Ronnie Bruno : My Story So Far

David's Funeral

2009-10-06T04:35:00.002-05:00

It was nearly Christmas so I went to Wichita Falls. I remember going with my Mom to shop and breaking into tears in the middle of a department store. Returned to Dallas. Mother had written something nice about David so I thought I would read it at the service. It was held at a church at the corner of Mockingbird & Inwood. Everytime I drive by there I still think about him. On the day of the service it was sunny and cold. I got up to read the paper. I almost got to the end but before I did I completely lost it and walked back to my seat. So many people crowded into the small chapel. I was a little embarrassed but it happens I guess.
A lot of what I learned from David Hayes remains with me today. I don't think I would be near as strong a person had I not met him. It will be twenty years this December 2009 that David died.

The passing of David Patrick Hayes

2009-05-18T23:17:00.004-05:00

One night I was in Denton visiting Peter. I got a call from David. He said he just wanted to tell me he loved me. I asked if he was ok and he assured me he was fine. I went to sleep. I woke to Peter's phone ringing again at 7am. It was Frank. He was crying and saying I needed to come home because David was taken away by an ambulance to Parkland Hospital. I called the hospital and was told he was in critical condition. On the way to Dallas to the hospital the song Babe by Styx came on the AM station of the 1981 Datsun 310 I was driving. The words to the song brought tears to my eyes and I remember hoping the song wasn't a sign of what was coming. It was December and it had just gotten extremely cold for the first time. Peter and I made small talk about David and the weather but mostly our eyes stayed glued to the road. We arrived at the hospital, parked and jogged across the skywalk that connects the parking garage to the hospital. I noticed how gray the sky was as we were coming to the end of the long glass walkway. I was getting a really bad feeling after hearing the song on the way, the below freezing temperature, the gloomy sky. I just didn't want to deal with anything other than David being ok. I didn't think I could deal with anything else. When we got to emergency and asked about him we got uneasy looks from a couple of nurses that were telling us where to go. Another nurse had a hard time making eye contact with me when giving me these instructions, "Go down the hall and through the first door on your left someone will be there shortly to meet you." Then she asked, "Are you a family member of Mr. Hayes?" Without any hesitation I answered, "Yes Ma'am, he is my ex lover." She seemed like she was hesitant but I'm sure the look on my face was enough for her to ignore the rules this time. Peter and I looked at each other as if to say, "oh no.....no." After about five minutes a very sweet looking but serious woman came through a different door opposite the one we had entered. She asked if she could help us. I told her we were needing to know the status of David Patrick Hayes. She paused as if it was the first time she had ever done this. Then she simply said, "I'm so sorry." another shorter pause followed and then, "He's already passed." "I'm sorry." She had such a genuine demeanor I remember wondering if she was trained to be that way or if it came natural. I turned around to leave and noticed Peter crying too. He took me home and it seems like Peter was going out of town so he dropped me off. Frank and Mary moved David's belongings down to my apartment while I put them in the right place. I didn't think it was a good idea to go down there to Davids apartment. So Frank and Mary moved the stuff into the hallway and down to my place three doors down. His was the last door on the left as you went out the front of the building. I took the back stairs out to the parking lot anyway and had no reason to go down there anymore. Frank said when the apartment manager Linda woke him early that morning she was banging on the door. She wanted him to watch Cloudy and Lil Bit until I got home. I used to leave the dogs with David when I went to Peter's to keep him company. When Frank went over to pick up the dogs the ambulance had just left. He said there was blood all over the bathroom where David had cut himself from wrist to elbow. Supposedly he did it in the bathtub then somehow called 911 and was in his bed when they got there. He died shortly after he got to Parkland.

Once all of David's belongings were in my apartment I was so tired and still not believing what had happened. Frank and Mary were concerned about me staying alone in my place but I assured them I would be ok. I thought I would be really freaked out and lonely when I was finally left alone but I was totally fine. I looked around the room at all the framed art and other nice things that belonged to David. There were books, a wood frame chair, some type of tapestry that is very old, a 14th century guilded wood mirror, linens, a television. As I was looking through all of this I realized that the aroma of patchouli and leather, the smell of David's apartment, had filled the air. David always wore patchouli oil and had once spilled it inside a leather bag. I picked up the bag and it was still stained from the spill. I was so relaxed as I laid back onto the bed. I wondered if David could see me laying there in my candle lit apartment in complete silence. If he wasn't a spirit there in the room watching over me then where was he? Why do we all have to die wondering if we will ever meet again, I wondered. I hoped the universe was taking care of him. I felt oddly comfortable suddenly, as if everything was going to be OK. I was relieved that David's suffering was over. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

1990 Meeting Peter

2009-05-05T10:48:00.004-05:00

One night I was out at the Village Station on Cedar Springs, and in almost the same way I met David, I met Peter Nilsson. I was walking out and he was going in. We saw each other before he went inside and we said hellos. A few seconds later he came out of the exit door I had my eyes fixed on. We laughed and talked and looked for his friend Annika who he had lost inside the club earlier. We searched inside and out until we decided to sit on the curb in front of the club and get to know each other. Surely she would find us there. Peter was from Sweden, which I knew very little about. I wondered how many guys over in Sweden looked like Peter because he was smokin' hot. Blonde hair, blue eyes, awesome body and tan. His accent was so unlike anyone I had ever heard. Being from the Falls, with only one stamp in the pages of my passport, I thought his accent was so sexy. We talked about the exact location of Sweden on a map and the exact location of Wichita Falls on a map. Peter's friend Annika came out of the club finally and they had their reunion. They spoke Swedish to one another until he introduced us. Annika looked me over good with a protective glare. She was blonde as well with a thick mane of hair down her back. She was beautiful. Modelesque. I agreed to ride to Denton with them. Peter was attending UNT studying to be a doctor and Annika was visiting for a few months from Sweden. I had a tape of some new slow beat music I was into in my pocket. We drove with windows down in the cool night air down interstate 35 towards Denton. I remember the tape having "I Wish It Would Rain Down" by Jackie Moore. It was a remake that was formerly done by Phil Collins. It had the popular "Soul II Soul" beat everybody was using in dance music at the time. We had a lot of laughs getting to know each other and the three of us started hanging out all the time. Annika and Peter would act so crazy and speak in Swedish a lot so I would laugh at them as they danced some weird looking dance. Then they would fall down laughing. A few weeks went by. One night we went out to Trash Disco at Club A. Annika was burning girls with cigarettes that pushed her or were rude to her. When they would get passed her a bit she would calmly place the cherry between their shoulder blades. I know it's mean but these girls were always royal bitches so I couldn't help but laugh my ass off. They would say ouch or scream or just turn around and glare. Annika would just stare them coldly in the face and say, "Oh, sorry." I finally suggested we go back to my place before a riot broke out. Once we were back there David came down. He seemed to be feeling better and was very social. He and Annika and Peter hit it off very well. I was happy about that. Mary and Frank came down and joined us too. At daybreak someone (most likely Peter) suggested we all go on a picnic down by Turtle Creek. David was excited about that because he was wanting give Peter and I haircuts and loved the idea of cutting our hair outside by the creek. So he went down to his place to get all the barber stuff and we packed up a blanket and other picnic stuff. After picking up wine and food from the grocery store we headed to the creek. It was so beautiful that morning. David was more excited than I had seen him in a long time and he looked great as well. He reminded me of a kid at Christmas he was having so much fun. He brought a chair and all the necessary hair cutting supplies complete with spray bottle of water and a cape. We got our hair cuts while talking about everything from religion to RuPaul. We had a great time and Peter and Annika loved David. I remember after Annika had gotten to know David and became aware of his HIV status she came to me and wanted to know if David was OK. I told her that I'd seen him get sick and overcome it so many times but I didn't know how well or sick he really was. She got tears in her eyes and said, "I hope he is ok, I'm so afraid for him." I was surprised to see so much sensitivity from Annika. I was used to a much more guarded Annika but I was glad to see she had a big heart after all. We all got really close that summer and had some amazing nights partying and laughing. We usually stayed up playing music and talking well past dawn. Annika got so attached to being here in the US and decided she wanted to move here. We got this crazy idea to get married so she could legally move here. We decided to put it off until her next trip over in the spring. It was sad when she left. That's the thing with long trips, everybody gets so attached that it is harder to say goodbye.

