The Other One XXII Aj and Third Rail
A.J was a physically privileged individual his innate physical attributes had paved the road for him to become a professional fashion model. He traveled around the world posing for the camera eye on exotic locations to later appear on mainstream fashion magazines representing high end brand of clothing, perfume, shoes, etc. He was originally from LA; his father had been a famous movie producer in the 70’s. Some people said that his background had made it easier for him to find success in the glamorous world of modeling, but I tend to disagree, AJ, had a talent of his own and his physical attributes, were obvious. What I do agree with, is that he carried the weight of his father’s persona with him, specially that he did not change his name as many descendants of Hollywood sacred cows do, to avoid biased opinions about their professional development. Arthur or AJ as we use to call him chose to carry his father’s name, and when he looked straight into the camera’s eye, you could see he was so confident, of being his father’s son.
I met Arthur while he was on a photo shoot for Armani on a famous beach along a promenade of decadent art deco buildings mainly inhabited by old people and an emerging community of youth looking to build an alternative playground. They took advantage of the low rent of the decadent art deco district. I met him at the Island Club, a bar that was popular on Monday nights. My friend and I use to organize raves and we had the routine to recruit ravers at bars. We carried a notebook and took peoples contacts to later call them and let them know where the party would be, you know the old school way before email. Our job was to browse for a good mix of interesting people at popular underground joints to put on the list and make the base of the glamour of the party; you know the broth of the sauce. My friend Elizabeth spotted AJ at the bar, and invited him to our upcoming after hours party the following Saturday, and when she asked his name to add him to the list of her hello kitty notebook, he said AJ, just AJ she asked, yes just AJ, he replied.
AJ showed up at the party later that week, there was a big line of people that were not on the list waiting to get in, Aj walked straight to the door and said I am ready to party, he was wearing beach attire, shorts, tank top and flip flops, and blue Harley glasses that merged with his deep blue eyes. you know, a big contrast to the people waiting in line that were wearing hip clothes, and perfume, but AJ did not need hip clothes, he had that presence that irradiated energy to those around.
Elizabeth and AJ, became really good friends, and when he visited town for a Photo shoot he will call her, and would come to our parties. On a visit to town he was accompanied by Gigi, a fashion model as well and astonishingly good looking, but with a nose habit and who knows what else. AJ was in love and did everything to please Gigi, he even acquired her habits. He was not the same slow mode cool down person I 've met at the Island Club, but a hyper loud and paranoid individual. They will come to our parties and they will stay on the VIP all night blowing their neurons away. He had quieted modeling or as he use to say ‘currently and momentarily retired”. AJ had studied photography, and decided to take advantage of his background as a model as well as his college education, and decided to pick up a camera as his tool to earn a living as fashion photographer. Photography was a less demanding lifestyle than a fashion model, he could take appointments according to his availability, and the rigorous exercise routine was not mandatory any more. It was very easy for him to insert himself on the glamorous circuit developing on an old pedestrian road of town where talent agencies, bars, and chic boutiques were kind of giving birth to a hip neighborhood. He rented a ground floor venue on this pedestrian road, and became a very demanded photographer by pretty boys and girls that aspired to become models and actors and needed to create a portfolio. He would recommend settings props, and clothing for the photo shoot. GIgi, will help with the makeup, and lights, they made a perfect team at work and a dangerous self destructing team at night. Elizabeth and I came to visit him at his studio often, we use to order Chinese and have dinner on a table he would set out on the side walk in front of his studio, as if it was an outdoor café. People will often stop and ask the name of the restaurant and hours of service, and we would laugh, it was Arthur’s personal joint. Things began to get out of control after AJ, went on a weekend photo shoot to California. He came back with this new substance that was supposedly, according to him, the new fuel of the stars the real “soma”. A granulated crystal substance used on race horses as a pain killer. Gigi and him became distributors of this substance on the underground scene, and began to use our parties to distribute it. I approached Elizabeth and told her that things were getting out control, and that I was concerned, and did not want to ignore the situation, that we may end up in problems with the law. Elizabeth, said that it was not our problem that we did not have anything to do with it, that it was AJ’s problem, but I did not feel the same way, I thought that by ignoring it, we were promoting it.
