Rumors started circulating stating that Ricky was having strong mood swings, was irritable, and difficult to work for.  The rumors were shortly followed by the news that Tolbert Pittman had quit his job as Ricky's bass player! Then, Dave the light man quit too. If the rumors were true and Ricky was difficult to work with, we were about to find out. Ricky called to ask me what I thought about a Savvy reunion, including him. He also was talking about maybe doing another album with us as Savvy after the first of the year. It was crazy stuff, but he wanted me to run it by Rick Miller. Of course Rick Miller loved the idea. We knew we'd have to wait and see if this was just another of Ricky's moods talking. Most likely he was simply on the rebound from losing Tolbert. 

Reagan and Mondale had a big debate. Reagan looked old. Hell, he was old. Savvy was scheduled to play Austin Roks in Dallas, but we got a call saying they were canceling all live bands. Another live music club bit the dust. That wasn't good. But we would get to extend our vacation another 5 days so we didn't complain too much. At least Rick Miller and I didn't. I went to see Ricky's band play at Matley's. Ricky was sick that night and not himself at all, but we were all in for a treat. Ed Cassidy, famous rock drummer who co-founded the band SPIRIT, and his guitar player / son-in-law Randy California, were hanging out in the club and sat in on a few songs.  I talked to Ricky for a little while and found out that he'd been having bad hyperventilating spells. 

I went over to see Rhonda. We still weren't clicking on all cylinders again yet. I had an emotional hangover from my mini breakdown, and in the midst of the blues wrote a song called "You Lied." It was about driving around in circles, going nowhere, hurting because someone lied to you. It was inspired by several true life experiences I'd had over the years. I was just weary from all that was going on in the band, in my personal life, and in the world in general. 

With vacation behind us, it felt really good to be back on stage after all the time off. The band sounded good, except Rich was making quite a few obvious mistakes for some reason. The crowds were responding positively though and that's what mattered. We worked up my new original and it sounded pretty good; the band seemed to like it. I talked to RJ about putting a computer user group together. So far we had RJ, Jon from Videoland Computer Store, and me.

Rich didn't work at all during our month off, so I had to carry us both financially until Savvy got back to playing again.  If it hadn't been for the Ronald money, we would've been in real trouble. My song was going over well at the club. Ricky called and said he wanted to wait until after the first of the year to do our reunion thing. Things were getting better with Rhonda. 

The last week of October 1984 was booked in Waco. Because of the small town ordinances in Waco, that club shut down at midnight, so Rich and I hauled ass home one night and made it to Savvy's (in Ft. Worth) before they closed. We hung out there for a while and then went home. I fell asleep at my computer again.  We'd survived a year without Ricky in the band. On Halloween night, our one year anniversary of coming back without Ricky, we played Savvy's in Ft. Worth. I dressed as my Henry clown character from the days of doing birthday parties. Rich was a punk rocker, and Dan came as a cowboy. RJ was wearing a bad attitude. The crowd wasn't as thick as it had been the night of our big comeback the previous year, but it was decent enough.

Savvy at Savvy's on Halloween '84.

My costume on Halloween '84. 

Dan Kostura on Halloween '84.

Rich Mauch on Halloween '84.

Rick Miller (left) and Rich Mauch on Halloween '84.

RJ on Halloween '84.

Rick called a band meeting. I was expecting it to be another one of those really bad news / depressing affairs, but was surprised that it turned out to be constructive for a change. We had a couple of issues to discuss and some business to take care of. Our soundman, Ambrose, was getting offers from the Molly Maguire Band, but he was happy where he was with us. (We'd learned to consider these things as a compliment.)  Rabbit had parted ways from RLP and was back running lights for us again. When Ricky left, he took our light man, Dave, with him. Now Dave was leaving Ricky and liquidating his equipment. He gave us a good deal and we took him up on it.  And then there was the matter pertaining to the group of investors in Waco who wanted to give us $40,000 as a tax write off. We'd heard that old story before. There had been a time when RJ and I wouldn't have been able to sleep for a week if someone had made that offer. 

