Love-and-music-15
Love and Music
BY: [Wildheart](mailto:wildheart407@runbox.com?subject=love and music)
Subject: Boy bands
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Disclaimer or CYA Statement: THIS STORY IS COPYRIGHT 2003 BY WildHeart. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DISTRIBUTION FOR COMMERCIAL GAIN, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, POSTING ON SITES WHICH REQUIRE PAYMENT TO ACCESS THE SITE, DISTRIBUTION IN BOOK FORM (EITHER AS A WHOLE OR PART OF A COMPILATION) FOR A FEE, OR DISTRIBUTION ON CD, DVD, OR ANY OTHER ELECTRONIC MEDIA FOR A FEE, IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE AUTHORS WRITTEN CONSENT. THIS IS FICTION>>>> IT IS NOT REAL >>>> I HAVE NO IDEA IF ANY CELEBS ARE GAY!!!
This is a story about friendship, love, romance, and family. While it will in time, also include making love, this is certainly not a sex story. You really should be legal to read this story and of course if you are not, then at least do not get caught! Seriously, by reading this story you are agreeing that you are in fact of legal age, where you live, to be reading it. You may contact me at:wildheart407@runbox.comif you have comments, suggestions or whatever.
This story is being written with different points of view (POV), first person, and third person (narrator). The changes in POV should be easy to follow as I will clearly mark them.
NEW WEBSITE: There is now a Love And Music Website, where you will be able to find my stories and in time, many other great stories.
PICTURES: Love and Music now has PICTURES! Click here to see them! Special thanks to Erotic Dreams for doing the profiles for me.
AUTHORS NOTES: I have opened a yahoo group for this story and any other that I write and any others that anyone would like to allow me to use. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LOVE-AND-MUSIC/ I would rather have stories about love, romance and or friends and family. I also hope to build a web site sometime soon, and would REALLY like to host other stories on that site, so if you have a story and would allow it to be posted, let me know. If anyone out there would like to help me with the web site please let me know.
Hey everyone, the story is now being hosted on the Erotic Dreams Story Archive. Thanks to Erotic Dreams : - ) for allowing my story to be there!! The direct link to my story is: My Story, and to find not only my story but also many other great stories, please check out the rest of the archives by clicking on this link: http://www.eroticdreams.us/
You can also find My Story on JT Poole's Site. Thanks for hosting it JT . You can find lots of great stories on the site.
Notes: Thanks to Dreamy for doing a great job of editing!
Cole's POV
I had a rough couple of weeks as I had to continue the PT and get integrated back into the real world. Lance and Chad were a huge help, taking the time to give me massages and help me walk when I needed it. Justin and I became closer as did Brian and I.
It is weird that they were like brothers I had never had. Hell all the guys seemed to be that way, it was almost like we were a family. I had been having some ideas floating in my head and wanted to talk to all the guys about them, but was not sure how to bring it all up. I guess that I will have to call for a meeting and just talk.
Over the time I had been getting better, Lance and I had been getting closer and closer. We slept together now, but we had not done any more that sleep so far. I am not sure if or when we will do more, but I am willing to wait. I do know that I love him with every fiber of my being and in all my wildest dreams I never thought that would be possible. Lance is caring, loving, attentive, and more than anything he is and does pay attention to everything I have to say. I know it is odd, but he listens to me and weighs what I have to say, then he will take action. He has picked up artists based on my opinions and dropped others for the same reason. AMAZING!!
Yesterday Chad finally came to talk to me about what had been on his mind. We were alone and he finally asked me about sex and love. I told him that Tommy and him would be free to have sex if they chose to, but I hoped that they would make sure that when and if they did have sex it was about love and not getting off. I explained that he could always find someone to fuck or to fuck him, but he would have a much harder time finding someone to make love to and to make love to him.
He asked the difference. “Well dogs fuck, animals fuck. There is no love, just lust or a mating imperative. Making love is something that two people who love each other do and it can include many things. For example, two people may sleep together and cuddle all night, they may suck each other. They may fondle and kiss. All of those are ways to make love. One thing I need you to know is that intercourse is only one way to make love and you do not need or have to make love that way if you are uncomfortable.” I told him.
