Friday
The taxi took me to my hotel on West End Avenue and I hurried inside due to the winter cold biting me. The sun was already up and even though it was after 7, the flight from LAX that early always left me wanting more sleep, so I turned in for a few hours. I slept a short and dreamless sleep, awakened by the phone clanging. It felt like I was sleeping in Big Ben at midnight.
"Yo Kain, are ya awake?" It was Jimmy, the drummer. He always called too early when we played the east coast. For him it was a triumphant return home since he grew up in Brooklyn.
"Fock, man!" I said in my best mock Lars Ulrich voice, "I was sleepin, ah? It's only 10:37 in the fockin' mornin', ah?" Jim laughed and hung up. I knew he'd be banging on my door any second so I got up and got into a robe. Sure enough, there was the banging just as I tied the belt. I opened the door and there stood Jimmy, ready to go and as glad to be there as I was tired.
"Come on, Kain, get your ass in the shower and let's get over to the club!" He was always way too energetic in the mornings. I stumbled into the shower and washed the previous day away and finished waking up. When I got out of the bathroom Jimmy had already unpacked most of my suitcase by overturning it. I grabbed my Levi's and a black dress shirt. A pair of socks bounced off my leg, so I put them on and got into my boots. We were out the door and soon on the street hailing a taxi to take us to Mack's Damage, the club who paid our ways to play 2 shows for them. Freddie and Mike were already there and waiting. Jim and I paid the driver and got out of the cab. We shook hands with Freddie and Mike and went inside. The manager was there having a mid morning drink. Freddie went up to him and greeted him.
"Heya, Mack, we made it!" he said. He was always the professional one so he was always the one to do the dealing with club owners and managers. After a round of shaking hands and a brief meeting the deal was in stone; 2 nights with our band, Conscious Nightmare, and a fat paycheck totaling $3500 for the performances and the transportation.
Later that evening, during sound check, I noticed a couple of women in the back, watching us. It struck me as kind of odd, since Mack's Damage didn't let anyone in until after sound checks. They were slender and curvy and one had just short of shoulder length blonde hair, the other had past shoulder length auburn hair. Very nice I thought to myself and returned to my guitar. We ran through a few songs and went backstage to finish getting ready. My getting ready was the open faced roast beef sandwich and diet coke. Mack's had the best sandwiches of any club I've been to and they always made the extra effort to make mine better then typical. Jimmy was tapping a barstool with his drumsticks to get warmed up, while Mike and Freddie were running through the between song activities; a T shirt giveaway and raffling off the new CD. We sat and relaxed a bit. I saw through the gap in the curtain the same 2 women from earlier. They were at the very front of the stage. The lights went dim as they always did and we took our places on the stage. The announcement went out to the people gathered out on the floor. The curtains parted and the crowd went wild.
Saturday Morning Part 1
The place was emptying out. All over the floor were beer cups and coasters and flyers. We were all packed up and in the dressing room unwinding. Freddie, Mike, and Jimmy were heading off to their hotel room, but I was in need of a shower since one of those beer cups had found its way up to the stage via air mail and soaked my pants. Luckily I saw it coming and raised my guitar out of the way in time to save it, but my pants took the full fury of Coors on tap. When I got out of the shower, I finished drying off, got dressed in my extra clothes, and there was a knock on the door. I opened it. One of the 2 women from before was there by herself. I let her in and asked if she was wanting an autograph or just to chat for a bit. It didn't occur to me at the time, she looked very familiar.
"You know you look an awful lot like Kirsten Dusnt?" I asked her. She smiled, and blushed a little, and pulled out her driver's license. California. Dunst, Kirsten Caroline. DOB April 30, 1982. I looked at her again and she smiled. I just about fell over. Kirsten Dunst in the dressing room backstage looking for ME! I spoke, nervously,
"Well, uh, wow! Uh, what can I do for you?" I blurted. She took back her license and spoke,
"Well, Kain," she started, "first, I love your guys music! I have the first CD and I keep it in my car. Second, I'm here to do some research for the next movie I'm in. I'll be playing the girlfriend of an indie band's guitar player." I was in shock. I didn't know what to say next. I've only seen a handful of her movies and I've always had a mad case of the hots for her. And she was researching and I was part of it.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yes, Kain, really. Can you help me with this?" My head was spinning.
