Annie and American Talent International

Between the record being released and being well received by the public, and the announcement that the band was finally going to start performing, we were starting to be noticed outside of Conn. This was the real deal...it was no longer a dream or a fantasy, and Annie started coming to Conn. every weekend, to stay appraised of our progress, and of course, to spend time with me. She told me that her superiors at the agency were really starting to pay attention now, and there was some major label interest, too. It was a little hard for me to believe... I had always thought this was exactly what would happen, but seeing it become a reality took some getting used to. Annie made some very helpful suggestions, and also told me that she might be able to get us on some dates with some of the other bands she handled, as an opening act, if we did well in live performance. The dates were all still a couple of months away, but I couldn't help being amazed at what I was being told...since we hadn't even performed in front of an audience yet. I knew some of the bands that she booked...Blue Oyster Cult, Derringer, AC/DC, Pat Travers, Molly Hatchet...were some of the best rock bands in the world. She told me that she would need to see how we did on our debut gig before she would make any recommendations to her superiors, but that I should be aware of how important this debut was. And of course, she would be there. I couldn't help but think to myself what a great friend and ally Annie had become to me, and how she was really going out on a limb for the band...and I realized that she had never been a part of my plan...but that things I had absolutely no role in consciously creating were falling into place to help support this band..and I was truly grateful for all her help. I felt very lucky...and very blessed to have found friends like that...only three years earlier I had been a hopeless junkie....but there was a problem brewing on the horizon for me...and I couldn't possibly know how quickly things could change...in the blink of an eye...and all of it because of an infatuation...