| The Savvy Stories by Steve Jones (continued) |
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| Chapter 36 - Q102's
Texas Best Rock Album June 2, 1982 - September 6, 1982 Cardi's was a decent sized club across the highway from the Agora Ballroom in Dallas. They'd been serious about trying to lure Savvy away from the Agora, and had put their money where their mouth was. After paying all our expenses for one night playing at the Agora, each band member ended up with about $60 in their pockets. After only two nights at Cardi's, I'd made $270! But there was something fishy going on politically at Cardi's. I never figured out quite what it was that made me uncomfortable, but I had a feeling it had something to do with the DJ there. Dr. Rock (Mike R.) seemed to run the show at Cardi's. He was a big, boisterous assistant manager / DJ who seemed to have common interests with Hud and RJ. They soon became comrades and party pals. Dr. Rock was always "cordial" to me, but we didn't seem to have the love connection that some of the other guys shared with him. I sensed he was quickly becoming a bad influence on the band, but Hud already had a corner on that market. As far as I was concerned, we didn't need another one. But there was no denying that the money was good there and Dr. Rock seemed to be largely responsible for getting us in there. On our first night at Cardi's, we broke the attendance records. A band called Stanza opened for us. On Saturday night, after the Cardi's gig, Ricky's friend Marcus had a party at his apartment in Dallas. Marcus was another one of Ricky's Longview buddies. He sold jewelry for a living, and seemed to do well at it. He always had attractive girls with him, and drove nice cars. His license plate said "Savvy 1". At Marcus' party, I got really bad vibes from RJ and Dr. Rock -- so bad, that I left early.
After the gigs at Cardi's, we had two nights off before returning to Savvy's for one more full week before vacation! On Sunday night I got restless and hit the clubs. First I went to Savvy's, but nothing was going on there. From Savvy's I went to a club called "Fast Lane", only to find it had closed down. Then I went to the Loft in Arlington, and then to Players. L.D. Lumpkin's band, Mystery, was playing the Loft. We got together for breakfast after their gig, and then ended up fishing at Lake Arlington. I told him I would talk to the management at Savvy's about booking them. L.D. and I went back a long, long way and I was happy to do anything I could to help him out. The
following day was interesting. I had phone conversations with several
"moms". First, I spoke with L.D.'s mother, Marge. I'd been
calling looking for L.D.. Next, I spoke with Ricky's mother, Lucille,
when I called Longview to speak to Ricky about something. And then I had
a conversation with my own mother about her homecoming reunion in
Covington. Our final week at the club before vacation was a blast. Our DJ friends from KEGL were on hand for most of those nights. On the Wednesday before vacation, Ricky had car trouble with his new Cutlass and rode home with me from the club. Since living together for a few years, Ricky and I had become solid roomies. We talked about EVERYTHING. We had each other's backs at all times about every issue and trusted each other completely. Ricky had been next to the last person to join the band, but he'd quickly become the lightning rod and focal point. He was the central nervous system and mission control. Ricky brought in most of the original songs and was the reason for a lot of the hoopla that had come our way. So as a result of all those things, Ricky held a lot of the power in Savvy. Because he was the youngest of the group, and had the least amount of experience, he was respectful about not abusing his power. He played the game and went along as just another one of six guys in a band. Ricky knew that one day he'd have his own band and he'd be in control without any question. There wouldn't be band votes and group decisions. But that was all in the future. On the drive home from the club the night Ricky's car wouldn't start, we talked about Hud screwing up a TCU frat gig booking, and RJ's refusal to turn down his stage volume. Ricky said he'd talked to RJ about the volume thing and thought he got his attention. RJ didn't care much about what anybody in the band thought except for Ricky. I told him about the bad vibes I'd gotten from Dr. Rock and RJ at Marcus' party. Ricky was able to shed some light on it for me. He told me that RJ was back on the bandwagon to try to reorganize the band - without me in it -- and he'd been siding up with Dr. Rock about it. At one point or another, RJ had gone through stages of wanting to replace everyone in Savvy except for Ricky, so we'd all gotten used to his antics as far as one can. Besides, I knew that RJ was just trying to cover his own ass, making sure he'd have a seat on Ricky's gravy train if it pulled out of the Savvy station. Dr. Rock had a tight grip on Ricky's coat tails from the moment he'd met him, but he wasn't the only one. It was a new phenomenon I'd become aware of over several previous months. People in the music business from all over the country had been calling and dropping by the club, as well as our house, and they weren't asking for me. They were ALL trying to get a piece of Ricky, and whatever his future would bring. We'd all sensed a bit of a restlessness rising up in Ricky, but as his room mate and confidant, I was living it first hand. To my surprise and astonishment (and relief), Ricky Lynn Gregg made a promise to me that night. He said that as long as he remained in Savvy, I would have a gig. End of discussion. I didn't worry about RJ's schemes any longer. I trusted Ricky and knew he had the juice to keep his promise.
