The Musician... see you among the stars

From the Brooklyn Fox, I went directly to Trude´s for a pick-me-up, and to hopefully to hookup with Barbara. I was hoping she was there so that we could make love again all night long. When I entered Trude´s, Barbara and her girlfriends were there hanging out. I went over to her and she smiled at me. I put my arm around her and her girlfriend said jokingly as they always say to me, "It's about time you showed up! Barbara has been waiting for you." They laughed! I thought as I ordered a drink that this girl is always waiting for me. I should marry this girl. She has been there for me since the beginning of the Eighth Wonder. I've been fooling around with other girls and at the same time being with her. There were many times that I didn't see her for a month, because I was fooling around with someone else, but when I returned to look for her, she was always there waiting for me to return. I asked Barbara if she wanted to go to my apartment tonight and she replied, "Let's go!" We hung out for a while listening and dancing to Benny Gordon's band and then we had a wonderful stroll to my apartment on Perry Street. I escorted her to the rooftop of my apartment building, and again we made love till the sun came up. What a cute little beautiful body this girl has. I am blessed with her. I really should marry this girl. Again, Barbara had to leave in the morning to return home to her sister and brother-in-law's house. I got very pissed off at her, because I wanted so much to be with her all day. However, Barbara insisted that if she didn't leave then she would be in deep trouble. I wanted to tell her that I would marry her, but I could get the guts-up to follow-up on that commitment

I slept most of that Sunday and awoke late that early evening. Amadeo told me that he invited some people over, and I told him that I would sleep in Brooklyn tonight.

The following Monday, I received a letter from the Motor Vehicle Department. I was requested to report to court on Thursday to review my driving record. I arrived in court and the Judge looked at my accumulated ticket points and quickly revoked my license for six months. Devastated, I then proceeded to call my brother Tom in Long Island to ask him if I could store my car in his garage for six months. My brother said yes. I then called Joey and told him the bad news. Then, I illegally drove my car to my brother's house in Garden City, Long Island and parked my Chevy into his garage. I disconnected the battery and hung out in Long Island for the next couple of days. It was great playing with my nieces and nephews. It made my feelings seem a little better. My nephew Tommy wanted to learn how to play the guitar. My nephews and nieces thought I was the greatest uncle in the world, because I played with all the big stars.

Aldo called Joey, who then called me, and said that a new booking agency, specifically The Jack Fisher Agency, wanted to know if we wanted to go out on the road. We would travel to Florida playing gigs along the way in other cities. I told Joey that it would be great for me, because I didn't have a car and it would give me time to burn to get it back. Everyone was for it, because it would be nice to take a break from New York, which can become overwhelming at times. Since none of us has ever been outside New York, it was a great opportunity to be paid to see the world, as it goes.

I have been pressing Aldo for a long time to find a trumpet player so that we could complete the band and sound the way we always wanted to. We needed a trumpet to compete with the black R&B Bands. Aldo had been waiting for the right moment (money wise) to make an addition to the band, and I guess this was the moment. Ritchie the sax player knew this trumpet player named Joey. We had always wanted a trumpet player to complete the real R&B sound, and Aldo thought it would be a great opportunity to break someone in out on the road. We invited the trumpet player whose name is also Joey, to a rehearsal. The band sounded great with a trumpet. Just the way we wanted it to sound, but this new guy is a little weird. He's not very hip. In fact, he's very square, and he doesn't quite fit the image of the band. He's around the same age as Ritchie the sax, but his image is not way off from what we had hoped to expect. Anyway, I figured that maybe Joey the bass and I could hip him up a little bit. We also figured that we were going on the road and that this would be a chance to work him in. If he doesn't fit the bill when we return to New York, we could always try to find a replacement. Therefore, it was done. We had a few rehearsals with Joey the trumpet, and the band sounded great. It was Ritchie's job to get Joey trumpet up to speed. How we were complete and totally happening. We decided to change the name of the band. We thought that The Van-Dells name was getting sort of old and outdated. Therefore, we decided to call ourselves on the road, The Colt 45´s. We took a new photo of the band, and bought new uniforms. We rented a U-haul trailer and off we went.