Rhonda was outside the front of the club talking to her friend Mike Thomas, when they were robbed at gunpoint by guys wearing ski masks! It was getting bad on that side of town. I had a bout with the flu. Dee Ann Miller got engaged. It was a surprise to everyone because she'd been dating Bubba Marney for a long time, but she wasn't getting engaged to Bubba! Rich and Tammy had a one year anniversary of dating each other. The next day, I bought steaks for me and Rich.  Indira Ghandi, Prime Minister of India, was assassinated by two of her own bodyguards.  

We were offered a gig in Killeen, but John Bloomstrom messed up again and we got routed to Oklahoma to play at a club called The Great Escape in Tulsa instead. Rich got loaded and threw a bit of a fit about losing the gig in Killeen, but cheered up when Tulsa came through. Rick didn't want to go to either place, and we couldn't blame him.  His baby girls were just a few weeks old and Rick understandably wanted to spend some time with them before we headed back out on the road again. On the way to Tulsa, the equipment truck hit a giant pothole in the highway so hard that it blasted out the windshield, and destroyed the springs. The crew was lucky nobody got hurt too badly. 

Having to deal with getting the truck fixed was a hassle, but otherwise Tulsa was a decent gig. A girl name Angela gave us a ride to the gig one day and her car sounded like it was literally going to rattle to pieces. I popped the hood open to find that her carburetor wasn't even bolted on! And the car still ran! Incredible.  On November 10th, the last night in Tulsa, we opened for Robin Trower. They were real jerks to us, and wouldn't let us use their lights or sound. It was a major hassle, and they would go down in the books as just about the worst we'd ever worked with. We were thrilled to see that the crowds actually were just as much into Savvy as they were for Robin Trower. They crowded up around the stage and it was like old times.  

We would have two days off at home and then hit the road again for another Cardi's tour. First stop, Austin, where we played with a band called Madame X. They were really getting a name for themselves, and the buzz around Austin was that they were on the verge of going big time. Yeah. We'd been down that road before. But the big news in Austin was that we ran into more management problems. Rick Miller had received a $100 draw to give out as pocket money to the band, but then they turned around and asked for it back. Gene Walls was wanting an extra 5% cut for booking us there, above what John Bloomstrom was getting. Rick called Bloomstrom and we were told not to worry, that he'd take care of it. Besides, we would be in Pasadena the following week, so we could drive in to Houston and pay Bloomstrom a visit face to face and find out what was going on with Cardi's. 

One of the bartenders at the Austin club showed us the famous flooded, haunted basement! It was true. Stairs led down into a basement flooded with water. That couldn't have been healthy. I knew it must have been filled with rats and snakes and no telling what else. In Houston we stayed at the Pasadena Motor Inn. It was the first motel we'd stayed at that had free porno movies running around the clock. Very strange. I made friends with the waitress at the Pasadena club - a really pretty Latino girl named Yvette. She had a fish named Mr. Big Lips, and a cat that just sat and waited for Mr. Big Lips to jump out of his fish tank. 

On the 24th of November we opened for Tommy Shaw, the guitar player / singer from Styx. Rhonda was a huge Styx fan so I had to figure out a strategy to get an autograph for her before the night was over. Shaw's band had a huge tour bus parked right out the front door of the club. After their set, I was going to have to do something I'd never done before, and wasn't looking forward to doing then. I would have to get in the middle of the crowd of fans who would be waving various items in hopes of getting an autograph. It would be a little embarrassing since I'd been in the opening band, but I knew how much it would mean to Rhonda so I went for it.  But I was really lucky that night, for as I walked out the front door of the club, the drummer from Shaw's band recognized me and waved me over to the door of the bus. A burly bodyguard opened a hole in the growing wall of people and ushered me through. Suddenly I had freedom of movement again...

