I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a good night's sleep, but with the weight of Ricky's secret finally off my back, combined with the fact that I'd been up all night doing tequila shots,  I went home and crashed hard. I knew for sure I'd experienced a deep, natural sleep because when I woke up the next day, the following dream was still fresh in my memory...

. . .I was at Laurie Alford's house (Ricky's girlfriend). My entire family was there. Outside, the house was an exact replica of the one I'd grown up in on Lincoln Avenue, down to the last detail. Even the old water cooled air unit was in the front window. But inside, everything was different. The room that had been mine as a boy, now belonged to Laurie. In her room, there were two king size mattresses pulled together side-by-side, with half sized mattresses at the head and foot of the two kings. It was all pulled together to make one giant bed. The walls were covered with pictures of the band - mostly of Ricky, and one row of only photos of me. A lot of silly pictures. I asked Laurie how long she'd lived there and she answered "Four years." I asked if she'd moved there after her mother died. She said, "Yes." Then she vanished into thin air. My brother Chris was working on a project in one corner of the room. John Wayne (the actor) came in. In the dream, he was my grandfather. A radio was blasting loud music and I was trying to talk over it to explain my aspirations of going to college to him. He couldn't hear me. I turned the radio down, but he still couldn't hear. I tried and tried, but couldn't turn the music down low enough for him to hear me. Chris came over and picked up the radio and took it back to his corner with him. Grandpa picked up a desk and tossed it over into another corner and it landed perfectly organized in its new place. I ran a little movie for him about a ventriloquist, and he was impressed. He told me he was proud of me and I was very pleased. Then he was gone. Suddenly I was in the kitchen talking to mom. Chris was on the back porch petting a mangy cat. I was allergic to cats and the family knew I couldn't be around them, so I wanted to know why a cat was at the house. I could see the cat's fur glistening in Technicolor.  Nobody would answer me. It was as if they'd chosen the cat over me. I could hear myself saying childish things and knew I was behaving like a spoiled brat, but had no control over my actions. I left in a huff and went to my car to leave. My eyes were swelling up like grapefruits from the cat dander. As I tried to see to put the key into the ignition, dad came out and climbed into the car with me. He told me that a girl from my old high school had stopped by to say hello. Her name was Anna Podela. I tried to remember who she was, but didn't have a clue. I asked dad if she was short, but he said she was tall. I asked if she had blonde hair and he said brunette. He told me she'd been a real "hot looker" and probably someone I'd want to get in touch with, if not a girlfriend from the past. Chris tried to get into the car with the cat, but I locked the doors and windows. - End of dream...

I've never put stock in dreams predicting the future, but I've experienced first hand a number of times where they took snapshots of what was going on at the time, and made things easier to understand. The name Anna Podela meant nothing to me, but there was a regular at Savvy's named Richard Podela. He was friends with Rhonda and her crowd, but I'd never really hung out with him. He was supposedly a really laid back friendly guy, who did odd things to entertain people -- like eating cigarettes. There was no connection there. As for the part about the music keeping me from being able to tell my grandfather about me wanting to go to college, it seemed to make sense. The music business was holding me back from getting on with my life and doing what I knew I should be doing. Things like going to college. Then it occurred to me that my ten year high school reunion was coming up in a few weeks, and that could have been the reason for the mysterious Anna Podela in the dream. The part about Chris and the cat could have represented my feelings about being replaced in Ricky's life with another "cat" in his new band. (That was a stretch.) But as for Laurie Alford in the room with the big bed, that would have to be left open for individual interpretation.

.
During the years I lived with Ricky, Laurie was 
like a sister to me. Obviously we weren't "blood"
related. Laurie was -- and always will be a
 photographer's dream.

Ricky may have gotten in a few short hours of sleep that day before heading over to break the news to RJ, but not any more than that. He wasn't looking forward to the task at all and knew it would be a difficult one. RJ, along with Kenny Stocks, had been the architect of the plan to bring Ricky into Savvy. He was incredibly outspoken, and very unpredictable. But there would be no more skirting the issue for Ricky. It was time to face RJ.  There was no sense in making an appointment with RJ. If something else came up, there was no guarantee he'd keep it.  You just showed up when you needed to see him and he'd either be awake or asleep. There was no schedule or pattern to help one know. Ricky figured that around 3pm would be a good time to try. 

I know that Ricky did find RJ that afternoon, and that he told RJ about leaving the band. I'm just not sure about the details of the visit. All the times I've pressed him for information about that encounter, RJ has preferred not to discuss it and I've respected his decision. But it was obvious to me and my band mates that RJ hadn't taken the news well. In fact, RJ's relationship with Ricky was extremely changed after that day. RJ didn't try to hide the fact that he felt betrayed by Ricky and had no reservations about voicing those feelings. What had been a great friendship would never be the same -- or at least not for a long while.  There were no gray areas with RJ. Either you were with him - or you were against him. I did learn that one of the things that had come up during their talk was the fact that Hud, Dave, and Marty were also going with Ricky when he left. That meant we'd not only lose our lead guitarist, lead vocalist, and main songwriter, but we would also lose our sound man, light man, manager, and studio engineer. There was nothing RJ could do about Ricky leaving, but he wasn't about to hang out and drink shots with him all night as the rest of us had. RJ was experiencing a great deal of animosity over the ordeal, and as a result, the relationship between he and Ricky became icy overnight.

