| The Savvy Stories by Steve Jones (continued) |
|
|
Chapter Two – Meadowbrook Palace Sundays quickly turned into "Get the Band Wasted On Tequila" night. I was still hanging tough at the Brentwood Convalescent Home – the new name RJ gave to Lilly’s apartment. I still hadn’t been back to the Shady Rest (the name I'd given to the garage apartment that RJ and I had shared.) It wasn't long before RJ and I started talking about getting our own apartment near Savvy’s - a REAL apartment! Savvy’s paid a lot better than the Hungry I. We paid RJ’s uncle Harold $60 each per month at the Shady Rest for rent. Finally we could afford a nice place with a functioning kitchen, two bedrooms and bathrooms of our own. Our decisions to stay in the music business seemed to be paying off so far. We would finally graduate from garage apartment life and take that step up to a real legitimate apartment! It meant having to get up a little earlier each day for a while (3pm?) to look for a place, but we toughed it out. Our search was focused on the East Side of Ft. Worth -- hopefully somewhere as close as possible to the club. The less distance we'd have to drive home at 3am each morning after a long night of partying, the better. February wasn’t as kind to Jim Wise at it had been for the rest of his former Desperado band mates. His gig with Razmataz didn’t work out. He continued to play with various bands as he finished up his college degree. Even though Jim wasn’t officially a member of Savvy, he continued to be a close friend and a Savvy regular. To put it simply, Jim Wise was the first person, besides Savvy, to learn the SECRET KNOCK! February was also a rough month for my Volkswagen. It just didn’t want to run in the cold. My brother Mike had driven from Houston in a VW Microbus, but he bought another car once he got settled here. When he offered to let me use his VW bus for as long as I needed it I couldn’t turn it down. That bus was pretty fun to drive but it didn’t provide a lot of heat. The day he dropped it off, we went to the movies at Richland Plaza and saw Clint Eastwood and that goofy Orangutan, Clyde, in "Every Which Way But Loose." The ape stole the show. On my birthday (February 6) Lilly cooked breakfast, which was usually
closer to lunch by the time I got up. A partier from the night before
was still asleep on the couch. I’d worked with him back at AMC Jeep.
He’d been bragging to everyone that his dad worked
for Jimmy Carter. I didn’t want to wake him up for fear of pissing him
off and having Secret Service agents busting in and trashing the place.
Besides, there were only enough eggs for ONE omelet: MY birthday omelet.
So I let him sleep it off.
I’d only been with Savvy for three months when we had our first big brush with fame. The super group BOSTON was in Dallas for a concert. They were on top of their game and almost every song they turned out was a bona fide hit. Rick Miller’s wife at the time, Suzanne, worked at the Dallas Playboy club and was an absolute stunning beauty. Since she was going to the Boston concert anyway, Rick jokingly asked if she’d try to get backstage and invite the Boston boys to come over and party at Savvy’s after their concert in Dallas. It was not out of the realm of possibility, since Suzanne was one of those girls who could go just about anywhere she wanted, leaving security guards with their jaws on the floor. On the night of the Boston concert, we were wrapping up the next to last set at Savvy’s when word reached the stage that BOSTON’s drummer, Sib, and a few of their road crew members had just come into the club! From the stage, we were all trying to pick out the silhouette of his trademark Afro in the back of the room. A real rock and roll superstar was in the house! We'd long dreamed of covering Boston tunes, but singer Brad Delp ruined that for us. (He was just too good to copy.) That set couldn't end soon enough. We were star-struck puppy dogs. We couldn’t have been any more thrilled if aliens had landed on top of the building and beamed onto the dance floor through the huge mirrored disco ball hanging from the ceiling. By the time that set was over and we stepped off stage for a break, Suzanne had already escorted our dignitaries to the "secret party room" in back of the dressing room. I don’t know what I was expecting, but aside from his huge fuzzy ball of hair, he seemed to be a nice, normal guy. I was relieved that my Savvy mates – and I – were laid back, well behaved, and nobody babbled too much or drooled on themselves. As sweet smoke filled the small room, I sat and marveled at my situation. Eventually, we had to get back up on stage to finish out the night. Sib declined to jam and left abruptly when our break was over. We'd taken such a long break while visiting with Sib that we only had time for one or two songs before the lights came on and everyone was ushered out into the big parking lot in front of the club. Sib would be the first of many celebrities to come to Savvy’s. But aside from being the first, he also holds another unique distinction from the rest; Sib would end up dating, and eventually marrying Suzanne Miller - the Savvy drummer's wife! We hadn’t realized that Rick and Suzanne had been planning an amicable split for sometime. Her job as a "BUNNY" at the Dallas Playboy Club meant she kept pretty much the same work schedule as we had in the band, and we never saw her around much at Savvy’s to begin with. [Too bad, because we LIKED seeing her around!] She was somewhat of a "star" also since her photo had appeared in a recent layout of Playboy featuring Bunnies from various Playboy clubs. It wasn’t too long after Sib’s visit that Rick let us in on the situation. We were stunned to hear about their breakup at first, and then double stunned to learn that she’d moved off to be with Sib. If there’d been any juicy, scandalous details involved, they never came up. Business went on as usual and a few years later the Savvy ex-wife, Mrs. Sib Hashian, would even help us shop some of our tapes around with her new big time contacts in LA. Or so the story goes. As for the parties involved in that divorce, everyone seemed to come out better as a result of it. A rare rock and roll story with a happy ending! Or so it would seem for almost two more decades. Ah, life – and love – in the music business! Once the excitement