Our first stop was the Jersey shore, as it is called. Specifically,
Seaside Heights! It is the southern shore of New Jersey. It is about four and a half hours from New York City. We opened at a club located on the boardwalk near the beach. We blew everyone away with our new sound. We all met many girls, and the girls are numerous. The next day, the entire band partied on the beach. Surprisingly, Aldo met a girl. Her name was Jane and they are getting along very well. They are hanging out with each other most of the day. Fantastic! I in turn, met this beautiful blond Diane. Joey had Evie back at home so he didn't fool around too much. Ritchie and the trumpet player Joey also met some cute girls. There were plenty of girls for everyone, and it was great to play at the beach. It is what our band needed most, a good holiday. We all were away from home, together all the time, and we are all getting deep tans. We are all looking beautiful and we feel great.

This girl Diane is fucking beautiful, and she likes me a lot. She's got a slim body with a great ass and normal size tits. She's got long silky blond hair down to here ass and stands about five foot ten. She is amazing looking. Her mother is also beautiful and single. I think that her mother wants to be with me also. I don't know how to handle this. I think I'll just fight off the mother and work on the daughter. Apparently, the mother is divorced. So here they are at the Jersey shore looking for action, and I have the both of them. Then I learn that her daughter was sixteen years old and still a virgin at least that was what the mother told me. The mother then said that I would have to take it slow with her daughter, but her daughter wanted me badly. I assured the mother that I was a good guy and that I would treat her daughter well. It was all up-hill from there. I would find a nice quiet spot on the beach and make out with her daughter all night. After a couple of weeks without any hassles or care in the world, The Colt 45´s were happening. We are very tight, and we learned a whole new batch of songs. Now with a trumpet there is nothing we can't do. We have all our options covered. When we get back to New York we should be on fire. We are going to tear up New York.

Everyone in the band called home to tell their families that everything was moving well. I contacted my great friend Amadeo. I wanted to say hello to everyone at Trude´s and to Joel Heller. As I was talking to Amadeo on the phone telling him that everything was fine, Amadeo said, Guess who's here. I said, "Who?" He replied, "Yvonne. Hold on say hello to her", as he passed her the phone. "Hi, how are your doing," said Yvonne. I went into silent shock. I didn't know what to say. It was definitely unexpected. How's everything out there in Seaside Heights. It must be nice having the beach everyday. I wanted to say, "What happened to your black fagot nigger boyfriend, but instead I said, "What happened to your boyfriend?" Yvonne replied that they had to split for a while. "Oh, that's too bad," I smirchingly replied. She said that they had to split, because he was in another show. It was not what I wanted to hear from her. My first thought was that she might have broken-up with him, but now I see that it is a temporary thing. Therefore, I replied, "The band is doing great and we are playing here in a beautiful club. We are enjoying the sunny lifestyle, and there are many free girls. "Are you having fun with the girls?" Yvonne says. I replied, "You bet I am." "I was about to ask you if I could come there for a few days, but I don't want to interrupt anyone," Yvonne says. This statement caught me by surprise. "I have to think about this. Let me see if I could arrange it," I said to Yvonne. Yvonne replied, "OK.| I told her that I would call her tomorrow, and Amadeo returned to the phone. Amadeo said, "What did you think of that." I told him that I did not know, and that I needed to think about this. I told him that I would call them tomorrow. Wow, that's a freak out!

My mind immediately flashed into the night I saw her with this nigger. She smiled and kissed him and then walked off holding his hand very excited. All the while, she was giving me this elaborately made-up story. What balls on this fucking chick? Then the other side off me said well maybe she wants to get back with you again. Who knows? I went back and forth with myself. Yea, but I don't think I want her back. Yea, but she is beautiful, and she has a nice fucking body. But she's a fucking liar. Hey, I have Barbara in New York and now I have Diane, therefore, who needs this bitch anyway. OK, this is what I'm going to do. If she doesn't come to fuck me then I don't need her. The next day, I called Amadeo/Yvonne. I said to Yvonne, OK, if you want to come here I have my own room in a motel. She replied, "Maybe, I should get my own room." I said, "Look Yvonne, if you want to come here, but you don't want to be with me then I don't want you to come. "I want to be with you," she replied, "but I do not want to impose on you." I reiterated, "You sleep with me in my hotel room and there will be no problem." Yvonne agreed and she was going to meet me the following day. This is something else. I can't believe Yvonne is coming.

The next morning, Yvonne arrived. She was somehow very different, but she was still extremely sexy and beautiful. She seemed plastically warm and very distant. She immediately began acting as though she wasn't really with me. We went to my motel and we talked for a short while. I said, "So you're involved with that black dancer. She replied, "Yea, we have known each other for a long time." I couldn't believe she said that. She's certainly got a lot of nerve saying that to me. She is actually telling me that she had been lying to me all the while. I said to her, "Let's go for a stroll out on the beach." With that, Yvonne proceeded to remove her clothes in front of me and put on her bathing suit. It was a hell of a skimpy bathing suit and I knew that everyone would be staring at her. As she was dressing, I had noticed that she must have gotten her breasts filled with silicone, because they did not appear to be natural. They appeared to be up-lifted somehow. It immediately turned me off. Not to mention her little arrogant attitude.

Yvonne and I went out for a walk on the boardwalk. I decided to show her around the place for a bit before we hit the sand. Yvonne began walking about three feet in front of me like a high-class movie star. She was pretending and acting as though she was alone. I ignored her attitude, but I enjoyed watching her beautiful ass, which was difficult to take my eyes off of. We continued walking, and finally I stopped. I said, Hey, Where the fuck are you going? She stopped also and walked back to me and replied that she was sorry. She then began walking beside me, but slightly ahead. I then grabbed her hand. She held my hand without force as though she really didn't want to hold it. We then proceeded to the sand to soak up some sun. I tried to lie close to her at times, but she was unresponsive.

After enjoying the sand and sun, we went to dinner and then back to my motel. I began getting dressed for my night's performance, and then I decided to give her the same medicine. After I got dressed, I said to her, "See you at the club", and then I quickly walked out of the motel leaving her all by herself. She knew no one and she was completely taken by surprise. She had nowhere to go except meet me at the club. So how does it feel baby!

Yvonne finally appeared at the club and my band had the club jumping. She sat at the bar in front of us like a lost girl with no one to talk with. I think she was very surprised to hear our band with the trumpet, and that we sounded so great. I ignored looking at her except for a bit, and Diane and her mother were there also. After our set, I escorted Yvonne to a table. I asked her if she is having a good time and she complimented the new sound of the band. I then told her that I needed to make the rounds to say hello to everyone. I went to Diane and we talked for a while. I told Diane that my ex-girlfriend is here, but I assured Diane that I was interested in her only.

At the end of our performance, Yvonne and I returned to the motel. We entered the bed and I put my arm around her, but she was distant. I then began feeling her breasts hoping that I could turn her on also, but indeed, her breasts were silicone. They certainly felt strange. She is not the same girl I knew. She continued to act distant. I touched her beautiful ass as I pressed my dick against her pussy. She began to slightly get aroused. As I was feeling her as with my hard dick against her, I began to kiss her. She responded by kissing me in return. I then got on top of her and my hard dick slid right inside of her. She then went into a zombie stage as her emotions suddenly went cold. When I felt her lack of further response my dick automatically got soft. I had it with this girl. She is of no use. I then turned my back to her and tried to sleep. In the morning I will get rid of this unknown bitch.

In the morning, we awoke and dressed. I wanted to be mean to her, but I wanted the village apartment to be there for me when I returned to New York. Therefore, I handled her very diplomatically. I said to her, I guess you are going back to New York City? "Do you want me to leave?" she said knowing my disappointment. "I think it would be best," I replied, "After all, we are not happening." She then apologized to me for her actions and feelings last night, but her lies (bullshit) no longer matters to me. I need to get rid of this bitch because she is bringing me down again. I wasted an entire day with her and got nothing but continued depression and involvement in psychological games. As we exited the motel, it appeared that Joey met a girl last night and rented a room in the same motel also. Joey is out front entering his girl's vehicle. Joey seen me and gave me the thumbs-up sign. I gave Joey the thumbs down sign as Yvonne watched and he felt sorry for me. I then asked Joey if he and his girl could drive Yvonne to the bus station. Joey and his girl agreed. I put Yvonne in the car and told her to say hello to Amadeo and I told her to have a nice life, and off they went. It is the last time that I ever saw Yvonne. Good reddens!

I returned to house that was provided for the band and met Aldo, Ritchie and Joey the trumpet. We all went to the beach near the club. After a few hours of soaking in the sun, we met up with Joey the bass and afterwards, had a rehearsal to sharpen things up a bit. We all went out to dinner, then back to the house and performed that evening. I hooked-up with Diane, and Yvonne was now a distant memory. We finished performing for the week and now it was off to Washington D.C. Diane, her mother and I exchanged addresses and phone numbers, and the band was back on the road.

