Steve
My pile of women was surrounding me, with Sue doing her sleeping best to smother me between her triple Zs. No boobs are that big, but Sue has enough for three or four women. Don't you just love those big balloons? I sure do.
I slid to the edge of the bed without waking anyone, but knew that we needed to get up and get going this morning. We have to leave around seven-thirty. I stretched before beginning to gently wake the women.
Oops, there were two extras next to Juanita. Trixie and Dixie must have had a bad dream and come in during the night. It's a good thing the bed is big and a good thing the ladies are used to a pile of bodies to sleep with.
As the women began coming around, cognizant that it was a new day, Trixie and Dixie sat up, rubbing their eyes. Trixie said, "We were lonely down there and there isn't much room for Dixie and me to sleep together, so we came in here. You don't have a lot of room left either, but momma Juanita hugged us to her so we could sleep with you.
Juanita was smiling, as I'm sure she was remembering our recent conversation about her being a mother to many. Two thirds of the triplets just confirmed it. Sue reached over and dragged the girls across Kathy and Mercy so she could hug them. There is always a special sweetness shown when a mother hugs one of her kids.
Sue said, "Go get your teeth brushed and face washed to go to the Vatican. Make sure you put on the clothes we picked out for today. We're going to go to Mass with Juanita inside a big church this morning." The two girls left, running for the ladder or stairs that would take them below to the crew quarters.
Today, our second day touring Rome will be fun. It's been so interesting; we may spend three days in Rome so we can see, or at least investigate, more. We are starting out early this morning so that most of our group can attend Mass at the Vatican at 9:00 AM. This will screw up Ed's plan a little, but he said we were starting out there today anyway.
After a quick triple S, I was dressed and up in the main salon, having coffee with Dewey and Julie. Julie was in rare form this morning, excitedly talking about the great day we had yesterday and what Ed had planned for us today. By six twenty, everyone not involved in making breakfast was in the salon. The kids were over by the music stuff with Bonita playing with the new guitar Chuck and Lisa bought. She was being quiet, as she had on headphones so she wouldn't bother everyone. You could still hear the clicking of the pick on the strings, but not the real sound.
Chuck and Lisa came up and began herding the kids below for breakfast, telling them that if they were able to finish practice early today, they would all practice this evening. Just as we were all going to go below, one of the security people was leading four men and three women over the gangway. I stepped outside to see what was happening, but Lisa burst past me running and gave one of the guys a hug. She turned to one of the ladies, hugged her, and said, "You're here early. How did you find us? How did you know where we were docked?"
The big man looked at me, held out his hand, and said, "I'm Kenny. Since no one is going to introduce us, I thought I'd better."
Chuck took over, "These are guys from the band we're going to try and do a concert with this Friday. This guy is Kenny, the bass player; this guy is Dan, the keyboard player; Fred here is the lead guitar player, a really good lead guitar player, if I do say so; and this guy is Carlos. He does a lot of percussion stuff and vocals, along with some background rhythm guitar and harmonica. These ladies are wives of the first three, and also sometimes do vocals in the studio. I don't know why they don't do them in concerts."
Dewey and Dennis had come out and the group members shook hands all around. While we had been doing the introductions, Ed had come on board. He was quickly introduced as our Italian tour guide.
I said, "I think we can find room for you at the table. Come on down and have breakfast with us."
The group looked at each other and grinned. Kenny said, "If we're not putting you out, we'd love to."
We went through the main salon, with the group taking in all the instruments sitting around the music area, and the rest of the beautiful big room. As we went down the wide curved stairway, I could hear the group from the band exclaiming at how big and beautiful the boat is.
As soon as Glenda, Beth, and Missy saw the extra people, they were scooting people over so they could add the extra chairs and place settings. Since everyone was still standing, waiting for Martin to say grace, the transition was fast.
Everyone was soon standing behind their chairs and Martin gave thanks with just a few words. We all sat down and began devouring sausage links, scrambled eggs, with biscuits and gravy. Missy said, "You know I had a premonition we would have extras this morning. That's why we have all this extra food. See, Glenda, it was a good thing I did make extra."
Beth said, "You're just psychic, Missy. Do you think Merlin will make it today?"
Missy answered, "He should, as he said he had good connections all the way through. I hope he didn't book any shows over here so he has time to do some of the tours with us. Too bad he's not here this morning, because he really wanted to see the Vatican."
Chuck's cell phone rang, he looked at it, and unusual for him, answered it at the table. He answered and listened for a few seconds, then said, "Escort him to the boat. I'll meet him at the gangway. Sure, I'll make sure his luggage gets on board." Chuck hung up and said, "Well, now you know where Merlin is, come with me Missy, the man is causing a stir as he's dressed in some kind of magic garb. The folks he traveled with must have thought him really strange."
