Freeway and the Vin Numbers Read online

CHAPTER 6: HEADLINERS

  Saturn

  The first best part of seeing Freeway & the Vin Numbers’ first ever headlining show was that I got a rare weekend night off from my bartending gig. I wanted to be a regular chick in the crowd for a change.

  “Hey Sat, you better tip us well tonight,” my jealous male co-workers shouted at me as I taunted them with my giddy face of freedom, tight pink shirt, hot black skirt and gray wolf skin boots. Who cared if it all didn’t totally match. The neon-sign combination sure as hell should be enough to catch the eye of a certain rocker.

  The second best part of that particular evening was my chance encounter with Vin’s mother, Danielle. As the crowd began to build modestly in between the second-to-last band and the headliners — no surprise given they were a new group that was pushed to the top of the marquis much quicker than normal — I overheard Danielle tell my friend and co-worker Amy that her son was in the band.

  “His name is Vin,” Danielle said as I checked out this tall, sexy woman that dressed for the show — black leather skirt, fishnets and all — like she was no stranger to the stage herself. “He plays bass and sings. He better be good tonight. I’ve never seen him play with this band before. They’re brand new.”

  “They’re pretty good,” Amy said as she served Danielle a whiskey and 7-up, then looked in my direction a few stools down at the bar. “Right Saturn?”

  “Yeah, we saw their first show a couple of weeks ago here,” I jumped in. “Vin’s great. The guitarist, Freeway, is amazing. They really surprised me for a new band.”

  Danielle’s brown eyes lit up and she beamed at me.

  “Oh, that’s so good to hear!” she shouted before coming over next to me and sipping her drink. “What’s your name?”

  “Saturn,” I replied, offering my hand.

  “I’m Danielle, Vin’s mom,” she said, shaking my hand. Upon closer view, I could totally see where Vin got his good looks from. “Saturn is an interesting name.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it,” I said with a laugh. “My parents were a little strange.”

  “Were?” Danielle said, clearly listening to me closely despite the increasing loudness of the club.

  “Yeah, they’d still be strange if they were still around,” I said, taking a bigger than usual gulp from my glass of red wine. “They died a while back.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Danielle said, looking slightly mortified. “You poor thing. I didn’t mean to …”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, trying to thwart any pity party.

  “You’re just so young,” Danielle said.

  “22 going on 22,” I said, quickly trying to lighten the mood. “How old is your son. He’s a cutie.”

  “18,” Danielle said. “Same age I was when I had him.”

  “Wow,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

  “No girlfriend that I’m aware of if you want to date a younger man,” Danielle said, smiling and putting her arm around my shoulder. “Try not to corrupt him anymore than me or his family already has. We’re a little different in case you haven’t noticed.”

  “Different is definitely a good thing,” I said, making her happy as the lights dimmed and we got ready to watch Freeway and the Vin Numbers. Again, they strolled out and took their positions wearing the same dark sweatshirts and blue jeans as last time. I shook my head.

  “You’ve gotta tell Vin to do something about their stage wear,” I spoke in Danielle’s right ear. “They could use some serious fashion 911.”

  Danielle chuckled.

  “Tell him yourself,” she told me. “I’ll make sure you two meet after the show.”

  Normally, I would not be excited about meeting an 18-year-old boy. But when Danielle told me that, I definitely was fired up about meeting Vin. Too young for me or not, I had a strong sense that he was different — in a very uplifting sort of way. And in this more-often-than-not depressing and boring existence on planet Earth, different was definitely a good thing.

  There was also something remarkably refreshing and different about the band as Freeway led them into their first song with lead vocals and a relentless guitar riff dominating from the start. This music had amazing motion and depth to it, unlike the played-out pop I had grown up listening to for far too long. This music stirred my soul and immediately took me somewhere.

  “Is that the stars in the sky

  or is it raining fallin’ down?

  Will it burn me if I touch the sun,

  so big, so round?

  Will I be truthful, yeah,

  in choosing you as the one for me?

  Is this love baby, or is it, uh, just confusion?”

  Oh, my mind is so mixed up, goin’ round ’n’ round

  Must there be all these colors without names

  Without sounds?

  My heart burns with feelin’ but

  Oh! But my mind is cold and reeling

  Is this love baby, or is it confusion?

