Chapter 6
 

“What’s your new friends name, dear?  How’d you all meet?

“His name is Marc Newman,  he’s a student at the University of Wisconsin.  He ran into the side of our van with his bike.”

“Oh my, was he hurt?”

“Yea, he took a bad spill.  But he was lucky,  only one bad cut, that needed stitches.”

“Justin, did he know who you guys are?

“At first we weren’t sure,  but when we brought him home, he invited us to stay and have a cook out.  While he was getting cleaned up, we kind of got the idea he was a fan.”

“How could you tell?”

“For one thing he owns every CD we ever made.  His CD collection is quite limited.  And above his stereo, pinned to the wall is a ticket to our next concert.”

“You guys watch yourself, you know how fans can be a problem.”

“Well, when we asked Marc if he was a fan of ours?  He said he was a big fan of 
N SYNC.  Like he didn’t know who we were.  When we pointed out that we were 
N SYNC he just looked at us, like we were crazy.  Marc than said. “No, your not.  You are Joey, Lance, Justin, Chris, and Josh.  My new friends, who are on vacation this week.   N SYNC won’t be around until next week, when they do a show in Madison.  And I plan to attend that show like all their other fans.”

Laughing, Lynn said.  “He, sounds cool, honey.”

“We’re going to spend the rest of the week here, with him.  But the reason I called was Marc is studying music in college.  And he writes music.  Today he gave Lance a note book with some songs he had written and said if there were anything in there we liked we could have them.”

“Is any of his stuff any good?”

“That’s just it.  There are six songs and they are all fantastic!  We’d like to record them all.  But Marc doesn’t seem to realize what would happen if we did his songs. We feel the label will screw him over, if he doesn’t have someone to look after his interests. 
We were wondering, if you would conceder, taking Marc on?”

“Normally I’m not taking on any new clients.  But since you guys are recommending him I’ll see what I can do.  Why don’t you give me some information.”

Meanwhile down the hall.  NSYNC’s road manager was in his office.  Pete’s private line rang and his ID told him it was Joey calling.  “Oh no, what trouble are they in now?” said Pete as he picked up the phone.

“Yo, Pete.  How you doing.”

“Hi Joe, I’m fine.  I thought you are on vacation, what’s up?”

“I called to ask you a big favor.  I’ve made a real good friend here on vacation.  He’s the coolest.  I want to see if I could bring him on tour with us this summer?  I’ll pay for any additional expenses myself.  He can stay with us, so there won’t be an extra room.”

Laughing at the excited Joey.  Pete said.  “Slow down Joe.  I’ll need some information so security can check him out first.  If everything checks out, I don’t see any problem. 
How about his name, address, and people to contact for personal references  other than you guys.”

Back in Lynn’s office she was finishing up with her son.  “I think I’ve got enough to get started.  I’ve got a meeting in five minutes, I’ll get on this right after.”

“Thinks mom.  I’ll see you in Madison next week.  Bye.”

After her meeting Lynn made a call.  “Pete do you have a few minutes, I need to talk to you?”

“Sure Lynn come on over.”

Lynn entered Pete’s office and took the chair across from him.  “Well Lynn, what can I help you with?”

“I got a call this morning from Justin, telling me about this new friend they’ve made.  I wondered if you can help me check him out?”

Pete sat back in his chair with a big grin and asked.  “By any chance is his name Marc Newman?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Well this morning I got calls from Joey, Lance, Chris, and JC.  All of them wanting to take a Marc Newman, on tour with them.” 

“They all call you?  Sounds like they were trying to put pressure on you.”

“They each called but I don’t think any of the others knew about the others call.  I was kind of waiting for Justin’s call but I see he did an end run.” 

“He seems to have made a big impression on the boys,  are you going to have him checked out?”

“I already have.  I’ve talked to the sheriff, his doctor, and his college consular.  I even have his transcript.”  handing a folder to Lynn.

Lynn read through the folder looking up a little dazed.  “This guy is incredible.”

Yeah, I agree.  He is going to make an interesting addition to the tour.  Did you notice that one of his majors was computer sciences?  On a hunch I did a search on the net to see what I could find.  I found his personal web page and links to eight other sites he has designed.  Here come around and take a look at this.”

Lynn took a few minutes to check out the site and sat back down.  “I’m impressed.”

“So am I.  I think I will offer him the job of web master on tour.  That way he won’t feel like he’s free loading.”

“So your going to let him join the tour?”

“From the way the guys talked about him, I want to get to know him too.  He seems to be someone the guys need in there lives.  And if he can keep the guys happy and out of trouble it makes my job a lot easier.”

Smiling Lynn asked.  “When are you going to let the boys know Marc’s welcome to come along?”

“They each said that they would call on Saturday for the decision.  I just wonder how long it is going to take, before they discover, they all had the same idea?”