Mercy, Missy, Sue, and I went up to get Merlin. I noticed Glenda and Beth making up another place setting. We really did have an over full house.
Mercy and Missy greeted Merlin, dressed in a robe and pointy hat. Missy was shaking her head and asked, "What in the world did you have in mind wearing that get up?"
Merlin shook my hand and winked at me, "Why, Missy, my love, I'm a wizard, the great Merlin, able to mystify everyone."
"You don't mystify me, you goon," Missy laughed at his braggadocio. "Did you really wear that all the way here?"
Merlin hugged his wife and said, "Of course not. I wore this just to pull your chain and to let the people at the yacht club know a famous wizard has arrived, along with the group they are all talking about that you are hiding here on board."
Missy said, "Come on, come down and eat. We're leaving real soon to go to the Vatican."
When Merlin came down the stairs, all of the kids began yelling and clapping, as Merlin always performed non-stop for them. He went around to the kids pulling fake birds, scarves, and quarters from ears and noses. He hugged all the kids before going to the chair Missy was pointing to.
The music group was all shocked by the strange guy in a wizard robe and pointy hat. Kenny said, "Are you all a little wacky? This is the wildest group I've ever seen."
Kenny's wife said, "You have so many kids, and there's obviously multiple families. How do you all fit on this boat?"
Mercy said, "The boat is huge. Have Chuck and Lisa give you a tour. I know you guys are going to be busy working on your concert material, but if you want, have supper with us this evening." She looked at Ed and said, "I think we'll be back by six or earlier and we'll have supper on the table no later than seven. That is, if Steve and Dewey can get the steaks grilled by then."
Kenny looked around and said, "I recognize you, John, right? You came with us once and had a broken arm. There is the tiny Tiani and Brandy, our two hostesses that cringed with us going through that horrible storm. Wow! You guys are really a big family."
Chuck told him, "Some of these people live and work with each other back home. Meet my executive assistant, Wanda; John, you know; ah, Ben a phenomenal financial genius, and his wife, Beth. They are Sue's parents. You've met Mercy, along with her mom, Missy, and dad, Merlin. There's Dennis and Marie; Dennis is in R&D with Steve's company, and Marie works for me in the Deputy Marshal's Office. You heard Martin say grace, and next to him is his wife, Glenda, Steve's oldest Florida friend. The tall lady is Kathy, next are Barb, Juanita, and Mickey. In my group here, there is Maria; you know Brandy and Tiani; next to them are Julie, Nancy, Judy, Frieda, Taiying, and Sing. This regal looking gentleman is Dewey, with sisters Sheila and Sheena, and the last two are Jan, a real FBI agent, and her guy, Don, who operates a dojo."
Chuck was grinning when he said, "I'm going to hold off introducing you to the kids. That will take a while. So everyone, this is Kenny, Dan, Fred, and Carlos. The Latin looking guy is Carlos." Everyone laughed. "If I remember the names right, the women are Kenny's Barb; Fred's Carolyn; and Carlos' Ramona. Dan forgot to bring Cindy with him."
Dan blushed and said, "Cindy's not with me anymore. She took off with a guitar player, someone more exciting. I always figured her as temporary, that's why we weren't married."
In Fred's defense, Kenny said, "We're all so involved in our music that we have to have women who understand our mentality. These three ladies understand us, do a lot of vocals for us, and have agreed to do the concert with us. I think they are making sure we don't run off with one of the foxes we usually have on stage singing with us. Now we'll have some real babes to play with after the gig."
The three women blushed at Kenny's praise and continued eating. As everyone finished breakfast, several of the women began cleaning off the tables. As if they felt part of the group, the three ladies with the band group began gathering plates too. In very little time, the tables were clear and dishes were being washed. The rest of us went up to the salon where the kids had begun going through one of the pieces we had been practicing. Fred walked over to Bonita, who was focused on what she was playing with her eyes closed. She was doing the rhythm chords to the piece and listening to Lisa's lead that we had recorded.
Fred looked around and motioned to me, "Where did that come from?" He was pointing at the classic three quarter guitar Bonita was playing.
I told him, "I found it in a music store over here. Bonita needed a smaller guitar, and as you can hear, she can play. Wait till she begins learning all the great riffs and breaks we all know and love. She can play keyboard better than most, is learning bass, and now, drums."
Kenny was standing with us and said, "Man, you have a lot of junior talent here. Look, Dan, there are two violins too. Look at those kids; they all have really nice Gibson acoustical axes. There's some big bucks tied up in those."
Kenny was looking around and said, "Look at that, a double with a six string bass. Now that is classic, and what's this? Wow, a Harmony H-22. That's a real classic."
