Sherry nodded, her mouth open a bit with a surprised expression.
“It’s not Kristen, either. In junior high, I would play the piano or some other instrument, but I was mostly showing off. ‘Play this, Jim!’ somebody would say, and I usually knew the song. ‘Can you play Uncle Albert?’ That sort of thing. I don’t do that anymore. When I play for people, I’m really playing for the people that are listening. It started with Kristen, but I found that it’s more fun this way. I record my own music in private, but I did it better when you were watching me do Dion… I was doing it for you! You are a very important part of my life, Sherry, and I’m sorry that I ignored you for so long. I just think we’re better suited as friends than as lovers.”
“Do you still think of me as your friend?” Sherry asked.
I nodded. “You bet!”
Suddenly, Sherry threw herself at me and we kissed. Again, it was not a romantic kiss, but it was enthusiastic, nevertheless.
Kristen’s surprise performers on the stage was a six member combo from Chicago named “Aureus.” There was a lead guitar, a bass player who also doubled on the trombone, a female who sang and played the tambourine, a drummer, a keyboardist, and a guy who played different instruments, depending on the song. In all, they were five guys and a girl.
The group also had a sound man, who sat way behind everybody who was listening to the band, and he spent the time they played wearing headphones and making adjustments on his console.
The group were all in their early twenties, and as such, they played a lot of rock and roll covers. However, they augmented that with some older numbers, and they even did some comic numbers that I recalled hearing on late night radio played by a disc jockey named Doctor Demento. There were a few numbers they played that I did not recognize which may have been their own creations.
The group was thoroughly entertaining—even the adults seemed to enjoy them—and Kristen told me they would do two sets, ninety minutes each.
Near the end of the first set, I heard the song Birthday from the Beatles’ white album. It didn’t take a genius to know that the band was going to do something special for me. Kristen, Lynette, Sherry, June, and Archy were all with me, and they all sang along to the Beatles’ melody.
Then the lead guitarist made an announcement. He indicated to my girlfriend and said, “Kristen, over here, requested us to do a special song for the birthday boy, and we asked her what we could play, and she said, ‘Could you let my boyfriend play a song? He likes playing!’ So, if you guys think you can applaud to give the boy some courage…!”
People clapped, but a lot of people were smiling and even laughing. Most of my guests, with the obvious exception of the band, had already heard me play!
I looked at Kristen. “You really want me to play?”
“Do you think you can play something nice with them backing you?”
“I’ll see.”
I walked toward the stage, and saw my music teacher. I stopped for a moment and asked him for a favor. He smiled at me, and nodded, and headed off to the house as I continued on my way.
The band made a big fuss of me coming onstage. The girl asked me off-mike if I played any instrument. I indicated toward the stack of keyboards, and she told me to go over to where they were.
When I got there, I was staring at a bunch of keyboards. What looked like three keyboards when I was standing in the crowd was, in reality, five of them. One of them had keys like an acoustic piano.
“What’s this one?” I asked.
“Rhodes piano,” the keyboardist said. “Have you ever played one?”
“I have a Yamaha back at the house…”
“That one feels like a real piano… Try it.”
I did, hitting a middle-C. Surprisingly, no note came out. Apparently, the sound man had anticipated that I would be taking a few practice notes and didn’t want to embarrass me.
The keyboard felt surprisingly like a real piano.
“Do you guys know Love, by John Lennon?”
The keyboardist said, “Never heard of it, man. Which album?”
“Primal Scream,” I answered. I realized that the song was simple but the chord changes might not be something that having a backup band would be able to pull off. “No big deal. How about Elton John?”
The keyboardist smiled. “I play a lot of his songs. Which one?”
I told him the one I had in mind.
“What key?”
I thought for a second. “G.”
The keyboardist nodded and then went quickly to all the other members. They looked at me strangely.
The keyboard had a pedal underneath it, which I guessed was a sustain pedal. I pressed it, and looked at the sound man, who nodded back at me and he fiddled with his controls.
I started the first notes of the intro, my confidence increasing with each note that I played. The keyboardist was sitting behind another keyboard, which I would later find out was a synthesizer.
I looked at my blonde Goddess, and started singing:
As I sang the chorus, I could hear the synthesizer backing me like the strings in an orchestra. I decided right then and there that there would be a Rhodes piano and at least one synthesizer in my studio pretty soon!
The band was great doing backup for me. I could hear them “Oo-ing” behind my vocals.
I wished that I had my tapes recording this performance!
The song got a big round of applause.
Members of the group seemed impressed by my performance. One of them asked me, “Do you have another song you’d like to play?”
“Can you play Jim Croce?” I asked.
“Which song?”
“You Don’t Mess Around With Jim.”
This got a big laugh from the performers, and luckily, they knew the song.
I turned to the mike and invited Kristen and Archy on stage. Archy looked stunned, but June started pushing him toward the stage.
As he passed Mr. Proilet, the teacher handed Archy my trumpet. I could see a big smile appear on the linebacker’s face.
“I’m doing this with a couple of friends as well.”
I told Tiny the tune, and he shook his head. I told him that I’d signal his solo, and he nodded. I had every bit of faith in Archy’s ability to pick up a song by ear.