According to Lanie, the motive for the break-in had been one of the oldest in the book; someone got upset because their girlfriend talked to Ricky Lynn at the club one night, so they decided to get even by breaking in and stealing what they could and trashing the rest. The kingpin of the burglary had been the victim of an over-active jealous rage. The burglars knew where we lived because they'd been to a couple of the "open house" after-gig parties there. Lanie's brother Lou (not his real name) was dragged into the plot after his burglar friends talked him into hiding the goods in Lou's parent's attic until things cooled down. Lanie and Lou Jacobson both still lived with their parents at the time. Lanie busted Lou going in and out of their attic with  stolen musical equipment one night while their parents were gone. She'd heard about our stuff being stolen and put two and two together. He made the critical mistake of confirming her suspicions by bragging to her about what had happened.

Through her tears, brave Lanie concluded the gut-spilling session by telling Ricky and me that her brother had been involved in a few prior petty incidents, but insisted that he wasn't really a bad guy. It was getting late so I thanked her for the information and drove her home.   As we pulled up to her house, told her that we'd never have a chance of getting anywhere with the case unless she was willing to go to the police with the info. She said she really wanted to help, but that there was no way she could turn her brother in. I looked past her, out the car window at her house. It was a nice place, well-lit up, and I figured they could probably afford a nice security company to protect it for them when nobody was home. During the awkward silence,  I imagined our stuff sitting up there, hidden away in that attic. 

Lanie was a pretty, dark-haired girl who looked like Courtney Cox in Bruce Springsteen's "Dancin' In the Dark" video. (At least that is the memory I have of her all these years later. I couldn't have known that then because the video didn't come out until around 1984, nearly four years after the burglary.) In spite of the burglary issue, a chemistry had formed between us and I suddenly found my gaze shifting until I was looking directly into her big sad eyes. During the long kiss that followed, I forgot all about stolen guitars, detectives, and crime scenes. Still, somewhere in the back of my mind, a little voice was warning me that getting involved with her at this point was wrong. Fortunately, I've never paid any attention to that little voice.

The next day I met with Detective Gaylor from the North Richland Hills Police Department for the second time. They hadn't come up with anything on their end, and I was feeling pretty cocky knowing that I'd cracked the case, even though it had been through dumb luck. I was sure that with this information he would be able to arrest the thugs and get our stuff back toot sweet, but it wasn't quite that simple. After dealing with the detectives that day, I felt I could've shown them actual video of the burglary taking place, complete with close-ups and social security numbers of the perps, and it wouldn't have mattered. Gaylor confirmed what I'd been thinking; Lanie was going to have to come in and tell the police what she knew before anything else could happen.

While Lanie continued to soul-search, the flood gates opened up at the club. People were coming out of the woodwork with information pertaining to the burglary. Apparently, the thieves couldn't keep a secret and had been bragging to their friends - and even to a few strangers - about what they'd done. They'd even tried to sell some of our equipment to our friends and fans out in the club parking lot while we were playing! Soon it became common knowledge around Savvy's who had committed the crime.  The only thing left to do would be  to prove it to the authorities. 

Eventually, Lanie agreed to meet with the detectives and tell them what she knew. That was supposed to be the end of it, but it wasn't. In a frustrating twist, the detectives told us that Lanie's brother would have to come in and make a statement too before justice could be served. Based on my conversations with  Lanie,  I didn't see that happening. Then, miraculously, she talked her brother into meeting with me! 

Lou seemed like a nice kid and was quick to apologize for getting involved. He agreed to do whatever it took to help make up for the whole mess. This meant another trip to the police station, only this time with both Lanie and her brother. As we made our way down the hall to Detective Gaylor's office, we passed two officers who were escorting a scruffy, young, handcuffed man. I'd seen the face before but didn't know him. There was no doubt that Lou obviously knew him because he froze in his tracks as their eyes locked, and he said in a low gasp, "It's him." The handcuffed man sneered at Lou, and then he was nudged out the door by the accompanying officers. 