Fred still couldn't get over the three quarter SG. He said, "I've never seen one, but I've heard they made them at one time. It sounds great."
Bonita looked up and asked, "Are you the guys we're going to play for later?"
Lisa tried to hush her, but Barb, Kenny's wife said, "You better believe it. I want to hear what Lisa and Chuck have for us."
Bonita asked, "Are you going to practice all day here?"
Kenny told her, "No, we have a studio rented and we'll be going there in a few minutes. Chuck and Lisa get your stuff together and we'll head over there. We need to go over a bunch of new original stuff."
Carlos was sitting with Liz while she had been playing her harmonica, accompanying Bonita's chords as they played with the recording. Carlos was comparing their two identical harmonicas. Liz said, "I'm like you," as she was patting the fanny pack around her waist. "I keep one of mine with me all the time."
Ed was trying to get us going, so I told all the kids to 'move it, ' so we could get on the bus. Some of the kids grumbled, but they all put their instruments into their cases and headed out the door. Ed was saying we were going to have to get a move on.
As soon as we were on the bus, not even seated yet, the driver took off to make the Mass on time. The man was a master, weaving in and out of traffic with the giant bus. Drivers in Italy all seem to be playing chicken as they attempt to bluff each other, while trying to make a turn in front of another vehicle. We arrived at the Vatican with about fifteen minutes to spare. It looked like everyone was going to go to the service, so I went with them. I noticed that when Chuck wasn't with his women, they mixed in with mine and stayed close to me. I am flattered.
The Mass was nice and several of the people with us took communion. When we exited through another door, Ed announced that our first stop would be the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Ed kept up a running commentary, telling us the museums were built and furnished over six hundred years ago, so there is a lot of artwork to see. He said there are over seven and half miles of hallways filled with artwork from around the world. He told us that each of us would have some preferences, such as paintings versus sculptures, Renaissance versus Egyptian, and so on. We couldn't pass up the Sistine Chapel, built in 1474. It was painted almost entirely by Michelangelo in the first half of the sixteenth century. After over three hours in the Museum and Chapel, we exited out of the Chapel where we noticed a long line waiting to get into the museum. Ed must have known someone to have taken us into the museum through another entry.
We went to a large cafeteria style restaurant, where we had a very nice lunch with lots of water, juice, and ice tea. Everyone was hungry and thirsty.
After lunch, we went to Saint Peter's Basilica, the largest Catholic Church in the world. More than a hundred years of design and building went into the structure, along with thousands of works of art. Ed said that if we were around the Basilica around five, we could listen to a Vespers Mass.
Ed asked us if we wanted to call it a day, as we had seen what he thought were the highlights. It was already after three, so we all agreed to take a break and relax. Ed reminded us the rest of the week was probably going to be away from Rome, unless we wanted to tour the city for another day, otherwise we would be staying in hotels overnight.
We made it back to the boat before five, and the kids immediately began playing with their instruments. The adults raided the bar for a while, before the ladies went below to begin supper.
Dewey said, "I didn't see the big cooker you said you ordered. Do we have to go get it?"
I told him, "No," and used my cell phone to call the yacht club. The concierge said he was waiting for us to return and an attendant would bring the big gas grill right away. I relayed that information to Dewey who was focused on a cold beer. Don and Dennis came up the stairs, each carrying two cases of beer. Dennis said, "I noticed the big cooler was down about halfway. You said the thing will hold five cases, so if we need another case, I'll bring it up. Let me pull a couple of dozen bottles out and put them on ice, and I'll put the rest of what we brought up under the cold ones."
Martin was directing the filling of the big ice chest and the cooler. He checked the temperature to make sure it was set just a couple of degrees over freezing before suggesting the two men bring up at least two more cases. He turned to me and said, "Good thing we only have to stock one kind of beer. We'd never keep up if we had to have light beer too."
The attendant brought the big cooker and wheeled it onto the deck near the door to the salon. He told me there was a full gas bottle, so we should have more than enough to cook all our meat.
Dewey opened one side of the grill and said, "You can cook over twenty steaks just on one side of this thing."
I told him, "Think about it, Dewey; think of how many people we have on board, all the people from the Irish Bell, and Chuck's bringing seven more. That's a lot of people." I began tallying up how many we were going to have for dinner. "Let's see, I figured with everyone here right now, we had at least 48 people on board. Chuck's bringing 7, there are 11 passengers and the 8 crew and attendants on the Irish Bell, plus Ed will be here. That's ah, 74 and Ed makes 75. I wonder if the girls have figured on that much meat."
Dewey was sitting with his mouth open when Martin said, "You ain't seen nothing yet, Dewey. You know how many show up on Fridays around home most of the time? When there's something big going on, there's more, a lot more."