Everybody was getting haircuts, so I decided to get a trim too. It wasn't enough for my dad to take notice, but I could tell. I went to the lake with Vic, Russell, and Jack. (I have no recollection of who they were!) We went tubing and I got really sunburned. Lilly had a new boyfriend. His name was Danny, and I'd suspected them having a "thing" many times way back when we were still together. He was a handsome guy, but rumor had it that he was into some bad stuff. It was no longer my business what Lilly got herself into, but if the rumors about Danny were true, I hated to see her go down that path. I would always care about Lilly. I loved her, but we just couldn't be together. I'd lost the right to voice my opinion about anything she did. Who knew? Perhaps she was dating Danny to see if it would get a rise out of me. That seemed to be the routine, but I could only wish the best for her. My two brothers came over and jammed. I dreamed that I beat the crap out of the punks that broke into our house on Green Acres.
We got word from Q102 that they were doing another local talent album project called "Q102's Texas Best Rock, and we would have a guaranteed spot; all we had to do to be on it was submit a song. We'd just recorded "Run & Hide", another of Ricky's creations that featured a wild sequencer lead over the entire length of the song. Very strange. Q102 claimed that the band from that album with the most requested song would get a deal for a 45rpm with Atlantic Records. There had been a time when we would have all slapped each other on the backs and jumped for joy at such a chance, but not anymore. We'd been down that road more than once and we knew where it usually ended. The bands and songs on that album were: band: Savvy band: U.S.A. band: Stevie & the Stealers band: Backstreet band: U.S. Kids band: RIO (not the RIO with Buddy Whittington &
Boogie Lamont) band: David Guinn band: Easy Money band: Idiot Savant band: The Trend I started carrying a brief case to work. It allowed me to keep my stuff organized. My brother Ray had loaned me a saxophone and I was trying to teach myself to play. That didn't last long. One night while J.C. Miller (Rick Miller's dad) was visiting the club, I dressed up and did my Uncle Ernie routine for him. On break he pulled me aside and in his usual gruff tone said, "Steve! I really like you!" I told him to keep it quiet or he might ruin his reputation. On that same night, Steve Pippen and Joey Arnold from high school showed up at Savvy's too. I made a note to myself to be sure and buy a camera before going to Mexico. It had been one year to the day since Stacie and I took off to Colorado in the Volare'. Ricky was scheduled to have his tonsils taken out just about the time Marty and I were taking off to Puerto Vallarta! I finally bought a nice 35mm camera the day before our trip, but it wasn't working. I barely had time to swing a deal with Dave from Fox Photo to get a replacement. Marty and I tore up Mexico! It seemed like the ultimate paradise to me. I'd never been before and was fascinated at the scenery, and the culture. This was Marty's second trip to Puerto Vallarta, so I simply followed his lead. For the most part that was a decent plan. We stayed at the Plaza Las Glorias Hotel, and took taxis everywhere. Our album had just come out and Marty had brought along a cassette version. He wasn't shy about telling DJ's at clubs that we were with a rock and roll band from the states, and that we had a new album. I was surprised a few times in restaurants when I thought Marty had gone to the bathroom, when suddenly I'd hear our album playing over the house sound system. Marty generated a lot of great PR for the two of us. I signed several autographs and we ran into several people who actually knew us from the club back home! In Mexico, we met a guy from Dallas named Dave. He worked at a nightclub in Dallas and had seen us play many times. Marty and I went on the Vagabondo boat to Yelape. The following day we were up at the crack of dawn for the Bora Bora boat trip to an island. We were partying heavily from the moment we stepped on the boat, inviting anyone who wanted to join us to drink shots of Tequila for breakfast. It was a long trip to the island with no shade on the boat. Then we made a huge mistake. While on the island, we made the crucial mistake of drinking homemade tequila, purchased from the locals. I got sick immediately and had to swim back to the boat to use the bathroom! I was completely shocked and embarrassed to learn that the toilet of a boat doesn't flush when it is sitting still with the power off. I thought I was going to die before getting back to the hotel. Once we got back, I sat in the bathroom floor, hugging the toilet for the following two days. Marty came down sick the day after I did. I couldn't read the instructions for dosage on the Pepto Bismal because it was in Spanish. I called home and had mom read the label from the bottle she had in the fridge. Being the typical mom, she warned me to be careful that I not pass the lining of my stomach!
