Suzi, startled a little by the abrupt question, simply answered, “What?”
“It's just different today. Usually you're bouncing around, carrying everything in sight. Today you're kind of wandering around looking lost. Every time you do try to pick something up, Bruce grabs it from you and says, 'Here, I'll take that'. What's up, Suzi?”
The other 2 musicians stopped what they were doing to watch the exchange between Jake and Suzi. They, of course, knew what was different. All had agreed, though, that it would be up to Suzi to decide when to tell the Evanses about her condition.
Suzi was planning on sharing the news of her pregnancy with Jake and Brandee after the show, when the group got together for their post-performance dinner. She had wanted the pre-show to go off routinely, and then the performance to be a smash success before telling them. It wasn't a superstition thing; it was more of a feeling that the group had gotten into a groove and she didn't want anything to happen to impair the evening performance. She felt this way for two reasons.
First, because she was a proud and talented musician in her own right. The group had gotten into a rhythm and she didn't want anything to hamper their performance that night.
Secondly, she didn't want to be the cause of Brandee not being happy if things didn't go well. Now she had to decide whether to keep her own counsel or share the news in the parking lot of Arena Auditorium. She glanced quickly at Brandee, who was standing a little separate from the group, and dove right in.
“I'm a little bit pregnant.”
Jake whooped with delight at the news. He picked Suzi up and gave her the third happy spin of the day. Brandee smiled broadly and stepped in to give Suzi a hug, saying, “I'm really happy for you Suzi.”
By this time, Jake was in front of Bruce.
“Way to go, Dad!” Jake said, alternately pumping his hand and slapping his back in congratulations. Bruce's bearded face split wide open in the biggest smile that Jake had ever seen come across Bruce's face. He returned Jake's handshake and slaps on the back in kind. Finally, he gathered Jake up in a bear hug and the two men did their own, highly energetic but short on grace, happy dance in the middle of the campus of The University of Wyoming.
Suddenly, Jake stepped back and looked sternly at Suzi and Bruce.
“Why were we the last to know? She's not even surprised," he said, pointing to the smiling Diane E. Hoover who was standing nearby.
Suzi turned a few shades of red. She was okay with the rest of the story, though. She was among friends.
“I kind of had to tell them. Diane guessed when we had to stop so I could irrigate the side of the freeway this morning. Bruce is a guy, so he was a little slow, but I told him at the same time.
Jake nodded at this playful bit of gender bashing, and said without missing a beat, “You’re right. We're better at building things and watching football than we are at guessing when women are with child, as they say.”
Everyone laughed then, partly because of Jake's use of the archaic expression and partly in relief that the news was out. Suzi and Bruce were going to be parents. Jake figured that he and Brandee might get an invitation to be godparents to young Mr. or Miss Jackson, and he couldn't be more thrilled for Suzi and Bruce, whom he counted as dear friends. Jake could only imagine what it might be like to be them. He couldn't wait to start a family with Brandee.
Finally, the members of the group split up at the Holiday Inn. Brandee lay down on the pillow top mattress with her usual cold compress over her eyes while Jake made a quick phone call to the facilities manager of Arena Auditorium. Jake had noticed that Brandee's M&M's were already chilling in the refrigerator, but that there had been no sign of the mandarin oranges. The only time on the trip that Brandee hadn't had her oranges was at the Western Folklife Center in Elko. Privately, Jake thought there were a lot of reasons why Brandee had been off of her game that night, and that it had nothing to do with mandarin oranges, but he knew that a happy Brandee was a more confident Brandee, and that a confident Brandee lit up the stage.
The facilities manager said that they were having a little trouble rounding up mandarin oranges but assured Jake that by the time Brandee got back to the dressing room at about 5:30 they would be there. He was sending to Cheyenne (about 45 minutes one way) for the oranges and he knew they would arrive on time. Jake thanked him for his diligence and started to sit down on the chair beside the bed.
Without taking the cloth off of her eyes, Brandee patted the bed beside her. Jake was a little surprised by this, because Brandee usually wanted the bed to herself during her pre-show power nap. Pleased, though, that she wanted company, he lay down beside his wife.
They lay quietly side-by-side for almost a minute, before Brandee broke the silence.
“I think it's great about Bruce and Suzi.”
Jake nodded, knowing she would sense the nod even with her eyes closed.
“Me too. They're going to be great as parents.”
Suzi continued, “I'm glad it's not us, though.”
“Me too, for right now”, Jake said, “Can you imagine trying to be on stage in the lead spot every night? We can cover for Suzi if she needs a break. It wouldn't be the same but we could hire another bass player for a night or two if we needed to. Without you, we don't have a show.”
There was a short pause before Brandee spoke again. “Jake, I think I don't ever want that to be us. At least not for a long, long time.”
Jake was surprised. Before he and Brandee had gotten married, they had discussed having children. Neither of them wanted a large family, but both of them had spoken positively about starting a small family someday. As Jake remembered the conversations now, though, he had been the more enthusiastic of the two.
“I would like to have a child with you sometime," he said to Brandee, who lay motionless beside him. “It would be a living testimony to our love.”
She opened her eyes and moved the cloth a little so she could see Jake. She took his left hand in her right.
“I'd like to have your baby, Jake. I really would. I just don't know how I can get to where I want to be professionally, though, if I'm held back by being a mom.
Jake broke in. “A lot of people have families and careers too, honey.”
Brandee shook her head firmly. “I don't want just a career. I want to be a star! And I can get there. I'm tired of playing in front of Nora Denice and Fucking Lizzie! This trip is supposed to get me noticed, and it will. I can feel it, Jake!”
“Yes baby. I know you will. Brandee is going to be headlining at the best places. I just don't think you should close the door on having our baby at some point in time.”
With that last statement, Jake brushed the side of her cheek with his fingers. He couldn't ever remember thinking she was any more beautiful than she was right now. He knew that she was getting ready for the performance, and that this wasn't the time to press the issue. He finished with one last request.
“That's all I ask, Brandee. Just don't close the door on the idea of having a family with me.”
Brandee took the cloth off of her eyes and handed it to Jake. He knew without asking what she wanted. He went into the hotel room's rest room and cooled the cloth again with cold rushing water. He wrung the cloth out and came back with it to the bed, handing it to Brandee.
She smiled, “Thank you, honey,” “I won't close the door on the idea.”
Jake smiled and sat down on the chair that was adjacent to the bed as Brandee closed her eyes.
***
Brandee reconvened back at Arena Auditorium shortly before 5:30. The promised mandarin oranges had arrived from Cheyenne, so all was in place for a good show for the students from the University as well as the residents of the city of Laramie who would show up for the performance. The group felt that tonight was their night. Brandee had been off her game in Elko, and the crowd had been standoffish in Utah. From the sounds that they could already hear from the arriving crowd, they believed that this was going to be a large and
enthusiastic gathering in Laramie. They could hardly wait to get out there.
Indeed, the crowd was enthusiastic. As luck would have it, Brandee was on stage the night after finals week had finished for spring term at the University. The students were ready to blow off some steam. Sales of the two groups' CDs were brisk, much more so than was usual before a concert even started.
The members of the group didn't know exactly what they were hearing, only that it was noisy out front. At about 6:40, the crowd had started a chant. Those seated on the right side of the main floor started by chanting “Nora! Nora!” Those on the left would answer “Denice! Denice!” making a communal noise that sounded like 5,000 people sneezing all at once. The balcony on the right would answer with “Lizzie! Lizzie!” Finally the balcony on the left would finish with “Brandee! Brandee!” This continued at increasing volume for 20 minutes or more, with accompanying stomps and whistles. It was mayhem at UW and the concert hadn't even started yet! The Cowboys and Cowgirls were ready to rock.
Brandee Evans may have had her faults, but the inability to read a crowd wasn't one of them. She knew as soon as she took the stage that this was not a night for crooning ballads. She took one look at the crowd and stepped back toward the drum kit, bringing her group into a huddle. Even at close range, she had to speak up to be heard over the din behind her.
“Let's rock the shit out of this place!”, she said to the enthusiastic faces around her.
Those eight words started the rockingest night of Brandee's career to date. They opened with “Honky Tonk Broad”, the song that had garnered their first standing ovation months ago in Crescent City. The Wyoming crowd was up for it, and on the long wail at the end of the chorus the crowd joined her, almost 16,000 voices strong, howling “Hooooonky Tonk Broad!” with her. They stood at the end, cheering the group, cheering for themselves, cheering being young and finally being done with school.
Brandee didn't let them sit down before she rolled into “Your Ass is Mine”, a sassy fast number designed to get the crowd clapping along. Again, they responded. When Diane started it off by crossing her sticks over her head and clapping them together, the crowd was as one with her almost immediately. Suzi switched from bass to electric axe for this one and stepped forward to join Brandee at the front of the stage for the chorus line. No one knew whether it was because she was playing for two, or the roar of the crowd, but Suzi had never been better as her fingers flew over the strings. Brandee stepped back to let her take some of the adulation of the crowd at the end.
Next was “12 Gauge”, the classic speedball that had been done by so many artists before. Brandee's growl came into play now, and the crowd loved it. Brandee was with the crowd now, feeding off their energy. She came back to the stage and made a quick change in the set.
This was usually the time that she made love to the wind machine. Tonight, she waved it off. She wanted to keep on rocking! She turned to her band mates and mouthed, “Bad Girl in Town”. This was one that they had only used once before on stage and never yet on this tour. It featured Bruce's best and fastest keyboard artistry, surrounded by the highest notes in Brandee's voice arsenal. It was a risky choice, since they already had the crowd where they wanted them. Brandee could have sung the yellow pages by now and the crowd would have roared their approval, but she wanted to give them something truly special of herself to take on summer break with them.
