Nor was Matt the only one to express this opinion. Steve Crow, representing the rest of National Records' management, was worried about public opinion as well. Completely independent of Matt, he called Jake later that same day with very much the same concerns. "Whether he did it or not, a good number of your fans think that he did. The demographic you appeal to is a very homophobic bunch, Jake. There's a very good chance this may affect sales of the album and concert attendance on the tour if Charlie is still a member of the band. Now, I understand it's illegal to fire someone for being gay, but perhaps he could be persuaded to voluntarily resign his position in exchange for a monetary settlement in advance. We at National would, of course, put up half of any amount agreed upon."
"No," Jake told both of them. "I won't vote to out Charlie because of this. I'll uphold any decision a vote of the band dictates, but I'll vote no on firing him and I won't be any party to getting him to resign."
The issue fell along the same lines it had before, only this time there was no Darren to cast a vote since he'd been officially fired. Coop and Matt were both of the opinion that Charlie should go; Jake and Nerdly were of the opinion that he should stay. That left Charlie with the deciding vote on his own fate.
"It's for the good of the fucking band, Freakboy," Matt told him on the one occasion they actually got together and discussed it.
"Actually, it's not," Jake immediately countered. "It'll delay the tour by at least two months, if not indefinitely, and Darren is not capable of playing all of the music we have planned because he's not as good on the bass."
"We'll fuckin' pay you, Freakboy," Matt added, trying Crow's enticement. "You'll keep full royalties on the album and we'll give you half a million in severance pay. How's that shit sound?"
"I'm not gay," Charlie said. "I know you guys don't believe that, but I'm not. I want to go out on this tour. I've rehearsed for it, I know every song, and I'm ready. I won't vote myself out and I won't resign."
And so that was pretty much that. The arguments got worse and more vicious, but Lines On The Map continued to sell like hotcakes and three of the songs from the album were receiving extensive airplay, including, much to everyone's surprise (even Matt's), Grandstand, the rap song, which was touted as being the most innovative new style of music to come along in a decade. All this seemed to lend credence to Jake's school of thought, which was basically that people listened to Intemperance for the music and the scandals the band got into were of secondary concern.
Even Matt couldn't argue against the sheer numbers. She Cut Me Loose was currently number twelve on the top-forty chart and moving up fast. Grandstand was not on sale as a single yet (although National was frantically trying to get it into production) but it was the most-requested song on radio stations nationwide. The second most requested song on radio stations nationwide was I See You, Jake's slow, fingerpicked ballad about a person's aggressive and weak sides struggling against each other. As with Grandstand, National had not been expecting the song to be so popular and it had not been released as a single yet.
And then there was the biggest of the numbers: album sales. Lines On The Map had debuted on the album sales chart at number one and it continued to sell nearly two hundred thousand copies per week. It had gone gold less than one week after its release and had gone platinum on the day Charlie was caught with the transvestite. Despite Charlie's problems, sales were showing no signs of slowing and it was projected that the album would remain in the top ten for the better part of a year.
Since it was mid-winter, it had been decided that the tour would start on the west coast and encompass everything west of the Rocky Mountains and in the southwest first. This would, hopefully, keep any travel delays caused by snow at a minimum and allow them to hit the mid-west, the south, and the eastern seaboard in the spring. Since they were starting on the west coast it seemed only logical that the first performances should be in the Los Angeles region.
January 17 was opening night, the first of three shows at the eighteen thousand seat Esparto Auditorium in Long Beach. Present in the special guest section of the auditorium — front row, center, right in front of the stage — were Mindy Snow and Scott Adams Winslow, her cuckolded director husband. Mindy had asked Jake for a couple of tickets because she wanted to, "show Scotty how great you are live". Jake had granted her request even though he thought it a bit odd. Mindy had never showed all that much interest in his music before and had only seen him perform once during a dress rehearsal for the Thrill Of Doing Business tour way back in 1984 (and, that had been the day she'd broken up with him, as he recalled). Nor had Winslow ever expressed any sort of interest in or respect for Jake's music. Nor had Mindy really given much of a propensity for showing Winslow a good time lately. She had, in fact, been cruelly contemptuous toward him.
Jake, knowing Mindy as he did, could not help but think that some ulterior motive was afoot as he looked out over the gathered audience ten minutes before showtime. He spotted Mindy and Winslow sitting in their roped off section with the other VIPs. Winslow was dressed in a tuxedo, as if he were attending the opera. He continuously looked around nervously, as if he was expecting to be attacked at any moment. Mindy was wearing a pair of designer jeans and a form-fitting Intemperance — Lines On The Map Tour 1990 shirt. Based on the jiggle whenever she moved, it appeared she was not wearing a bra. He wondered again, for perhaps the thousandth time since she'd showed up at his house unexpectedly, why he had allowed himself to get involved with her again. And then he saw the jiggle of her breasts and it all came back to him.
He took a few breaths and pulled his head back inside, taking a look at the frantic, last-minute backstage activity. A large digital clock was counting down the minutes to showtime and the roadies were making final checks of their equipment and chatting back and forth on the wireless radios with the technicians on the soundboard. Nerdly and Sharon were, of course, in the thick of this, giving final instructions and getting final clarifications. Coop was sitting on an amplifier box, twirling a set of drumsticks and smoking a cigarette. Charlie was off by himself, chewing on his fingernails and being ignored by everyone, including his own personal roadie. Matt was also off by himself, sitting on another amplifier box across the stage-left area. He was sipping from a bottle of water and playing with a guitar pick.
None of us are sitting together, Jake thought sadly. None of us are talking. None of us even like each other anymore. How in the hell are we supposed to go on tour like this?
No answers were forthcoming. The clock continued to click down and soon it was time to hit the stage. The band gathered just outside the stage entrance. The lights went down and the crowd began to cheer.
"All right," Jake said, relishing that sound as he always had. "Let's do it."
"Yeah," Coop said. "It's time to earn our money."
Jake held out his hand, waiting for someone to slap their hand against his in their traditional show of camaraderie. Nerdly slapped his hand down. After a moment's hesitation, Charlie did too. Coop and Matt just looked at them.
"Let's get out there," Matt said blandly. "The clock's at zero."
"Slap your fuckin' hand down, Matt," Jake said.
"I don't feel like it," Matt said. "Come on."
"I ain't going out there until you slap your hand down," Jake said. "We've done this every live performance since our first D Street West gig. We ain't gonna stop it now just because you're having a temper tantrum."