IMMORTALIZED - Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour by Cirque Du Soleil

Chapter 18: Things Change Abruptly

July 5, 2012 - August 1, 2012
Kentucky, Montreal, Hershey, Washington DC, Cleveland Chicago, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo and Boston

The drive to Lexington took about two and a half hours, getting us there around twelve. Our flight leaves at precisely two in the morning. We checked in, paid the over one hundred dollar fee for our bags and then went through security. We were exhausted, but we stayed awake until we got on the plane. Thank you coffee and donuts. The minute I sat down in that seat, I was out.
Next I knew, the thump on the ground woke both Ryan and I up. We shot up at the same time. It was pretty funny. We then had an hour layover in New York before we could even board the plane to Montreal. During this time, we explored the terminal, finding an open McDonalds that we got breakfast from. More of a snack since it was only four thirty in the morning. We then sat at the gate and waited for our plane to board. It was here that we filmed a little vlog. See, Adrian’s channel has kind of turned into the five of us’s channel, since we all post on that. Right now there is close to 175 videos from the tour. We just did a quick thirty second update from the gate in JFK in which we explained what we did the past week, going from Atlanta, to Pikesville (KY), to Lexington, to NYC and now to Montreal.
When we finally landed in Montreal, even though I was a bit tired and kinda wished we were still on ASP, I was glad to be back on tour. Back to my old routine. Yes, by now this is a routine. I cannot picture myself not traveling anymore, it has just become natural to me. On our way out of the airport, we of course had to go through customs and then find our bags and a taxi large enough to bring us and our things to our hotel.
We were staying at the same hotel we were at last time. When we got to our rooms, the boys stuff were there, and after closely looking at the other bed in the room, Leo was sleeping soundly under the covers. I quietly made my way around the room, setting my things for my two night stay here.
I sat down, wide awake and texted Ryan to call the center and let them know that we have arrived safely. I spent about an hour going through my laptop since I hadn’t been able to use it all week. I had tons of Facebook notifications, emails and things to catch up on. It’s amazing what I could miss in a week.
Leo woke up around 9:30 and was surprised to see me in the room. “I figured you would’ve woken me up when you came in, if you were loud.” He told me. “Well, I couldn’t of been too loud if I didn’t wake you up.” I told him. This is our third time in Montreal, and there isn’t much to do. “Hey Storm, did you know that after Montreal, there is only ten stops on tour left until the North American tour is over?” He asked me. “Only ten more cities? Wow.” I exclaimed. It feels as if we just started the tour.
During the day, I met up with Josh while Ryan watched after the boys. He is staying in the residences at the CDS HQ and he’s spent the last week getting physicals, and his account setup for CDS. He’s not being promised to be put in a show, but he’s on the list of candidates. After he finished working, I went out with him and his Mom for a late lunch and then met back up with my little crew. Josh leaves the day after we leave Montreal.
That night, we had a rehearsal for The Gangster Melody and then we did our second to last show in Montreal. This is our third and last time in Montreal, so we were packed because people knew this would be it. This Is It. Tonight and tomorrow. Then there are two months left of this tour before we go to Europe.
After this show, we took our times getting our costumes and makeup off. We made it out of the arena around 11:20 and headed back to the hotel. “Can we go to the pool for a bit?” Marcell asked. “Why not.” I answered. We don’t have anything we need to do tomorrow. So once we got back to the hotel we all changed into our swimming trunks and then headed down to the pool. This pool is one of the better ones that we have been to. It’s a good temperature and almost never crowded. Actually we’ve almost never seen anyone else in the pool. And we’ve spent a lot of time at this hotel.
We ended up staying at the pool for just under an hour. Around quarter to one, I was the bad guy and decided to make them go to bed. “We’re not tired though!” Adrian expressed. “Still, we need to keep ourselves on an average sleeping cycle.” I said. “We don’t have a normal sleeping cycle. Since when have we had a normal cycle?” Adrian commented. “You know what I mean.” I told him.
I could tell on the walk up that the boys were tired, they just didn’t want to accept it. “I’m gonna come into your room in like twenty minutes, so get ready for bed.” I told Marcell and Adrian as they opened up the door to their room.
