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Jan. 19th, 2004 09:25 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
suaine.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ds_flashfictionDeadline? What deadline? I love to cut it close!
Half a Year of One Night Stands
by Suaine
Ray Kowalski has never been on a tour bus with a rock group, but sometimes he has the feeling he was on one for too long. Deep down he knows what it's like and that's why he doesn't do one night stands. It has nothing to do with meaningful relationships and everything to do with tight schedules.
He used to listen to this punk band, 'Grind' or something equally cheesy, in a seedy little club in the downtrodden harbor district. There was nothing there but cheap girls, cheap alcohol and a cheap band with the touch of greatness. He would go there every Tuesday night, and every Tuesday night they would play for him.
Some nights he stayed until it was just him and the band; it was those nights when Stella called that she wouldn't be home for dinner, or after, because of some important case. The guys were nice enough and sometimes they would sit down after the show and buy him a drink - he was, after all, their only fan. They said it with a self-mocking grin, but they still paid for his beer so Ray didn't question his luck.
'One night stand' is what they call it when a group plays once in a club and then moves on the next town. Touring, it seemed, was only a fancier term for something inherently painful and cruel.
One night they would be the fans' every world, playing as if the devil himself gave them voice; giving body, heart and soul to the music. Then they packed up their stuff before dawn, moving on to the next place where they would make another crowd feel as if they only existed for this town, this group of fans.
A night of pleasure, with hazy memories at best, and no promise of return.
Sometimes there was a fan so enamored, so taken that he would follow them around, move from place to place, watching as they promised another crowd, someone else but him, the very same pleasure, the very same distraction from the harsh reality. Sometimes these fans got quite ugly, but usually they were content with what they got, even though they never let the band go easy.
Half a year of one night stands, always on the move to the next gig, took everything out of a group. Soul-crushing, body-wasting terror and all for money and fame, and the feeling of being loved. That feeling that faded too soon, every time they stole away to make it to the next place that would demand to be the center of their world for one day.
Ray liked 'Grind' because they never got a contract with a big label, because they never sold out and did tours all across the country, leaving them empty. He liked them because they were there, every Tuesday, when he came to listen to the sad ballads and the angry beats.
He signed his divorce papers on the same Tuesday they signed their rights over to CTG entertainment.
Ray doesn't do one night stands, but sometimes he has the feeling he should be on a bus, traveling a gravelly road into the night.
Then again, he's heard there's a group of kids playing at town festivities, a mix between the old punk philosophy and the hip new alternative beats. These kids he knows, good kids who play simply because it's something they like to do. None of them would leave the small town or their large families for the empty promise of fame and gold.
He's going to take Fraser to see them when they play at the annual midsummer festival next week.
Half a Year of One Night Stands
by Suaine
Ray Kowalski has never been on a tour bus with a rock group, but sometimes he has the feeling he was on one for too long. Deep down he knows what it's like and that's why he doesn't do one night stands. It has nothing to do with meaningful relationships and everything to do with tight schedules.
He used to listen to this punk band, 'Grind' or something equally cheesy, in a seedy little club in the downtrodden harbor district. There was nothing there but cheap girls, cheap alcohol and a cheap band with the touch of greatness. He would go there every Tuesday night, and every Tuesday night they would play for him.
Some nights he stayed until it was just him and the band; it was those nights when Stella called that she wouldn't be home for dinner, or after, because of some important case. The guys were nice enough and sometimes they would sit down after the show and buy him a drink - he was, after all, their only fan. They said it with a self-mocking grin, but they still paid for his beer so Ray didn't question his luck.
'One night stand' is what they call it when a group plays once in a club and then moves on the next town. Touring, it seemed, was only a fancier term for something inherently painful and cruel.
One night they would be the fans' every world, playing as if the devil himself gave them voice; giving body, heart and soul to the music. Then they packed up their stuff before dawn, moving on to the next place where they would make another crowd feel as if they only existed for this town, this group of fans.
A night of pleasure, with hazy memories at best, and no promise of return.
Sometimes there was a fan so enamored, so taken that he would follow them around, move from place to place, watching as they promised another crowd, someone else but him, the very same pleasure, the very same distraction from the harsh reality. Sometimes these fans got quite ugly, but usually they were content with what they got, even though they never let the band go easy.
Half a year of one night stands, always on the move to the next gig, took everything out of a group. Soul-crushing, body-wasting terror and all for money and fame, and the feeling of being loved. That feeling that faded too soon, every time they stole away to make it to the next place that would demand to be the center of their world for one day.
Ray liked 'Grind' because they never got a contract with a big label, because they never sold out and did tours all across the country, leaving them empty. He liked them because they were there, every Tuesday, when he came to listen to the sad ballads and the angry beats.
He signed his divorce papers on the same Tuesday they signed their rights over to CTG entertainment.
Ray doesn't do one night stands, but sometimes he has the feeling he should be on a bus, traveling a gravelly road into the night.
Then again, he's heard there's a group of kids playing at town festivities, a mix between the old punk philosophy and the hip new alternative beats. These kids he knows, good kids who play simply because it's something they like to do. None of them would leave the small town or their large families for the empty promise of fame and gold.
He's going to take Fraser to see them when they play at the annual midsummer festival next week.
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Date: 2004-01-20 02:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:totally cool...
Date: 2004-01-21 03:56 am (UTC)Re: totally cool...
From: