| The Savvy Stories by Steve Jones (continued) |
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Chapter Eight – The Calm Before the Jam Savvy was invited to the Dallas Agora for another Q102 jam session with Joe City, but things ran so late that we just hung around and got better acquainted with the Joe City guys. Joe City was basically Lindy Wilson’s band. Lindy was hard to get close to -- distant at times, and he seemed to be somewhat agitated by the spirit of the Q102 contest competition more than his band mates. The rest of the guys in the Joe City band were really fun to hang out with. Particularly Steve Wilson (Lindy’s brother) and Nat Davidson (keyboard player). I accidentally left a piece of our sound equipment behind at the Agora that night, which caused quite a scare. I’d been responsible for getting home with it and I didn’t. We called the club the next day and they located it. I was lucky on that one. Some fans made a big cake for us in support of our bid to win the opportunity to open the Texas Jam. Our song had been playing on the radio for a couple of weeks and by all reports from our "undercover mole" at Q102, our song was presently the most requested. On Mother’s Day of 1980 I took my parents, my brothers and Lilly out to eat. Everyone was holding their breath to see what would happen regarding the Texas Jam. We assumed Lightning would probably win because they had been together much longer than we had, and because they were already a well-established DALLAS band. We were an upstart band of misfits together less than a year. And we were from Ft. Worth! It was fairly common knowledge that people from Dallas thought of Ft. Worth as a step-child, and since a Dallas radio station was running the contest, and most of the other bands on the album were from Dallas, we didn’t want to let our hopes run too high. It was hard not to, though. Our song was playing on the radio and our commercial was playing on TV. We had our own club that was packed with hundreds of fans six nights a week and word had hit the streets that our first album would be on sale soon! We couldn’t ignore the possibility that come June, it wasn’t out of the question that we could be sharing a stage with the Eagles, Cheap Trick, Foreigner, Sammy Hagar and more. It was simply too good to be true. We just couldn’t let ourselves think about it too much. There was a lot of Savvy promotion going on. Q102 was pushing their album which featured one of our songs, "I Wonder Why" was playing on the radio several times each day, we'd been talking up the coming release of our own album - "Made In Texas", plus our Savvy's Nightclub commercials were running nonstop on late night TV. The power of all that marketing couldn’t help but catapult us into the North Texas spotlight more and more each day. Suddenly we were noticing that people were beginning to treat us differently – in a GOOD way. We didn’t think of ourselves as celebrities, but it didn’t matter what we thought. Something was happening to us that was out of our hands. We’d never thought of our audiences having lives or jobs until we started running into them everywhere we turned. Once recognized, they would usually say, "Savvy’s! Ain’t nothing’ wrong!" That was our TV ad slogan. If they worked at a gas station we happened to stop at, they wouldn’t let us pay for gas. If they were working in a restaurant, they wouldn’t let us pay for our meals. We were going to free movies, getting free computer software and peripherals, and even at one point I had my house furnished by friends and fans of the band. It was absolutely insane!
The staff at Buddy Magazine challenged us to a game of softball. We would have a few weeks to practice for the big game. The club owners at Savvy’s told us that plans were in the works to knock out a wall and expand the club. But as it turned out, Sybil's Golden Oldie Record Shop managed to pay up their lease at the last minute and so the expansion was put on hold. Just the fact that expansion was being discussed was great news for the band. The thought of a bigger club had sugarplums dancing in my head. Back at home, the clock was running out in regard to Lilly's impending move to the new house. The thought of it was emotionally crippling me. I didn’t want to hear about it, or even think about it. I had way too much good stuff going on in my life to be dragged back down into that dark, negative, tumultuous place at the end of each day. My method of dealing with it was to not deal with it. I just tuned it all out. I knew eventually I would have to make some kind of decision, but I wasn’t going to let it put a damper over all the great things that were happening with the band, and every other aspect of my life. Lilly had her own plans, and was laying the groundwork to put them into action, with me or without me. So be it. We waited to hear the results of the radio contest. Would our song be the most requested? Would we get to open the jam? The only thing that could take my mind off of it was working on the album. My main job on the project was to avoid walking into the glass door again, and to add some vocal parts here and there. The studio became a creative sanctuary and I liked being there. A local band, Impact, sat in and played a set with us at Savvy’s. While they were playing, someone busted into their van in the parking lot and stole their music equipment. The thieves were caught