What's that song? You know that song, that annoying song from that annoying musical that my wife sings? Oh yeah; OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOklahoma where the wind comes sweeping, blah, blah, blah, what have you!! Well, I had my first experience of Oklahoma this past weekend and do I dare say, no wind came sweeping down the plain, but the people were the most extraordinarily friendly "folk" I've ever met!
Let me back up a bit. Since I last posted a blog, I did some more private gigs and one public gig and I've been in the recording studio recording, yes, you guessed it, a new CD.
But more about that another time.
Anyway, as luck would have it, I got a call from my agent who told me he had a booking for me on an Indian reservation. Then I started singing 'Indian Reservation (Cherokee people)' by Paul Revere and the Raiders. I believe Jeff's reply was;
"No Mitchell, it's the Choctaw!"
What? There are other tribes except the Cherokee?
They didn't teach me that in US Citizenship 101.
So I quickly did my research, checked out the casino
and even found out that
the Choctaw were the first code talkers in WW1.
I found this fascinating.
Did everybody see Windtalkers?
If not, you may not have a clue what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I decided to surprise Wendy at the last minute with a ticket to join me in OK. What I didn't know is that she had already contacted two ladies who were at the Anaheim fest, DeeJay and Tess. Apparently they live near Dallas, yet a two hour stone throw away from the Reservation. So she was very excited that she would see them again.
Monday evening brought my wife in from CA and landing in Dallas two hours before me. About 30 minutes before my plane landed, Wendy said she looked outside and decided this wasn't going to happen. There was a crane holding up my gate.
It's an accident waiting to happen and chances are, we wouldn't be pulling into it. And of course it was MY gate that was broken!! The luck of the Irish(-American) I'll tell you!!
Twenty five minutes later she finally got word that there was a gate change and my plane landed. I couldn't wait to deplane, the quicker I did, the quicker I could get a kiss and the quicker we could get to our driver for the 90 mile drive to the casino/hotel. Now, where IS that driver?
As we grabbed my luggage and proceeded outside to bake in 90° F degree weather (that's 32.2° C) with 120umidity at 9.30 PM, I thought, "This was a bad time to give up smoking, AGAIN." But by a miracle, I had one smoke left. Ok, more like ten, but really it's an on going struggle!! So I lit up and sat staring at the parking lot.
"Wendy" I said. "I remember the days when the driver was right at baggage claim holding a sign with my last name on it. What's that saying? You know, the one the flight attendant said to me in Germany when he tried to stop me from being the only one sitting in a business class seat and wanted to down grade me so he didn't have to deal with business class? You know, the one who grabbed my ear and pulled it really hard?"
"You're not a Pop star anymore little boy?" she answered.
"That's it!! Thanks love!!" I replied.
Ah memories!! I was given a status upgrade, a round trip ticket and an apology by Lufthansa. Happy days!!
Where was I? Ah, yes, the driver. While Wendy ran to the loo,
a tall, husky gentleman approached me:
"Are you EYE-an Mitchell?" He asked.
"Are you from the casino?" I asked.
Yes.
"Well then I'm EYE-an Mitchell.
But my friends call me EEEan."
He smiled. "I'm Archie. Lets go, we have a long drive!!"
Ok. I have my wife with me, so hold on a minute.
When Wendy got outside and saw us, jumped into the van as fast as she could. In fact, so did I!! After almost a 2 hour drive, we made it to the casino/hotel. And looky there, up on the BIG screen in front of the casino was flashing a photograph of me and the Midwest band.
That awful photo that made me look half cock-eyed
and Johnny Lust looking cooler than any drummer should look. And he had better hair too!!
"Look Ian!! Look!!" Wendy said with much excitement.
"Yeah, I see." I replied. ( I hate that picture)
"Wow, Johnny looks even better 30 feet tall!!"
"Yeah, I see, the whole county can see!!"
Once we got inside the casino and headed towards the hotel, we were relieved to see that at almost midnight, there was no line at check in. This isn't Vegas, baby. I decided to be cute and asked if we had a reservation here at the Reservation? Get it, a reservation on the Reservation? Guess you had to be there.
"Last name is Mitchell. None? Ok, try Ian Mitchell's Bay City Rollers. None? Bay City Rollers? No? BCR? Rollers? HAS-BEEN? Really? No reservation? Are there any rooms open tonight? Please."
I begged nicely. I was so tired.
Wendy thought quickly, and pulled out a credit card from her wallet. "Please, may we have any room for 2 nights. I'll speak with the booker in the morning. Not a problem."
And she smiled at the clerk.
You see, we've been at this so long that we realise that getting angry won't change the situation but being kind can get you what you need. We got a brand new room, smoke free (for now. j/k. Ok, Ok, I smoked outside), right near the non-working elevator. You heard me, it was broken. But the one on the other side of the hotel worked, so I loaded up the bellman trolley and pushed our suitcases half way around Oklahoma!!
This was a pretty large hotel.
"What's the saying again, love?" I asked.
"You're not a pop star anymore little boy." Wendy laughed.
In fact, we both laughed. Sometimes you just have to.
The next day brought news of no pay phones in hotel or casino, nobody knowing that the rest of the band checked in and misplaced incoming phone calls. But let me tell you this. I have never worked or been with with nicer, more sincere people in my life. WE LOVED that casino/hotel!!
I would stay there all over again for a weekend, just because of the Southern hospitality!! Its second to none. The food was brilliant and so was the service. What amazing people!!
While I did sound check, Wendy and DeeJay did a store run for snacks as well as souvenirs. Wendy later mentioned that a kid in his early 20's who rang her items up told her he had added something extra in her bag. She said that she and DeeJay walked outside the store and she removed the item. It was a big magnet of a big purple hat from the Purple Hat Society. You know, for old(er) ladies. As I was laughing, Wendy also told me that DeeJay said: "Oh no he 'dient' just do that." And she replied "Oh, yes, he just did!!" Sorry, I'm still laughing!! He thought they were old and they thought he was being flirty.
You know that's what they thought. hahahahaha
Moving right along, the show couldn't have gone better and we had a great crowd. At one point I started to speak and was interrupted by a voice on a loud speaker:
"The next round of Bingo is now closing, please purchase your Bingo cards."
Well, the whole audience and the band laughed.
I tried to speak again. Even I was laughing.
"Last call for this round of Bingo."
I said into my microphone; "Ok, who said that? "
Then to my surprise a voice answered. "I did, and this round of Bingo will be closing, so please purchase your cards now."
For the next 30 seconds every time I tired to speak, the bingo caller interrupted me. I told him I knew where he worked and would be waiting for him!! lolol
Now that's a great sense of humor.
It really got people laughing.
I don't know who else he's done this too, but it made my night.
There were fans who drove as far as 3 hours away and they were kind enough to wait for 20 minutes while I got changed and rested after the show. I did a meet and greet and piccies galore were taken. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect 4th of July. It was so much fun.
In the end, I know I'm not a "popstar" anymore, and can freely joke about it. Let's face it, popstars come and go, but there are those fans, who drive/fly a long distance to get to a gig, who come bearing gifts, who ask for a kiss and a cuddle or just have me sign their torn, aged albums, that keep me going!!
As my friend Weezy would say, "It's all good!!"