Ricky Lynn Gregg pals around with RJ Jones in
better times.

On the following day (July 22, 1983) several members of Savvy congregated at Rick Miller's house to talk about the situation and try to figure out a strategy. Those attending were Rick Miller, RJ, Dan, and myself.  Rich Mauch didn't show up. Again, Rick Miller was our anchor, stating that Savvy had been around before RLG and would somehow continue on without him. My co-workers were all still visually dazed by the news. Thankfully, I'd had months and months to get used to it. The meeting was one of solidarity and everyone had a chance to vent about how they felt. It would have been too easy for us to feel like a band of rejects, not good enough for Ricky Lynn Gregg, but we refused to "go there". We had a lot of pride in our accomplishments. True, Ricky wrote most of the songs, but we all invested hours and hours in contributing concepts of our own to flesh them out and bring them to life. Not everybody came just to see Ricky. After talking it out for several hours, we all agreed that quitting was not an option. We needed to prove to ourselves that we could do this thing with - or without Ricky or anyone else. That was the plan on the surface. But then the claws came out.

Towards the end of the discussion, RJ and Dan were looking at each other nervously. Something was up. Finally, RJ proceeded cautiously with making a suggestion to Rick. It was something he'd discussed with Dan, and they felt would work. Their plan consisted of replacing Rich Mauch with another really good lead guitar player. I would have to step up and be a more solid 2nd guitarist, and carry most of the lead vocals. At that point I was open to anything, but I knew it would never fly with Rick Miller. He and Rich had been together since way before RJ and I had come along. There was a deep loyalty between them that wasn't likely to be broken simply because Ricky had left. I was right. Rick rejected the idea outright. If Savvy was going to continue, Rich Mauch was going to be a part of it. Secretly, I was shocked that RJ was going after Rich and not me. I supposed he'd rethought things for the time being and felt I could handle the lead vocal job, at least for a while anyway. We left the meeting agreeing that we would have to all do some thinking about it, but the bottom line was that we were committed to finding a way to continue on. 

I talked to LD Lumpkin about the situation. He told me that he would love to play in Savvy, and that his lead singer Farrell might be interested too. It was something to consider, but that would mean replacing Dan. People were coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden. Everyone seemed to have a solution. I'm sure that among those plans, there were at least a couple that would have sent me packing, too. On our next day off, Rhonda and I went to Crystal's Pizza for lunch, and to the movies to see "War Games" featuring a young Matthew Broderick. I spent the following day changing my alternator. 

The drama with Savvy continued to worsen. RJ finally figured out a way to vent frustration about the whole thing by placing Hud in his crosshairs. RJ and Hud had been close, so the fact that Hud had kept this a secret from him for so long really pissed RJ off. Then one day, out of the blue and without the band's permission, RJ called Hud and told him we'd fired him and split up his pay. In truth, we had split his pay, but only because he'd been gone on his honeymoon and hadn't worked in a while. Hud called Rick to get to the bottom of things, only to learn that we hadn't fired him, but that RJ was just jerking him around. Still upset over the money issue, Hud quit on the spot. It wasn't supposed to go down that way. The rest of the band, including myself, was really upset with RJ for taking it upon himself to fire Hud without our group permission.

RJ sings at Savvy's. He could be as intense off stage as he 
was on.

But nobody was more upset with RJ about the Hud ordeal than Ricky Lynn Gregg. Hud and Ricky were partners on the upcoming "Ricky venture", and Hud depended on Ricky to provide some kind of employment for him - whether it was with Savvy, or with the new band. Ricky and I were still living together, so I heard it all. There was no soft-peddling the facts. RJ vehemently despised Hud for keeping all this from him for so long. In response, Ricky despised RJ for what he'd done to Hud, and for not giving him his blessing on his plan to quit Savvy. 

On the drive down to Waco on July 31st, I had a long talk with RJ about his anger over Ricky leaving, and how it seemed to be affecting his attitude. I later had a talk with Dan at Luby's Cafeteria, trying to feel out what he was thinking about everything. Hud called Rick Miller to express his "hate" for RJ. Then Hud called me, trying to get me to blackball RJ out of the band. Things had already spun WAY out of control, and now it had turned into a bloodbath! I wouldn't have believed it could have gotten any worse, and I would've been wrong.

Meanwhile, Waco was providing us with a lot of opportunities to help us forget our troubles. There was a big party at the Frat house where Jeff and Rick lived (our friends with the limo business). I hurt my leg on the big stairs on the front of the house. The next day, some friends invited Ricky and me to go parasailing on Lake Waco. Ricky went first, but never got off the ground. It was like a long, painful episode of "Funniest Home Videos" and Ricky took a lot of really bad tumbles trying. I decided to pass. 