of Sib’s visit faded a bit, things got back to normal. Lilly and I went shopping at Sanger Harris where she bought some fancy bed sheets and I bought an electronic hand-held football game. I should have been on top of the world but I was feeling blah. There was a lot of mental pressure from the job because of working up so many new songs, but there was also stress at home from arguing with Lilly so much. RJ and I hadn’t found an apartment yet and I was usually looking for any excuse to avoid going back to her apartment. She was working days, so if she came to the club it was usually on the weekends. But if she showed up on weeknights, she didn’t stay until closing. We certainly weren’t married, engaged, or even officially an "item" so I had plenty of options when I needed them. I just had to keep from upsetting the apple cart if I wanted to crash there. Although we fought like cats and dogs, I wasn’t ready to split up what we "didn’t" have going on. I looked for other places to go and things to do after work to avoid the isolation of the Lilly Pad. One night while hanging out at Rich' place after work, RJ, Paul Bennett (Rick’s friend), and I recorded a movie re-dub to "What Indians?" – a comedy featuring Joey Bishop. We loved putting our own soundtracks to those movies. I didn't realize what an exercise in improv and creativity it truly was at the time. As February 1979 came to a close, there was a double dose of good news; the band got a $10 per week raise per man at the club, and RJ and I found a great new place! Meadowbrook Place was a PALACE compared to the Shady Rest. The new apartment was about a mile from Savvy’s and was perfect for us. It had a great big living area and we each would have our very own bedroom! As for furniture, I’d been saving for a while and decided to splurge on a brand new sofa, coffee table, end tables and a nice lamp. In all, the furnishings cost me about $700. I like owning my own stuff so I didn’t ask RJ to pitch in. (That would turn out to be a wise decision later on.) The apartment was coming along nicely and I was finally out on my own, paying my own way, and living in a real honest to goodness inhabitable dwelling. With the living area in place, it was time to start putting together my bedroom. Lilly and I went shopping for beds, but it didn’t take long to find exactly what I was looking for; a gaudy, king sized waterbed, complete with padded railings and the most obnoxious mirrored oak headboard on the showroom floor! The VW bus (still on loan from brother Mike) came in handy for hauling the bed back to the apartment, and I was about to find out how big of a hassle setting up a waterbed could be. March 1979: Things were going too well. Something had to give, and I knew it. That bump in the road would come from Lilly. She told me she wanted to date other people. I should have rejoiced at the opportunity to be officially set free, but for some reason I couldn’t let go of her - at least not in my mind. It seemed she was testing me - trying to make me jealous. We couldn’t stand being together, but we couldn’t stand being apart either. I had somehow grown co-dependant (even though nobody knew what co-dependency was back then). Lilly was probably smart to want to split up. I was too busy enjoying the spoils of local celebrity to really get too serious, yet I had an inner need to hang on. At the time it was just another dumb relationship that couldn’t seem to end. It would’ve been perfect fodder for Jerry Springer, had he been on the air yet. But we didn’t have Jerry Springer. We had the glittering, smoke filled Savvy’s Nightclub as the backdrop for our episodic madness. I was soon settled in at Meadowbrook Place. The apartment manager, a painted up elderly lady named Mrs. Love, seemed to accept us – long hair and all. I thought it was a little strange for her to be so happy to have us move in - until it rained. Our downstairs apartment was ground level in the front, and about 4 feet below ground level in the back (by my bedroom window). When it rained, my bedroom FLOODED! The first time it happened I thought my waterbed had sprung a leak. All my album covers were soaked. The baseboards of the waterbed were damaged. I was – as Rich Mauch liked to say – "SICK ABOUT IT!" We had to pull the carpet up and put fans in the room to dry out the carpet and padding. This was a MAJOR hassle, and it never got better. Every time it rained I had to go through the same ritual. Fortunately, it didn’t rain that much. Eventually, I just pulled the carpet back and left it like that. No wonder Mrs. Love was eager to have us as members of the Meadowbrook Place family… Despite the occasional flooding, we loved our apartment. When Lilly said she wanted to break up, I obliged. That same night I brought a girl home from the club. We were playing backgammon when the doorbell rang at about 3am. It was Lilly! She’d had a change of heart and didn’t want to break up after all. She told me so as we spoke through the 1-inch opening in the door. I wasn’t about to let her in and find Cindy there. I told her I had company and we’d have to take this up the next day. She left. We did get back together for a week, and then it was MY turn to decide I wanted to date other people. Every week it would start all over again. What a way to live. By March 1979, things at the club were going so well that the owners decided to do some local radio advertising. The band loaded up into Rick’s van and went to the KZEW studios in the WFAA building in Dallas. As part of our shtick, I had my ventriloquist puppet, Jimmy, with us. He was handy for flirting with girls, while the guys in the band pretended to tell him to be nice and polite. It was a fun gimmick. As we entered the lobby, a familiar form stood before us, leaning against the wall chatting with one of the secretaries. It was Jerry Haynes, TV’s beloved MR. PEPPERMINT! We’d all grown up watching Mr. Peppermint on TV as kids and the show was still going strong. His humor was not only geared for kids, but had lots of inside gags for adults watching as well. When we stayed up all night, we’d make a point to watch his show before crashing. RJ did a great impression of Muffin, Mr. Peppermint’s sidekick bear puppet. Of course when RJ was talking for Muffin, the dialogue was much more X-rated than what Muffin would say on TV.