The handcuffed man, Sammy Faulkner (not his real name), had been the ringleader for the Green Acres burglary. Witnesses later said that his girlfriend had come to parties at our house a couple of times and Sammy was getting revenge by robbing us blind. Faulkner had a history of trouble and was on probation. Thanks to the efforts of Lanie and Lou, the thieves were caught and sent back to jail, but we never got any of our stuff back. There were lots of leads as a result of Lou's police report, but by the time the police could follow up on them, the merchandise was long gone. Someone even gave us a photograph of one of Ricky's guitars that had been sanded down in preparation for being repainted, but the guitar never materialized. There was another story about Ricky's Flying V guitar being hidden under rocks out near the Marine Lake Dam, but that one never showed up either. I came very close to getting back the Goya six-string that had been a present from my Uncle Okie, but that too was a dead end. There was very little left to do except to pick up the pieces and move on.

Being burglarized left a mark on me that never has gone away. For months I lived with the constant awareness that my possessions could never be 100% safe when I wasn't there to watch them. I also learned that it was a mistake to get too attached to "stuff." Once Ricky and I moved to Sleepy Hollow, we became very particular about who came to the apartment -- or so we thought.

Back at the club, someone had taken the initiative to have special tour jackets made for the band members with the Savvy logo embroidered on the back. The club sold similar jackets with the same logo silk-screened on them. The embroidered versions were special though. Unfortunately, R.J.'s was stolen the first night he had it. There was apparently a downside to having such notoriety. Along with all the great fans who came to have a good time, we were also drawing quite an assortment of criminals too. But for the most part, even the bad guys usually wanted to be our friends. There are exceptions to every rule.

Joe City, one of the bands that had been on the Q102 More Texas Crude album, was going through some very major changes. Lead singer Lindy Wilson fired several band members, including his brother Steve. Nobody was talking about why it happened, but it came as a big surprise to a lot of people. Lindy ran into trouble trying to put Joe City back together, and soon opted to simply form another band called Joxx. Steve Wilson and the other ex members of Joe City started up a great new band called the Molly Maguires. Steve played bass and sang lead. Their lead guitarist, Lawrence Dominguez, was a short guy with wild frizzy hair who wore his guitar strap so low that it looked like it might drag the ground. Lawrence was a really good player, and great guy. [I heard that Lawrence, aka Lightning Lar, passed away on 9/23/2003. I'm not sure of the circumstances.]

Lawrence Dominguez playing guitar with Molly Maguires. Terry Ranson is on drums.

Their second guitar player, Ross, was the pretty boy in the band. By today's standards he might be considered to have a sort of "Johhny Depp" look. Nat was the keyboard player, who also played violin on a few choice cover songs. One that stood out from the rest was "Live and Let Die." I think they kept the Joe City drummer at the time as well. They knew how to put on a show and please a crowd. It didn't appear that the riff with Lindy would be too devastating for them. Lindy Wilson played around the area for a while with various players until finally moving out west to pursue a solo recording career. (Lindy is still performing and has recently been in touch with me via email. He promises to fill in some of the blanks for me regarding the history of Joe City, as well as an update on what he's been up to. I'll post the info as soon as it comes in! I'd love to hear from Steve Wilson too!)

Ricky, Marty, and I went to Tootsie's Club to hear Rusty Burns play with the Aliens. Point Blank was still together, but Rusty played occasional side gigs with the Aliens while Point Blank was on hiatus. Also playing with the Aliens was Mike Hamilton, Buzzy Gruen, and Wild Bill (all from Point Blank), plus a singer (I don't know the name) from a band called King Peach. Also in the house that night was Rick Myrick and his girlfriend, Julie (with the long hair and killer smile!) While at Tootsie's, William T. Jackson took Ricky for a ride and discussed possibly investing in Savvy. We ended up taking a party with us from Tootsie's over to W.T.'s offices after the Aliens gig.

The following night, the Q102 live broadcast of the Artists was aired. I went to Spencer's Corner and saw The Vandals play. To say they were having a rough night would be putting it lightly. Their guitarist was so stoned that he fell over his guitars and monitor cabinet. After the club closed, the manager of Spencer's had a party at his house. His name was Jerry, and a lot of people showed up there including some of the guys from The Artists; Larry Hughes, Scott Douglas, Terry Bowers (all from Flight & Artists), Bruce (from Gunpoint), Ronny (from Lynx), and a multitude of others.

One day while driving into our apartment parking lot, the rear axle on my Volare' somehow came loose and I could see in my rear view mirror that it was protruding out from the car at least 3 feet, with the wheel still attached. It was surrealistic to see it like that and had I not come to a quick stop, the axle and wheel would've come completely out. I had it towed over to Hilsher's Auto Repair and Ricky loaned me his pickup for a few days until I could get my car back. Ricky had recently bought a car, so he had an extra vehicle sitting around. It worked out.