1989-1990

2009-05-01T03:40:00.003-05:00

My Apartment at the "Alamo" was #206. It was a room divided by curtains (from ceiling to floor) that David had inherited from the Starck Club. My bed and three windows were on the other side of the curtains with the living area, turntables and wall of records in the front by the entrance. On the left was the kitchen and bathroom. Very small but that didn't stop me from having people over and playing music. Many nights most of my neighbors (and whoever else happened to be around) would pile into my efficiency apartment to talk about various subjects, listen to new music from the record pool, get ready to go out and never make it, stay up all night and then pretend we hadn't been up all night but whatever we did we always managed to laugh a lot. I guess with all that was going on in the world around us everything seemed dark and so did the future. We didn't even know if we had a future. AIDS seemed to be taking so many people and it was starting to be more and more people we knew. How would we survive this scary disease? Depression was setting into the deepest, unexplored parts of my soul. I tried to stay upbeat and busy. It wasn't working anymore and I couldn't stop coughing. Is it coming? Am I getting sick? For the next two months or so I fought depression and mild flu like symptoms. Then Christmas 1989. I drove home still feeling down. I had my bishon frise, Cloudy, with me. We slept most of the time at my parents on the couch watching TV. Cloudy would sleep on his back between my arm and the side of my belly. I always felt a little better when I went to sleep with him. Safe for some reason, as if he could protect me. LOL. I don't remember too much about being there that Christmas but as I was leaving my Mom handed me a cassette tape that had belonged to my grandmother, Bop. I looked at the cassette called optimism and thought I would give it a try on the way home. I listened to the tape front and back all the way back to Dallas. I was alone, except for Cloudy, so I really concentrated on listening to the recording. One side was ocean waves that supposedly had subliminal effects and the other side was a man talking about taking deep breaths and imagining you are looking up at the sky. Stuff like that. I know this sounds so crazy but I when I got home something seemed odd or different but I couldn't put my finger on it so I went to sleep. The next morning I woke up and realized I wasn't sick anymore. Better than that I wasn't depressed either. At first I thought, "Oh don't get too excited it will probably be back later in the day." Days went by and I never got depressed feeling or felt sick. Then weeks. Then one day I remembered the cassette and wondered if that could have been how I suddenly felt well. I had really been sceptical of metaphysics/hypnotism/subliminal healing or anything of the like but the experience definitely was enough to open my mind to it. A few months later I got up enough nerve to go get the HIV test. I either was positive or negative and I needed to know. I had been running into more uncertainty as the months passed that I ignored my status. Frank and I planned to be each other's support and get tested in Wichita Falls. Actually I asked Frank to go with me and he said he would get tested too. We drove down one afternoon to Wichita Falls and to the flower shop where my Mom worked. When I got there and saw her I started crying. She told me it would be ok. I wondered how she could have came to that determination. I didn't see any way it could turn out OK. Mother drove us there to the health clinic. The nurse took my blood and said, "Thank you, your results will be available by phone in a few days." I was stunned to find out that it would not be today that we found out the results of our test. I was relieved. I felt better. It was done..............not so much. Weeks turned into months and I still had not called in to get my results.

David's Will

2009-04-28T13:13:00.003-05:00

Once I got moved into "The Alamo" Mary XTC moved in down the hall (back from Wichita Falls again), Brooke H across the hall, Frank next door, David at the end of the hall, Paul Haggard (Mary's producer from OK) also moved in. So we all lived up there and watched out for one another. It was a party ongoing. David had a new roommate by this time named Patty. He met her at Toni & Guy. That is where he got a job once he realized he was well enough to work. As the months passed though, David's health deteriorated significantly. He was getting really thin and had a cancer growth in his mouth the size of a walnut. He was real short of breath and had a hard time getting up stairs. I went to the hospital with him a couple of times and met a couple of his doctors. They were really nice and seemed to like him a lot which came as no surprise since everyone loved David. One day on the way home from somewhere David asked if he could talk to me for a minute. So I pulled his car into the back parking lot of our apartment complex and turned off the ignition. He said he didn't want to hurt me but he had something he wanted to tell me. I said, "What is it?" He then told me he didn't know how long he could continue hanging on with his health declining. He said that feeling the way he did was not "living" anyway and that he'd decided that he was going to take his own life. I started crying and thought about trying to talk him out of it. Then I remembered how strong willed he was and just told him I didn't want him to do it. Then he asked if I would go to the Resource Center and sign his Will so that I would get all of his belongings whenever this happened. We went a few days later and he brought it out to the car and I signed it.

1989 David Hayes

2009-04-23T23:03:00.003-05:00

One day I came home from working at Hasting's to find David on the floor cleaning with a toothbrush. I was so naive that I thought nothing of it. We were living on Routh St in this really nice but small efficiency. I remember it being $450 a month. It was gated on the ground level with a landscaped garden. The floor was white tile throughout. The all black appliances were brand new and the interior was lighted with recessed lighting and was mirrored from floor to ceiling with sliding door closet space behind most of the mirrors. The entry was entirely glass with a sliding door. It also had a murphy bed, the kind that folds up into the wall when not in use. Very cool place. One hot September afternoon, when walking home from the Gay Pride Parade, David brought up the fact that we should be using condoms. I asked why, once again my naivety glaring. He was like, "Well you just never know." I started to get upset because I thought he was saying that I could be a risk for him. Looking back I feel so stupid knowing now that we were taking a risk any way you look at it. Anyway, hindsight is 20/20, right? Over the next few autumn and winter months David became more withdrawn socially and started sleeping a lot. One cold morning on my way to work David and I got into a disagreement and out of anger he put his hand through our bathroom window. He then confessed to being addicted to meth and if that wasn't enough, was shooting it with a needle. I was surprised but not near as concerned as I would be today. (especially knowing the severity of the needle and seeing what it has done to so many people.) At the time though I didn't think it was that big of a thing to overcome. Although his use had become minimal, I'm not sure David was ever able to completely kick it. One summer afternoon I had returned to the dark, lonely apartment that we had to move into because of David's inability to work. It was on McKinney Ave. One bedroom with a crazy land lady. I walked into the bedroom to find David crying in the dark. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he had been to the doctor. I kept asking him what the doctor said but he just kept crying. Finally I said, "Is it HIV?" He cried harder. Then I started crying and left the apartment for a walk down the street. I called my parents from a pay phone, not to tell them but just to talk to someone that could make me feel normal for a minute. When they answered the phone they said things weren't so good there. One of my childhood dogs, Foxy, was dead of old age. Not too long after that I remember my other childhood dog, Fancy, had passed as well. I felt like my whole world was falling apart and it was. I had no money, hated my job at Hasting's in Valley View Mall, had no car, my dog died and my boyfriend has AIDS. Knowing that I was probably HIV positive as well was so overwhelming to me and more frightening than anything that had ever happened to me. I thought, "Great, thanks GOD, I knew you were never there anyway." I wanted to be mad at David as well but somehow, even then, I knew it wasn't his fault. He no more wanted this for himself than I did and I knew his guilt was eating at him because of things he would do and say like on Gay Pride day on our walk home. I loved him still and wanted to be there for him but the whole thing was getting over my head emotionally. I didn't know how to cope with it all so after about a month we agreed to move apart. I moved in with Frank at his parents house in NE Dallas for a few weeks. This was when we started going out every night to escape the depression of what I had been through and avoid the reality of what could lie ahead. Eventually I moved into a small efficiency on Douglas which everybody called The Alamo because it looked so similar. It used to be a living quarters for women studying to be nurses at Parkland. It had 2 floors with 10 efficiencies on each. I lived on the second floor with Frank, who wasn't my roommate anymore but may have well been as much as he stayed there. I quit Hasting's and started working at RAPS 5 days a week. I still worked at Oak Lawn Records a couple of days a week as well. Craig Bell and I started going to the gym 4 times a week and hanging out a lot as well. He introduced me to a lot of people and that helped keep my mind off of my deepest fears. Was this it for me? Moving to Dallas to meet someone as awesome as David only to find out he is dying? Am I gonna get sick and die this way too? I need to get tested but I'm AFRAID!

