Even though Savvy was on vacation, Savvy's Nightclub continued to operate in full swing, providing a great playground during my time off throughout the holidays. My car gave me a little trouble, but didn't turn into too much of a problem. Each member of Savvy received a royalty check for the local sale of our album. That made up for not getting a holiday bonus from the club. On the night of  December 26th, 1982, two of my old friends from High School showed up at Savvy's. Jimmy Mask and Randy Patterson seemed to have a pretty good time, and it was good to hang out with them from the audience side of the room for a change. 

That's me with life-long friend, Jimmy Mask (on right) in
the light booth at Savvy's. The matching jackets were a
coincidence. Actually, his was leather and mine was a
cheap imitation. Jimmy and I had met in Mrs. Hill's first
grade class at Circle Park Elementary School in 1960.

The night of December 26th was notable for another reason as well. My old childhood friend, LD Lumpkin, was playing in a local band called Mystery. LD joked with me many times about following in my footsteps, and he had worked his way up to playing keyboards in a decent band. But Mystery, like so many other local bands at the time, didn't have the luxury of a house gig like we did. They were forced to compete with other bands for gigs at various clubs scattered across the area. I had seen Mystery perform once before and was really impressed with their lead singer, Farrell Weber. Farrell had a powerful voice with a great range, but he was a real oddball by North Texas standards. He paced around on stage as if he were part autistic, part delirious. I remember seeing Farrell laying down while he sang, almost as if he were imitating Jim Morrison. He was extremely moody and emotional too, from what I'd heard.

(LD Lumpkin emailed me with the following memories about playing Savvy's with Mystery. After comparing his story to my journals I was able to pinpoint that the night during Christmas week that Mystery played Savvy's was  December 26th, 1982 -- the same night that I partied at Savvy's with Jimmy Mask and Randy Patterson. I sat in with Mystery that night and sang "Midnight Rendezvous" and "Back On the Road Again".  )

LD Lumpkin wrote:

"In late December 1982 Mystery had a gig at the Rock Saloon in Houston....we were excited to finally break into Houston.  Mystery was a road band and spent most nights in various clubs throughout Texas. Houston was THE place for us to play. The first night at the Rock Saloon was a Tuesday if I recall.  The crowd was rather small, but we held them.  Got an encore and felt really good about our performance.  Sitting in the dressing room, we felt good about ourselves until the manager came in and fired us.  He told us that our lights were not what they were used to, and that our "look" was a little different.  Our lead singer Farrell Weber had a great voice, but he tended to roll around on the floor and make "strange" body movements.  You loved him or you hated him.  The manager hated him and us.  We were angry and hurt.  Charlie Hatchett, out booking agent tried to get us a reprieve, but we were asked to come back the next day and remove our equipment.  As we made our way home from Houston, Larry Patton contacted our manager and arranged for us to play Savvy's during Christmas week.  We were ecstatic.  Playing Savvy's with the crowd and massive PA was an awesome experience.  We felt like we had been vindicated on some level.  Screw the Rock Saloon....Mystery was back!"

Nick Schepis, guitarist for Mystery.

I went over and picked up my reel-to-reel tape recorder from Hud, but the new drive belt he'd had replaced for me didn't last a day before it broke. Vacation was uneventful which was a good thing for a change. We came back to play three nights at Savvy's before the big New Year's Eve show.  New Year's Eve was packed!  I borrowed Rich's orange Spandex pants to add some color to center stage, not thinking twice about how badly they clashed with my hair. A new local band played a few songs, giving us an extra break, except when I jumped up and sang "Fall In Love Again" with them.  Not having a girlfriend at the time, I braced for an awkward moment when everyone else in the place would be kissing their sweetheart at midnight. Then I was really surprised when at the stroke of midnight, I saw Rhonda motioning for me to come to the side of the stage. She gave me a kiss and walked away. But there standing behind her was a girl I'd never seen before, as if she were next in line to kiss me! She said, "I get one too!" So I gave her a kiss.  By then a silly kissing line was forming, but I wasn't complaining. It was a very cool surprise, and a great way to kick off the new year! Still, I knew Rhonda's kiss had been the only one that really counted.

