The shock that came from learning Boogie was leaving would have been much worse had it not been for our potential Savvy parachute. However, that parachute wasn't a sure thing yet. Perhaps the thing that kept our spirits from faltering even more so than the possibility of joining Savvy, was the proverbial mystical umbrella of good fortune that had been protecting RJ and me since the day we'd started playing together. While most of our peers were more established, experienced, and accomplished than we were, they often seemed to be on quests to find rooms to play, and bands to play with. 

From the time RJ, Jim, and I began playing together, gigs seemed to magically fall into our laps. Even when we were at our worst, clubs were calling us to be their house bands. When a member change needed to be made, someone better seemed to fall out of the heavens ready to do whatever was asked of them without reservation. 

We became conditioned to believe that this was how it worked in the music business. As a result, we'd learned not to freak out when we hit a rare bump in the road. Of course, freaking out was the initial knee-jerk response, but it quickly subsided and we went on about our business with an occasional eye cast to the sky to see what clever solution the Blue Fairy was going to drop at our feet next. We didn't really have to work at fixing anything except our hair.

A similar phenomenon occurred the first time my wife went to Las Vegas. She won $300 on her first pull of a slot machine and quit. Then on the last day of our vacation, on the way out of the casino she decided to play one last slot machine -- her second pull of the trip. She won $250 on that one! The point is that she came home conditioned to believe this is how all slot machines work; you put a quarter in a slot, pull a lever, and win lots of money. She never experienced the negative, and more common results that come from gambling. In our case, we'd never had bad experiences from the music business. It must have been some kind of Cosmic Oversight.

 Eddie the Wind-Up Monkey could've managed the Desperados. Our business cards mostly came in handy as emergency guitar picks, scratch paper, and to give out to the ladies. Once, I even used a short stack of them to wedge underneath 8 track tapes so they would line up correctly with the tape heads in our player at the garage apartment.

Losing Boogie was going to be a GREAT BIG BUMP in our yellow brick road, but he wasn't leaving immediately. We had to find things to keep our minds off of the bad stuff. One person that helped keep me preoccupied for a while was Sherri Bickerstaff, a very sweet new regular at the Hungry I. Sherri was extremely laid back, in contrast to a lot of the madcap mama's we'd been accustomed to. She had a calming effect on me, and kept my mind off business.

The first sign that the bough was about to break came in mid October, when Ryan Brennan suddenly quit. He'd been under a lot of stress from his relationship with his new girlfriend, Mae. Mae had a propensity to fool around with customers in front of Ryan while he was trying to bartend, and it just wasn't working. I believe that RJ and I were also guilty of giving Ryan a lot of heat over his letting Mae control him to the point that he wasn't allowed to hang out with us anymore. Ryan had been a really close friend to the band, and even with our creative projects outside the band. Only recently, we'd been talking about a new screenplay idea based on a Bozo the Clown character. We can only speculate about the reasons for Ryan's parting because he never opened up to us after that. We'd go see him at his new bartending job down the road at Carter's Bowling Alley, but it was never the same. Something really heavy must have gone down with him. Or maybe he just decided to get a life. (Ryan, if you happen to read this one day, I miss you and hope you finally got the part in that Disney "frog" picture you always wanted. Let's put those re-dubs on DVD!)

Someone said I looked like an Irish Setter, so I decided it would be a good time for an image adjustment and shaved off my moustache to see if it would help. It just made me look like a younger Irish Setter. Kathy West, the girl who cut my hair back then, was really cute. She did a nice job with the scissors too, but I didn't REALLY go to her house for the haircuts. 

Meanwhile, back on the strip, the lid was about to blow off the pressure cooker at Savvy's. Don Reeder and Rich Mauch were NOT HAPPY with the direction they'd been forced to take with the hiring of Mike and Katrina. This was strictly a "direction" thing -- and not personal. Mike was a phenomenal bassist and keyboard player, and Katrina was beautiful and could really sing, but the disco era had been pronounced DOA and attendances were continuing to drop at Savvy's, while the Hungry I was packing in more rock and rollers than we had room for. Don and Rich knew that in order to survive they would need to make some personnel changes and go rock and roll. On top of everything else going on at 5415 E. Lancaster, Katrina was pregnant. VERY pregnant.  This made it even more difficult for Rick Miller, Savvy's band leader, to think about letting them go. Rick was not a hard-ass by any means. He took band member changes very seriously and thought of the band as family in many ways. But business was business and his entire family had a lot of money tied up in the club. The time was right for something big to happen that might turn things around.

