Back in the day I was a fan of the Girl Rock Group the Runaways. Had seen them live all 3 occasions they were in the St. Louis area as well as going to the South Hampton Peaches store when they did an in-store visit. Below is proof of my being there.
All good things come to an end though and the band broke up and Joan eventually became the leader of her own band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. They were in town playing a concert at Graham Chapel located on the campus of the Washington University. Of course I had to go. Any woman who would write “Slippery when wet” on her autograph to me was owed undying devotion to.
This was the first of 3 shows that I had seen here. The others being U2 who played to a half empty chapel and after playing all the songs they wrote had to play some of them again. I’m looking at you, “I Will Follow.” and REM which was a sold out show and I only went because Chuck DeClue had won tickets but could not find a date for this show. I know he tried really hard because I kept telling him I’ll use his extra ticket. At that point he’d get on the phone and make more calls.
It was a rollicking good show and I was having a good time as evidenced by this picture taken of me. (to be honest I’m not sure which Blackheart show this was taken at. It just showed up on the Facebooks about 12 years ago from this writing. )
But that’s not with this story is about.
Curiously Graham Chapel was not equipped with a lavatory or if it was then it must have been overcrowded or something because the woman I was dating at the time, Lyn and another woman Janet who was married to Ron who was the drummer in the bands the Dinosaurs and by this time the Felons went to use the facilities on the campus watering hole called the Gargoyle. They came back and told us that they had been harassed while they were there. Most likely because the Gargoyle was filled with privileged yuppies of well to do parents and our girlfriends were dressed in punk attire for the show. Well there was quite a group of friends together at the end of the show and we decided that the correct course of action was to go the Gargoyle and harass them back.
So off we marched across the quad to extract vengeance. The entrance of this club was a door to the outside and a stairway down to a lower level. We went through the door and started marching down the stairs. The girls pointed out the harassers and you could see the looks of fear on their faces which turned to jeers as staff ran to the bottom of the stairs to prevent us from proceeding.
“Only students allowed” they said. The harassers started mocking us for our inability to proceed as we invited them to come on outside to receive the ass whopping they so richly deserved. Of course being wimps to the 9th degree they remained seated. Just as it looked like we had reached an impasse, Mike Downey who was about 5 people back from the front of the line on the stairs and right in front of me went limp as though he fainted (but this was obviously just pretend) and slouched into those in front pushing the crowd into the staff who were holding us back. Immediately more staff arrived to keep the spillover from breaching completely and we were told to leave now as the police had been notified.
We marched back up the stairs hurling invectives at the harassers and casting dispersion on their gender identities with no choice but to leave or get arrested, which I avoided this time. (number 1)
I’m not sure how it came to pass but there was a big afterparty being planned… at my apartment!! So I had to get there on the double. Lyn was driving that night and as we were heading down Forsyth Rd. I noticed the drummer from the current band I was playing in at the time, Anti-Mation, the infamous Mike D. was pulled over by a campus police officer on the other side of the road. I asked Lyn to pull over got out of the car to assess the situation. As of now I don’t recall what infraction he was pulled over for but he and his girlfriend were in his truck. I made the sensible choice to go up and tell Mike, “he’s a campus cop not a real policeman, just drive away.” This caused the campus policeman to protest that he indeed did have the authority to make this stop but his case was falling on deaf ears as Mike drove away and I walked back to the car and Lyn drove away as the officer remained in the street explaining his jurisdiction. Again I avoided getting arrested. (number 2)
On to the party at my apartment. At that time I was living in Soulard in a shotgun apartment of 3 rooms with a bathroom built into the side of the bedroom. I was in the second floor of 5 unit 3 story apartment on Allen St.
Only the first floor units were accessible from the front and all the other units had to be entered from the back up precarious stairs.
I ended up with this apartment seeing an add for an artistically designed apartment. The wall paper was something else. The front room had a groovy two tone geometric design but the bedroom was to die for. Hokey purple Zodiac artwork from out of the 60’s and the kitchen was another uncalled for solid shade of purple. But in reality it wasn’t so much an artistic design but a bad taste design which of course meant it was the place for me.
The party wound up being a bit more than I bargained for. Way over attended for the 3 rooms we had to work with but people seemed to cram in and enjoy themselves anyway. Lo and behold the band showed up, sans Joan Jett 🙁
The future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bass player, Gary Ryan, appointed himself to be the DJ. Playing the music way too loud. Next thing you know there’s a knock on the door and the police telling me if we don’t keep it quiet they’ll come back and make arrests. So I told Gary you must play the music very quiet. By this time the guitar player, Eric Ambel and the drummer found my autographed Runaway album and were having a laugh at Joan’s writing. Meanwhile more people were streaming in and Gary had disregarded my instructions to keep the stereo down.
Next thing you know the police were knocking on the door again. I didn’t want to open it so I came up with the masterstroke to have Lyn go to the door and say that we were ending the party or that no one was home. I don’t remember exactly but the purpose was a delaying tactic that failed miserably because the police told her to open the door and since she was a law abiding citizen she did. They arrested her on the spot.
Third time is a charm and finally I got arrested as well. (number 3) I told my friend Jimmy T. to call my parents to let them know I’d been arrested so that the police wouldn’t try any funny business on the way to the station. The officer who was handcuffing me took offense and told me to, “shut the fuck up.”
I believe Mike D locked up my apartment after the police had herded everyone out. Many were still in the street as they loaded Lyn and me into the paddy wagon. Back in 2000 if you Googled my name on the first page of results would be someone recounting this evening where I was arrested. It was my first time and to date I haven’t been again (knock on wood) but still not something you want right up in front if a prospective employer was doing a check on my character from the web.
So off my girlfriend and me went to the 3rd District Police Station for booking. Lyn and me were jacking our jaws non-stop to our booking officer. There was a woman police officer who was writing up a weed bust. I’ll assume the perps were already in their cells as she was sitting there with two bags in front of her and no one around as she was writing her report, and she was shaking her head that our booking officer had not yet resorted to beating our asses and saying that as well for all of us to hear. I don’t recall that we were being rude or belligerent just trying to make the best of a funny situation. I suppose first rule of arrest is no laughing. He was more than free to moralize to us about our failure as citizens while booking and the funny thing a year or so later I saw this very officer at a bar crawling on the floor from drunkenness. So there’s that. Ha ha.
So then it was time to be put in holdover where Lyn and I were finally separated. Until that point it was kind of like an edgy date night. They put me in a cell with two very large men who were passed out sleeping. I just hung at the front of the cell holding on to the bars and asking every officer that would walk down the aisle if they had my bail ticket. This station which went out of service some years ago is now The Mad Art Gallery where you can have your wedding and reception and spend some time in the cell where your’s truly was.
Our parents arrived and sprung us. I got to meet her parents that night. First impressions are important.
A couple of years later Gary did introduce me too Joan and explained to her about the party. So I finally got to be formally introduced to Joan. Obviously we met years earlier when she signed my album and later that day her and Cheri fell on me while putting their prints in the Peaches Walk of Fame. To be fair I had sidled up to be behind them just in case of such an occurrence. Sometimes hard work and persistence pays off.
And so that ends the Night of the Blackhearts and another day in the Rock and Roll Days.