Alive
cheer me on
She sat beside her father, her petite frame hidden behind his round belly and broad shoulders.
Her thick bangs disguising a not so perfect forehead and eyebrows done too thin and arched at the local spa and salon. A day at the studio, she marveled to herself. Sarcastic at the thought, bored out of her mind. “Mackenzie George Ann” her father Fil Rudolph scolded when she turned into her Ipod. “You wanted to come to the studio with me to get information on songwriting and you just sit there like a lump on a log”
“Sorry dad but your partner in crime isn’t here so as I wait..” she put in her sponge bob shaped ear buds and tuned into the latest track by Adele. She tapped her pen on her notepad while bobbing her head. Mackenzie began scribbling down notes on what the studio looked like. She was in her final semester at UCLA, and her music production class proved to be the most trying.
Her father Fil had quite a reputation in the music business, and had been giving musical producers like Rob Cavallo a run for their money. He worked with everyone from Lisa Marie Presley to Taylor Swift to Marilyn Manson and to that Bieber kid. He had recently opened his own studio and added two other locations to his brand that will open within the next year. He was famous for writing the words to some of rocks most catchy ballads. The man made money, good money. And it would be easy to assume Mackenzie (his only child) would be born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but no, she worked just as hard. A student by day and bartender by night.
Finally, she thought as her fathers friend bombarded through the door with a guitar in hand and pen in mouth. He stood just shy of 5’10 which was impressive to her being as though she barely made the five feet mark. His glasses were thick on his long thin face, those small eyes darting around the room in amusement. There was scruff that seemed a few days overdue to go, but he was remarkably good looking. “Sorry I’m late Fil, traffic was a bitch”
“No problem Keith” her dad stood and shook the guys hand. Mackenzie took out her ear buds with a quick pull. “Keith this is my daughter McKenzie”
Keith put down the guitar and McKenzie stood. His hand, long and large took hers for a shake. Fil then took the man for a tour, her father always gave pride infused tours. Kenzie sat Indian style on the electric blue chair and waited for them to return. Midst of writing notes on her fathers sound system, they returned. Keith pushed up his glasses and sat next to Fil with his acoustic guitar in hand. She watched as the two wrote down ideas, feeding off one another and saying different words; each an emotion to bounce off of. They used hate, love, passion, fervor, truth, vitality, and rage. Fil knew once the process was mid way, Kenzie was ready to call it a day.
“Dad Louis is stopping by” she announced as she read the text from her best friend of two years Louis Tomlinson. Louis was in a boy band, One Direction, her father played a key role in their success and because of that birthed a beautiful friendship. Louis and the boys were on a three week vacation, each in a different part of the world, Louis found his way to Fils basement apartment aka McKenzie’s home. Poor boy was torn to bits because his girlfriend left him with nothing but a letter, so of course McKenzie couldn’t argue him on where he wanted to stay.
“Kenz I’m busy, why don’t you two just go for drinks or something” Fil Rudolph, the only father who encouraged her daughter to pursue a six pack and a few shots if it meant she’d be quiet. Before Kenzie responded Louis came in and pulled up a chair, unlike Kenzie, the songwriting process amused him. Then again, Louis found amusement in everything.
“Lets go get drinks” Kenzie insisted standing up throwing down her notepad.
“No I want to watch” Louis responded reading over the lyrics on the paper. “I like these” he told Fil and looked at Keith. “I’m Louis” they were introduced, then Louis looked at Kenzie. “Kenz, im not letting you fail your music class because you don’t write your paper”
“You tell her Louis” Fil joked as he watched his daughter mock Louis.
“Yeah, your too smart for this” Louis gave her back the notepad. He turned to Keith and Fil then read the song aloud. It was complete. “You know” he added once he gave the paper back. “That sounds like a duet to me”
“Your kind of right” Fil added giving the song another glance. “Keith re read this as a duet, it flows better” and the man with the thick glasses and spiky hair did just that. He had to admit, it did flow better, it seemed smoother.
