band, the Monkees. They had a TV
show in the 60’s or something. My girlfriend made me watch it. In the opening
credits, the band does all this crazy stuff, they have surfboards, they all run
towards the surf and then run back out...”
Tyler turned to him. “Jesus, Tommy. This
is something Crazy told you about? No fucking way we’re doing anything like
that.”
Tommy protested. “Shit, no. Livvy thought
it would be cool, but I don’t want to either. I just got nervous when Katie
asked me to bring my board.”
I decided to ease the tension. “I’m not
really familiar with The Monkees, but that’s not exactly what I had in mind.
We’re aiming for something very current and hip. Nothing retro. Okay, we’ve
gotta get moving guys. Everything is ready. The models are all ready to go.
We’ll start shooting as soon as you’ve got wardrobe and makeup.”
I waited for objections to the word
‘makeup’ but no one said anything. These guys were used to photo shoots and
television spots. Hopefully their experience would make everything go smoothly.
I handed the guys off to Valerie in
makeup. “Val, we’re going to start off with them in their street clothes, so
just tidy them up and make sure they’re ready to go. Then we’ll switch to beach
wear.”
The girl that arrived with Alex turned to
me and spoke loudly. “Ooh yeah. Are they going to be in speedos?”
I could hear Alex muttering about speedos
as Val led them away.
“So are you a friend of the band?” I
looked at the beautiful girl beside me.
She smiled. “I’m Lena. I’m Alex’s
girlfriend. I hope it’s okay that I came today. This is our last week together
before he starts touring again.”
“Sure, no problem. As long as you stay
out of the way.” I frowned. “Tommy mentioned a girlfriend, too. I didn’t
realize they had girlfriends.”
Lena walked next to me as I headed over to
the shoot location. “Nick has a girlfriend, too. They’re pretty serious even
though he seems miserable all the time. Yeah, Tyler’s the only free guy right
now. But he more than makes up for the rest of them.”
Her words caused me pause, more than I
cared to admit. “So Tyler’s a player, huh?”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen him with the same
girl twice. In fact, I think that’s a policy of his.” Lena shrugged.
“Damn.” I cursed and Lena looked at me
questioningly. “I mean, this is going to complicate things. You know we’re
going to portray Alex as single on the show?”
Lena nodded. “Yeah. I kind of figured. I
actually had to talk him into doing this. I don’t want to stand in the way of
his career. I trust him. I’m really scared, but if I don’t trust him, we’re
never going to be able to make a relationship work out long term. This is what
he does. Music means everything to him. It’s who he is and I can’t take that
away from him.”
I bit my cynical tongue. I had done a lot
of research in preparation for this tour. I had seen some of the crazy stuff
written about Alex on the internet. Girls were crazy for him - for the whole
band, for that matter. Long-term monogamous relationships didn’t seem to stand
a chance in hell. I prayed that I wouldn’t be documenting the downfall of their
relationship.
***
Six grueling hours later, filming was
wrapped. I had tons of footage to pour through to find two minutes worth of
perfect clips. The band had worked well together, they were constantly arguing
or ribbing each other, but there was no malicious undertone lurking beneath the
surface and their different personalities played well off each other. I was
excited; the key dynamics to make this show a success were all available to me.
I just had to expertly tap the source and I could lure out a fantastic story; I
had no doubt.
The guys had all worked hard, so I had
dismissed them as soon as the photographer had snapped his last photos. I told
the band that I would see them next week at their opening venue and said my
goodbyes as
Dwayne Alexander Smith
Susan Stephens
Katie MacAlister
Robyn Young
Jen Calonita
William C. Dietz
Ivan Turner
JIN
Richard Tongue
Willa Thorne