Back at home, we called another meeting to discuss how to get things back in order. Someone came up with the idea of possibly hiring Rick Cunningham, lead singer from Rage. I personally really liked Rick Cunningham, but I knew that it would not be the most efficient and effective plan. At least not if I wanted to keep my gig too. Rick Cunningham didn't play guitar, and because Rick wouldn't part with Rich, I knew that eventually RJ would probably find a strong guitarist he'd want to hire. That would likely mean that I would have to be sacrificed. It was like a game of chess. There were so many different scenarios to consider that I decided not to get too upset about any of it. Things would work out one way or another, for better or worse. I would simply be resolved to ride it out as long as I could. By the end of the meeting we decided to table the Rick Cunningham plan for the time being, but kept it in mind as a possible option for later. I thought it was doubtful that Cunningham would have been interested in leaving Rage to join us under the circumstances anyway. And after all, how many "Rick's" can one band have before some kind of law of the universe is broken? 

Rick Miller got word that the FBI was investigating the Waco Savvy's location for drug activity that had gone on prior to the place changing hands. Rick made it clear to all employees, including the band, that drugs would not be tolerated on the premises. The members of Ricky's new band started easing on to the Savvy scene. The word was out and the public knew what was going on. Ricky knew it would be an important PR move to make sure his fans from Savvy got acquainted with his new band as quickly as possible. It wasn't long before they were getting a little TOO acquainted. It was like insult to injury when we'd see a girl one of us had dated before, now going out with Tolbert. It just didn't seem right somehow, but we had to remind ourselves it was only rock-and-roll.

The controversy continued to escalate. On the 15th of August, Ricky had a strange conversation with me in which he suggested I quit Savvy. He couldn't tell me why he thought I should quit, but said it was just a feeling he had. Something was really wrong here, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. He didn't realize how transparent the whole thing sounded, and I knew there was something he wasn't telling me. The next day, all my questions would be answered.

On the 16th of August, we assembled at Dan's house for our first rehearsal without Ricky. It was surreal. But we never got around to rehearsing because Rick Miller had some news. He told us that Ricky had offered him a spot in his new band. To me, this was the most devastating news of all because that meant we would lose Savvy. Rick tried to explain, but it got very complicated very quickly.  He assured us that he hadn't committed to anything, but had told Ricky he would have to think it over. I spoke up and voiced my displeasure towards Rick for even considering it. I made the case that a stand must be made against allowing Ricky Lynn to do further destruction to our band. We'd all drank shots with him (or most of us had) and wished him well. That should've been it. Ricky had a drummer!  Joel Parks had been living at our house for over a month, as he rehearsed with Ricky's new band.  If Rick joined Ricky, Savvy's Nightclub would become "Ricky's" in only a matter of time. I knew from experience that Ricky was making a move to use Rick in order to end up with Savvy's as his own personal house gig when he needed it. Not only would he break up our band, but now he was trying to come back and take our gig from us too. Ricky was making a blatant statement that the rest of us were EXPENDABLE. Even if we were, at least I wasn't going to give up without a fight.

Ricky had told Rick Miller that he had fired Joel in order to bring Rick in. When we heard that, RJ spoke up and said he was through. I also felt that I'd taken as many knives in the back as I could suffer. The rehearsal ended up being a short meeting. Tempers and emotions flared higher than they had before, or would again. Nothing was resolved, though. Rick needed time to decide if Ricky Lynn Gregg was important enough for him to throw the rest of us to the dogs. It was far from pretty. In fact, it was brutal.

It was just my luck that I would be the only one from that awful meeting who would have to go home to, none other than, Ricky Lynn Gregg.  I was breathing fire. Ricky could tell that something was wrong and avoided me as long as he could. I was in the bathroom blow drying my hair when he finally stepped in the doorway and asked me what was wrong.  I tore into him about how sick I was of him destroying everything. It wasn't enough that he was quitting the band, but now he was coming back and trying to take Rick and the club out from under us. I'd never felt so betrayed in my life, and I told him so. Then, just when the plot couldn't get any stickier, Ricky gave a very different version of what had happened with Rick. 

I should make it clear at this point that I don't know what actually happened, but I do know what I was told. Rick and Ricky would have two very different versions of the story. According to Ricky, Rick had been drinking and called him up to ask what it would take to keep him in the band. Ricky allegedly answered by saying it would essentially take merging the two bands together, which would mean firing RJ, Dan, Rich, and me. It would be a major housecleaning with Ricky calling all the shots.

 
Rick Miller sings while playing the drums. 

A lot of feelings were hurt during that time. Rick was blaming Ricky, and Ricky was pinning it on Rick. The whole controversy would come to an end the following day when Rick Miller called to say he was not joining Ricky's band, or merging our two bands together. That was the GOOD news! The BAD news was that he'd decided to quit the music business altogether, and wasn't coming back at all. 
 

CHAPTER 48:   BUDDY AWARDS AND LAST HURRAHS!

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