Chapter 42: Billy Was Right

The band stood and gathered around Martha Lynn and Boz and all took a bow before I walked to the mic and said, “We’ll be right back!”

I picked Martha Lynn up in my arms and turned to Boz.

“Boz, this is my daughter Martha Lynn. She is Lynn eldest daughter.”

“Hello, Miss Martha Lynn. Where did you learn that song?”

“Mother asked if I wanted to sing and I watched a video of you singing with the black lady. I decided that I could do that.”

“That was amazing. Are you going to sing with us some more?”

“Um ... No sir. I don’t know anything else, except “The Great Gig In The Sky”.

“The Great ... Amazing. Billy was right,” Boz said more to himself than anyone else.

I opened the door to the Green Room and the band swarmed all over Martha Lynn. They offered praise and congratulations. Lamar offered her a bottle of water. Boz came over to the table where I sat with Lynn.

“Those record guys have found a gold mine. You know that, right? The band is tight. Your knowledge of music theory is wonderful. No matter what I did different they followed with precision. You guys are a gold mine!”

“No, Boz. We’re just a little old, out in the boonies, band. We play because it suits us to play. We perform to share our joy with other people. It feels good to see people having fun because of what we do. The Club-Club promotes safe partying. We have rides for anyone who needs help getting home. We provide a locked, secured area for people to leave their cars overnight. It’s well known that we hold people with drugs until the cops show up.”

“I’ve never experienced anything like this, Paul. I think I understand. I walked away from music for several years. People thought it was because after “Silk Degrees” I wasn’t having the huge hit songs. It was because I was tired of the grind and the day to day business of music and not the music.

“After a few years I began to have the need and desire to make music again. OF course now there is no more radio play. There’s no stations that have live DJ’s unless it’s talk radio or morning drive time. Everything is podcasts and online streaming stuff. If an artist can garner enough fans, money can still be made. Songs can still touch people. It means doing more live shows in smaller venues like casinos or self-generated shows like I did with the “Greatest Hits Concert”. The sales of the DVD and CD were substantial but minuscule compared to the “Silk Degrees” days.”

“That’s the only reason I’m listening to the guys from XYZ. This band is great and people need to hear them. If this company can share their music with the world, I’ll go for it. We do play live locally in the summer. The City of Boise has a concert stage set up on the grounds of the old State Prison and we open for some acts on the revival rock circuit a couple of times a summer.”

“Paul, it’s time for the third set,” Ronnie said touching my shoulder.

“OK, Ronnie. Boz Any requests?”

“Yes, I’d like to hear more of that young ladies work. And I’d like to do some old standard blues.”

“Your wish!”

We walked down to the stage and the crowd was still buzzing over Martha Lynn’s performance. I stepped to the mic and wave the crowd down to get their attention.

“Hi All! Welcome to the third set. A few quick announcements before we get going. Remember that if you’ve had too much to drink, let the security staff know and we’ll secure your car and take you home and have you picked up in the morning to get your car back. For free! Unless you want to tip the driver.

“My daughter, Martha Lynn, will not be back tonight because...”

Disappointed boos came from the crowd.

“Because she’s only six and needs to get to bed. But we’ll plan to have her and her sister Margaret Erin back with us. I really didn’t know she was going to do “Miss Sun” tonight.”

One of the security guys came to the front of the stage and got my attention. I stepped forward and listened to him before returning to the mic.

“Security tells me that they area around The Club-Club has been searched and they found the guys who fire bombed the employee parking lot. When you leave tonight, please take a few seconds to thank our security guys and the Boise Police for their quick response. And if you have a chance, drop off some gift certificates to your local fire station.

“Some of you may remember the incident from a few years ago where people would drop off cookies and BBQ at the Fire Stations and one day an entire station was poisoned. Since them, the stations no longer accept food. But they do appreciate your thoughts and prayers and if you wish to drop off gift cards, they do enjoy not having to cook for themselves once in a while.

“Now then, our friend tonight has been Boz Scaggs. We’ve done his hits from the Grammy winning album, “Silk Degrees” and we’ve done some of his favorite love and smooth jazz songs. And now we’re going back to central Texas. Boz is from Plano, Texas on the northeast side of Dallas. His roots are in Texas style blues. So please join me in welcoming back Texas bluesman extraordinaire, Grammy winner, and a friend, Boz Scaggs!”

Boz stepped to the mic and began to doodle on his guitar as he spoke, “You know the blues is all about feelings. If you feel good there are blues songs to celebrate that. If you feel lost and alone, there’s blues songs to express that. If you’re crazy in love or hate, well there’s blues songs to convey those feelings. A fella out of Kansas City once said that there is only three blues songs. There’s the fast blues, the slow blues, and “The Thrill Is Gone”.

With that he started the great B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone” doing it in his own style and with that smooth soft tenor voice. He passed the song to Wendy Wendy for an amazing sax solo before coming back to finish the song. He looked at Rodney and said something, Rodney smiled and nodded and began the opening guitar riff to Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “If The House Is A Rocking”.

