Jimmy wandered over to play the drums again. I knew he was going to end up with the set. It deserved to be played by someone who could do it justice. Counting the new heads, I had about five hundred in it, and I was going to let him have it for that. He didn’t know it yet, I was going to let him squirm by pretending I had people interested in it.
He wasn’t broke, but money was tight. He and his wife were practicing Catholics, and he already had four kids. I figured he would end up with six or seven before it was over.
I told Moira my plan. She was touched. Then she came up with a better plan.
“Wiley, his birthday is in three weeks. Let me buy them as a present. Then we can torture him a little. Tell him they’re sold. I’ll surprise him with them on his birthday. After all, isn’t it an older sister’s right to torture her little brother on occasion?”
I loved it.
“Come on. Let’s start making him miserable now.”
We went to him. He wasn’t even aware we were there for a few minutes. He stopped when he saw us.
“Better play the hell out of them while you can, Jim. I’ve got someone seriously interested in them.”
You could see the disappointment plainly.
“Damn, I was hoping… never mind. Someone’s going to get a hell of a kit.”
Moira had an evil little smile on her face.
“well while they’re here let’s get a little more enjoyment out of them. I want to show Wiley a new song I’ve learned.”
We plugged in, tuned up, and got ready to play.
I flipped out when she started. It was ‘Let It Rock’, the Chuck Berry tune, played note for note in Warren Haynes cover. It was my favorite of all the covers. It was straight forward rock and roll. The bass line was a standard walking blues riff played like it was trying to run a marathon. Jimmy was familiar with it because every time he was in the van with me for about three months he heard it.
Jimmy could sing it too. He had a Warren Haynes/Bob Seeger type voice that was good for about five songs a night without cracking. I stopped her.
“Wow! Let me hook a mike up for Jimmy and let’s start over.”
I took me a few minutes to hook up the mike and get the PA up and balanced.
“All right Jim, kick it off.”
He started out with a three minute drum solo before yelling “Now, Moira!”.
It was great, better than great. We must have played it six times in a row. We finally stopped, grinning like idiots.
We never did get to go look at guitars. We just played. We did ‘Wild Thing’, and I had Moira laughing so hard she almost missed a note when I did the kazoo solo on one of my harmonicas. Following that we did ‘Paranoid’, the classic Black Sabbath cover. I sang that one, She did ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ and again we almost stopped because we were laughing.
Jimmy and Moira we wound tight when we stopped.
“Damn,” Jimmy said, “I wish we could play for a crowd sometime.”
Moira agreed.
“Yeah, I really miss it.”
Neither knew, but I had the power to make it happen.
……………………
It was the Fourth of July and hotter than hell.
Every year for the last twenty years the mountain town of Crockett held their annual music festival, attracting tourists and locals alike. There were three stages, one main and two lesser, and the events were scheduled so that music was playing almost constantly for six hours over three days. I had played there before twice, with different bands.
Soundwave was officially off, so the members could spend vacation with their families. Sammi had to work, restaurants were always busy over holidays. I looked forward to doing nothing for a week. Then I got the call.
“Hey Wiley! It’s Sam Wilkins. How you been?”
Sam was the was the music coordinator for the music festival, so I knew immediately this wasn’t a social call.
“I’m fine, Sam. How’s the festival looking this year?”
“That’s why I’m calling. I need a BIG favor. Any chance your band can play Thursday and Friday for me? I wouldn’t ask, but the band I booked was involved in a pile up on the way here. Broke bones and damaged equipment, you know. Any chance you can bail me out?”
I liked Sam, but I didn’t think I could help him.
“Sorry, but we’re on vacation and half are out of state. Can you find someone else?”
“I’m trying, but everybody is like you guys, booked or on vacation. Hell, you know everybody, can you put something together? I’ll pay top dollar. Please Wiley, I’m up against it here.”
I felt bad for the guy, he booked me often when I was just starting out. I was getting an idea.
“What are you looking for, musically?”
“I booked in a rock act, but anything you can come up with will work.”
This was Monday. I had three days to pull a band together. I loved a challenge.
“Give me a day. I’ll let you know one way or another tomorrow by the afternoon, no promise though.”
After profuse thanks he hung up. I called Jimmy right away.
“Hey Jim, what are your plans this weekend?”
“Hanging around the house with a honey do list. Too broke for anything else. Why?”
“I may have something going. How would you and the family like to spend the weekend in the mountains free? Well not free exactly, we would have to play two afternoons, just two sets each time? You in?”
“I’d have to talk it over with Crystal, but it sounds great. Who we playing with?”
“So far, just you and me. I need to find a couple more. Nothing fancy, simple songs, rock based. Know anyone available? I’ll be looking too. It has to be quick, we play Thursday. I’ll call you in a few hours.”
“Maybe, I’ll check.”