My list of missing items included the new VCR (my second one in less than a year), a white Stratocaster guitar, my new Kenwood stereo amp, and about $350 I had socked away towards the RX7 down payment. Ricky lost a Stratocaster, a couple of shotguns, and some money. We didn't have a whole lot to steal because we were still trying to recoup from the last robbery from a year ago.

Ricky theorized that our ex-neighbor from across the hall -- or perhaps one of his acquaintances,  had something to do with it. He'd just moved out a few days earlier. I knew the guy was big trouble the night I found out that he'd asked Ricky to hide an illegal machine gun for him. We knew he was selling drugs, and that he had a lot of shady characters hanging about most of the time. There was no telling what all he was into and we really didn't want to know.  I had nicknamed him "Fred Flintstone" after overhearing him shouting at his wife late one night. It sounded like Fred Flintstone shouting at Wilma. Even though we never used the nickname to his face, he somehow picked up on it. One night Ricky and I were coming home and the neighbor heard opening our door.  He stuck his head out of his apartment and simply said, "I know you guys call me Fred Flintstone."  It caught us off guard, and I felt bad, but it wasn't meant in the bad way he may have imagined. Maybe he did have something to do with that burglary, and maybe we deserved it for calling him Fred Flintstone. Unfortunately, we didn't learn any LIFE lessons from the experience. We continued to have silly names for friends and people we knew. It was just part of the socially retarded world we lived in. But we never trusted apartments to be be secure again. We knew we had to get out and find a house and cut back on the number of people we allowed to come and go.   

Ticket for the Agora Christmas Party 1981.

On the  20th we had a little Christmas party at the club where we each received our $125 bonus. On the 21st we played the Agora Christmas Party in Dallas. Alan Kaye hosted the show wearing a Santa Clause suit. The lineup consisted of an air guitar band called "The Air Heads", followed by the Molly Maguires, and Savvy headlined. It was a fun night and helped take our minds off the robbery. That gig had other significance as well; as soon as it was OVER, our Christmas vacation BEGAN! 

The Agora 1981 Christmas Party with comedian Alan Kaye in the
Santa Suit. Rick Miller is on drums, RJ has the white coat, and 
Ricky Lynn is shirtless.

I had finally pretty much gotten over Stacie and had been dating various girls, but not having that "SOMEONE SPECIAL" to spend the holidays with was creating a little bit of sadness for me. It was nice to have Lori and Colleen around the corner. They were my pals through thick and thin. At times it seemed that Lori and I might become an item, but my friendship with both the sisters was fine like it was. I didn't want to muck it up. On the first night of vacation, Lori went with me to Skaggs where I bought some steaks, and a cheapo Santa suit just to have around in case one was needed!

I'd had a pretty good year and wanted to be generous for Christmas. Mom had mentioned something about wishing she'd learned to play piano, so I shopped around and found one.  I bought dad a pair of giant Kenwood speakers for his home recording setup. I gave my brothers a set of framed Savvy pictures (from our recent photo shoot) and $50 each. (When I think of giving those Savvy pictures as presents, I can't help but laugh now.) I decided to cancel Ricky's $70 debt to me as his present. Christmas that year ended up costing me about $867. I felt there was no sense wasting money on buying anything for myself, since it would probably end up being stolen anyway. 

We had a party at the apartment on Christmas Eve. The following is a partial guest list: Chris (my brother), Drew Pierce, Mark Karolevich, Timmy Karolevich, Christy, Jackie, Hud, Lori, Colleen, and Leslie. LoDella played Savvy's for part of our vacation. Mouse, previously from Big D Stuff, was playing with them. I went up to see them play. During a break in the dressing room, two of the LoDella band members got into a shouting match. I ducked out. 

With two days of vacation remaining, Ricky invited his mom, Lucille, to come and visit. I camped out with Lori and Colleen for a day or so to give Ricky and his mom a little privacy during her stay. While staying with the sisters, we played Mille Bornes (a card game), went to see the movie "Heavy Metal", and ate out a lot. 

After a week's vacation we were back to work at the club. Our first night back I recognized a friend in the audience from my elementary school days, Daniele Alexander. As kids we pronounced her name Da-Neel, and she was the first big crush I ever had. She lived about 5 blocks away and I remember riding my bike past her house almost daily, just hoping that by some miracle she'd be outside and I could talk to her. If she wasn't there, it was only two more blocks to Rosie Watson's house. She was first crush #2. 

Danielle Alexander. (photo from her
CD "I Dream In Color."

Sometime before high school, Daniele moved away to Las Vegas. The next time I heard about her she was making records and playing club gigs as a singer / piano player. When I saw her at Savvy's that December night in 1981, she was no longer Da-neel. She was going by Dan-Yell. Same spelling but different pronunciation. We got her up on stage and she jammed with us. She had a very smoky, bluesy sounding voice and was excellent on the keys. I was glad to see her and we made plans to get together the following day to catch up. 

(Daniele's story is fascinating, but the thumbnail version is that she was eventually signed to Mercury Records and put out two albums between 1989 and 1991. One of her songs made it to the Billboard Country chart top twenty. She was also nominated for the CMA Horizon Award for newcomer of the year. I recently saw Daniele at a high school reunion. She's a realtor in Plano now, so she spent most of the reunion out in the lobby on her cel phone talking closings.)

