The Guitar Player Ch. 02

Right after the New Year, George and Simon told Tanya that they couldn't do it anymore. Simon took a job as a waiter, and George took a job as a carpenter on a construction site. All that time, I worked with George and never knew he was a carpenter.

Tanya was about as down as one person could be. I have to admit that I wasn't feeling like any ray of sunshine either. I was a little better off than Tanya because I still had some of my bankroll I'd brought from Tifton. Even with that, my funds were beginning to dwindle at an alarming rate.

I was about to throw in the towel when Tanya called me one morning and told me to meet her at the Pancake House. She, apparently, had an idea to jump-start our musical careers. I knew I should be looking for a job, but I just couldn't say no to Tanya. I guess I was a little in love with her, even at that point. But I never said or did anything to let on. I didn't want to get burned again, and I didn't want to sour our musical relationship.

The next day, I found Tanya sitting at a table sipping a cup of coffee. I slid into the chair next to her and asked, "So, what's your new idea?"

"He should be here in a few minutes," she responded and then nodded to the front of the restaurant. "There he is now."

Glancing toward the entrance, I saw a middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed beard looking around. When he saw Tanya, he waved and headed in our direction. He seemed to be in his early fifties with a friendly smile. He wore a dark blue sports coat, gray slacks, and a white collared shirt.

"Robbie, this is Alex Misner," Tanya introduced us. "He's a musical agent. He caught our act and thinks he can help us."

With very little small talk, Mr. Misner began discussing what we faced. "The music industry has changed dramatically with the advent of the internet. For the most part, people download the music they want. Gone are the days of cutting a record and trying to convince a radio station to play it. Anyone can download their music to the internet, so you have to create your own exposure, your own excitement, your own brand."

"That sounds great," I said. "But how do we accomplish that?"

"That's what I do for you," Alex said confidently. "The first thing we need to do is get you playing at as many different places as possible."

"That's the problem," Tanya admitted. "We started to get some bookings and even appeared at the Spectrum in Charlotte, but then everything seemed to dry up after that."

"I heard about your performance at the Spectrum, and that probably hurt you."

"How could that be?" Tanya demanded.

"Well, from what I hear, you guys did pretty well," Alex explained. "As a result, a lot of the people booking acts figured you'd want too much money, so they crossed you guys off their list."

"So, you're saying we were penalized for being good?" I asked in disbelief.

Alex nodded. "I guess that's a fair assessment."

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, churning inside at the unfairness of the system.

"Again, that's where I come in," the agent said as he stirred his coffee. "I can get you booked in a bunch of different places, but they'll only be for a night or two, and then you'll be on to a new location."

Mr. Misner then looked over at me. "Tanya tells me that you write songs."

"Yeah, I do," I admitted, "but so does she. I've got three shoeboxes full of them. But we've never used any of them in our shows."

"Do you have any that revolve around kids? It can be babies, toddlers, teenagers. Anything to do with children."

"I'm sure I have some," I admitted. "But some of the songs aren't that good."

"I have a couple, also," Tanya chimed in. "But my songs are pretty rough also."

"Doesn't matter. Try to polish up your songs as well as you can. We're going to record the best ones you have. Then I want both of you to go through and pick out the best six to eight songs with the same theme made famous by other artists."

I looked over at Tanya, and she appeared to be as befuddled as I was. "Okay, we can do that, but what's the point?"

"I have a friend who works for a magazine that caters to child-rearing. He's always looking for new ideas to write about. I pitched him with the idea of a singing group putting together an album about kids, and he liked it. Now, if he likes the music, he'll do the article about you two."

Alex Misner really knew his business, and I was getting excited. But the big question I had was, what does this guy want in return? It was Tanya who posed the question.

"It all sounds good, Alex," she said in her no-nonsense voice. "What do you get out of all this. I assume you're not working for free."

He chuckled. "Tanya, no one in this business works for free. If you want my help, you'll have to sign a standard contract that makes me your exclusive agent. You can take it to any attorney you want, but you'll find it is pretty similar to most contracts out there. Let me hit you with some of the important highlights. First of all, I get ten percent of what you earn. That's non-negotiable. But I don't get a penny unless I get you paying gigs. Second, the contract is for five years with an option for five additional years. Also, I get the final say about the outfits you wear, the music you play, and the group's name. Sorry, but Tanya and the Crew doesn't cut it. Your new name will be "The Wind Dreamers."

Tanya didn't like that at all and argued to keep the original name. Alex was adamant about the change, and in the end, Tanya acquiesced. Then Tanya spent twenty minutes reading through the contract. She could have been a damn good lawyer with her smarts and attention to detail. When Tanya finished reviewing the contract, she had no objections but did pick up two spelling mistakes. We then both signed it.