Dewey commented, "Yeah, but I've seen you guys use caterers for the big crowds."
I said, "I'm going below to make sure they know how many are coming."
I spotted Sue helping get some giant pots of vegetables cooking. When I looked around, I was almost sick. Meat for 75 people should stand out and be noticeable. I asked Sue, "Do you know how many people are going to be here tonight?"
She nodded and said, "Around 75, why?"
"Where's the steaks. That's a hell of a lot of people to feed. There should be a giant pile of steaks."
Sue laughed, "The Irish Bell is supplying about a 100 steaks. They are all marinated and ready for the grill. I think they are what we call New York strip steaks. I don't know what they call them in Ireland or Italy."
Whew! That's a relief. I had another question, "How are we going to feed everyone? Breakfast was jammed and you're planning on another almost 20."
Mercy was next to Sue, and said, "No sweat, we'll eat in shifts. You can't cook a hundred steaks at a time anyway. You can probably do fifty at a time and we can handle that many at the tables at once. We'll feed all the kids, the Bell's crew, and a bunch of us women together, then reload and feed the rest on a second shift."
Well, she had it figured out. The mass of humanity called for me to have something stronger than a beer. When I arrived at the bar to sit next to Dewey, he handed me a tall Beefeaters and said, "There sure is going to be a lot of people around here tonight."
After taking a big gulp of the firewater, I gave him the numbers, "Seventy-five, Dewey, seventy-five people will be on board. That's bunch of people."
Dewey grinned, "At least you're not going out to sea with that many. It's going to be crowded going to the Riviera, but that is only one night on board, right? Then we have hotel rooms for everyone there. When we leave the Riviera, a lot of the people will have gone home. We'll still have a pretty full boat, but not nearly as many as we have now."
I said, "It'll be just close family then, but that seems to be growing too."
Ben was motioning for Dewey and me to step outside. We went out and Ben was acting excited. I had noticed while at the bar that Ben had been out on deck talking on his cell phone. "You know the gold mine we just about gave back to the native workers?"
Dewey and I nodded, "Well, part of our original purchase down there was for the rest of that mountain. My men just told me that one of them had made an emergency trip down to check out what we were being told. He took a geologist with him and called back a little while ago."
Ben didn't say anything for a long while.
Dewey said, "Well, what is it, are you going to tell us?"
Ben was shaking his head, "The local geologist down there had a new mine opened and from what I heard they were only about twenty feet in. They ran smack into a vein of gold that the geologist said has to be the biggest find of this century."
I laughed, "This century is only ten years old."
Ben acted exasperated, "You know what I mean, the richest find in over a hundred years. Probably bigger than the vein in Koje-Do, Korea, bigger than the one in Africa, this is big."
I asked, "So what does this mean since the locals own most of the mine there?"
Ben looked at me as if I were really stupid, "This means that you, me, Dewey, and Chuck are some wealthy sons-of-a-gun. The land, the property the new mine is on, is our property. Chuck owns fifty percent, and you, Dewey, and I split the other fifty. There will be a lot of mining costs, but this is really big. My man hired the local army to guard the place and the shipments out of there. He says that we'll end up paying the army troops about five times their normal wages for the work they will do, but it will be worth it."
Ben paused and added quietly, "And the oil field we are exploring, all ten wells came through. Mexico was begging us to explore, so I used a lot of Chuck's money, some of yours, Steve, some of Dewey's, some of Tiny's, and some of mine to do the exploration. Since Chuck is the majority owner, he's going to be one hell of a popular guy down there. Now all we have to do is to sell the wells and the lease to cash in. We'll collectively bring in about ten billion."
I gasped, "Ten billion? Ten billion? Ben, do you know how much that is?"
Ben was nodding when he said, "Considering my commission, I sure do. Chuck is going to be one of the richest guys alive."
Dewey said, "Steve, I don't know how you met Chuck, but that was one of the best days of both of our lives. You know, you and I may have enough. We might not want to keep trying to build up our portfolio. I think we should just ride with our investments, look after what businesses we have, and kick back. What do you think?"
I was still in a state of shock. "Ben, are you sure about all of this? How much is the gold mine really worth?"
"No telling, but the initial ore removed from the first part of the seam that we shipped has paid about fifteen million. You'll have to pay taxes and stuff down there, but there will be a lot left over."
I said, "I wonder what Chuck is going to do for those people now. He's rebuilt the entire town and has made sure that every man, woman, and child have a good home, food, clothes, and an education. The man has built an electric plant, sewer system, and a water plant. He keeps wanting to make sure they are taken care of, and I think they are ecstatic the way things have been going. They are personally reaping a fortune from the existing mine, while the rest of us have been receiving only a small portion of the whole. That's what Chuck wanted so that's what we've done. Now it's come back to him in the form of an even richer mine."
