Amidst all that had happened in the wake of the O'Brien case, I'd somehow kept up with company business. Chuck Tyler, my boss at Artists Unlimited, had always been beyond understanding and he'd been letting me pick and choose whatever assignments I wanted. But I felt I owed it to him it to him to do a shoot with one of the company's prestige client's, Tigress. They'd been caught up in the whole O'Brien mess too but unlike me, they'd stayed in New York during the case before relocating to a basement studio in New Jersey to work on their next album. They'd wanted to get back to their roots and were using many of the same people they'd started with. And coincidentally I was one of those people. Way back when, my late, great partner Chris and I took a gig photographing this up and coming music trio called Tigress at a showcase in Vegas, and we'd stayed with them ever since. Now though, it was just me.
The studio was in the basement of this friend of theirs and located in the beachside town of Seaside Heights, New Jersey. My work would be confined to photographing the girls as they recorded, hung out, and walked the vast beach and boardwalk. It was a great casual assignment, I must admit. Their record company had offered to spring for luxury hotel rooms, but the band declined. Opting instead for a rental house nearby that we all stayed in which added to the communal feeling. The recording sessions went smoothly during the day, which left me with plenty of time to do my own exploring of the area with my camera.
It had been a long time since I'd been in a beach community like this. I'd been spoiled by four star resorts, hotels and the like. This was a flashback to when I was little, being around beach cottages and in between them, a vast ocean. The boardwalk was just a little further ways up and naturally I had to go there too.
The boardwalk was dominated by little restaurants with take out food and souvenir shops selling everything imaginable. These all looked so kitschy and the graphics and neon were perfect for photos. I came to a place called the Shore Shop that seemed the chintziest of all.
"Oh, why not?" I thought as I went in.
The shop was loaded floor to ceiling with t-shirts, tank tops and all manner of beach gear on walls, racks and shelves. Behind a raised counter stood 2 girls, one fairly tall with dark brown hair and a somewhat bored look on her face, idly folding shirts. The other seemed shorter and wore a purple tiger striped t-shirt with a matching baseball cap worn at a sideways angle. She apparently saw me first and out of the corner of my eye I saw her nudge the other girl before coming down from the counter.
"Hi, can I help you find something?" she asked in a thick Jersey accent.
I could now see how short she was, she suddenly reminded me of my friend Laura Austin. She had long jet-black hair and was certainly built like her, that's for sure! Her shirt was cut low enough to give me quite the eyeful of her tanned skin and bountiful breasts.
"Uh, not just yet" I said, trying not to stare "this place certainly gives you a lot to choose from."
"Yeah, well, that's the idea...this would look good on you." She said as she pointed out a bright yellow shirt with 'Seaside Heights' written like the Harley-Davidson logo.
"Hmmm, you think so?"
"Yeah, I love bikes and we've been selling a lot of these. Usually everyone goes for the black ones."
"Geez, who'd wanna wear black in this heat?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised!" she laughed "look at me."
I saw her shorts were black
"Yeah, but that's not really the same, I guess."
"You're right." She said "Oh, I'm Nicole."
"Jim."
"Are you like, here for the summer or something?"
"No, I'm working, actually. I take pictures." I said pointing at my camera
"No way! That's so cool!"
"It has its perks."
"You're not like a pap, are you?"
"A pap?"
"Pap smear...Paparassy, whatever they're called." She giggled
"Oh! Paparazzi! No, no not me."
"Cool, I can't stand those guys, they always take lousy photos anyway."
From the back I heard a man's voice
"Nicole! Do some work for a change!" he yelled
"Alright!" she yelled back "Let me know if you need anything."
"Okay, I'll be back."
Nicole disappeared into the back of the store and left me alone on the floor. The bored girl at the counter gave me a smile.
"Great place, I'll be back later." I said to her, getting a flirtatious little wave in return.
Nicole was rather cute, I had to admit. Maybe because she reminded me of Laura, and it seemed like we had unfinished business together. But Laura ran in a much different circle than I did and I was very lucky we'd struck up the kind of friendship we had. I should never take it for granted, or take advantage of it for that matter.
I continued walking the boardwalk for awhile longer before deciding to head home. But I still wanted to grab that shirt Nicole had showed me, maybe grab Nicole too.
"Get real, 'Hollywood'!" I heard my inner voice say.
When I got back to the shop, "bored girl" was still there as I went to get my shirt. As she rang me up, I looked around for Nicole.
"Where's your partner?" I asked
"Who?"
"Nicole, the little short..."
