Chapter 51: The Band Story 05 – Opening Night

May – Year 4

“I don’t think that I have smelt that smell in a very long time.”

“Good morning Mr. Lee. I guess you don’t want any waffles, huh?”

“Are you kidding! Next thing you will be telling is that you have honey butter for them.”

When I held up the crock of honey butter, I thought that I saw the man start to cry. Lynn pointed him to a seat and he moved as commanded.

“How many?”

“These aren’t the evil frozen things, are they?”

“Nope and they are round and the are about an inch thick.”

“May I have two please?”

“You are a guest in our home. You can have as many as you want! As you see we have honey butter, I also have maple syrup, real not flavored, and various jams and jellies.”

“Paul, if we don’t retire can we play here more often?”

I must have had the strangest look on my face because he looked at me, eyes wide and then looked at Lynn and Erin.

“I’m serious. This isn’t a gig, this is like coming home to play with friends.”

“Damn! That is the last thing I thought I would hear from a man that has played all over the world, in stadiums of over 100,000 people, and who has sold tens of millions of albums.”

“Paul, I don’t know your history, but we have been on the road for more than half of our lives. I mean that the actual time on the road and doing gigs is more than half of my life. If it would not cause a riot I would play in clubs of 100 all over again. I love to see the faces and how the music touches people. The guys feel the same way. So tonight, when we go on, I expect that it will be so much fun that we will want to find a way to do it again.”

“That is amazing. You are always welcome here, even if it is not for a gig.”

“What? Did we just get roped into something?”

The other two band members walked into the kitchen.

“You guys are not going to believe what is for breakfast.”

“Waffles with honey butter?”

“Wha ... how ... huh?”

“We ran into Blossom upstairs. I was a little embarrassed because she was topless with two babies in holsters, nursing.”

“Baby holsters! What a great name. Hey Lynn, wanna go into the Baby Holster business?” Erin asked.

“That is interesting. We could direct all of the profits into the Foundation.”

“We need to talk.”

They nodded at each other.

“So what does an old drummer have to do to get waffles around here?”

He looked around with a pitiful expression on his face.

“Say the magic word.”

“Please?”

“Lynn would say ‘NOW’, but please works better for me.”

Lynn smacked my arm and then kissed me.

“This is the strangest family I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. If you guys loved each other any more, you would glow in the dark!”

“It’s nice to know that people see that. We go out in public and people look at us strangely. We have to be careful because entities like Child Protective Services would go nuts with some of the ways we live our lives.”

“Like running around naked all the time?”

“You figured that one out did you?”

“The four little girls running in naked was a hint. Blossom not having any tan lines as she nursed was another clue. The girls just seemed to be in their element.”

“Speak of the devil.”

The four girls returned to the kitchen, dressed this time. Taylor, Margaret and Erin Lynn took their seats. Genevieve walked right over and crawled up in Geddy’s lap.

“Let me guess, I am in your seat?”

“Yes Mr. Lee.”

“Would you like me to move?”

“No, I am fine right here.” Genevieve smiled and began to sip her orange juice.

“Just one big happy family!” Geddy laughed.

“Yes we are.” Genevieve nodded as she spoke.

“So Paul, what is the plan for the day?”

“I figured that we would meet the guys at the concert hall at about 5 and do a set up and sound check. Then you guys go on at 7:00 and some friends of mine go on and then we close it.”

“Paul, not that I am worried, but why do you have us going first? I mean we are a major draw.”

“You guys are THE major draw in my mind, but the goal of this is to set a pattern that people know that when we advertise The Paul O’Dell Band and friends that something big is going to happen.”

“So come early, see the surprise and stick around for the party?”

“I like that! What a great advertising motto! Can we steal it?”

“You can say we sold it to you for the price of these waffles.”

“Lynn, please set up that motto on the website of the club.”

“Will do, Lover. When do Ryan and the guys get in?”

“They should be here at the house in about an hour. Then we can tool around in the ballroom until it is time to head to the Music Estate. Do we need to do anything for you to get you ready to perform? Do you need a bowl of M&M’s with all of the blue ones taken out?”

