CHAPTER 19
People were coming up to Bo at school on Monday, but it wasn't what he would have expected.
He hoped he might hear a little: "Saw you Saturday night", or better: "Good job", or even better: "You dudes rocked up there!".
Instead, what people were saying to him was: "Dang, Ridley--you smashed a girl in the face with a tennis ball?"
Jenny's lower lip was attracting a lot of attention. It was still swollen, causing it to roll outward, and the cut was healing but had turned an unpleasant yellowish color.
On the way to school, Jenny had thought of saying she fell off her bike or something, but Melissa convinced her to tell the truth, since everyone knew Jenny was a bad liar.
The only compliment Bo received all day, in fact the only mention of the talent show at all, was from Mr. Riggins, who passed Bo in the hall after 3rd Period and simply said: "Well performed".
"They forget real quick," Jimmy said at lunch. "I guess the rock star thing is overrated."
"Speaking of that," Bo said, "you have to come over and help me pick out some songs for us to practice tomorrow. Adler'll be there too, as our business manager."
"Told you dude, I gotta wash dishes today," Jimmy said.
"So after that then."
"B, you sure Mackie can't play drums instead of me?" Jimmy said. "I tried it as a one-shot deal--okay--but let's face it, I'm not a drummer. I'm feeling like I'm getting in too deep now."
"First of all," said Bo, "I'm going to need Mackie to play bass lines on the keyboard because we don't have a bass player. Second, when you take away all the solos and fills and flashy stuff, what would you say is the most important job of a drummer?"
"To rock people's world? How should I know?"
"To keep time. To keep a steady beat the band can play to. Dude, Saturday night you were keeping time like a machine."
"I was?"
"Not only that, you looked good up there doing it, which is what I've been hearing all day," Bo lied.
"You have?"
"So you'll get there when you get there," Bo said.
At 5:30 Jimmy came thundering over the top of The Box.
"I'll give you three guesses whose table I cleared at the Freeze," he said.
"Uh-oh," said Bo, knowing it had to be Hamburg and Arrington.
"They give you any trouble?" asked Adler.
"It was surprising," Jimmy said. "Dudes were half-way decent. Ordered me around a little bit, had me wipe up a spot on the table that wasn't there, that kind of thing. But told me they were glad to see we made it out of that bathroom."
"Yeah, right," said Bo.
"More like relieved, I think," said Adler. "They could have gotten arrested for that, for sure."
"Anyway," Jimmy said, "they've got something going, some kind of DJ gig I think."
"Those guys?" said Bo.
"They were, like: 'Do we need a cd player and turntable, or can we run it all through the I-Pods?', and: 'What about a fog machine?'. Stuff like that."
"That should be US doing that," Bo said. "What does either one of those pieces of garbage know about music?"
"That's what happens when you're a stud athlete," Jimmy said. "Especially in football. People hire you for stuff just because they like having you around."
"It would be interesting, though, to find out exactly what they are doing and when they are doing it," Adler said.
"And screw 'em up somehow," said Bo.
"My thoughts exactly," said Adler.
"Nick, coming in strong with his first idea as business manager, and it's not a bad one," Jimmy said.
"Okay, getting back to the band now," Bo said, "we thought we'd start off with a couple more classic oldies. Ever heard 'Brown-Eyed Girl'?"
"Maybe," said Jimmy.
"The thing about the older songs," Adler said, "is even though the adults know them, the kids know most of them too, or at least they recognize them when they hear them. Playing oldies could make you stand out from the other teenage bands that are out there."
"And the old songs are usually arranged pretty simple, and easy to learn," said Bo.
"I always liked that song 'Sweet Home Alabama'," Jimmy said. "Who's that by, again?"
"I think Lynyrd Skynyrd," said Bo. "That wouldn't be bad either."
"Of course, you have a great resource in Mrs. McCoy," Adler said. "She could be a lot of help in developing your set list."
"Set list, now," Jimmy said. "Don't you think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves?"
"Not really," said Bo.
"Nope," said Adler.
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Everyone showed up at four o'clock on Tuesday. Jimmy came with Jenny and Mrs. McCoy, who had been kind enough to drive the drums over.
Mackie had his keyboard set up on a stand and Bo was passing out music and lyrics.
"All right then, let's run through this real slow," Bo said. "Jimmy, you gotta go light on the volume until we figure out a mike and speaker set up. Otherwise we won't be able to hear ourselves sing."
Bo played the solo guitar intro to "Brown-eyed Girl", and Jimmy and Mackie started up as Bo laid down the first verse. The girls came in on the chorus, singing clearly and with good energy.
If they're not right on key, Bo thought, they're pretty darn close.
"Walter, that's a great bass line you're playing," Bo said when the song ended. "Any way you can fuzz up the tone a little more?"
"Oh, sure," Mackie said, "I can add something in the higher range with the right hand too, if you'd like. To compliment your rythym guitar."
"Go for it, man--you're the boss," Bo said. "Okay everyone, let's take it through again, this time a little faster."
"Brown-eyed Girl" sounded better the second time. The girls were getting comfortable on the vocals, and Mackie was delivering some nice, edgy keyboard.
If you didn't know they were just learning it, you would have thought they'd had the song down for awhile, that they were, in fact, a real band.
"I'm liking the blend," said Bo. "What do you think Nick?"
"I'm more than liking it," said Adler. "Now I have to figure out what to do about it."
