Chapter 45: New Friends And Old Friends

Lynn had supplied us with what turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Ronnie and the band just looked at me and shrugged every time I’d ask about our friend for the weekend.

New Year’s Day was on Sunday so we had our New Year’s Eve party at The Club-Club on Saturday night. Just after lunch, Lynn found me and told me to go to the airport and meet our friends. She gave me a sign to hold up at the luggage carousels that just had “O’Dell” printed on it.

I took our big SUV and left it parked in the short term parking area. I walked in the cold wind across the drive between the garage and the terminal. When a traveler entered the ground floor entrance to the terminal he saw the luggage carousels to the right, the rental car counters straight ahead. Straight ahead was the escalator up to the ticket counters and the TSA station that led to the gates.

I walked in and turned right to the carousels and stood near the second station. The video board above it showed the United flight number and I moved to the side of it and began to show the sign when passengers began to walk my way. Three people were walking together and it made you wonder. One was a young man with a large full, beard and a brown fedora. He was holding the hand of a woman with bright eyes and a big smile. They we accompanied by a young black man wearing a French beret who was looking around and taking in everything he could see.

The woman was the first to see the “O’Dell” sign and headed for me while the two men headed for the baggage carousel. One went to the side door where the airline delivered the really big items, like golf bags and skis.

“Hi! We are the band playing the O’Dell party.”

“Hello to you. I’m Paul O’Dell. Welcome to Boise.”

“I’m Danielle Nicole and that guy with the beard is my husband Brandon and the guy over there is our drummer Go-Go Ray.”

“Go-Go?”

“You’ll see. We’re going to need a big dolly for our gear.”

No sooner had she spoken than a guy from United came from the United office with a four wheeled cart and he headed towards Go-Go at the large item delivery area. The metal roller door securing the area began to rise and Danielle said, “Excuse me I have to get my gear.”

She walked away and I followed. As I neared the area, someone was placing the cases of a drum kit on the countertop.

I called out, “I didn’t know you were bringing all your gear. Let me go and get the SUV and pull up to that door.”

“OK,” was the woman’s reply as I turned and left.

The SUV had just stopped outside the door nearest the luggage carousels when the United guy came out pushing the cart with the drum kit and several guitar cases and some other boxes that I assumed were foot pedal boards and drum hardware. I got out, opened the back, dropped the last seat to horizontal and we carefully placed the instruments in the back along with their personal luggage.

I’d just closed the back hatch when Brandon yelled, “Shotgun!”

“Really, Brandon?”

Brandon smiled and laughed and got into the front passenger seat.

“Do you want to sit behind him?” I asked.

“Yeah, then I can smack him a few times.”

I looked at Go-Go and he shrugged, smiled, and got into the seat behind my driver’s seat. I opened the door for Danielle, she said, “Thank you” and got in. I closed the door, went to the driver’s side, and got in.

“Have you been to Boise before?”

“Yes we played a place that was on the second floor and had an outdoor patio.”

“The Reef?”

“I think so. It was a few years back.”

“Well The Club-Club is a lot more spacious. The stage is an easy load in and the food is great. Will you be able to come to the New Year’s Day party at our home on Sunday? My wife, Blossom, is doing the BBQ and we’ll be doing a jam as well.”

“I thought Lynn O’Dell was your wife,” Danielle asked.

“She is. So is Blossom. And for that matter, so is Erin. You’ll see. It’s all very crazy and yet all so normal. I’m taking you to the hotel first. We’ll get you checked in and then get you to the Club-Club.”

“So why do you call it The Club-Club?” Go-Go asked.

“Well, it’s sister place is called The Bar-Bar. Erin, the owner, figured that there were biker bars and music bars and so she called her place The Bar-Bar. It started as just a bar. Now it’s a biker, karaoke bar. A really great place to hang out. Then she figured that there were dance clubs and strip clubs and so she called it The Club-Club. There is a restaurant at one end and the bar in the middle and the stage and music venue at the other end. And all is in a building wrapping around a small lake or a big pond. We haven’t figured out the correct nomenclature yet.”