I went into my room with Leo. He went into the bathroom to change and I changed in the actual room. “I’m really looking forward to Europe.” He said through the door of the bathroom. And just like that, Montreal was done for.
We had one more show in Montreal and then the day after that we flew down to Pennsylvania for two shows in Hershey. The best part about it was that we had a day and a half off before we have to go to work, never mind the hours of the day before call. It’s Hershey and it was awesome. There was sooooooo much chocolate involved in this stop. Chocolate Chip pancakes, chocolate and banana sandwiches, Chocolate on Chocolate desserts. It’s been a food envy stop here on tour. Too bad we’re only doing two shows here in Hershey. I think we should do at least three or four. The boys agree.
After Hershey, we drove to Washington DC. I was really excited for this stop because I’ve never been here before. Hell, we’re performing just a few blocks from the White House! How cool is that? And the first lady, Michelle Obama is coming to our first show but due to security reasons, she cannot come backstage before or after the show.
We drove to DC immediately after our last show in Hershey. It was a long drive for an after show transit, but most people slept. I stayed awake because I told the boys I’d wake them up when we get in the capitol so they could see things lit up as we drove in. As we drove in, we passed the lit up Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and then as we got more into the city marks of the capitol, many different and cool lit up tourist traps. Well, I wouldn’t call them tourist traps, but they were still tourist attractions.
When we arrived at the hotel, we were staying right across the street from the venue, which is real easy access for us. It’s going to make this stop that much easier. Lately, we’ve been several blocks or even miles away from the arena. The boys couldn’t care less, they just wanted to get on with their sleep. They’ve seen enough of the city for tonight.
When we got into the hotel, it was as always, same as every other check-in. Get your envelope with your key card (or cards in my case) at the table, then wait in line for an elevator. Luckily, we were ones of the first off the bus, to get our keys and to get in line, so the wait wasn’t too long. We’ve all become accustomed to travelling like this, so I can trust Adrian and Marcell to get the key cards for their room and Leo to get ours.
By the time I went to go check on Adrian and Marcell, at a mere 4:25 in the morning, they were already asleep. When I got back to my room, Leo was in bed but not sleeping. I turned off the TV and then the lights and covered myself with the blankets and drifted into darkness.
The next morning, Leo and I once again had a conversation on how quickly the North American Tour is ending. We only have four more stops in the states, not including DC, three stops in Canada and then a two week stay in Mexico. That’s only eight more places to visit on this leg of the tour.
Once I knew all of us was up, I texted out to them to see what they wanted to do. The conscious was to be complete tourists in the city. When Ryan and I got together in Ryan’s room, we also decided that we need to get our licenses, because we’re sick of walking everywhere and we have enough money to rent cars.
Our first stop outside of the hotel was lunch. We had completely missed breakfast and actually didn’t eat lunch until two in the afternoon because we slept until almost noon. We stopped at a small little cafe corner thing and got some cold soup and soda, just to hold us over for our highly anticipated dinner tonight. This is where our childness comes in. We don’t want to walk everywhere and DC is a big place. To see all of the things we want to see in one day, we needed a ride. So, we busted out Ryan’s debit card, called up a local car rental company and had a Suburban sent out immediately. We had to do the black suburban. How often do you get to drive through DC in a black suburban?
The car picked us up and first brought us to the Lincoln Memorial. That was super cool. None of us had ever been to DC before, so seeing all of this was amazing. Of course, Adrian had his picture and video camera out and we all had our phones out, taking pictures and such. We spent a large amount of time at this area because we walked around the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the Korean War Memorial, the Reflecting Pool and then down to the Washington Monument. Sadly that was under construction at the base, so it didn’t look as amazing.
After that, we got back into the rental car and we had him drive us to the South Lawn of the White House so we could get some pictures of us in front of the white house. While we were out there, we tweeted several times to the Obama’s, but we got no response nor any waves from the Window’s. Even though we said we were from the tour, still no special treatment.
After visiting the White House, we drove up the Avenue’s Of America and saw the Capitol and the Botanic Gardens. By this time, it was close to five and we were getting hungry. We had the driver bring us to the Hard Rock Cafe and told him to come back in about an hour. Let’s just say in that hour, of course we got the sticker, but it was amazing. Too bad we don’t have our school case with us. After we finished school for the year, it was put into Storage in one of the trucks until we start school again. So until then, we’ve been storing the stickers in one of the pockets in my bags.
