Emmy And Me

The rooftop bar was really nice- definitely worth returning to at some point in the future. The party, though, was stunningly boring. Like the afterparty in London, this was mainly for recording industry insiders, and for the most part they only wanted to talk about how awesome they were.

I found myself looking up at the lights of the nearby Empire State Building and wondering how much longer we needed to stay when a guy came over to talk. He looked familiar, but it wasn’t until he introduced himself as being from Rolling Stone Magazine that I recognized it was the guy from the show many years before in San Francisco- the night that Emmy was attacked.

“Good to see you again,” he said.

“Good to see you, too,” I replied. “Did you catch tonight’s show?”

“I did,” he said. “Pretty damned impressive, I gotta say. I mean, it was obvious The Downfall was going to blow up, you know? But to see how far they’ve come in just a few years…”

“I remember you made a comment about Emmy being only nineteen, and wondering what she was going to be like when she hits thirty-five,” I told him.

“Yeah, I did, that’s right,” he said. “Well, she’s what, twenty-five now? It’s hard to imagine where she’s gonna go from here.”

“Home, if I can get her away from that old, bald guy,” I said, only half joking.

“That old bald guy’s name is Phil Collins,” the writer said. “Sir Phil Collins.”

“Phil Collins… Isn’t he that guy that did that song from the comedy about a bunch of guys in Las Vegas, the one with Mike Tyson and his tiger?” I asked, knowing full well who Phil Collins actually was.

“Uh, yeah, that’s the one,” the writer admitted, a look of disbelief on his face.

“You know, I’m a much bigger fan of Gabriel-era Genesis than the later Collins records,” I said, relying on my mom’s record collection that I’d heard a million times growing up. “Much more experimental, not so heavily pop, if you know what I mean,” I told the guy from Rolling Stone. “But honestly, Lamb Lies On Broadway was fairly weak, too. So maybe it was time for Gabriel to move on. Of course, Invisible Touch sold millions more than any Gabriel-era album, so maybe it was good all around.”

Shaking his head in amusement, the Rolling Stone guy just laughed. “I walked into that one, didn’t I?”

“Well, to be fair, I didn’t recognize that was Phil Collins, but once you said it I can totally see it,” I admitted.

“Age gets us all,” the writer said.

The next day the three of us did nothing but relax at home. In a way it seemed strange to refer to the townhouse as ‘home’, since we actually lived full-time in Los Angeles, nearly three thousand miles away. The townhouse was comfy, though, and we’d spent enough time there that it did feel ‘ours’, if that makes sense. Musing on how the London apartment might soon fit in the same category, I wondered when I should talk to Harry Powell’s friend who could supposedly smooth over our residency status.

“What are you thinking about? You’re a million miles away,” Angela said, plopping down on my lap.

“Hey, babe,” I said, stretching to give her a kiss. “Have a good nap?”

“It was glorious,” Angela said, smiling at me as my hand snaked up inside her T shirt to rub her belly. “So what were you thinking about?”

“Our UK residency,” I told her. “You know that guy I met at the parties in London, Harry Powell? He said he had a friend who could get our residency sorted out no problem, and I was just wondering how soon we should get that ball rolling.”

“I can’t believe you already bought a sports car for over there,” Angela said with an indulgent smile. “Well, O.K., I can believe it. I guess it would be more surprising if you didn’t.”

“I can’t wait to see what you and the designers have come up with for the apartment,” I told her, nuzzling in close to breathe the smell of her hair.

“I hope you and Em like it,” Angela said. “It’s almost ready, but I don’t know when we’ll be able to go over there, with the tour, and then babies.”

“It’ll be there when we can finally travel,” I said. “They say not to fly with babies until they’re three months old, so it’ll have to be after the new year.”

“I know,” Angela admitted, her sigh leading to a smile when I lifted the hem of the shirt up so I could admire her smooth, round tummy. “Simon and William rushed to try to get the apartment done, but now…”

“Maybe I should sneak over there just to check on things?” I teased.

“Don’t you dare!” Angela said in mock annoyance. “I want you and Emmy to see it for the first time together. Maybe we can all go for a long weekend after the tour is over, before Mamí comes to LA. If it’s ready.”

“I’d like that,” I agreed.

“What would you like?” Emmy asked as she entered the sunroom.

“Lee said maybe we could go to London for a few days to see the apartment right after the tour is over,” Angela volunteered.

“Will it be finished?” Emmy asked, surprised.

“Maybe? I don’t know for sure,” Angela admitted. “It might be- I’ll have to talk to Simon or William to find out.”

“I would like that, if it could work out,” Emmy said, sitting on the shoulder of my easy chair. “I find I am very curious. I would like to see how you have had it decorated. You have been so very secretive! It has been making me crazy!” Emmy said, leaning down to kiss Angela to show that she really wasn’t upset at all.

