Jeffrey Alan Payne - Doczine

“That’s okay Cam; that’s why God created the Crowe Communications legal team.”Cam was the one that took the brunt of the legitimate legal challenges. He and DaveRay our program director were the ones that communicated most frequently with thecompany lawyers. Cam would provide them with recorded sound bites from the showand testimonies, if required.“I think they’ve hired a new guy just to attend to the law suits we generate,” Cam almostsounded serious when he said that.“I’m glad you mentioned Michael Jackson, Jim. Can you believe that a month ago, youcouldn’t take a Michael Jackson box set to a used CD store and get money for it. Now,they can’t keep them on the shelves.”Jim laughed, “Yeah, last night I was in line at Walmart.”“Clothes shopping, were you?” We liked to make fun of Jim’s wardrobe. Thanks to Camand I, Jim had gained a reputation for wearing nothing but clothing with someone’s logoon it. That generally meant he didn’t pay for it; those pieces of apparel fell under the“free stuff” category, which was one of the key attractions to working within the industry.“Yeah, I was buying a sport coat. Anyway, there was this ten year old kid in front of mewith his mom, and he was buying ‘Thriller’ with his own money. You could tell that,because she was standing over him helping him count out the change, which I thoughtwas already a little telling. I mean, if you can’t figure out twelve dollars and sixty sevencents, by the time you’re ten, maybe you’re best suited for trade school.”“A job with a nametag might be your destiny,” Cam added.“So I’m standing there thinking ‘This is great. The mom’s teaching the young guy to usehis own money for something he wants’. But, I’m also thinking, ‘Hey, here’s an idea.What don’t YOU pay for it, and let him give you his small change when you get back tothe car.’ That way, I could move on with my life.”“Ten years old, that’s right in Michael’s age group isn’t it?” Cam gritted his teeth as soonas the words came out of his mouth. He rolled his eyes up in an ‘I’m sorry’ gesture.I changed the subject, “Jim, you predicted the other day that there would be some kindof Jackson Family Exploitation Tour in the works. And by golly, here it is. There’s talk ofa tribute tour by the brothers and Janet.”“They didn’t invite La Toya,” Cam pointed out.“She’s touring with a live snake and a donkey,” we could always count on Jim to crankthe subject right down to base level.“Janet’s top could pop off like it did during that halftime show,” I cued Cam for the phonering sound effect and answered, “Rock 93.”“Hey, wha’s up”, Jim answered in his Tito Jackson voice.25