The next six months were like a blur. I found six songs in my box that weren't horrible. Alex especially liked two I had written - A Small Child's love and Daddy's Little Helper. Tanya had two songs he like as well, Pretty Little Girl and Mommy's Angel. The other two were mine definitely weren't memorable.

I didn't care too much for my outfit. It had me in tight leather pants, a fluffy long-sleeved white shirt with a leather vest. Tanya's outfit, on the other hand, was hot. She wore a short leather skirt and a blouse that was really cut low. One other change that Alex made was the addition of a synthesizer in our act. With George and Simon gone, he wanted more than just my acoustic guitar. Alex hired several different guys to man the synthesizer. However, a young guy named John Tynan was the one who performed with us the most.

We were playing every night and even a bunch of matinees. We played in every venue you could think of, from bars to college auditoriums to churches. The churches were fun for me because of my familiarity with gospel music. Tanya hated doing those performances because the men would leer at her, and the women would stare daggers. And this was with a blouse that was cut much higher.

I was on the go so much that Mrs. Monroe stopped me one morning as I was on my way in to collapse into bed.

"Robbie, I worry about you," she said with kind eyes, radiating sympathy. "You're on the go all hours of the day and night. I don't think you're getting enough to eat, and I know you aren't getting enough sleep."

"Thanks for worrying about me, mom," I teased her as I gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm doing good, though."

She swatted my arm. "Go get some sleep, and I'll fix you something to eat when you get up."

The article for the child care magazine was a big hit. And Alex sent us into a studio to produce an album. That used up most of my reserve. Anyway, it was released to the internet the same day the article was published. We had incorporated the four songs that I already mentioned with eight songs made famous by others.

The way it was set up, people could buy our album or individual songs online. Our internet sales were just short of terrible. However, we did pretty well selling our CDs at each of our performances. We could buy the CDs for five dollars each, sell them for twelve, and sell between twenty-five and fifty a night. That was like a hundred and seventy-five dollars to three hundred and fifty dollars extra each night.

All during this time, Tanya and I were getting closer. We had even started dating. I felt that Tanya was way out of my league, but I loved her anyway. Still, Tanya kept telling me that I was the only one she truly trusted and loved. I had been the only one who stood by her when things were at rock bottom.

I remember the first time we made love. We had been necking off and on for weeks, but Tanya didn't want to take it any further. And I wasn't about to push for anything she didn't want. But then, one night, we were just sitting there, and she leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I want you."

That's all it took, and we were all over each other. Tanya couldn't get her clothes off quickly enough and ripped at my clothes because I wasn't fast enough either. Once on the bed, I knew Tanya wanted me inside her immediately. But I remembered back to when I was married to Suzie. She would get horny and wanted me to fuck her immediately, but I would force Suzie to slow down, and it would be incredible. Suzie always told me that what I did drove her crazy, and she loved it. She loved it but just not enough to stay with me. Yet, at the moment, Suzie was the farthest thing from my mind.

Still, as Tanya kept telling me that she wanted me inside her, I decided to go slow and build the passion. I caressed her tits and sucked them while I ran two of my fingers in and out of her pussy. She was already wet as could be but was now clamping down hard. I kissed my way down her stomach slowly. As I got closer to a position between her legs, Tanya's breathing got heavy, and she moaned. As I moved my tongue inside her, Tanya's hands gripped the sheets tightly, and she arched her back.

Moving my tongue in further, I finally found Tanya's G spot. In the space of ten minutes, Tanya had three major orgasms. I lifted my head up and kissed her lips. Her tongue suddenly began to explore my mouth with a frantic urgency.

"Please, I need you inside me," Tanya pleaded.

I slipped slowly into her, and I felt her pussy clamp down as I rocked in and out. I was so lost in the wonder of making love to Tanya. I didn't even think to ask about coming inside her until it was too late. I flooded her with my hot juices, and Tanya screamed in pleasure. After that night, there was no going back. I was hopelessly in love with and committed to Tanya. Two months later, I asked her to marry me, and she said yes.

It was Alex who floated the idea of filming our wedding and releasing it on DVD. I was very hesitant about doing that, but Tanya was all for it. She thought it would give our careers a big boost. Finally, I agreed, and it was decided that we'd do it during a performance we had scheduled for one of the larger churches in the Atlanta area.

I don't know how Alex convinced the church people to go along with his idea, but they did. Still, I hoped that it would be a relatively quiet wedding mixed with music and love. I got two out of the three. The wedding, from my perspective, was filled with glorious music and tons of love. Quiet, however, the wedding was not. The local media had gotten wind of it, and being a slow news cycle, they descended on the church in hordes.

