Random Strange Tale

I ran into Lloyd Hicks today. Lloyd is a real musical guy and I am always curious about what he is listening to at any given time. We talked about the new Jerry Lee Lewis record “Last Man Standing”. It seems like at a certain stage in the career of a legend, the duet album is mandatory. Usually I would rather hear a whole album by the artist than a bunch of contrived duets. That being said, I have heard a couple of the Jerry Lee tracks on the Imus show and have been pleasantly surprised. We started swapping stories about “the killer” and it conjured up a strange happening that I witnessed.

It was in the mid eighties, maybe even earlier. I was spending a few days in the Ozarks on my way to California, visiting. A friend called and said he had an extra ticket to see Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee so I tagged along. Chuck opened and Jerry Lee went on last. It was a really good show, I got the feeling that they were trying to outdo each other. My friend and I left before the end, to beat the traffic, and headed to the bar.

This particular bar was in a hotel and it was kind of tucked away, a very quiet place that was custom made for serious drinking. We were the only ones in the place. I had not finished my first scotch when Jerry Lee’s guitarist, Kenny Lovelace, walked in. I felt like we might have some common ground so I struck up a conversation. We talked about the mysteries of the Fender Telecaster and discussed other guitarists like James Burton and Roy Buchanan. He was extremely friendly and seemed genuinely interested.

A long haired gentleman with tired eyes walked in and sat with Kenny and I. He introduced himself as Jerry Lee’s road manager. I understood the tired eyes. We talked and drank and it was turning into a fun evening.

A young woman dressed in a halter-top and tight cut-offs walked in. She had peroxide blond hair and, to be polite, I will say she was under-dressed for this place. She walked up to the road manager and asked what room Jerry Lee was in. The manager wouldn’t give up the info and seemed perturbed. She left and the manager told me “This gal is falsely claiming that Jerry Lee got her pregnant, she sold her story to a tabloid and is using the money to follow him around”.

The woman reappeared, this time a little belligerent, and demanded to see Jerry Lee. The road manager called security and had her removed. We resumed drinking and had a grand time. It was the type of night that does not happen often in this sleepy corner of the world.

Now, fast forward to a couple of years ago. I was sitting on the couch playing guitar and the T.V. was on in the background. One of those pseudo-news shows like 20/20 was on. They were doing a story on Robert Blake being a suspect in the murder of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. I was half-heartedly paying attention because Robert Blake is one of those goofy characters that can say or do something bizarre at any time. They were telling her life story in detail and out of the corner of my ear, I heard “Jerry Lee Lewis”. I looked up from my guitar and saw a picture of Bakley from the eighties. In this picture, she looked different from the more recent ones, a little more under-dressed. I had one of those instant total recall moments. It was the chick from the bar over twenty years ago.

It was an eerie moment. I’ll tell why I say eerie, I have met thousands of people of all kinds, crazy people, and dangerous people but there was something about this woman that stuck in my mind all that time. There was an air of foreboding around her. It is easy to say that in hindsight but, when I saw that picture, that night came back to me instantly. I could smell the scotch and Pall Malls. A shiver ran down my back.

Bonny Lee

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