Chapter 55

I woke up feeling a lot of energy building in me. I had changed sides during the night, and was holding Tina to me, while Sharon was hugging me from behind. I kissed Tina's neck, and she flipped over and put a lip lock on me that told me of our love for each other. She said, "I heard all of Sharon's questions, but didn't want to intrude. I can tell her how you have given of yourself over time, but I doubt she would believe it. I know you, Chuck, and I know you'll continue to be the man you've shown me. That's just one of the reasons I love you."

I spoke softly to Tina, "You know I always try to make sure all of our women know how much I love them. We're becoming so much more than a few women who want babies. We're now an entire group of women who not only want babies but want all the family things that go along with families with babies." Just thinking of my responsibilities has me worn out.

Tina didn't hesitate and said, "Don't worry, Chuck, it was us that wanted babies with you, so don't worry. We'll have your babies and love to be their mothers. I love the idea of so many babies at once."

I felt good today and after breakfast on the patio, I came back to the house and went to the studio. I used the midi keyboard to begin fingering out what was trolling in my head. It took a while for the direction to come, but it did. My head was filled with instrumentation as I heard the music and listened to the words.

The main theme came from my fingers on the keyboard, followed by the lyrics flowing from my fingers on laptop keys. I had to stop every once in a while to use my acoustic and play some chords to get the feel of the rhythm to match the words. This was a nice country ballad that would be good for someone like Garth or Billy Ray. I supposed some words could be changed so that a woman could sing it.

It took some time to create the music for the other instruments, but I put it all together by doing a sound on sound with the controller, complete with my Les Paul, the acoustic, my bass, and the keyboard. My voice had the appropriate pitch, without a whine, because this was a sweet song.

What was funny is that another real twangy tune was in my head the whole time I was finishing this piece.

I was hungry, so I went inside and found Sharon in my office. I told her we needed to get to the patio if we wanted lunch over there. Sharon asked me what I had been doing in the studio this morning. I told her, "I had some music in my head that I wanted to get on paper. It came out pretty well."

Sharon asked, "I'll come out after lunch and you can play it for me. Is it blues like you usually play?"

"No, this one is pure country. It's a ballad that I think is decent."

Sharon looked at me, "You're not kidding, right? You like country?"

"Of course, the kids and I will have to play some of the country we've created. We like all music because rock, classic, country, jazz, and blues are all the same. It's music that we've heard in our heads, and we also love to play what others have created."

As we pulled up to the patio, Sharon said, "I thought I heard Bonita and that huge guy, Donny, playing some country. The guy in the wheelchair plays guitar with them too."

"We play music, all kinds of music, Sharon. We're lucky to have guys like Donny play with us. Bonita and the kids even have their own groups and a studio to play in. The more you know these kids, the more you're going to be surprised."

We had a great lunch. I found out Steve had to fly a charter up to Chicago because we were short a couple of pilots. Our women had two pilots with them, and the charter company found themselves with more aircraft than crew once again.

I went back out to the studio when we returned to the house, and was working the other country piece I had been thinking of. It was sort of cutesy and humorous and would be best sung by a female. I'd have to think about who, but I'd bet Elmer would instantly think of someone.

Sharon came into the main recording control room in the studio and was looking at the array of instruments I had out in studio. She asked, "You play all of those?"

I nodded and said, "I can play most anything with strings, and I enjoy percussion, or drums, too."

"Can you play the country song you said you made? Do I say wrote, created, made or what?"

"How about we cue it up here in the control room? I have it on CD."

I slid the CD into the player and pushed the button. I told Sharon, "It isn't mixed well yet, but Elmer will do a better job for me."

The music began with the acoustic lead-in to the Les Paul that began the theme, with the piano confirming it. The bass background might be a little strong, but I like a lot of bass. My voice began the lyrics and we listened to the piece until it was complete. Sharon sort of skeptically, sort of sideways, looked at me, "Who was out here with you. Who was playing all of the other instruments?"

I grinned and told Sharon, "It's called sound on sound. Let me show you. I have to set up the controller with this remote, and then we'll go out to the studio with the remote. Let me lay down a neat blues bass line first." I played a neat 16 bar bass line, punched the controller, and played it back. I used the keyboard next to play the intro to a popular blues/jazz piece. I played that back to listen to it, followed playing it back mixed. I then filled it in with the acoustic chords that gave the piece a good sound wall. I played it all back and recorded some wailing blues riffs on my Les Paul that really sounded good. I switched the keyboard to B-3 just for fun, and played it in the background of the other instruments.

I had put everything down and then hit the play button on the stored group. Sharon was sitting with her mouth open as 16 bars of music came alive. "You can be a whole band, Chuck. You can create and record music, and not have anyone else play with you with equipment like that."

"I use it to help me write what I hear in my head. I know what I want, and it's easier when I can lay the various instrument tracks down so that I can modify the music to make it work."

Sharon asked, "What were you playing when I came in?"

