Page 69 of Feuds and Interludes
“Oh my God! I was just saying that to myself this morning. Right? Who’d have ever thought they’d hear Butler and Collins on a record together? Who’d a thunk, indeed.”
We stood there grinning at each other like loons, and it was almost as if a partnership was forming tangibly between us, right there in the vocals booth.
“All right. Let’s fucking do this!”
Morrison was still doing some strange sort of dance moves like a deranged disco zombie in the control room when we heard the music come through the headphones. I watched Boone closely. He began to sing the part and when it was time for me to come in, I did the lower part first, and his face lit up when he heard us together through the headphones. He was grinning so wide, he made me grin, which made it hard to stay on pitch. Once again, he had the slightest amount of strain on that ludicrous note and when he dropped it, he started coughing again.
“Hey, maybe we should take a break?”
He shook his head. “No, let me just drink some tea and honey. Bran? You mind getting me some?”
Bran gave a thumbs up and dashed out of the studio.
Annie was watching us closely through the control room window, and I couldn’t tell what her expression meant. She’d been awfully mad when she realized that I knew about Boone’s illness. I hoped we could be cool. In no way did I want to come between Boone and his band. I liked the twins. They were fucking insanely good musicians and, once I realized they weren’t really going to cause me bodily harm, they werehilarious. But I could see concern in her gaze. I needed to assure her that I had Boone’s best interest in mind.
“Have your tea,” I said, kissing him on the cheek. “I’m going to go use the bathroom.”
He nodded, his smile a little less bright. He had a hand pressed to his throat.
“Hey, how’s your sugars?”
He looked at his phone. “They’re okay. I’ll be fine after I have my tea.”
I squeezed his hand and stepped out of the booth.
“He good?” Annie asked me as I passed her.
“He’s frustrated about that note. I told him he should take a break?—”
“And he didn’t listen. Shit. Okay. Time to implement distraction maneuvers.”
I frowned and watched as Annie walked into the booth and she and Boone talked. She led Boone out of the booth and over to where her bass was plugged in. I turned on the mic to hear them.
“I’m just not sure about that break. Can we go over it together?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
He picked up another bass and the two of them played the part over and over until I realized that, holy shit, she was genius. By asking him for help on something I’d already heard her play flawlessly, she got him out of his head and forced him to rest his voice. I wondered how long she’d been doing this with him. I’d have to study under her tutelage so I could be useful. Boone wouldn’t take breaks for himself, but for his friends, he would go to the ends of the earth.
“Oh, good, she got him to stop,” Bran said as he returned with the tea.
“This happen a lot?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes. Especially the past couple of recording sessions. He pushes himself so hard, strains his voice, and ever since he started feeling bad on our last tour, we’ve had to conspire against him.”
“Brilliant. Feel free to include me in any conspiracies going forward.”
Bran elbowed me. “You’re all right, Butler. Glad you two finally got over yourselves. Man, the amount of mooning he did over you…” He shook his head.
“Mooning?”
“You know, ‘I don’t know why he hates me so much! He’s so talented!’ Blah blah blah. He’d make us watch interviews to see if you said anything about him. Shit. I probably shouldn’t have told you that part.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “I don’t know why I always got asked about him. I tried not to talk shit, but people always gotta push.”
“Because it’s juicy, right? Especially after the Rock Hall gig. He wouldn’t shut up about you after that.”
“Yeah, well, it was mutual.”