I lost two days to sickness, but eventually got back into the game. We partied the nights away at the discos, and met lots of fun and interesting people. Here is a list of some of them; Dave, Brian, Pancho, Louis, Joan, Robin, Jesus, Lucia, Gina, Gwen, Leo, Antionette, Lisa, Brenda, Rita, Barbara, Bill, Juan, Sharone, April, the guys from the parasailing company, and more. Marty carried a translation book with him everywhere he went. When we checked into the hotel, we immediately noticed a very pretty Mexican girl who worked in housekeeping. Marty would always strike up a jumbled conversation with her, and she obviously found him charming. A few days into the trip, Marty announced that he wouldn't be around for dinner. He had a date with the housekeeper, Lucia, to have dinner with her parents! I didn't understand why he would do that. He explained that the custom for a "good girl" was to have her parents meet a suitor before an actual date. He was going to have dinner with the family one night, hoping they would approve him to go out with her the next. I wasn't quite that patient.
Mexico had been a great experience, save for the episode of Montezuma's Revenge, and the fact that my new camera broke only two days into the trip. Interestingly enough, Lilly's name didn't come up once during the whole trip. Strange, considering all the Tequila we'd consumed. Once back home, I partied with my friend Rick Cunningham and his band Rage at Savvy's. It was a good thing I'd done some relaxing during vacation because things were about to get rough! Ricky was still recovering from his tonsillectomy and couldn't use his voice for two more weeks! That meant I was going to be doing most of the vocals. After only a week, my throat felt like raw hamburger meat. I went scuba diving with Paul Matson from Buddy Magazine, and ended up with an ear infection on top of the sore throat. I had a great time with Paul, until I was 50 feet below the surface of Possum Kingdom Lake swimming through a series of old air conditioning ventilation shafts when my ears popped. It was bad. I went to the doctor to try and get some relief. I'd never scuba dived before so it was worth the ear ache for the experience.
In the prior three weeks I'd parasailed over the ocean looking down at dolphins and sea turtles below, eaten octopus and escargot for the first time, scuba dived with Paul Matson, and that was just for starters! I was about to be able to add another big item to the list; jamming with Joe Perry from Aerosmith!
Joe Perry was hanging around Dallas during his hiatus from Aerosmith. Anyone who has seen Aerosmith's episode of "Behind the Music" knows that Joe was going through a serious drug phase. He was just about to hit rock bottom when we met him. Savvy's was the hottest club in town, and it wasn't hard to find just about any kind of party favors one might want. Joe apparently found what he was looking for and was ready to party! He sat in with us and played Train Kept a Rollin', Red House, Johnny B. Goode, and Goin' Down. The next night he showed up again and we played Walk This Way, and several other songs. He was trashed again, and it didn't take much for Ricky to smoke him. Nobody seemed to care though. Joe Perry, authentic rock star, was in the house - and everybody went crazeee!
When word got out that Joe Perry was hanging out at Savvy's, people flocked from all over North Texas to Savvy's for a chance to see the legendary rocker, and maybe even hang out with him. He did most of his partying those nights back in the privacy of our dressing room, though. Still, any hard core Savvy fan can tell you about the nights Joe Perry partied at Savvy's! Actually, the second night Joe Perry jammed at Savvy's was the first night of the 1982 Savvy's MDA Telethon. Some of the bands that played the telethon (besides Savvy) were; Mystery, Rob Kendricks, Granite, Rage, and more. I met Patty and Babe, the light girls from Rage. We all partied for about 30 hours, non-stop! The Rage bunch were fun to hang with. Particularly Rick Cunningham, their lead singer. During 1982, he was the closest thing to having another Ricky Lynn Gregg in town that I could imagine. Girls went ga-ga over him. He and I became pretty good friends during those days.
The talk all night was to see who could hang tough with us and stay around for a Tequila Breakfast. That literally meant that we'd all do a shot of Tequila when the sun came up. The breakfast was followed by a fun jam featuring Rick Miller on drums, Ricky Lynn on guitar, and I played bass. At the end of the event we'd raised $14,500 for MDA. As was our tradition, members of the band (RJ, Rich, Rick, and I) went to Six Flags to present the check live on TV. While there, I ran into my friends from Moroch & Stout. I hadn't even thought about "Ronald" since before my vacation. We'd had our hands pretty full. And it had just been officially announced that our song "Run & Hide" was definitely going to be on the next Q102 Texas Best Rock album. It would be great having a new original playing on the airwaves, but we weren't about to get our hopes up about winning any Q102 contests again. Sherry called from Houston and we talked for over an hour. She called
to say that she'd made the college cheerleading team and was also
teaching dance on the side. But the real reason she was calling was to
talk about us getting married.... |
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