered for some reason never arrived, so they had to finish their date with a simple canned soup instead.. but Sofia didn't care to much about that right now. She didn't need simtalian pizza or juicy simtexan steaks right now, as long as her little baby girl was doing fine... Palash need not worry...

  ..everything was just fine and under control, as Sofia once more headed upstairs after their meal to gently rock the little baby girl to sleep...

 

 

Palash is a little annoyed though that Sofia is just much to good of a mother now, preventing him from getting his time with the baby...

 

 ..but it's only temporary when he sees how well she takes care of their little treasure.... so now that the baby is asleep all tucked up and warm - and without Palash needing to lift a finger to get it done- he thinks it's the perfect time for them to spend some time out on the balcony, watching the stars...

Having a baby was far from the worst thing that could've happened. It was such a joy, even Sofia had to admit this to herself...

..on the one year anniversary of their wedding. This was a near perfect night to watch the stars... there were a few clouds in the sky here and there, but they were just thin enough for the stars to mostly shine through anyway...

It had been quite a year for them already since they got married, with it's ups and downs, dry periods and rainy seasons.. warm summer days and cold winter nights.. literally so, but they had passed all the tests and managed to ride it all out..

 

..and they still wanted each other, just as much as before.. if not more...

Good night.. ;)

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