  Vin didn’t sing at all on that first song. His fingers just motored away on his black-and-orange bass with zebra-colored shoulder strap, helping provide the up-tempo beat underneath Freeway’s smooth voice and soaring guitar. Turns out, the tune was not an original.

  “That was the Jimi Hendrix Experience and ‘Love or Confusion’ off the album ‘Are You Experienced’ from the year 1967,” Freeway announced with a smile nearly as big as his afro. Even the wooden-postured black guy next to him, who continued to stand there and do nothing just as he had in their first show, allowed a quick grin as he eyes scanned the mostly twenty-somethings jamming toward the front of the stage. “No, I’m not the second coming of Jimi Hendrix. No one can touch Jimi. I’m the first coming of Freeway Wilson. We are Freeway and the Vin Numbers from Providence, Rhode Island. Thanks for coming!”

  The crowd, which now numbered 250 to 300, roared its approval for the local band. Some kids were even taking pictures of the guys with their cell phones. Danielle and I howled as loud as we could, too.

  “The rest of the songs you’ll hear tonight will be originals,” Freeway continued. “Our sound may confuse you. Don’t be alarmed. It comes from a very different time and place. So if you really want to love us, go out and buy Jimi’s ‘Are You Experienced.’ Listen to it over and over, and you’ll understand what where trying to do. We’re trying to pick up where bands like that left off so many years ago. It’s time to fall in love with the rock ’n’ roll experience all over again, two generations later.”

  The crowd cheered, though I sensed some of what Freeway said sailed over most of our heads, mine included — that is until I downloaded ‘Are You Experienced’ a couple of days later and listened to all of the songs. The whole record blew me away. It was like nothing I had ever listened to before. The more I heard it, the more I loved it. And after listening to the original ‘Love or Confusion’ several times, I understood why the band picked that song to start the show. Though it was more subtle than some of the obvious hits on the album, it had the most enticing rush of a beginning. The guitar and vocals immediately just swept you into the song, into the essence of what the Jimi Hendrix Experience was all about. I’m sure not everyone in the crowd realized it that night, but I came to appreciate the gift Freeway gave us just by turning us — members of his own generation — on to the very music that inspired him, even though it was created by another amazing young man more than 40 years ago.

  Freeway and the band’s second gift to us was their first original song of the evening, “My Paul,” an ode to Freeway’s guitar, Vin would tell me later. Freeway sang with some serious attitude as he launched into the song with a heavy, bluesy hook. With Vin working the bass and the bald-headed drummer pounded along with him, the energy level in the club jumped big time. The kids were into it. So were Danielle and I. We smiled at each other and drew some looks with our hot outfits as Freeway approached the microphone stand and let it rip:

  “You robbed from Peter

  So I could play my Paul

&n
bsp; The sound is sweeter

  And stands 90 feet tall

  Cool-hand Luke’s

  No hot-hand Duke

  My loyal brother

  Is like no other

  Saints and sinners

  Paints and thinners

  Got me a fresh new look

  With something you took

  You got me some more

  So I could do it with Les

  The fuzz ain’t got no clue

  ’Bout the magic between me and you

  You robbed from Peter

  So I could play my Paul

  The sound is sweeter

  And stands 90 feet tall”

  We all gave the guys a huge cheer on that first song. It sounded wicked cool, especially for a brand new band.

  On the next song, Vin looked so poised for an 18-year-old as he took over lead vocals while also playing bass:

  “From the tent city to the hen house

  From the Playboy to the Penthouse

  We’ve all got a purpose

  So let’s scratch the surface

  From nowhere to somewhere

  From nobodies to some bodies

  All we got is each other

  And a few songs to take us there

  Take us there to that place

  Where we recognize your face

  Take us there to that place

  Where y’all sing along to our song

  The night is young and the road is open

  Our dreams are big, our wheels are rumblin’

  Take us there to that place

  Where y’all drive along to our song

  Take us there to that place

  Where y’all sing along to our song”

  Vin did such an awesome job. This song could only get better as more people learned it, I remember thinking at the time. The band followed that up with the super-fast “Medieval Upheaval” rocker, the closer from the last gig.

  Vin seemed even more confident with his voice. The crowd went fucking nuts for that song. Clearly some of the people from two weeks ago had returned for this show and remembered the tune. They seemed to lead the charge, feeling superior that they had heard it before.