“And you know the song has soul, Kenzie sings awesome” Louis began. McKenzie looked up from her notepad and gave Louis a look of death. “Don’t you Kenz”
Fil knew his daughter had a voice, as a child she would enter talent contests and win over half of them. She did a mean rendition of ‘I will always love you’ and even ‘Total Eclipse Of the Heart’. He still got chills hearing her sing, how her voice changed from this beautiful whisper to a full on gritty, contagious rant. Voices like hers were a dime a dozen. “And whats a better way to learn about musical production than to actually be in a production.” Keith responded. “I mean granted, I’m just the back up vocalist for my band but we could demo it”
“Are you kidding?” Kenz laughed. “You trust Louis, you never even heard me sing”
Keith shrugged. “I get a demo out of this, you can turn in the demo with a essay and we both win”
Fil nodded slowly. “This could work actually” he looked at McKenzie who seemed to be weighing the options.
“Plus, if you agree I’ll buy you a drink” Keith grinned. “And your friend too” he nodded at Louis who sat in the chair pleased with himself.
“You cant buy me over” Louis added. “But McKenzie loves her vodka”
“Focus people” Fil looked at McKenzie again. “One freaking demo girl, then you can go do whatever you do for shits and giggles”
McKenzie nodded in agreement, she really disliked doing things like this because she didn’t like the grit in her voice. She thought she sounded sick all the time, it was the raspiness she couldn’t get rid of.
By three in the afternoon, Fil was burning two copies of the demo. One for Kenzie and one for Keith. Louis had been raping the repeat button on it, Kenzie’s voice always giving him the chills. When Kenzie hit the high note in the end, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Keith wasn’t that bad either, his voice suited hers nicely, one not trying to outshine the other.
“You know your voice is better than I thought” Keith told her as they took off their headphones. Her father had given them the ok to leave the recording area. “I was kind of expecting a softer voice”
“I just want an A on my paper” she laughed. “Thanks though”
He nodded. “Is Louis your boyfriend?”
“No”
“He cheers you on like he is”
“Well that’s Louis, he’s a cheerleader for a brick wall if he can”
Keith laughed then pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose. “So it’d be safe if I asked you out to dinner?”
“Yeah, I’d say the coast is clear” she checked her phone then read a text from Louis that said “You’re kicking ASS…A…S…S….ASS” she laughed and showed Keith the message. Keith Wallen, Mr. Rock Star, saw her smile and found himself on the verge of smitten.
“So dinner, tonight?” he asked raising a brow.
“Sure, pick me up at seven” she scribbled down the address and went back to the main room where Louis sat with her father labeling the demo.
Her thick bangs disguising a not so perfect forehead and eyebrows done too thin and arched at the local spa and salon. A day at the studio, she marveled to herself. Sarcastic at the thought, bored out of her mind. “Mackenzie George Ann” her father Fil Rudolph scolded when she turned into her Ipod. “You wanted to come to the studio with me to get information on songwriting and you just sit there like a lump on a log”
“Sorry dad but your partner in crime isn’t here so as I wait..” she put in her sponge bob shaped ear buds and tuned into the latest track by Adele. She tapped her pen on her notepad while bobbing her head. Mackenzie began scribbling down notes on what the studio looked like. She was in her final semester at UCLA, and her music production class proved to be the most trying.
Her father Fil had quite a reputation in the music business, and had been giving musical producers like Rob Cavallo a run for their money. He worked with everyone from Lisa Marie Presley to Taylor Swift to Marilyn Manson and to that Bieber kid. He had recently opened his own studio and added two other locations to his brand that will open within the next year. He was famous for writing the words to some of rocks most catchy ballads. The man made money, good money. And it would be easy to assume Mackenzie (his only child) would be born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but no, she worked just as hard. A student by day and bartender by night.
Finally, she thought as her fathers friend bombarded through the door with a guitar in hand and pen in mouth. He stood just shy of 5’10 which was impressive to her being as though she barely made the five feet mark. His glasses were thick on his long thin face, those small eyes darting around the room in amusement. There was scruff that seemed a few days overdue to go, but he was remarkably good looking. “Sorry I’m late Fil, traffic was a bitch”
“No problem Keith” her dad stood and shook the guys hand. Mackenzie took out her ear buds with a quick pull. “Keith this is my daughter McKenzie”
Keith put down the guitar and McKenzie stood. His hand, long and large took hers for a shake. Fil then took the man for a tour, her father always gave pride infused tours. Kenzie sat Indian style on the electric blue chair and waited for them to return. Midst of writing notes on her fathers sound system, they returned. Keith pushed up his glasses and sat next to Fil with his acoustic guitar in hand. She watched as the two wrote down ideas, feeding off one another and saying different words; each an emotion to bounce off of. They used hate, love, passion, fervor, truth, vitality, and rage. Fil knew once the process was mid way, Kenzie was ready to call it a day.