We had many laughs on the way down to D.C. We were acting like little kids, always playing practical jokes on one another. We arrived at the club, unloaded our instruments, and created a set on stage. We then went across the river into Virginia where we found a reasonably priced motel. The owners of the motel didn't like us very much. They pegged us as hippie, long hair freaks, but they rented the rooms to us anyway very reluctantly. Anyone with long hair was considered a hippie freak that used drugs. This is
the South now. We are considered Yankees. However, next to this motel is a 24-hour dinner, so it all was very convenient.

I didn't know it then, but I had learned about it later in my life that the South was the original American Republic and after the civil war, the United States became a corporate democracy.

At our first night at the club, we tore the place up. The people had never heard a band so funky and tight. The word quickly went out, and the next night, and the nights afterward, the club would be packed with a line outside to get in. This had never happened here at this club in Washington D.C.

On Saturday night, we had some unexpected visitors who came to hear our group. They are actors David Jansen who played The Fugitive, actor
Barry Sullivan, and the incredible Jane Mansfield. During our 40-minute break, when the club played pop records, David Jansen invited me to join them at their table. Actually, I did not know it at the time, but Jane Mansfield had a crush on me. I was sitting next to her and see was leaning very close to me rubbing her big tits against my arm. David Jansen is winking his eyes at me and smiling as if to say, she wants you and it's OK. A moment later, Barry Sullivan suggested that I dance with Jane on the dance floor. Jane is a wonderful sexy woman and I am shocked that she likes me very much. I didn't know how to act. So Jane and I went on the dance floor and the whole group was watching, as well as everyone else. Then a slow song came on, and Jane quickly put her arms around me to slow-dance. Her big tits pressed against my chest and made me feel like heaven. She was so soft and very feminine. Her beautiful hair just melted in my hand, and she smelled like a rose. I was really in heaven. This went on all night long. We are all drinking and getting drunk. Jane then asked me to go with her to the hotel, I was scared, and told her I didn't think it would be a good idea. She continued begging me as David and Barry was itching me on. I just held her in my arms and kissed her patiently. I told her to come by again tomorrow, because I was not ready for this. It was too overwhelming. She loved my honesty and understood, then they all said goodnight and thanked us for a wonderful time.

I had to put up with all the ribbing from the band members, but the next night I met a girl who was almost equal to Jane in figure and I took her back to the motel. The guys in the band also met girls and we had a big party in our rooms. The following day, everyone went to the lake to swim and I stayed behind with my girl. As soon as everyone left, I put this girl on the bed and started to take her clothes off. Then the house cleaner knocked on the door and aggressively wanted to clean the room by making sounds to enter. We both quickly jumped off the bed and dashed into the adjoining room. My girl got very frightened. I can hear the house cleaner fiddling with the keys to open the main room door. So I quickly threw the girl in the closet and told her to be quiet. The house cleaner entered the room and asked, "You don't have a girl in here, do you?" The management told us that we were supposed to behave and they specifically told us, no women. I told the house cleaner "No, I'm just resting." I asked the housecleaner to please be brief, because I wanted to return to sleep. The cleaner proceeded to clean the room while the girl was patiently quiet in the closet. The house cleaner started complaining about the mess, and asked if we had a party last night. I told her no, and she could tell I was lying about the party and the girl in the room. I had to protect the closet; I think the house cleaner knew the girl was there. The house cleaner was taking her time thinking that the girl would surface. Finally, I got pissed off and verbally attacked the maid and told her that if she didn't finish up in three minutes I was going to throw her out. She became offended by my verbal abuse. She thought I was nuts, and she quickly left. I locked the door and the girl and I resumed where we left off.

I quickly noticed the nasty attitude of America, once we left the New Jersey area. There seems to be a lot of hate in the way people look, talk, and act to northerners, if you are not from their area. They stereotype people with long hair as being unruly.

The next morning, on our way to the motel after the gig, around 2:30 in the morning, Joey and I decided to get something to eat at the diner next to the motel. We walked into the diner and sat down at the counter. Everyone began staring at us with our long hair. Joey and I ordered. There were two big redneck s sitting one stool away from Joey. We did not dare to look around, because we didn't want to start a fight. The server gave us our meal with a nasty face and we ignored everything as we eat. I could feel the nasty vibes. Everything is slightly mellow except these two redneck s sitting next to Joey. I can see through the corner of my eye that they were looking at us and mumbling something. Then as we just about finished our meal, the redneck s began talking louder and louder about the way we looked. The redneck's are very big and looked very tough. I said to Joey, ˜Let us get out of here. Then Joey surprisingly turned to the redneck s and said, "How would you guys like to get a big fat lip?" as he stared directly into the redneck eyes. I completely flipped out thinking to myself, Here we go. We are going to get our asses kicked. To my surprise, the redneck s instead of pouncing on us kept their mouth shut and turned away. What balls Joey had! After a month of performing in Washington D.C., it was time to hit the road to Florida.

