Back to the islands

As we neared the end is of 1966 preparations were made for another engagement in Hawaii. We didn’t go back to Oklahoma for Christmas as we usually did. We decided to do Christmas in the San Jose area with my brother and his wife and my sister and her husband. Gary and Leon went to Oklahoma and Hoot went to Oregon. Right after Christmas we all reunited in San Jose to fly to Hawaii. Gary left his car with my brother I left mine with my sister. I’m really not sure about the others. Once again we flew out of SanFrancisco. It was fun to take Shannon on her first flight. She was a little less than a year old and the only kid in the group. We were flying on New Years Day 1967. When we arrived we were greeted the same way as last time. Hula girls to put leis around our neck and a van to get our equipment to the club. It was much different this time as far as living quarters. This time we had four apartments above the club. Each had one large room with two beds a kitchen and bathroom and a good sized lanai. (Veranda). Ricki went with Gary, Leon had a serious girlfriend at the time and she went with him. On our first night there we went to the club as patrons, I can’t remember who the band was but it was fun being there in the crowd.

On the first weekend there we took Shannon to the Honolulu zoo. We walked all over that place and I don’t know who was more tired me or her. I carried her most of the time. Once we got back in the swing of things it was much better than last time. Living in the same building made lots of difference plus having the wives there made lots of difference. I could actually visit with her and Shannon on breaks if we wanted. That made it pretty nice. We actually had her first birthday party there . She was just the right age to have a lot of fun with. Nothing had changed at the club. Same owner, same manager, and some of the same wait staff. Ricki decided to work while she was there so she hired on the wait staff. Oh and the Hawaiian Mafia were right back in their space every night. Speaking of the Hawaiian Mafia. One night we saw a guy come in and go over to their table as if to talk to them. He was a big white guy. You could tell right away he wasn’t welcome. After a few minutes he went out the front door and a couple of them followed him. This all happened about an hour before we got off. We saw the two guys come back and there was lots of discussion then things quietened down. When we got off Susan and Shannon were sitting on the stairway. There was a front and back stair way both behind a locked glass door. Susan told us she had witnessed the two guys giving the one guy a good beating in the parking lot. She said after the two guys left,the guy that got beat up looked up to our apartment and saw her and Shannon. A few minutes later someone rang our door bell when she opened the door it was the guy who had been beat up. He asked to use our bathroom to clean the blood off his face. Knowing the only way he could have got in the building was by picking the downstairs lock she decided to let him clean up. He told her to close the curtains so that if the bad guys came out looking for him and saw him there they would harm her and the baby. He cleaned up and left. We were all in my apartment telling her how foolish she was for letting him in, when the door bell rang. I answered the door and there he was again. He had thrown his torn up shirt in our trash can and in the pocket of his shirt was his partial plate. I got the shirt for him, he found his teeth and started to leave. He told me to never let those guys know we helped him. Susan , Shannon and I met him on the street a couple weeks later. I didn’t acknowledge I recognized him and neither did he. He looked like he was running from something. This incident confirmed to me these guys were not someone to mess with.

Once again we worked seven nights and yes it got old but not as bad as the first time. We kept up to date on all the new music. We practiced every day to learn new songs. The crowds were great maybe even better than before, if that’s possible. Somewhere along about the eighth week or so they started having a guy do a piano bar gig in the front room of the club. He went by the name Ray Lewis and he was pretty danged good. He would do about three hours in the early evening before we came on. We got acquainted with him and even gave some serious consideration to adding him to our group. He was a good singer, played several instruments and a good entertainer. I can’t really remember why the discussions broke off. He had some guys he played with sometimes and he told us he would be glad to fill in for us some night so we could have a night off. We worked it out and we got one night off during our 16week stay. I can’t remember who baby sat Shannon but Gary and Ricki and Susan and I went to the movies to see “Sand Pebbles” with Steve McGueen. About this same time, Leon’s girlfriend had about all she could take and left to go back to Reno. Leon was not one for long relationships. Too bad she was a really sweet lady.

My next chapter is one I don’t really want to write about. But if I’m gonna tell the whole story I must include this part. It’s all about an idea.