“What do you mean? I am a bit confused here.” He told me.
“Ok let me back up a bit. Most gay men think that they only way to have sex is to either give, receive a blow job, or to screw or get screwed by his partner. But that is only part of what happens. Real long-term couples share love in many ways, of course most also use anal and oral sex as part of that. The biggest thing that you need to know about that is that you need to always think about things before doing them.” I tried to explain my thoughts.
“Okay let me try this again. Chad please understand that I am still a little bit slow about some things as I seem to have to think harder, or something. Ok, first do you love Tommy? If you do then when you make love you need to know some things. First, making love should NEVER be about your own pleasure. If all you want to do is get off, then it is just sex and has no meaning. That is not to say that a good and healthy relationship can’t have that included, but and this a big but, if you want a real and long term relationship then you have to be remember that you have an equal partner and he is the most important thing in the world.”
“You will hear many gay guys talk about who is top and who is bottom, you will hear talk of being dominate and being submissive, but in a real and lasting relationship, those terms will never work. I know I am bouncing around here, but this is hard to explain when you are a bit confused still, like I am. I will try one more time. Love and relationships are based on much more than sex. If your only goal is to get off, then you are not in love. Don’t ask Tommy to give you a blowjob if you do not expect to do the same to and for him. Don’t fuck or make love to Tommy and not want the same in return. When anal sex is involved, you are giving utter control to someone else to please you, but at the same time you have to trust that they will not hurt you, it is a total giving of yourself to the person you love. Conversely, when Tommy gives himself to you, he is giving you that same control and trust. ” I tried to explain.
“So you are saying that while sex is important, it is not all there is to a relationship, and that it should be completely equal?” Chad asked me.
“Yes that is what I am saying. Look it is very obvious that you and Tommy love each other and are not just in lust. I know that many people think that teens can’t be in real love, but to me it looks like you are. I have one question, and I want you to answer honestly. If you could have oral sex, would you rather suck Tommy or have him suck you?” I asked.
“I would rather suck him. I mean I would rather give him pleasure, but I also really want to taste him, savor him.” Chad told me then turned bright red as he realized what he said.
“Don’t be embarrassed. You just told me that you love him completely! You’ll find that you will derive a lot of pleasure from giving him pleasure and he will do the same with you. Ok now I need to ask you some questions and I need honest answers. I DO NOT want bullshit answers, I need complete honesty. If I think you are lying, you will not continue to see Tommy, is that understood?” I asked.
He looked at me with horror etched on his face. That switched to anger then went to fear and settled on a mix of them. “Yes I will be honest.” He said, but called me an asshole under his breath. I almost laughed.
“Have you ever had anal or oral sex with anyone?” I asked point blank.
“No and yes. No, I have not had anal sex, but I did suck off a kid a long time ago. All Tommy and I have done is jack each other off since we have not really had time to do more here and before it was always rushed so we didn’t get caught.” He finally told me.
“In that case I do not want you to have sex with Tommy. If you can’t abide by that, I will have to split you two up. I am not being an ass,’’ I told him as I seen the anger flare in his eyes. “I want you to be safe. I want both of you tested for HIV and shit first. I want you to be able to give yourselves completely and not have to worry about condoms. Tommy told Bri that he had also had oral sex, and we have agreed that even though the chances are almost non-existent for you to have gotten anything that way, we want you to be 100% safe.” I told him.
He looked a bit angry, but also thoughtful too. The next thing I know he had tears running down his cheeks. Before I could say or do anything he ran out of the room. I was at a loss to figure out what had happened. I was simply confused, which seemed to be common nowadays.
Half and hour later he came back. “Pop, I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to say right now. I had hoped to give myself to Tommy completely on Valentine’s Day, and you just ruined it.” he said.
“Whoa, hold up. If you had let me finish you would have found that this is not something that is going to take a long time. First, none of us are going to celebrate Valentine’s Day till the weekend. Second, we will have you both tested several times this week, through different labs, and all the results should be back in time for the weekend. Last, you never have to leave the room when you get upset or cry that is normal and natural. You have emotions and should never be afraid to show them.” I told him.
