Ok. It was 1982 or thereabouts. Maybe 1981. When was Duke's Royal Coach Inn open? We were all working at Balboa Cafe. Me, my sister Martha, Byrd, Manolo Lopez, Glen and Santiago. Buxf for one day. And, Toby Mauldin was our kitchen manager. We got to drinking Sambuca, a Greek liqueur. I actually loved the stuff so much I'd stop off on the way home at the Cedar Door when it was on 15th over by Lavaca. They had a cool bathroom and would serve the Sambuca in a tulip glass with three coffee beans. The Dicks were playing a lot of shows at Duke's since it was the only place to go in town. We'd be all drunk on Sambuca. Fried. One night, Gary threw the mic stand down in the audience and it landed on my head. Segue over to Miss Hinson's house in 1982 where me, Toby, Gary, Phillip and Glen all lived. We had HBO for about a hot minute and it was when the Beach Boys had their special running. We watched it about a thousand times. This was also about the time the very tired I don't care what you say Husker Du got dumped on us with their lazy filthy asses and matching feet. The only time they ever got up was to get high and watch Star Trek. This interfered with our Beach Boys thing we had going. They didn't get it.
Gary began imitating that weird Beach Boy guy who played the keyboards. The guy ma
de a real weird grin on his face that Gary got down to perfection. When Buxf or Glen would be doing a solo, there'd be Gary with that Beach Boy piano yukking it up. Those were the days rolling on the floor laughing your ass off.
Anyway, these were hard times in the town that claims to be so damn weird and cool. Ha. I had my Hut's job and Phillip was working at the Hyatt. Toby was managing the dirty book store, the Citadel. We called it the tittydoll. One day, this wandering XXX minded guy stole magazines and Toby had to go down to the police station ... DRUNK ... and recite the titles and content so the filthy cops could get their filthy rocks off.
Gary couldn't find a job anywhere. Finally, they opened up the Hyde Park Cafe and were taking applications. Gary got all gussied up and went over to fill out an application. When he got there, all he saw was a sea of Panama hats and Hawaiian shirts like a weird Beach Boys convention. Like that HBO special had come to life. Sad. It was time to clear out of town.