*Journal Entry / October 12,1978 - "Don and Rich want to quit Savvy and join the Desperados -- but that would put Jimbo (Jim Wise)  out of a job. Not sure what to do..."

RJ and I had been spending a lot of time at Savvy's since Boogie's announcement. We'd really come to like the people and the club. But it just wasn't a rock and roll place. Not yet, anyway. It was more like a great big comfortable lounge with disco and show band music playing all the time. It was like living in a giant game of "What's Wrong With This Picture." It didn't take a great deal of insider info to identify the stumbling block that was standing in the way of progress. His name was Rick Miller; Savvy's drummer and part owner of Savvy's Nightclub. 

Savvy was Rick's band, and he didn't like his band members trying to force changes on him. Rick hadn't allowed himself to get too close to me, RJ, or the Desperados, most likely because we represented his competition. The fact that Don and Rich were talking about jumping ship and joining up with us probably didn't help our case either. Don hadn't been with Savvy long, but Rich Mauch and Rick Miller had a long history together. Once Rich was voicing his displeasure with Savvy's direction, Rick had to finally start facing reality. Things were going to have to change.

Back at Savvy's, things continued on as normal. We still had great fun and there were no dark cloud's hanging in the air. There was a sense that everything was going to be fine, but nobody quite knew the way that was going to come about. Boogie knew he would be going on to a better group, but would be losing the stability of a regular gig. It was scary, but he knew it was time to take some risks.  Wade had all kinds of friends in the business and would be fine regardless of what happened to the Desperados. If Rich and Don joined up with us, he'd still have his gig. And then there was Jim...

Jim Wise was one of the core members of the group. When RJ and I were behaving like the inspiration for Beevis and Butthead, Jim knew how to reel us in.  Jim could hang with us, perform with us, laugh and party with us, but as much as we were alike, there was one big defining difference. All during our three years of playing together, Jim had been preparing for life outside of music. He was almost done with his college degree. That little squirrel had been storing away some BIG nuts for a long winter. He did the right thing. The band was all RJ and I had. While we hadn't discussed things with Jim yet, we knew he was probably on the verge of having to cut back on his playing schedule soon anyway. RJ and I agreed that while it was going to be a difficult decision, if we got the chance to hire Don and Rich from Savvy, we'd have to let him go.

Fortunately, it wasn't going to come to that just yet. Rich and Don reported to us that Rick Miller was starting to see things their way. He'd been hinting at the need to do whatever it took to improve business, and also at wanting to take Savvy in a rock and roll direction. He was just unable to deal with having to fire Mike and Katrina so close to Christmas time, with her about to have a baby. That, they reported, was the real issue. Still, he was starting to open up and allow himself to at least discuss options.

One night in late October, Rich invited RJ and me to an after hours party at their apartment off Brentwood Stair Rd. near I-30.  It wasn't supposed to be a business meeting -- just a fun get together. After a short while it was obvious that there was some kind of tension in the air. Rich, Rick, Don, and some other members of Savvy ended up back in Rick's bedroom with the door shut. Voices were raised a couple of times in what sounded like a heated discussion. They were in there for a really long time before I finally decided to leave. It was incredibly awkward 

After a couple of days passed without hearing from Don or Rich, RJ and I assumed the worst. We figured Rick had tired of their threats of joining us and had given Don and Rich ultimatums. Maybe our being at that party had made Rick uncomfortable. We didn't know, and therefore decided not to count on Don, Rich, or the Savvy angle. In fact, we felt pretty burned over the deal. Boogie hadn't given us a hard deadline on when he would leave, but we knew it would be soon. We would have to start looking at the possibility that maybe a solution wasn't going to fall into our laps after all!