“I want it to be a surprise,” Angela said.

“I know, and that is part of what is making me crazy with anticipation,” Emmy said with a smile.

Emmy had given Wally a bunch of concert tickets for his large extended family, so we finally got to meet his wife and kids, some cousins and an aunt and uncle. Wally had splurged and bought all the kids Downfall shirts- but not the ones that said “Big-ass rock show” on them. No, they were all wearing the black shirts with the vivid green eyes, which were much more family-oriented. I had no idea how many members of Wally’s family were actually Downfall fans, but he’d clearly told them he worked for Emmy De Lascaux, so they were excited to see their family member’s boss perform.

Wally introduced Angela and me to all the various members of his clan as Emmy’s wives and that didn’t seem to take anyone by surprise, making it clear to me that they all knew about our unusual home life. The kids were kids and didn’t seem to care at all about any of that, but Wally’s aunt (whose name I can’t remember) asked me how I could possibly retain my sanity being married to two people- God knows just being married to one can make a person crazy.

Making a show of glancing over to make sure Angela couldn’t hear, I stage-whispered, “Yeah, it can be a bit much every now and then, but I get twice as much sex this way.”

Wally’s aunt laughed and gave me a gentle slap on the shoulder. “Perhaps I need to find myself one more husband!” she said.

“I’m not saying it works for everyone, but…” I said with a shrug.

After the opening act finished and their gear was cleared off the stage, Emmy came out on stage to start the show’s intro. She was wearing torn, loose jeans, her purple Doc Marten boots, a baggy Triumph Motorcycles T shirt and a black leather motorcycle jacket. It was a very ‘Ramones’ sort of look, which both fit the city we were in and did a good job of hiding her growing belly.

Her playing was sort of primitive, too, befitting the look. When Lee and then Jackson came out and joined her, the music they played felt reminiscent of early punk, with simple chords and basic rhythms. Eventually the music coalesced into something people recognized, and as they did, cheering started. Not everyone recognized the tune right away, and neither did I until Jackson stepped up to the mic and sang, “I’m waiting for my man, twenty-six dollars in my hand.”

At some point the band’s rhythm guitarist took over the basic repeating melody line so Emmy could riff and solo around. When Lee sang, “I’m feelin’ good, feeling so fine- until tomorrow, but that’s another time,” Emmy let out the solo we all could feel was just waiting to be unleashed. Mid-tempo, distorted, a mix of melodic and discordant, it went on for quite a while, while the band built in volume behind her. The song finally ended in a strange screech from Emmy’s guitar as Lee’s drums brought the song to a close.

I wouldn’t say that everybody in that capacity crowd knew and loved that old Velvet Underground song, but plenty did. The cheering was loud and long, but finally Jackson waved everybody to be quiet, and when the audience had calmed down enough he spoke into his microphone.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and all the rest of you, thanks for coming out tonight,” he began, causing more cheering. He waited until it died down, then continued. “Y’all know this is the last leg of our world tour, right? New York is the first US stop, and in just a few weeks we’ll wrap it all up in Los Angeles. Now, what we haven’t told anybody up ’til now… Well, Lee and Emmy and me, we talked about it and decided that it was probably right to announce it, so here goes. Once this tour is over, we’re gonna take a break.” Waving down the crowd noise, Jackson continued once it got quiet enough. “No, this isn’t it for The Downfall. Believe me, the three of us will be together until we die. No, this is just a chance to recover from all this craziness for a while. Lee has a couple of other bands he’s promised to produce, I’ve got another solo album I’m gonna work on, with Emmy and Lee’s help,” he added, which got plenty of laughter. “And Em, well, she’s just gonna be a stay-at-home mom for a little while.”

At that news the crowd erupted, the noise nearly deafening.

“Yeah, that’s right- our girl here has a bun in the oven,” Jackson said, indicating Emmy. “So she’s gonna need a little while before we get back out on the road, y’know? That doesn’t mean we’re gonna stop writing, and maybe doing some studio work. It does mean that you shouldn’t expect any new Downfall records for a year maybe, maybe a year and a half- but don’t worry,” he said waving his hands to calm everyone down. “The Downfall is not done. Like I said, we’re in it for life, Lee, Emmy and me. Maybe our next album might be two years from now- who knows? But there will be a next album, and another after that. We have a lot of music in us, and we love, just absolutely love, to play music for y’all. So you might have to wait a bit for us to come around in concert again, but we’ll be back before too long, I can guarantee you that.”

“It is true,” Emmy said, stepping up to her microphone. “We will need to take a break for a little while from The Downfall, but we will all three of us be very busy with our new projects,” she said, patting her tummy. This got an enormous round of applause and cheering, making Emmy smile. When the crowd quieted, she said, “Do not forget to look for Jackson’s solo album. The three of us will be working hard on it as soon as we finish the tour- at least, as long as we are able,” she added, patting her belly again.

