“I guess,” sighed Jake, acknowledging that his petite wife had a point. Jesse had been a ten-pound baby and been delivered by emergency C-section. He’d also been a very fractious baby, who rarely slept for more than a couple of hours at a time.
“Let’s leave the baby-making to Grey and Kola,” laughed Lori. “She’s positively glowing just now despite the size of that belly.”
“Grey said they want at least another one,” confided Jake. “Think he’s secretly hoping for a boy.”
“Kola said the same,” revealed Lori, sitting up. “Rather her than me.”
“Come on, li’l lady,” said Jake with a wink. “If we can’t make babies, let’s make love instead.”
Giggling at his cheesy comment, Lori allowed him to help her to her feet and lead her into the house.
Mercury levels were rising again as Jake parked the truck in his usual spot out at JJL next morning. A dark bank of clouds was rolling in, threatening the area with a thunderstorm. Silently, he hoped it would be the only storm of the day. As usual, he was the last to arrive.
“Twenty bucks in the pot, Mr Power,” called out Grey as Jake strolled into the lounge, his twenty-dollar bill held aloft.
“I know. I know,” he said, passing the bill to the band’s bass player. “No excuses. I’m late.”
“You’re always late,” said Jethro calmly. “One of these days, you’ll shock the hell out of us and be early!”
“I admire your optimism,” laughed Jake as he fetched himself a coffee before joining them at the table.
“Ok,” began Maddy sharply. “We closed the poll for the fan vote at midnight. Before I give you the results, how many songs are you planning to play? Are you adding any new ones? Any covers of songs that Rich would’ve wanted? Where are your minds at?”
“Personally speaking,” started Grey. “I think we aim for eighteen or twenty songs. We need to give the fans their full two hours.”
“I agree,” said Paul, drumming his fingers on the table. “Maybe we should throw in a couple of covers.”
“Which ones?” asked Jethro.
“Enter Sandman would get my vote,” replied Jake without hesitation. “Plus, I think we add in that new one we’ve been messing with.”
Grey nodded slowly.
“So, eighteen fan choices plus the Metallica cover and the new song?” checked Maddy bluntly.
“Works for me,” said Grey, helping himself to a donut from the box in the centre of the table.
“Me too,” sighed Jake.
“And me,” added Paul.
“That was easier than I thought,” commented Maddy with a sigh of relief. “Ok, so the songs the fans voted for are…”
Methodically, the band’s manager ran through the list of songs that the Silver Lakers had chosen as their favourites. As they listened to the list, the three band members exchanged glances and the occasional nod. Some of the songs chosen by the fans surprised them; others were firm favourites and set regulars.
“We can work with that,” acknowledged Jake calmly. “There’s a few in there that will need a bit of work. Been a while since we played some of those.”
“Remember that you’ve a few guests coming along too,” prompted Jethro.
“Yeah. That’ll help,” agreed Grey. “Not that any of them are bass players.”
“I’m sure Luke would help you out,” commented Jake. “We’ve already got Ellen, Tailz and Cal on side. Plus, Garrett’s promised to play too.”
“Maybe,” muttered Grey into his cold coffee.
“So, who do you have confirmed as guests?” asked Maddy, her tone shrill and business-like.
“The guys from After Life, Mikey, Garrett and I’m waiting to hear back from Tori,” rhymed off Jake.
“When do you get to rehearse with them?” quizzed Jethro, trying to figure out the logistics in his head.
“We don’t,” laughed Jake. “If there’s time at the soundcheck, we can run through some of it. We just need to be smart here. Let’s try to play songs with our guests that we’ve done in the past with them where possible.”
“Makes sense,” stated Grey.
“It’ll be fine,” added Paul quietly. “Give the three of us time and space to work on this. We’ll look at the running order and the timings. There’s a few big asks on that list musically and vocally.”
“There sure are,” conceded Jake. “And I’ve not tested my voice since that last show in LA back in June. There’s a few songs on there that I might just struggle with.”
“Has it given you any issues over the summer?” demanded Maddy sharply.
“A few when I was out here with the kids from the high school. Nothing major. I’ll be fine.”
“We can pace this one,” added Grey. “Leave the three of us in peace to work on this. We’ll pull this off if it kills us.”
“We trust you boys,” said Jethro, keeping his stern gaze on Maddy. “Work it up then let us know the plan.”
Pushing his chair out from the table, the band’s silver-haired manager said, “Come on, Maddison. We need to go call Lord Jason. He’s wanting facts and figures from us.”
Once their managers had left, the three members of Silver Lake helped themselves to more coffee then sat working through the eighteen songs. After an hour of debate, Jake said, “Stop. We’re overthinking this shit.”
“We are, Mr Power?” replied Grey, raising his eyebrows as he stared across the table at him.
“Yes,” stated Jake firmly. “Let’s split this into three segments. First half dozen songs as normal, play an extended acoustic slot then have our guests in the final sector. We can close it out with Engine Room. Then we can do a three-song encore of Enter Sandman, the new song and close it all out with Flyin’ High.”
“That could work,” agreed Paul, seeing the logic in the split.
