Date: Sun, 18 Feb 1996 08:22:00 PST Reply-To: Mike Goldman Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Mike Goldman Subject: Counterfeit Friends (4/22)--HL Story BTW: The name of the band comes from one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs. That night, Duncan and Richie both went to Joe's to hear Rory and the band. They arrived approximately one-half hour before the band was to start and found a nearly capacity crowd. Threading their way through the crowd, they finally made it to the bar. "Hey, Joe." Richie greeted. Joe, looking rather dapper in jeans, a white T-shirt and black leather vest, turned around from surveying the seemingly endless rows of bottles behind the bar and smiled at his friends. "Glad you guys could make it." he responded. "Quite the crowd." said Duncan, gazing around the room. Joe took a moment to survey his small kingdom. He was justifiably proud of the way he designed his place. The oak bartop was polished to a high gloss and brilliantly reflected the track lighting around the room while the other overhead lights cut through the smoky atmosphere. You could barely see the black and white checked floor for all the people sitting at the tables and milling around the stage. In fact, if you listened hard enough, you could have your pick of several conversations as various bits and pieces filtered through the dull roar of Saturday night "meet-and-greet" conversation. "You know how people always want to check out a new band." he said to Duncan. "Speaking of the band," he continued, pointing towards the stairs, "here they come." Duncan and Richie turned to see Rory and four other guys come down the stairs. As they got close to the stage, they saw Rory react nearly imperceptibly to the "buzz". She glanced quickly around and smiled as she saw Duncan and Richie, then stepped onto the stage and picked up her bass. The guitarist, a tall blond man with several alarming tattoos, introduced the band as "Black Dog" and they began to play. What followed was a mix of songs from such musicians as Eric Clapton, Rory Block, Lucinda Williams and Stevie Ray Vaughan. They even managed to throw in the Emmylou Harris version of Neil Young's "Wrecking Ball". Rory and the guitarist seemed to split the singing duties. The guitarist sang most of his songs fairly straightforwardly while Rory, on the other hand, used her voice to seek ut the nuances and emotions of a song. She would go from using a low, sexy growl in one song to tell her lover to get out and never come back to singing in an high, almost hushed tone of voice as she mourned the loss of love. The crowd responded to the energy and enthusiasm of the band with long, loud applause. After about an hour, Rory announced they were taking a break and would return shortly for their second set. As they stepped off the stage, the quiet followed and then the chatter slowly resumed. At the bar, Rory dramatically grabbed her throat. "Water!" she begged. Mike, Joe's assistant bartender, quickly supplied the band with various liquids. As he did so, Rory introduced the rest of the band members: the tattooed guitarist was Matt, the drummer was an Australian named Shane, the keyboardist and saxophone player were Mark and Jamie, respectively, and had decided to tour Europe on a lark. Finding the band, they'd dumped college and signed themselves up. "That was incredible!" exclaimed Joe, "You guys are really tight." "Thank you, kind sir!" Rory said, fluttering her eyes as if she might faint at the praise. Shane made a rude snorting noise and she stuck her tongue out at him. "That *was* really good." Duncan echoed. "Thanks." Rory grabbed a napkin and wiped sweat off her face, then did some deep knee bends. As she came up, she groaned, "Oh, I am going to regret wearing these later!" Seeing Richie open his mouth, she put up a hand. "Down, boy!" Joe, meanwhile, was having a mental conversation with himself about how he did definitely *not* regret Rory wearing those jeans or the bodysuit. When Shane asked him for another beer, he didn't hear him and it was not until Shane waved his glass in Joe's face that Joe realized someone was talking to him. He took the glass and bent over the tap industriously, hoping that the action would shield his rapidly blushing face from everyone. "OK, that's it, everyone." Matt said, "Time to get back up there." The rest of the band raggedly saluted him and they went back up on stage and began their second set and played until Joe sounded last call. Everyone had their last drink, the band played the last song and then people began to clear out. Richie and Shane had struck up an acquaintance with two unattached young women and were heading out to continue their evening, so Duncan excused himself. "I'll see you later, Joe." "OK Mac, see you." The band stored their equipment for the night and Rory told the others to take off and that she would finish cleaning up. Mike had already taken off so Joe stayed at the cash register and counted the night's take. He looked up as Rory sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "I think that's it." she said. "You want a cup of coffee?" he asked. "Sure, I'm too wound to sleep for awhile anyway." She crossed over to the bar, he poured her a cup, and she silently sipped at it while watching him enter the receipts in his ledger. After a few more minutes, he closed the ledger and slid it back under the bar. "Good night?" she asked. "Very good," he answered, "the band was a big help." "Actually," said Rory, as Joe began turning out lights, "I think it's got more to do with the place and the owner." Joe was very glad that the nearly dark club was hiding that damnable blush that had reappeared. He made a sound which he hoped she would take as acknowledgement of the compliment and held the door open for her as she grabbed her jacket. They walked out the door and Joe started to go towards his Forerunner as Rory stuffed her hands in her pockets and started to walk down the street. At his car, Joe turned and saw her slowly ambling down the street underneath the amber streetlights. "Rory!" he called. She turned and looked at him. "Would you like a ride home?" =========================================================================