Ladies and Gentlemen...The Redeemers

by Michael Scott Miller

  Chapter 15 – The Tour

  The Redeemers watched in quiet awe as the roadies set up the stages and tents across the multi-acre campground of the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana, just outside of Indianapolis. This was finally it. The big time. Well, at least the fringe of the big time. The Laguna tour had twenty-plus acts, many of which already had a solid foothold on the climb toward commercial success, while others had developed growing underground followings. And here were the Redeemers, side by side with them.

  To be fair, the Redeemers were still very much on the periphery. Geoff Dowell had offered the band a spot on one of the tour’s side stages. The shows ran from noon until 9 P.M. and the Redeemers would be performing right at noon, well before the attendance would be anywhere near capacity. But still it was exciting.

  In fact, it was almost too exciting. Bert had gone to sleep on Tuesday night, ecstatic about joining the tour and the opportunity that beckoned. But midway through the night, as he lay in his pitch black, noiseless room and thought about the finish line that he could almost glimpse out on the horizon, he started to become unnerved.

  Trying to block the thoughts until morning in order to get some rest proved futile and Bert tossed and turned through the remainder of the night, unable to clear his mind of the anxiety. His feelings intensified as his subconscious conjured the images from his final days at Sapphire Records. Things had come crashing down once before, and with his shield of invincibility gone, he was susceptible to doubt.

  Bert realized that he needed help. He considered Charlie and Gene, but he quickly dismissed the idea, knowing that he couldn’t show any signs of weakness. Not now. He needed a detached observer.

  As the dawn light crept into the room, Bert found himself almost wishing that the whole thing would go away and he would be sitting at Ted’s with a nice bowl of soup and the bay breeze blowing gently on his face. Then a thought struck him. I need to call Ted. Bert had forgotten how important it had been to have Ted there to speak with, unattached and uninvested in Bert’s life.

  Bert anxiously waited until mid-morning, when the restaurant would be preparing for lunch and punched in the number on the cell phone. “Hello, may I speak with Ted?”

  Bert could hear a woman shout the message back to Ted over the noise of the restaurant, and he held the phone away from his head to avoid having his eardrum pierced.

  Ted’s animated voice came on the line. “Bert, where are you? Is everything okay?”

  “I’m fine, Ted. Don’t worry, I haven’t found a new restaurant,” Bert joked uneasily. “I’ve just been away. With the band. Listen, do you have a few minutes to talk? I could sure use your help.”

  “Of course, Bert. I always have time for my favorite customer.”

  Bert gave Ted the abridged version of everything that had transpired since he had gotten on that bus to Los Angeles back in April.

  “It sounds like things are breaking your way,” Ted assessed as Bert finished, “but I can tell by your voice that something’s troubling you.”

  “I’m frightened by what might happen, Ted. We’ve come a long way, but what if we don’t make it? I’m not sure I can go through that again.” Bert paused, feeling even more panicked. “And as we get closer to the mountain, it just seems to look higher. What if I don’t have it in me to lead the Redeemers to the top of it?”

  “Bert, Bert, take a deep breath,” Ted counseled. “You are thinking too much, and yet not thinking enough.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What’s your plan of attack?”

  “I don’t know. That’s kind of why I’m calling. I have all these thoughts swirling through my head and I can’t focus on any of them.”

  “Break it down into pieces. Don’t try to swallow the elephant whole. What needs to happen in Indianapolis?”

  “We need to perform well, start to develop a following,” Bert answered quickly.

  “See, that was easy enough. Now what needs to happen after Indianapolis, wherever you go next?”

  “Cleveland,” Bert replied, looking over the tour schedule. “We need to grow our audience and our following?” Bert asked in the manner in which an unsure student might answer a question from the teacher.

  Ted laughed gutturally. “And you thought you needed my help when you had all the answers all along.”

  “But how?” asked Bert, still confused.

  “How have you gotten this far?” asked Ted.