1988

2009-04-20T15:02:00.012-05:00

After leaving Penny's and the sales world I was so much happier. I got my old job back at Big Daddy's by calling up Ric Herrington, the manager/head dj/bartender, of Daddy's. I told him what happened and he was nice enough to let me come back. Shortly thereafter Jammie and I broke up because he was seeing someone else. A guy named Jeff Trinkle. I moved out of the Holly Hill apartment and reluctantly back in with Kurt.
I had been talking to Mary Kehoe (aka Mary XTC pictured left) on the phone one night and she was talking about moving to Dallas. She was living in Las Vegas and hating it. I talked to Kurt and Craig about her and her writing and performing music and they were so cool. They were like, "Get her down here." "She can live here for a while until ya'll can get your own apartment." So she did. While at Kurt's one night we were listening to Mary play her keyboards and all her ideas for songs. This one song she was playing around with sounded so much like Divine's Native Love. She had a lot of the words down but Kurt started adding lyrics, as did Mary and I. Before we knew it we had a song written. Mary and I were going out A LOT and getting connections through the clubs. She started getting gigs to perform almost as soon as we tried. She performed (with Frank Meador and Russ Brouse as dancers) under the name Mary and the Acid Queens or MXTC. They performed at Adam Hats, Below Xero, The Wave, Institute, Industry and others I can't recall. (pictured: a flier with Mary as featured live act and Frank Meador with Mary in the background performing at Below Xero circa 1988.) Then Oak Lawn Records called Mary to record her first single. We went in the studio for two days and got a great performance out of Mary. Unfortunately Ray and David never got around to putting it out so it it ended up never seeing the light of day. This, I think, jaded Mary quite a bit and basically ended her recording career before it actually got started. Today she is a manager of a major hotel chain's event production staff. She has been there for years and does very well. Mary continues to DJ on occasion and something tells me we'll be hearing from her musically again soon.
Mary and I had moved out of Kurt's and in together around this time. We lived at the Tecali apts on Cedar Springs. We were clubbers in every sense of the word. At one point Frank and I had a schedule and I still remember it.
Mondays - The Wave (Amateur Talent Night w/ Sweet Savage & Valerie Lohr) This is one of the places we would go see Obsession perform and appaud as loud as possible for her to win. She was one of the best performers I've ever seen still to this date. Her mixes were self made pause button extravaganzas with on point timing and hard to find accapellas. Always a treat to see and hear Obsession.
Tuesdays - Village Station (Amateur Talent w/ Donna Day) Another place we went to support Obsession. Alternatively Crews Inn was always a big Tuesday crowd.
Wednesdays - The Wave (Club Night I actually started with new music and a predominately Deep Ellum art crowd.) After I got this one started and it became really successful I was moved over to RAPS (The sister club with black gay crowd) RAPS ended up being one of my favorite gigs where I met some awesome people like Latina Mcintire, Danielle Winters, Camille Lamour, Demorris, Betty Neal, Nicki Foster, Iroc, Racine Scott, Stephanie Mills, Anita & Sweet Pussy Pauline.
Thursdays - Fish Dance with DJ Rob Vaughan
Fridays - Primitive at Clearview (hosted by David & Brookes with DJ GoGo Mike.)
Saturdays - Prizm, Institute, One, Industry or wherever else was happening.
Sundays - RAPS (Sunday Show where I played for a year and a half. Black gay crowd was awesome and like a close knit family. One night Frank and I got so drunk we ended up passing out at Camilles. She and "the girls" took care of us and even invited us to stay for their cookout. We stayed and ate and had a great time.
(Pic: Me and Bob the sound and light pro at the Wave Summer 1988.)

After about 6 months of living with Mary she was having financial problems and had to move home for a while. I moved into the back part of the Tecali into a smaller apt by myself. I started working at Hastings as an assistant manager. This was actually the time between Big Daddy's and DJing for the Wave/RAPS. One night in the Summer of 1988 I went out to the yearly party Razzle Dazzle Dallas. It was being held at Fair Park and I think I had a free ticket. Seems like I was roaming around looking at boys with Craig and getting pretty drunk. As I remember I locked eyes with this extremely hot guy with sky blue eyes. We walked passed each other and both of us stopped and turned and walked back and spoke and introduced ourselves. His name was David Hayes. He and I instantly hit it off and, although I didn't know it yet, David would teach me more about life than anyone had taught me since my parents. The next few years were the hardest to endure but made me a better person in the long run. The excitement of being with David was intoxicating. He was so sexy and fun and all about me. I was having the time of my life but life's lessons were lurking around the bend. David Hayes was about to change the course of my life in ways that I could have never imagined. (Pic: me and David Patrick Hayes at Kurt's place. He and Craig were having a party. Maybe 4th of July or someone's going away party. Not sure which. Summer 1988)