The band pulled out a couple of Sofia’s charts and I sang them while Boz played the lead. He sang, I sang, all of the members of the band got to show off their skills doing solos and the night ended with a great rendition of the great Tyrone Davis song “Can I Change My Mind” from Boz’ “Memphis” album.

“Ladies and gentlemen, The Club-Club thanks you for coming. The Savannah Band thanks you for coming. I want to thank Boz Scaggs for gifting us great friends night. Please be careful going home so you can enjoy future friends nights with us. Good Night!”

The house lights slowly got brighter and people made their way to the doors. As was the normal custom, everyone showed their bar receipt to security to show they paid up. Some people had an Aha moments and took off for their server to pay up. Boz and I stood on the stage and watched people leave like I normally did. A few came to the stage and asked for autographs from Boz and even from me.

When the last were gone, we walked up to the Green Room grabbed a bottle of water and then we went down to pack up his guitars, pedal board and gather his sheet music. Lynn came onto the stage and walked up to us.

“Hi Lover!”

“Hi! Lynn have you met Boz?”

“We talked on the phone. Hi Boz, I’m Lynn O’Dell. It’s so nice to meet you.”

“And you, Lynn. Thank you for getting me into this amazing place.”

“Well, after a long day’s travel and the show tonight. You must be tired. Your rental was ruined in the fire and I assume that your travel bag was still in the SUV?”

“Actually, I stopped by the hotel and dropped my clothes with the concierge.”

“Wonderful! I’ll take you back to the hotel and then have a car come for you at about noon and bring you to our place for the BBQ.”

“Billy said it was good BBQ.”

“Blossom is from Texas and she knows her way around a smoker and a grill.”

“Is she your cook?”

“No, Boz. She’s our third wife.”

Boz shook his head as he dropped it to look at the floor.

“Billy was right.”

During breakfast, I reminded Margaret Erin to keep her clothes on while Boz visited. And she smiled nicely and said, “Yes Daddy.” I took that as a probable and figured what damage would a naked six-year old running around the yard do.

After breakfast I went out to the backyard and piled wood in the BBQ and had the gate to the smoker open to preheat the cooker. The wood chips that Blossom wanted were soaking in brine next to the cooker and a very nice plume of smoke was just starting to rise out of the smoke stack on the cooker.

“That already smells wonderful, Baby. I hope Boz likes my style,” Blossom said.

“He better not like your style more than me, Baby,” I answered with a fake frown.

“Oh you. My style of doing meat.”

“Exactly!” I said adding to the teasing.

“Don’t get me started mister or the wrong meat will get smoked.”

“Is there such a thing as the wrong meat in this house?”

I grabbed Blossom by the arm and turned her towards me. Wrapping my arms around her, we kissed and I filled each of my hands with one of her tight, firm, bare ass cheeks, lifting her off the ground.

“Oh Terry,” was all she could say when I set her down.

“Is everything ready to go in the smoker?”

“Yes, Baby. Ribs on top, game hens in the middle and brisket on the bottom. Everything has been ready for the smoker since early this morning.”

“I was going to help out.”

“This is my job, right?”

“That and making me the happiest man in the world.”

She stood on her tip toes and kissed me before turning me around and smacking me on my bare butt. I hopped a few steps and whinnied. Erin was coming out of the house with William and Gwen as I approached. I shook William’s hand and hugged and kissed my naked mother-in-law.

“I’m excited to meet Boz, Paul. You know “We’re All Alone” is one of Bill’s favorite make-out songs.”

“I can understand that, you being such a hottie, Gwen.”

“Paul, are you flirting with your mother-in-law?” Erin asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Inside Bill was being a butt. He insulted me,” Erin said accusingly.

“What did you do, Bill?” I asked looking at my father-in-law.

“I walked through the kitchen and didn’t gawk at Erin’s boobs.”

“Oh! Well now I’M insulted.”

With that Bill spun around and bent over slightly and stared directly into Erin’s massive breasts from a distance of about two inches. He moved his face left and right a few times getting his fill of the huge mammary’s and their hardening nipples. He stood, looked at me and then Erin and said, “There! Happy now?”

Gwen laughed and grabbed his groin. As she fondled him she looked up in surprise.

“Bill? Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Just a little tired.”

“You must be. Between Erin’s tits and my hand you aren’t even a little stiff.”

Just then Lynn came out onto the deck and interrupted Gwen’s concern.

“Bosco, Teri and the baby are on their way up the drive, followed by the band. The cab should have Boz here in a few minutes as well.”

“OK, Lynn,” I said before I looked at Bill and led him away from the others.

“Bill you want to talk? Man-to-man?”

“Oh it’s nothing, Paul. I went to the doctor. He said I have an enlarged prostate. I’ve been getting up every couple of hours at night to piss. He says that is the norm for men my age. According to him, every man, if they live long enough will get prostate cancer and an enlarged prostate is normal. Now that we know I will have a PSA test every six months.”