After dinner, the driver brought us back to our hotel and tipped him a very nice tip. Even though today was a short day, we were all still pretty tired. We used up the energy we had slept on from the previous ‘night’ during the day and we were all starting to lag, even though it was only seven. There was no pool here, and even though we were in a prime location for DC, we still have three full days here, so we can save some of that for later.
We actually spent some alone time. Adrian did hang out in my room and mess around on his computer, probably playing on his video editing software, which he loves to death now, Marcell and Leo were in Marcell’s room watching TV and Ryan was skyping in his room with some friends back home. Stephen, whom I assume he was skyping with, is visiting the tour from Monday in Cleveland until Saturday in Chicago. It was a hard bargain for Ryan to convince Stephen to travel with us, but the company pays per plane, not person so that was the deal breaker.
On Facebook, I read Leo’s status, which really quite intrigued me because it made me really realize how much we do in such a short amount of time. Leo wrote what had happened in the past two weeks, which is really a lot. Not as much as we have done, but it’s still a lot and shocked many people on Facebook. I liked it.
It was an early night. I literally made Adrian, Marcell and Leo go to bed around ten since I knew they needed their sleep, and I assumed we’d so some more walking around the next day. Ryan and I were up a bit later doing some work stuff, but other than that, it was an early night for us as well.
A lot happened in the next two weeks. We did three shows in Washington DC. The first one didn’t go so well. There was a lot of technical equipment malfunctioning. The reasoning behind this? Well, First Lady Michelle Obama was in the audience and we speculated that all the Secret Service Equipment messed with the equipment. Sadly, we couldn’t see her because of security reasons.
After two other shows in DC, and exploring the capital for all three of those days, we flew to Cleveland. In the afternoon after we arrived, since we flew right after the show then slept until almost Noon, Ryan went with a chauffeur car to pick up Stephen from the airport. While Ryan was off doing that, the boys and I went and hung out at one of the shopping Malls in Cleveland and found some pictures and advertisements of the shows hung up. Of course we got some pictures in front of them. We asked one lady to get a picture of the four of us in front of a large banner hanging. She took the picture and then handed my phone back to me. “Are you guys in town to see the show? I have tickets to see it tomorrow night.” She asked. “No, we’re dancers in the show.” I told her. “Oh, awesome! Can I get a picture with you guys?” She asked. I nodded. Her husband took a picture of us with her and then we parted ways.
With that day, the four of us hung out without Ryan and Stephen to give Ryan and him some time to themselves. We met them at the local Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and then hung out after that. During dinner, we were interrupted by a phone call from Melissa, our publicist. She told us that Ryan and I needed to be outside our hotel to meet her at seven in the morning tomorrow so she could bring us to the Fox News station for a publicity thing. “Can I bring a friend?” Ryan asked. She didn’t care. Then I agreed with Ryan that Marcell, Leo and Adrian can stay in the hotel and chill until we get back.
The following morning we did a Beat It Tutorial on the news and showed off some more moves backstage. That day, we explored the city briefly and then headed to work. Stephen wasn’t able to see the show in NYC or Hartford due to conflicts so he was able to see the show for the first time here. The following day we did our second and last show in Cleveland and took another after show transfer on a plane to Chicago. We spent our day off, which was mostly spent relaxing in the morning (sleeping) and then a bit of walking around in the afternoon. The following day, Ryan dropped Stephen off at the airport so he could head home. We then did two shows in Chicago. After, we did two shows in Ottawa, Canada and then went to Toronto. Ryan and I then pulled a twenty-four hour-er. We did a show in Ottawa, flew to Toronto, didn’t sleep because we then headed to a news station and did a morning news performance of Dangerous.