"Sure!" I said. I grabbed my jacket and asked, "Do you want to go sit someplace quiet and we can talk about it?" She nodded so off we went.
"Denny's is always a good place to sit after a show." I said. She was sipping a cup of coffee and I had hot chocolate. She took a bite of her apple pie and asked,
"Why is that?"
"For many years, ", I replied, "after the gigs I've been to and been in, there was always a group of us that headed for the nearest Denny's for the traditional post-gig meal." She smiled and went back to the coffee. "You know, I loved you in Spiderman." I said. She blushed a little and put her hand on mine. It was still warm from the coffee cup. She looked at me and spoke seriously,
"Please, "she said, "I don't really want to talk about my career or movies right now.". I was surprised.
"I'm sorry, "I said, confused. "I didn't mean to bother you, I hope..."
"No, no, that's okay, "she interrupted me. "I had just wrapped a shoot and I had accepted the next film, but my agent Okayed the shoot starting in a couple of weeks and I wanted to be elsewhere relaxing!" She was not very happy with the arrangement her agent made. I could see the frustration in her eyes and I was dumbstruck. I didn't know what else to do so I put my other hand on hers and gave a comforting squeeze. She looked up at me and drew a slow breath, "I'm sorry, I'm being unprofessional here, running my mouth..." My turn to interrupt.
"It's perfectly okay, uh, Ms. Dunst, we're not on any clock and under no immediate time table. We can do this another time if you would like to." She smiled a little and gently moved my hand down to the table.
"Call me Kiki," she said, "I'm 14 years younger than you and 'Ms. Dunst' is kind of corny sounding coming from you." She pulled a small notepad out of her purse and wrote some numbers down and tore the sheet off and handed it to me. "This is the number to my hotel room. Give me a call tomorrow and I'll be ready to have a question and answer session. And thank you for understanding." She got up, dropped a $20 bill on the table, gave a quick peck on my cheek and left. I was in awe. I looked at the number. The Thirty Thirty hotel in Manhattan. (800)555-3745, suite 501. Kirsten Dunst had just given me her number. And a kiss on the cheek. Wow.
Saturday Morning Part 2
I woke up to the pounding from Jimmy. It wasn't early as it usually was. 11:37 AM. I got up, got in my robe, and opened the door again.
"Jim, you're an asshole you know?" Jim laughed and walked in. He looked around as if he was trying to find a missing shoe. He asked,
"Did she leave already? That hottie you left with last night? Ya know she's a dead ringer for Kirsten, uh, something, from Spiderman!"
I gave Jim a sock to the shoulder and said, "We just went to the Denny's for coffee and pie, nothing major." Jim returned the punch and replied,
"What are you, an old man? A hot babe like THAT and all you got was pie? And not even the right kind?". He feigned gayness by putting one hand on his hip and the other was raised and dangling at the wrist.
"Jim, are you coming out to me?" I asked. He laughed and went on his way to annoy Mike and Freddie. I closed the door, grabbed my wallet and dug out the number. I stopped just short of picking the phone up, "She's probably still asleep, I'll wait until after I get cleaned up." I thought out loud. So I went and took the habitual morning shower. I stood for a while, letting the hot water roll off my head and down my back. The whole time I was thinking, "Kirsten Dunst is going to meet me later today, Kirsten Dunst is going to meet me later today, Kirsten Dunst is going to meet me later today... After what had to be close to 40 minutes, I finished up, dried off and got back into the robe. When I stepped out into the room I just about tripped over the floor. The TV was on and there in the big chair sat Kiki, watching MTV. She was dressed plain, faded Levi's, white sneakers, and a black hooded sweatshirt that had the Metallica logo in red across the front. I guess that meeting had started. "Uh, hi!" I bumbled, painfully aware of the fact that I was sporting a major chub. She sat watching the TV for a few seconds and turned to me and said,