The iconic Pusi-Kat poster in color – 1968
I was 15 or 16, and occasionally keyboards, but mostly roadie/fan of Flash, the SA band (San Antonio) with Chris Geppert (now Christopher Cross). We played the Pusi-Kat several times. I usually hung in back with the lighting guy, who would let me do the “oils” psychedelic show while he did the lights.
Of course I remember seeing Spirit, the guitarist with the “infinite” sustain on his super cheap Sears guitar, and their hit “I Got a Line on You, Babe”.
BUT the indelible, never-to-forget, memory was sitting in the back and looking at this freakish black guitarist during afternoon soundcheck. I knew something was wrong because…well, what was it? Oh, OK, he was playing guitar backwards!! Yea, it was Jimi Hendrix on his maiden voyage tour with The Experience. Was I stoned or had he transported me into some other reality?
The only comparable memory was when Flash drove up to Austin to open for Led Zeppelin. Backstage I walked by Robert Plant, who looked at me like “WTF are you doing here?” I was 16 or 17 and looked 13. Hah! Great memories! 😎👍‼️
I came back from Eastman School of Music in New York with my head full of contemporary jazz. I was playing all kinds of gigs. One Saturday afternoon I got a phone call at 2:30 and this agent asked me, “Hey, can you play for 
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The Warner Brothers Rep took us all in limos to Elaine’s, the storied and excellent restaurant in the middle of the theatre district. Elaine’s was a New York City institution since opening in 1963 and remained one until it closed in 2011. Popular with celebrities and the social set, fans and photographers would frequently crowd the sides of the yellow awning just to sneak a peak at who was entering and exiting those signature wooden doors.
We were all seated at tables. I spotted James Garner and Lauren Bacall, seated at a table in the corner, and suggested to Chris to send them a note. I don’t know what was in the note, but James Garner came over right away, and talking to Chris, said he’d seen us on TV the night before. He said he’d been a big investor in Warner Brothers (soon to be Warner Communications) since his “Maverick” TV show. He suggested we all eat together. Elaine’s pushed several tables together. I remember making a beeline to sit next to Lauren Bacall. We must have chatted for 30 minutes! She was so gracious, and asked me all about my career. I told her how much a fan I was of hers. She and Garner were working on “The Fan”, a 1981 American psychological thriller film directed by Edward Bianchi, and starring Lauren Bacall, Michael Biehn, James Garner and Maureen Stapleton. They were eating before going to a Broadway show. They needed to get to the theatre, and I distinctly remember James Garner pulled a big roll of $100 dollar bills out of his pocket, wrapped in a rubber band. The Warner Brothers Rep grabbed the bill, but Garner tipped Elaine’s staff. I remember how he peeled off $100s like he was a professional gambler. Just steps outside the famous wooden doors and awning of Elaine’s was a limo waiting for Garner and Bacall, doorman holding the doors open. They whisked off and were gone. A super NYC memory!!
It was a Monday or a Tuesday, about midnight, when Jack Lemmon and his manager came in for drinks. They sat a couple tables away, and I noticed that Jack Lemmon was really listening to everything I was doing. He smiled and we didn’t say anything, and I was done at 1AM. Then next night they were back again, sitting right in front of me. Smoking was still allowed back then, and they would talk and listen, drink and smoke. When I played solo piano back then, I had a couple hundred tunes in my repertoire, including all the Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, and Irving Berlin standards. I had my Bill Evans style down and I was totally into playing these tunes well, and getting well paid. This was, for a pianist, the very best gig in Austin.
What I will always remember, is that at one point Jack Lemmon looked me straight in the eye, and said. “I’d give this all up, if I could play like that!” I was taken aback. I said, “Jack, you have the adoration of millions of people, who love everything you’ve done in the movies, and you’re a world class actor. How can you say that?” He said, “Acting’s easy. I’m really a frustrated jazz piano player.” I said, “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. You have the awards, and acclaim from all your peers. You don’t need anymore.”
On his last night, Jack Lemmon left me an enormous tip. I tried to turn him down, but he wouldn’t think of it. We left like we were friends for life. And I am so happy this happened to me. Thanks, Jack!
Like Totally 80’s!!!
It was 20 years ago this year that I wrote the music for a documentary celebrating the life and times of Lady Bird Johnson, FLOTUS, First Lady of the United States.
