Chapter 217 - Two Men's Abuse of Power

The next day. Nashville.

"UGHxxx. Damn hangovers… I guess 50 is too old for heavy drinking." Dylan wakes up on his bed with a huge headache.

The previous night, he was treated to some drink by some music executives.

*ring* *ring* His phone rings but his ringtone exacerbating his headache, he rejects the call.

Before he can shut off the screen, he notices something that makes his stomach drop.

"19 missed phone calls? What the…" Dylan then calls back the most recent number that tried to call him.

/*brr* *Brr* DYLAN! YOU FINALLY PICKED UP!/ His call is soon answered.

"Ed! The hell's going on?" Dylan asks.

/I don't know exactly what happened, but I know this had something to do with you. I knew you'd mess something up. I knew you were dirty. What were the other members of the selection board thinking when they elected you board president?/ Ed starts ranting, his words hitting Dylan's conscience.

"What the hell's going on ED!?" Fear starts pulling Dylan's heart.

/I've said enough. I bet other people are waiting to talk to you too. You're in trouble now, Dylan./ Ed does not explain and drops the call.

After the call, Dylan immediately opens his text messages seeing that there are 56 unread ones.

"Oh… SH*T" Dylan panics, seeing that most of them suggest to check social media. 

|~tldgrimmauld √~ @CMAs I thought you were different. Is Country Music as phony as the Golden Globes now? Really?|

|~tldgrimmauld √~ @CMA 'We cannot see enough cultural and religious inspirations that Country Music should express'? Really? So what if Isaac isn't Christian? There are a lot country songs that sing about UNGODLY songs like pre-marital s*x and infidelity. You folks are hypocrites. |

|~TomKlein √~ @CMAs While country music is an American genre, it crosses the borders and should not be exclusive to American artists. You are disappointing the genre's Teungebian fans. Country music is bigger than your organization.| (Tom Klein from Chapter 87)

|~nicknacks~ @isaacyawat You made country good for the first time in years. You deserve awards man. @CMA you folks are a mess. |

|[email protected] I didn't know you were racist? That's not what America's about! |

|[email protected] oh you're so pure… @CMA He's a foreigner but he deserves some awards!|

|~rhubarbboy~ @CMA this is why people don't care about your awards.|

|~changsean~ @CMA I'm not a country fan, but I was gonna watch if Isaac's nominated. Good job.| 

"WHY WOULD HE POST THE LETTER?!" Dylan screams in frustration, his headache worsening almost making him faint.

*ring* *ring* *Bzzt* *Bzzt* Dylan's phone continues to ring from calls and text messages received, but 'You're in trouble now' with Ed's words replay in his mind, he has no courage to answer his phone.

~

Academy of Country Music Office

"Where the hell is Mike!?" The Academy Of Country Music President, Molly, yells at the members of ACM's awards selection committee she gathered in the conference room.

"He's not answering his calls." A committee member says.

"He's the committee president! He should be here!... That doesn't matter. What the hell's going on?" Molly asks.

"We don't know, Molly. But what I know for sure is that Isaac should have passed the selection process." The second committee member says.

"Even if Isaac's application passed through me, I would have passed him too." The third committee member says.

"I don't know what happened, Molly. All the applications we passed go to Mike for final decision. Mike knows more about this." The first committee member says.

"Jesus Christ… Have some people look for Mike, please." Molly sighs.

"And what exactly is Isaac telling his fans? I just heard he started this." Molly says.

"It's better if you read these." A committee member hands her his phone. 

|~tldgrimmauld √~ @ACM 'we have concluded that they do not present enough impact and innovation that our organization expect from the candidates…' Are you serious? You call some of your nominees innovative? They're just carelessly blending pop and country! I've always thought your organization represents the best of country music, but I guess I was wrong.|

|~nicknacks~ @ACM You tasteless f*cks.|

|~UrMomOnline~ @ACM I bet you like songs about God, beer, and pick-up trucks.|

|@ACM How does 'Crazy Ex' even compare to Isaac's 'I Won't Let Them'? ARE YOU DEAF?!|

|~philjanemusicology √[email protected] I was disappointed as well. I'm sorry this happened. @ACM @CMA as a member of our organizations, I demand you fix this.|

|~CharlieHunt √~ @ACM I interviewed many of the members of your Academy while researching on Isaac's episode on show Music Lab. They all said good things about Isaac. What's going on here?|

(Charlie Hunt and Phil Jane – Refer to chapter 87 and 88)

|~DrDonaldDoctor~ Two organizations f*ckin with Isaac! Something's wrong here! @ACM @CMA are you ganging up on Isaac?|

"Oh dear lord… Our reputation…" Molly gets dizzy reading the tweets.

"Molly. Don't worry. Some of the more popular members are already fixing the misunderstanding on their own." The board member scrolls down to other tweets. 

|~lauraburrows √~ @isaacyawat I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm one of the members of the voting committee and I too was disappointed when I didn't see your name on the lists! There has to be a misunderstanding somewhere. |

|~jeffgodfrey √~ I don't know if you'll win anyways, but I would have voted for you had you been on the lists. I hope the Academy fixes this.| 

"Who's he signed with? Call them! Let's start sorting this thing out." Molly orders after calming down.

A committee member quickly follows the order and pulls out his phone, quickly connecting a call.

"Hello? Yeah. Mr. Mills? Snail Records? Yes… Yes.. WHAT?!" The committee member's exclamation takes the room's attention.

"Alright… have a good day." A minute later, the committee member ends the call. 

"What happened?" Molly asks, the other committee members are curious too.