The drummer said he recognized me from being in the opening band, and said he'd caught our set, and enjoyed it. Then he asked if I wanted to come on the bus and meet everyone. I couldn't believe my dumb luck! I was home free, so I even threw in a little humbleness for the benefit of anyone who might have figured out that I was about to beg to get in there if I had to. I told him I appreciated the offer, but I know how it is after the gig. You just want to relax. I didn't want to impose. He waved at another big burley man who was inside the bus, sitting behind the wheel. The sound of a hydraulic cylinder hissed, and the door opened. "Don't be silly!" he said, and practically pushed me into the bus in front of him.

Inside the bus, the rest of the band was sitting around, toweling off.  There were two or three girls standing around, but the real party hadn't started yet. The drummer introduced me to the rest of the guys, including Tommy Shaw. What a great bunch of guys they were. It was like going back to hang out with my own band on break - that was how cool they were. A couple of the other guys from Tommy's band had seen our set too, and they asked a few questions about where we came from, and that sort of thing.  I gave them the Reader's Digest version of our rise and fall, and our comeback effort. They'd all been there and could relate, only they'd managed to turn their luck around at some point in order to be on the road with Tommy Shaw.  I was suddenly aware that if I stayed for one more moment the spell would be broken. I thanked them for inviting me on, told them that at Rhonda's apartment it was all Styx - all the time, and then turned to leave. But then Tommy reached over and put one of their mock album covers on the table and said, "Hey guys, let's all sign this for his girlfriend. What's her name?" I couldn't have scripted the moment any better if I'd done it myself. "Rhonda, with an H," I replied.

I could feel the envy of all the people gathered on the sidewalk as I stepped off the bus. It was a nice little cool blast to the ego for me as the crowd parted and I went back into the club. Rolled up under my arm was something that would make Rhonda a very happy girl when I got home.

The excitement of meeting Tommy Shaw and his band would almost be cancelled out by the events of the following day. Because we had to strike the stage for Tommy Shaw's show, we had to go back up to the club the next afternoon and set our stuff up again. The keyboards were the largest, and heaviest items to deal with, and when it came time to move them, it became obvious that Dan wasn't around. After a quick search, I found him in the entryway to the club taking a nap on a bench. RJ cracked that he looked like a homeless person who had come in off the street to get some Z's. We decided not  to disturbed him and went on with our work. 

Later when the club manager came in, he asked if we knew who the guy was sleeping in the front area. We told him Dan was with us, and the manager asked us to wake him up because it looked bad from outside. 

I went over and woke Dan up, telling him what the manager had said, but Dan didn't want to be bothered at that moment. He yawned, told me to go away, and rolled back over to go back to sleep. I got a little ticked at him for ignoring me and used RJ's line, telling him he looked like a homeless person and needed to come and set his stuff up. I went back to the stage, leaving Dan to do as he wished, and had just finished setting up my microphone stand when Dan stepped up onto the stage right in front of me. I stopped and turned to see what he wanted. He made some comment about being tired of taking my crap all the time, and then with both hands he shoved me in the chest, knocking me off the stage! I managed to keep my balance and land on my feet, but then the shouting match began. 

Dan and I aired all of our differences right there in front of the entire group. I was waiting for the other guys to back me up on my arguments, but just got the old silent treatment again. Nobody would fess up, and that really pissed me off. We'd talked about all this "Dan" stuff time and time again on road trips. Or had we? Had it just been ME going on about it?  Rick Miller was working diligently on his bass drum foot pedal. RJ was running cables to his amp. Everyone was going on about their duties, blatantly ignoring the shouting match between Dan and me. Then Rich Mauch spoke up. We hadn't noticed that he had actually lost it and had begun to cry. Through his sobs he told us that he was completely fed up with all the fighting and couldn't take it anymore. He stormed off. Everyone, including me and Dan, were shocked at what we'd just seen.  All we could do was just stand there, frozen in our places, wondering how we were going to be able to get things back on track in time to play the gig that night. And then it dawned on me that maybe I wasn't the only one having bad dreams, ulcers, and sleepless nights because of the bad juju going down in Savvyland. 

CHAPTER 61:  WHEN GOOD DREAMS GO BAD

SAVVY STORY INDEX

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