After the gig, RJ threw a big party at his house.  Some guests were: Bridgett, Donna, Greg Schmidt and his girlfriend Angela, Mark Eman, Chris, Ray, and Shannon McMahon. I dropped by for a while but didn't stay long. Rhonda was expecting me at her apartment. By the time I got to Rhonda's place, I'd been through an entire New Year's Eve gig, an after gig party, and it was around 3:30am. Basically, I was toast. But I was coherent enough to remember that I fell asleep in Rhonda's arms, and life seemed really good...

When I opened my eyes the next afternoon, I felt like a hot spike had been driven through my right eye -- so I decided to just close them again and send out for aspirin. As I laid there praying for the pain to stop, I found myself reflecting on the past year's accomplishments. We'd recorded and put out an album, Ricky and I had moved to a house, the Falkland Islands had been through a major conflict, the "Y" tree fell back at the old home place, Eddie Gattis temporarily blackballed us from playing the Agora, I went to Mexico with Marty, Joe Perry jammed with us, the NFL strike screwed up the football season, a few big shows cancelled on us - Motels, Hughes Thrall, and Mahogany Rush.  Local legendary bands Lightning and Joe City broke up. Ricky and I finally got through a Christmas without getting robbed, and I got through a year without falling in love -- as far as I knew.

It was 5:30 pm before I finally clambered out of bed on January 1st, 1983. I got home to find the phone ringing. It was Rusty Burns calling for Ricky. For some reason I got the feeling that something was amiss, but my empty stomach didn't let me dwell on it.  I made a meatloaf instead. It seemed I was on a cooking spree. Two days later I made chicken and dressing, pigged out, and then kicked back and read the Dan Akroyd interview in Penthouse. 

On the following Monday my car broke down and I needed someone to run me to a parts store. I'd spent most of the day under the car and was exhausted!  My body was frozen. Ricky was at Laurie's, and nobody answered at RJ's. The only person I could find was Hud, but he told me he couldn't help because the football game was on. The Cowboys were losing to the Vikings. I finally managed to rig things to get the car to run long enough to get me to the parts store. Then I cleaned up and went over to Rhonda's, but I was so tired from the long day, and zonked from the allergy medicine, that I fell asleep watching TV. She woke me up around 11pm and I went home, but couldn't go back to sleep. I ended up staying up all night recording a four track version of an old classic song called "Harbor Lights". 

We had a rehearsal at the club and worked up the new Hall and Oates song, "Maneater." At the club that night, a girl on the dance floor kept raising her blouse and flashing her breasts for us. It was a big night for anyone with a camera. After the gig I went to Denny's with Vanessa and two of her friends from American Airlines. Then we went to RJ's for a while. On January 7th and 8th we played at the Agora. A band called Damsel opened for us. They were really nice guys. My brother Ray sat in and played Sax on "Maneater" with us. Alan Kaye was hanging out in the dressing room, lecturing us on how to "make it." He'd been on the road with Chicago, so he was allowed. The crowds were great and we videotaped both nights. For a gag, I shaved my moustache during a break between sets. Marcella went with me on Saturday night. We took her car to avoid getting stuck in Dallas in mine. In the Agora dressing room that night, Wild Bill Randolph from Point Blank was hanging out with us sporting a fresh haircut. He jammed on their big song "Nicole" with us. Elaine from Pandora was there that night too. She told me Pandora was reforming again. I loaned Marty $100 and he paid me back $80. That was the story of my financial life.

[January 2006:  After having the Savvy Stories posted on the web for over 7 years, I got an email from an old friend, Lloyd Jones. Lloyd was a regular fixture at Savvy's who was always taking photos. In his email he invited me to come to his home and look through his collection of photos he'd taken back in the Savvy days, and offered to let me take as many as I wanted home with me to scan and use in my stories. While going through those photos I realized that several I'd been using on my web site for years had come from Lloyd. He'd given them to me back when Savvy was still playing and I'd forgotten where they'd come from. There were also a couple of shots of the girl showing her breasts in his collection, and interestingly enough, I recognized the guy who was standing behind her, egging her on. It was none other than Kenny "Stock Show" Stocks!  So thanks go to Lloyd Jones for all the great photos!]

