The Politics with the Women

At this time, there were three women who were directly involved with me, and therefore, affected the band... trying to work with that dynamic was very difficult..and not having had a lot of experience with intimate relationships, and the politics that went with them, I know that I probably could have done better in this area. In 1977, while I was seeing both Annie and Katherine, the singer I had worked with in the band right after my bout with Hepatitis, I met a strikingly beautiful 24yr. old girl at a local nightclub. I was very taken with Patti, and she with me, but I also liked my freedom, so we dated, but not exclusively. I had great friendships with Annie and Katherine too, and I liked the variety..and so did they.. and I think it had a lot to do with that whole time. But Patti didn't feel the same way. She wasn't a "flower child". She was a college educated registered pharmacist, who was very together and successful at 24. As we started to date more, she made it more and more clear that she wanted more of my time,which really meant she didn't like sharing me. I was very honest with her about who I was, what I was about, and how I enjoyed my freedom, and also how important Annie was becoming to the band's future. For a while, she understood, but as time went on, it became a contest between the two of them, to see who would "get me" on the weekends. Trying to juggle those two, without making either of them feel neglected became very tricky. I talked with Annie about it. I asked her if her  coming to Conn. more frequently was because her feelings towards me were changing..and if the kind of relationship we had in the past was still OK with her. She assured me that she had to be at the club on business very often anyway, and on weekends when that wasn't true, she just liked getting out of the city for a couple of days, and that she had many other friends there besides me, which was true.. And she reminded me that she still dated other people in New York. And I believed her. She seemed honest and sincere. But I didn't have a lot of experience in these matters..if I had, I might have wondered if she was just telling me what she thought I wanted to hear....I didn't.. and in a few months, I would find out what a huge mistake that was..