1985-87 First Heartbreak, Graduation and the move to Dallas

2009-04-10T17:48:00.009-05:00

During the summer of my Sophomore year Jamey broke up with me. I was completely surprised and hurt by his announcement. I went home heartbroken and cried to Momma and she told me it would pass. It did. Later I heard from a few people that Jamey never saw anyone longer than 6 months. We saw each other about 6 months. Ironically the day we broke up was the same day I realized how difficult mixing music was going to be. I had purchased a mixer a couple of days prior from radio shack and until I got it home and started "trying" to use it, I actually thought that the mixer "mixed" the music for you. After all it was called a mixer wasn't it? Boy was I disappointed. When I realized I was going to have to listen to two songs at the same time AND figure out which one was going faster or slower AND make that + or - adjustment AND keep the record from skipping (ALL AT THE SAME TIME) I was wrecked. It was Jamey Davis that taught me so much about dance music and told me I should look into being a DJ. He gave me a lot of records out of his collection that I really loved. I have kept them all these years. My first Lime record was from Jamey, Your Love. He also gave me a 12" single of Loverboy by Billy Ocean that has his handwritten message on the inside sleeve that read, "For my Loverboy..."
By my Junior year in high school I was starting to have some fun. Mainly because most of us were growing up and starting to behave like adults. Also didn't hurt that my Dad gave me his light beige 1977 Cutlass Supreme. It was kept in top condition (of course it was, belonging to my Dad) He always kept our cars (and yard) looking awesome. He has restored old cars since I can remember and has a mountain of trophies to prove it. I also noticed a few years back in my parents hallway, a plaque for the best kept yard in their neighborhood. I started going out downtown to the Rose. The Rose was a dive gay bar in Wichita Falls (the only kind they had back then) that usually played a jukebox. I met these two kids Mary (later to become Mary XTC) and Robert Taylor. We used to bug the owner of the Rose to let us DJ there. One weekend we dropped in and there was a DJ spinning. It was on a Saturday night and it was noticeably more crowded. The DJ was Wes Brown. I knew of him because he had also gone to Rider High and had graduated a couple of years previous. He played "I Know I'm Losing You" by Uptown and a couple of Dead Or Alive remixes which we loved. We met all these people we had never seen before. We were so impressed with the Rose bar after that and I think all three of us played there, as well as The Pub, before we left Wichita Falls. (believe it or not there actually were two gay bars in lil ol WFT pop. 100,000)
Now having wheels I started making trips to Dallas to Oak Lawn Records to buy records and to go out to the clubs (If we could get in). One weekend Mary XTC, Robert Taylor, some military brat new BF Jammie Palmer and I went to Dallas. We somehow got into Baby's and were awestruck by a huge video screen playing Dead or Alive's My Heart Goes Bang.
After that we dropped the ex military queen and we were a foursome that often went on weekend trips to Dallas or Oklahoma City. Both being almost equal distance from Wichita Falls and had fun places to go out. Once while in Oklahoma City there had been a hate crime so the clubs were on alert and you had to either get inside a club or leave. There was no hanging outside. Helicopters circled above the area. We decided to go to the Wreck Room but Mary XTC couldn't get in for some reason so we were pissed. Mary got into the car and started undressing. She was laughing and ripping her clothes off and yelling,"Pull up in front of the club. " "I am gonna let them have it!" So we pull up right in front of the Wreck Room. Mary gets out in a full length black coat and is yelling, "Hey!" "Haaaayyyeee!" "Over here." Everyone waiting to get into the club and the security guard look over at her and she says,"Can I come in like this?" At that time she drops the coat and exposes her naked body. We were yelling at her to get into the car but she just stood there for what seemed like forever. Finally she gets in giggling and we squealed the tires on that rental car getting out of there. We laughed all the way back to Wichita Falls.
I also made frequent trips to Comanche, OK to see Jammie. He was cute and my age and drove a blue 1980 Toronado. He knew everything about that car and could fix anything that went wrong with it. We were BF's from my senior year in high school until about 3 months after moving to Dallas in 1987.
Although I don't remember much of it I graduated at the end of May 1986. That weekend Jammie and I moved into a rent house about 2 miles from my parents house. Moving the last load with my Dad we got all teary eyed about me leaving home. Monday it was back to work at Texcolor Inc. where I had worked since I was 16. Jammie got a job at Gibsons and a job at the Girls Club where he taught and was a babysitter of sorts. By the end of Summer 1986 we were getting bored with Wichita Falls and each other.
Near the end of 1986 I had become friends with Oak Lawn Records employee, Craig Bell. Our friendship developed over the phone during my frequent calls to the store while ordering records. We went down to Dallas to meet Craig and his partner Kurt Specht. From the first day we met them Craig was sure we belonged in Dallas. After weeks of phone calls and a few visits we accepted an invitation to move to Dallas and live in Kurt's home until we got on our feet. Kurt was really cool about it and assured us it wouldn't be a problem. Jammie and I leased out the house we had just bought together and quit our jobs. We drove down with both cars packed full of records and clothes. My brown 1980 280zx was practically dragging tailpipe. We got there on a hot night late in August 1987. We unpacked our cars into one of the extra rooms of Kurts 3 bedroom house. It was an awesome house with a pool and granite floors. We got up the next morning and started job hunting. Jammie ended up at Neimans at the Mermaid Bar and I ended up (with the help of Oak Lawn Records and Craig) with a DJ job at Big Daddy's and a day job at Oak Lawn Records. Big Daddy's was a new video bar on Cedar Springs next to the Village Station. Most nights while I worked until 2am Jammie would go out to Village and flirt and meet guys. After being at Big Daddy's for a few months Jammie and I got into an argument and he gave me a choice of working at Big Daddy's as a DJ or being with him. Being the naive 19 year old I chose Jammie and ultimately ended up at JC Penny's in the housewares dept. Fierce!
By this time Jammie and I had moved out of Kurt's and into an apartment around Park Lane and Greenville on Holly Hill. One night while driving home I got pulled over on Park Lane. It turned out I had a warrant out for my arrest for a speeding ticket I had received a few months prior. I ended up in the Dallas County Jail for about 6 hours. At about 2am I was released. Sherry Seipel, the door girl at Empire, and Jammie got me out. I guess Jammie called Sherry and she called the attorney that represented Empire and he bonded me out. That short experience in jail was enough to keep me from ever going back and I don't intend on ever returning!
The longer I worked at Penny's, the more out of my element I felt, the rules, dress code and most of the people there were getting under my skin. The manager of the linens department, which is where I was put after the rush of Christmas was over, was a grade A bitch. She looked like a monkey and walked heavy on her heels. One evening she chewed me out for wearing a sweater instead of a jacket. Later as she came stomping by I happened to be on the phone. She stopped, stared and then went about her business. On her way back through my department she told me to stay off the phone. She didn't even ask who I was talking to. She had no idea whether it was a customer or a personal call. She had the rudest tone for someone I had only spoken to like 3 or 4 times the entire 3 months I had been working there. It pissed me off so I told her to go fuck herself. I was followed out of the store by 0099dana which is security at JC Penny's. I did end up missing this one lady there that I often had lunch with though. Her name was Dottie Fairfield. She was a very well dressed red headed lady probably in her late 50's. I wonder what happened to Dottie? I think I'll Google her now.................found nothing.
More Later...

1984-1985 Coming Out

2009-03-19T22:09:00.004-05:00

When I was 16 or 17 I was seeing this guy Jamey who worked at the liquor store. He was 28. I used to stay over at his house when his parents were away on the weekends. One night when Jamey was leaving my house I walked him out to his car. When I came back inside my Dad was watching tv and looked up at me as I walked by and said, "Sure was quiet in there." I rolled my eyes and said, "Whatever." Then a little more pissed off sounding he said, "Boy if I didn't know better I'd think you were a queer." Then I said, from my room, "What if I am?" In an outraged voice my Dad yells, "WHAT?" By then my Mom was in the room asking what in the hell was going on? Deidre, my sister, two years younger than me, was crying from her room, "Leave him alone." I had told Deidre about my sexuality when I was in the 8th grade (She was in the 6th). So she too had carried around my secret, verbally attacking anyone that called me a fag. When my Dad suggested I seek psychiatric help my mom protested by saying, "There isn't anything wrong with him!" After some talking to (about a nights worth) my Dad came around. He came to the conclusion that I was born gay and there wasn't anything wrong with that. A lot of growth for one night, huh? That's how my parents are. If they are wrong or don't understand something they will admit it. They try to see both sides of an issue and try to work it out. The only thing they want for my sister and I is for us to be happy. I have to admit I couldn't have asked for better parents. When my friends meet my parents they are always amazed. They have been together 42 years.

