| The Savvy Stories by Steve Jones (continued) |
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Chapter Nine – The Texas Jam-Off With the Texas Jam only three weeks away, we were beginning to wonder why (no pun intended) we hadn’t heard who the winner of the Q102 contest had been. Had they even picked a winner? Was the mega-contest even still on? Then we received word that Q102 had decided to scrap the "most requested song" contest for something much more “media-friendly” and dramatic. We were going to have a good old-fashioned BATTLE OF THE BANDS! Although we didn’t understand how they could just change the rules like that in midstream, we decided to roll with the punches and compete as required. We enjoyed good success with all the record party jams so far so we were OK with our chances. But as quickly as it was announced, the battle of the bands was canceled. Not only the bands involved, but hoards of North Texas music fans were wondering what the heck was going on over at that radio station as well. Lilly had come home to the Quail Hollow apartment again, but it didn’t matter really. She was
dead set on getting that house and would be moving out soon. I wasn’t going to
stop her and I wasn’t going with her. To prove to myself that I was
standing firm this time, I signed another 6-month lease at Quail Hollow.
That meant I wouldn't be able to just pick up and move on a whim without
some kind of consequences. That deal was finally done. The Jack in the Box restaurant franchise decided to blow up their
clown. As a fellow fast food brand icon I was highly offended, and even a
bit traumatized by the whole thing. I could only hope that McDonald's
didn't follow suit and decide to blow Ronald up too! Lilly’s house deal finally
happened. She began boxing up belongings little by little. I think she was
at least planning to stay until after the Texas Jam. Then the Battle of the
Bands was on again! Gary Shaw from Q102 called to tell us that based on
the requests the station had received for our songs, it would be a
bloody battle between Lightning and Savvy. The Texas Jam-Off would take
place at the Dallas Agora Ballroom. The six bands with the most
requested songs would draw straws to determine the playing order. The
winner would be determined by a combination of audience response and
judges scoring. A date was set. It would all happen on the night of June 19, 1980 -- just two
days before the actual Jam. We were still weeks away from the big
competition. In the meantime,
Spotlight magazine did a major article about Savvy. On the 15th
(Father’s Day), I went over to see Dad. During that week I had a ton
of family members showing up at the club to lend support for our plight. And then on June
19, Joe City, Vision, Lightning, Hobbit, Big D Stuff and Savvy battled
it out to see who would open the big Texas Jam / World Music Festival
only two days away. Because the event was taking place in
Dallas, on Lightning’s turf, the owners of Savvy’s chartered three
busses and charged $5 per person to transport our Ft. Worth Savvy fans to the Jam-Off.
All three busses filled to capacity and our loyal fans came through. It was a
great night for all the bands but only one band could come out on top -
and that band was SAVVY! My old friend Mark Karolevich, roadie for
Lightning, was extremely gracious, as was everyone involved. Savvy was
officially the number one band in the DFW area! Savvy would be opening
the Jam. That was the deal – the prize we’d been working towards
since More Texas Crude came out. We were in shock but we were also
psyched and ready to do this thing. I scribbled four words in big bold
letters into my journal that night; "WE GOT THE JAM!" My brother Chris had videotaped the Battle of the Bands, but
something went wrong with the camera causing it to cut off every minute
or so. None of the songs play all the way through before cutting off. It
didn’t matter though because in two days we would be playing a much
bigger and more important show, and we’d make sure to have plenty of
working video cameras at that one! The next day was filled with excitement. I had a cassette recorder hooked up to the radio so I could capture any radio buzz about the Battle of the Bands contest. Sure enough, I was able to record DJ Tempie Lindsay giving the rundown. I have several recordings of Tempie talking about Savvy throughout the entire Texas Jam ordeal, from the Battle of the Bands contest -- to the weeks following the Jam. She was always super nice in all her comments. On the day after the contest, Tempie's announcement started out like this: "It was a rough battle, mom, but Savvy won it! Last night's Texas Q Jam-Off at the Agora was a HUGE success!"
The day before the jam, we all went out to the Cotton Bowl and walked around the stage and field areas to become familiar with the layout. Ricky’s friend Marcus took some pictures of us standing at about the 50-yard line, in front of the massive stage. Excitement and disbelief was surging through us all as we imagined all those thousands of people who would be seeing us play the next day. Everyone we knew was going to that concert. Even my mother had bought a ticket. If I’d only had a crystal ball, I could have saved dear old mom a lot of trouble and money. June 21, 1980 would turn out to be the biggest day in the history of Savvy - but not in the way we’d expected. If any of us managed to sleep the night before the Jam, we may have dreamed about what we thought would happen. I’m sure none of us could have possibly dreamed of what was really in store. Savvy was about to become locally famous - but not for something we DID. The headlines instead would be for something very big that we DIDN'T get to do.
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SAVVY STORY INDEX
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