CHAPTER 25: LET'S GET LOCO
Vincent
We kicked off our Atlantic Coast club tour in style, thanks to my father Al (weird saying that, I know) and his Miami connections. We played an intimate show for Miami Beach’s rich, famous and super models at the Delano Hotel, within a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean.
We set up in the dark and airy Rose Bar lounge with its intoxicating salt water breezes, ridiculously high ceilings and towering white linen drapes. Beyond the lounge was a sprawling outdoor garden and pool with lounge chairs, cabana beds and cozy bungalows lining both sides. A couple of tables and chairs actually were set up in the shallow end of the pool so people could sit and get their feet wet. At the far end of the pool was a fairly large outdoor bar where the beautiful people sipped tropical cocktails and mingled.
In short, it was paradise, not some seedy club more suitable for rock and blues. But Freeway & the Vin Numbers weren’t complaining. Shit, we were loving it. It felt like we had made it.
The only challenge at a place like this was getting the crowd to pay attention to the music and lure them into the Rose Bar from the heavenly pool area. Al did his best to promote the show, but nobody really knew us this far away from our home turf. The Power Chord magazine story and the popularity of the Delano helped draw a couple hundred young hipsters and plenty of rich older folks who chased beautiful women.
Saturn flew down to be with me for the tour launch and to celebrate my 19th birthday after the show. Others attending the gig included my mother, Al, his wife Sally (yes, that auntie) and my two new half-sisters, Valerie and Lauren. Considering they were only 16 and 14, Al had to pull a few strings to get them into the club for the show.
We in the band all wore Hawaiian shirts, white pants and white shoes — tropical yet classy attire that met with Saturn and my mother’s approval.
There were probably only about 50 or so people in the Rose Bar when we started to play around 11 p.m. Everybody else was outside. The place didn’t close until at least 3 a.m., but it was a hotel, so it never really closed, especially near the pool and bungalows. We were slated to play until about 12:30 a.m. and then a Miami-based DJ would take over for the wee-hour dance scene.
With all the Latino beauties in attendance, Freeway made sure to start the show off accordingly.
“Hey everybody,” he said. “We’re Freeway & the Vin Numbers from a little place called Providence, Rhode Island. We love Miami and we hope you’ll love us. Hey now, do we have any Spanish people in the house tonight? Where y’all at?”
Quite a few partiers cheered.
“All right! Do we have any people who love castles in the house tonight?” Freeway continued.
A whole bunch of hot women cheered.
“All right! Do we have any people who love magic in the house tonight?” Freeway asked with a big smile.
“Yeah!” the crowd responded.
“Well then, let’s get loco!” Freeway shouted before blasting off the sensational opening riffs of the Jimi Hendrix smash “Spanish Castle Magic,” from “Axis: Bold As Love.”
Friday stood like a rock with arms folded, Craig played guitar, Buck tore it up on drums and I jammed on the bass while Freeway sang like it was the best night of his entire life:
“It’s very far away
It takes about half a day
To get there, if we travel by my a … dragonfly
No, it’s not in Spain
But all the same
You know,
It’s a groovy name
And the wind’s just right
Hang on, my darling
Hang on if you want to go
You know it’s a really groovy place
And it’s just a little bit of Spanish castle magic”
We nailed that song and it definitely got the attention of some of the people out in pool land. Couples holding hands and other small groups of people began to trickle into the lounge to get a closer look at who was rocking the Delano on that Friday night.
Freeway kept the momentum going with “My Paul” and a fun ride through “Shaggin’ Dragon Paddy Wagon,” which actually got some people dancing in the lounge. The place was so spacious and airy there was enough room to break it on down if you had the urge.
Then I sang “Zero Gravity” and a brand new tune called “Makin’ Sense”:
“Life can be full of sound and fury
Of judge and jury
Signifying something
That makes no sense to me
No, life don’t make no sense to me
But you and I do, darlin’
And that’s enough for me
Your touch
Your taste
Your smell
Your voice
Your crazy earrings
You are my circle of life
You are my future wife
You waken all my senses
No more past tenses
Life is now, life is wow
Life don’t make no sense to me
But you and I do, darlin’
And that’s enough for me"
The ladies in the crowd seemed to love that song, especially Saturn, who looked stunning in a tight teal dress with matching high-heel shoes and big hoop-ty earrings. I watched her laugh when I sang the “crazy earrings” lyric. That was priceless.
I got “Papa Was A Gravestone” out of the way next. I wasn’t comfortable singing that song so I closed my eyes for most of it and included the new third verse. I made sure not to look at my mother, Al or Sally throughout that song so I don’t know how they reacted. But I never sang about anyone preferring butt holes, that’s for sure.