Ben said, "I know. Every time Chuck tries to give away money. Every time he helps someone or a group, something good happens to him. I know one thing, I love being his broker and financial advisor."
Thinking I could get something out of Ben in his excitement, I asked, "All that and his Costa Rican stuff, just how much does he have stashed down there?"
Ben almost said something, and then looked at me funny, "I can't tell you that. That's Chuck's personal stuff and I'm sworn to keep it between the two of us."
That was thinking on his feet for Ben. He caught himself in time and that, at least, means Ben is the right person for the three of us and Tiny to keep investing with. The man does keep his word.
Just as we finished our talk, four guys from the Irish Bell came pushing a couple of rolling tables full of steaks in the marinade. When I checked out the steaks, I realized these were some very prime meat.
The peace was interrupted by a raucous group coming down the dock walkway. Lisa, Chuck, and the group with their wives, were laughing and joking as the came to the boat. Chuck asked, "I hope those steaks taste as good as they look. I'm starved, as I'm sure the rest of this group is." There was agreement all around.
Back inside the salon, the kids had dialed it up a little, making a lot more noise. Chuck and the group headed for the bar, beers were opened and almost drained before setting the bottles down. Kenny was slapping both Chuck and Lisa on the back, "Damn, we're ready to do the concerts right now. You two have fit like a glove. This is going to be a lot of fun."
Chuck set his bottle down and looked at Kenny funny, "Concerts, as in plural, more than one? Concerts?"
Chuck
Lisa woke me up, doing something unmentionable to me under the sheet. When she had achieved her goal and I had expressed her reward, she came up to share it with me and with the other women around me, since she had woken them with her activity.
The ladies acted as if I hadn't given them any attention in months, where in reality, I had thumped my way through the entire menagerie before collapsing, unconscious, last night. They are insatiable.
With a big smile, I left the grasping women to deal with their problem among themselves. As soon as I was in the shower, I was joined by Lisa, Taiying, Sing, and Maria. It's a good thing these showers are huge. I had wondered why the girls had designed the showers on the boat to be so big.
After dressing, Lisa and I went up to the salon, via the galley, to collect a mug of coffee. Beth advised me, "Get the kids to come to breakfast. We're leaving early today so we can go to the Vatican."
As soon as we came up into the salon, I could see the kids were really wired. It was not even six thirty in the morning, and they were all, I mean all, playing along with the recording Lisa and I had made of Pop's instrumental. They were sounding pretty good, but I put my fingers to my mouth, whistled, and called a halt to the practice. "Grandma Beth said for you to come to breakfast. We have to eat to get an early start." Surprisingly, there wasn't any opposition to the request. They all ran down the stairs, exactly the way they had been told not to.
Steve had gotten up and gone out on deck for something. That's when Lisa ran past me to run up to a familiar guy and hug him. I came out as Kenny, the bass player, and sort of leader of the group, was introducing himself to Steve. It took a little bit to make all of the introductions.
Steve asked them to have breakfast with us and I thought that would be a stretch. We were already jammed at the tables, but knowing this bunch, they'll find room.
As soon as we came into the galley, the women began making room at the table, dragging up more chairs. We amazingly fit seven more people. Martin had just said grace and we were seated when my cell phone rang.
It was the yacht club calling to ask if we would allow a person named Merlin to come to the boat. That was weird, why would there be such a question? I told them to lead him to the boat.
I told Missy and Mercy, "Merlin has arrived. He's on his way to the boat right now."
Mercy, Missy, Sue, and Steve got up to welcome Merlin and bring him down to breakfast. Beth and Julie made room for another plate. It's a good thing the boat carried a lot of folding chairs or people would be eating in the big lounge. As it was, six of the women were now eating at the counter, and some were squeezed into the kids' table.
The band guys and wives were commenting about such a big family, so I explained that this was several families and couples that we all worked with. I began identifying everyone around the table. Kenny recognized, John, Brandy, and Tiani, as those three had made trips with them. As I named all the others, even I was surprised at how many people were down in the galley and dining area. I guess I was getting used to all of us being together.
After breakfast, while the cleanup was in progress, the kids began playing their guitars again. When we were all up in the salon, Kenny and Fred went nuts over the vintage three quarter SG Bonita was playing. The more they heard the kids playing the more they realized we had some real talent on board.
Carolyn even sat down at the keyboard and played along with kids for a few minutes. Dan was going spastic over the Roland MV8800 Production Studio controller. He was dubbing in some B-3 memory riffs along with making some synthesizer sounds.