  “It’s all been through a network of people. This person knows that person. That person knows someone else.” The lightbulb in Bert’s head was just beginning to glow.

  “Okay, so all you need to figure out is who can help you.”

  “Right,” Bert said, now speaking to himself. “Who do I know who can help me build awareness on the tour?”

  “Ahh, but be careful, Bert. One city at a time. One city at a time.”

  “That’s it!” Bert exclaimed. “I’ve got it! I can get Alice from radio station KBRK to help me connect to the network of college stations for every city on the tour!” He was now talking rapidly. “And I can build the network as we go. The contacts in each city can feed the next city, and the word will spread exponentially!”

  “My, my,” said Ted happily. “It sounds to me like Bert Ingram is back.”

  “Ted, I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank you.”

  “Not at all, my friend. Not at all.”

  It was too late to do anything for the show in Indianapolis. However, Bert would closely manage the remaining tour dates, and he would be sure that before they got into town, the town would damn sure know that the Redeemers were coming. They were scheduled for nineteen shows in twenty-four days, so it was going to take a superhuman effort to get out in front and get the publicity building in the cities before the Laguna Express rolled into town.

  Later that same day, as they waited to board the flight from Las Vegas to Indianapolis, Bert placed a call to KBRK in Berkeley and asked to be passed through to Alice. Bert had purposely avoided calling her to this point, for fear of losing focus on his mission. Now that he needed to call, he would try to keep the conversation very businesslike.

  “Hi, Bert!” Alice greeted him warmly. “It’s great to hear your voice. What are you guys up to?”

  “We’ve been keeping ourselves busy,” Bert said with feigned nonchalance.

  “You sound far away. Where are you?”

  “The Las Vegas airport, but we’re on our way to Indianapolis, believe it or not.”

  “Good Lord! What will my California buddies be doing in that part of the country?”

  “We’re on the Laguna tour. We just joined up. Tomorrow is our first show.”

  Alice squealed. “Wow! That is so awesome! I hadn’t heard. How did that happen?”

  “Long story,” Bert answered. “I’d love to tell it to you over a cup of coffee one day. Anyway, I could sure use your help again.”

  “Of course. What do you need?”

  “Thanks, Alice. I knew we could count on you. I just need you to make a few phone calls.” Bert then laid out the plan for Alice to contact the college radio stations in and around all the cities remaining on the tour. Bert would create press kits with demo discs, and saturate the radio, television, and newspaper media in each of the cities. What he needed Alice to do was to call her counterparts at each of the local colleges and universities near where the Laguna tour would be landing and convince the stations to support the Redeemers. Bert would follow up Alice’s calls with a phone call to each, and personal visits whenever possible when he arrived in the town.

  Alice, always a bundle of enthusiasm, agreed. Bert offered to provide her with the list of the remaining tour dates, but Alice said she would simply get them from the tour’s website.

  “Alice, I can’t thank you enough,” Bert said as they wrapped up the call. “I’ll touch base with you again in a day or two.”

  “Anytime, Bert, you know that,” she replied.
<
br />   He started to say goodbye but was interrupted.

  “Bert?”

  “Yes?”

  There was an awkward pause. “I miss you.”

  “Me too, Alice. Me too.”

  With great difficulty, Bert blocked Alice from his mind, refocusing on the task at hand. Hopefully he could get the human network up and running in time, he thought to himself. Once he developed a relationship with the station manager or programming director in each city, he hoped to persuade them to then call ahead to the remaining cities on the tour in support of the Redeemers. In that way, the momentum would build rapidly day by day until it acquired critical mass.

  Bert studied the tour schedule: Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, New Orleans, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Miami, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Virginia Beach, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Northern New Jersey, Boston, Syracuse, and Buffalo. It was an impressive list, and it was sure to make or break the band. He knew that it would be impossible to create another opportunity with the potential of this one, or for that matter, to rebound if this one failed. He took a deep breath. The next few weeks would require all the energy and creativity that he had to give.

