On that day in 1980 - 19 July

A short and bittersweet entry that reminds me how difficult it is to keep a band in line! Ella and the Blacks were born in the autumn of 1979 as a spin-off of Redd Kross (or Red Cross, as they were known at the time), rather like how the Mary Tyler Moore show begat Rhoda. The Mcdonald brothers, or "the Kiddies", as Dez and I called them, were founder members. It was very very cool to have a 12-year-old bass player who slapped those strings harder than anyone twice his age.

But those kiddies were flakes! It was frustrating as I had a free rehearsal space in the converted garage of my home, the Manor. And we needed to break in our new drummer, Michael.

I had stayed at my parents' house the night before, near Jeff (Tyrone) and Steve's (Roman)  home in the South Bay.

19 July 1980

Went back up to Hollywood. I dunno why I even gave the kiddies one last chance, but I offered to give them a ride up to rehearse. But Tyrone had some friend coming over, blah blah blah. I told him to call later and he never did so bye-bye. Later I called him again and he wasn't home.

So later on Michael called and I said we probably wouldn't rehearse but he could come over anyway if he wanted and he said that sounded good; that he had to do some stuff but he'd call me back before he came over.

But he never did. There was OK stuff on television and I didn't really wanna go out anyway but still... I just went to bed early.