Steve whistled real loud to get the kids attention and said, "Okay, Kids, put your stuff away and let's go get on the bus. Come on, it's late and we have to get going."
And with just a snap of the fingers, all those people, including the wizard, Merlin, now wearing normal clothes, vanished. Carlos, who had been having a conversation with Liz, said, "Wow!" When all those kids are all playing at once, it's a zoo. It's difficult to pick out the good stuff with everyone playing something different. I guess they're used to it, but man is that a racket."
Dan said, "Kenny, come check out this controller. This is the new version of what we have in our studio. It is really class in a fairly small package. This thing is road worthy."
Kenny was too busy fingering and thumbing the Harmony Bass. He said, "This is how it all started. Just think, if they'd had the good pickups, the great amps and speakers we have now, with the effects that have come out, the early bassists would have ruled the music world."
Fred told Kenny, "You know Les Paul developed a ton of effects as early as the late sixties. By seventy-five, there were probably ten or fifteen different companies making effects licensed from Les Paul. The man was genius."
Kenny was nodding and said, "Okay, everyone. Let's get out of here and over to the studio. We have a lot of music to cover."
Lisa asked them, "Do you guys want a quick tour below deck? Come on and see how all these people fit on here."
We all went below and showed them the galley and big lounge that they had seen, the three large cabins and the extra cabins on the middle deck. When we took them below to the bottom deck, they were astonished at how much room was down there to. The kids area or crew quarters was surprisingly neat and the group all noticed the keyboard and the new amp down there.
Dan asked, "How many keyboards to have? There are two upstairs, two in that big lounge next to the galley, and another down here. You really have a lot of equipment."
Lisa said, "Most of it is my fault because I keep seeing another of the kids wanting to practice the piano so more keyboards were needed. Last year Chuck bought all the kids the nice Gibson acousticals, that's why they all have the same guitar."
I had to interject, "I didn't make the selection. Lisa surprised me with a bunch of instruments that she made a deal for in Tampa. Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are."
Lisa blushed but I think she was pleased to get the credit for helping the kids to have quality instruments.
The studio wasn't that far away, and their agent had a minibus and driver arranged for transportation. As soon as we arrived, I could see the group had already unpacked their equipment and was ready to start.
We went over some of their classics to get a feel for how we were going to mix. This was easy, as Lisa and I had worked hard learning their music. When Carlos gave me a break on the drums, Lisa wanted to switch to guitar, so I played the keyboard for a bit. A surprise was Carolyn wanting to do the keyboard parts, so I pulled out my regular bass, hooked up my effects, and took over the back beat.
Kenny brought out the first of the new originals they were planning to use. Lisa and I went through the music, noticing a lot of backup vocals. Kenny told me, "Do Stick's part and pull the mike close so we can get the right mix on your voice. Our mix guy is sleeping late, but he'll be here soon. When he gets here, get a wireless headset from him."
I asked everyone in a general way, "How about a mini-monitor on a stand? I need something to help me stay in key, especially on some new stuff."
Lisa was back as the second guitar and was ready. With the group sitting down with music stands in front of them, we did the first pass through the new piece. Even though the vocals were a little weak, it sounded really good. Dan said, "That was great. This is going to be a real hit. Let's work on the middle and the chorus to get those breaks down. Lisa, if you want to break out, you know, wail a little in the background, complement Fred in key and harmony as you do it. That'll spice it up."
We went through that piece about ten times before they brought out more sheet music. This went about the same, but Carlos, with his slight Latin accent was doing the vocals along with some Latin accent percussion sounds. He had every tool you could imagine, bells, chimes, blocks, cow bells, a glockenspiel, tambourines, a couple gongs, a conga drum, a set of bongos, and even a big bowl steel drum. The man used a wireless headset to sing and do his percussion mix at the same time. This piece was commercial, with some Santana feeling, targeting a wide audience, but it sounded very professional. I could tell Kenny was happy with our progress, since he brought out another new piece. This time it was some hard blues rock.
He told Carlos, "Do Stick, I'll do back up rhythm with Lisa. Chuck, I want you to drive us home on the bass. Let's go through it, and then we'll make some noise."
This was a good piece with a lot of guitar and keyboard breaks. All of it needed a strong driving bass, along with solid drums. Our first time through had chills running down my back. This was going to be good. When we finished, Kenny said, "For the most part, we could do this one now. That was really good. Let's work on the breaks and see if we can get Chuck to stand out a little more."
The piece turned into a jam that lasted a half hour before Kenny waved us down. "Damn, that is so good that we'll have to be careful we don't get carried away on stage."
The sound guy had arrived, set up, and recorded the jam we just did. He waved a CD at Kenny, "Got it, Boss. That's a good one for the files."
