"That's him," Nerdly confirmed. He looked at Crow. "Ever since you refused to finance their second album he's been working in West Hollywood at a Speedy-Lube. He's not able to work as a musician anywhere but here since he's still under contract with you, but the guys over in media sounds have been using him for twenty or thirty hours a month to do the bass on movie soundtracks."
"They have?" Crow asked, surprised. Though he had been Birmingham's A&R rep when they'd been hot, he hadn't given a thought to them in more than two years.
"Yep," Nerdly confirmed.
"How do you know this, Nerdly?" Jake asked.
Nerdly looked a little embarrassed. "Well... I've been spending some of my free time in the studio helping some of the guys with their mixing. I was here about a month ago when they were mixing the soundtrack for the next Star Trek flick and Charlie was in there doing overdubs on the bass tracks. We went and had a few drinks and some smoke after the session."
"No shit?" Jake asked. "How's he doing?"
"He seems like he's almost suicidal," Nerdly said. "He's living in a one room apartment in Hollywood and pays the rent by lubing cars for minimum wage. He picks up a hundred dollars or so a month with the studio sessions they throw him and he's just waiting for their contract to expire so he can be a real musician again."
"How sad for him," Crow said, rolling his eyes. "But you have to remember..."
"You know why the studio likes to use him?" Nerdly asked, interrupting Crow.
"Why?" Matt asked.
"They say he's one of the best bass players they've ever heard," Nerdly said. "He can pick up a rhythm that someone else has laid down and replay it to perfection without even seeing the notes on paper. They want to use him full time down there but he doesn't want to get locked into the whole studio musician contract."
Jake and Matt were looking at each other and passing good signals back and forth. "Meyer was a good bass player," Jake said. "I caught their act while they were opening for us. He knows what he's doing."
"We partied with him a few times too," Matt said. "He's an okay guy. A little strange, but no more so than Nerdly here."
"I'm not strange," Nerdly said, offended.
"Uh... guys," Crow cut in, "before you start painting his name on a locker, I think we need to talk about this a bit. Meyer is still operating under the Birmingham contract. If I remember correctly, they're obligated to the terms of that agreement until late in 1990. He can't just go joining another band like some guy off the street."
"Why not?" Pauline asked. "National holds his contract. You can release him from it if you want."
"If we release Meyer from the contract we have to release the entire band from it," Crow said. "That would leave them free to get back together and start playing for a different label."
"Oh give me a fuckin' break, Crow," Matt said. "You guys are one of the biggest labels in the world and you didn't want to record a second Birmingham album right after their first one. Who in the fuck is going to sign them now, three years later?"
"They could also go on tour again," Crow said. "There is no way that Mr. Doolittle or Mr. Casting will allow release of their contract."
"You're making this up as you go along, Crow," Pauline said.
"Excuse me?" he said, seemingly insulted.
"Don't bullshit a professional bullshitter," she said. "National owns the rights to every Birmingham song. Even if they did form up again they can't perform any of those songs in front of an audience for the next twenty-five years without your agreement. So if nobody is going to sign them as Birmingham and if they can't even do a reunion tour, what's the big deal about releasing them?"
"They could start doing solo efforts," Crow said. "They could start playing with other bands again."
"So?" Jake asked. "How much money would you lose from that? You don't have any intention of letting them record something. You just want to punish them for not selling more albums."
"Actually, I think it's a little more than that," Pauline said.
"Oh?" Crow said condescendingly. "And suppose you tell me just what this is about?"
"Gladly," she said. "Jake hit the nail on the head a few days ago. You don't want Intemperance to go out on tour. You want to be able to claim breach of contract so you can revert to the old contract and keep all the album and single revenue for yourselves."
"That is not true," Crow said. "You're getting as paranoid as Matt, Pauline."
"Maybe," she said, "but there's one thing you're not considering here. A little legal fine point with this situation turns your open and shut case to something a little more up in the air. "
"What's that?" Crow said warily. He had witnessed Pauline's legal skills before and had learned — the hard way — to respect them.
"The guys here are making a reasonable effort to work with you on this whole bass player thing," she said. "They've agreed to hire a replacement for Darren and go out on tour. They've informed you of their choice of bass player and there is no real reason for you — National Records management — to reject that choice. If you do reject Meyer and you then try to push a breach of contract ruling because the band does not accept your choices as replacement and go out on tour, I will go into court and argue that it is you, National Records, who are being unreasonable. I think if I were to do that and put Jake, Nerdly, and Matt up on the stand to testify to this matter, a jury might just see your scheme for what it is. They would probably reject any breach of contract charge."
"Your paranoia is showing again," Crow said uncomfortably. "There is no plot to try to keep the band from going on tour."
"Uh huh," Pauline said. "In any case, I'd suggest you take this matter up with Doolittle and Casting and start talking about releasing Birmingham from their contract. You need to advise them that we are prepared, once again, to go to the wall on this. I want you to call me the first thing in the morning with your decision. Once it's in — and I have no doubt they'll see things our way once they know the facts — we'll go talk to Meyer ourselves and ask him if he's interested. And before you even think to do it, don't try anything stupid like contacting Meyer and threatening him about rejecting our proposal. I think that between Matt, Jake, and myself we can override any threats your puny little minds could think to lay on him."
Crow was stunned, looking like he'd just gone a round or two with a heavyweight champion.
"Do you understand, Crow?" Pauline asked sweetly.
"Yes," he finally said. "I understand."
The phone call came in to Pauline's business line at 9:10 the next morning. It was Crow. "If Meyer is interested in playing with Intemperance until Appleman is better, we will release Birmingham from their contract," he said.
"Very good," Pauline said. "I thought you'd see things my way. Can you get Meyer's address for me?"
"I have it right here," he said. He read off a Hollywood address and Pauline wrote it down.
"Thank you, Crow," she said. "We'll get back with you later today regarding his decision."
"You do that," he said. "If he agrees, we'll set him up with a separate contract from the rest of the band. It will stipulate that..."
"Nope," Pauline interrupted. "We're not going to do that."
"Excuse me?"
"If Meyer signs on he'll be covered under the same contract as the other members of Intemperance," she said. "He'll be given his cut of fifty percent of the tour profits, paid quarterly, and will be allowed to sign on for any endorsement contracts he can come up with."