The first time Ruth and I met Sutton we gathered in Las Vegas. I heard about Sutton James Papanikolas from Elizabeth. I don’t recall where they met, probably at some San Diego beach party bingo experience. In any case, she told me that he wanted to take her fishing. When I combined his Greek last name with a fishing date, my mind wandered to a movie I’d seen a few times, Beneath the 12 Mile Reef.
I pictured this Greek suitor as a slight framed, dark haired, muscular armed man like in the movie. When we met, he was anything but. He was a tall, handsome, brown haired, surfer/musician. Far from the Greek fisherman I envisioned.
Before we met, Elizabeth told me Sutton played in a band, “The Shaggin Wagon”. I did an online search, found their website, and read about a European tour they were planning for the upcoming summer.
The evening we formally met; I walked down the Vegas strip with a man that I knew very little about. I knew he worked as a server in a restaurant, played in a band that was about to tour Europe, and he was courting my daughter. I also knew they were both available for marriage and I wanted to know more in case they did.
My first inquiry was pretty straight forward. “When do you and your band leave for Europe?” Elizabeth’s eyes widened when I asked the question and she said, “Europe?”
“Yes, I looked up The Shaggin Wagon and their website outlines a European tour scheduled for this summer.”
As soon as I shared my knowledge, he said, “Oh, we’ve cancelled that.”
“Well, you need to update your website. No one likes an outdated website.”
My next inquiry focused on his playing intentions. I wanted to know if my daughter was interested in a “rocker”. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want her traveling from town to town across the U.S.A. even if there was no European tour on the horizon. I was looking for stable. A good guy with a good job. I wanted any potential son-in-law of mine to be able to support my daughter.
Sutton said, “Music is just a hobby.”
And then I said, “So, in a perfect world, how often would you and your band play a gig?” (“Gig” is musician lingo for “paid public performance.”)
“Ooooh, once a month.”
I could live with once a month. Sounded like a nice hobby. I sensed he cared for my daughter and his intentions were noble. Even if they were “rocker noble.”
My biggest concern at the time was the potential for the life as a vagabond musician. I didn’t want my master’s degree earning daughter to be living in the back of a van. Less than ten years later, she was doing just that.
Sutton’s first trip through the mitten (aka Michigan) in 2018 was memorable for his lack of geographic knowledge relative to the state. He booked one night in Saginaw, the next near Ludington, and then a third stop back near Saginaw. He passed himself going back and forth across the state. Some attendees were looking for a slight framed, dark haired, muscular armed Greek man like they’d seen in Beneath the 12 Mile Wreath. That wasn’t Sutton.
When it came time to prepare a new tour poster for the next leg of his eighteen-month three country tour, Ruth suggested he drop his last name and tour as Sutton James because that might curtail the search for a Greek man. After much consideration, he did just that.
You see Sutton’s father had been adopted by a Greek family, the Papanikolas’s, and passed the name on to his sons. The rest of us just jumped to a false conclusion.
TBC (down the road)