Fired?
1976
It seemed as if the tour was one none stop party. We drank and performed and nights seemed to never end, considering we slept all day. It was five in the afternoon when there was a loud pounding on our motel door. I rolled over and poked Harry's side, telling him to answer it. He stood, walking to the door while I fell back asleep.
Of course, my sleep was interrupted once again with the sound of arguing. I stood, washing my face and using the restroom before going outside towards the sound of Harry yelling. It was rare for Harry to scream the way he was doing so, terrifying in fact. Even when we argue, I have never heard him in this state of anger.
It wasn't hard to tell what was happening the moment I reached the fight. Harry was sitting on the sidewalk with his head between his knees, a sure sign that he was freaking out and trying not to yell anymore. On the other side was our manager who after a few times trying to call him, had finally managed to show up the night before.
We had a serious discussion on our future as a band, us asking why we weren't getting paid enough. His excuse was because I was the lead singer and most bands were paid more for having all males. Harry didn't believe it and said he couldn't sleep last night as he tracked down a few places in town that we performed at.
I didn't know what the outcome was, but I would guess with our manager out cold on the floor while all the guys stood around trying to get help, it wasn't good news.
"What the hell happened?" Mitch shrugged and pointed to Harry. I walked over to him and sat down beside him. His knuckles were bruised, a clear indication that he had punched him. He and I were too alike sometimes in our own way. One thing we have in common, we both were burning bridges with important people in this industry. "Harry-"
"He's been taking a bigger cut and so I fired his ass, and then he disrespects you- I lost my temper," he said quietly.
"So you hit him- Harry this doesn't solve anything." he groaned turning away from me.
"I don't care! Fuck him and fuck this tour!" he pulled away from me and stood up to walk away. He left behind a piece of paper with notes on it. Numbers and club names that showed how much money we would have been paid, versus what we had gotten paid.
*
When Harry finally calmed down he sat on the roof after an ambulance showed up and took away Jules. We were out of a manager and according to the tour manager, we weren't allowed to perform.
We had to head home.
"I ruin everything," Harry said quietly to me as I sat beside him. "I ruined this band. I could have done more things differently. I am a fuck up."
"You saved the band from being taken advantage of, the guys will see that soon enough." I tried to comfort him. "I'm not mad at you, maybe that doesn't mean a lot but-"
"No, it does, " he reassured me. "It means a lot because you're my wife and my family you know. The guys are my brothers so I know they will understand that what I did and that it will hopefully help us." he looked down kicking rocks off the roof of the motel. We were alone and it was quiet, I looked down at the parking lot and made eye contact with Johnny Ramone. He tilted his head and I put a finger up telling him to wait for me.
"I'm going to get you a drink," I told Harry. He nodded and sat back on a chair while I ran down the stairs to the alley where I was met with the mophead. "Jesus."
"Close but no, we have to stop sneaking around Blondie." he grabbed my waist, but I quickly rolled my eyes and pushed him off.
"You're an idiot, but I need your help." he sighed pointing to his cheek.
"One little kiss and I'll do anything you want from me." I stared at him for a while and reached up to press a kiss on his cheek. "Damn that's the stuff, alright what do want sweetheart?" he pushed his hair to the side and gave me a small smirk because I had given in. When this tour was over, I was seriously considering hitting him in the balls.
"I need you to convince the tour manager to let us stay." his smirk dropped and he seemed a bit hesitant. "Come on, please."
"Blondie you knew the rules if the cops showed up because of a band, that bands out. Curly was the one punching your manager." I rolled my eyes. "You shouldn't do that babe, your eyes will get stuck at the top of your head."
I didn't want him to get involved but I knew that his band was easily the most important band on this tour. None of the other bands had real albums or at least serious recognition like they did. "Our manager was stealing money from us, just like you said, okay we have an album on the line and we can't afford to go home until we finish this tour, just help us out." he nodded slowly looking around.
"Fine, but I want you to flash me on stage."
"What?" I turned around and shook my head, walking towards the room.
"Ah okay fine, dramatic. I'll do it." I smiled turning around and reaching up to press a kiss on the corner of his mouth.
"Thank you."
Somehow Johnny Ramone managed to keep us on tour, talking about how we were amazing and that people would stop buying tickets if we were out of the band.
We were up next at a club tonight, the guys having a bit of tension around Harry. I was a bit biased because I knew Harry the best and he was my husband, as expected. I decided I wanted to end all the problems, and I knew how to do it.
Right as we got on stage I grabbed the mic and swung it around by the cord for a second before stopping and bringing it up to my lips. The guys very rarely talked about their past lead singer anymore, Harry said it was something I wouldn't understand since I never met him, but I knew that when they did bring up Anthony, it made then really appreciate themselves as a band of brothers. They bonded over losing someone close.
"Thank you very much, I want to dedicate this first song to the lost soul of our band, and I know that he is the reason behind our success watching over me and the guys." I turned to Billie who smiled and looked towards Harry who seemed down.
We performed and we did well, the guys all staying on beat and better than soundcheck earlier that day. We performed and I jumped around the stage, giving one of my best performances, reminding the tour manager that we still knew how to perform.
Backstage the guys all hugged around me and began talking about how they had to stick together. I was a bit scared to be honest, with no manager and still working on a second album to top off our first, we had already pissed off two very important people in this industry that could make or break us.
I walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face, what would we even do once we got back to New York?
I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror. I hadn't seen my reflection like this in a very long time. I looked vulnerable and sad. I turned away and took a deep breath walking out of the bathroom. I made my way through some people when I was suddenly bumping into a very tall skinny man. I looked up and my eyes widened at the legend in front of me.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you like this, gorgeous." I shook my head quickly fixing my hair and smiling big.
"No, my apologies, oh my God I'm such a big fan of yours." I was hoping to God I wasn't imagining the performer in front of me.
"You know I quite took a liking to your band's music as well. Nice to see you, I'm David." I just met David Bowie and he is just as beautiful in real life.
And he likes our music.
Perhaps not everything was going to shit.
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