Sedona Law 6 by Dave Daren (best non fiction books of all time .TXT) 📗

“You know Clapton and the Stones?” Jagger stroked his chin, and I noticed the silver stud poking out.

“His dad is Moondust,” Leila bragged. “Of course he knows Clapton and the Stones.”

“Moondust?” Jagger’s eyes got wide. “That’s your dad?”

His accent was so thick, it took me a minute to decode every sentence.

“Guilty as charged,” I instantly winced at my corny use of legal jargon.

This Jagger guy wasn’t the typical Sedona rocker type. This was the real deal L.A. pack out the Forum kind of rocker. It had been a while since I had been around his type, and he was throwing me off my game.

He mimed a worshipping motion toward me.

“Moondust Irving can play,” Jagger finished with an approving nod.

“Jagger’s a lead guitarist,” she said.

Of course he was.

“What’s the name of your band?” I asked.

The smile faded, and a shadow crossed his face.

“I used to be in this band called Nemesis of Captain Hook,” he said. “You can look them up online.”

I froze at the name. Yeah, I knew who they were.

“But,” he said. “Then, they screwed me out of a lot of royalties, and I quit. And Leila had done a couple of stories on us over the years, and we talk a lot, you know. So, I decided to take some time off, you know, come out here. Get into nature, and recenter myself. Think up my next move.”

“Nemesis of Captain Hook,” I mused.

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “We’re pretty big in SoCal. You’ve heard of us?”

I nodded slowly. “You know Johnny Hawthorne?”

His eyes lit up. “Yeah. He’s the frontman. Good guy, I guess. Well, I don’t know. I say that. He’s kind of a…well, how do you know him?”

“I used to be his lawyer,” I said. “I represented the whole band. Negotiated the deal with Arista. Are they still with Arista?”

His mouth dropped. “Nah. They left La Vista about a year ago. They’re not signed to anyone anymore. Oh, wait..Henry...Irving. Sanchez Law Firm. I like...I like know you. Yeah, you’re that guy.”

I laughed at the blast from the past of my old L.A. firm. “Well, I’m not that guy anymore.”

“No, I remember you,” he snapped his fingers and then stroked his chin. “I was there when we met you. You took us all out to dinner, and there were a lot of people there, so I don’t think you and I ever talked. But, yeah, I was there. Dude, yeah, you got us the deal at Arista. Yeah. I remember that.”

“I didn’t get you the deal,” I clarified. “You guys did that on your own. But Johnny and I worked together to negotiate the terms with Brent Levinson at Arista.”

“Brent Levinson,” Jagger shook his head. “Such a dick.”

“He signed you,” I said. “But, yeah, he was a dick.”

Jagger and I both laughed.

“So babe, you knew Henry Irving in L.A.?” Leila concluded. “That’s so cool.”

“Yeah,” Jagger nodded slowly and glanced at Vicki and then at me. “He was a...lot of fun.”

I made a face because I knew exactly what he was referring to. When the deal with La Vista was signed, I had, along with their label head, Brent Levinson, taken the entire band to a high end strip club.

It wasn’t my finest hour, but it was what Johnny had suggested, and well, rock stars get what they want. I got to expense the tab, so drinks and lap dances were all on me that night, but since it came out of their retainer, it was actually on them in the end. What a very different life I had lived.

“Well,” I said. “I’m not quite that much fun anymore. This, is a pretty decent night out in Sedona, you’ll find.”

Jagger laughed. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve been here six weeks and I’m goin’ batshit crazy. We went to the Sedona Nightlife taping, and then that turned out to be a disaster.”

There were groans from everyone within earshot.

“Honey,” Leila chided. “Let’s not bring that up.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Sorry. Sometimes I’ve got no filter you know. I think I’ve got one of those personality disorders from the DSM.”

We all laughed, and he winked and wrapped his arms around Leila, and the tiny Persian woman smiled at him, and she looked like she would melt. I thought I would throw up. I hoped Vicki and I didn’t look that corny, although I feared we did.

“Nemesis of Captain Hook, huh?” Vicki pondered. “His nemesis was time. Time and youth.”

Jagger smiled and nodded. “Yeah. The whole story was about resisting adulthood. Peter Pan lives in the constant state of youth, and Captain Hook, is unfortunately, bound by time and therefore mortality, and is jealous of Pan. Which, is of course, why he was haunted by clocks. So, the Nemesis of Captain Hook, was yes, youth. So, the band name is about eternal youth.”

“Deep,” Vicki said.

Jagger rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Johnny Hawthorne had a degree in English. So, it’s all this hyperliterate prog rock that no normal person understands. He thought he was giving something to the masses to think about and ponder. You know, deep poetic truth about the human condition, and blah, blah, blah. I didn’t even know what most of those lyrics meant, and neither did anyone else. And they didn’t care anyway. All they really wanted to do was get drunk and laid. That’s why that shit didn’t sell, and La Vista didn’t renew.”

“Jagger’s going to write the music for the new film,” Leila told me without taking her eyes off her beau.

“Is that right?” I said. “Hyperliterate prog rock then?”

Considering the film was about my sister, being produced by my brother, and bankrolled by me, I surprised myself with my feelings of possessiveness toward this project. Maybe they were right. I was a