“Ya, with the five of them on this, I just hope Marc doesn’t turn them down.  It will make this tour hell.”
***

Marc had just finished his calls setting up the road trip, when his phone rang.
“Hi, this is Marc, what’s up?”

“Is this Marc Newman of Big Bear Lake, Wisconsin?”

“That’s me.  What can I do for you?”
“Marc, my name is Lynn Harless.  And I was referred to you by some of your friends.”
***

Lance and Chris was setting the table for supper as Josh, Joey and Justin came in from the lake.  “Hay, how long before we eat, I’m starved.”  said Justin.

“Any time, Marc’s had the pot of chili cooking all afternoon.  We can eat as soon as you guys get cleaned up.” said Lance.

Marc walked out of the den as the guys got back from cleaning up.  “It smells like the chili’s ready.”

     As everyone took a seat Marc ladled up big bowls of chili for everyone. And served them to his guests.  For Chris he made a special bowl.  Chris complained earlier that no one ever made chili hot enough for him.  Marc added a few drops of five alarm hot sauce to the bottom of Chris's bowl.  There wasn’t much conversation at the table with everyone scarifying down their food. 

Watching, Chris started to sweat as he ate.   Marc asked. “Chris, how’s your chili?”

Swallowing his last mouth full he said  “The chili is great, just the way I like it.”

“Well, I’m ready for more.  Anyone else want seconds?”  said Marc.
 

Everyone’s hand went up but Chris who by now had sweat dripping down his face.  Marc took each bowl and refilled them.  Including Chris’s bowl.  Seeing that Chris had not started eating, Marc went to the refrigerator and poured a large glass of milk. 
Walking up behind Chris, Marc reached around and put the glass of milk down in front of Chris.  As Marc sat down Chris grabbed the glass of milk and drank it straight down.

Marc smiled at Chris.  “I hope your chili wasn’t too hot for you.”

“I’ve had some hot chili, but this has got to be the hottest I’ve ever had.  How can you guys eat a second bowl?” 

“Oh, only your bowl had the super hot spices in it.  The rest of us had normal chili.  You should give it a try, you might like it.” said Marc with a grin pointing to the bowl in front of Chris.

Slowly Chris took a taste of the chili and finding it a hundred degrees cooler than the first bowl he started to eat.

Marc finished his meal in silence thinking about the phone call earlier.

Noticing how quiet Marc had been during supper Lance asked.  “Marc, is there something wrong?  You're mighty quiet tonight.”

“Sorry, I’ve had something on my mind.  You see, I got a call this afternoon from Justin’s mom.  She was under the impression that I was in the need for a business manager.  Someone to help look out for my interest, when dealing with record companies.  I wonder where she could of gotten that idea?”

All five guys seemed to have found something interesting in their empty chili bowls.  After a long pause.  Lance looked up and said.  “It was my idea.  When you gave us your songs without any strings attached.   I felt you didn’t know how it works with us.  Any songs we write and record our record company takes a big share of the profits because they feel they own it.  And if we were to go back and record your songs they would latch on to them and control them.  But if you went to them as the owner of the songs, you could negotiate a fair settlement and not get screwed by them, like we have.”

“I know I don’t have that much experience in this area.  But I am not stupid.”  “Every piece of music I write, I copy write before any one ever sees it.  Including my homework.  I’m well aware of copy write laws and how to protect myself.” Marc said seriously.

“We’re sorry Marc.  Lynn, is one of the few people we trust in the business.  We thought we were helping.” 

After a long pause “Lynn and I had a long talk this afternoon and I agree, she seems to be someone I could trust.  She’s told me about your troubles in detail, and what steps she would take, to see that wouldn’t happen, to my work.”
“I’ve agreed to accept her offer.  She faxed me a contract to look over and I’ve faxed her back my changes to it.  I’m to meet her in Madison the day of your concert to sign it.”

All the guys were all grinning their approval of my decision.

“Thanks for your concern.  I appreciate it.” said Marc smiling.  “Lets get this cleaned up and get ready to go out.”

Marc was the first one ready and waited at the kitchen table for the others to get dressed.  They all came into the kitchen dressed and ready to go and all Marc could do is laugh at their outfits.

“What, what’s so funny?”  asked Justin.

“Do you guys have anything that doesn’t shine?  I will need  my shades to protect my eyes from the glair.” Marc said with a chuckle.  “Don’t you own any jeans and a normal shirt?”

“Yeah, sure.” 

“Well change into them, I can’t take you out dancing dressed like that.  Remember this is not the big city.  You need to dress down a little if you don’t want to attract to much attention.”

Five minutes later they were more presentable.  “Ok, that’s much better.”  Marc said as he got up and headed for the door.  But he stopped in front of Joey looking at his head.

“What?” asked Joe.

“We do, need to do something about your hair.”  “Here try one of these.”  Marc handed Joe a ball cap and a cow boy hat to try.  Joey put on the cow boy hat with a big grin and said. “Lets go.”
 
 

TBC