“Dad Louis is stopping by” she announced as she read the text from her best friend of two years Louis Tomlinson. Louis was in a boy band, One Direction, her father played a key role in their success and because of that birthed a beautiful friendship. Louis and the boys were on a three week vacation, each in a different part of the world, Louis found his way to Fils basement apartment aka McKenzie’s home. Poor boy was torn to bits because his girlfriend left him with nothing but a letter, so of course McKenzie couldn’t argue him on where he wanted to stay.
“Kenz I’m busy, why don’t you two just go for drinks or something” Fil Rudolph, the only father who encouraged her daughter to pursue a six pack and a few shots if it meant she’d be quiet. Before Kenzie responded Louis came in and pulled up a chair, unlike Kenzie, the songwriting process amused him. Then again, Louis found amusement in everything.
“Lets go get drinks” Kenzie insisted standing up throwing down her notepad.
“No I want to watch” Louis responded reading over the lyrics on the paper. “I like these” he told Fil and looked at Keith. “I’m Louis” they were introduced, then Louis looked at Kenzie. “Kenz, im not letting you fail your music class because you don’t write your paper”
“You tell her Louis” Fil joked as he watched his daughter mock Louis.
“Yeah, your too smart for this” Louis gave her back the notepad. He turned to Keith and Fil then read the song aloud. It was complete. “You know” he added once he gave the paper back. “That sounds like a duet to me”
“Your kind of right” Fil added giving the song another glance. “Keith re read this as a duet, it flows better” and the man with the thick glasses and spiky hair did just that. He had to admit, it did flow better, it seemed smoother.
“And you know the song has soul, Kenzie sings awesome” Louis began. McKenzie looked up from her notepad and gave Louis a look of death. “Don’t you Kenz”
Fil knew his daughter had a voice, as a child she would enter talent contests and win over half of them. She did a mean rendition of ‘I will always love you’ and even ‘Total Eclipse Of the Heart’. He still got chills hearing her sing, how her voice changed from this beautiful whisper to a full on gritty, contagious rant. Voices like hers were a dime a dozen. “And whats a better way to learn about musical production than to actually be in a production.” Keith responded. “I mean granted, I’m just the back up vocalist for my band but we could demo it”
“Are you kidding?” Kenz laughed. “You trust Louis, you never even heard me sing”
Keith shrugged. “I get a demo out of this, you can turn in the demo with a essay and we both win”
Fil nodded slowly. “This could work actually” he looked at McKenzie who seemed to be weighing the options.
“Plus, if you agree I’ll buy you a drink” Keith grinned. “And your friend too” he nodded at Louis who sat in the chair pleased with himself.
“You cant buy me over” Louis added. “But McKenzie loves her vodka”
“Focus people” Fil looked at McKenzie again. “One freaking demo girl, then you can go do whatever you do for shits and giggles”
McKenzie nodded in agreement, she really disliked doing things like this because she didn’t like the grit in her voice. She thought she sounded sick all the time, it was the raspiness she couldn’t get rid of.
By three in the afternoon, Fil was burning two copies of the demo. One for Kenzie and one for Keith. Louis had been raping the repeat button on it, Kenzie’s voice always giving him the chills. When Kenzie hit the high note in the end, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Keith wasn’t that bad either, his voice suited hers nicely, one not trying to outshine the other.
“You know your voice is better than I thought” Keith told her as they took off their headphones. Her father had given them the ok to leave the recording area. “I was kind of expecting a softer voice”
“I just want an A on my paper” she laughed. “Thanks though”
He nodded. “Is Louis your boyfriend?”
“No”
“He cheers you on like he is”
“Well that’s Louis, he’s a cheerleader for a brick wall if he can”
Keith laughed then pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose. “So it’d be safe if I asked you out to dinner?”
“Yeah, I’d say the coast is clear” she checked her phone then read a text from Louis that said “You’re kicking ASS…A…S…S….ASS” she laughed and showed Keith the message. Keith Wallen, Mr. Rock Star, saw her smile and found himself on the verge of smitten.
“So dinner, tonight?” he asked raising a brow.
“Sure, pick me up at seven” she scribbled down the address and went back to the main room where Louis sat with her father labeling the demo.