“Well, Bernie would always tell me that real men did not cry and only faggots cried. I knew sort of, that it was not true, but it is hard to get over that. Anyway, I would never want to hurt Tommy, and I know you are trying to make sure we don’t hurt each other.” He told me.
We continued to talk for another hour with me explaining how to have anal sex so that it did not hurt and so that both would enjoy it. As we talked and he became more comfortable and asked good questions and seemed to really understand and accept everything I told him. I think that was the turning point for me. I had known that he loved Tommy, but that talk told me that he was completely in love and made me accept that he was mature enough to deal with a real relationship.
That week not only did Tommy and Chad get tested for STD’s and HIV, but all of us did the same. We all came back completely clean. None of us expected anything less, but it was good to know for certain. It was decided that we would celebrate Valentine’s Day, and Nick, Bri, Jus, Joey, and Alex’s birthdays all at the same time. Some of the birthdays were very late, some were early, but we wanted to have a chance to celebrate them.
I got Kev and Danny to take me shopping for birthday gifts, and we also got a chance to talk and enjoy each others company. Danny told me that he had already started to move his company. Kev told me that there may be a lot of surprises that weekend.
I left a note on the fridge on Tuesday asking everyone to be home for a meeting on Friday at noon. I refused to tell anyone why I wanted the meeting, but I knew that if I wanted to talk to everyone, the meeting was the best way. Most of the guys had sold their houses and everyone was excited about the future, everyone but me.
Narrator's POV
By Friday, everyone was on pins and needles. No one had been able to get anything out of Cole. He refused to tell anyone what the meeting was about and they were all worried. Cole was still not the guy they had known before the accident. He was subject to bouts of confusion, had a quick temper, and seemed to be more emotional, but at the same time, he seemed more self-assured. It was odd, and all they guys were concerned for him.
“Ok I know you all are wondering why I called the meeting. First I want to tell you that I know you are all worried about me. I want to tell you all that I am fine, I have just had a lot on my mind, and today is the day to unload it all on you.” He told them with a smile.
“I have decided that I do not want to move to a new community.” He told them. They looked at him in shock.
“What do you mean?” Lance asked trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. Seeing this, Cole decided to hurry and explain himself.
“I don’t mean that I don’t want to live with you! I just don’t want to live without any of you. I talked to an architect and had him do some designs for me. I would like to build one home, huge though it may be, for all of us to live in. I know it sounds silly, but I love all of you and you have all become my family. I want us to live under one roof, even though the designs I have so far give each and every one of us tons of private space.” Cole told them as he handed out several sheets of paper.
“The first design gives each couple a private space, basically a house. It also gives each person a suite to themselves for private time and it gives us 5 guest suites. The second is about the same, but does not give each of us the private space and gives us 10 guest suites.” Cole told them.
“Whoa you have put a lot of thought into this.” Nick said.
“Yeah I have. I know that things have not been the best since you guys came out, and I love you all like family. I don’t want to be without you. I know that if you are all living just down the street that it is not really like living without you, but you guys are my family now.” Cole said before breaking down into sobs.
The other guys tried to comfort him but he had completely lost it. His whole body was wracked in sobs. He was inconsolable and even Lance could not help. Joey finally got him to take some Tylenol P.M. and in no time he fell asleep, completely spent and exhausted.
Lance and Justin finally got him to his bed. Once Cole was in bed all the guys met once again. Danny was the most upset of any of the guys. He knew that Cole had been upset and depressed, and he knew that even if Cole had forgiven him, he was not ready to forgive himself. He would do anything for Cole, even if it meant losing Kevin in the process.
“Guys I know that this is all different than any of us planned, but I know where Cole is coming from. You guys may not understand, but family is important to Cole, and I think that he has been searching for a replacement for his since he lost his. I would do anything that he asked and if that means living together then I am all for it.” Danny told them seriously.
All the guys agreed with Danny! They had all come to love and respect Cole and they would have all done anything for him. But in reality they all really liked the idea of one home for all of them. Over the next three hours they went over the plans that Cole had provided and decided that while they were nice, they were not what any of them really wanted.