Growing up we were the only kids without divorced parents it seemed.
After coming out my Mom put a lock on my bedroom door and told me, "I'd rather if you are gonna have sex you do it in your room instead of out in a car somewhere where ya might get killed or something." How cool is that? I've known so many people who can't stand their parents, their parents can't stand them or people who were embarrassed by their parents. I'm glad I'm not one of those people. I'm proud of my Mom & Dad and enjoy being around them. We laugh and joke and I can tell them just about anything. One thing though that you might not want to bring up is the casino, especially if it involves Deidre going to it. I started WWIII by bringing that up at Christmas. Long story. Mainly just a joke aimed at Daddy. So if ya'll are still reading my blog...Love Ya'll. Everyone else...Come out, come out wherever you are!

1984 Reverschon Park (Dallas)

2009-03-19T13:37:00.003-05:00

Who had s** at Reverschon? Charles of course! When he was selling me on the idea of coming to Dallas, he exclaimed, "Girl I went down to Dallas and once inside that park I turned 5 tricks within 5 hours!" Then the cackle. We usually found a parking spot and Charles would disappear into the bushes and trails of Reverschon. It never felt safe to me since everybody joked about getting stabbed on the train tracks behind the park or in the park itself. I usually stood close to the car and met people that way. Most of the people I met out there I met later when I moved to Dallas in 1987.
After a while at the park it was time to go home. Since no one knew we left town we had to be back early. Usually I fell asleep on the way home with the latest dance mix being the soundtrack to my dreams. Here are a few of them...

1984 October My First Trip To Dallas

2009-03-17T18:05:00.008-05:00

Cedar Springs Rd as it appeared in 1984 and then 2008 is pictured above. As you can see A LOT has changed. Nearly the entire block is now S4. Click on pic to enlarge for best view.

My friend and ex by this time, Charles, had been making trips to Dallas and going out to 4001 and getting mixed tapes from the DJ. The first one he brought back was from DJ James Griffith (RIP). He was really good and could mix flawlessly. We worshiped his DJ skill and for years he was the DJ I listened to and what I used as a guide while learning mixing techniques. On that tape (i plan on posting it here soon) was an awesome mix of Madonna's I'm Burning Up and Berlin's Sex I'm A.... James teased the part of "Sex, I'm a.." that says, "I'm A Slut" right after Madonna says, "I'm Burning Up" so it sounds like Madonna saying, "I'm Burning Up, I'm A Slut." I thought it was brilliant then and still do today. James Griffith was spinning at 4001 on my first trip to Dallas. When Charles asked me to go to Dallas to 4001 I didn't think I would be able to get in. As seen in my pic from the post prior to this I looked a bit older than 16. We drove in Charles' sugar daddy's brand new white Park Avenue to Dallas. It seemed like forever, down US 287 to Hwy 114 and then I35 to Oak Lawn Ave. Speed limit was 55 mph back then. We drove by Oak Lawn Records and Charles pointed out the building to me. I was dying to get in that store. It was probably around 12:45 am when we made the turn onto Cedar Springs. This was the street Charles explained to me as the main street for all things GAY. Boy was it ever! Drag queens, boys half naked, boys naked, leather men, cowboys and everything else imaginable was there. Surrounding the car and whistling at us as they marched down the street. OMG this was unbelievable! Then Charles said, "Oh Girl!" This is halloween weekend girl!" "It's not always like this!" Then cackled in his very loud unforgettable, nelly laugh. I was kind of relieved that the streets were not always filled with screaming Village People look alikes and drag queens but now I would love it. LOL. We finally park and walk to 4001 Cedar Springs where the club was located. It was about 1:30. There was a line to get into the club. Charles told me to go first so if I couldn't get in we would leave. Well needless to say I got right in, no questions asked. I had on a polo with skin tight acid washed 501 levis and tennis shoes. I'm sure my full grown mustache helped a lot. Once inside I could not get over the intensity of the sound. The bass seemed to go right through me. The dancefloor was encased in clear plexiglass and clear columns of plexiglass. One wall had a Dallas skyline made with colored lights that looked realistic. Every few songs a video screen would come down as the latest music videos were mixed in seamlessly. I thought, "This is how dance music was intended to be heard." It was sooo loud but in a good way. You could actually hear the person next to you without them yelling in your ear like I remember at so many clubs I have been to since then. Ray Cooper, co owner of Oak Lawn Records, who I would meet a few months later on my first trip to the store, taught me that about sound quality in a room. If you have to yell at the person next to you on the dancefloor in order for them to hear you the sound is not so good. Ray said, "You should be able to talk in a normal tone and the person should hear you just fine." I have only experienced a few clubs that have passed this test, that should tell you how many clubs actually have good quality sound. Not very many. At 4am the club closed and then Charles said we were going to the gay park, Reverschon Park. It was just down the road only a few minutes away. When we got to the park cars were lined up just to drive through the park, circle around the back part of the park and then back through again. If you could find a parking space you would grab it sit on the hood or stand outside the car and meet people as they drove by. We did this on many occasions after this first time and I met many people out there. Back then this is where most gay kids under 21 went to meet each other. On my next entry I will tell who all I met, what fun was had, what drama was encountered and who had sex at Reverschon Park. 1984.

82-83 High School Freshman

2009-02-22T04:07:00.008-06:00

High School was not at all what I expected. Once again I felt like I missed the class that was held before the first day of school... knowing where all your classes are located and having lots of friends to eat lunch with already. How did everybody know everybody? As the weeks wore on I was becoming depressed. As pathetic as this sounds in retrospect, the only thing I was looking forward to was the nomination and election of Class Beauties and Class Favorites. Sixteen girls (finalists) from each class were selected by the students and then narrowed down the following day to eight Beauties in each class. Class Favorites were also chosen by each class and included six girls and six boys. I recall there always being one black beauty and two black favorites in each class due to 8-10% of the student body being African American. The winners were announced over the PA system to the whole school during the morning announcements. On several occasions the freshman and sophomore classes tried to elect a very unattractive girl just to be clowns but fortunately the faculty caught on and pulled the names before they were announced. I would have my picks all ready a week before the election and rarely did I miss a name called. By my senior year people would say, "Hey Ronnie who's gonna win this year?" A few years ago I learned that most if not all Wichita Falls Public High Schools did away with the election of Beauties and Favorites. Good for them, I guess, but I have to wonder what the reasons were behind decision to cancel the elections indefinitely. As high school students, isn't the choosing of the most beautiful and favorite people among themselves readying them for real life? Both the elections and life are unfair, you have a better chance if you have money, and it's very clique oriented (all in who you know). So again, I wonder, what were the school administrators reasons for no longer choosing to utilize the election of beauties and favorites as a life lessons tool. It seemed to work for over 30 years. What went wrong? Whose son or daughter didn't win? LOL I'm just glad I'm not in high school during these anti beauty & fav days. I would have been so bored. :-)

