Ch.3

Trina sat in the family room of her apartment in total confusion. She has applied for the music writing position and based on her clips, her editor thought she’d be a perfect candidate for the position.
Like Darryl had told her, the story that she editors needed from her needed to be an original.
So what did she do? She blurted out that she’d try to land an interview with Bon Jovi, thanks to Darryl. Great idea, if you were familiar with them. Craziness if you’re trying to sift through what was fact and what was fiction.
Trina looked endlessly at clip after and clip. “Did Jon really get married recently? Is Richie seeing Ally Sheedy like everyone is saying? Was Alec really playing horribly onstage?” The questions continued to pour out of her and onto her notebook.
A knock at the door for the time being quelled the rumor mill flowing through her head. She took off her glasses and went to the door. There stood Darryl and her best friend Kendall. Each one had two large bags with them.
Flabbergasted, Trina looked at them both.
“Geez Trina, don’t invite us in.” Kendall said flying through the door. She walked into the kitchen and put the bags down on the countertop.
Darryl followed her in.
“Ya know? We bring reinforcements.” He said as he put the down the bags on her coffee table.
Trina shut the door behind them. She walked over to the coffee table. Darryl began to take out several tapes. She looked closer and then picked one of them up. Darryl smiled.
“That’s their latest one, “ he told them. “ I got it a year ago. They can’t keep this in the stores right now. If you lose it, I’ll kill ya.” He said with a wink.
“All of these are Bon Jovi?” “ Trina asked.
“Yep. There’s only four of them. But, here are some imported interviews, straight from the man himself and I also bear a gift from Fletcher.” Darryl said taking out of the bag a large accordion folder. Taped to side of it was a message. “The joy is in taking the ride…Good luck Trina! -Love Fletcher.”
Trina smiled “Aww Fletcher. I’m going to miss you.”
“We’re definitely going to miss him. At the staff meeting earlier tonight, the Entertainment editor got a call from McGhee Entertainment.
“And I got the interview?” Trina squealed.
“You sure as hell did!” Darryl screamed.
“Whoo-hoo!” Trina screamed as she jumped up and down. She ran into the Darryl’s arms and propped a big kiss on his lips. “Thank you! Thank you my friend!!! Man do I owe you big!” she yelled.
“Thank me after you get the position. You have a lot of work to do.” Darryl said.
Kendall had taken some wine glasses from Trina’s cabinet. She smiled proudly at her friend. She took the wine out of the bag and proceeded to pour it into the three glasses. Kendall knew how hard Trina worked for a break like this. Sure they have been other positions, but with Fletcher’s support. Trina could begin a great career with a lot of opportunities.
Beaming with pride, she gave Darryl and Trina their glasses.
“I think this calls for a celebration.” Kendall said walking briefly into the kitchen to grab her glass and back into the family room. She held up her glass in a toast.
“Here’s to good fortune my friend. You worked as hard as anyone for this kind of opportunity. I wish you success and much happiness. “ Kendall said.
“Here, here. Oh and much luck in getting Mr. Bon Jovi to open his mouth. “ Darryl said holding his glass up.
“Huh?” Trina said. She held her glass up, took a quick sip and put it down.
“They may be the most successful group around right now, but they’re private as hell.” Darryl said.
“You don’t have to tell me.” Said Trina. “I’ve been looking for all kinds of stuff on them. As you can see, all I’m getting is shit from Page six.” Trina said.
‘You don’t want to talk to them about this kind of stuff. Especially Jon. The interview will end before it can even start. So, this is why Fletcher thought you could you use this.” He pointed at the folder.
Trina began to sift through the folder. In it was the band’s itinerary of not only tour dates but of a couple of hotels they were staying at. Also in the folder were audio tapes filled with interviews that Fletcher had done with the band, there were photos, dozens of news articles and what looked to be a couple of notebooks. Darryl picked one of them up to show Trina.
“Now these can never be shown to anyone. These when you see them will really show you want the band is all about.” Darryl said.
Trina took one of the notebooks out of the folder and began to leaf through his.
“They look like notes to me. Are they from those tapes?” Trina asked.
“No. Those tapes haven’t been transcribed yet. According to Fletcher, there’s about thirty hours of stuff on them.” He said.
“ Well hell, why didn’t Fletch just write a freakin book with all of this?” Trina said.
“He was going to, but Jon stopped it.” Darryl said.
“Why?” asked Kendall
“Really. I bet it would have been a best-seller.” Trina said.
“To be honest, I can’t see them doing it. They’re such a young band with so many years ahead of them. You combine that with how private the band is and you’ve got nada.” Darryl said.
“Understandable.” Trina said.
“Well I don’t.” said Kendall.
“I want to know what makes a band like that tick. It takes a special group to hold this type of thing together. “She continued.
“There’s another question for me. “ Trina said running to her notebook and pen. She scrawled on the notebook. “What makes this band, the band we know and love?” she wrote. She put the notebook and pen down.
Darryl began to took through what Trina had sprawled throughout her family room. He began to crumple it up and throw it in the garbage.
“What are you doing?” asked Trina.
“You’re not going to find what you’re looking for in this crap. Your story is in these tapes and notebooks. Fletcher’s notes are fantastic. This is your way in.” Darryl said.
Trina signed. “Okay.”
Kendall walked back into the kitchen. She began to take out several take-out boxes.
“Well since the guys will be here in three days, we e decided to help you with your homework. My gift to you is from Ming’s. “ Kendall said.
“Chicken Lo Mein? Beef And Broccoli? How about Vegetable Lo Mein?” Kendall continued.
Darryl began to open the first tape aptly titled “Bon Jovi” and put it in her stereo.
When Trina heard the first bars of the song “Love Lies, “ she sat down on her couch motionless for a minute. The smell of the beef and broccoli had decided to take over for a brief period of time. She had forgotten to eat. Surely this would carry her through the night. “I’ll take Beef and Broccoli.” Trina said. Darryl finished picking up Trina’s notes that were scattered throughout the floor.
Trina seemed mesmerized by the song. She leaned back and took in every word, every chorus. She smiled.
“It’s good huh?” asked Darryl.
Jon’s voice was hypnotic. The lyrics told a story that was rarely told anymore. Trina couldn’t help but wonder where Jon’s head was when he wrote this.
“Huh?” Trina asked Darryl.
Kendall laughed as she put the food in front of her. She glanced over at Darryl.
“Look like Jovi found another fan.” She told him. Darryl threw the last of piece of scrap paper he had in his hand into the trash.
“And so it begins.” Darryl said.