As the discussion continued they all agreed that what they really wanted was small suites, just bedrooms, bathrooms, small areas for sofas and TV’s, but they wanted to have large family areas. Since it was early enough, Brian called an architect to come over and talk with them.
Sam was a nice guy and was excited to be able to help the guys. The guys noticed that he seemed thrilled to be there and were surprised that a 60-year-old man would even know who they were.
All of the guys tried to explain what they wanted. Finally after two hours of listening to the guys he tried to boil it all down so that he was 100% sure what they wanted.
“Let me go over everything and you can correct me as I go. You want small suites for each couple and several guest areas, you want lots of space for everyone, and you want lots of room for your families to grow. Right?” Sam asked.
All the guys agreed that is what they wanted. Sam decided to lay out what his thoughts were and see if the guys were interested. “I am thinking that we could do 12 large suites for each couple, plus extra for kids, 10 small guest cottages, scattered out over several acres and a good distance from the main house. From the stuff you have shown me, you have tons of room for all this, so I don’t see any problems. Look you guys have several hundred acres and it would be great is we can keep much of it natural. I was thinking that the main house can have a formal dining room, large enough for about 75, a huge family room and kitchen, plus office space for all of you. I was also thinking of a library, etc.” he finished.
“I guess that I would like to know what you all want and we can design around that.” Sam said, at about the same time that Cole came wandering in looking very tired and confused.
Lance and Justin took Cole aside and explained what was going on, fixed Cole some coffee and let him wake up before taking him back into the room. Once he was wide-awake, Cole had lots of ideas to share.
In the end it was decided that there would be a huge dining room, kitchen, family room, library, 15 large suites, 15 offices, huge rec room, 10 guest houses, 2 pools, Jacuzzi’s in every master bath, gym, laundry, small recording studio, music room, and a game room. The game room and gym would be in a separate building as would a huge garage. The game room would serve as a home school classroom for the kids as well.
All of the guys loved the ideas and loved the idea of having plenty of private space, but yet still be in the same house with the rest of the guys. They all felt that in many ways they were already like a family and that feeling just continued to grow.
Once Sam had all the initial ideas and thoughts down he headed out and told the guys that he would have the plans ready to go within a week. He also gave them several suggestions for contractors and such, which the guys were happy to get. After Sam left the guys sat around talking, excited by all the plans.
The next day was to be a very special day; it was to be the combined birthday parties, Valentine’s Day celebration. On Thursday both boys had gotten the all clear on the STD/HIV tests, and they were excited about that as well.
CELEBRATION DAY
Chad and Tommy had gotten up early, as they wanted to make a huge breakfast for everyone. By 10 A.M. they had everything ready and set out on the table in a buffet style set up. They had made scrambled eggs, pancakes, grits, waffles, French toast, bacon, eggs, sausage, toast, three kinds of potatoes, and set out dry cereal for anyone who wanted it.
At 10:03 Justin walked in half asleep, seen all the food and ran out of the room. He started waking the guys as quickly as he could. There was no way he wanted to see the food go to waste, and he also knew that the boys had worked hard on the meal.
Soon everyone was sitting down to a wonderful breakfast telling the boys how much they appreciated the effort they had put into it. As they ate, they talked about the day and decided that they would open all the birthday presents once the meal was finished and everything was cleaned, then they would have a barbeque in the afternoon, then do Valentine’s Day gifts and such that night.
Justin and Brian cleaned the kitchen and put dishes in the dishwasher, while Nick, Howie, and Alex cleaned the dining room, and the rest of the guys cleaned the rest of the house.
Soon the guys started to pour into the family room, arms full of gifts. There were gifts for Chad too, since he had not really gotten to celebrate his birthday. Bri opened his gifts first and he got a lot of nice things. As each one followed they all had a blast guessing what something was before it was opened. Last to open his gifts was Chad.
His first gift was a new, top of the line computer. Next was a laptop computer, followed by a new stereo, and DVD player. He received a lot of clothes and music. He took the time to hug and thank each gift giver and made sure that they knew how much he appreciated each gift.
After all the gifts had been opened, Nick got everyone’s attention. “I have something for all of us. I have made a change to the new house, well not the house, but I have added a small airstrip to the property and have paid for all of us to have flying lessons. Tommy and Chad will not be able to fly solo for a good while, but I thought we could all learn.” He announced.