"Oh, her! She took off early, we're gonna hit the club tonight and she has to get all pimped out." She said "Why don't you come down, I think she likes you."
"Ha! That's flattering but I...you know, I think I just might do that."
"Cool! We'll be at Bamboo later on." She said
"Okay, uh, see you then."
"I'm Jenny, by the way."
"OK, Jenny. I'll see you too
It had been a long time since I did any "clubbing" as it were and the atmosphere at Bamboo was raucous to say the least. First off, I'd been spoiled by all the places I'd been to out west where I was usually with someone or the proprietors knew me and I was whisked away to some VIP section, so it was a new experience to be at a club where there was a line to get in. I was smack in the middle of a lot of guys with tight shirts who seemed to be perpetually flexing their arms and girls whose dresses looked painted on. Man, did I feel out of my element! After awhile watching others go inside, I was about to give up and started to leave when I thought I spotted Jenny with Nicole and 1 other guy coming in the other direction.
"Hey, Jenny!" I called out to her
Immediately she turned and saw me
"Hey! You made it!" Jenny yelled back
"Come on with us!" Nicole yelled
Maybe this night would be salvaged after all
We entered Bamboo with no problem and found a table near the DJ booth. It was tough to hear above the pounding club music and numerous strobe lights but I heard Nicole tell me the guy with them was named Mike
"Just call me Sitch." He said "as in Situation."
"OK, call me Jim...as in James, Jimmy, Jimbo." I replied making him laugh
"OK, you're Jim tonight." he said
"And you're Situation tonight."
"I'm always the Situation!" he bragged as she spread his arms and laughed
Nicole and Jenny were both dressed to thrill. Nicole had on a very tight black dress that matched her hair and tanned skin, Jenny's was equally tight but in tiger stripes. Jenny quickly spotted a bartender and went off with Nicole to get drinks.
"Who's the DJ?" I asked Mike
"Oh! Buddy of ours...Yo Pauly!" he yelled to the DJ who turned to us
"This is Jimmy...Nicole brought him!" he yelled
Pauly leaned down and we shook hands
"Good to meet ya, man" he said as he monitored his sound system which had glittery Italian stickers proudly emblazoned on the large laptop.
Just then, Nicole returned with drinks, she handed me some concoction I didn't know.
"What is this?" I asked
"Just try it, it's great."
I tried it and it was like rocket fuel, there must've been a dozen different things in it. Maybe it was best I didn't ask anything else about it.
Needless to say, the rest of the night quickly became a hazy blur as we drank and drank and drank. Pauly the DJ kept the tunes pounding out and I tried to pick up whatever bits of conversation I could from Mike, Jenny and Nicole but it was such a blur being with this crowd, what had I gotten myself into? The whole atmosphere of this place was just too much for me, it reminded me of how I never fit in with clubs like this back home, and how whenever I went to one, I usually got my drink spilled on me by some obnoxious drunk guy.
And inevitably, it happened.
I stood up to get a refill and a drunk stumbled into me and our drinks splattered. But it was a drunken girl for a change. Before I could say anything, she let loose a torrent of screams at me that I couldn't understand that only confused me. And just as suddenly, glasses were smashing as Jenny and Nicole got up into this girl's face and screamed at her and each other. Mike and two huge security guys were trying to hold them back but it was too late and someone's fist connected with the side of my head, and sent me crashing to the ground. I could hear someone scream "oh my gawd!" but I didn't wait to see who it was.
I'd had enough!
I could still hear shouts as I immediately headed for the exit. Once I got outside, the rush of cool air and nearby ocean quickly replaced the stifling heat and bass thump I'd heard inside Bamboo. But I could hear someone shouting behind me.
"Hey! Hey Jim! Wait up!" I turned and saw Nicole running after me
She finally caught up to me
"Hey...I'm so sorry about what happened" she said as she caught her breath "...Jenny's usually...usually not that bad. She knows that bitch from somewhere else and they just got into it...I'm sorry you got in the middle of it...come on, we can walk for awhile."
I thought about what had just happened. Getting punched, even accidentally, in a bar was never my idea of fun
"I didn't really get to talk to you, you know." She said, adding a little smile
I really wanted to just go home. But I guess being outside made things better.
"Come on." I said with a twitch of my head
Nicole took my arm and we started walking
"So those are your friends back there, Mike and Pauly?"
"Yeah, they're cool, we've been together for a few years. Where are you from anyway? I never got to ask you that"
"Los Angeles, but I'm really from Connecticut, LA is just where I'm based, where I work and all."
