Another town, another show.  Radio interviews in the morning, back to the hotel to work out then a nap before the sound check.  Mark Richards stepped out of the SUV that took them from the hotel to the arena where they were playing tonight.  As if on cue, the chorus to Journey’s, “Wheel in the Sky,” started in his head.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><i>Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'<br/>
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow<br/>
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'</i>​</div><br/>It was only week number five of a twenty-week tour touching three different continents.  He’d grown up singing in church, but the choir and hymnals were a distant memory.  His friend, “Tank,” was a drummer and had a band called “Stillwater,” that they needed a singer for.   It was just supposed to be for one or two gigs, but the reviews were great from the start and then they did the bar scene in the Northeast for a year before they got a big break, a contract and a jump start to stardom.<br/><br/>Amazingly the band still gets along well and when they went to resign, knew what they were doing and are now making a lot of money.  They work hard, play hard and party hard.  It becomes a routine or a grind, but all the band members are true to the music, grateful for the fans and love to perform.  Sure, they had roadies that carried and set up all the instruments now but when they showed up they weren’t drunk or high, they were ready to give the best show they could.<br/><br/>That is why Mark was so pissed.  He’d been there at the scheduled time for his sound check.  He played three different guitars during the course of the night.  Each venue had different acoustics and he wanted to know what the sound was going to do before the show started.  After arriving, he had to wait almost 90 minutes before they were ready for him on stage and then two of his guitars were out of tune.  The sound was off, and he had to sing “Heart of Coal” three times for the sound engineer to get it figured out and because of the time being pushed back and all the fixes, his schedule was off.  He wanted some food, he wanted to get in the right frame of mind, but all he could think about was that sound when he played the G cord on the second guitar.<br/><br/>The road manager, Kevin, had been with them for only five weeks.  Their old one retired or changed careers after the last two tours.  Mark was ready to rip him a new ass hole when he came off the stage.  But being so far behind schedule, he could see the fans let in to get their seats as he cleared the curtain back stage.  The quiet back stage area was now crawling with people doing work, press, fans, promotion winners and security.  His man, Bryan met him as he left the stage and stayed with him.<br/><br/>He saw Kevin, across the room, drinking a beer and talking to a groupie when Mark was stopped by Kyle the bass player to introduce a winner of a promotion, Rayne.  He said hi and kept going to get to Kevin before he slipped back into one of the private rooms with the girl.  As he got to them, Mark took the girls hand and unhooked the couple and then just pushed Kevin into the private room.  Without going into all the detail, Kevin got his ass chewed and was on his last chance before he was fired.  Mark laid out a list of things that went wrong and the problems they caused and how he needed to get his head out of his ass and start doing his job.  He was the manager, not a groupie or a band member.<br/><br/>Kevin knew that he was serious, and things had been going so smoothly that he’d dropped his guard and Let the foxes run the hen house.  When Mark emerged from the room with Kevin the band was gathering around to do the pre-concert pep talk with the back-up singers and then they were off to perform. They’d played together for so long that they fell into sync and the show was a big success.  Mark sang harder and put on a show because he wanted to make sure the crowd got their money’s worth.  After the show, there was another party he was supposed to attend with one of the sponsors of the tour.  It was in a suite at the hotel they were staying at.  He was whisked away and he showered in his room before Bryan the body guard walked him to the hospitality suite to shake hands and meet the friends and family of the sponsor of the concert series that brought them to town.  Not all stops had sponsors but if some company wanted to pay them an extra $50,000 to call it the "Acme Concert Series," Mark could spare the required thirty minutes to smile and say hello.<br/><br/>The time was just enough for the people and not too much for Mark.  The band split the fee but Mark was the only one that had to show up per the contract.  He was sure if the fans wanted to meet one of the other guys, that they would take one for the team as well.  They all co-authored the songs and split the royalties.  They really were all for one and one for all.  He got more recognition but the money was split equally and they all had each other's back.  During the event, he nursed one beer and listened to some bad jokes.  Wives and daughters of the execs were more aggressive than you would have thought with the men near by but he was used to it.  After he made his exit, he was hungry and Bryan and he went across the street to get some food.<br/><br/><div class="bbCodeSpoiler">
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