First Gay Party Summer 1982

2009-02-10T23:23:00.012-06:00

After Harlow's "The Pub" we went to a party at a big house in one of the older but nicer neighborhoods of Wichita Falls. Somewhere around Grant St. When we arrived I was really nervous as this was so new and I really didn't know what to expect. An all gay party, really? Who would be there? Old men, drag queens? I know one thing, no one my age would be there. To my surprise (for the most part) everyone looked normal. There were no drag queens or old men or trolls. It seemed like any other party, I guessed, as I had only really seen them on tv. Each room had groups men and women talking and laughing and i remember wondering if they were ALL gay. As we moved outside there was a pool and I remember my friend Charles introducing me to a guy swimming as "the cheerleader at WFHS" Tony Rios. I wanted to transfer schools after that because at Wichita Falls High School they had male cheerleaders so I figured they must be a more progressive, open minded school. I found out later that the few cheerleaders that WFHS did have over the years were ridiculed and made fun of so even if I had gone to Old High, as it was sometimes called, I would have been in the same boat. LOL. One of the things at this party that stood out the most though was the music. It was in every room and nonstop DJ remixes. I was so impressed. I found out it was a Dallas radio station (K107.5 fm) via cable radio. I didn't know you could get radio stations on cable. I remember this was the first time hearing Planet Rock by Soul Sonic Force
mixed seamlessly into Numbers by Kraftwerk.
American Disco, R&B and rap fused together and sounded so much like German techno that they could be mixed together like this. The whole Kraftwerk album (Computer World) is incredible, their best IMHO. I consider Kraftwerk , Patrick Cowley and Giorgio Moroder three of the most important forces behind the creation of the Disco/Dance/Electronica movement. The sounds destined for the dancefloors of the world can be heard as far back as the late 60's on Kraftwerk's early LP's and the early 70's on Donna Summer LP's produced by Moroder. Patrick Cowley was a pioneer and major contributor to the history of the synthesizer in dance music. Cowley was the producer of nearly all of the late great Sylvester's hits which made him very well known in gay San Fran and the rest of the dance music community before his unfortunate death in 1982 of AIDS. Sylvester also left us in 1988 due to AIDS. Both are still highly respected in the gay community today, gay icons, remembered by their contributions to dance music and their courage to fight AIDS. At a time when so much was unknown about the disease and our government was doing so little, Sylvester and Patrick were on the forefront of the people living with the disease, who didn't have to come forward but did anyway, trying to raise awareness.
Mid-Summer Charles and I (now an item) got a job a the fireworks stand for about a week. I had managed to keep Charles (pictured left) quiet enough around my parents that they had not noticed how effeminate he was, so I thought. One night after getting home (I was in the shower getting ready to go out to the skating rink or mall or just riding around or something) and Charles comes to the bathroom and starts knocking very loudly on the door. In the most fem of voices he was yelling, "Ronnie, it's your cousin, Jack, and he says that it is imperative that he speaks to you." Years later my mom told me she knew right then, the sassy way he called at me through the door, that something wasn't quite right with Charles. She was at work when he did his aerobics routine on the living room floor. Whenever Showtime had what they called Showtime Shorts they would feature a girl or two doing aerobics to The Hills Of Katmandu
and Charles would follow along to perfection. It was so GAY. Maybe even a little dragish. Charles had a past with drag. He often told a story about him being in the Miss Gay Wichita Falls Pageant and during his talent number slams a door that broke the glass to the DJ booth. He was doing ABBA's The Visitors. There is a part in the song that says, "through the door I feel I'm cracking up." This is where he supposedly slammed the door. During another drag queen episode we were at his mom's house in Sunnyside, which was my old neighborhood. Johnny was there and we were in Charles' room playing records and they put on some Pat Benetar record. Charles ran to the bathroom and after a few minutes emerged in a wig and lipstick! I had never really seen a drag queen before and definitely was freaked out by seeing my boyfriend in a wig. He proceeded, much to Johnny's delight and my disgust, to float around the room doing this horrible drag number. Finally I reached up and snatched that wig off his head. Not knowing it was pinned on with bobby pins, I received a firm slap across the face. It was really a hilarious scene I'm sure but I can tell ya, I have never pulled a wig off a queens head since then. LOL.

Summer 1982

2009-01-28T19:28:00.002-06:00

Summer 1982. I had just finished my 8th grade year and was at Skate Whirl one Friday night. I met this guy Eddie Chavez that reeked of Halston cologne. He was with his step-brother, Charles Hall and his two friends Johnny W. and Hector. Charles was very masculine looking but when he opened his mouth a purse fell out. He was so fem. Eddie wasn't as cute as his step-brother but way less gay acting. I sat with him and snickered at Charles, Johnny and Hector as they stumbled around screaming like girls. They fell down, slid across the floor, crashed into the walls and each other. They wore short shorts and tube socks. The skating rink regulars were not well for these screaming queens as they were center stage and seemed to have no idea the whole rink was watching them. I ended up talking on the phone with Eddie and later Charles over the next week or so. I thought Charles looked like a GQ model so one night after my parents went to sleep Charles invited me to go to the Pub. Harlows "The Pub" the only gay bar in Wichita Falls. I asked how I was going to get in, being I was only 14 years old. Charles said he'd figure out a way so I met them at 12 midnight or so at Kawanis park at the prairie dog land which was near my house. I waited briefly then a car pulls up with Charles and Johnny and a couple of other gay boys. Charles was 18 had a nice body, dark hair with blond streaks in the front. He looked like a cross between Richard Gere and John Taylor from Duran Duran. So cute, in fact, I overlooked his femininity. When we got downtown to the Pub I got in the middle of four or five guys and we just walked in. The DJ was way up high in an enclosed glass area. He was playing Call Me by Skyy. I remember it being a lot different than the one on my LP. It was the long 12" mix. I found it about ten years ago finally.

1982 Popularity and Cheerleaders

2009-01-28T19:22:00.004-06:00

Now I didn't completely waste all my energy in Jr High dodging the redneck's threats and name calling. I was obsessed with the McNiel Mustang cheerleaders! Some people idolize movie stars, well I idolized cheerleaders. I was a walking encyclopedia of facts on cheerleaders past and present. At McNiel the cheerleaders were chosen by the student body. In other words it was a popularity contest. Some schools chose their cheerleaders by 70% student vote and 30% teacher vote. OMG if they would have used this method at our school it would have put a kink in our popularity heirarchy, it would have crumbled under these rules, I mean then you would've had to be more than just pretty or popular to win. Wouldn't that have been terrible. LOL. Most of the girls that made cheerleader were already popular or if a girl was gymnastically inclined she could win and become popular. LOL. One cheerleader that especially grabbed my attention was Courtney Bush. She was incredibly friendly with Farrah-esque hair. She wore Gloria Vanderbilt jeans too, the ones with the swan and Gloria's signature on the pocket. All of this pretentiousness was obsurd but as a young teenager it seemed very important. Looking back I'm sure it had something to do with wanting to be well liked myself. I probably thought if I could figure out what made a person popular I could be popular myself or perhaps I was just an 80's version of Perez Hilton.

