Chapter 56

That weekend I headed over to New Dawn, and actually enjoyed the band they had that weekend. They were a cover band I had heard of, but this time they were only doing B-52 songs. And the gals were just as stacked as the ones in the actual band. But one was obviously Mexican, and the red hair she was wearing was a wig. And she had a huge set of boobs, which I appreciated along with a lot of the other guys as she shimmied on the stage to “Love Shack”.

And as I watched them, I realized that if I ever played again with Kris and Crystal, we would have to add some of their songs. And my voice could actually pass for a decent Fred Schneider. He was one of the few “popular singers” who had a voice that was rather rough, reminding me of a lot of those from the 1940s.

I went inside, and as soon as Becky saw me she rushed over and gave me a hug. And it was tighter than usual, and I asked her what was up. “Oh, thanks to you I got a contract for at least one Clavinova, and possibly another next year. Both of them the top of the line Baby Grand models.”

I furrowed my brow, having no idea what she was even talking about. “Becky, what do you mean? Who bought them?”

And when she told me the order was from Dave for Strevell, I kicked myself for forgetting about that. “Wait, he bought one and maybe another?”

“Yep, one for delivery ASAP. That one is leaving the warehouse next week. The other one sometime next year. George, what is that even about?”

I laughed, and asked her if she had been to the new ghost town yet. She nodded, and when I asked her if she had gone in the bar she gave a half nod, but she said only for a minute or two before moving on.

“OK, that’s where the one you are shipping now is going I bet. I was in there during my summer break, and they had a piano inside that was even worse than the one that Rad had. The tune was almost totally shot, and the wood was all dried out and cracking. Dave had literally just found it on the side of the road and grabbed it more for appearance than anything else.”

She nodded, and said she could hardly imagine a piano in much worse condition than the one Rad had. “Oh, it was worse, believe me. And back when I met everybody in San Diego for the unveiling of the plane, Dave mentioned that he was thinking of adding something similar to what they had at Katükkatün Hoawoppih. Dave was thinking of copying what they had done, holding it outside and projecting the movie on a wall. But I reminded him they already had an opera house that they barely used. And I suggested that instead they hold it in there. After all, that is what a lot of the early movie theaters actually were.”

She grinned as I told her that, then asked why those models and not just pianos. “Well, with a piano they would actually need to have somebody to play it. And right now, as far as I am aware that would be Grace, my mom, or myself. But I suggested the Clavinova, because they could have it play MIDI tracks. I just don’t know what would be involved in setting all that up with a movie being projected.”

“Oh, that’s already being taken care of. A day or so later, Harry called and spent about an hour on the phone with Mike. When they get the second one, he’s going up there to help them set it all up. I’m sure between the two of them they can get something working.”

“Well, Harry is kinda like Mike up there. But much less with stages and the lights and more with conference rooms and projectors. But I bet he knows the computer side a lot more, so can fill out the integration as Mike works on the presentation.”

“Yep, that’s what Mike told me afterwards. They are talking about doing it in the Spring, and taking the family up there for a week during Easter to get it all done.” At that time Mike came over, and he nodded as Becky was saying the last.

“Yep, pretty much that. From what Harry told me, the lighting is very basic. Mostly they used it for meetings. Pete is going to have me fly up sometime for a weekend between now and then, so I can go over the stage and select lights to use. Then when I go back in April I’ll bring everybody up. And we can learn off of each other. He does not know how to do MIDI, so I will be teaching him that and a bit more of the lighting. And they’re putting in a large back lit screen, which I have never worked on before so he will be showing me how to do that.”

I asked him to hold on, and pulled out my phone and called Pete. When I asked him about the project in Strevell, he confirmed pretty much all that Mike and Becky had told me. And when I asked about how Mike would be going up, he said he would likely have Harve or Tina do the flight.

“Well, if Mike does not mind using the Cessna, I can always do it.”

I could hear Pete going to another room, then typing something on the computer. Mandy asked in the background what was going on, and Pete explained to her my proposal and that he was checking maintenance schedules.

“George, I think I have another way we can do this. We were already planning on sending the Cub down to Burbank to have some upgrades installed. What we’ll do is have you bring the Cessna up here, then some time during the weekend you fly up to Soda Springs and swap aircraft. That way Tina can use the Cessna while the Piper’s getting upgrades.”

And I actually whistled when he told me the upgrades. Expanding the luggage area, and adding automatic slats and flap extenders. He said he actually got the idea from the Colt I flew, and this should actually bring the Super Cub to a similar level of performance. Just without the cargo capacity of course.

I asked Mike if he minded flying to Idaho in a small plane, and he actually grinned and said it sounded like it would be fun. Pete also offered me the Cessna for the holiday, but I refused, saying I was bringing up the trailer this time.

The group that had been performing took a break, and they all came up and thanked Becky for letting them perform. Becky said it was not a problem, and if this was going to be their new style.

“Oh no, not at all! But a few weeks ago Stacy and I were at a thrift store, and they had these two beehive wigs for sale. So we got them, and Jason thought that for a trial run for the new bass player we could do a set here of B-52 songs.”