As we walked by, I had Jimmy speak to Mr. Peppermint, who was in full candy cane striped costume, taking a break from shooting his show. "Hey Mr. P! Say hello to Muffin for me! We love your show!" Mr. Peppermint stopped in mid sentence and turned to us with a huge grin on his face. He waved me over. Perhaps he was waving Jimmy over, but that meant I would have to go too. We were surprised to discover that he enjoyed using expletives, perhaps to shock people lest they buy into the idea that he always wears candy cane striped suits. He asked if I would be interested in bringing Jimmy back and doing his show the following week. I was apprehensive at first, not feeling too sure about how a longhaired rock and roller would go over on the Peppermint show. My hair was really long, red, and thick. I looked like an Irish setter. But it didn't seem to bother Mr. Peppermint and the guys in the band couldn’t believe it. I had to do it. This was going to be almost as cool as getting the gig with Savvy. In the secret depths of my heart, it might have even been better in some ways.. After setting a date for the following week to do the Peppermint show, we proceeded up to the KZEW studios and cut a few spots for the club. Things were happening really fast. So fast, I could barely believe it. In less than four months I’d joined a great band with a great house gig, moved in with one of the hottest girls from Savvy, and out into a cool (wet) apartment with RJ, met and partied with the drummer from BOSTON, met a number of Playboy Bunnies from the Dallas Playboy club (more about that later), recorded commercials for the club in person at the KZEW studios, and been invited to appear on the Mr. Peppermint Show! I was completely engulfed in my new world and my new surroundings. I couldn’t see that the person I’d been up until that point was slowly fading away. My trips to see my family became fewer and further between, but I always remained close to them.. My brothers, Chris and Ray, were regulars at the club and at our apartment, so I saw plenty of those guys. My parents seemed truly happy for the success I was having, but even though he never brought it up, I’m sure Dad probably wished I was in college instead. My parents were always my biggest fans and supporters in whatever I chose to do. [It would be interesting to ask them what they were REALLY thinking back then, but sadly, they’re both passed on now.] On March 3, 1979, Rick Miller and I returned to the WFAA studios to tape the Peppermint show. I’d only had one previous experience with TV, and that was back when I auditioned for the Ted Mack Amateur Hour back when I was about 12 years old. I was going to have to make this up as I went, and try to make it look like I knew what I was doing. As soon as we arrived, they were already taping another segment. The producer came over and explained that we were just going to adlib the entire bit. There would be no script. No script?? Okay, nice lady, no problem. I do this all the time. Rick was there for moral support. He assured me I could nail this in my sleep. My primary goal at the moment was to stay cool and unaffected by the fact that I may as well have been in OZ at that moment. I was actually in a TV studio! I was going to be on TV! When it came time for our segment, Mr. Peppermint came over and greeted us. As he walked us (Jimmy and I) back over to the set, he told me that his son was in a rock band and he was quite used to seeing a lot of long hair around the house. [His son was the singer of the Butthole Surfers, believe it or not.] Then he introduced me to puppeteer legend, Vern Daily. The elder, portly man was scrunched beneath and behind the large counter, with Muffin the bear ready to go on. They wanted no part of planning anything. Before I could blink an eye, the cameraman was counting down to "action." We had to do two or three takes before they got anything they could use for a "kids" show. It was all Jimmy’s fault. He kept going off about how he met Muffin at Savvy’s. The director would yell, "cut" and remind me that we had to stay on a level that kids would be able to relate to. At one point, Muffin asked Jimmy to say the alphabet. I got through it, but when we watched it on TV a week later, I could hear Jimmy’s head squeak every time he turned it. A minor flaw when I considered that I’d just done my first TV show! I did manage to work in a plug for the club, which made Rick smile. I was on cloud 9 for a long time to come after that. On the ride back to Ft. Worth, I was thinking that perhaps now I could feel that I was pulling my own weight as an important part of the band. We had our first big bash at the new apartment to celebrate the taping of the Peppermint show. The guest list included all the Savvy band members, Larry’s wife Deana, my brothers Chris and Ray, Lilly, Becky, Melody, Steven, Penny, Mark Ballew and about 10 girls I didn’t know. But also attending was a fellow named Randy Phelps. Randy was the bass player for Bobby Albin’s new band – PUSH. Randy wrote "Passions," a song that Savvy would be working up within a few short months. In fact, it wouldn’t be long before Savvy and Push would have a great deal in common! |
|
|
SAVVY STORY INDEX
|
|
|
|
