Different Circles

As for Jake’s performances, he flat out stated that even Tisdale could not hold a candle to them, declaring them to be two of the best live shows he had ever had the privilege of attending. He made note that Jake’s first solo performance since the Intemperance breakup was well put together and obviously extensively rehearsed. The band members were all talented, though unknown musicians who had come through for Jake exquisitely and had been the prime movers in making the show what it was. Though there were some who had suggested that Kingsley did not belong at the TSF with his progressive rock sound and his ballads (the article’s author had made such a suggestion himself only a few weeks before), he had proven them wrong by focusing heavily on his harder-driving tunes that served to compliment the more mellow pieces instead of contrasting them. He went on for a bit about Jake’s previously unrealized lead guitar skills and the use of the talk-box on I Am High. “In one extended song near the end of the show,” the reviewer reported, “Jake Kingsley stepped fully out of the shadow of Matt Tisdale in playing lead guitar, while simultaneously bringing back an icon from the seventies with a distinct modern flair that bordered on musical genius”. He even mentioned how touching it was for Laura Kingsley to join her husband on stage and lay down an impressive performance during South Island Blur. He had no real criticisms of Jake or his band and he did not mention anything about the fight between Jake and the members of Pantera’s crew.

As for the festival as a whole, he gave it four stars, citing, once again, Jake’s and Matt’s sets as the reason for such a high rating. He could not, however, give it five stars due to a few shortcomings that had nothing to do with the performers. The biggest was the lack of video screens, which made it very difficult for those sitting in the back of the venue to see the performers as anything but tiny little figures who could have been anyone. There had also been long lines at the portable toilet clusters and the concession stands. The food sold had been bland and uninspiring. And, lastly, it had been quite warm during the daylight portion of the shows, as this was the Mojave desert in autumn. Perhaps moving subsequent TSFs to November or even early December might be more comfortable?

Jake had the LA Times delivered daily to the mailbox outside his gate. He read the review the morning it came out while sipping his Jamaica Blue coffee out on the deck of his home and waiting for Elsa to bring he and Laura their breakfast. Reading the paper was awkward because he had trouble turning the pages with his right hand and there was a slight breeze blowing in off the ocean, blowing the pages about, but he got through it, smiling as he absorbed the sentiment being laid down.

“Good review?” Laura asked, watching the expression on his face.

“It is,” he said. “It even mentions you. Do you want to read it?”

“Yes, please,” she said.

He handed the paper over to her so she could see her name in print in a favorable light for once.

Meanwhile, about two hundred miles to the south, on a stretch of oceanfront property just outside of San Juan Capistrano, Matt Tisdale had just finished reading the same article out on his deck. His instinct was to be angry at the suggestion that Jake Kingsley’s performance had ‘stolen the show’ from him, but his instinct could not stand up to cold, hard reality. Jake had put on a better show. He could not even begin to deny it. And he and his band had had shitty sound and had been out of synch the first night. The reviewer was not being biased. He was speaking the truth.

At least I had the fucking Nerdlys to help us through the second night, he thought.

He had mixed emotions about that as well. He had vowed multiple times since the death of Darren Appleman that he would never speak to or share a stage with any member of Intemperance again. And he had now broken that vow twice—the first time when he had accepted a ride home from Jake after the suits at National conspired to put them together, and now by allowing Nerdly and his wife to actually take over their sound check and dial in their sound.

But goddamned if we didn’t sound good up there, he mused. The Nerdlys didn’t care about the things I’ve said in the past, the bad blood between us. They just wanted to help me sound good. They had even offered to help train up his sound team the next time he went out on tour. Matt had not agreed to that, but he also had not yet disagreed to it.