All The Young Punks Pt. 24

"We have eighteen clubs we've played, a couple are seasonal. If we add the three new ones and these clubs our New York friends have recommended, we have twenty-six clubs in eight states. I have no clue if Jada or Sheila's clubs are good, but I plan on finding out."

"Who's Sheila?" Sal asked.

"She's the booking agent friend of Tommy's who got us The Belmont and a new place in Queens. She gave me leads on three clubs upstate. And, she's looking for more."

"How many bars do we need? Sal asked.

Joe clammed up and stared at Sal. He then glanced at Tony. He didn't want to slap Sal verbally, but the words were right there... ready to be said. Joe looked at Pops again.

"How about you close your trap and listen," Pops did Joe's slapping for him.

"I'm trying to build something. I don't know exactly what it will be, but we already have eighteen clubs in six states and twenty-two record shops. It's about to get bigger and I think this is going to be useful someday, like a network."

"Why the map?"

"I thought you might need a visual aid. After we do some tune-up gigs around town, if all goes well, I'll book a tour of our old clubs and these few new ones. Around twenty shows."

"Twenty shows in one tour? We've never done anything close to that." Sal was skeptical. "We did five nights in a row once, and a couple of five gig weeks."

"Will you let the kid talk?" Pops glared at Sal.

Nate raised his hand. "We're gonna spend a month in motels?"

"No. It's not twenty shows at once. I'm breaking it up in legs, with time off in between. But yes, we'll be using motels in every city.

"That's gonna cost us," Nate said lowly.

"Yes, that's why I'm negotiating with club owners for a higher gig rate."

Sal scoffed: "They're gonna love that?"

"We fill their joints every night. Some rooms aren't paying us enough. That's gonna change."

"Have you talked to any of them?" Johnny asked.

"So far, seven clubs. I'm not asking for much. The smaller bars will have to raise their cover charge by one dollar to increase our take. It'll cost them nothing. Every club manager was happy to hear from us. We haven't played most venues in months."

"We were getting calls every week, but it stopped," Sal noted.

"That's because I was calling them. Long before we made this deal to play again."

Nate raised his hand again: "Do you remember we talked about a raise?"

"I do, that's one reason I want more money."

"You mean we get raises?" Sal smiled.

"Nate asked me before New York if we could raise our pay from sixty to eighty per show. It wasn't a good idea at the time, because we didn't know if we'd find work there."

Sal nodded. "We played a lot of gigs."

"True, we made decent money on twenty-one shows, but then we took two months off."

Nate was impatient. "Get to the point, are we getting raises?"

"Yes, Eighty bucks per show. We'll take $320 off the top and the balance gets banked."

"We could do better than eighty at the bigger clubs," Sal noted.

"Let's do eighty now and talk later." Joe went back to the map. "I have routes planned. One starts in Portland and shoots south on I-95 all the way to New York City." He ran his finger down the coast connecting the pins. "That route includes twelve clubs if we book them all. The other route starts in Boston and goes west on I-90," He moved his finger east to west. "the Mass Pike and the New York State Thruway. That's only eight clubs at the moment." Joe paused. "But, if we hook south we can add the four boroughs and make that twelve dates also."

Joe slid sheets of paper to the guys with the clubs and cities listed for each route.

Nate looked up, "I knew there was gonna be a fucking quiz."

Sal shook his head. "All that time in the van and hotel rooms? That'll be gross."

"Maybe," Joe said. "We'll have a few days off in New York when we play the four boroughs. That could be a full week in town in one hotel."

"Two rooms for a week?" Sal said. "That's a lot."

"I'll be staying with Tina. If you guys can make one room work, it'll save."

The three single guys shared glances.

"That's it," Joe said. "I haven't contacted the Jersey and Pennsylvania venues yet. This is what I've done so far."

Johnny raised his hand. "Sal's right, long trips in the van will suck. Maybe we should upgrade our ride."

"Can you guys stop raising your hands? Just speak."

Sal snickered. "I didn't raise my hand."

"You didn't raise it once in high school," Nate noted. "Why start now?"

"Our ride is the next thing on the agenda," Joe said. "Someday soon, we're gonna need something bigger with sleeping space and room to stow gear."

Sal's eyes widened. "You mean like a small camper, an RV?" He nodded in approval, "My dad knows a guy."

"Of course you do," Joe said. "We should plan on getting a new ride for 1980."

Sal was excited: "Fuck yeah. Pops and I can handle it."

"That's your project," Joe said. "This is exactly the kind of thing we've been saving our money for."

"I can't wait. This will be fun."

"Does anyone object to this basic plan?"

Everyone looked around the table. No hands went up.

Nate was still thinking about money. "Does this raise start on the next gig?"

"The RV could wipe out our savings," Sal noted. "Maybe we should wait on the pay raise."

"I have an Auto Trader magazine at home. I've been looking at used RVs to get an idea of what they go for. We can afford one."

Sal clapped. "All right, I get to shop for a recreational vehicle."

Joe walked over the Mister Coffee and poured a second cup, his third of the day. He went back to the table. Pops nodded at Joe, a silent pat on the back. Joe sipped coffee while those guys talked about RVs. He had nothing else to say until his coffee was done.

"Okay. If we're gonna play today, I'll need a ride home to get my gear. I bought a new amp. I left my Champ and old Tele at T's place."

"I'll drive you over," Sal said.

"No," Pops put his hand up. "I'll take him over there."

That gesture told Joe the Godfather had something to say in private. He folded up his map, grabbed his notebook, and walked to the door. Pops was right behind him.