A daughter and The Islands

While in Oklahoma over Christmas we would gather, almost daily, at Gary’s parents home to practice. It was good to see Leon again. It was a shock because when I last saw him he was very thin he was now quite a bit heavier. As usual he was funny and even better on Guitar than before. We never heard Of bi polar in those days but after becoming familiar with it in the last few years there is not a doubt in my mind Leon was bi polar. We just thought of it as mood swings. He could be all excited about something one day and the next day it was a terrible idea. This is one of many examples to make me believe he had a problem. We had a lot of fun practicing and spending time together. It soon became time to get back to Reno and back to work. We made the trip in Gary’s car as I recall he got the car door repaired. Susan stayed in Holdenville with my mother. The plan was that she would rejoin me after the baby was born. That is not fun to write about. I was twenty one years old and not real smart. To leave a wife,who was not a wife at the time, with your family and then go off on the road while she has a baby doesn’t say much for a man. Very embarrassing

We were very excited about the new group when we got back to work. Lots of new songs and just something new. Even though Leon was a much better guitar player than Jim lots of people didn’t like us as well for a time. They said we sounded ” too country”. It didn’t take long though til they got used to the new sound and everything was good. I just couldn’t write about this period of our music career and not go into detail about Leon. There is some funny story’s here and most of them are about Leon. Leon was just coming off of a divorce, we had described to him how great a place Reno was for a single guy. He vowed to take full advantage of that fact. That’s exactly what he did. He went crazy. He Gary and I had rented a three bedroom apartment. This apartment complex had a section meant for traveling entertainers. They were stocked with pots and pans, utensils etc. it was a really neat place. There were times Leon would be with three girls in one night. He would leave the club with one, leave her house at some point go to another girls house and then later on, about daylight meet another one at his apartment. I saw him do that time and again. We would be on stage and he would sidle over to me laughing about having multiple girlfriends in the crowd at the same time. It made no difference to him married, single, young, old, pretty, not so pretty whatever was ok with Leon. The funny thing was they all loved him. I asked a lady one time what was the attraction. She said he makes me feel like a queen. Funny story. The club used armed ,off duty policeman at the door checking ID and for security. One night we were on stage and the cops came to the stage and told us to take a break. We were coming off stage and one of the cops ushered me to a storage room I asked what was going on. He said that a lady had came to the door to warn them her husband was on his way there to kill me Now a lot of people can’t tell a guitar player from a bass guitar player. I played bass, Leon played guitar but the husband thought it was me messing with his wife. Sure as the world in a few minutes he showed up, they put him up against the wall and frisked him. He had a thirty eight on him and said he came to get the guy messing with his wife. That was pretty scary for me but Leon thought it was hilarious. That’s pretty good he said I get the girl you get shot. When it came to women Leon had no scruples. One night this girl asked me if Gary was gay. I said no what makes you think that? I was a little shocked by the question because of all of us Gary attracted the most women hands down. Not to say he was with more women, he wasn’t , because he was very particular. Anyway she said she thought he was cute and had asked Leon about him and Leon told her Gary was gay. Ok enough about Leon and his women.

During this time we had gotten acquainted with a DJ On a rock station in town. He was a funny guy and we really liked him. Batman was a big thing about this time. We had request for the Batman theme so we played it often. The way the club was set up just to the left of the bandstand was a Dutch door. For circulation reasons most of the time the top half of the door was left open. This DJ, his name was John McKnight, said he had a Batman costume. He cooked up this deal that when we played Batman he would leap thru the upper half of this door in his Batman costume. Time came and we started into the Batman theme with our eyes left to see him fly into the door. Here he came but he failed to notice that right in his flight path was a hanging cylindrical light fixture. It caught him dead center of the forehead. Needless to say we were all cracking up, he was a bit dazed and confused. I’m laughing now as I remember it.

On January 21 1966 I showed up for practice, now keep in mind in those days there were no cell phones. We didn’t even have a phone at our apartment. The club owner gave me a message to call home to Oklahoma. I did and found out I had a baby girl. I believe she was 8. Lbs 6 ounces. I asked what she named her I knew it was supposed to be Shannon and it was. I was suddenly living in two different worlds. It was exciting to think of being a daddy but I was doing something I had dreamed of. I was playing in a rock and roll band in a place where people loved us and I admit I was eating it up. To say I was torn is an understatement. I had never meant to get into a committed relationship and now I was even more committed. I’m not sure I handled it very well because about this time we were in talks with an agent about going to Hawaii for a twelve week engagement. This is so hard. I loved her and I had not even seen her. I wanted to be there but because. Of a bad decision I made about leaving them in Oklahoma I hadn’t even seen her. Selfishness won out. I ended up leaving them in Oklahoma and I think Mid March we were scheduled into Hawaii.

One other quick story before I leave Reno. This actually happened the year before (1965) because the story includes Susan. Buck Owens was a big star then. He came to Reno, actually Sparks, to do about two or three weeks at John Asquagas Nugget. He had his whole troupe with him The Hager brothers, Susan Raye and the whole bunch. One of the Hagers, John was quite a partier. He started coming into the club. I got acquainted with him and we started running together. He was a lot of fun. He invited us to their show and told us to come early back stage to meet every one. Now my Susan was a good lookin lady. I didn’t know what a chance I was taking when I let her meet Buck Owens. When we got there the first person we saw was Buck Owens behind the curtain watching the show girls warmup. What a lecherous old coot. His actions and words were repulsive as he watched these beautiful young women in their scanty costumes. Then John introduced him to us. My god the man was awful. He could not keep his hands to himself and John was embarrassed as was everyone else. We only spent a couple minutes with him and John got us away from him. We went to our seats in the showroom watched the show after the show we met John backstage,away from Buck, and went out. Had a good time. I had a way of contacting him but I never did. I’m not sure why he was a really nice guy. I think we could have been good friends.

Next time. Off to the islands