Now it’s Friday, two weeks after our first show in Washington DC and we are standing on the very top floor of the CN tower in Toronto, and I’m ready to shit my pants. Let me clarify. I’m standing on a glass floor with nothing stopping me from falling if this glass decides to break. That would suck. But it’s the coolest thing. You just look down, and there is 1,122 feet of just nothing before the ground. We got some cool video I can say. After leaving the CN tower, which we did quite late in the afternoon, it was nearly time to get ready for work. So we took a Taxi back to our hotel and grabbed what we needed for the night. It’s always the same and the only thing else that goes in that bag are some of the things I use when we travel, so it’s a grab and go situation. Once we got to the arena, we checked in as normal and went into the dressing room. We can do makeup for ourselves in about seven minutes now, since it’s well over our 150th show. After putting on makeup, we have to stretch and then do costumes. Double, triple, extra stretch! You really need it in this job.
We did an awesome show, completely awesome. We’re really blessed to have this job. Really Blessed. Plus, in a few day’s we’ll were on a plane to probably one of my favorite cities ever, Boston. I have been waiting for this stop for a long time. We’re having visitors, beach days and well, it’s gonna be awesome. But first, we must go to Buffalo.
We got on the bus in Toronto around ten thirty in the morning. We were all packed and it was just like any other transfer. We got on the bus, did attendance, then drove to the airport. Once we got to the airport, we got off and the airport personnel took our bags from the compartments on the bus and loaded them onto the plane for us. We went through the little security wand screening as we always do then got onto the plane. We learned to sit in the front of the plane. On the downside, we’re the last to get snacks. One the bright side, we’re the first to get off. None of the five of us have the patience of waiting to get off the planes.
While on the plane, Tara told us what she has been communicating about with our parents about Europe in the fall. We need to go get more pages added to our passport, and we need to do whatever we need to do at home during our break because there is a three month period that we are straight on tour. It means different things for all of us. For me, I need to get glasses, I need to get my permit, dentist, doctors, shop for some new clothes, probably should buy some new gear. For Ryan, it means permits, doctors, meds refill, PT and some other things. For the boys, it means doctors, dentists, haircuts, glasses fixtures, etc. For all of us, it means passport stuff, physical training and banking. But it’s different for all of us.
Buffalo wasn’t much. We were close to Niagara falls though, so we visited there once or twice. We waved to some people across the falls, which is in fact in Canada. It’s pretty cool. After our show in Buffalo, we flew straight to Boston.
Once we landed in Boston, we got off the plane but were put in a waiting room. There was a problem with some of our international cast members visa’s coming back into the US. So we were put in a waiting room in the airport for almost three hours while we were ‘investigated’. It sucked and it was boring. On the bright side, when we drove into Boston, the lights of the city were on which looked wicked. We were staying a hotel right down the street from the TD Center, where we would be performing.
The next morning was when the heat wave came. That’s a literal term. We woke up around nine thirty and by ten, Ryan walked into my room making it aware that he needed to come down to the conference room in the hotel, where temporary MJIWT offices are setup until the trucks arrive. It was odd. Usually he is called down there, I am called with him. But it wasn’t. He wasn’t nervous, but I was. And he should be too.
In the meantime, I had to bring Adrian and Marcell downstairs to meet with their family. They had apparently been up for a few hours anxiously awaiting their visitors to get into town. Their parents and sister showed up a little late due to traffic and finding a place to park, but it was only by like ten minutes. “Where do you want to meet so we can give them back to you?” Their Mom asked. “Well what time are you thinking about doing that?” I asked. “Around eight or so.” She said. I nodded. “Well, why don’t you drop them off right here and I’ll be here waiting.” I said. She nodded. “Have fun guys!” I exclaimed to Adrian and Marcell. Then I went back into my room to wait for a response from Ryan.
Ryan came back to the floor about ten minutes later and walked into my room. He seemed pissed, but pale and white as fuck. He asked Leo to leave the room so he could have a work with me. This couldn’t be good.
“I’m being let go.” He said. My heart dropped. And then began our what seemed like a long, but short conversation on what happened in that meeting. This completely sucks. Cirque is paying for a car to bring him home this afternoon, which means he only has about two hours left on this tour. His parents know he’s coming home and I know why he’s going home, even though he only told me a little.
