I love being on tour.  I love getting up on that stage every night and getting to see the people that have made my career possible.  It’s such a humbling moment, and it’s so incredible to stand up there and connect with an audience that wants to share these moments with me.

Unfortunately, I can’t just hop on a bus and start touring whenever I want to.  There is a lot that goes into putting these things together, especially a tour of this magnitude.  I’ve been in the business since I was fourteen, and twelve years later I’m finally getting the chance to have the things I want on this tour.  It’s kind of a dream come true.

Right now, though, I’m in the midst of making sure this tour actually goes off.  There have been a few issues with the sound, so we’re making sure that’s fixed before we move on.  Then I need to run rehearsals with the dancers and the band, because there’s a lot of choreography in my stage show.  I mean…everything has to be synchronized.  And yes, I purposely avoided saying in sync. 

The dancers we’ve got are sick, though, and I have all the confidence in the world that after a few run-throughs we’re going to be fine.  I wanted this show to be funky and hot and everything all at once.  I’m excited to put it on in front of a crowd.

I will say that on top of this being the biggest tour I’ve ever done, I’m also managing the career of an artist, and this is the biggest tour she’s ever done.

I sent Abbey off to New York this morning after a meeting with the staff of Tennman Records, and she’ll have more meetings with the people at Jive when she lands.  This poor girl has no idea what she’s in for, really.  I’ve been trying to prepare her as best I can, but there’s really no preparation like practice.  She’ll survive. 

She’ll just hate me before it’s all over.

I’m starting to get a little bit stressed out about everything.  I’ve put a lot on my plate, and I worry about missing something, or forgetting something, or messing something else up.  I mean, not only do I have to worry about all my shit, but I’ve got to make sure things go well for Abbey too.  I have asked Johnny to give me some help, and he’s making sure he keeps an eye on things.  That makes me feel better, although, not much.

I’ve also got Jill to worry about.  She’s been keeping busy with the whole soap opera thing, but I know she’s freaking.

Over the years I’ve discovered those friends that are going to stick with me even if I’m gone for months at a time, and those are the people that are still in my life.  Now, that means that I don’t have a whole lot of close friends, but the people that I surround myself with are some kick ass friends.  It’s hard to leave people behind for months while I tour, and it’s really hard to keep in touch with everyone.  Somehow I manage, but it’s probably the one part of being on tour that I don’t really look forward to.

I’ve done the long distance relationship thing before, it’s not fun.  But now that Jill’s got her thing going, there’s not much I can do about the distance.  She’s got to be in LA for filming, and I’ve got to be wherever I am.  I’m hoping that she’ll get a break or two so I can fly her out, but I don’t know yet.  Neither does she, and that’s why she’s freaking.  I haven’t figured out if she’s worried about me and groupies or whatever, or if she’s just worried about my absence in general.  She and I have never really been apart for any significant amount of time.  I mean, I’ve been in LA mostly, and so has she.

I’m trying not to let it all get to me, but I’m feeling a lot of pressure at the moment.  Perhaps it’s my perfectionist nature, but I really hate to think that I’m letting anyone down, most of all myself.

The sound guy signals to me, so I grab my microphone and do a couple tests.  Things sound a hell of a lot better than they did before, so I give him the thumbs up and call to my dancers and band.

“All right, guys.  Let’s get to work.”  Marty joins me on stage and we discuss what we really need to work on and what we can let go for now.  I don’t think we’re quite ready for a full run through, but there are a lot of transitions that we need to get down.  It’s going to be a long day.

~*~

With a huge sigh, I shuffle out to my car and wave goodbye to the crew and dancers.  We spent a total of eight hours dancing today and I think I’m ready to pass out.  I know it’ll get easier after a while, but this first week is going to suck. 

I can’t wait to just get on the road and perform.  Enough of this technical stuff.

My phone beeps and I have a message from Jill.  Apparently she’s stuck at the studio tonight so we won’t be getting together.  Just as well, I’m not sure how much fun I’d be tonight anyway.  I plan on taking a hot shower and catching the episode of TRL that Abbey was on today.  I promised her I’d TiVo it so I could tell her how it went.  I’m sure she did fine, but I know how much she needs to hear encouragement at this point.

Besides, I’m curious to see it anyway.

Buckley and Brennan jump all over me as I walk through the door, and I can’t help but laugh as they trip all over themselves just to get to me.  There’s nothing like coming to adoration and unconditional love.

“All right you beasts, get out of my way.”  There’s a note from Trace on my kitchen counter saying that he fed the dogs, so I let them out back to run around for a while.  Even if it won’t tire them out, it’ll get ‘em out of my hair for a little bit.

I turn on the over and throw in a frozen pizza before running up stairs and jumping in the shower.  I’ve managed to work a routine out so my pizza will be done by the time I’m back down stairs.  Can you tell I’ve done this quite a few times before?

I take a minute to just enjoy the heat of the water and let it relax my muscles before lathering up.  Jill bought me this new soap that will supposedly prevent me from getting dry skin, but if you ask me it just makes me smell like a woman.  I’ll have to make a note to get something else when I leave for tour. 

Just as I planned, my pizza is perfectly cooked when I get back down stairs.  I let the dogs back in and head to the entertainment room with a beer and my food.  At this point I think I’ll just barely make it through her interview before I pass out, I’m that exhausted.

I skip through the beginning and the fist couple of music videos until they bring Abbey out.  I don’t really like Damien, he gets on my nerves.  I mean, he’s all right as far as vj’s go, but sometimes I think he’s a little too old to be hosting a show like TRL.  I suppose, whatever butters your bread.

