afflatus

SARVIA: I can confidently say I was never a good influence on Daisy. 

DAISY: I'm not gonna say she didn't influence me. Because she really did.

SIMONE: I might not have known Daisy at the time, but I knew that Sarvia and Daisy were the it-girls of the Sunset Strip.  They were each so eye-catching. They would go to clubs, take whatever drugs there were, and sleep with anyone they desired. Hey, it was the '70s, but they were crazy.

DAISY: Were we out of control? Probably. But we were writing too, which felt even better than drugs. Like I'd found a piece of me I didn't know was missing.

SARVIA: I loved writing with Daisy. Before she even got into her own music career, she and I were writing songs together. Some were mine and others were hers. It just felt... right for us to be doing it together. We had the same experiences so everything just clicked.

DAISY: I couldn't imagine a better feeling. 

SARVIA: The day that Daisy's mom read her journal was rough. I was with Daisy that day and I felt like I was intruding on a mother-daughter moment.

When Daisy and Sarvia entered her room, the first thing they saw was Daisy's mother, Jeanne, sitting there, reading Daisy's songs. "What are you doing? These are private. You don't just come into somebody's room and go through their things."

Jeanne let Dasiy take the notebook back and then picked up a pile of records Daisy had borrowed. "These are mine."

"Mom?" Daisy stopped her at the door. "Are they any... any good, or..."

"You're a pretty girl, Margaret," was the only response Jeanne gave before she left.

Sarvia rubbed Daisy's shoulder. "Let's take a walk. There's this place a few blocks away that has a piano we can borrow."

DAISY: Sarvia made it a bit better. She always did.

* * *

SARVIA: The day I formally met Simone Jackson changed my life. She... she was one of the greatest friends I've ever had.

INTERVIEWER: Daisy and Sarvia say you changed their lives. Do you remember how you met?

SIMONE: We were at some party in the hills, I think. And I had just finished performing at Gazzarri's, so they must have seen me there. They knew everything about me. In fact, they knew everything about everything.

"So he gets this idea that he can swim from one neighbor's pool to the next, which sounds totally crazy, but in the context of the film it makes..." Daisy went on, telling Simone about a movie she had seen.

"Sorry, what's your name again?" Simone interrupted.

Sarvia smiled wide, putting an arm around Daisy's shoulder. "This is the wonderful Daisy Jones. Oh, and I'm..."

"Sarvia Noor," Simone finished. "I've seen you around the strip."

"I'm a huge fan of yours," Daisy complimented Simone. "I don't know what you're doing, though, singing backup for Penny fucking Richardson."

At that moment, Penny Richardson came hurrying over to Simone. "There you are. I was looking for you."

Daisy stared at her. "Penny fucking Richardson."

"Excuse me?"

"Daisy Jones. Huge fan."

"Let's get out of here. I'm tired."

"Penny, we talked about this," Simone reminded her.

"No, you talked," Penny corrected. "And you know what, Simone? I'm fucking done."

"Ah, would you excuse me?" Simone stepped away. "Just one second."

"Yeah," Daisy replied. "Sure."

Sarvia shook her head and took a drag of her cigarette. "God, Penny Richardson is such a bitch. Is it wrong I wanna do her more now?"

Daisy chuckled. "Maybe a little."

After her conversation, Simone walked back over to them. "It's not what you think."

"All I think is that you're way too cool for that chick," Daisy told her.

"Yeah, you can make it big without a bitch like her," Sarvia agreed.

SIMONE: We started talking and we just never stopped.

* * *

SARVIA: At the time, I didn't have a place of my own yet. Sure I was making music and stuff, but I usually crashed at someone else's place. It could've been the person I was seeing at the time, a one-night stand, a friend, or even someone I had partied with the night before. To me, it didn't matter while I was staying. But, I did think Simone having her own place inspired me to finally get one of my own.

Simone led the other two up to her place. "It's temporary. When the album comes out, I'll buy a place in the hills. Two stories."

"You didn't tell me you were recording an album," Daisy mentioned. "So, no more singing backup then?"

"Please tell me no more backup singing," Sarvia hoped.

"I sure as hell hope not," Simone confirmed, opening up the front door and letting the two in to look around. "You sing, Daisy?"