and equipment returned. The bad guys turned out to be Bruce and Tom, two ner-do-well’s that had been hanging around since the Hungry I days. Since Don had my VCR, I decided to drop by his place and watch a movie. The movie was Harold & Maude that I’d recorded off of cable at RJ’s house. It wasn’t called cable yet, though. Signals were picked up on a microwave type antenna. We finally got an early, un-mastered cassette of our album. I was so excited that I couldn’t wait to tell everyone. But everyone at the club knew, so I had to think of someone from my past who hadn’t been keeping up with our band. The person who came to mind was Earl Dromgoole, my old band mate from the Kountry Four days. I looked him up in Grapevine and drove out to see him. We drove around and I played the entire cassette for him on my car stereo. His response was much less enthusiastic than I’d expected. I didn’t realize how it must have looked to him. We’d played together so long ago, but he went into the army and then got married and started having kids. I was making records and playing concerts. I was just completely oblivious to how it must have seemed to him. I thought he’d be happy for me. He may have been, but he wasn’t able to let on at that moment. He just sort of acted like someone with a bad toothache that needed to go away and find relief. It was an awkward visit. RJ was silk screening Savvy t-shirts in his garage. I gave him $40 as a contribution to his efforts. On May 23 we played the Haltom High School prom. I had an early day the following morning with a clown gig at Artfest in Dallas, so I got a hotel room for the night. Ricky got a room for the night as well because he had a special date lined up. My room was a lot nicer than his so he asked if I’d switch rooms. "Be a buddy!" So I did. I didn’t sleep a wink. The room I ended up in was awful. There was noise coming from every direction. Doors slammed outside, and the AC didn’t work. But at least I was a good buddy. On May 26 we played our first concert at the Six Flags Music Mill Amphitheater. Brother Chris videotaped the show. We played two sets of mostly originals. It was a great chance to promote the new album, the club, and the Q102 contest. Because we played together 6 nights a week we were very comfortable on any stage. All we had to do was walk out and plug into our amps and things just started happening. Each person in the band became a part of something that seemed to take on a life of its own. The second show felt a lot different from the first because it was getting dark out, and the stage lights gave it more of a concert feel. We got our first standing ovation that night. The audience was shouting "SA-VEE! SA-VEE! SA-VEE!" As we exited the stage we looked at each other wide-eyed. Nobody said it out loud but we were all wondering what to do next. But it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. We strolled back out onto the stage and played another song. At the end of our encore song, the crowd was chanting, "WE WANT MORE! WE WANT MORE!" On the videotape, that is when the camera pans up to show a beautiful, giant full moon hovering above the amphitheater. Fade to black. After the concert, RJ threw a big party at his house. Everyone was invited over to watch the video. We sat up a TV outside by the pool. A lot of people showed up and we had a really great time watching our first concert together under the stars. On May 28 we went to George Jara’s printing shop / studio to have more promotional pictures made. On the 30th we had softball practice. On the 31st I did another McDonald's appearance in Irving. On June 1 we had the big Buddy Magazine vs. Savvy softball game. I didn’t record the score, which probably indicates they won. I do recall them making jokes about our bar tans, though. It was all in good fun. On June 2 we returned to the studio to do vocals on "Midnight" – one of the songs from our 45 record. Rick Miller and Jerry Hudson moved in together at the Sleepy Hollow Apartment complex next to Pantego Studios. One night, Gary Shaw came over to Rick and Jerry’s place. We played the concert video from Six Flags for him. At the conclusion of the tape, Gary made it clear that he was interested in managing us – or at least being involved with the Savvy movement in any way he could. Jerry Hudson was already unofficially doing managerial duties but we heartily accepted Gary’s offer to help. We celebrated and partied hard that night. So hard in fact that Rick decided to cancel rehearsal for the following day. On June 4, Lilly left me – again. She went home to her mother’s. But this time she wasn’t in a rage. In fact, she was downright cold. It was perfect. It was time to let her go. I would be fine at my hobbit hole in Quail Hollow, and she could drive off into oblivion. The nightmare would end and all would be right with the world. There was only one hitch. I didn’t know it back then, but I had a personality defect which kept me from being able to break up. I’d never had to break up before. I’d always been dumped. The co-dependant monster was rearing its putrid, ugly head again. My world was spinning and I wanted to die. There was only one prescription for this. No matter what the cost – if even it cost my dignity, I had to get her back one more time! |
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SAVVY STORY INDEX
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