A few of us, including myself, did not like the new name of the band, but that was the name until someone came up with a better one. We had a long wonderful restful drive to Florida. When we finally arrived at
Cocoa Beach, Florida club, it was closed down. . Aldo contacted the agency, and they gave Aldo an address of our next performance. We had a hard finding the address. It entered in a run-down area of the city of Cocoa Beach. We drove around in the dark trying to locate this address. I asked Aldo, You're sure this is right? Aldo said that this was the address the agency gave him. Finally, a black man flagged us down. We were a little afraid of stopping. The man said, "Are you guy's the band?" We happily said yes. "Where are we playing?" I asked. The man replied, "Over there in the basement." There is nothing but all black people. We were confused. Aldo, thinking we are in the wrong place asked the guy, "Do you know Jack Fisher?" The guy replied, "Yea, we called him for a band." The owner of this run-down house came over and looked at us and said to his partner, "What is this shit?" He is apparently very pissed off. We told him that our agent sent us here. The owner said, "I didn't ask him for any white band." We told him that we played R&B. The owner gave us the once over and saw how young and cleaned-cut we were, turned around, and walked back to the house saying, "I got to call this agent and find out what happened. He certainly appeared very disappointed. We nervously unpacked our instruments and we were escorted into this basement, which was packed full of black people. I love it! This is the audience for our music. Everyone seemed extremely disappointed and pissed when we walked in. We had to squeeze through the crowd to try to find an empty place to set-up. The people slowly began to move away so that we would have a little area to set-up, but we could see on the people's faces that they were also disappointed and that the house had made a mistake. We finished the set-up fast, because we knew what we were doing, and we are used to setting up quickly. This was actually the moment we have been waiting for. Our R&B is going to be a test right here and now if we can really be funky, but we knew we were going to freak these people out. These are the people of the music we love, and we are going to get down with them tonight.

I got on the mike and introduced us. I said, "We're going to get down tonight." I softly called out the first song to be 99 and 1/2, by Wilson Pickett to the band, and I began the guitar intro. The people all stared and watched us. They couldn't believe what I was playing. The people in the crowd were saying out load, Oh, my God, Oh, my God. As I began singing the first verse, all the people began to groove to the music as if we were all at home. The people loved us. When the song ended we immediately went into Can't Turn You Loose, by my music idol, Otis Redding. The place went jumping. The owner ran down the stairs and watched the grooving basement in disbelief. It was a most wonderful experience playing for the people whose music we loved, and it was a chance to perform for the real people who knew and loved R&B. We had it, we were funky and we knew it! The black people were so overwhelmed that they gave us all kinds of free food and free drinks and treated us like kings. It was the most rewarding experience we had to date.

The next day, the agency asked us to report to a club in Orlando, Florida, about 40 minutes away. We performed there for one month. The club was an older stuffy type of crowd, and we didn't really enjoy it, especially after doing the down-home black club, but we had to deal with it, because the money was good, and we needed it when we return to New York. This gig is a job and it feels like a job and unmemorable and thus we hated it.

Joey and I rented motorcycles and we drove around the area picking up girls. There was nothing but older woman in the club. It appeared to be a mafia type of place. One day, early in the morning, about a week later, while we were sleeping, and all of a sudden, we heard this loud bang and the walls of the motel shook. Joey and I jumped up and quickly ran outside to see what had happened. Apparently, Aldo decided to try to ride one of the motorcycles and he lost control and smashed into the wall of the motel spraining his wrist badly. We rushed him to the doctor and his arm was put into a sling. For an entire week, Aldo had to play with only one hand. When the week was over, Aldo´s sling was removed from his arm. The gig was finally over and it was time to return to New York. It was time to return to perform again at Trude Heller's.

Back at Trude´s, our band with the added trumpet player Joey was beyond comparison. We had not told Trude about the new member and she was trilled to hear us sounding so enormous, and quickly gave us the extra money for the new member of the band without asking. She was very happy to have us back. We were packing the place every night. We were now making so much money, that almost every night before I arrived at the club, I would stop to buy a brand new $35.00 shirt to wear for the performance. I wore nothing but brand new clothes. We were all making now about $700.00 a week each.

