All The Young Punks Pt. 45

"Yes, he's a clown." Tina smiled. "I'm aware. I love his show."

"I don't like the word clown," Angie said. "It sounds demeaning to me. I know you don't mean it that way, but he's an artist. He writes, sings, performs, and puts on a show that always impresses me."

"How many times have you seen him play?" Tina asked.

Angie shrugged. "Many times at The Living Room, a couple at The Met Cafe, and at the garage. Enough to see his act evolve."

Tina was getting a good vibe from Angie. How could she not? Joe loved her boundless enthusiasm and she always showered him with praise. He absorbed Angie's platonic love. He just wasn't sure Tina would appreciate it, until he watched Angie at work, focusing on Tina and not him.

"So, tell me about your art." She asked Tina, "What do you do?"

Tina stopped, "We're here. Would you like to join us for lunch?"

"Oh," Angie winced. "I don't want to intrude." She looked at the Pink Tea Cup. "What is this place?"

Joe smiled, "Soul food. Maybe you can give us this opinion of a southerner."

"Is it good?"

"I think so," Joe said, "But what does a Yankee white boy know about soul food?"

Angie turned to Tina, "Are you sure?"

Tina nodded, "I wouldn't ask if I wasn't."

Joe opened the door for the ladies. They waited several minutes for a table. Angie talked the entire time.

"I have a bone to pick with your boyfriend," She said to Tina and then elbowed Joe. "I was hurt that you didn't attend my student film showing. I was shocked actually. You were the star of the film."

Joe was relieved when the hostess called them to a table. It gave him a moment to consider his reply. Once they were seated with menus, he pretended to forget. Once they ordered lunch, Angie stared at him.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Why didn't you come to the student film festival?"

"I had a gig that night."

"It was at 3 PM."

Joe focused on his coffee, not looking up. Angie turned to Tina and explained that she was a photographer and filmmaker and had made a student film about the music scene in Providence featuring The Young Punks.

"I filmed his high school graduation party at the garage. That was a fun day." She turned to Tina. "He basically produced a small concert."

"You said he was the star of the film?" Tina asked.

"Yes, he definitely was."

"That's why he did attend," Tina said. "On stage, he does his act. He's confident and charismatic. Off stage he's different. When people make a big deal about what he does, he pulls back. I can see you've already embarrassed him by telling me how much you admire him."

"Is that it?" Angie turned to Joe. "You were embarrassed."

"Do you recall how much I hated being on camera?"

"Yes, I do, but that was just you being ridiculous. How can you get on stage and do what you do and be bashful in front of a camera?"

"Because live moments aren't captured forever. If I make an ass of myself, it will pass."

"That nonsense."

"He's a strange duck," Tina said. "Joe's an attention junkie who gets uncomfortable when there's too much attention, but not on stage. That's his safe place. He's in total control. Off stage, he's a neurotic."

Angie shook her head. "I was hurt, Joe."

"I'm sorry."

Angie turned to Tina. "So, tell me about your art. What's your jam?"

Tina explained her mixed media photography and painting, her love of black and white urbanscapes, and architecture. Angie listened and asked questions. Joe was a passenger, observing them, happy Tina was cool with Angie and happier when his chicken and waffles arrived.

"I'm not surprised Joe ended up with an artist." Angie smiled at T as she started on her brunch. "Who else could understand him?"

"I'm not sure I have him figured out."

"I love how he breaks the fourth wall and makes his audience part of the show. I've seen dozens of bands in so many clubs... " She reached across the table to poke Joe. "And he's the most fun."

"Breaking the fourth wall? What is that?" Joe asked. "Someone said that to me a while back."

"It's a stage term," Tina said. "The invisible wall between the actors and the audience. When an actor addresses the audience, he's breaking the fourth wall."

"Some people hate it," Angie said, "even in writing when the author addresses the reader. But if it's done well, I like it."

"I guess I do that," Joe said quietly.

"Yeah ya do," Angie said. "It's your trademark."

After a few quiet minutes of dining, Joe asked a question he'd been wondering about since Angie entered his day.

"What are you doing in New York?

"I took a marketing job on Madison Ave a few months ago. I'm in the art department. It pays well, I love this city, but it's such a dreadful corporate bore I'm looking to get out to save my soul. I shouldn't complain, but I am."

"I get it," Tina said. "You're doing someone else's art, not yours. A hired gun."

Angie nodded. "That's exactly it. You get me, girl."

"Where are you from," Tina asked. "Your accent?"

"I'm from Atlanta and I hate that everyone can hear it."

"No," Joe said. "You have a pleasant accent. It's just a hint."

Tina looked up at Joe. "He's right, it's just a hint of the south."

Angie blushed. "That's sweet of you."

They enjoyed their meal, Angie telling Tina tales of the garage and the band's early days, and how impressed she was with Joe's stage show.

"My favorite thing about him was never knowing what he would do next. Every performance had something new added, and it was always fun. Where is this Cat Club you're playing at? How can I get in touch with you?"

Tina pulled a pen from her clutch and grabbed a napkin. She wrote and handed it to Angie.. "That's our number. If you'd like, you can join me and my friend Jenna Friday night."

As they stepped back on the street, Angie hugged Joe. "It's so great to see you, Joe." She then moved on to Tina. "I'm so happy to have met you. I'll be calling. I promise." And off she went as suddenly as she appeared.

Joe and Tina resumed walking. Tina took his hand. "I like her, but she's a lot. So much energy."

"Yes, Angie is amazing. It's all positive energy, and I like that." They walked several paces in silence. "I love it when life gives you the gift of bumping into an old friend."

---- PAYOLA CONTRACT ---

On Friday morning, the day of The Cat Club show, Joe had lunch with his partners. Stan had some bad news.

"I've run out of attorneys to look at this. Every person has reached the same conclusion. The contract is too vague and leaves a lot of wiggle room for management. If we take this to court, we will lose."

"And what then?"

"If you don't do the dates for EIC they can sue us, and they will."

"I've spoken to two people there," Marty added. "They understand that Sheila pulled a shitty move, but they're holding us to the agreement."

"There was no agreement!" Joe snapped. His older partners stared at him with no reply. Joe fidgeted with his deli lunch having lost his appetite.

Stan had one more point to make. "A judge has already made a statement that he would throw this out of court if the case landed on his desk."

"What judge?"

"EIC has many political connections," Marty added. "They ran it by a judge and he said it's an easy decision."

"Why would they do that?"

"To send a message and establish the fact they're on solid legal ground," Stan said. "They would like to avoid the courts."

"That contract your pal Irving gave us was drawn up years ago, wasn't it, like in the fifties? Irving gave us a fucking deal from the Payola days, didn't he? This is the garbage you guys used when studios and management locked bands into bad deals where the labels had total control, isn't it?"

Stan and Marty looked at one another. Stan nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry. It was a shitty contract."

"And now my band is under contract with these crooks."

"It's only a hundred and twenty-five dates, Joe."

Joe steeled his eyes. "A hundred and twenty-five dates you don't have to play."