All I Want Is Everything

Plans for the future

For all the dreams and schemes,
people are as they seem
On a hot summer night
Don't be no fun, don't forget you're young
On a hot summer night

Billy Idol, Hot in the City

It took Ella a couple of days to recover from the night of the show, but she was well-rested when she started shooting her videos. The first video was just her, in an octagonal set with velvet draped walls, filmy curtains, big potted palms, chandelier, and a big brown leather chair. She was dressed in black leather pants, and a fine linen tailored shirt. The sleeves were rolled up, her hair was styled casually, and her makeup was natural. She was shoeless, but the set was hot from the lights. She was given a pearl necklace and earrings and she wore her little silver knuckle rings to add a bit of shine to her fingerwork. They did half a dozen takes and that was it. It was low-stress and Ella thought it went pretty well.

The second video was another stage performance; the touring musicians were backing her and they were testing the stage they were going to be taking out. Tony had been consulted on the showmanship aspects of the stage and lighting, so there was a light show and pyro. They actually played all three singles from the album for the little crowd, shot cannily so that it looked bigger than it was; the set was space-limited. The crowd seemed to love the songs, so that was good. For this shoot, she wore dark jeans, a snug black sequined sleeveless top and cute little booties. She had crystal chandelier earrings that sparkled and her rings, and they brushed her tattoos artistically with fine body glitter to highlight them. Hair and makeup were theatrical, and a wind machine was used to add drama and also kept the musicians cooler. That was a fun one, and Ella asked for a wind machine to go on tour with.

The third video from the album was for a solemn but not sad song, sort of a warm meditation on loss that pointed out the possibility of change and a better future. Tony was able to rent the LA Union Station for a few hours early in the morning. Because time was tight, there was no special staging, just effective lighting and Ella alone on screen, wandering through the empty building. They started by shining a bright light through the magnificent stained glass entryway, filming that, then tracking down as Ella came through the door. Black leather pants again, pumps that at least weren't stilettos, and a wine-red velvet shirt that had tiny crystal beads sewn into the pile that sparked in the light. Her hair was up like a Nagel model and her makeup was seductive. They made good use of the vastness of the space, the timbered ceilings, the elegant lighting, the tiled areas, the huge arches and windows. Light was used cannily to create spots in the shadows for a moody and atmospheric look. She spent a good deal of time wandering the length of the building and was shot standing at the unmanned information center and a ticketing booth.

It was all going quite well, but the shoot that she had been dreading was the final one. Once that was complete, she'd have a couple weeks to rest up and prepare; Flerkin was releasing the single first halfway through September, then the album at the end of the month, the video for the single "Dissociate" would drop at the same time as the single. She'd be doing a national publicity tour between the single and the album, then in mid-October she'd hit the road on her tour. Loki had hired Sharon again as tour manager, and the first fifty dates were firm, the buses and trailer for the stage hired, hotel reservations mapped out. She had a series of opening acts, bands that she liked who could benefit from exposure, and there was a bus for them too. It seemed like a huge, lumbering production to her, but she knew the big bands had a lot more going on. She'd chosen her touring musicians--bass, rhythm guitar, and drums--for easygoing personalities and reliability as well as skill, and none of them would be playing all dates. She had contracted their replacements, and it was about as firm as could be. Pepper recommended a personal shopper for deciding what to wear on stage, again, carefully crafting her image. No leather pants for the stage; they were difficult to clean on the schedule she had and nobody wants to sit around in gamey pants. Loki had gotten her approval for the designs for tour merchandise, promotional activities were lined up during the tour, and she was as ready as she could be. Loki was calm and encouraging and would oversee the remodeling efforts on her house and property while she was gone. Flerkin was thrilled with the quality of her work but on edge too, it was difficult to predict how it would go over with a wide audience.