The Dallas Cowboys made it to the playoffs! A girl named Mimi bought me a pair of pink shoes. (I wrote it in my diary but have no memory of it happening.) Doc Morgan, Drew Pierce, Hud, my brother Ray, and two girls came over after the club closed. Rick Miller had been talking about buying a vet, but finally decided on a BMW.  It was slightly used, but really nice! It definitely added a touch of class to the alley out in back of Savvy's where the band parked every night beside the dumpsters. Buddy Magazine was really nice to us in their December issue. Mel Baister went to work with Performance Magazine. Lori and Colleen experienced a sudden outbreak of roaches in their apartment. I stocked up on Raid and went to war for my girls. ZZ Top played at Billy Bob's. I was invited to a VIP party before the gig where Dusty, Frank, Billy, and Bill Ham were schmoozing with guests. JW was buying drinks. Boogie Lamont, and  Mark Bellew were there too. Mark had auditioned for the lead singing job for Kansas. After getting Billy Gibbons' autograph, Boogie told me that RIO was splitting up.  

Savvy played our traditional New Year's Eve gig at Savvy's Nightclub. Each band member made $100. During one of the breaks, Rick Miller told us that he'd bought a house. It was a beautiful two story home on Franwood Terrace, about a mile from the club. We were happy for him, of course. But there was no denying that it was hard not to feel a little twinge of frustration.  Rick's BMW and two- story house were the first signs of extravagance on the part of the club owners that we'd seen. Certainly nobody else in the band was making enough to buy a BMW or a house. I had two jobs and still wasn't making enough to do those things. But Rick was the leader of the band -- and club owner, so any pay raises for the band would have to be negotiated by him. We'd seen band after band breaking up because of the dwindling club scene. With fewer and fewer venues to play, Savvy's Nightclub was the glue that kept us together. We always had a home base to come back to after our road trips. If we'd been a little smarter about it, we would have appointed someone else in the band to do the negotiating for raises, removing any conflicts of interest for Rick. Ironically, if anyone in the band ever lost sleep worrying about money, it was probably Rick Miller worrying about having enough revenue to keep the doors to the club open. It went without saying that once playing in Savvy became about money, our days would be numbered.

Our musician friends were constantly reminding us of how good we had it, compared to having to struggle out on the road. The perks that came from being in the local spotlight kept us from thinking about money, power, or greed for very long at all. At the end of the day, we knew that Rick deserved the car and the house and whatever else the success of the club provided him. We could afford to be patient because we were still holding on to the hope that something big would happen for the band. 

RECAP of 1981:

The last entry for 1981, and for that first journal, was a recap of the year. Here is the text as I wrote it:

"The year was obviously prosperous for myself and for the band. We made a lot of progress, but at the same time, it doesn't feel like it. I can't explain it. I'd hoped to finish this first journal with news of a confirmed big recording deal, but that hasn't happened. We still have the MIT album coming out, and we'll have to see what happens there. I've spent the last month hanging out with Lori and Colleen. Because of my odd hours, I tend to keep them up a lot, but they are gracious and put up with me for some reason. We have a lot of laughs and I feel they accept me for who I am - even away from the "Savvy thing." Ricky and I are great friends. Like brothers. There hasn't been a single problem we couldn't work out. Yet my relationship with cousin RJ has been deteriorating day by day. I don't really understand it, other than to say that I believe he has gotten it into his mind that I'm not a strong part of the Savvy puzzle anymore. We rarely see each other away from work. He has his friends and I have mine. A few months ago he took the speakers out of my Orange amp cabinet, blew them, and just left them laying around. When I inquire about it, he hasn't acknowledged my concerns. We still have a lot of good memories which can tend to override our differences when things get dark. My family has grown closer this year. Christmas was excellent! Chris is living with RJ and Rich. Everybody likes Chris. Brother Ray is out of college and hinting about possible marriage to Terri.  Ricky is hinting around (without realizing it) that he probably isn't going to be sticking around with Savvy much longer. Our phone rings off the wall with people trying to lure him away from us. He has learned all he can learn from us, and now he has become the teacher. He wants to have his own band, rather than simply be a member of one. I hope there might be a place for me in his next project - if he does leave. The world is going crazy. We were robbed again. President Reagan was shot. The Pope was shot. The President of Egypt was assassinated, an American general was kidnapped, Poland is crumbling, Russia is rising, we sell jets to other countries to destroy each other with, Natalie Wood drowned, and William Holden died. The Cowboys are closing in on a Super Bowl. Mom now has a piano. I have a lot of new friends in the radio business; Drake Hall, Doug Saye, Drew Pierce, Doc Morgan, Bob Elliott, Tom Owens, Ron Chase, Jamie Friar, and more. All great people. I spent an evening at Billy Bob's with ZZ Top. Lynx and RIO break up. Joe City and the Molly Maguires make member changes. Steve Wilson and Mollies play lots of shows with us and become good pals. My big romance for the year seemed to be Stacie T. but things are warming up with Lori. Ricky and Laurie are going strong. We played some big shows, got screwed out of another Texas Jam, and settled out of court for reimbursement. I learned how to solve Rubik's Cube, how to do Calligraphy, play some piano, and how to live without a VCR. Ricky's dog Nigel is a fugitive from the landlady. January will be "progressive achievement month" for me. I ruined the tile in the entry way. Our goal is to move into a house within 30 days. Tonight we are off!" 

This is the cover of the ledger used to keep track
of my adventures in the music business up until
the end of 1981. My high school journalism teacher
gave it to me in 1972 to keep track of ads I sold for
the school paper. I still have it, but now it is held
together with duct tape and lots of love and care.

I 'd come to the end of the last page of my first journal - and the big break we'd been hoping for hadn't come. There was no more room to write another word, but I knew the story was far from over. The next day I would have to go to an office supply store and buy a new journal. The adventure would continue and I had to be ready to document it...

[This is the end of Volume One. Volume Two was continued in a brand new ledger.]

CHAPTER 32:   LIFE ON LESTER

SAVVY STORY INDEX

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