My sister Deidre was two years behind me so I was determined that she would be miss popular, a cheerleader. If I couldn't do it I could help her be all I wasn't. I asked her if she wanted my help and she agreed. I helped her with her hair almost every morning and even went on a few occasions to the track field where there was a huge mat that she used to practice gymnastics. By the time the try outs came around she was so tired of listening to my input. I drove her crazy talking about it. On the morning of the tryouts I was so excited I skipped class to attend. Deidre looked cute with her hair all curled up in candlestick curls with brand new braces. I convinced her the braces would improve her looks and more or less a requirement if she wanted to win cheerleader. WOW. She was doing great at tryouts and was a sure win until at the end of her routine she went too fast into a round-off and ended up on her ass with tears streaming down her face. I rushed over at the end and assured her it wouldn't matter that she had fallen. I tried to convince her that she would still win. She was just so upset and her eyes full of tears. I hugged her and told her again, "You're still gonna win Deidre." When I left I felt so bad that I had put so much importance on winning. It had not occurred to me until now that she might think I expected her to win and would disapprove of her otherwise. It was then that I realized how unimportant it really was to me. Whether or not she was cheerleader meant nothing when I realized how crushed she might be coming home a loser. When I saw the tears in her eyes everything changed. It was like what is really important in life came into focus and priorities rearranged automatically. I guess the big brother in me finally kicked in and I didn't want to see her hurt over this. I stayed at home all day and waited by the phone until Deidre called about 2:30 pm to say that she won. I was jumping up and down and she was really excited too. She came home to a celebration but it was interrupted by the former cheerleaders showing up to pick Deidre up for the traditional initiation ritual. They covered the eight winners in shaving cream, maple syrup, peanut butter, toothpaste and took them to the mall for the evening. When she got home mother had to take her out to the backyard and wash her hair out with the water hose. Deidre was once again in tears.
More Later...

1981 McNiel Jr High

2009-01-28T18:54:00.008-06:00

1981. Seventh grade at McNiel Jr High (pictured at left) was not fun. By this time Eric White's guilt had gotten the best of him. He told all the guys at school I had hit on him during the weekends we had spent overnight together. He wouldn't talk to me anymore (except to call me a FAG). Jeff Brown, Kent Sorge, Chuck Russell, Scott Wood and Danny Ragsdale all followed suit. So everywhere I went (from the end of my 5th grade year up until about my Junior year in high school) all I heard anytime I saw these guys was "FAG" or "I'm gonna kick your ass, FAG!" It was really embarrassing sometimes especially when it was in class in front of everyone. I initially had been friends with all of them but since Eric White lied to them, they all hated me. They were so hateful that had any one of them died (like in an accident or something) I wouldn't have cared. That's how bad it was. On one occasion in the lunch room I remember Scott Wood's mother visiting him at lunch. She sat with Scott and others and I could hear Scott telling his mom that I was a fag. I heard her laughing loudly and asking, "That one right there?" Then she laughed even louder as I looked over at them. I remember thinking how my mom would have never done such a thing. It sucked actually being in the position I was in...If I would have told teachers or my parents the name calling would have only gotten worse. If I would have stood up to them I would have gotten my ass kicked since they all ran in numbers. Then on top of that I knew something was different about me...I was, after all, attracted to boys. I had been as far back as my memory could remember. It didn't even seem unnatural to me. What did seem unnatural was the hostility I got from the Eric White followers at school. Looking back now I guess I brought out something in Eric that he was not ready to deal with. It probably scared the hell out of him that he cared so much about another guy. He couldn't (or didn't want to) deal with it. The reason I know this is because its happened several times since then. A guy who never had any doubt about his sexuality suddenly in a gay relationship...with me. Hey what can I say? I'm just not attracted to fem guys, sexually. It's just one of those prejudices I have that just makes up who I am. I mean some of my best friends are drag queens or even transexual, I just don't sleep with them.

Now, where were we? Ah yes 7th grade...I had met this girl, Christie. She wore heavy make-up like stage make-up or something. I thought it was a lot but I thought she was very good at applying it. I would find out later that Christie was just as pretty without make-up though I don't think she ever realized it. She was kinda heavy on the bottom with huge breasts, especially for an eighth grader. All the guys would talk about getting her in bed. I started to become curious since I'd never been with a guy or a girl at this point apart from the things I did with Julianna Harvey in the second grade behind the bushes at Lamar Elementary School. One night Christie invited me over to watch Humanoids From the Deep. She wanted me to crawl through the window after her parents went to sleep. I did. When I got into her bed and having already disscussed it, we proceeded to have sex. Without getting too graphic here it felt good physically but did nothing for me otherwise. She liked me but I couldn't have a relationship with her. I was looking for something else, yeah I was definitely looking for something else...

I took tennis to hopefully escape the bullies that I would've had to put up with by taking regular a PE class. Our school's phys ed department had a mandatory shower policy. This freaked me out beyond belief and believe it or not, I somehow sidestepped the issue every single day of the school year. This was partly due to being one of the only kids with pubic hair. I just knew if they discovered this fact they would have one more reason to be ugly, jealous, immature brats. I hated these kids at McNiel Jr High. I always felt so much more mature than the kids my age. It was hard getting up every day, facing these idiots.

Later in the same school year, winter 1982, I met Tommy. He was one of the 7th graders in my tennis class. He was about a head shorter than me, kinda nerdy with glasses, blond straight hair with an accent from like Ohio or near there. He was a bit feminine but considering my lack of options (not that I was even aware of my lack of options) I developed a crush on Tommy. This carried on quite innocently for a few months until one day I decided I wanted some confirmation on how he felt about me. I wrote a note on a small piece of paper that read, "I Love You." I put it in my pocket and was trying to decide how and if I was going to give it to him. I usually walked him home first and then I would walk home. When we got to his place I finally got up enough courage to tell him I had a note for him. He kept asking me for the note until we started wrestling on the floor. At one point I threw it in his closet and ran out the door. I ran all the way home. When I got there the phone was ringing, it was Tommy. He asked what I was doing. I just cut to the chase and asked if he was mad about the note. He was silent for a few seconds and then he said, "No I'm not mad...I feel the same way as you do." So there ya have the story of my first boyfriend experience. As I write these truth's I am cringing at the thought of the various eyes that could read across these pages and into my past. LOL. Why am I writing this?

More later...

Terrible Tuesday April 10, 1979

2009-01-28T16:13:00.010-06:00

On April 10, 1979...now known as TERRIBLE TUESDAY. Eric White's grandmother dropped us off about noon to Sikes Center Mall to see the new Superman movie with Christopher Reeve. When she picked us up she told us there was really bad weather coming our way. Boy, was it ever. Just the thought of a tornado had always fascinated but terrified me more. I got home and watched the constant weather updates on KAUZ TV Channel 6. Lynn Walker, Kay Shannon and Rich Segal were anchors looking very nervous as it became more and more evident that this thing was huge (a mile and a half wide at some points) and headed straight toward the city.