Kenny rifled through some sheet music and brought out another of their originals, "Okay, this is a slow one. Ah, Lisa, you can do keyboard and vocals on this. Your voice is perfect for it. Do it with that husky, raspy voice you sometimes do. Dan is going to do drums, as Carlos has a lot of background percussion. I'll be doing rhythm, and Chuck, I want you to do your mellow singing stuff on your bass. Do you need a slide?"
I shook my head as I was looking over the music. Lisa was going to be doing a lot of singing on this as it was really a slow blues ballad. It did have a chorus and backup vocals that was indicated to be done by everyone, including the stage backup vocalists, the women.
At Kenny's suggestion, we went through just the instrumental a few times to get the timing slow enough to give the effect Kenny wanted. After that, we began doing the vocals. About the fifth time through it began sounding great. The sound guy was mixing Lisa's voice and the backup vocals just right. It was good enough that when we finished the last time through, I saw Jack put a CD in his controller to save it. Kenny asked, "What do you think, is that cut ready for an album or what? I want to get all our new stuff recorded live so we can work them up at the studio. I think we have a hell of a mix."
I was sitting back with a bottle of water, watching Lisa as she tinkered with the keyboard. She told Dan, "You know, you guys need a second keyboard for some B-3 backing. That last piece needs both piano and B-3 to fill it in. There're a couple of places for some eerie synthesizer sounds, and whoever is doing the drums needs to use brushes."
Kenny went over to Lisa and had her mark up the sheet music she was using to make notes for the B-3 background and synthesizer. She tried to make the synthesizer sounds she wanted to hear at a couple of vocal breaks. Kenny was shaking his head, and said, "Carolyn, do the keyboard on piano; Lisa, you do the other keyboard on B-3. Here, Jack; you have to put the synthesizer sounds in here, here, and here," as he marked up another copy of the sheet music. "I know you're mixing, but do your best. Let's try it through with the additions."
Wow! This time the piece was really down and dirty ballad blues with a modern twist. It was really good.
Jack looked up from his console and said, "I have every note. That was awesome."
Fred was sitting, staring off at nothing, and Dan was on the drums, tapping the drum heads with the steel wires of the brushes. Kenny said, "That's it; that will be the highlight of the show. We'll set up the close with that, and finish with the piece we went nuts over. That way, if we have an encore, we can continue with the jam theme."
Lisa and I were getting tired. I could tell she was getting worn out as she was sitting with her hands in her lap. Kenny said, "Okay, everyone, I'm not a slave driver. We have another day to practice before we put the show together Thursday and Friday. I want to do the entire show run-through a couple of times on Thursday, and do it again once Friday morning or afternoon. We'll be ready. I think we could damn near fake our way through the gig right now, but we're going to do it right. Let's go eat; Chuck's folks said they were going to feed us."
Lisa and I packed our equipment and we all used the bus to go back to the boat. The kids were already practicing, but I wanted a beer before I picked up another instrument. The band and wives all wanted beer, and Lisa wanted a drink.
Kenny was really in a good mood, telling everyone how great we all sounded together. He was slapping me on the back and hugging Lisa when he said, "Damn, we're ready to do the concerts right now. You two have fit like a glove. This is going to be a lot of fun."
I set my beer bottle down on the bar a little hard and looked at Kenny funny, "Concerts, as in plural, more than one? Concerts?"
Kenny said, "Yeah, Man; Friday, Saturday, and a matinee on Sunday. All of them are sold out. This is going to be one hell of a concert series. Just think, the place for Friday and Saturday is a soccer stadium and will hold over ninety-thousand, but the way they will have the stage arranged it will only be able to seat a little over seventy-thousand. The Sunday matinee is in the big opera house. We'll have a second set of equipment set up there so the guys won't have to work all night tearing down and building it all again. The big cargo plane is going to be stuffed."
I looked at Lisa with an almost sick look. She grinned at me and said, "Hey, this is the world of performance art. Real musicians can do this every night, night after night, for four or five hours."
Dan said, "We don't get a chance to do two big shows very often, and as you know, we usually only end up playing in a big auditorium or an indoor sports complex. Even the matinee that is for the bigwigs in the business and local government is going to bring in a big buck. The promoter here did a hell of a marketing job. That's why we need you guys so bad. Without our regulars, there is no way we could do this gig without you."
All I could mumble was "Three, three concerts?"
Dan added to the shock by reminding me that we were playing the Riviera the next weekend. Oh my, now I'm really getting nervous.
The steaks were really great. I found out they were supplied by the Mackenzie group. There were so many people that we had to eat in two shifts. The band, the bus driver, Lisa, and I took the second shift so we could mellow out with another drink. By the time we had finished eating; Lisa and I were rested and ready to show the kids off.