I didn't want to let the media inside, but Tanya and the church board overruled me. Still, the church board had laid down very strict guidelines that kept the media from being their usual boorish, arrogant selves.

Tanya and I discussed our wedding vows in some detail. Finally, we decided to sing a song made famous by Peter, Paul, and Mary -- This is Love. It was Tanya who first suggested the song. I loved the idea but was surprised that Tanya would pick it. The song has a very deep religious tone, and I knew that Tanya wasn't religious at all. However, the song is tailor-made for a wedding. It is probably used in tens of thousands of marriages each year. I especially felt that the final lines said everything about our love.

For whenever two or more of you are gathered in his name

There is Love, there is love.

We sang the song before the actual wedding ceremony, and there wasn't a dry eye in the church. I noticed that even some of the media people were misty-eyed. After reciting our vows, Tanya and I sang a song I had written for the occasion -- You are my one and only True Love.

When our voices began to fade away, the congregation and our friends were on their feet with a roar. It took almost five minutes for them to quiet down. Then we began the performance we had been contracted for. We had tailored our song list to include more love songs with some of the more uplifting hymns.

One part of the performance was very special. I had invited the Monroe's to the wedding and even had them sitting in the same row as my parents. Mrs. Monroe loved Nat "King" Cole and especially his song When I fall in Love. I had arranged to do my version of the song for Mrs. Monroe. Thank God for the Synthesizer because Nat had a full orchestra behind him when he recorded his version.

Before I began, I let everyone know that this song was for my second mother. I must not have done too badly because I could see tears running down Mrs. Monroe's cheeks as she snuggled close to her husband. Even Mr. Monroe's eyes were misting. Yes, my mother was also crying. My father tried to pretend that he had something in his eye. He did; it was tears.

During the reception, I cornered Mr. and Mrs. Monroe with their sons. I told them I had left presents for all of them in the garage. For Tabor and Tyron, I had gotten them the latest Apple phones. Years later, when I learned about Tabor's death, they told me he was clutching that phone as he died. For Henry, I had gotten him the best table saw I could find. He was always doing odd jobs around the house. Henry had told me that he would get a table saw when he could afford it, and then he'd really be able to fix up the house. For Mabel, I got her an expensive BOSE CD player and the complete CD collection of Nat "King" Cole. She had about worn out her record collection, playing them over and over again.

After the reception, Tanya and I left on our honeymoon to Key West, Florida. It was the happiest week of my life up until then - sun, surf, and Tanya.

During the honeymoon, we had chosen a location that had no television or internet access. As a result, we had no idea that our wedding DVD was selling like hotcakes. The two songs - There is Love and You are my one and only True Love -- were released as singles and were climbing the charts. There is Love would make it to number thirty-two on the Billboard Hot 100, and You are my one and only True Love made it to number nineteen on the Country top 100. Now we were starting to make some money and never seemed to lack bookings. We were even invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.

With this surge, Alex felt that Tanya should become the face of our group. I totally agreed; she was a lot more fun to look at than I was. So, I willingly let Alex do his thing. For the next four and a half years, we did well. Still, Tanya was not content. She felt that we should be doing a lot better.

I always put musical talent into three categories. There were the A-list people and groups that included the cream of the crop. I'm talking about people like Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood or groups like the Statler Brothers or the Charlie Daniels Band. They were the stars that everyone knew and had most of the big hits. Then there was the B list with people or groups like Tanya and me, who had a few hits but weren't big stars. And finally, there was everyone else.

The vast majority of entertainers never were able to support themselves singing. Tanya and I had done amazingly well. I considered us in the lower half of the B group. Still, we were doing fairly well. We frequently opened for some of the A-list acts. The fact that we had two minor hits was more than ninety-nine percent of all performers ever achieve. We were making a mid-five figure income each year.

We weren't superstars, but we were known. We had our own fan base and had played at the Grand Ole Opry. Still, despite our good fortune, which was mostly due to Alex's planning and promotions, Tanya wanted to reach the very top. I loved Tanya's passion, but I knew we weren't good enough to crack the A list. Even more worrisome to me was that Tanya had totally fallen into the trap my grandfather had warned me about years ago. I wondered how she would handle it when Tanya finally realized that she would never be a superstar. Still, I trusted her and Alex to keep us moving forward, or I should say moving upward.

Everything changed, however, while I was away visiting my parents in Tifton. Tanya and I had planned to go together, but she had a cold and didn't want me to pass it on. So, I went by myself. I had planned to spend a week with my parents. That's when things changed, and the snake was allowed to slither into our garden.