Different Circles

“Because then you might have tried for twenty-five percent,” Pauline said. “And that might have led to hard feelings and mistrust when we turned you down.”

“Besides,” Jake added, “we were curious about where you would start your negotiations.”

They all had a little laugh about that.

“All right then,” Pauline said. “Twenty percent royalties is settled. Next subject: Advance money. We gave you fifty thousand dollars to live on during the recording process last time. That’s just your bill paying money and your money for incidentals while we’re down in LA for workups and then up in Oregon for the actual recording process. We pay for your housing, transportation, food, and household booze out of our own pockets. Does fifty thousand work for you this time around, or do you want a little more?”

They looked at each other for a moment and shrugged. “Fifty thousand is fine with us,” Jim replied. “In truth, we probably don’t even need an advance at all. We all have money in the bank now. We just need to remember to actually sit down and pay the bills while we’re away.”

“Yeah, and to have them forwarded to wherever we’re staying,” Steph said. “That is a pain in the ass that bit all of us in the butt a little the last time around.”

“Nerdly pays most of his bills online now,” Jake said.

“Online?” Steph asked. “How does that work?”

“His bank has a website,” Jake said. “He is able to log in and tell his bank who he owes money to, what the account numbers are, and how much to pay. Once he does that, the bank either mails or electronically sends the money to them. And then they save the account information for the next time so he doesn’t have to type it all in every month.”

“No shit?” Steph asked.

“No shit,” Jake confirmed. “I’ve seen him do it. He can even set it up so the bills that are the same amount every month get paid automatically.”

“Wow,” Jim said. “That’s pretty high-tech.”

“I’ll have him show you how to do it once you get up to Oregon,” Jake promised. “He just arranged for the latest, greatest computer technology up there, complete with a DSL line.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Steph said. “That would make it so much easier if my mortgage and my car payment just paid itself.”

“So ... anyway,” Pauline said. “Fifty K advance money works?”

“It works,” Jim said.

“That’s settled then,” she said. “Let’s move on to the next item.”

They moved on. And they agreed immediately on the clauses for how the royalties would be disbursed and distributed: just like they had been the last time, quarterly and individually. They then moved on to the next item, and then the next. And every time, there was no disagreement. In all but the signing, the entity known as KVA Records and the musical act known as Brainwash came to terms on a one CD contract and all of its provisions before their dinner was even served. This left them free to thoroughly enjoy their cuisine when it was put before them.

It was over desert and cognac that Jake brought up the actual itinerary for the summer months.

“You’ve been working up some tunes for us, right?”

“That’s right,” Jim said. “We still get together almost every weekend and jam. We didn’t tour at all last summer, so we didn’t want to get rusty.”

“No touring?” Jake asked. “Why not? I would’ve thought you would have been able to pull in pretty good money for agreeing to play in pretty much any club.”

“That’s what we thought as well,” Steph said. “And it was true. The one time we tried was at the Haymaker Club here in Providence; a place we’ve played dozens of times over the years. They offered us three grand for a Friday night show at the beginning of last summer. And they upped their cover charge to ten dollars for the event.”

“What happened?” Pauline asked.

“It was utter chaos,” Jim said. “Far too much demand and not enough supply. The venue only holds four hundred people, max. People started showing up on Wednesday night to get in line. They set up tents and had camp stoves and were going over to the Starbucks to pee and poop. By Friday morning it was insane. The police estimated there were more than two thousand people in the line. Fights were breaking out. People were getting cited for public urination. The cops and the fire department were forced to break up the line and cancel our permit as a danger to public safety.”

“Wow,” Jake said. “That’s insane.”

“After that, we didn’t even try anymore,” Steph said.

“I guess I can understand why,” Jake said. “Anyway, you’ve got at least sixteen tunes to present?”

“Closer to twenty, truth be told,” Jim said.

Jake nodded. “And you’re out of school on May 31?”

“That is our last day,” Steph confirmed.

“Will you be ready to travel on June 2? That’s the Sunday following the last day of school.”

“We’ll be ready,” Jim assured him.