“And you have three wives?” Brandon asked.

“Yes and they are married to each other as well so each of them had two wives and a husband,” I said. Then I figured, why not, “And we have twenty-one children.”

“WHAT!?” Danielle screamed.

“Yup. I think we’ve set the world record for multiple births. Erin and Lynn just had another set of twins a few months ago. And Erin wants more. She say she wants to keep having babies until her body says, “No more”. She loves having babies.”

At that point, the SUV remained quiet for the remainder of the drive to the Grove Hotel. I pulled into the covered drive and led the trio into the lobby.

“I’ll take your gear over to the Club-Club and get the gear placed on stage. We won’t set anything up, just put it all in place. First let’s get you checked in and get your bags to your rooms. We go on at eight and do the sound check at seven-fifteen. How much set up time do you want?”

“Do we mic the amps or play through a house system?” Brandon asked.

“Either. We have a top-notch sound guy who has the room dialed in. We can hardwire your gear or go wireless. It’s one of the best sound setups I’ve ever played through. So let me know when you want to head over. It takes about fifteen minutes to get to the Club-Club from here later in the day. And will you want to eat there or elsewhere?”

“How’s the food?” Go-Go asked.

“It’s somewhere between great bar and grill food and good haute cuisine. The locals love it!”

I could see Danielle doing the math in her head before she looked at the other guys and said, “We’ll be ready to go at ... what? Five? Then we can eat, set up, and do the soundcheck.”

Brandon and Go-Go both nodded in agreement.

“Five o’clock it is. We’ll have a car pick you up here. The driver will call for you from the lobby and bring you there and back. Oh! Do you have any allergies? Any food you hate or love?”

“I’m trying to watch my weight,” Danielle said. “So don’t carb me up.”

“Yeah, we try to avoid road food and high fat, high carb, stuff,” Brandon added.

“We’ll have you covered. What about beverages? My band doesn’t drink during gigs.”

“That works,” Brandon said. “Unless it’s real hot, then a nice cold beer is welcome.”

“The temp on stage will be perfect and afterwards the beer will still be ice cold.”

I looked on as Danielle and Brandon went to their rooms and Go-Go went to his. When the elevator door closed, I took off for the Club-Club.

The car picked up Danielle and company right on time and had them to the front door in under fifteen minutes. Security greeted them, called me, and I let them in and greeted them.

“Welcome to The Club-Club. The dining room is this way. How are your rooms?

All three praised the nice digs.

“This is so much better than the rooms we had to stay in when we started,” Danielle said. “I was in a band with my brothers and we were very low budget.”

“I remember seeing TUF in Topeka at Uncle Bo’s,” I said.

“Uncle Bo’s? That was a million years ago.”

“Right. I know for me the world has completely changed. You’ll see what I mean later tonight. When we first opened and had friends come in, we offered to put them up at our place but that proved to be inconvenient for all involved. So now we just make sure that our visiting bands and artists have the best room in the hotel. You ready to go?”

We sat at a table and our server took care of us like we were paying customers. All three of my guests made various yummy sounds as they ate. We talked about the set list for the evening and what they wanted to play.

“There is one song I’d like to do with you, Danielle, if you don’t mind. I first heard you do it way back in Blaney’s basement during one of the Wednesday night jams.”

“Blaney’s? I was like eighteen?”

“And playing part time with the Plutonium Project when Paul Greenlee couldn’t make it.”

“Wait! I’ve been trying to remember where I’ve seen you. COACH!”

“Hi Danielle,” I answered her scream softly. “It’s been awhile.”

“I remember you too from Jerry’s Bait Shop in Lee’s Summit.”

“Yeah Go-Go. And I remember a junior high kid sitting in on guitar during those jam sessions at Jerry’s in Lenexa.”

“Holy shit!”

“Hi Brandon. So, welcome to Boise!”

We spent the rest of the meal talking about my coaching days back in Kansas City and how much I enjoyed watching their progress in the music business. In the intervening years, Go-Go had won the International Roland Electronic Drum competition, Danielle and her brothers had won many accolades as one of the top blues bands in the US. Brandon had been married and divorced and had just recently married Danielle.