They all loved the idea and spent lots of time talking about it. During the discussions they decided to buy a jet for the groups touring and a couple of small planes for their own use.
Cole suggested that both groups do a small “thanks for your support” tour before building and designing the house started in earnest. After discussing it for about an hour, they tabled the discussion until the next day.
After they had left the record company and came out, all the families had quit talking to the guys. Even the ones who had said they supported the guys being gay. That day the new family got even closer and they all realized they had something very special.
The guys all decided that they loved the idea of celebration day. They decided to have 4 each year and celebrate birthdays that way. Cole said that this was just a family starting new traditions and all of them agreed with him.
That night, all the guys went out and had a wonderful meal, then came home to dance and enjoy each others company. Finally at about 10, Kevin, Brian, Lance, Chris, Alex, and Joey all asked their partners to marry them. Yes, a couple had already asked, but in quietly talking to each other, they had decided to do again. Naturally Danny and Lance were blown away. They said yes however.
After a couple of hours of celebration, everyone turned in for the night. The couples made love half the night. Chad and Tommy decided to hold off on anal sex, but made love in every other way that night.
Danny's POV
I just about passed out when Kev asked me to marry him. I was so completely shocked that I almost could not answer him. I lay in bed the next morning thinking about my life recently.
It seems that Cole has always been a part of my life when I am happy. The only time I have ever been depressed or unhappy is when he has not been a part of my life. Strange as it may sound it is almost like he has some kind of power to make others happy. I think that in reality it is just that he is a genuine decent, honest, loving guy and that rubs off on others and makes them happy.
That day would be a turning point in all of our lives. We all decided to talk after we had an early brunch. We had briefly talked about a tour for the guys to say thanks for the support to the fans. None of us had really ever done anything like this except Cole and he had only put together the show at Disney.
“I think that it would be good to have separate shows with one group opening one night and the other the next night, then have both groups close the show with a mix of songs from both groups.” I said.
“That makes sense, but one thing that will be hard is the dance steps and shit.” Lance said.
“Well, I for one think that you should get rid of the dance stuff and concentrate on the music. You could slow down some of the dance songs, or show videos of you dancing while you all just concentrate on singing for once. We could really use more lights, pyro and stuff to offset the lack of dancing and you guys who want could even play instruments. You have enough material to do 4 or 5 hours and if you are not dancing, the show will not take as much out of you. You could in all honesty mount a huge tour and not be as worn down as you have in the past simply because we will not allow more than one radio interview in each city, you will not be dancing and you would not be on a bus.” Cole told them.
“I thought you were talking a small tour and now you are talking a huge tour.” Nick said.
“Ok, let me explain my thoughts here. You will not hurt my feelings if you don’t agree so be honest. First, you guys have a lot of fans who have stuck with you through the whole coming out thing and you are not planning a new album for at least a year. If we take 9 months and tour extensively then take a year or year and a half off you will have given your fans a hell of a send off.”
“Second, even if you guys all have a lot of money, building this home, and starting your own management and shit will be hard and very expensive. This tour could make a ton of money, and also achieve keeping you in the minds of the fans. It could also show the bigots as well as the record companies that who you love has no bearing on your success.”
“I would suggest that we start with small venues, and build to huge stadiums and arenas. The truth is that we could really tour for a year and make a fortune and still not be worn down by the tour.”
“You guys could also hold a few mega concerts and invite lots of other artists and do sort of like a festival type thing and have all the profits go to charity. I was thinking that we could set up a huge festival in Louisville and have all the money goes to Wyandotte House and the local pride committee.” Cole said as he wound down.
“Whoa, how the hell are we going to do all this?” Just asked.
“Ok, well I have thought a lot about this. First things though I need to know if you are interested. If you are, then I have some thoughts but it may take more than any of you want to do.” Cole said very seriously.
Each of us told Cole that we would support his idea since it made lots of sense.