"Snail Records and their CEO ended their contract with Isaac. They said that Isaac's actions on social media would have burned their label's bridges with us and the CMA." The board member reports.

"WHAT?!" Molly and the selection committee is shocked.

"Did they announce it yet?" Molly asks.

"I… didn't ask." The board member says. "Call them back! QUICKLY! Suggest to them to cancel what they did! If this comes out, we're gonna look bad!" Molly says.

"Okay.. Okay." The board member calls Cody again.

Meanwhile, "You all…" Molly turns her attention to the not so busy members.

"Find Mike. Or I'll start firing people!" Molly says. 

~

Bismarck, Minnesota – 9AM

*SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM*

"ISAAC! OPEN UP!"

"Are you in there?" Tayaw is disturbed from his work by Bart and Angela making a ruckus outside the van.

*Click* *Clack* "Good morning, you two~" Tayaw greets them with a smile.

"Isaac! Are you crazy?"

"What have you done?" Bart and Angela hounds him immediately.

"What?" Tayaw asks.

"Why did you post those?" Bart asks.

"Oh?... Well. I'm just thanking them that I now know what to do to be nominated." Tayaw says, playing innocent.

"…" Bart and Angela are speechless and do not believe Tayaw's reason at all.

"You're burning bridges! That's what you did!" Bart says.

"Not only that! Your fans are starting to drag other artists!" Angela says.

"…" Tayaw is stunned at Angela's words.

'Are my fans that protective?' Tayaw thinks before rushing to log-in to his social media accounts. 

|~notjared~ @CMAs 'My Tractor is S.e.xy' is nominated over 'Invisible Man'? Are you serious?|

|~changsean~ @ACM How the hell did Rich Schiff get nominated for 'Best Male Vocalist'? You can give Isaac a phone book to sing, and he'll still sing better! Are you really professionals?|

|~ibeatasthma~ @CMA how did Laura Burrows performance get nominated by not Isaac at the Opera? Laura's Opera performance was all flare, no substance. Isaac's is simple, but powerful!| 

"Holy… shit…" Tayaw cannot believe that his fans are dragging other artists down. 

"Right. You have almost a million fans, and TLD Grimmauld has a bit less, but they're going crazy. I'm pretty sure they don't even like country music..." Angela gives Tayaw a weird look. 

|@notjared Isaac's songs are all dramatic and sh*t. They're not fun to listen to. He takes himself so seriously.|

|~notjared~ @***** Are you nuts? Have you seen his interviews? He's a joker. The other singers are the ones who are pretentious. Singing about tractors and dirt roads while riding first class on planes. Who the hell are they foolin'?|

|@notjared and Isaac isn't rich? He's making hundreds of millions in his movies.|

|~notjared~ ***** At least he's not pretending to be actually getting his hands dirty unlike the other singers who claim they till the land. What's your point?|

|@notjared Well that doesn't change that his songs are all dramatic.|

|~notjared~ @***** maybe he just likes singing dramatic songs. The songs he wrote for Strawberry Front sound great, fun and different.|

|@notjared Okay Isaac deserves nominations but don't drag my favorite song down man!|

|@changsean That doesn't mean Rich can't sing too! Isaac can sing, but his voice is not my type!| |~changsean~ @***** Well, there you go! If Rich can get nominated, why not Isaac?|

|@ibeatasthma Laura's stage performances cheer me up. Isaac's depresses me. Laura for the win!|

|~ibeatasthma~ @***** Well watch this *youtube Tayaw guitar solo with Strawberry Front*. Isaac can cheer people up too~|

|@ibeatasthma So he can play good guitar. But that doesn't Laura's stage presence.|

|~ibeatasthma~ @****** Yeah right. What stage presence? Laura's flashy performances? What if you remove the costumes, remove the flames, remove the glitters. What's she left with? At least Isaac can conquer a stage by himself.|

|@ibeatasthma He's just not my type, okay!|

|~ibeatasthma~ @******** Sure. But that don't mean he isn't the type of other people.| 

"Okay... while it's fun to watch drama... Good lord. It started because of me." Tayaw starts typing. 

|~isaacyawat √~ Congratulations to all the nominees. Tough competition this year. Good luck to  everyone!|

|~isaacyawat √ ~ To the fans, please don't criticize other artists. They are good artists and they are nominated for good reasons.| 

"Hah! Too late." Bart scoffs, reading Tayaw's tweets.

"You should have told your fans earlier." Angela comments.

"What are you two? My public relations people?" Tayaw says.

"Anyways. Don't worry. Cody will announce that he will kick me out of the label. I'm bearing all the consequences myself. You don't have to worry."  Tayaw adds.

"…" The two's real concerns are seen through. 

~~

A few hours later.

|~AcademyOfCountryMusic √~ 'We deeply apologize with the situation with Mr. Isaac Yawat. Mr. Yawat meets all the criteria for the awards he applied for and we are currently conducting a review and an internal investigation as to why he did not make it to the voting process. Aside from that, we are also looking at the possibility that his application was not the only one we have mishandled. We will post an update soon.'

Signed, Molly Barber, President, Academy of Country Music'|

|~CountryMusicAssociation √~  We apologize for mishandling the application submitted by Mr. Isaac Yawat. Mr. Yawat is eligible for the awards he applied for. We are currently doing our best to fix this situation including an emergency voting.| 

|~SnailRecordsNashville √~ After the internal investigation of the recent events, the label and Isaac decided to part ways on good terms. Please support Isaac in his future works. We also hope that Isaac and the Snail Records will collaborate someday.|