Looking at Lee and Jackson to see if they were ready, Emmy started playing the guitar again, getting more cheering from the crowd. When the noise from the audience died down enough, Jackson leaned into the microphone and sang, “Emmy said when she was just five years old, ‘There’s nothing happening at all.’”

The giant screens behind the stage lit up with a series of stills of a very young Emmy. The first one was when she was just a child, holding an acoustic guitar way too big for her little arms, smiling at the camera. The next was of Emmy, maybe seven years old, holding an electric guitar a bit more her size.

I’d never seen these pictures before, and seeing how adorable Emmy was as a little girl was almost heartbreaking. We were going to have a little girl like that in our own home soon, and we’ll probably have photos of little Emmy Jr learning the guitar, too.

Angela clutched my hand, squeezing it, undoubtedly feeling the same way I did at these images of Emmy as a child.

“One day she put on a Paris rock station, she couldn’t believe what she heard at all,” Jackson sang as the photos continued.

“Her life was saved by rock and roll,” Jackson sang.

Once the song finished to an unbelievable amount of applause, Jackson waited for quiet. When the noise had abated enough, he said, “You know, that song worked better with Emmy’s name in there, but the truth is, Lee’s life was saved by rock and roll even more than Emmy’s was.” At this, he waved at the screens and a video of Lee at six or so years old in a little tuxedo appeared. Little Lee walked across a stage, looking very serious and focused, to a concert grand piano. He took his seat, while the thirty-five thousand people there at Citi Field held their breaths, wondering what was about to happen. On screen, little Lee began to play some sort of concerto, flawless (as far as I could tell) in its execution.

Jackson waved at the screen again, and a picture appeared of Lee a few years older, facing a full audience in some classical music hall somewhere, a piano behind him.

“Lee was a child piano prodigy, playing for audiences all over, but the truth was that he hated it. When he got old enough, he simply quit. He wanted nothing to do with it any more- not the practices, not the stress. He wanted a normal life, but he found he couldn’t leave music. Music just wouldn’t leave him. A school friend had a drum set in his garage, and Lee tried it one day, and found he liked it.” With that, a picture of Lee, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, sitting behind a cheap drum kit in a suburban garage with the door wide open appeared on the screen.

“When his momma found out that he was spending all his time at a friend’s house playing the drums, she told him that the Devil’s music was gonna be his downfall,” Jackson said as another picture of Lee banging on the drums took its place.

“And she was right, wasn’t she?” Jackson declared, spreading his arms wide to encompass the entire stadium, filled to the brim with adoring fans. “We are The Downfall!”

Lee hit the drum intro for ‘Money Can’ and the concert resumed its normal course. ‘Killer In The Dark’ was the final song, sparing Angela and me from hearing ‘Born To Die’, for which we were both grateful.

Thankfully there was no scheduled afterparty, so we got to bed at a reasonable hour after a nice warm (not scaldingly hot) bath. As far as I was concerned it was a perfect way to end a concert night.

I was glad we had a full day before we had to fly to Atlanta, since Angela was really starting to become uncomfortable easily. She wanted to get out of the house, but walking too far made her feet and back ache, so we really had no easy answer. The rest of the band had already left for Atlanta first thing in the morning, so we had the house to ourselves (and of course, Luisa and Mia). In the end, for lack of inspiration, we stayed home for the day. I got a bunch of work done, Angela worked on editing and posting photos, and Emmy practiced guitar in the studio.

I reflected that this was nice and comfortable. Even though the three of us were nowhere near each other and weren’t really interacting at all, I knew that Emmy and Angela were in the house with me, and that was enough to give me a warm, satisfied feeling of companionship.

Of course we had lunch together, and then dinner later on. After dinner we relaxed in the parlor again, cuddling and talking about what we were going to do to decorate the babies’ room. Angela was still against the idea of actually buying anything in advance, but making plans was O.K.

Leaving the townhouse for the airport in the morning, I felt a little melancholy. Our place in New York had somehow managed to feel like home enough that leaving it gave me little pangs of homesickness, knowing we probably wouldn’t be back until well after the babies were born- maybe as long as six months, all told.

When I confessed my feelings on the subject, Emmy smiled. “I do understand. I feel the same way.”

“I like our house here. Don’t get me wrong, I love our house in Los Angeles, too, but this one… it’s special,” Angela agreed.

“I think it’s because of the memories we’ve made there,” I said, looking back at the two of them in the big sedan’s back seat. I smiled when I saw they were unselfconsciously holding hands, in a simple gesture of mutual affection. I got little butterflies in my stomach every time I caught hints like that of the love the two shared. Of course, I loved both of them and knew they loved me, but it warmed my heart to see how they loved each other, too.