Saturday Afternoon

 I had the auditorium stage set with a Black Steinway Grand piano, and a White Steinway Baby Grand piano. I had a friend set up a set of DW drums, and several different guitars which I knew my Dad played. I had begged and borrowed every guitar effects pedal I could find. I had a friend to do lighting and another friend to do sound. Now if I could only talk my Dad into the auditorium I would be fine. My Mom had told me not to surprise my Dad with things, but being my Father’s Daughter I sometimes go against the grain. We had walked around the school for about twenty minutes Saturday afternoon when I said, "And here’s our auditorium". My Dad was apprehensive about going in, but I had the curtain closed to the stage and no one was seen inside, so we went in. He wanted to sit in the back, but I convinced him to come sit in the front row next to the stage. I could tell he was nervous and reluctant to do so. After about half an hour he started to loosen up, to the best of his knowledge there were only the three of us in the place. He started telling me stories about small venues like this where he would often play when he was younger, he said he liked playing to smaller groups than larger. So I asked him, "Then you wouldn’t mind playing now"? He said, "But I didn’t bring anything with me". I yelled "CURTAIN"! The curtain started to open, the lights went on, I looked at my Dad and it looked like he was about ready to drop dead. My Mom started to say, "Oh honey you shouldn’t.....", my Dad said, "That’s ok, I rather suspected a show and tell". With only a bottle of Evian water and a wad of chewing gum in his mouth he took the stage.He looked around at all the instruments and said, "Wow, I think you forgot an oboe." I yelled from my seat, "If you need one we have one". He said, "I’ll let you know". My Mom whispered to me that she thought I over did it. I told my Mom that I think he can handle it. He walked over to where the guitars were standing, picked up an electric six string Rickenbacker and walked over to the microphone. As he was strapping it on he said into the microphone: "This is a song a friend of mine wrote and I stand here today only because of the women in my life, some are here and some are not". He played about three chords and with a Liverpudlian accent softly said into the microphone, "From the other half of the sky" and proceeded to sing and play John Lennon’s song ‘Woman’, often switching the word woman to women in the body of the song. As he finished there was clapping coming from behind where my Mom and I were sitting, I turned to look and there were about a dozen people in the audience, I thought great, just what Dad needs, but it didn’t seem to faze him a bit. He once again walked over to the guitars and brought back two guitars on their stands, he reached for the six string acoustic, strapped it on and said: "These two songs are for George", and in a very slow (sad almost), style began singing George Harrison’s song ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. He followed it up with an electric Ovation guitar and in the same slow ballad-like style sang George Harrison’s song ‘Something’. All the while looking straight into my Mom’s eyes. Again as he finished the clapping got louder behind us, I looked again and to my dismay there must have been fifty people seated. My Dad put the guitar back on the stand, took a drink of water and walked over to the Grand piano and with that shit-ass grin on his face he said in a Liverpudlian accent, "And we mustn’t forget about Paul". He once again in a slow ballad-like style began to play ‘Let It Be’, he omitted the original guitar solo and replaced it with an updated verse he wrote bringing the song up to date. I don’t remember the verse word for word but it talked about the fab four now becoming the fab two, it was very sad. I turned to my Mom and asked her why she told me Dad couldn’t play the piano that well? She said she was only repeating what my Father told her. After the song was finished my Dad got up and went to the microphone and said, "I write poetry better than I write songs, my first love was poetry at a very early age and it has remained through thick and thin times. I wrote a poem for a very special friend who couldn’t be here today, although she is here in my heart, I’d like to share that with you now". Then with no paper to read off of he recited this poem. After he was through he said, "For my little Elf who guided me through some very dark days in my life and befriended me at just the moment I needed it, I will always love you". The audience just went crazy with applause.Mom and I were writing down everything Dad was saying as fast as we could because we knew he wouldn’t remember what he said or he wouldn’t repeat it. Dad