  * * *

  “What do you think?” Bert asked to no one in particular the next day as the Redeemers watched the roadies fasten the stage lighting to the scaffolding surrounding the stage.

  “I’m tingling all over,” answered Aaron. “I’m nervous just looking at our stage.”

  Dave chimed in. “I can’t believe I’m saying this after performing in concert halls so many times, but me too. This is totally different.”

  “Just close your eyes and imagine yourself somewhere that you’ve been,” advised Bert. “A nightclub, a concert hall, the subway, your garage. Find that place where you feel the groove. This is the moment we’ve all been working toward.”

  “Amen,” said Gene.

  Noon couldn’t come quickly enough for the band members who vacillated between intense anxiety and extreme excitement. They would have roughly 45 minutes to play, with the 12:00 to 12:30 time slot uncontested, and then another act beginning on the other side stage at 12:30, overlapping the Redeemers’ set by fifteen minutes.

  At a few minutes past noon, with a sparse crowd of about a hundred or so, Geoff Dowell stepped up to the microphone and announced the start of the event. With the band holding its collective breath, Aaron slapped his drum sticks together, counted off, and the band launched into “Streets of Shame.”

  The sun shone bright and strong as they played. A warm wind wafted across the flatlands as the Redeemers cranked out a lively set which was enjoyed by the small collective who had come early to get their day started with some music and to take advantage of the short beer lines.

  Immediately after the performance, Bert placed another call to Alice for the Cleveland show on Friday. He desperately needed the information she was gathering.

  “This is K-Berk. Alice speaking,” came the voice on the other end of the telephone.

  “Hi, Alice. It’s Bert. How are you?” he asked, forcing himself to go through the pleasantries despite his strong desire to cut straight to the purpose of the call.

  “I’m doing great. You?”

  “So far, so good. We just got off the stage in Indianapolis. I think the audience liked us, but it was a pretty small crowd. How did you make out with the phone calls?” Bert’s pulse quickened as he awaited her response.

  “Do you have pen and paper ready?”

  “Yes.”

  Alice proceeded to give Bert the names and phone numbers of the program director or station manager at Case Western, Cleveland State, and several other local schools, as well as Ohio State, figuring that some segment of the student body would make the two-hour drive from Columbus for the show.

  “Alice, you’re the best!” Bert exclaimed.

  “You know you can count on me, Bert. By the way, I raved about the Redeemers to each of them, but of course, I don’t know how much influence I had. Hopefully, some of them will come out to the show.”

  “You opened the doors for us, and that’s all I could ask for. You’ve done heroic work. I can’t thank you enough, Alice.”

  “You’ll get your opportunity,” she replied coyly.

  A short time later, while the other bands played, Bert found a quiet area of the campground and placed a few more calls. The first was to Eric Beckman, the program director at Case Western’s radio station. Eric was unavailable, but Bert left a detailed message including the hope that they could hook up either before or after the Cleveland show. He also told him that he’d drop off a handful of tickets early on Friday. As a side stage act, the Redeemers received just ten complimentary tickets for each performance on the tour. Bert would use these judiciously. His next call, to Taylor Burke at Cleveland State’s WCSU, found her at the station.

  “Taylor!” Bert said excitedly, “This is Bert Ingram from the Redeemers. I believe you spoke with Alice at KBRK earlier today.”

  “Yes, I did. She had quite a few nice things to say about you guys. I have to confess. I hadn’t heard of you before she called.”

  “Understandable. We’re just emerging. Hey, I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I was wondering if I might be able to stop by the station early tomorrow and drop off a couple of tickets for you for the Laguna show. I’m not sure if you’ve gotten press tickets already or not.”

  “Oh, no. We don’t really rate. The big stations around here get them, but it’s pretty rare that the college stations get included.”

  “Great, then. I’ll drop them off and you can use them however you’d like. Hopefully, you can come to see us. We play at noon. And please stop by to say hello after our set.”