We took a week off for vacation, and when we returned someone stole two of our microphones from the stage. This was not a good sign. In those days we could leave our equipment set up around the clock at just about any club on any side of town and nobody had ever touched any of it. Finally they did. We had to really think long and hard about how much any of us wanted to invest in replacing them under the circumstances.

My uncle Okie came into town, driving the tour bus for a Merle Haggard / Marty Robbins show that was going on somewhere in the area. My uncle had been working with Marty Robbins for many years, and before that, he'd been on the road with Hank William's Jr. for a number of years as well. As a kid, my dad used to take us to visit uncle Okie on the tour busses while they were parked out in back of Panther Hall while the concerts were going on. I watched Hank Jr. play shows through the back alley door at Panther Hall when he was still a young rascal. Okie spent a lot of time at Marty Robbins' ranch, and was one of the first persons to arrive at the site of Gentleman Jim Reeves' plane crash, near Marty's ranch. Okie was still working for Marty when Marty died of a heart attach. Just some obscure family history to drag out the suspense of our story...

There were other things going on to keep our minds occupied. For me it was getting ready for Halloween! As a kid, I'd always loved dressing up in costumes and going trick or treating. When I got older, the trick or treat part was replaced by parties. There were a couple of great one's lined up that year, and I was ready for them! 

Our long time friends, Cliff and Carla, invited us to a bash at Carla's brother's house. Phyliss, from Harris Costumes, and I went as Coneheads. (They were big that year.) I ended up at a party at Boogie's house. Boogie was in a mood that night for some reason, but it didn't matter. I had a great time visiting with Buddy Whittington, then I beat Mark Bellew in Pong. (Sorry Mark, but it says so in the journals so it must have really happened that way!) We all ended up at Denny's, having breakfast and talking about band member changes.

After Halloween, the after-club partying began to turn into more of a time of internalizing with those we wanted to be close too. It still didn't feel like a meteor was going to destroy the planet, but we weren't in the mood for being all smiley faced and full of joy. RJ and I spent more and more time apart. Lilly, a very sexy brunette from Savvy's following, began coming to the "I" to party with us, and she immediately put a spell on me that would have me reeling for a long time to come. I'd seen her at a Savvy picnic at Burger's Lake earlier in the year, in a bikini riding on the back of Rich Mauch's motorcycle. I'd been completely taken with her, but thought she'd never be interested in me in a million years. And suddenly, there she was on the dance floor of the Hungry I smiling up at me as I sang the Rolling Stones' new song "Miss You." I went home with Lilly and didn't go back to the garage apartment again for several weeks, and that was just to collect my belongings. Things on the personal front were looking up, but worries about the future of the band lingered on. No matter how bleak it may have gotten, my eyes were still turned to the sky, watching for any signs of divine movement in the clouds. 

*Journal Entry / November 2, 1978 - "It has been decided!"

It had finally happened! After the gig on November 2nd, RJ and I were summoned  to meet with Rick Miller and the Savvy guys for breakfast at Joe Bates' Restaurant. Rick was in a jovial, and extremely friendly mood. Everyone was smiling. After our food orders were taken, Rick officially invited us to join Savvy! He'd been forced to make some hard business decisions, as well as realize it was time for a major change in the direction of the band. Even though many of their faithful fans were still requesting disco tunes, the times had changed in the music business. It was evident by the crowds packing into the Hungry I to see us, that rock and roll was the answer. Rick had personally really been wanting to play rock again, but had been under a bit of pressure from some of his business partners who weren't completely sold on the rock idea until the club was really nearing financial trouble. 

Yes, Rick Miller had finally realized that the Jones boys weren't the problem after all -- but rather the solution! The plan called for RJ and me to start rehearsing with Savvy at every opportunity. We would officially play our first night on November 21st, 1978. We were about to embark on a brand new fork in the road along the way of our journey through the music business, but before we could start writing any new chapters, we had some loose ends to tie up back at the "I". 