"It's something that was running around in my head that I thought would be a fun piece. I like country with some humor or that's catchy so everyone sings along with it."

I shoved a CD into the controller that was our piece that we recorded while on the boat. I told Sharon, "Listen to this and picture that you're in a bar or lounge where everyone is going to do the Texas two-step, a line dance, or something like that."

Sharon sat on a stool and listened to the music and began tapping her foot while listening. Sharon was up doing what looked like a cowboy boogie as the piece went through the second time before the hook, and then singing the hook while doing it. She said, "I haven't heard that one before, and I love the words," when it was over

"You haven't heard it before because we've just released it as a single. Elmer thought it would be fun to let it out as part of our album that we're finishing. He thinks he can get a half dozen country groups to record it. One of them will take off and it will be their song."

Sharon said, "Why shouldn't it be your song? Why can't you be the group that makes it hot?"

I was smiling when I told her, "Lisa and I play a lot of heavy blues, so we'd have to get a group name in order to make it work. The voices you heard are all our friends singing with us."

Sharon told me, "You two play with some big groups, and Elmer talked about the fun you had playing for the troops in your own USO show. Now play me some of the blues stuff that you like so much."

I was doing a few blues riffs when Pop and some of the band guys came in. They pulled their instruments out and I set the brass up so they could fill in with me while I kept on playing. Rags walked in the door, listened to us, and loudly said, "Will you get your bass and let us do something worthwhile? Pop has something new he wants us to do."

Pop handed music out to everyone and winked at me as he pointed below the title where it had my name, "C. Johnson". I was running my eyes over the staffs when I began to recognize the music and set my bass up to be more upfront. Pop was running through the theme while the brass guys were loosening up. Rags had his ancient, well-worn SG out, and started doing his riffs to get loose.

Pop hollered out, "Get ready now, one, two, three, four," and began with the lead in. Rags followed, with my bass being very bright and prominent. The second eight bars had the brass adding to the music, and then we were into the piece. It's funny how I remembered what I wanted this piece to sound like so many years ago. We were close, but Rags needed to wail with a little more sustain. I walked over to his gig controller and punched his reverb a couple of times until I heard what I wanted. I stood in front of the drummer and made sure he was accenting where I wanted him to.

I pushed the sliding window back about the third time through, punched the controller up, and we began again. It was classic this time. Everyone in the room heard it and played to the feeling. There is nothing like a piece of music that comes alive from notes written or printed on a staff.

I punched the controller to save what had been played when we finished. Pop said, "You need to look at your stuff and find your words for this. I know you got them somewhere, but who knows where? Some vocals on this one will be perfect for Rags' gravelly voice."

"You're right, Pop, I hear the words while I'm playing this piece, so I'll bet I can recall all of them from memory if I can't find them. I wrote this close to when I left home for the Marines."

Rags was going through some riffs when he asked, "Can you do a few with us? We've been a little stagnant at the club, but people still come to listen. You should come over and play with us one evening. It doesn't mean you can't come over just because Lisa isn't here."

"Sounds like a good idea, Rags. If Lisa and Bonita were here, we could do a bunch of the new country stuff we have. If you haven't heard Bonita's newest almost Latin piece yet, you've got to listen to it. We all helped get it together, and believe it or not, Santana was in the area and played it with us. He's going to use it in his act and credit it to Bonita."

Pop was smiling as he asked, "How much did you do on it?"

"Not that much. I wrote the instrumentation and lyrics, and helped with the arrangement and production. This was something that Bonita and the kids worked on and I helped arrange it. You'll like it because it's really good."

Rags asked me, "Can you come to the club tonight?" as his men were putting their instruments into their cases. "Bring the music if you have something we don't know, and we'll do a first time through for the club. They love the way we keep bringing new music to them. I think a lot of people show up just for our new stuff."

Pop told me, "All that new stuff that we've worked on is mostly yours. You must have been writing nonstop when you were a kid."

"Pretty much, Pop. I loved music then like I do now, but it was a way for me to express myself that I couldn't any other way. I think I joined the Marines so I could express myself another way. Life where we lived wasn't that great, and I really didn't have that many close friends."

I stretched and told Sharon, "I should shower and change into something nicer than jeans if we're going to play at the club. We can get some food there if we go early. They begin playing at five in the dinner theater, and eight in the regular main theater."

Rags heard me and said, "You know they remodeled, don't you?"

"What did they do?"

Rags and Pop were both laughing, but it was Rags who said, "Merlin made the main restaurant similar to what he has in San Francisco and now has a theater like he did there. The place is complete with the magic tables."

I said, "That's too bad; the dinner theater was a really neat place to eat and be entertained by a musician."

Pop told me, "Oh, they still have that. You can go into that theater and eat, or go into Merlin's Magic Forum for a dining experience. The place has grown, but always seems to be filled."

I told Sharon, "I have to take you to Merlin's Magic forum for supper. It's a really a great experience. Let's get going so we can eat before these slave drivers want me to play all night."