On the 6th of February, my birthday, we had a party at the apartment after the club closed. Earlier in the day I'd purchased about $40 worth of booze for the get-together. Some of those who showed up were Rusty Burns, Rich Mauch and his girlfriend Amy, Dan, Rick Miller and Carla, Dondi, Jean, and Phyliss (waitresses at Savvy's), Marcella, Larry Patton and his wife Deana (manager and bartender from club), Marty Warren (our soundman), Rabbit (our light man), Ricky and Lori, and others. We ran slides, re-dubbed movies, and partied until the sun came up. Birthdays were really something special in those days.

The Grassroots were scheduled to play Savvy's Nightclub on February 13th, but we would be playing at the Dallas Agora with a band called Blue Sky on that night, and would miss it. All I knew about the Grassroots was that they'd had a hit called "Let's Live For Today". The only way I'd known that was because my friend L.D. had played it when we were kids. There seemed to be a lot of old recycled bands showing up around town in those days. Even though the bands were usually reformed and didn't have all original members, it was always fun to see most of them anyway. Sometimes we were surprised by a group that sounded as great as ever, but more often than not, the bands would be decent, but just out trying to make a living after the spoils of their heydays were gone.

Eddie Gaddis, Bill Barger, and Alan from the Agora came out to Savvy's. On my night off, Rusty Burns asked if I could give him a ride to Arlington where Point Blank rehearsed next door to the Candlelight Inn. Bubba Keith's family owned the Candlelight, and I ran into him there on several occasions. They made a great entree called Mexican Steak there. I dropped Rusty off and went and got a haircut. It was going to cost $65 to repair the Volare'. It was a good thing that the mechanics at Hilsher's Automotive were Savvy fans. No telling how much it would've cost to fix that car otherwise! Our neighbor across the hall came over asking if we knew where he could buy some acid. We politely told him we were all out! The nerve! The night I got my car back we played at the Agora with a band called Lee Malone. We did a matinee on Saturday at 3pm for kids at the Agora. It was a mediocre turn out, but we signed a lot of autographs. We broke attendance records at the Agora again that weekend. On Sunday I spent some quality time with my parents.

Eddie Gattis (Dallas Agora Manager), Hud, and Ross
Todd, the man responsible for merging the Agora and
Pace Concerts.

As February wore on, a lot of strange stuff started happening at the gigs and at home. Lanie and Lou's parents asked to meet with me. I went over to their house and had dinner with them. They were very supportive and told me that Lou had been having second thoughts about testifying against the guys who had robbed us, but they'd finally convinced him to do it. Um, ok. Thanks folks. Ricky and I got into a domestic discussion over the care and cleaning of the kitchenette at the apartment. It seemed that the old "Felix Unger" in me was starting to wear on his nerves, but I promised to relax a bit and we worked it out. Rabbit got in a fight at the Agora. Rich and RJ had heated words about something or other. Marilyn was giving RJ trouble, and when that happened we all suffered. And then just when everything seemed to be settling down again, Ricky met the drummer from Pat Travers' band. The drummer invited Ricky to come over and "jam" with him, but I knew it was always potentially an audition when that happened.

The bathroom in the master bedroom of our apartment seemed haunted. I could hear popping noises coming from in there at night. My tub started leaking and we were having a problem with ants. The maintenance man took care of most of the problems right away. There wasn't much he could do about the ghost in the bathroom. On my night off I stayed in for the first time I could remember. I logged VHS tapes and went to bed early. That night I had a very vivid dream: Marty, his girlfriend Monica, and I were riding bikes across town to my old high school girlfriend's house on the South Side of Ft. Worth. Suzanne H. had lived on Allen Street with her mother, two brothers, and her grandfather. In the dream, Suzanne told me that she'd gotten married and just lived down the road from my apartment with her husband, who played in a band called LOVERBOY! Of course in real life, Suzanne had dumped me as soon as she graduated. She was smart, classy, and from a religious upbringing. In 1974 she packed up and moved away to attend a bible college. A few years back I heard that she'd ended up getting married, then divorced, with three or four kids somewhere in Arkansas. I liked the dream version better!

CHAPTER 17:  THOSE SAVVY PRANKSTERS!

SAVVY STORY INDEX

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