While it hadn't been our intention, it was a relief to be able to close down the Desperados on our own terms, rather than falling apart because Boogie was quitting. True, we hadn't really done much in the way of making this happen other than remain calm and trust that somehow the story -- or at least this part of it -- would have a happy ending.  That ol' Blue Fairy, or Jellyfish God, or whatever had watched over us for so long had come through for us again. Did we deserve it? Maybe. Maybe not. We weren't about to look the gift horse in the mouth, though. 

On Sunday the 5th, before the gig, RJ and I told Wade, Boogie, and Jim about our plans, and then a strange thing happened... Usually, when bands finally break up there is a lot of bickering and yelling over who is to blame and so on. Yet in this case, not a discouraging word was heard! Wade told us that he'd been offered the opportunity to play with Boogie's new band, RIO. Jim had a lump in his throat, but smiled anyway. He knew it was time for him to get serious about his computer programming career. Jim was supportive and would continue to live vicariously though us as we continued with Savvy. Even Boogie seemed to be happy for us, and relieved that he wasn't leaving us stranded without a replacement for him. 

Once the word got out that the official "last gig" had been set, friends, fans, and family came out of the woodwork to wish us well and party with us one more time. The Desperados would spend our last two weeks together playing to packed houses by night, and rehearsing with our respective new bands by day.   Amidst all the celebration though, as I played that last song on that last night with the Desperados, my mind drifted away to a very peaceful place. I looked at my band mates with a great feeling of appreciation for what each of them had brought to the table every time we played. I knew I would miss them terribly -- at least for a while anyway, but the good new was that there were no wounds to heal.  I was very proud of how far RJ, Jim, and I had carried that torch, and was resolute with our decision to let it burn out gracefully. 

There is no blueprint for a good way to break up a band, just as there is no good way to break up a family. But somehow, the Desperados had been blessed with a PERFECT ENDING.

Epilogue:

A worn cassette tape labeled "Desperados - Last Night at the Hungry I" is lying on my desk, next to my computer. I thought that if I put it out where I could see it, I'd get around to making a digital dub of it sooner, preserving it for years to come. So many things pile up on a desk these days that never get done. 

As planned, Boogie Lamont and Wade Johnson joined forces with Buddy Whittington, Mark Bellew, and Ronnie Ward to form a great band called Rio. Jim finally got his degree and became a very successful computer program designer and still played with various bands part time for fun.  RJ and I joined Savvy and... well that's definitely a story for another day! Because of the way things ended between us, the final five members of the Desperados all still stay in touch and remain friends to this day.

* 1/6/03 UPDATE!
Wade Johnson and Rusty Boden play together in a band called The Party Crashers. You can check them out at http://www.thepartycrashers.com/

*Our adventures are continued in the Savvy section of this web site. I've recently started writing the chronological history of Savvy as I have done here on these pages for the Desperados. You can pick up the story at http://web2.airmail.net/sjones/savch001.htm  

 Thanks for reading my stories and I hope you will sign the GUEST BOOK to let me know you dropped by! 

* 12/7/03 UPDATE!
Tonight I dropped in at a local club called Jubilations. Most of the guys from Hill City Band had put together a new group called Breakheart Pass. I noticed Danny Rowlett on guitar right away, but then I saw another familiar face. It was Mike Hamilton on the keys! It had been 25 years since RJ and I replaced Mike and Katrina in the Savvy lineup. I'd run into Mike a few times over the years and we've talked a few times. He is playing better than ever. He's really fun to watch too. During a break, he told me that the baby Katrina had been pregnant with when they left Savvy was now a 25 year old man! Mike and Katrina split up only a few years after they left Savvy, and Mike remarried and has grown kids from that marriage too. He gave me his biz card and asked me to forward it on to Rick Miller the next time I see him. As for Breakheart Pass, they sounded incredible. Best harmonies in town! Danny Rowlett was grinning when he saw me. He told me he'd been reading these stories on the web, and was encouraging others to check it out as well. During our run at the Hungry I, Danny had come through with a couple of excellent bands; Montage, and Calico. Great singer / guitar player. Now a good friend.

Steve Jones
12/7/03