"Uh, no, not-not really," Daisy denied, looking through Simone's records. "I just took piano lessons as a kid."

"She does sing," Sarvia interjected. "She just hasn't gotten comfortable with it yet."

"But I am in love with this record." Daisy put on a Carole King record and took a seat.

Simone handed her a blunt. "What do you love about it?"

"I mean, she wrote all these songs for other people. "Up on the Roof," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," "One Fine Day." And they're all great songs. But this is different, you know. I mean, she... she chose to sing these songs in her own voice because they meant something to her. It's just personal. You know?" Daisy explained.

"That's you, isn't it?" Simone chuckled. "I've seen you, too, honey. Gazzarri's. The Whisky. All over the Strip. Most of them girls are just there for drugs, sex, stories to tell their friends. But not you. You're there for the music. I've seen you. Question is, what are you doing in the crowd and not on that stage, where you want to be?"

"Thank you!" Sarvia appreciated Simone's words, having told Daisy a variation of them many times. "See, Daisy, I'm not the only one who knows you wanna be on that stage. You know you want to."

SARVIA: I really wanted to get Daisy on stage. She wanted it, but she was hesitant. Although, a problem was that Daisy didn't have any songs. It's not like she didn't write any, because she wrote a shit ton. It was just that the guys she was seeing kept stealing her shit.

DAISY: "Stumbled on Sublime" was number one for, what, four straight weeks? And that son of a bitch still claims he wrote the whole fucking song. And this was becoming a pattern.

SARVIA: She hated being a muse.

DAISY: I hated being a muse for anyone but Sariva. She was different. She knew how to make the songs she wrote endearing and sweet, but still rock'n'roll. She actually became my muse at one point. I can't pinpoint the moment, but after a while anytime I wrote a song I was thinking about her.

SARVIA: I hated how Daisy thought of herself. She didn't want to be the muse. It was just that there were too many people telling her that was all she was.

DAISY: No matter how confident you pretend to be, how much you think you can give if enough people tell you you're shit... you believe 'em.

SARIA: One night, Daisy called me. She asked me if she was any good. Of course, I told her she was. She didn't fully believe me. So, I took her someplace I knew she could let go.

DAISY: I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to find out if everyone else was right about me...or if I was.

The bar was dingy and the only occupants were the bartender and a few random guys. Sarvia led Daisy in, giving a quick wave to the bartender.

"Can we use the piano?" Sarvia asked.

"Go ahead," the bartender offered. 

Sarvia grabbed Daisy's hand. "Come on."

Daisy let herself be pulled over and carefully took a seat on the piano bench. From her bag, she grabbed her songbook, flipped through it, and prepared herself. She began to play "By Myself," a song she had written with Sarvia.

♪ I've been burned on the altar ♪

♪ Of the rising sun ♪

♪ It's alarming to see ♪

♪ How far I can run ♪

♪ But I wind up the same as I always ♪

♪ Crying in a heap in some hallway ♪

♪ Crumpled and blue ♪

♪ I gotta try something new ♪

♪ I could tell by the waves you couldn't see me ♪

♪ People may try and they'll try to ♪

♪ I'm gonna do till I die to ♪

♪ And give it hell ♪

♪ And I don't need anyone's help ♪

♪ I can do this with nobody else ♪

♪ I can ruin this night by myself ♪

♪ I can peel off these soldiers alone ♪

♪ I can write down my miserable poem ♪

♪ I can drink to my own bloody health ♪

♪ I can ruin this night by myself ♪

By this point, everyone in the bar, even if there weren't many people, had been captured by Daisy's voice. Behind her, Sarvia's eyes began to fill with tears. Happy tears, of course. She was just so happy that her best friend had finally realized she was so much more than just a muse.

As Daisy and Sarvia left the bar, Sarvia nudged the woman next to her. "So, do you finally believe me?"

"Yeah," Daisy confirmed. "I'm fucking incredible."

Sarvia laughed. "Right, you are, Daisy Jones. You're gonna make it big, I can already tell."

SARVIA: I was so fucking happy.

DAISY: It felt like I was becoming a new person. I had finally seen that Sarvia was right about me. She made me believe in myself.

SARVIA: I wasn't the reason for Daisy's success. She was.