An American Braviour's Fantasy

Part 1 : Melkweg ~ Bravo Magazine

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This part started out as a brainstorming session and I just decided to keep it as it is because I like seeing how it evolved into the next part and the part after that until I finally find my groove. It's kind of like a snapshot of how my brain works. It amuses me. I hope you enjoy. :)

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The boys from B-Brave are being photographed for an article in Bravo, a popular German teen magazine for their Los Release and because of their popularity as a Dutch Boyband. Sabine offers the job to Rashelle who can't believe her luck as she is a huge B-Brave fan! Immediately, she hopped online and bought herself a ticket for the B-Brave concert which was very nearly sold out. Talk about a dream come true!

As the concert approached, the B-Brave management team become short a photographer for the Meet and Greet and ask if Rashelle can rearrange her schedule to add it to her repertoire and they would pay for it. She obliges happily and charges them very little since she was already going to be there all set up... and because she's a huge fan! 

So instead of shooting the boys for the article the day after the concert, she would set up and shoot the meet and greet immediately followed by her shoot for Bravo magazine. The boys would be tired, but they'd also be all hyped up so that would lend to easy smiles all around! Rashelle thought, smiling to herself.

The day before the concert, Rashelle hopped a train and headed to Amsterdam, arriving at the Hampshire Hotel - Amsterdam American in the Leidseplein later that evening.

First thing the next morning, Rashelle met with Cees, one of the B-Brave managers, at her hotel lobby and they talk terms, including her standard non-disclosure agreement contract, and she's given a timetable. He tells her he'll meet her at the venue 2 hours before the show so she can set up her gear and he can perform all the necessary checks before the concert.

After Cees leaves, Rashelle goes for a walk around the block with her camera and takes some exterior shots of the venue, the Melkweg, as well as some pics of the surrounding neighborhood and of course, the nearby canals. She takes a seat at one of the outdoor tables at the hotel restaurant, "Cafe Americain Amsterdam" and orders a coffee with a burger and fries while she talks to her co-worker Sabine in Berlin about her talk with B-brave's manager. She uses a bluetooth earpiece to talk on her phone while she continues to take pictures of her surroundings.

Rashelle eventually returns to her hotel and dresses in more appropriate "concert" clothes which were also comfortable enough for her to work. She considered the clubbing outfit Sabine had lent her in her wardrobe bag, but decides against it. She brushed out her curly, dark auburn hair and decided to leave it down for the concert, but brings along a scrunchie hair tie so she can put it up for the photoshoot. 

Cees calls her a little early and invites to come on down to the Melkweg and he'll get her set up. She gathers her equipment and heads on over to the Melkweg which is just around the block from her hotel. Once at the Melkweg, she's given an ID lanyard and is shown to the hall where the Meet & Greet is going to be. He shows her where on the the boys are going to be and she can see the huge backdrop of the Los EP cover where the band and their fans will be standing as she snaps their pictures. 

After the M&G, all the fans would be ushered out and she would have the boys all to herself. Cees tells her more about the band and their music as well as about the new EP that they had just released. Cees was very surprised to find that Rashelle was a fan and already knew most of what he was telling her. He has Rashelle's undivided attention as he continues his explanations, describing in detail the sort of pictures that the boys and the fans prefer as well as what he is expecting from the shoot afterwards. He tells her that the prints from the photoshoot will be used to advertise for an event that was upcoming.

Cees gives Rashelle the green light to begin her setup and the first thing she does, is arrange herself a little work station for her two cameras, her laptop and her soundsystem. After mounting her phone in the soundsystem, she begins to play the new EP Los by B-Brave and begins singing along with the 'Dutch' words. Cees overhears and is surprised that she can not only sing in Dutch, but she can sing - really well! He approaches her and asks her if she speaks Dutch. She looks shy and tells him no, and explains that she is just a fan. She went on to explain how the first thing she did when Sabine gave her the job was buy a ticket for the show. She assured him that she would not be taking any media footage during the concert however and even if she did, anything she produced with be covered via the non-disclosure contract. 

Cees doesn't seem to be worried about that however, in fact, he actually seems amused. He asks her about her impressive singing voice and if she has ever sung professionally. She tells him, that she has, here and there, but that she prefers her camera to the stage, although the stage is definitely a rush and she still indulges from time to time. He asks her about performing in the past, specifically where has she performed?

She told him about her summer as Christine in the Phantom of the Opera and several years before as Elphaba in Wicked, both in LA. She also mentions that she was on American Idol and finished in 3rd place, just like the boys. Cees asked her how that went afterwards and she explained that her first studio contract went badly, they didn't give her any freedom to write her own songs and everything pretty much turned to crap after that. 

But then, she started recording on her own and published her songs on her YouTube channel under her DJ name, RainEdaiZ and gave up trying to be famous and just started writing and singing and recording for fun and after touring all summer with the American Idol top ten, she decided she'd had enough 'stardom' and moved on to her next love after music which has always been photography.

Cees was impressed with her candid acceptance of what could be considered a huge failure and he also liked that she had used the experience as a lesson which only fueled her creativity and pushed her to excel in other areas of her life. She was a very professional young woman and very friendly and likable and had a good energy about her.

After hearing her vocal abilities first hand, Cees asked her if she would sing something for him. The first thing that popped into her head was the beginning intro of the B-Brave song 'Tot in De Nacht'. Cees was floored with not only her vocal prowess but also her ability to sing yet another song in Dutch! 

When he asked her about singing in Dutch, she shyly explained that even though she can't speak the language, she has memorized ALL of the B-Brave songs and can sing them in Dutch!! He was amazed and asked about how long she had been a fan. She admitted being a huge fan for the last year and a half and tells him the story - After watching a video her mother sent her of a Russian singer on X-Factor and in the sidebar, there was the video of B-Brave performing a cover of Justin Bieber's, "As Long as You Love Me" on X-factor so she clicked on it, and after watching it, she clicked on another video and yet another and another and on and on after that and has been a true-blue Braviour ever since.