“Bad Girl in Town” started with some fairly simple syncopation with an underlying medium beat. After about 12 bars, it picked up steam. By the time Brandee got to “I'm the bad girl in town and you'd better give me plenty of rooooooom,” she was going to have to be in mezzo soprano range under a strong whip from Bruce's keyboard and Diane's drum. Could she do it without cracking or giving up on the high A that she needed?
Damn straight, she could! She had been born for this moment! With a band behind her at the top of their talents and a roaring crowd in front of her, she never wanted another moment on stage that didn't feel like this, only bigger and better. Hell, she thought. I don't want another moment in life that doesn't feel like this, only bigger and better.
Diane's drum solo was next. It gave Jake a chance to step to the side of the stage and meet Brandee there with her water while the spotlight was on Diane. He was so very proud of his wife. She thanked him for the water and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, her face blazing hot against his. Her eyes were agleam with what was going on, the shine from them glowing in the shadows at the side of the stage.
As she turned to go back to the center of the stage, Jake said, “It's all you baby! It's all you.”
Brandee nodded to him and went back to the center of the stage. After Diane's drum solo, Brandee did something that she hadn't done before on stage. She pointed her microphone toward the drum kit and shouted, “Diane E. Hoover, ladies and gentlemen!” The crowd roared its approval. Next Brandee introduced, in turn, Suzi and Bruce to the crowd. Suzi waved her axe over her head, acknowledging the crowd. Bruce gave the crowd a smart salute.
The time that it took to introduce the rest of Brandee had given the lead singer a few extra moments to catch her breath. She had laid it all on the stage tonight and wanted to have something left for her final two numbers.
Her second-to-last number was to be the only truly slow one of the night. They brought the lights down for “My Eyes Adored You”. The classic 4 Seasons hit from so long ago brought out the richness and quality of Brandee's voice. Jake listened to his wife sing it, and remembered that they had sung it together in the car on one of their first dates.
Brandee closed the set with “Voracious Little Girl”. It was another fast- paced song designed to get the crowd back on its feet after allowing them a breather during “My Eyes Adored You”. Brandee skipped partway down the aisle and into the loving vocal embrace of the crowd during the second chorus of “Voracious Little Girl”.
The group left the stage knowing they would be called to return. They were not disappointed. The crowd chanted “Brandee! Brandee!” before the group came back on stage. Their chants were punctuated by the crashing of feet on the wooden bleachers of Arena Auditorium. The group beamed at each other backstage as they listened to the cacophonous sound. They listened to “Brand-ee! Stomp Stomp! Brand-ee! Stomp Stomp!” for a good three minutes before returning to the scene of their triumph. Brandee had put a towel around her neck during the time in the wings and didn't take it off before their encore.
They lit up the stage with a reprise of “Honky Tonk Broad”. If the crowd had been ready for this at the beginning, they were even more ready for it now. They howled like banshees when Brandee got to the chorus. At the end of the encore, Brandee suddenly realized that she still had the towel from backstage around her neck. Undaunted, she slid it off her neck and hurled it into the crowd.
Six rows deep in the crowd, a fan caught Brandee's towel. She was so excited by this bonus item from the concert that she ran into the aisle swinging it around her head. Some of Brandee's sweat flew off of the towel that had recently been around the neck of the fan's favorite singer.
Nora Denice and Lizzie were getting impatient. They liked to have the opening act warm up the crowd, that was for sure. There was nothing so discouraging as going on stage and have the crowd almost anesthetized by a boring opening act. This was ridiculous though.
“Who the fuck do they think they are?” Lizzie said while waiting.
Brandee had been allotted 32 minutes on stage for their act. Getting an encore was something that really good opening acts could expect and ND& L had heard that their opening act had been getting some of those accolades, so Nora Denice and Lizzie had factored into their planning that Brandee might be on stage for 35 minutes. By the time Brandee came off stage for the last time, it had been almost an hour since they had emerged from the wings for the first time that night.
As the two bands passed each other backstage, Lizzie said, “It's about time.”
Brandee blew Lizzie a kiss and said, “Ki
ss my ass, honey girl.”
Suzi and Bruce guffawed at their lead-singers' exchange with Lizzie Higdon. There wasn't anything that was going to bring them down tonight. Already riding a high that no motorcycle could match from the new baby on the way, the happy couple was elated on this night. Elated and hungry.
***
Laramie's only 24-hour restaurant was Shari's Pie House, on the corner of University and Pine. Shari's was part of a chain, known throughout the west for their average food. Except, that is, for the pie.
Bruce used to brag that he had closed many a Shari's. Since Shari's never closes, this always brought a questioning look from the people that he told. What Bruce meant was that there was many nights when he was using that he didn't have anywhere to go, so he would sit at Shari's for as long as possible. He could make a piece of their delicious pie last for hours if he needed a place to be in the wee hours. His favorite was their peanut butter fudge swirl pie. He hoped to get some of that after dinner tonight. He hoped it tasted as good when he was straight as it did when he was high.
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