Freeway took over vocals again for “Empty Streets” and “Crazee Leaf,” which seemed to be popular with the Miami crowd. Then he debuted another awesome new song called “Whether Vane”:
“Clouds rolling in from the West
We can sing about the weather
Or you can tell me whether …
Hey, whether vane
Will she or won’t she rain
On my sunny days?
I gotta know
Can’t take no mo’
Will she or won't she rain
On my eight-lane parade?
Tell me before I get in too deep
Too tired to dream
Too wired to sleep
Hey, weather vane
You’re up on the roof
Tell me what’s comin’ my way
A love as hot as Miami
Or a hate as cold as Erie?
Clouds rolling in from the West
We can sing about the weather
Or you can tell me whether …
Hey, whether vane
Will she or won’t she rain
On my sunny days?
I gotta know
Can’t take no mo’
Will she or won’t she rain
On my eight-lane parade?"
Freeway had fun with that song and it was infectious. The crowd loved it, especially the reference to Miami, after which Freeway wisely paused for effect before singing the next line. More people continued to spill into the lounge from the pool area, adding to the buzz in the room.
Friday and Freeway combined on “Wayward Wanderer” just as they had for the Sea Mist show, and it seemed to captivate the crowd in a whole different way. It was like they didn’t expect that side of our band after all the fun songs. That was pretty cool. Then I hit them with “Dashes to Ashes” and the mood got a little too somber, so I picked them back up with “When She Wears Clothes,” a fitting song for such a hot location.
Freeway put on a guitar clinic with “Bucket of Blues,” including an extended solo that dazzled the crowd. He kept that bluesy magic going as I sang “Police Station Blues.”
While the rest of us took a break, Freeway drew a standing ovation for his stripped-down solo masterpiece “Too Quick.”
Then I came out and let Freeway finally rest with my solo acoustic version of “
Saturn,” which nearly brought my valentine to tears. I blew her a kiss before the rest of the band rushed out and we cranked up the sound to the other end of the spectrum. Yup. It was “Medieval Upheaval” time. Was Miami ready for this? Not really. We went crazy, but the crowd seemed slightly confused that we had a little Rage Against the Machine in our arsenal as well. The place may have been just too modern and upscale for “Medieval Upheaval.”
Al warned me that a place like this also likely wouldn’t stomp the floor for an encore, especially with a fairly unknown band, so we finished strong with our previously successful medley of “Ain’t for Sale” and “If 6 Was 9,” and wrapped the show with Freeway’s ode to the sound-bending wah-wah guitar effect that Jimi Hendrix was the first to master. Freeway’s new song was called “Wah Wah (Why Don’t You Love Me?)”:
“I can bend the sound
And I can release the hound
But can I bend your mind
To my way of thinking?
Hey girl, wah wah
Why don’t you love me?
Slam on the pedal
Let’s twist some metal
And bend this crazy world
To our way of living
Hey girl, can I bend your sensitive ears
To my way of listening?
Can I bend your foxy body
To my way of freaking?
Can I bend your sweet soul
To my way of feeling?
I can bend the sound
And I can release the hound
But can I bend your mind
To my way of thinking?
Hey girl, wah wah
Why don’t you love me?
Will you bend my heart
To your way of loving?
Yeah, bend my heart baby
To your way of loving!”
As we pounded out the rhythm faster and faster behind him, Freeway finished the show with a wah-wah-warped solo that nearly set the Rose Bar’s cascading 30-foot drapes ablaze. When we were done and took our final bows, the crowd cheered like crazy for more than a minute. We had indeed won them over and it felt like our biggest musical victory yet.
The only thing that could top that show was my 19th birthday party out by the pool at about 1 a.m. Everybody was there — Saturn, my band mates, my mother, Al and Sally (no, Al never told her about my alternate lyrics from the Halloween show), and my new half-sisters, Valerie and Lauren. The only thing that could’ve made it better was if Jimi Hendrix himself had walked across the glass-like pool water at that moment in time and joined us for a slice of birthday cake.
We all gathered near a long white table alongside the pool and posed for tons of pictures. Buck, Craig, Freeway and Friday had trouble looking at the camera because their heads were constantly on a swivel, checking out all the beautiful women parading past us.
Saturn and my mother both beamed as they worked together to light all the candles on the big chocolate cake that said “Happy 19th Vin” in white lettering. Freeway and I laughed at the red bass guitar drawn on the cake, as well.
When my mother and my girlfriend were finished lighting the candles, Saturn hugged me, kissed me, smiled and said, “Make a wish Vin.”
I looked at all the amazing people staring back at me and took it all in for a second. I may have lost a bet on this city's football team way back when, but Miami sure was feeling like a winner right about now … and so was I.
“I don’t need to make a wish,” I told Saturn, “because my wish already came true.”
I blew out all 19 candles with one massive, tropical breeze of an exhale and everybody cheered.
THE END
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