Helen had evidently awoken before me and left. I got up and found a fresh pair of cutoffs and mounted the stairs for the kitchen. Passing the clock on the studio wall told me it was 11:15 in the morning and it appeared to be raining again. I heard voices from the kitchen and upon entering I found dad, Louise and Janice involved in a conversation regarding food. Smelling the coffee, I poured myself a mug and sat down to listen. It seems Janice had it in mind to prepare us a Spanish dinner this evening and she was explaining that she would need a few items from the market and she and Louise were about to embark on a gathering trip. I said, "Better get lots of food, we have a whole house full planned for the week ahead and it would save us running out to restock if we made a major haul today." Everyone agreed and dad instructed them to take the Suburban, as it would carry more than the trunk of the Lincoln.
Dad and I exchanged pleasantries and I asked if he would be interested in checking out the video equipment with me. He agreed and we carried our coffee mugs and headed for the rear cellar. As we walked through the house, I briefed him on my thoughts regarding setting up a sound stage in the front cellar. He was most interested and asked several questions about what I had planned. He sounded very enthused and that propelled me even farther into the project. We stepped through the doorway into the cellar, and he stood stock-still and whistled. "You have quite a job lined up for yourself here," he chuckled. "I see what you mean about hiring a technician to help you. I'll make a couple of calls tomorrow and see if I can find someone to give us a hand."
I showed him my progress with the unpacking and he agreed that we should have everything sorted out and labeled to aid with locating various parts as needed. I took him back into the front cellar area and explained my plan for a control booth and some ideas I had for stage lighting and sound. He advised me on the use of sound deadening wall coverings to prevent outside noises interfering with the sound track. We had learned that lesson in my recording studio and I agreed that we would have the same problem here. He instructed me to hire an electrician to bring separate power feeds from the main breaker panel into the studio to prevent overloads on existing circuits.
I took him back and demonstrated the portable camcorders and related how I had used them to record the women. He asked if he could watch the tapes and I told him we could but we should wait until the ladies got back from their shopping trip and we'd have a viewing together after supper. He allowed that was a good idea and we decided to spend the rest of the day unpacking more of the video crates. It was nice to spend time with the old man. He had worked so much before he sold his business that we hadn't had much time together. We made plans for me to come south later in the summer and go fishing.
We drank a few beers and had almost unpacked all the crates when the ringing of the phone called me away. It was Dennis. "I just talked to a kid from Jacksonville that plays keys. He heard us at The White Lion and he wants you and I to play a couple of gigs up in Jax weekend after next." He sounded excited, "He says it's at one of the big hotels downtown for some kind of a big radio station promotional dance. He called it 'Son Of Prom'. It's supposed to be for all the folks that didn't get to go to the prom when they were in school."
"Sounds like we can handle it. He doesn't want the rest of the group?" I asked.
"Nope, just us. He says there will be about ten musicians altogether, but he wants us to front the show because we play the kind of music they want. I'm jazzed as hell, he says they have horns, and vibes and keys, another rhythm player and they think you're the hot setup for lead guitar. What d'ya say, Virg?" he countered.
"How can I say no. We'll blow them away. Any chance we can get together with them for a jam before the gig?" I asked.
"Sure, they're working Brandy's Lounge in Neptune beach for the next two weeks and he says we can come and sit in if we want," he said.
"It will have to be the following week, I'm booked all next week with family and graduation," I said.
"You going to be home later?" he asked.
"Sure, what do you need?" I asked.
"I want to come by and talk to you about something, if it's all right," he said. I told him to come ahead on and we'd have a brew with dad and he said he'd be here soon.
Dennis pulled up just as we were sitting down on the patio. Dad went back in and brought Denny out a cold brewski, and we sat around a talked about music for a little while and dad excused himself to get a shower before dinner. Dennis asked, "Is anyone using the apartment over the mower shed?" I told him Gerald had just moved in and he asked if the smaller apartment over the boathouse was empty. I told him yes and he asked if he could rent it from us.
"Sure, Dennis, it's kind of run down, but I think you can spiff it up in no time. I'll pay for the materials if you want to do the work," I told him.
"I want to get out of my folks place, they're driving me nuts since I started going around with Chrissie and Gail. Dad thinks I'm some kind if a pervert because I'm dating two girls at the same time," he said.
"No problem, fix it up like you want, and we'll talk about rent later. Gerald is going to take care if the lawns and gardens and he's using the other apartment. Whatever you need, let me know and I'll have it delivered or you can pick it up and I'll pay you for it," I said.
We walked down to the boathouse and up the stairs to the little apartment overlooking the river. The view is the same as from Gerald's place, spectacular. I hit the air conditioner switch and it hummed into action and started to belch cool air immediately. "I'll get you a new mattress set for the bed and put some new stuff in the front room, the rest looks okay. Bug Louise for some dishes and pots and pans and you're in business. Just promise me you'll be careful who you bring around the grounds. I'm installing security cameras on the gates and grounds this summer so we can monitor who comes and goes. It's nice and private here and we'd like to keep it that way," I instructed him.