  “Thank you,” Vin said, smiling as the drummer hurled a drum stick into the crowd and a frenzy ensued. “Glad you enjoyed ‘Medieval Upheaval.’ It’s one of our favorites, as well. This next song is in honor of our mighty guitar player Freeway. As your speeding along I-95 in South Providence most days, you just might catch a glimpse of him on his front porch overlooking the highway. You just might catch a glimpse of him ‘Jamming by the I.’”

  With that, Freeway’s guitar took off like a jet. His contagious energy and fingering skills left many in the crowd hypnotized with mouths open. That fucking good. Seriously.

  Then Vin let it fly with his piercing, edgy vocals:

  “Sex on the X, A to the E, F to the Z

  Rock to the sea, Way to the Free

  Jamming by the I!

  I-95! (shouted by the rest of the band)

  Dancing all day

  Riffing all night

  Jamming by the I!

  I-95!

  Waving all day

  Raving all night

  Jamming by the I!

  I-95!”

  The fans seemed to love it, especially with something so tangible to relate to as Interstate 95, the main artery that runs through the heart of our tiny state and connects us all to each other. It was a little sad to think that with our windows rolled up and our fast, noisy cars, we never got to hear Freeway’s amazing guitar playing along the highway. But at least we were there to hear him on this night. And he didn’t disappoint, blasting away on the aptly titled “Freeway in the Front Yard,” as the band kept the same theme going with another song it had played in its debut two weeks earlier.

  The song that hit me hardest was the next one — partly because it slowed things down so much, mostly because of the subject matter. Vin led it off with a haunting bass line and Freeway sang in a hushed, agonized tone. The ax man with the afro introduced it as “Dashes to Ashes”:

  “Dashes hypnotizing me

  As I drive down the highway

  Ashes crypnotizing me

  As I stumble through the ghostway

  You aren’t hear for me now

  And you never were

  Wasn’t your fault

  Locked in a vault

  All these years that we got cheated

  A number here, a number there

  The line runs in between

  You got taken

  And I’m still shaken

  But I got a life to live

  So on I go

  Cuz there’s music to be makin’

  Can you hear me

  Can you hear me

  Can you hear me

  From down below?

  That song, to me at least, showed this band had something — honesty, depth, whatever you want to call it.

  It seemed to really hit home for the audience, too. When the song was over, people cheered like they knew they were seeing a special band. I noticed Vin seemed affected by the whole experience, too. He looked emotional. His mother even had teary eyes as she clapped. Vin later would tell me that he wrote the song, but he asked Freeway to sing it because he was afraid he’d start bawling. Wow.

  I won’t get into every song, but the band must’ve played 14 or 15 in total. This time they closed with “Papa Was A Gravestone.” Despite the morbid subject matter, that song was so groovy and fun that you didn’t realize it had some definitely similarities to “Dashes to Ashes.”

  After Freeway introduced each member of the band, they took their bows, accepted a long applause with huge smiles and left the stage. The fans showed their appreciation by screaming and stomping for an encore.

  As if I hadn’t been won over already, Vin returned to the stage alone looking like he had just poured water all over his sweaty, spiky head. Then he tore into his funkiest, fastest bass part yet. After he laid down that groove, the others took their places and joined the fun. Even the black guy that usually just stands there started dancing in place a little bit and smiling. You could tell the whole band enjoyed that because they were all laughing like crazy, even the bug-eyed, mullet-haired guy. The crowd was fired up, too. Some kids were dancing to the beat and shaking their heads around.

  Then Freeway said, “Thanks for coming. This last little number, well, we wrote this one yesterday. It’s raw, it’s freak. It’s called ‘Shaggin’ Dragon Paddy Wagon.’ Enjoy the ride. See you next time. And y’all drive home safe.”

  Freeway sang it and the others backed him up:

  “Is there some other way to say it?

  Shaggin’ (all)

  Is there some other way to slay it?

  Dragon (all)

  Shaggin’

  Dragon

  Paddy wagon!

  Put me in your paddy wagon

  Guilt all over my face

  Cuff me, book me, print me

  I’d do it all over again

  Same bar, same time, same place

  Shaggin’

  Dragon

  Paddy wagon!

  Shaggin’

  Dragon

  Paddy wagon!”

  Fun tune. We all loved it. What a show! Now it was finally time for Danielle to hook me up with her son.