We showered, I shaved, and we dressed in nice clothes. I had good slacks, a knit shirt, and a sport coat. Sharon wore a really nice skirt and top that was very dressy. On the way to the club, Sharon asked, "Are you putting too much pressure on your leg? Tina will get mad if you do too much."

"I left a note for Tina to tell her where we were. She'll probably come over while we're doing the show. It s always a real treat if you haven't watched Merlin or his men do some magic. Missy isn't in town, so he won't have any of his mind games tonight. The place can get out of hand when he has both Missy and Mercy."

The club manager was happy to see me, and said he would serve us when I finished performing for the diners. I looked at him funny, and asked, "Who said I was doing the dinner theater?"

"Pop said you'd do it tonight because his other man has a sore throat."

Shit, I wasn't ready to do this. I did have my acoustic, Les Paul, and bass with me, but I wasn't ready for two hours of a solo performance. Lisa wasn't with me, so it was going to be a two hour lounge act. I was going to give Pop some shit for doing this to me.

I brought my acoustic out and put it on a stand, then sat at the baby grand that was on a rotating raised round pedestal. All the tables were in a circle around the stage, with another circle of tables at each level up. There were five levels of semi-private tables that all had a good view of the stage while I played and they ate.

I used the microphone to announce that I was given the opportunity to entertain them without being able to assemble music in any order. I told them that I was going to give them a lot of gentle ballads with some jazz mixed in.

The first of the night was 'Harbor Lights' followed up with my acoustic and voice singing 'Greenfields'. The surprising thing was that each piece I played made me think of the next. Two hours flashed by until a man I didn't know came out to relieve me. He played with a little more bounce than I had, so it did liven up the diners.

Sharon had been watching from the top row, and said, "You're totally amazing. You just played all kinds of gentle music for two solid hours. You sang and played so many different ways that I'm really impressed. You know that you could probably make a living doing this stuff."

I laughed, but not real loud. "Yes, Ma'am, I could, but I also like the other stuff I do. Let's get some food before I have to play with the band."

We sat in the big theater and had a bunch of appetizers that filled us up. I told the waiter who served us, "Make me two big salads and add two cups of Caesar dressing to take out. You might even put some fried chicken tenders in another container. I'm going to be very hungry later tonight."

They fed Sharon and me small steaks with some veggies and a half a potato. I know they usually fed that to the musicians so they wouldn't be over full and lethargic.

The magicians did their show until Merlin appeared for his thirty-minute show while we were eating.

It was almost eight when we finished eating, so I excused myself from Sharon to go get ready for two more hours of music. Sharon said she would watch from where she was and told me she would be fine.

I ragged on Pop when I saw him backstage. "Why didn't you tell me you wanted me to do a dinner theater lounge act? I didn't have anything prepared and had to do everything from memory."

Pop grinned and pointed at Rags, "Go take it out on him. He volunteered you when Johnny said his throat was sore. I made Johnny stay home and get well. We sure don't need to be spreading any flu around here."

I did a hip bump up against Rags while he was tuning his guitar and bass, "You Asshole, I could have been ready to do something like that if you had told me earlier. The diners didn't get their money's worth because I had to do everything from memory and could only do exactly what I knew and could remember the words for."

Rags was his usual stoic self, and said, "I heard you were amazingly great tonight. A couple of the newer waitresses asked if you were single. I told them you were single, but had a dozen or so women who already claimed you. You're a popular guy." The man laughed entirely too loud.

The group did a really nice night of solid jazz with a blues flavor. We never broke down into any hard blues, and kept it gentle and interesting. I played bass most of the evening while Rags played his guitar. I played a keyboard set up like a B-3 organ while Rags played bass on one piece. We put on a good performance all in all though.

Tina had come in and joined Sharon, who said she had a good time watching the magicians and listening to the music. She said that she had never listened to much music like we played, but enjoyed it and said it was music for listening while you read a book or as background music while a group of people sat around and chatted. I tried to explain that jazz was an acquired listening taste, but a lot of people do enjoy it for good background music. Tina said, "It's great music for making love. That's what I put on the stereo when I want it slow and gentle.

Tina told me that Lisa and Brandy had called and I should phone them when we got home. The call was answered on the first ring. Lisa said, "We heard from the local Marshal's office that they found two more houses full of illegals who were holding women and girls for slave sales. They issued a bulletin to all law enforcement agencies on the islands to be on the lookout for other houses possibly being used for this activity."

I said "I figured there were probably more of those people, but I really didn't think the market for slave girls would be that high in Hawaii. It makes you think that they may be using Hawaii as a temporary layover before shipping them somewhere else."

Lisa said, "Jane is thinking along those lines too. She says that she's glad she's out of that type of activity because she can get too radical over men doing that to little girls."

"Me too, Lisa. Some of those kids are younger than your sisters and about the same age as Marion and Virginia. Knowing there are people out there snatching kids is enough to want to lock all our kids away from the world. I think Steve has the right idea to have all of the kids attend classes at the dojo. Our kids are going to begin classes too when it's time."