Me and Jerry Lee

One of these photos is me, about the time I met Jerry Lee. The other is the autographed photo Jerry Lee gave me on this night.

I'll let you guess who is who.

I was in my youth, and still am, a Jerry Lee Lewis fan.

Ok, I know he's full of himself, not a saint, hasn't led the greatest of lives. Still, here is a guy who doesn't read music but can pound out a song on piano like nobody else. He has had a career that spanned many decades.

Before I tell my story of my first meeting with Jerry Lee, I want to pay a little tribute to Dennis Quaid. I was blown away by the movie Great Balls of Fire. See Dennis Quaid was Jerry Lee. I know he spent some time with Jerry Lee before he played the part. He must be a great observer of people.

OK. I was 17 years old and in a band. Not sure but it was probably Maxemillion and the Fabulous Titans. This was about 1964 I guess. I grew up in Cincinnati Ohio and was in high school there at the time.

Jerry Lee Lewis was playing in a bar across the river in Newport, KY. I'm not sure what Newport is like today, but in 1964 it was the "sin" capital of the Midwest. In 1956 Life magazine said that more gambling was done illegally in Newport than was done legally in Las Vegas...if that gives you an idea of the type of town we are talking about.

Of course at 17 you aren't allowed in bars. But my bass player, Barry (also 17) and his girlfriend Sue Talley (age 21) decided we wanted to see Jerry Lee. But how were we going to get into a bar where the drinking age was 21?

We get Sue's friend to send a telegram to the club saying we were going to interview Jerry Lee for Vaskall Publications who published Tiger Beat and 17. Supposedly Vaskall was send two interviewers and a photographer to the club on the night he would be playing in the club. The telegram said we were getting in on a very late flight and we would not be at the club until after midnight (we had a gig we were playing which was over at midnight.)

Four days before the date we called the bar and confirmed everything by phone.

On the night in question, we finished our gig, packed up our equipment and then got dressed in suits etc so we would look older.

We showed up at the front door and the security guy at the front desk asks for our ID. We show him the telegram. He is unimpressed. "I don't care who sent you, show me ID or hit the sidewalk." We went around and around for a while...we not wanting to show ID, he not letting us in without it.

Finally, in a flash of inspiration (and a lot of desperation) I said, " Ok, we're leaving. But when Chuck (the Flamingo manager) comes out here and asks if you've seen reporters from !7, you be sure to tell him you threw us out....cause when we call him on Monday...that's what we are going to tell him."

With that we turned to leave. He said, "Wait" and left to go get Chuck who escorted us in.

By this time it was about 1:30 am and the club was packed to the rafters. Jerry Lee was finishing his set.

Chuck, the manager went to the table directly in front of Jerry Lee, at the edge of the dance floor and moved the people who were sitting there out so we could have a place to sit...now that was service. He took our drink order and a waitress brought us drinks.

A few minutes later Chuck came by and said Jerry Lee needed a little time to cool off and he would see us in about 20 minutes.

Shortly thereafter Chuck came to get us and took us back to Jerry Lee's dressing room. Here he was....bigger than life....Jerry Lee Lewis, in the flesh.

We had seen him drinking on stage, and he was finishing a drink when we came in. Right off the bat he grabbed a bottle of liquor (I want to say Jack Daniels but I'm not sure) and poured it into a class with some soda. Looking around he saw a screwdriver (and a pretty nasty looking one at that) on the floor. He picked it up and stirred the drink.

He had a lot of bravado and was quite the character...letting us know that "He" was the king of rock n roll, despite what others might say about that Presley kid.

We"interviewed" him for about 15 minutes and there was a hard pounding at the door. Chuck the Flamingo manager was in with us and he shouted, "who is it?"

Now I don't remember who the Sheriff was in 1964, but whoever it was yelled "It's Sheriff (Blank.) " We think there are underage people in the club and we're going to check ID's."

Chuck yells "Hit the bar and get a drink...Ill be out in a few minutes."

We return to our interview, talking with Jerry Lee about his career, how he writes songs, how he learned how to play since he didn't read music and about Myra.

Fifteen minutes later there is a pounding at the door. " This is Sheriff Blank and I'm not waitin at the bar all night. We're going to check ID's."

Chuck again says " Hey ______ we're almost done. Just give me a couple more minutes."

So we resumed our interview. When we were done, we thanked him profusely and went back to our table.

Chuck goes and talks to the Sheriff. The sheriff and his deputies start checking ID's. They were methodically going table to table. It didn't matter if you came in with a walker and had gray hair and a shawl...the sheriff and his deputies wanted to see your ID.

Jerry Lee gets back on stage and announces "Now this is the 3 o'clock show....it's the last set of the night so if you want to dance just come on up and get on the floor." He starts to sit down at the piano, then steps back to the microphone and says " You can dance ....but these folks down here (he points to us) are from the press and they will be taking photos so don't get in their way."

It's right at this point that the Sheriff himself gets to our table. We are all having visions of being the jail "bitch" in our overnight stay in the Newport County Jail, a place where we really didn't want to go.

The Sheriff leans over to our table and say, "Now you folks be sure to say a few good words about Newport, KY. ....OK.... and moved on to the next table.

After I scraped my pants out.... I got up to take pictures. By this time, the relief of not being arrested and the few drinks I had made me pretty bold.

Before the set was over I was standing on Jerry Lee's piano and taking photos looking down at him.

That's not the only time I met with Jerry Lee. But it was the meeting that had my heart pounding .

I couldn't post the photos I took that night for some reason. Check out a post Jerry Lee and Me 2. I'll try posting them seperately.

Time

Time is the most valuable thing on earth.

No one knows how much time they have left. So time is more valuable than money, than health, than even love....and love is damned important.

Don't waste my time. It is the Cardinal sin.

Respect

About 10 years ago I had a consulting firm come into a business that I had to help me get past some growth issues. In the process of working with me, they met with each of my 35 employees and talked with them about their jobs. What they did. What they liked and didn't like about their jobs. How their jobs could be improved. How the company could be improved.

After a couple of weeks the two consultants met with me to talk about what they had found. "Before we start with the results, we'd like to talk with you about something we find quite remarkable," they said.

"OK" said I, not knowing what to think or what was coming.

"We interviewed every employee that works here. Each and every one of them told us that you treated them with respect. We've never seen a company where everyone feels they are respected."

I was somewhat surprised. I am a tough boss but I try to be fair. But the boss is the boss and there are always going to be decisions that impact negatively on someone.

I have studied many of the world's great religions. Most all of them have something that is similar to what we call The Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have people do unto you.

It's not a hard concept to understand. Sometimes it isn't always easy to do. Fear, anger, greed, lust (oops are we getting into the 7 deadly sins here?) may get in the way.

But I try to live my life by the Golden Rule. How about you?

The world would be a better place if we all tried to follow this simple philosophy.