I went over to AJ’s studio that day and had a talk with him andtold him how concerned I was about him using our parties to do what he was doing. He was out of his mind and instead of placing any relevance to what I was saying, he insisted on persuading me to have a sniff of the crystalline substance. I said no thanks AJ, I must go, and I exited his studio and headed over to a dive bar a few blocks away to kind of have a think over a few beers. I ordered a rolling rock and played some music on the jukebox, and tried to forget about it momentarily at least. I did not want to give up the rave scene it was monetary successful, it permitted me to be economically independent, and not having to move back to my home country and look for a traditional corporate job. I liked the glamour as well, and I could see that we were constructing a scene that it was becoming more popular every day. From renting abandoned commercial spaces, we could move to something more permanent as a club or a bar. Real state was inexpensive at the time, and I could see that the neighborhood was filling up with creative people, such as models, artist, chefs, etc and that if we managed to join the scene during this early stage, our success will be with no doubt secured. My friend Gerogie walked in, tapped me on the back and, and saluted me with his usual “what’s up bro “ and before heading over to the jukebox told Lucy, the bar tender to serve me one more of what ever I was drinking, then screamed from the jukebox any request? The Stones, I said, he chose “pait it black”. We had a couple of rolling rocks and we played a few games of pool.
Gerogie was a real estate agent, and a business partner, he will find venues for our raves to rent during weekends. Gerogie's wife was a bartender at this bar in town and they will cater the booze at our parties, we will split the earnings between Elizabeth Georgie and I. We were making good money, we did a couple of parties a month, and that was enough to pay the rent, and have a glamorous life. I told Gerogie about my concern with AJ and Gigi, and he said to me, don’t worry, it has nothing to do with us. That has always happened at every party, we cannot control what people do. I agreed with him, people have always exchanged and consumed all sort of substances at clubs and parties, but that this was different. AJ and Gigi, had become like a part of the crew. Although he had nothing to do in our business partnership, he was a well know individual in the underground scene, and since we had introduced him to this community people associated him with us. I did not feel comfortable, but Elizabeth and Georgie did not seem to mind, maybe they were in partnership with AJ I thought.
I became paranoid, we had a big party coming up, the biggest that we have ever planned, we had rented an old abandoned theater, and we were having a couple of DJ’s coming from NY. This time it was an open party, not a private party, we were trying to move a notch up from the underground rave scene to the mainstream open party model at a popular venue. The place that we had rented was already popular for their Disco music Parties on Sundays, it will host about 2000 people every Sunday, but there was nothing else the rest of the week at this venue. Therefore, it would be easy to advertise and take advantage of the public the Disco parties had developed. The only other venue playing house music on Saturdays was a gay club a block away, , and due to the lack of clubs playing this music, the gay club will be full of heterosexuals, dancing their arses of to house music on Saturday nights. It was perfect opportunity for us to break into the mainstream scene. But it was also the perfect occasion for us end up mixed up underworld situation that I did not want to be a part of. We did not have a legal partnership or anything, we would do everything as an informal joint venture, Gerogies wife Elena, will provide the booze, Elizabeth, would recruit VIP public, Gerogie will look for a venue and I will search for Dj’s and decoration of the venue, while all of us will pitch in dough for the production of the event, and then split the earnings, from the cover and the booze.
I had one more rolling rock and played a few more songs on the juke box, but I did not feel at ease, this issue was perturbing me, the idea that I will end up behind bars, and ruin my reputation, what would my parents say? What would my friends say? I may be a crazy bohemian mother fucker, but I consider myself as a person with principles, which I consider as one of my biggest assets, that eventually I would like to inherit to my offspring if I ever had any. Maybe it was my conservative catholic Latino heritage that was getting on my way I thought. I began to dialogue with myself; you are in a different environment now, this is life outside the little town you come from, you are on a different atmosphere, let yourself loose, but my ego mode will kick in and tell me get the fuck out. I asked Lucy to close my tab, Georgie paid your bill she said. I walked across the street, to a sandwich shop, still thinking and trying to encourage myself not to worry and go along with it.
Bonsoir, said Michelle, the french owner of this tiny little sandwich shop that was part of my routine of late dinners, on a night out. I ordered a Perrier and a tuna sandwich. As I waited for my sandwich Michelle gave me a cup full of olives and cornichon, as an appetizer, it was not customary to give this appetizer to customers, but Michelle was a regular at our parties, so he did it in gratitude because I had added him to the VIP list a while back. Merci, I said, Pas de Quoi Michelle replied. As I nibbled on the cornichons, Mario, Michelle’s Cuban boyfriend showed up on his rollerblades. He sat on the stool next to me and said; AJ and Gigi were here earlier, yeah I said, everybody loves your sandwiches in town. They came to drop off an invite for “Paragon”.