Recently, he’s become very rebellious, trying things he shouldn’t, being a little late to work, not doing his absolute best, rushing when we don’t need to and not rushing when he’s supposed to. Plus his habits aren’t too good either. He’s been eating alot and not exercising. According to him, everything we do in the show is enough exercise for us. It’s not. He’s gained several pounds more than he should, which the tour staff can notice which has led to his ‘eviction’ from the tour. Apparently he’s been on watch since early June when we were in Austin.
He asked me to tell the boys after he left. He felt as if they’d be way too upset if they had to say goodbye face to face and that me just telling them would be easier. Yeah, I know it sounds messed up, but it’s not. Now it comes my question. Who’s replacing him? We have a show in like three days, and I have no idea who the hell will be replacing him.
Ryan ended up going straight and packing and being held up in his room. He was mad and upset. They told him in June that he was on watch but he pretty much ignored it. Leo, who knew something was up since he was asked to leave, tried to get me to tell him what was up but it didn’t work. And I counted down on the clock to noon, when his ride would be here. About 2:50, I left Leo in my room so I could help Ryan bring his things down. I helped grab his bags and we took a silent elevator ride down to the lobby where there was a car waiting for him. Tara and Cherylie were also in the lobby. He tried to avoid them, but they came up and said their goodbyes. They apologized and Tara gave him a huge hug. They then left so I could say ‘goodbye’. “Maybe if you get back into shape, they’ll let you back on the tour.” I said. I knew it wasn’t a thing and he’d probably never work on the tour again, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say. We hugged and gave dapps, and then he got in the car and it pulled out. And just like that, Ryan was gone.
I didn’t tell the boys for another couple of hours, so I could gather myself and figure out what exactly to tell them. They didn’t know he left, they just thought that he was just silently in his room. I wasn’t mad, angry, I was just upset. It was kind of his fault, but I feel like they could’ve given him some more support. But shit happens, and he’s still an awesome friend of mine.
I called Tara. When she answered, she immediately said “Don’t you dare yell at me, it was something that had to be done.” She snapped at me. “I wasn’t going to yell at you. I had a serious question to ask.” I told her. “Shoot.” She said. “Who’s replacing Ryan in the show?” I asked. “We’re working on it. We’ve narrowed it down to a few people and we’ll have an idea for the end of the week but until then, Mike is going to fill in for him.” She told me. “Are any of them teenagers?” I asked. “Yeah, three out of the five.” She answered. “Okay, well let me know asap.” I asked of her. “You got it. And thanks for not flipping on me.” Tara told. “I’m not really mad or angry, but more of upset at him.” I told her.
That night, Leo and I went to the Quincy Market for dinner. I wanted something cheap, easy and I needed something to occupy my mind. “Where’s Ryan?” Leo asked. “He’s a little tied up right now.” I said. When he further questioned me, I just told him that he’d find out soon. He didn’t think of anything of it.
A little before eight, I met Adrian and Marcell as well as his family in the same place they were picked up. It was an emotional goodbye, but it wasn’t too bad. They’d only be separated for a month and a half.
I messed around on Facebook, twitter and did some research on some things. I got my class schedule, which is awesome. Only taking three academic classes and then a drivers Ed class (since my English and History will be combined). My drivers license will be listed as an International Driver, which is super cool.
When I told the boys, they were upset, and of course, I had to explain why. “But you guys need to remember, no matter what happens on this tour, they show needs to stay active, and we need to stay active as well so that we don’t get in trouble like he did, okay?” I asked. They nodded.
Later in the night, I learned from Leo that his family were staying overnight on Thursday and Friday so they can see the show, but on Friday, they are going a bit upstate to see other parts of his family that are also coming to see the show.
“You aren’t going with them?” I asked him. “No, I told them it’d be too risky if we hit traffic or something.” He told me. “Leo, if you want to go, let me know and I’ll make it happen.” I told him. “Yeah, I’d like to go, cause I haven’t seen my cousins in a while.” He expressed. “Okay, well as long as you’re back at the arena at six, you’ll be fine.” I said. I let him know that I’d clear it with Tara and she’d talk to his parents.
Before going to bed we walked down a few blocks to where I knew the VeteranZ Crew was and got some Frozen Yogurt from a place called ‘Froyo’. Creative, right? Even though that just yesterday, one of my best friends was virtually fired from the tour, I’m still making the best of it.