  “Will do, Bert. Thanks for the call.”

  Bert thanked her and hung up. That didn’t go too badly, he thought to himself. He proceeded to make similar calls to Ohio State and Cuyahoga Community College, and made a mental note to start calling ahead to the other cities with a bit more lead time.

  The formula for the Laguna tour was that each night after the final performance, the roadies would break down the stages and tents and pack everything into the trailers. The side stage performances ended a couple of hours earlier than those on the main stage, which allowed the men to get a jump on their work. They had created a finely honed process by which the tour bus and equipment trailer caravan could be ready to roll two hours after the last note was struck on the main stage.

  The buses would travel overnight, and everyone affiliated with the tour effectively lived on the buses. They would sleep while en route to the next city and upon arrival, the buses would park, allowing everyone to continue their night’s rest. It was not a comfortable way to live, but that was life on tour.

  The roadies would be up earliest each day to begin their construction. They would build the side stages first, then progress to the main stage. This sequencing minimized the impact of an unforeseen delay, since the main stage starting time lagged that of the side stages.

  In the early morning hours, Bert enlisted Charlie and Aaron to accompany him to the three nearby university radio stations to drop off the tickets and copies of the demo CD. That day, the show was to take place both on the stage and in the expansive parking lot and grounds of Cleveland’s Amphitheater at Tower City.

  Later, as the Redeemers were preparing on site for the show, a female voice called out, “Excuse me, I’m looking for Bert Ingram.”

  Bert turned to see a woman in her mid-twenties at the top of the stairs that led to the elevated stage. She was dressed in a floral print shirt and beige capris and sported black-rimmed, football-shaped glasses. An even younger-looking male in a gray T-shirt, short-sleeved button down shirt with buttons undone, and cargo shorts accompanied her.

  “I’m Bert Ingram,” Bert said, extending his hand as he walked over to the pair.

  “Taylor Burke, from WCSU radio. We spoke yesterday,” she replied. “This is J
ason Livingston, one of our DJs.”

  “Great to meet both of you,” Bert responded warmly. “Thanks for coming out to the show.”

  Bert introduced the two to the rest of the band and made arrangements to meet up with them after the performance.

  When the Redeemers wrapped up at 12:45, Bert waited around for fifteen minutes, wondering if anyone from the other stations at which he had left messages and dropped off tickets would come to find him. When no one else materialized, he walked over to the nearby food tent while the band finished putting away its equipment. He had arranged to meet Taylor and Jason for a quick bite and found them waiting just outside the tent. After purchasing hot dogs, a couple of beers, and a soda for himself, the three of them sat down at one of the white resin tables in the parking lot.

  “Well, Bert,” began Taylor, “that was everything Alice promised. Your band is terrific! Tell him what you thought, Jason.”

  Jason was stuffing a hot dog into his mouth and started talking while he struggled to swallow. “I totally agree. Your sound is fresh, energetic, fun.” He turned toward Bert. “What would be the chances that I could interview you and the band for the station?”

  Bert, of course, replied that it would be their pleasure. Jason hurried to his car to get a digital recorder and a notepad so he could conduct the interview for his program that evening.

  Bert and Taylor continued talking about music until Jason returned. Jason seemed excited about getting in on the ground floor with the Redeemers and the prospect of making his mark as the one who “discovered” them.

  Sensing that he would be a great resource, Bert decided to make Jason the same promise that Ethan had made to Alice. In exchange for Jason’s support, Bert would always be there for him whenever the Redeemers could help him out in any way. Jason eagerly agreed, which gave Bert the opening to solicit Jason’s help in calling ahead to stations in the next several cities on the tour to help build the Redeemers’ hype factory.

  Bert spent that afternoon and evening playing the role of public relations manager. He located a business center in downtown Cleveland where he made copies of the band’s press clipping from Berkeley, and created a biography of the band and a press release announcing the band’s performance for each city.