10
Fortunately for Charlotte, she didn’t have to think about a way to rescue her bosom buddy for very long. With a stroke of luck from the outside, the girls got help from an unlikely and powerful source.
Shortly after the contest was launched, the Los Angeles Times ran an article criticizing the event as “a shameful promotion” and “in poor taste.” The ensuing feedback created a negative vibe about the whole thing, which somehow inspired the deviate portion of Charlotte’s brain into coming up with something brilliant. Through the use of some fancy verbalization, she told the press that the contest was being cancelled by the city’s Zoning Commission for “operating without a proper permit.”
The statement was an outright lie, of course, and a huge pile of nonsense, but it was just convoluted enough to never be followed up by any source in the media and the Go-Go’s were able to breathe a big sigh of relief. Charlotte took a major chance with that one; Her reputation as an upcoming player in this world was seriously hanging by a thread.
After that miracle, the Go-Go’s issued a statement expressing their most sincere apologies for the cancellation of the contest, and acknowledged “a blatant lack of organizational skills by their promotional department.” Then, they proceeded to make compensatory arrangements with the restaurant and several of the contestants, who claimed they would kill themselves if they could not get a date with Belinda. The damages amounted to a few, free dinners and some Go-Go’s T- Shirts.
In time, any recollection of the entire affair evaporated and business carried on as usual.
But, Charlotte was not out of the woods yet. She was in serious hot water with CBS. They were livid about the whole thing, which resulted in Charlotte being called into the office of the executive producer, Justin Abdelkader, for a little “chat.”
He chewed her out from head to toe and told her to never even dream of pulling another stupid stunt like that ever again.
Feeling she was on a bit of a roll in the fabrication department, Charlotte spit out a whopper of a lie to him as well, telling Mr. Abdelkader that the contest was never verified with her and that she and Belinda were completely blameless and not in violation of their contracts.
The meeting ended up in a mutual understanding, with Charlotte slinking out of the office with her tail between her legs, but an impish grin on her face.
She was not done yet. Not in true Go-Go’s form, anyway.
Not long after the whole contest fiasco had subsided, Charlotte, feeling like she had regained some of her rock and roll bravado, started a fake rumor that the Go-Go’s would be performing on the roof of the Wilshire building in celebration of Go-Go’s Appreciation Day, which wasn’t even a real day at all. Again, it was another fabulously fabricated story, this time by Jane, which pleased Charlotte immensely knowing that Jane was finally starting to get the hang of this stuff.
Obviously, the rumor was never substantiated, but the gossip, on the other hand, was in high gear. This time, however, there was justified speculation about the rumor from the media and many eyebrows were raised. Not many people were buying into the fact that a rock band would be performing eighteen stories up in the air. This prompted the Go-Go’s now emerging nemesis, The L.A. Times, to respond once again. An editorial staff member ran a small, op-ed piece claiming that the publication was “growing tired of the Go-Go’s continuous and obvious publicity stunts,” and “wondered if the band was worth writing about anymore.”
Gina then fired back, blasting the Times saying, “they were out of touch with reality” and “were orchestrating their own, personal vendetta against the Go-Go’s.”
The war of words ended up in a silent truce and the Times did not write about the Go-Go’s for the next two years.
In the meantime, the studio had seen enough. They finally threw up their hands and told the girls they were no longer interested in sticking their noses into the band’s personal business anymore. They chalked it up as “a malicious media environment” and told the Go-Go’s they were on their own.
This was exactly what Charlotte wanted to hear. After all, that so-called “malicious media environment” was mostly her own doings.
Another plan worked to perfection.
It made her feel devilish.
It made her feel like the person she was meant to be.
And, if the rest of the group were wondering why Charlotte was complicating their lives by dragging them through all of this mud, the answer was simple —
She had business to tend to.
Whether or not any of these theatrics helped recruit tenants, Charlotte wasn’t about to hesitate to find out. In the middle of the “Win A Date With Belinda” contest, she doubled her advertising space in local real estate magazines, resulting in occupancy rates in the building to shoot up by 30%. And, after the story about the concert on the roof circulated, rates jumped up another 8%.
The building was starting to develop a certain mystique and a quintessential, magical quality about it. Charlotte had achieved her goal. People were starting to stop on the sidewalk and stare up at the building.
Charlotte responded by using the new lease money to give the entire first floor a face-lift. Then she worked out a deal with the city to get a tax abatement and had a new sign built out front.
Charlotte was one, happy camper.