Episode 1: "Dead Dog Lives"
Credits :: Screen Captures :: Video Clips

The DEA wants to use a jet confiscated by the OCB (Organized Crime Bureau), so he exchanges it for a small record company named "Dead Dog" which has been confiscated from another criminal. Vinnie wants to run it as his next assignment, going undercover to investigate corruption in the music industry. He's given the assignment. On the very first day, Bobby Travis walks into Vinnie's office and convinces him that he needs him as a partner if he wants to succeed in the business. Bobby's been around and worked for all sorts of record companies, and he knows the ropes - even if it's true he's been fired from all those positions because "people without talent are afraid of those who have it." Vinnie agrees to make him an unsalaried partner who splits all profits he generates 60/40.

Bobby's first lesson for Vinnie is to show him their main focus group by taking him to a nightclub. Amidst the thrashing teens and twenty-somethings dancing to new wave music, Bobby gives Vinnie the low-down on how such small bands operate and their low profit margins ("per man, pre-tax net of 20 bucks and all the sex you can handle. Unless you're the drummer, of course, in which case you go home alone.") He then takes him by the Meadowlands, and talks about the huge amount of money involved in the kind of acts that get that big.

Then, after viewing the top, Bobby shows Vinnie the sad aftermath. He takes him to see Diana Price. Diana used to be in a big rock band and generated millions of dollars. However, almost all of it went to her former lover, manager, and record company owner, Winston Newquay. Now, she's playing a seedy bar for a low salary and tips, having to endure being treated like crap by the bar owner.

Diana has a contract with Dead Dog that's currently in limbo due to Dead Dog's questionable financial status. Bobby and Diana are old friends, perhaps more than that at one time. As they discuss the business, they talk about "cleans" which are records that are pressed at the plant but shipped out the backdoor so that the distributors don't have to pay taxes or royalties on them. Vinnie is intrigued - here's something he can investigate to justify to his superiors why he needs to stay undercover as a record company owner and why their expenditures on the business are justified. Bobby asks if she's still recording, but she laments that Dead Dog isn't in a position to give her studio time, and no other company will take her.

They say goodbye to Diana and get back into their limo. As they pass by the mansion of Sir Winston Newquay, Bobby explains that Newquay made millions off of Diana, partially off of "cleans," while she got almost nothing. She also had to pay for all the costs of recording and marketing. Basically, he screwed her in more ways than one.

Mulling this over, Vinnie decides he's going to help Diana out. He goes back to the club and asks her to play her latest composition. He likes it. He tells her he now owns Dead Dog records, and offers her studio time to cut the song, which is entitled "Looking on the Bright Side." She's hesitant, nervous about blowing it, but finally agrees.

When Vinnie informs Bobby of his decision, Bobby is unenthusiastic. He likes Diana and is fine with helping her out by giving her some money and studio time, but he thinks it's foolish to invest the amount of time and money it would take to make a record. He urges Vinnie to concentrate on selling the catalog, which would yield a much higher profit margin. Vinnie is determined, however, so Bobby gets to work arranging for studio time, musicians, engineers, etc. But first they need a producer, and they pick the best - Johnny Medley.

Johnny Medley is a weird one. He's a coke addict and a drunk with a 16-year-old wife and an immature, self-indulgent attitude towards life. However, he knows his stuff. He's a "genius in the studio," according to Bobby. They go to Johnny's house and after a tense dinner where Johnny drunkenly draws a gun to show he's "protected," he agrees to produce Diana.

In the studio, Johnny is just as petulant. When he's unhappy with equipment, he destroys it. When he's upset by a sarcastic comment from Bobby about his young wife, he throws food at him and threatens to walk out unless Bobby is fired, contract or no contract (after Vinnie roughs him up a bit, he changes his mind). Diana is nervous but eventually they get a good cut of the song, and they're ready to move on to the next stage: finding her a record label.

 

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