looked at the drums and asked, "There wouldn’t happen to be a really good drummer back stage per chance"? My friend Collin came out, Dad and he had a discussion, Collin took a seat behind the drums whileDad was pacing back and forth in front of the guitars that were lined up on their stands. Dad said into the microphone, "It’s not that I can’t play those things, (pointing to the drums) I’d rather play the next song on a guitar". The audience laughed. Then Dad said "I hate Stratocasters, they’re over rated". Dad chose an electric Gibson guitar, walked back to his mic stand, kicked down one of the effect pedals, adjusted the volume on the guitar and said, "Enough bullshit, let’s rock the house". I looked at my Mom and said, "What got into Dad"? She said with a tear in her eye, "Old times honey, real old times". Then in this almost ear shattering reverberation of sound Dad started playing John Hiatt’s song called ‘Perfectly Good Guitar’. In an almost Eric Clapton style, but much faster. The audience clapped their hands on every upbeat of Collin’s snare drum. This seemed to excite Dad even more so, he walked back and forth on stage often facing Collin and nodding his head as if to give him a thumbs up. Dad was bending the strings to the point where I often thought he was going to break them, at times you could swear you heard two guitars playing but it was only Dad’s guitar playing that gave it that effect. The lyrics were rather humorous, but true, very similar to my Dad’s lyrics. When the song ended the ringing started in my ears, Dad looked sweaty but very happy. The audience gave Dad a standing ovation and they seemed to applaud forever. I saw Dad blow Mom a kiss as he walked back to the microphone. He said, "I lived in Austin Texas for a little less than a year, I think, and I had the opportunity to meet John Hiatt, I think he wrote that song for me". He said with that same shit-ass grin on his face. He was adjusting the knobs on the same guitar when he said into the microphone, "A while back I was addicted to some prescription pain pills, sleeping pills, and tranquilizers. Man I was really fucked up, it got to the point where I stole prescription pads and wrote out my own prescriptions. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that street drugs and the misuse of prescription drugs are different, you’re a junkie if you live on the street or live in a mansion". I looked at Mom and her mouth was a bit too far open, so I decided not to ask her why he was telling this to my school??Then Dad nodded to Collin on the drums, and he started to sing David Crosby’s song ‘Thousand Roads’, which begins with the first line being spoken: "Well I used to walk around with my eyes on fire". It’s a song that David Crosby wrote about his own drug addiction. Dad got another standing ovation after that one as well. I asked my Mom if he was almost finished? My Mom said she had no clue! Then he went over to Collin shook his hand brought him out from behind the drum set and asked for a big round of applause for Collin. The audience replied very generously as Collin bowed and walked off the stage. When things quieted down Dad said, "This next song I wrote, but will probably get sued by saying so, I wrote this song on the night my beautiful daughter Skye was conceived". I started to slink down into my seat. "Three weeks later I was in a car accident in Los Angeles and have no memory of that happening. I was only informed about my gorgeous daughter a little while back so I had to quickly rewrite one of the verses, it’s called ‘Tearing Down This Place’. Dad grabbed an acoustic six string guitar and in a very slow version of the song sang it very proudly, this time staring me in the eye, as if we were all alone and he was singing it only to me. I started to cry, I saw my Dad shake his head no, I mouthed backed to him that they were happy tears, he then just winked. Mom said that got the biggest applause of the day, I don’t remember! He then disappeared behind the stage for a couple of moments, reappearing with something in his hand. The lights on stage dimmed down to where he was only seen in a spotlight. He said, "This is my last number, I dedicate this song to all the loves we’ve all known that are no longer here with us, but still remain in our hearts". In a cappella he started to sing John Lennon’s ‘In My Life’. When Dad got to the piano/harpsichord solo he raised a harmonica to his mouth and played it. I looked at Mom and said, "You didn’t tell me this one either". Mom said, "Neither did he". When the song was over the stage went completely black. The audience was raving, I turned to see how many people were back there, to my amazement all seats were taken and people were standing and sitting down the aisles. I thought OH MY GOD!!