"Ok Lance, Danny, Howie, this will be where we find out if this will work. I want you guys to sell your companies. I should rephrase that, I want you to sell stock in the company to each of us, so that we all own the companies, but do it in such a way that all three are owned by an over all shell corporation. I was thinking that we could call the company Unity Multimedia and Freelance could be Unity Management, Danny’s Company could be Unity Public Relations and Howie’s company could be Unity Holdings. Truthfully, if Chris would sell is his company we could also have Unity Apparel. The profits coming in from all those businesses could help to not only support us, but would also allow us to expand to other groups and allow us to support other gay or gay friendly groups and maybe in the future movies and TV. I would like to start Unity Promotions, and I think that we could get all of us involved in running and building this company.” Cole said.
“I’m in.” Howie said with no thought.
“Me too.” I said.
“Same here” Lance said.
“I am all for it here too.” Chris said.
Over the next week we hired attorney’s to get everything set up, we found office space and started the process of consolidating the companies into one cohesive unit. Cole was frantic in his efforts to get things set up. He worked 12 hours a day and never once gave any of us a reason to doubt that he was doing his absolute best for all of us. In fact, he was relentless; he opened offices in Paris, London and New York. He interviewed staff, he engineered deals to get backing for the tour, he arranged for an exclusive line of clothing at Abercrombie and Fitch as well as one at Wal-Mart.
He was a whirl of activity and he was heading for a fall that all of us saw coming. He was working too hard and too many hours, of course he was not the only one. The guys were working 12 hour days too, putting together a massive show and on top of that Chris, Justin, and Josh were designing their hearts out. I was on the phone trying to set up publicity, arranging venues and Howie, Lance, and Nick were busy getting financing set up for the tour.
Finally by the end of March we had the new company up and running, new offices set up, new artists being signed, and the tour was set. The schedule was set and the cities were set. We were avoiding states that did not have anti-discrimination laws, states that still would not recognize gay marriage, and those that did not allow adoption. Basically, that meant that we would not be hitting Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Ohio, and we made sure that we would tell the fans that in interviews.
We had bought the jet and had one side painted with the *NSYNC logo and the other with the BSB logo. The show would require 30 semi trailers and we had set up the schedule so that everyone had time off before each show. The tour would last for over a year. We would hit smaller venues in the states, then move to Europe and hit huge venues; covering all of Western and Eastern Europe then hit Asia and then Africa and then finally back to the states hitting massive venues.
The charity festivals were to take place after the regular tour, partly because many were not sure they should be part of the tainted names of the groups. We had set up financing, but in truth many would not loan us the money as they were not sure about the draw of two gay groups.
By the end of March, all the dates had been set, all the contracts signed and as per our agreement all of the available tickets worldwide went on sell at the same time. The press conference about the tour was pandemonium. Tickets had gone on sale world wide at the beginning of the conference and had sold out by the end. In other words in a little over two hours the Unity Tour had sold out worldwide! In fact, Ticket Master and MTV both had their servers go down from the onslaught. Venue servers went down and phone lines were snarled.
Of course, we still had over half the tickets available since we only put half up for sell to start. The half we kept in holding were for sales closer to the actual concert date as well as giveaways, promotion and some other ideas we had. We had kept all the tickets for the first 50 rows so that scalpers could not get them as well.
On March 23rd all the work we had done came to a head. We were having yet another meeting when all of a sudden Cole collapsed. Lance screamed his name and we all turned. Lance was almost beside himself and Chad just lost it. I about came apart too, but I saw that he was still breathing and thought that maybe he had just passed out and sure enough that is what had happened.
Once he woke up and saw all of us staring at him, he started to try and talk his way out of it. However, Lance would hear none of it. “I am NOT going to let you kill yourself over this. You WILL be going home after this meeting and you WILL be going to bed and you WILL NOT be on a phone, computer, or anything else for the next 2 days. You don’t want to listen to me then please look at Chad. He looked at Chad who was still an absolute mess. That one look was all it took.
The meeting progressed as usual, in fact all the plans were done, and just about everything was ready for the tour. We were hitting 450 cities worldwide and doing in over a period of a year and a half. Out of the roughly 540 days in the 18 months about 60 were off days, the rest were double concert days. Once a month the guys were holding an afternoon concert for the poor kids in the city, the gay kids, or something similar before holding the concert that night
Justin's POV
I have to admit that I have never seen people work harder. Cole and Danny worked harder than I had ever seen anyone work. Because they put in so much effort all of us guys wanted to do the very best job we could. We all even added some of our own songs, stuff that we liked and had written.