Paragon was the name we had choose for the party. Shit man , AJ and Gigi have nothing to do with the party I said with kind of a defensive tone. Michelle turned his head from the kitchen and paused as he looked at me with this French attitude you know, as to make me notice my tone of voice had been kind of uncivilized. Mario ignored me and picked up the sandwiches on a bag ready for delivery and roller-bladed through the alley. I asked Michelle to wrap my sandwich to go, and headed home.
When I woke up the next morning I had taken the decision separate from the “third rail association”. That is how we had named or venture of rave organizers, after the three founding members, Elizabeth, Gerogie and I. I paged Elizabeth with code 911, and she returned her call within minutes and said, what is the urgency? What is going on? It is only 8 am. Sorry I said, I did not mean to wake you up, but I have to talk to you urgently. It was Wednesday and the party was Saturday, and I wanted to end up our partnership before Saturday. Elizabeth and I, had been lovers, but that was a while back, now we were only good friends, and partners in business. It was she, who had the idea to make raves on empty commercial venues. I knew Georgie from college who had been a bar tender at a popular venue near school, and later a real state agent, and I thought that he could take care of the booze permits through the bar his wife bar tended and cater the booze, and that is how the 3rd rail began.
It was important for me to talk to Elizabeth because I considered her my friend more than a business partner, and would be more reasonable understanding my position. She could talk to Gerogie later and give him the news I thought. I did not want to talk to Gerogie directly because he was a crazy individual, with a "barrio" attitude, you know: a "Bro". Not that we were gonna get in a fight or anything, but it would be unconformable and loud argument.
We met at a breakfast place, famous for having news papers from all over the world on a rack you could read while you ate breakfast. She did not order anything to eat just a "Cortadito", I ordered a three egg white omelette and a double espresso in order to loosen my tongue. Before the coffee arrived she looked at me through her green Harley glasses and told me I am all ears, spit it out Dude. I began telling her how far we have gotten with the 3rd rail project, but that we had got to a point where things were getting out of control with Aj and Gigi, dealing at our parties.Yes I know you told me that yesterday she said. Yeah, I know, but i have thought about this and don't want to take the risk and want out. I should have known that is why you called me this morning, when you told me it was urgent ant that we had to meet right away. You should have just asked me to meet at Denis again, she said. I guess she new I was serious, it had been the same routine when we ended our relationship, I woke her up and told her I needed to talk to her, that I will wait for her at Denis, there was a Denis just around our apartment. she showed up a few minutes later, we ordered breakfast, and while we waited for our food, I told her that I wanted to end our relationship, that it was better for both of us, if each one of us had their freedom, and peruse our dreams separate ways. Together we were partying too much and were not doing anything constructive with our lives. it was kind of a D’javu she said, but this time she did not cry she accepted my reasoning, and said you are free to do as you wish, but you leave us with a huge problem, we need your cut to pay the DJs, we don’t have enough money you know.
I had spoken to my friend Shalem to advise me, an exclassmate now in law school and told him about the incident and how even there was not any sort of formal venture I was worried to be associated with the third rail if they had any type of legal problems. He had advised me not to participate in any way monetarily because that will be enough to enforce my partnership, through a principal lawyers call “consideration”.
I said sorry Elizabeth, I cannot be associated with this party by any means, that includes lending you guys the money. Come on she said, you come and bail out two days before, this is not possible we are not prepared. Ask A.J to help you out I said sarcastically. She looked at me in silence for a few seconds. Fine, this is good bye then she said. She raised her arm and asked for the check. It’s on me I said, no worries she said, pulling a twenty dollar note from the lunch box she used as a purse, dropped the note on the table and took off on her bike without saying a word. She did not even wait for the change. I finished my coffee and the waiter brought the change and made room to place it on the table. I got up and left, the waiter raised his voice to tell me if i wanted the omelette to go, no thanks, I said with out looking back..
I felt the same way as i had felt walking out of Denis a few years back kind of disoriented, guilty and doubtful , or the day i resigned my intern Job at the brokerage firm when i felt I will loose my freedom to the "golden cuffs" of the corporate world, you know that kind of feeling you get when you take decisions abruptly, when you are not sure if it is right or wrong but you follow your instincts or impulses better said, and you know it is too late to go back.
Saturday I drove by the party and the line was two blocks long it had been a success, I felt sad, defeated and disappointed, by my own fears, but at the same time I felt as if I had taken a ton of weight off my back. I sat on a cafe across the street and lit a cigarette, and wondered if A.J had provided the money to pay the DJs.