It was great seeing my good friend Amadeo again back at our Perry street apartment. We discussed the Yvonne visit to the Jersey shore. However, it was wonderful being with Barbara again. We went back to our weekend love affair on the rooftop at my Perry street apartment.

One night, during our break at Trude´s, a guy came over to me and introduced himself as Mitch. I said hello to him and he said, "You know, you guys have a great band." I said, "Thank you very much." He then went on to say that he was a singer from Detroit; he had heard that New York was happening, and he arrived with his band to try and get a job. I said to him, "You know, it's not easy thing to get in New York if your new!" He went on to say that he had asked someone where the most happening club in the city was, and they recommended Trude Heller's. He said that his band was outside, but they couldn't afford to come in. He continued saying that he and his band really needed to make some money quickly because their low on funds. He asked me if I could introduce him to Trude. I told him, "Why not speak to our drummer. He's the businessman of the group, and he has a great relationship with Trude." I asked Mitch to follow me to the kitchen area and I will introduce him to Aldo. I took Mitch, who seemed like a very nice sincere guy, to the kitchen/dressing room area where Aldo was hanging out. Mitch and I walked into the kitchen and I said to Aldo, "Aldo, I want to introduce you to Mitch," I then said, "Mitch what is your last name?" Mitch replied, "Ryder". I said, "Aldo this is Mitch Ryder, and he just arrived from Detroit with his band. They're looking for work." Aldo then arranged for Mitch to speak with Trude, and Trude arranged an audition at the Eighth Wonder. After a week or so, Mitch was playing the Eighth Wonder, Joel Heller's club, but Mitch's group didn't last very long at The Eighth Wonder.

A new group emerged in the scene that we did not ever hear about. Apparently, there was this club located uptown called the
Peppermint Lounge, which no one we knew was aware of. This group suddenly had the number one record on the charts called, The Peppermint Twist. The group, Joey Dee and the Starliters seem to come out of nowhere. The record was hot and suddenly, someone was giving Trude and us a run for the money. There is a line to get in every night at the Peppermint Lounge. How could this happen so suddenly? How could something like this pop-up without some kind of notice? This music business is so strange. Here we were the most happening band in the city and someone comes out of nowhere and gets a smash hit record. It sounds like Mafia work to me. Our band tried to visit the Peppermint Lounge one night, but the line was too long. Strangely enough, a few weeks later, our agent booked us into the Wagon Wheel club, which was located two blocks from the Peppermint Lounge. During our break we tried again to visit the Peppermint Lounge without any luck. The lines were so long that you had to know someone to get in. We did not know anyone around those circles. However, nothing has changed we are still happening. We are still packing in the places we perform at. Everything was going normally except for this one club the Peppermint Lounge, which seemed to exist on its own.

Joey told me that Evie is about to have their baby! I didn´t know what to say, but I asked him how he felt about it, and he replied that he loved Evie. A few days later, the worse had finally happened. Joey got drafted into the Army. He was going to Vietnam. The band went into frenzy. I begged Joey not to go, but Joey had always been the all American Boy, and he said he was going, no matter what. I became very afraid for Joey and I felt sorry for his loving family. What´s going to happen to the band? Then slowly everything began to suddenly fall apart. It was a snowball rolling down hill getting bigger and bigger. With Joey's bad news, Aldo speaks out and says that he decided to go into business with his father and marry the girl Jane from the Jersey Shore. Then Joey followed by saying that he was going to marry Evie before he enters into the army. I was suddenly caught by surprise. I thought, What´s going on? Is everybody going nuts?

Joey then made a proposal to Evie, she accepted, and soon they were married. However, I was very disappointed that Joey didn´t ask me to be his best man. Instead, he asked an old long time friend, Ritchie, to be his best man. I was devastated at his decision. Joey and I were really like brothers. I was sure to be the best man at his wedding. I went to Joey´s wedding at the church very displeased, but I only attended, because I loved him and Evie. However, I protested the wedding reception by not going. Very mad, I didn´t see Joey afterward or attend his departure into the army.

The Van-Dells / Colt 45´s, broke-up! Here I was, lost in nowhere land.

"The fucking Vietnam war is changing everyone's lives! What was I to do and where was I to go?"