SPOTLIGHT
NAME: Nova Jane Monroe; “Jade” FACE CLAIM: Hunter Schafer AGE: 20 TITLE: The Missing Angel OCCUPATION: Guitarist for The Gemstones
INTERVIEW
If you could do anything in the world for a living, what would it be?
“Oh man, I don’t know. I think I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing. Really. I’m so– You’ve got no idea. I’m a part of The Gemstones! The Gemstones! Do you know how cool that is?!”
“I mean, of course you do. I don’t have to tell you that, you’re a frickin’ music journalist.” She snorts. “But, in a much more, like, vague sense… do you know how cool that is? Like, in the grand scheme of everything, the earth, the universe, the whole frickin’ population on the planet… I’m in it.”
If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
“Everywhere! I’ve never really been anywhere. Not actually. It’s kinda crazy, right? I don’t count touring because we hardly stay anywhere long enough to be a tourist, let alone breathe. Besides the few states that Interstate 40 passes through going from Oklahoma to California, I’ve never been anywhere.”
What is one thing that makes you different than anyone else?
“Hah. You’ve got no idea, pal. But uhh… I guess… positivity. It’s kinda hard to find positive people in this business. I’m a “silver lining, glass-half-full” kinda gal, which is pretty rare here. Never would have guessed that, though. Not with all the sunshine here.”
BACKSTAGE
River Pemberton wasn’t made for this earth. Don’t worry. Hers isn’t a sad story. When saying that she was not made for this earth, one must realize that she was so much more than your average human being. She was made to be molded into whatever she damn well pleased, and on her own terms; and while it seemed that everyone else had a head start in that department, she was hellbent on getting where she wanted to go. She just never really knew which direction that was.
At least, that was how she felt on the day she was reborn: the day she first saw Eddie Nyx. Sure, Eddie was performing on the television, but he may as well have been performing just for her. That glittering god, with the highest boots she’d ever seen someone wear in real life, became an instant obsession for River, who now knew what she had so desperately been missing in her life.
Her parents were just a couple of aged beatniks who managed to grow up and find respectable jobs. You would think she would be a child of the earth, in that regard, but she was actually quite sheltered, instead, starting from the moment she told her parents, with great certainty for a four year old, that she was not who they thought she was. The 1960s were not kind to people like River Pemberton, but having a Psychiatrist for a father had some benefits. It also had some cons.
The story of River Pemberton is merely prologue, however, and like every book worth reading in this world, what can be found in the following chapters is what makes the story.
The Summer of 1971 was spent behind the counter of an ice cream shop near Canton Lake, where she scraped up every penny she could with a plan in mind. The name Nova Jane Monroe was scribbled on the backs of forgotten receipts, over and over again, filling up the little wastebasket behind the counter. Though it was only half of a plan, with Eddie Nyx’s voice in her headphones, River felt she could do anything. If someone like Eddie could make it, someone who was so out of the box and unlike everyone else in the world, so could she.
She convinced her best friend Millie to head West in the Fall for a little vacation, right before Millie was going to go back to college. The two of them left Oklahoma in Millie’s Volkswagon Kombi, but only one of them told their parents where they were going. And only one of them would be returning.
Los Angeles breathed life into Nova Monroe.
All of her savings from the ice cream shop went quickly (plus a couple hundred she took from her parent’s sock drawer with a note of apology), mainly for motel rooms and the allure of all the flashy clothing that L.A. had to offer. She had stepped into a different world, entirely. Nothing reminded her of Oklahoma, and she loved that.
But for every bit of love she felt for her new home, her anxiety had increased in equal measure.
All that money spent on crafting her new personal style, and the nights she spent haunting almost every music venue in the city, weren’t for nothing. It was a purple lamé Halston dress that got the attention of a Fusetone rep, after all.
The dress came in handy, sure, but it was the fact that she knew how to play guitar that really sealed her spot in the universe. Or so she thought.
What Fusetone was really looking for was someone naive and willing to sign their lives over to the record label.
Nova Monroe was the perfect, smiling, fit.