We worked hard to learn the new stuff. We remixed some older stuff in slower versions, we combined some of the BSB and *NSYNC stuff but decided that did not really work, but we did add voices to some of it. Brian and Nick joined us for some songs, Alex and Howie for others, and some of us for some of theirs. What was so cool is that we had hired a recording studio to practice and Josh and Nick were recording it all. We had decided to release on the net a sessions CD that included all the clubs and everything. The thing was by the time it was all done, we had a huge 6 CD recording of just the good stuff. We talked to Cole and he arranged somehow to have it distributed. We priced it at $50 with half of the proceeds going into the newly created Unity Student Fund.
Let me tell you that when you have Cole working for you, there is no one and I mean no one that will do a better job. He took hold of the new company and it seemed almost over night turned it into something amazing. We all made him Chairman and Chief Executive Officer by unanimous vote. Danny became his right hand man, and boy did those two make us proud.
One of the first things that Cole did was to form a charity, Unity Student Fund (USF), and right away declared that 10% of total profits would go to the charity. The fund was to provide funds for gay-straight student alliances, runaway homes, private foster homes, and much more. Next, he pulled the brilliant move of having all the tickets we were making available for concerts available at the same time, knowing that we would sell out and that it would make the news, giving us more free publicity.
Lance, Nick, Alex, Danny, and I were talking one day and decided to see if it was possible to do something for Cole. We all knew how big a fan of Stevie Nicks Cole was. Lance swore that him singing her songs helped Cole come out of his coma, and we believed him. We contacted everyone we could, and finally got to talk to Stevie herself.
After we explained who we were, what we wanted to do, and most importantly why, she agreed to fly into Orlando. I was ecstatic; Cole was not the only Stevie fan among us! Everything was set up so that Cole would be out of town when Stevie came in to talk to us. Danny had to go with Cole as did Lance, but both knew what was going on.
After working for several hours to get things set up, we took the time to practice, with her and she was such a pro. Cole was a brother to me, and I wanted to make sure that he knew how much he meant to all of us. When Cole collapsed it almost caused us to cancel the whole thing. Lance luckily had enough presence of mind to tell us not to bring it up. Cole would have been devastated if we cancelled the apperance, and after we all collected ourselves we realized that too.
Finally on March 30 everything was ready. The Unity World Tour was set to kick off in Orlando. Everything was ready. At 6 P.M. the lights in O Arena went out, and Larger Than Life blasted through the speakers, yet no one took the stage.
Cole was seated in the front row with 500 kids from the local GSA, as well as all the contest winners. He wondered what had gone wrong when no one appeared on stage.
Soon the music stopped, the lights on stage came on and Lance came out. The crowd went nuts.
“Hello Orlando! Tonight we have something special going on. Since this is the very beginning of the Unity Tour which is to say a huge thank you to all our true fans. We also wanted to say a huge thank you to someone very special, and we have a very special guest to do just that. Please welcome, STEVIE NICKS!”
The crowd who had been nuts before went even more nuts, you could feel the arena shake from the force of their welcome.
Cole's POV
As the first concert opened, I was a nervous wreck. The guys had all insisted that I sit in the front row and enjoy the show. When the music started and no one came out, I was ready to get up and see what had happened when Lance came out.
When he introduced Stevie I started to lose it. She came on stage and said to the world that this show was dedicated to me! She spent the next two hours performing with the help of the guys all of her best music. She even did my all time favorite Battle of The Dragon.
The five-hour show became a six and a half hour show and it blew not only the audience, but also the critics away. The mix of songs, the way the guys sang them and the new stuff mixed in was just flat out awesome. When Stevie joined the guys for The Perfect Fan it became almost ethereal.
That first show was a huge success, and I got to meet Stevie. I found that Lance, Justin, Alex, and Chad had been behind this surprise and was more than moved by it.
Copyright 2004 by WildHeart