Becky and Mike both laughed, and then introduced me to the group. “They normally go by ‘Gorilla Banana’, and have been kicking around the area for about a decade now. Stacy, Rina, and Jason here are always fun to listen to, but tend to do more new wave than quasi-punk like the B-52’s.”

I was glad that I now had a name to put with the stacked Latina girl, and I complemented them on their performance. Rina looked at me with a cocked head, and asked if I even knew who the B-52s were. I could see Becky suppressing a grin as I nodded, and asked her what was available. Becky pointed me to a Yamaha ES-7 set up near the inside stage.

I went over and selected a few banks, and as soon as I sang out “I am living on Channel Z”, they were all laughing as I started playing. And I was not surprised when Rina and Stacy moved to each side of me and took over the main vocals. And Rina really had a great voice, and it fit the song perfectly. Even without a mic, she was able to really project some power. And I had fun mostly singing the almost nonsensical lines that Fred occasionally belted out in the middle.

Even Mike lost it towards the end when I was repeating “Where’s my umbrella?” over and over again, just as Fred did in the original. And when we finished both girls gave me a hug and said that was great. “Becky, who’s this? Why has nobody snagged him up already?”

She laughed, and explained that while I had performed with Keith and his daughter in The Crutnackers several times and was currently working with Rad on a project, I was not really a professional musician.

“Aunt Becky’s right. I do it for fun and extra cash, I’m planning on being a lawyer. But I’ve been playing since I could walk, and my mom was a keyboardist in a band back in the 1970s. And Fred is one of the few I can really do vocals to.”

“George is right there. Think of him as a ‘Keyboard Critter’. Great on a synth, one trick pony when it comes to vocals. He did a good Country Dick, and I’ve heard him do a few others. But he knows his limits in singing, so largely does not even try.”

Rita smiled, and I saw her hold Jason’s hand in hers and said that at least there was no worry about my taking his job away. Stacy then asked me how I knew the B-52s, as those songs were almost as old as I was.

“Well, blame my mom, my brother, and Aunt Becky here. I’ve done them a lot over the years, it is really a fun group to play on a synth. Mostly upbeat party music, and I can replicate most of the band on one.”

Becky rested her hand on my shoulder, saying that Dee had played the Cosmic Thing CD all the time when she was with Pete. “At least once or twice a week when I would go in, it seemed like ‘Love Shack’ or ‘Roam’ was playing on the stereo.”

By that time I realized that not only was Rita at least a decade older than me, she was unquestionably with Jason. But she was still awesome to look at, with her big hooters encased in a tight tube dress that only went a few inches below her ass.

“Guys, I know it’s not your normal style, but you should consider maybe adding it to your act. After a break, come on out with those wigs and do a few of those songs. You likely don’t remember, but the B-52s were actually huge out here in the early 1980s. They even played fairly often at places like the ‘FM Station’ in the day.”

They said they would think about it, and it was a great idea. And after hugging me again the three of them headed to the break room upstairs. After they left, I asked her if the B-52s had really played at FM Station, and she and Mike both laughed.

“Oh yes, I remember seeing the flyers all over back then. I was too young to go in, but even Pete and Linda were bummed they could not get in. Back then, FM Station was mostly New Wave and Punk, and got a fair amount of big groups. Dead Kennedy’s, B-52s, Black Flag, even the Talking Heads once or twice. But unlike now, there was no food so you had to be 21 to get in.”

Becky agreed, saying she had actually seen them there once. “I want to say they were there about every other month. They were one of the most popular bands they had there.”

“Really? They’re a huge group, how could they get them so often?”

Mike laughed and shook his head. “George, back then they really were not. At that time, they had not even hit the Top 40 yet. Rock Lobster was big with us kids, so was Private Idaho. Planet Claire, others like that what we kids loved but rarely got airplay outside of KMET and KROQ. They only really became huge in 1989 with Roam and Love Shack. Followed that with Cosmic Thing, then just kinda faded again. You know of them as huge, but to us they were one of many groups that was around for ages before they made it big.”

Becky nodded. “By that time, FM Station had changed owners and their name to ‘Puerto Vallarta’, a Mexican club. It closed up about, oh, six years ago? Something like that. A year or two later Bill Carothers bought it and returned it to FM Station. But removing most of the dance area and serving food. It’s now more of a retro place, for moms and dads to take their kids to remember their youth. In fact, let me go give Bill a call. I bet he would love to hire Gorilla Banana for a night. They would have to find a new name for that, but I bet as a B-52s tribute band there they would be popular.”

She gave me a hug before heading up to her office. Mike and I talked for a bit, and he admitted that had potential. As he could probably even talk Peggy into going with him and the kids if they were to do that. I left shortly after they took the stage again, and headed on home.

For the rest of the weekend I unpacked and repacked the trailer, putting inside everything I would not be needing here anymore. And on Tuesday, Lucy asked me if I was willing to do another shoot in a few weeks. I looked at her, and she grinned at me as I shook my head. “Sorry, I don’t think so. I mean, even for me that was rather humiliating. And I can’t imagine what it was like for Lacy.”