Ricky and I celebrated our first year of living on Lester. I was seeing a lot of Rhonda. My Volare' was really giving me fits so I took it to Hilscher's Automotive, where Rick Miller had all his car work done. Old man Hilscher opened the hood and took one look at my motor, shook his head and emphatically - and dramatically said "Oh NO!"  His tone frightened me and I couldn't imagine what could be so wrong, but I'd later learn that he always did that. It was like Mechanic's Turrets Syndrome. That time, the car was worse when I got it back then it was when I took it in. The Hilscher team made good on the problem and they were great after that.  

On the 10th of January, Savvy started a 20 day straight run.  It kicked off in Bryan at Graham Central Station, followed by a week at Savvy's, and then on the 17th we were slated to open for Head East at the Dallas Agora again. Ricky and I rode together on the trip to Bryan, and it was on that trip that he really opened up and made his wishes known to me that he wanted to leave Savvy. He wasn't sure how soon, but he had made the decision that he needed to move on and try other things. He told me that Savvy was holding him back, and that he felt that we'd drained him creatively. Then he asked me not to tell anyone about our conversation until he knew what he was going to do. I was in shock, but tried not to show it. My gut told me to try and reason with him to stay, but I knew better than to show how upset I really was. There was absolutely nothing I could say, so I just listened and let him say what he wanted and needed to say. I thought that perhaps if he talked about it and got it off his chest he might feel better and change his mind. Even that was a weak response, but I didn't have a lot of options. Besides, we were in his car and a long way from home. All I could hope for was that it was some kind of phase that would pass and I tried putting the entire conversation out of my mind. Because we'd lived together for so long (over two years at the time) and were as tight as brothers, I knew I couldn't say anything about it to the other guys in the band.  So I gulped hard and moved on. 

On the 17th of January, 1983, the Head East gig at the Dallas Agora was scary! The crowd didn't respond well to us, and I even thought I heard a heckler. Rhonda rode with me in my "Andretti-mobile" as she liked to call the Volare'. Ricky was "off" all night. I'd never heard him sound so weak. Nobody else knew what was going on, but at least I thought I had a pretty good idea. His heart wasn't in it anymore. It was breaking my heart to be on that stage that night and know his dirty secret - that he didn't want to be in Savvy anymore. That he didn't want to play with us. That he felt we were holding him back. I was secretly suffering from knowing too much for my own good. 

Ricky and Laurie in the Agora dressing 
room, after opening for Head East.

Rhonda and I left the Agora in record time after our 45 minute set. We didn't even stay to see Head East. On the drive home we heard our song "Run and Hide" played on the radio twice. Could it be possible for us to win the new Q102 contest? If we did, it meant a record deal. At the time I thought it was a contest between the bands appearing on that one album only. What I would find out later was that it was a national contest between literally hundreds of bands from all over the country. It didn't matter though because I'd been down that road and knew that even when you win, you lose. Even worse, if we were to win, I knew it wouldn't mean anything if Ricky's heart wasn't in it. And after Ricky's performance at the Agora that night, it was pretty clear that it wasn't.

I wouldn't put it together for some time to come, but Ricky was probably literally embarrassed for the Head East guys, whom we'd known for a while by then, to see that he was still in an "OPENING" act, and hadn't really advanced his career since the first time we'd opened for them just over two years earlier. Even though it was never said, it would have been a valid point. And I would soon discover that I wasn't the only one in the band who knew about Ricky's plans. Both Hud and Marty were in on it as well. We had a conspiracy in our midst. Once Ricky left Savvy, he was planning on taking them with him. The question burned in my mind -- but I didn't dare ask it; if Savvy were going to break up, would there be a place for me in his new project?  It wasn't a topic open for discussion.

CHAPTER 42:   TWENTY DAYS AND TWENTY NIGHTS

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