♪♪Don't mind the rain drops.
Wait 'til the rain stops.
Smile through your tears,
laughing at life♪♪

Stevie could recall the adrenaline from standing on that stage. Waves of drunken affection rolling up to him from the crowd. The floor bucking underneath as he wrangled with his nerves, the drugs, and remembering the damn words. What a thrill.  Following the footsteps of those charming and talented men who had come before him. Chasing the American Dream, distilled as nowhere else in bright Las Vegas, fun and fierce as ever.

♪♪No road is lonely,
if you will only
lose all your blues
laughing at life♪♪

But an artist’s arc is not always his own to determine. When the show failed to catch on, Stevie was stuck. Give up and get a real job, like the rubes that filled this city?  Like the million and a half other dead-eyed waitresses he saw each day, who shot for the moon and landed among the rats?  Or else return to Jersey, and face his grinning pals who had always secretly been rooting against him?

When Stevie’s cousin said he could hook him up with a job, Stevie had a funny feeling in his stomach. But it was family. What’s the worst that could go wrong? It turned out that Stevie would be collecting money from businesses around the city. Simple enough. He knew of the criminal element behind it, but Stevie found that he could use his charms to collect without the heavy hand that most of his peers relied on. He didn’t have to threaten. And he didn’t just protect. Stevie was able to foster a real relationship between his family and these owners.

♪♪Live for tomorrow,
be happy today.
Laugh all your sorrows away♪♪

It happened before Stevie even knew it. One minute they were collaborating, the next they huddled under sheets on the sidewalk. Bullets were flying through the air, even on the strip, and Stevie with no bodyguards or other defenses. He would need to find some other form of protection.

When he arrived in New York, safe in the homes of family friends, Stevie didn’t feel like resting. He walked the city streets all night long that first night, seeing, feeling, learning. If he listened long and close enough, he would know what they all needed to hear to make them his. He could own the city without so much as throwing a punch.

♪♪Start now and cheer up.
The skies will clear up.
Lose all your blues
laughing at life♪♪