I told the visiting band that we were going to practice until the women were done with the cleanup. When everyone was in the salon, we'd do our thing.
While the band was still at the bar, we practiced both of the original pieces, along with a couple of the good ones we could do. We didn't use any amps, but with all those acoustic guitars, it was evident what most of it would sound like.
When the last of the women were upstairs at tables or at the bar, Lisa flipped on the amp and used a microphone. "Welcome to our mini-show. These kids are all products of Steve, Sue, Mercy, Kathy, Dewey, Sheila, Sheena, Michael, and Chanda. Most of the kids from the states have been playing and learning together for almost a year. We do have a couple of very talented kids that live and breathe music, and they've progressed far beyond what anyone could expect. Chuck and I used the boat trip over here to teach the kids real four part harmony on instruments. We've learned some fun songs, some country, and of course, some blues. We'll do a few of our standards and finish with two pieces written for Chuck and me by Pop and Rags. Actually, Pop wrote them and Rags added a little to them. I present 'The Lucky Lady Band."
We did four of our classics that came off really good. Everyone was clapping and whistling. Next, we did Lisa's "My Funny Valentine" to get the crowd into a blues mood. We received some more good applause. The next was Pop's instrumental that featured Lisa on guitar and me on a singing bass, followed by the piece with all the vocals. They were both flawless. Amidst the applause, I had all the kids stand and bow. That got some more applause and a bunch of hugs from moms and dads who crowded around the kids.
When Lisa and I went to the bar, Kenny exclaimed, "Wow! That was special. How in the world did you teach them how to play like that in such a short period of time?"
Lisa said, "We let them teach themselves. Bonita is the real instigator, and spends a lot of time teaching and helping the others. She's a little music genius who will probably be well known by the time she's twenty. She plays the piano, guitar, violin, and is learning the bass and drums. I think little Lizzy wanted to be a little different, and taught herself through some videos how to play the harmonica. As you heard, she's learned well and feels the music a lot more than most students ever will. You should see her play her guitar and play the harmonica with a brace. She's really something to watch."
Fred said, "The little girl was even doing some free form on the little SG during Pop's two pieces. That was wild."
Dan commented, "You know, your idea of teaching them how to harmonize with all those guitars is unusual, but those kids are good."
Lisa handed Jack and Kenny CDs, and said, "This is a copy of tonight's show. Take them home and work them. Perhaps you can use them with something you do. As you heard, they're not afraid to do vocals, and they're really good at performing for people."
Jack said, "I saw that new Roland controller. That is a real honey. You can just about work your stuff over just using that. Did you use several pickups?"
I told Jack, "We're only using eight separate inputs. We can use up to an even dozen, but eight is about right for us amateurs."
Jack commented, "That sounded a lot more professional than amateur. I want to record those kids in our studio."
Lisa said, "You'll have to come to our place in north Tampa. We have a real studio for recording complete with four booths and a big room. We can put together almost anything. Chuck and I have put together a few pieces and mixes that really sound good. Using that same controller, we can match tracks with no effort. We mixed six to eight tracks and have a CD of some really good blues stuff."
Kenny asked, "Do you have a copy of that?"
Lisa got off her tall chair at the bar, went to the controller, loaded and copied the tracks to a disk. She came back and gave the CD to Jack. "Make a few copies for you guys to listen to. This stuff is the real Chuck and Lisa Johnson."
Ramona asked, "Did you two get married?"
Lisa smiled, "Not yet, but it will be easy for us since both of our last names are the same."
The band was beginning to yawn, so they said that they would have the bus come pick us up at eight-thirty. We would get a good day of practice in and put the show together on Thursday. They warned us to get some rest as tomorrow could be a long day, depending on how we do."
Fred said, "If we sound as good tomorrow as we did today, we should begin putting the show together tomorrow afternoon. A couple of more times through some of the new stuff and we'll be golden."
Kenny was nodding, "You're right. While we're practicing, I'll have Jack try to chart what pieces and the order we'll do them in the show and we can run through it real quick. We'll get it down Thursday and be ready Friday."
My ladies and I walked the group up front where the bus was. They all climbed aboard and all of my women and I waved goodnight.
The kids had put all their stuff away, so Lisa and I did the same. The salon was emptying out and I said goodnight, leading the ladies below.
I was dead tired, but the ladies had other ideas. We played for over an hour in an attempt to satisfy everyone, including the greedy, Julie. She was becoming a regular. As I lay on my back exhausted, with a small Asian mouth nursing on me, even though she had been well thumped, I sighed. "Goodnight, Girls, you all are wonders."
Primary Editing by Pepere
Proofing and Continuity by Sagacious
European tours by Rotorhead
Last one through - Deenara2000