pan6467

"We started out the 5 of us playing clubs in Mansfield, Akron, Canton, the mid sized towns, but we knew we got our break when we hit Cleveland. I wrote a few songs in no time and we improvised the music when we got there. We all trusted each other back then.

The Sandels, Sean, and I, we were all family. Hell, we grew up together, we knew each others secrets and where the bodies were buried so to speak. Our families had timeshares in Nag's head and we'd vacation together. I got that fuck Sean his first lay in Columbus when we were 17. The 4 of us snuck into a club and drank till we got stupid. Then Sean and I snuck out of the hotel room and found some drunk 20 something housewives who were out because their husbands were on some kind of a trip and .... well needless to say Sean lost his childhood.

It was then we decided to live like that and we dedicated our live to the band. We started playing parties and local bars for tips, when J.C. started following us around like a lost puppy dog. He soon became one of us though. Those were the best times.

Never met such a fucking cocky ass in my life before then. Thought he knew and could do it all. His confidence was overrated except for his guitar playing. Man, the fuck knew how to play that guitar. Made Eddie Van Halen look like an amateur to us.

I met J.C.'s sister and we made her our manager and I made her my wife, but wasn't all that serious at first.

We got the rep as a party band but the best sound and energy onstage. Then some guy from Zampata came along wanting to sign us. It was J.C. that took over. Hell, all I cared about was making music, fucking the groupies and blowing my mind. J.C. sold us a song and dance and told us how Zampata was going to make us bigger than any other band. So we all signed on the dotted line, never reading a word of it."

Phil stopped and shook his head wiped his eyes and took a drink of his lemonade.

"Well, we ended up huge. 15 number 1 singles, 10 multi-platinum albums, we were the biggest concert draw in the world for 7 straight years. Problem was the only one getting money, was J.C.Don't get me wrong we didn't live in poverty, but while J.C. bought mansions in Aspen, Jamaica, and La Jolla with cash..... course he calimed the houses were the band's and anyone of us could use them at any time. But whenever we asked, he'd make a lame excuse. Meanwhile, the rest of us were living in debt with mortgages. But it was all good, we still lived lives we never thought possible.

You knew all that, though, Jack. Hell, you were there. What you and the band didn't know was I found the contracts in Diane's drawer one night. For some reason I decided to read them over. Turned out, the contracts gave all ownership of the band's music to J.C. and his sister, he had everything. All we were considered was his support and our share was 15% divided 4 ways of all the royalties and tours.

I felt used and went to J.C. and his sister and that's when the fighting started. Diane had J.C. so fucked up on the drugs she was feeding him he had no idea what was going on. I went to the others but they were all doing their own thing and none of them would listen. Mark tried but Mike was so drugged out and hanging with J.C. so much that Mark was more scared of Mike overdosing or worse killing someone in a car accident.

Sean was into Stacey and he got lucky with her dad being so rich. He didn't really care about what was going on. All he would say is that we signed the contracts and if I had cared so much why didn't I read it then.

J.C. and Diane had the band so wrapped around them that I knew I could never win. So when it came time to record, I sat out and demanded my fair cut. Zampata knew I was the band, regardless of what J.C and Diane tried to say, so they cut me a deal to play.

And that was it. By the end of recording we had stopped speaking to each other, Diane and I were divorced, and the band was dead. Our last tour the only 2 talking to each other were Mike and J.C. and that was about drug deals. All we did was get onstage play and when we walked off we went seperate ways and met onstage in the next town for the next show. Course we weren't the only band doing that, I suppose.

The last show, all we did was fight even onstage. We sounded like shit, Mike and J.C. were so fucked up and off tempo that the audience nearly rioted for their money back.

When I walked offstage, I didn't want anything to do with any of them. They all betrayed the fans, the band and me.

I walked away owning only the songs I'd written for the last album and the ones I sold to other bands. I was the lucky one. The Sandels barely had enough to buy their nightclub, Sean married into big money but none of it was his."

Phil stopped and sighed, "So that's it, Jack. Why would I want to go back to that?"

Jack stared at Phil and saw a man that had given up.

"This is your chance to go back and correct the mistakes, bro. You sign the release we pay you and you're done."

"I just don't know if I can face those fucks anymore. Every song I wrote was a part of me and they let that bastard and his sister steal it all."

"Look, Phil I sympathize with you, but you signed the contract also and you have this last obligation to make. If you don't come Zampata could sue you for whatever you do have left. Besides man, all you guys are forever bound to each other until you sign off."

"Ok, fuck it, maybe we'll all hug and kiss...... or we could all just draw guns and truly end it."

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"