Motor City Madness

In 1973, Detroit was a crazy city, and at that time it was the murder capital of the world. After I had arrived there, I was told to forget even going into the city after 6:00PM or I could get shot.  There were lots of wierd drugs there, too. Stuff like Angel Dust and Ketamine. It wasn't the best place to go to heal from the trauma of my Mom's murder. But it was where the band I was joining was from. I had come to Detroit with the drummer from the Connecticut band I had been working on at the time of the murder, who agreed to be my "roadie"...and with Carol, the girl I had been living with in Conn. We shared one motel room, and money was always tight. The band I came out there to play with had rented a recording studio, and all we did was write and rehearse music for a forthcoming album. As a result, we weren't playing out, and no money was coming in. My room was paid for, and I got some weekly expense money, but it barely covered our food costs. It was poverty. And it was tense, due to the close quarters. The band seemed very tense, too. Mitch was under a lot of pressure from his record label to produce a new hit album. I couldn't determine if the tension I was sensing was from what I had just gone through, or was really coming from my new bandmates. The guitarist was great, and had just finished two years of backing up John Lennon, but he had a big ego, and a big problem with speed. He was always wired. And he didn't have any performance gear in Detroit. I never found out why. I was hired as a keyboardist for this band, but I always carried all of my guitar amps with me wherever I moved to, just in case my services on guitars were ever needed. I loved the guitar. And my gear was the best...huge customized British amps. So I let this guy use all my stuff. I wanted to be a team player. The best bands are a team..and I wanted this thing to work. So I showed up on time, I always did my job, I played well, and I didn't complain about the lack of money, gigs, or gear. I was the most normal one in the group. And that is a scary thought, because I was far from normal. Everyone else in the band would regularly show up at the studio late, with no apology or explanation, and there was always a lot of secrecy. I never felt like I was in the loop. Two weeks before we were going to record the new album, the Mitch told me he wanted a piano in the group, and told me to pick one, the record label was paying for it. When I told him which one I wanted, the guitar player went nuts, and said that nobody who was a professional would play with that piano. I pointed out to him that he was playing only because he was using all of my gear...and I was angry enough to finally bring up the tardiness, the secrecy, and the drug problems. He didn't like that very much at all...and that night he laid an ultimatum on Mitch... either I was gone...or he was gone. I didn't stand a chance once that happened...after all, he had just finished two years with John Lennon...and the next day, I was fired. Three days later, the band in Detroit broke up...unable to go on without me or my gear...but for the first time in my life...I had been fired from a band.