“Oh shit! I still can’t believe she did that. No, we are not that particular or peculiar.”

“Ok, then let’s go in the back yard and play with the girls.”

“Not yet Daddy. I’m not done with my waffle.”

“Well Genevieve do you think Mr. Lee would like to get up since he is done?”

“Do you Mr. Lee?”

“I think I can sit here for a little while. I would like another cup of coffee.”

“Are you sure?” Erin asked.

“Yes ma’am. I am really enjoying myself this morning.”

“Would you like another waffle?”

“Am I going to appear to be a pig if I say yes?”

“Not at all. We make the batter by the five-gallon bucket! Heck I am surprised that Genevieve has only had two!”

“Well then if Genevieve doesn’t mind, I will have another waffle.”

My daughter smiled. I wonder how old she would be when she figured out that she sat on the lap of a musical icon and multi-millionaire eating waffles when she was almost four years old. It seemed that our life was going to be different for the kids as well.

The gate bell rang, and I went to the front door to open the gate for Ryan Tucker and the guys. When they pulled up to the front of the garage Blossom and I walked out and greeted them.

“Blossom! Damn girl look at you. You look wonderful.” Ryan gave my little wife a big hug.

“Well having twins and then having to feed them made my body change a little. Please come in and meet the family and our musical guests.”

“I can’t wait to see the guys again.”

We walked inside, and I reintroduced Lynn and Erin to Ryan Tucker, Bobby Cee, Leon James, and Gery Zobbert, then they met the herd and got big hugs from each of the girls. We led them right to the ballroom and there was Rush looking over the instruments.

“Holy cow, you did it. You got them out here!”

Ryan walked up and offered a hand to Geddy.

“Well we were already out here and took a few days between gigs. This has been the best couple of days I have ever spent away from home. We are really jazzed about tonight.” Neal chuckled.

We talked a bit and then Erin and Lynn appeared with coffee and tea and lemonade. We began to doodle around on the instruments and soon there was a full-on jam session rolling. Everyone was just having a ball and time flew by. It was fun to watch Bobby Cee and Neal Peart trading off drum fills, and for Gerry Zobrist and Geddy Lee talking about keyboards and programming.

It was the first time I had seen my girls dancing to music. They were real little bootie shakers. The wives were dancing and at one point Ryan Tucker ripped off a guitar solo that had Erin jumping up and down and that almost stopped the jam. She blushed and then laughed as she kept trying to dance to the disjointed break in the groove. I wanted to be sure that she did not do that at the concert. She could bring the whole thing to a screaming halt.

We had a great time until it was time to pack up and head out. We broke down everything we needed and put it into the big panel truck that Ryan had rented. The only thing we didn’t need was the PA system and the big speaker stacks.

“We’ve got everyone in the bus. Dara and Trent will watch the kids at the concert with help from Bill and Gwen. That leaves Lynn to take care of back stage and Erin to manager the front of house. Blossom will stay here by my side and be my muse.”

“Muse? Ooh, I like that. Wait! Do muses give good blowjobs?”

“Yes! They give great blowjobs.”

“Whew, I was worried that I was not qualified.”

“Baby, you might be over qualified. Maybe even over, over qualified!”

“Thank you, Baby.”

“Paul that is cute.”

“What is that Geddy?”

“I noticed that you and Blossom call each other Baby, but you and Erin call each other Sweetie and you and Lynn call each other Lover.”

“Yeah, don’t even know when it started. We used to use the words interchangeably and over the years it changed to this. The girls call their birth mother, Mother and the others, Mom. It was just the way it worked out.”

“With the help of the Babies!” Lynn interjected.

“Right, them too.” I answered.

“The babies?”

“That is a story for tomorrow before you guys leave.”

We drove over to the Music Estate and backed up to the loading dock for a real easy load in. We met with the sound man who was ready to keel over when he saw who walked in the door. He welcomed the guys and asked if they needed anything.