5
Mr. Thielen had a difficult task ahead of him. Now that the Go-Go’s were completely done playing, he had to figure out a way to get all of them rounded up. He could try to do it himself, or just talk to one of them and give her the job. The girls were getting mobbed pretty thoroughly by both men and women, but he knew that was all just small talk. What he had to say was life altering.
He spotted Belinda Carlisle, the lead singer, who had managed to belly herself up to the bar, and decided to target her. “Maybe she was the ringleader,” he thought to himself. After pushing his way through the crowd, he situated himself right next to her. Belinda appeared to be frustrated with her inability to get a drink. Just because she was one of the house performers for the evening didn’t mean she was getting any extra special treatment from the bartender. Philip eventually made eye contact with her and spoke up.
“Hello!” he shouted. The bar was still extremely loud even though the music was over. “My name is Philip Thielen. I’m a program director over at CBS.”
He handed Belinda his business card. She took it and looked at it. Even though she didn’t want to seem rude, her knee-jerk reaction was to say, “Yeah, what do you want?”
Gina, the drummer, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, leaned in and asked, “What is that?”
“It’s a business card,” Belinda replied. “This guy says he’s from CBS.”
“No shit?!” asked Gina. “What do you want?” she yelled towards Philip.
“I just asked him that,” Belinda returned.
“Is there someplace we could go and talk?” asked Philip.
Without really knowing what she was suggesting, Belinda shrugged her shoulders and motioned with her hand towards the door leading to the outside.
“Could you get all your band-members together?” he shouted.
“Sure,” said Belinda. Then, in her own inimitable way, she turned to Gina and said, “Gina, go get everybody else and meet us outside.”
“Why do I have to do it?” asked Gina.
“Because you’re the drummer,” replied Belinda. Even though she was obviously just making up that excuse, it seemed to work effectively as Gina turned around and instantly did what she was told.
It didn’t work for long, however. Gina got about ten feet away, realized that Belinda had scammed her, turned around and yelled, “What the fuck does me being a drummer have anything to do with….?” Gina’s words trailed off as she disappeared into the crowd.
Belinda responded by waving both of her hands at her and saying, “Just go!”
Philip looked at Belinda with a smirk on his face. “Nice move. Very persuasive,” he commended.
Belinda smiled back and took the compliment well. Perhaps a little too well. Without thinking before she spoke, Belinda spilled out, “Yeah, well, sometimes they just need a little push.”
Gina, meanwhile, was busy getting everyone together. In regards to the order she was given, she couldn’t help but think that Belinda might use the few extra minutes she was allotted to promote herself to the guy. It was one of those spontaneous moments of misguided paranoia and jealousy that occurred whenever something like this happened. It was completely unavoidable. As ridiculous as it might sound, competition for every little thing in the world of fame was fierce and steadfast. Gina was simply reacting out of instinct.
Philip and Belinda had already made their way out to the sidewalk and were talking when the rest of the girls spilled out of the bar and joined them. They all walked several feet down the sidewalk in order to avoid all the commotion of humanity shuffling in and out of the establishment. Then, Philip started in with his pitch—
“We’re putting together a show about a group of girls who sing and play pop songs. At the moment, we’re holding auditions with actors and singers. But, after watching you guys play, I think you would be perfect for the show. You fit all of our criteria. Most importantly, you do everything yourselves. We wouldn’t have to fake anything. It’s a show similar to “The Monkees.” Do any of you guys remember “The Monkees?”
The girls all nodded and concurred. Of course they had heard of “The Monkees.” Did this guy think they had been living in a cave their whole lives?