1965

1965 began where 1964 ended at the Driftwood Lounge in Sparks Nevada. We really liked it there so we signed an indefinite contract. The money was pretty good and it was a four day a week job. Plenty of time to do things and plenty of things to do. There were some big changes in our personal lives. I met the lady that would become my first wife and so did Gary and Jimmy. I didn’t intend to get into a committed relationship but I did. We met there at the Club and first thing you know we were living together. I don’t feel real good about that but it’s what I did. I think many of have done things we’re not proud of in our youth and I’m no exception.

After being in Reno for a while and becoming familiar with the Casino world it became our goal to work the Casino Cabarets. Sometime early in 1965 we were booked into The Golden Casino in downtown Reno for an afternoon show on our days off. I believe we only worked Sunday afternoon. I’m really not sure about that but I think that’s the way it was. I do remember It was tough moving down there on Sunday morning after a looooong Saturday night but we were excited to do it and it was a good experience. It went pretty well and we had good crowds. I can’t remember how long this went on.

Gary and I were living in an apartment near The Driftwood. Gary Nieland had brought his wife and two daughters to Reno and had rented a house. Jimmy also met the lady that would become his wife and was living with her in an apartment. I remember Gary and I were very lacking in house hold items. The apartment was furnished but we needed to round up pots and pans, utensils, bed clothes and the like..for a time I remember using packing quilts out of the equipment trailer for quilts on our beds. Then when Susan moved in with me she improved our living conditions greatly. For some reason she just didn’t go for the packing quilts. It was a fun time. The crowds were great, we made lots of friends some of which we stayed in contact with for years. The owners of the club there in Reno also owned one almost just like it in Sacramento. They started talking to us about playing that club maybe even on a rotating basis. During the summer of ’65 we went over there for a few weeks. It was a nice place and everything went well but the owner of theDriftwood wanted us back in Reno and that was agreeable to us.

During that period of time I had a brother and a sister living in the San Jose area of California. Sometimes on my three days off I would drive there for visits with them. That was great. It was like going home. While I was at my brothers house his wife, whom I loved, would fix my favorite foods and treat me like their own child. Then I would go to my sisters house and same thing. Just spending three days getting spoiled. They even came to Reno a few times to see us. Being the youngest of nine kids has its advantages.

Somewhere around the fall of 1965 things started changing. We had become quite comfortable in Reno but that was doing nothing for reaching our real goal of becoming a successful rock and roll band, recording hit records and hitting the big time. At least for three of us. As I told you long ago Jimmy Jones had a lazy streak in him and he was very content with our current status. Getting him to practice became difficult. It even went o far there was a time he moved and for a few days we couldn’t get him by phone. We rocked along like that for a while for a lot of reasons but finally we decided things had to change. Lots of things had changed during time and conflict wasn’t welcome. Susan was pregnant. I had to start planning what to do about that. Especially if we were to get back to traveling. We wanted to go home to Oklahoma for Christmas. We wanted to find a nw guitar player. So we had to make a plan. We made a plan but I’m not so sure it was the right one. Some people never learn. We contacted Leon Sanders, our former guitar player who left us In The middle of the night. He was in Kansas at the time. Yes he said he would love to come back to us. It was decided Gary and I would meet him in Oklahoma over Christmas vacation. We would practice there and come back to Reno in January. I failed to mention that during our time in Reno Gary had also met the lady who would become his wife. For some reason we, Susan and I, decided when we got back to Oklahoma she would stay there and have the baby which was due mid to late January. Yeah I know. Terrible idea. On our last night in Reno before leaving for Oklahoma after work Gary Nieland informed Jimmy he was fired. Gary Sullivan’s dad Kenneth had come to Reno for a visit with Gary and was to travel back home by car with Gary. Well Gary’s girlfriend Ricki went outside to move his car closer to the door to load up. Well it was a standard shift four on the floor and somehow she let it lurch backwards, the drivers door hit a post and warped the door. We managed to get it closed but couldn’t afford to take a chance of opening it again. Gary and his dad drove all the way to Oklahoma with the driver crawling in from the passenger side over the console to the drivers seat. Meanwhile Susan and I were to travel in my car she would stay in Oklahoma keep my car there while Gary, Leon and I would come back to Reno. What a mess. As for me I’m ashamed of some of these decisions but it’s what we did.

Next. A daughter and more baddecisions