I stop when I spot Abbey making her entrance, and I have to admit that she looks pretty cute in her jeans and t-shirt.  I get a slight swell of pride when I notice that her outfit is all William Rast, and I’ll have to thank her for the advertisement next time we talk.  There’s nothing like a hot chick wearing your clothes to get them sold.

“Hey Abbey!”  Damien hugs her, and aside from looking slightly uncomfortable, she seems to be mostly calm. 

“Hey!”  She waves to the audience who let out a chorus of screams.  “Hey guys!”  I wonder how much of their applause is manufactured, but I’m hoping that it’s all genuine for Abbey’s sake.

“So, Abbey Rhodes.  Like the Beatles album?”  I laugh at the sharp roll of her eyes as she throws a fake smile in Damien’s direction.

“Yeah, my parents thought they were pretty clever.”

“I think it’s cute.”  He’s totally hitting on her and she’s not even acknowledging it.  I love it!  “So you’re debut album was released earlier this week, how does it feel?”

She shrugs a bit.  “It hasn’t really sunk in yet.  I mean, it’s a little surreal.  I’ve been waiting for a moment like this my entire life, it’s a little hard to wrap my head around now.”

“I can imagine.”  I can tell that my name is about to come up, and I’m right.  “So you worked with Justin Timberlake on this album, right?”  Another round of screams comes from the females in the audience and Abbey grins.

“Yes.  He signed me to his label about a year ago, and we worked most of that year on this album.  He even sings on one track.”  I laugh as the screams get louder.

“You were discovered on You Tube, right?”

“Yeah.  A friend of mine actually posted some videos of me doing karaoke gigs, and Justin’s cousin found me and told him he had to sign me.”  She turns to the audience a bit, “So, all you aspiring singers, start posting!” 

“How is it working with an artist like Justin?  I hear he’s pretty serious in the studio.”  This earns a laugh from my protégé.

“You could say that.  I like to think that he’s possessed when he gets into the studio, but that’s just me.”  She chuckled again. “No, he’s great to work with.  He really knows what he’s doing and what sounds good and it was a lot of fun to get to be around talent like that.”   I can’t help but grin, I’m going to give her so much shit for that.

“He’s in your video, too, isn’t he?  For your first single?”

“Yeah.  In fact, most of my friends are in this video.  It’s a lot of behind the scenes, candid stuff.  It was a lot of fun to make, and I’m excited that people will get to see a more real glimpse of my life.”  He nods, and I’m not sure he’s really paying attention.  Sometimes I think that these shows don’t really care about the new comers, just the uber famous people. 

“So the title of your album is ‘Along the Way,’ any meaning to that?”  Abbey seems to have relaxed completely, and she looks good up there.  I’m really proud of this kid, and I’m happy to see that she’s getting comfortable with all of this.  It can be really overwhelming at times.

“Uhm, it’s pretty straight forward.  I mean, a lot of these songs are about things that happen in life, you know, kind of ‘along the way.’  I wanted something light for the album title, and this was the first thing I came up with.”

“Very cool.  Your first single is ‘There’s No You,’ and it’s about the end of a relationship.  Is it based on real life?  Or what?”  I hate it when people act like they’re not digging for dirt, or when they act like they’re privileged to the information and everyone else is really digging.

“Well, most of my songs are inspired by life, I mean, I don’t think I could write about something I didn’t really know.  But they’re not all specifically about someone or something.  ‘There’s No You’ is a little of both.  I can’t say it’s completely about one person, but I do get inspired by those around me and things that happen to me.”

“Well thank you very much for stopping by.  It was really great to meet you.”  I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding when Damien turns and introduces her video.  I watch it for a second before pausing the TV and picking up my phone.

“Hey boss man.”  A tired voice comes over the line and I realize that it’s really late in New York.

“Hey Jude, did I wake you?” I forgot about the time difference. 

“Nah, I actually just managed to get some dinner.  It’s been a long fucking day.”  I chuckle at her use of profanities.  She’s usually pretty reserved with her language so it’s funny to hear her swear.

“Well I won’t keep you long, I just wanted to congratulate you on your TRL interview today.  You kicked ass, kid.”

Her voice perks up a little, “Really?  You watched it?”

“I promised you I would, didn’t I?”

“Well, yeah, I just figured you’d be too busy with everything today.”

I tisk at her, “TiVo, Jude.  It’s called TiVo.”

“Right, right.”  She lets out a yawn that reminds me how exhausted I am too.  “I forgot that I’m behind in the technology of today.  Some of us poor people can’t afford shit like that.”

“Ha ha.  You’re a riot, Jude.  Really.”  I can hear her grin over the line as she speaks.

“It takes three people to be a riot, Boss man, I’m only one.”  Sometime I wonder about this girl, I really do.

“All right.  Go get some sleep, smart ass.  Call me tomorrow when you get a break and let me know how things are going.  And make sure you get a break, ok?”

“Tell that to the slave driver, Trish.  I swear she’s on a mission to kill me or something.”

“If I don’t hear from you by noon time I’m calling to make sure you get time for lunch and maybe a nap.  OK?  I can’t have my star artist getting sick or something.”

“It’s so nice to hear you’re concerned for the welfare of your label,” I don’t miss the sarcasm, but I choose to ignore it.  “Goodnight, Justin.  And thanks for watching.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, Abbey.  Goodnight.”

I hear the line click and I know she’s gone.  I turn off my phone and pick myself up off the couch, using all the energy I can muster.

Abbey was right, it’s been a long fucking day.