I told them about my Olympic swimmers and my own divorce and just scrapped the surface of my current life when our sound guy, Eddie, came into the dining room. He walked to the table and quietly said, “Paul, we’re ready to do the sound check as soon as everyone is set and tuned.”

“Thanks Eddie. Gang, if you are done eating and reminiscing we have work to do.”

All stood and it was fun to watch them instantly become professionals. Their gear was already on stage and they set about opening cases and pulling out their gear. It took the better part of a leisure hour and they were all set.

The Savannah Band was onstage by then and everyone greeted our friends. I thought Boomer was going to wet his pants when I told him about Go-Go. It was fun to see the two drummers talk in the completely foreign language of percussion.

Each instrument played several measures so Eddie could set everything and then the Savannah Band played “Oh Well” and Danielle, Brandon, and Go-Go joined in. Eddie turn up the sound to the outside speakers and the sound check fired up the waiting crowd. You could actually hear the cheers from outside the Club’s doors when Danielle cut loose her vocals on “I’d Rather Be A Blind Girl”.

As soon as I heard everyone together, I knew this was going to be one of those special nights. The streaming show was going to explode.

“Hi Daddy!”

Repeated greetings were delivered from the stage door as the O’Dell family came into the building and went up the stairs to the viewing room.

“My God! It’s a damn clown car!” Brandon said.

“No, it’s Paul’s family,” Ronnie corrected.

“Family?” Danielle asked.

“Yeah, he’s got three wives and twenty-one kids.”

Danielle turned to look at me and I smiled and shrugged.

“I told y’all life had changed for me,” I said as I took to the mic. “Eddie, are we good?”

“Yup. They’re going to open the doors in a few.”

“OK. Come on gang let’s get to the Green Room and go over the set list.”

The Savannah band took off for the stage door and up the stairs to the Green Room. I pointed the direction to our friends and followed behind. Once upstairs in the Green Room, the band got some sandwiches and soft drinks or water and took seats.

“We’ll sit up here until 8:30 and then head down to the stage. We’ll play the opening song and then have you come on. The restrooms are over there and...”

“DADDY!”

The room quickly filled up with children. After giving me hugs they went around the room and gave greetings of various sorts to the members of the Savannah Band before gathering around me again and looked at our friends, expectantly.

“Hi Lover,” Lynn said following the family with Erin and Blossom holding hands behind her.

“Hi Lover,” I replied. “Danielle, this is my wife Lynn, whom I’m sure you’ve spoken with. And this is our wife Erin and our wife Blossom. Ladies, this is Danielle Nicole and Brandon Miller and Go-Go Ray, known as the Danielle Nicole Band.”

Our friends shook hands and I could see the questions getting ready to fly when I stepped in.

“Kids, I’d like you to meet the Dannielle Nicole Band. The lady is Danielle Nicole. The guy with the big beard is Brandon Miller. And the guy with the drum sticks is Go-Go Ray.”

“Go-Go?” Margaret Erin asked.

“Yes,” he answered with one of his big smiles.

“That’s a funny name,” she added.

“Yes it is but then again, I, am a funny guy.”

“Are you what my Daddy calls a mushroom?” William Blossom asked, staring enviously at the drum sticks.

“A mushroom? Really?” Go-Go said looking at me.

“Yeah, Go-Go. A mushroom. You know ... a fun guy?”

The Savannah Band all groaned at the old joke, one of my favorites, and shook their collective heads.

“It’s gonna be one of those night, boy and girls,” Wendy-Wendy said.

“How do you spell your name?” Genevieve Lynn, our Scrabble queen, asked.

“It’s G-o-hyphen-G-o.”

“A hyphen? Just like Wendy-Wendy?” Genevieve Lynn pointed out.

“I guess so.”

“Yes Genevieve Lynn just like me.”

That led to other questions to Danielle and Brandon and before you know it, it was showtime.

“OK, kids, back to the viewing room. Wives, I’ll see you later. Lynn, any plans for any singing tonight?”

“No, Lover. I’ll see you at the break.”