At about 6:03 pm the power went off. My Dad was standing in the bed of his 1978 Silverado pickup trying to see the tornado. I walked out onto the front porch and noticed the sky was turning orange in the direction the storm was coming. My dad yelled very sternly to get back into the house. The tone in his voice was enough to scare the crap out of me because it was seldom I ever heard fear and panic in my dad's voice, if ever up until that day. We sandwiched into the hall closet as the roar became louder. One of us yelled for TJ our doberman. If I remember correctly, during all the panic, she ran out into the backyard barking and there was no time to chase after her. As the house shook I was just waiting to be hurled out onto the ground outside. All I remember hearing was the roar of the wind and all four of our voices saying, "Oh God!" After approximately three minutes we opened the door. Our house was nearly unrecognizable. Broken glass from every window and door with mud and debris covering everything we owned. Once outside the destruction was unbelievable. Uprooted trees, cars turned in every direction and upside down. The further down our street you walked the more houses were destroyed leaving only the inner walls or less. Many houses were completely flattened. My dad ran up to the main intersection two blocks from our house to see if any help was needed. Some people were trapped in their vehicles. He and another guy picked up a car using a piece of wood as leverage. Under the car they found a woman shaking from shock and the sight of her husband dead beside her.
There was an unrecognizable odor in the air and a dusty haze over everything. As we stumbled through debris the hardest rain I had ever seen came down. Huge drops with no wind for about two minutes. Then the sun came out for just a few minutes revealing the destruction and then leaving the city pitch black. The sound of military rescue helicopters circled all through the night as well as the sound of different relatives calling out in fear that we might not all be ok. You could hear them calling our names blocks before reaching our house. The voices seemed to echo and became more frantic as they got closer and saw all the damage. Then the sighs of releif as they were told we were all fine.
The amount of relief and help from the Red Cross, various volunteer groups, and the government was incredible. For about a month or so trucks with catered food drove down our street 3 times a day to make sure we had food. The government provided thousands of temporary trailer homes for the homeless. They would either deliver it to your destroyed home if you planned to rebuild or it was parked in Kawanis Park, two blocks from our house. It was surreal to see all of the white trailers, cloned as far as you could see, in perfect alignment. Then after a few months the trailer park started shrinking. They had a hell of a time getting some of those trailers returned. The temp trailer park became an annoyance and a nuisance to the city. Seems like they eventually had to come and run the remaining dwellers out of Kawanis Park and seize the trailers .

Since the tornado had wiped out our junior high school we would endure one more year at Jefferson Elementary (pic at left). As 6th graders we would have normally started attending McNiel Jr High. The 7th & 8th graders had to be moved to nearby Rider High School.
One of my best friends in the sixth grade, Stephanie Turner, lived around the corner from us so we usually went to school together. Stephanie was adopted by her Aunt Bo. She was a bit different than the other girls. I liked her. She wore really nice clothes and was knowledgeable in fashion. She wore LuvIt jeans with all the designs on the pockets and cuffed them at the ankle. My favorite pair had gold records on the pocket and "DISCO" inscribed on them as well. Stephanie was also really funny. We would spend hours in class breaking rules - eating candy, laughing at things our teacher or other students would do or say. It seems like Steph and I laughed through an entire year of classes. We did get caught at least once eating candy which resulted in the two of us having to stay after school and write I WILL NOT EAT IN CLASS a few hundred times each before we were allowed to leave school that day. We often hung out evenings in my room playing records or roller skated around the neighborhood. Music was always the biggest part of our entertainment. At the end of my sixth grade year I threw a party in my parents backyard. My dad hung colored lights from the top of the trees. Some of the kids paired off and were kissing in the dark corners of the yard. I played 45 rpm singles all night, well until midnight at least. I remember playing Shalamar's Second Time Around and Full Of Fire, Gary Numan's Cars and Anita Ward's Ring My Bell.

Early Years Wichita Falls

2007-08-06T20:02:00.038-05:00

I was born on a snowy 14th of February 1968. In Wichita Falls, Texas. I was supposedly a valentine from my Mom to my Dad. Mother swears I didn't crack a smile until I was six months old. They called me horrible Howard. My Dad worked for an optician and my Mom was a floral designer. She is still one of the best in Wichita Falls. Her real passion is writing. She has written since I can remember and has written several books. She recently published her first book, Come Hell Or High Water and the second one, The Hell Of Stallions is coming out Summer 2010.
Around 1977 my Dad got a job at a new plant being built just outside Wichita Falls called PPG or Pittsburgh Paint and Glass. This is where he is still employed today.

His new job afforded the new home in University Park. It was a three bedroom brick house with a garage. The house we were leaving in Sunnyside was a small two bedroom house with a carport that my parents bought from my Grandmother's foster mother, Bobbie. Deidre and I shared a room that was bright red with a bunk bed (i slept on the upper bunk). Hanging on the wall of our tiny room was the now famous red swimsuit Farrah poster. I bought it at the mall at Spencer gifts for $2.50. This is where we lived from approx 1970-1978. Our phone number was 767-7283 and our address was 1670 Hawes Wichita Falls, Texas 76303. Prior to the place on Hawes we lived in a small house at 1318 34th st. About a week before Christmas 1969 my parents and I were at a drive in movie. Upon returning we turned down our street and saw fire trucks and lights at our house. It had completely burned. We lost everything including our cat which was found under the bed burned to death. Luckily I was too young to remember any of this happening. We stayed at both grandma's Bop'and MawMaw's places for a couple of weeks or so until my parents got us moved to the house on Hawes.

In this 1974 pic, taken after my Uncle Bruce Bruno's wedding, are (lr) Ronnie Griffin with my Aunt Becky, Uncle Jerry Bruno and Aunt Kay. Kay was the manager at a bank in Geronimo, OK. Sadly she was killed in 1984 during a bank robbery. Two guys came into the bank and were evidently denied a loan. As the two men were leaving they said something rude and words were exchanged between the men and my aunt. A little while later the two men returned with guns and knives and killed nearly everyone in the bank. More on the Geronimo Bank Robbery later or go here. The boy in the white shirt and cast on his arm is another uncle, John Bruno. My mom (Paula), me, my dad (Ronnie Sr.), my cousin Donna (Kay and Jerry's daughter), Uncle Bruce and new 14 year old wife (Tanya Sue Bell Bruno) and finally my sister Dee Dee (Deidre).

For as long as I can remember I've always been interested music. As I grew up I would imagine these explosive all night parties where everyone was family and the fun never seemed to end. I got a lot of these ideas from things like the Studio 54 album and shows I would see on television. Since 1976 I have been a huge fan of Farrah Fawcett. It was what I thought every American woman should look like...the hair the teeth the carefree attitude. In 1978 as we had just settled into our new neighborhood on the southwest side of Wichita Falls. One day, while sizing us up from her yard next door, was future friend and new neighbor Stacey Lawrence. After a few minutes she yells, "Which one of you is the boy and which one is the girl?" Looking back a few years later I understood her confusion. Deidre was eight and I was ten. Deidre was topless in the front yard shooting birds with a bb gun. She had short messy brown hair and buck teeth. I however, had perched myself on the top step of our new front porch. My blonde hair was feathered back and to my shoulders. I was reading an article on Farrah in a Teen Beat magazine. I guess Stacey was asking a legitimate question really.

Deidre and I started the 1978-79 school year at our new school Jefferson elementary. I in the fifth grade Deidre the 3rd. I quickly made friends, being new and all, especially with the girls. After a while the other boys started to resent me. My disinterest in sports coupled with the fact that I wasn't exactly the most masculine of the bunch set the stage. Enter football player and Mr popular and my new best friend of a few months Eric White. Eric was a really cute kid with thick black hair, tan and cute smile. Every weekend we would stay over at one or the other's place. I remember walking all over his neighborhood one day with a portable 8 track player with the Village People blaring out of it. We would usually stay up late watching Steve Martin on Saturday Night Live. As time went on we silently became more fond of each other. It wasn't uncommon for me to wake up with Eric's arms and legs around me. Which I liked but was too afraid to acknowledge vocally. On a few occasions I remember waking up to his leg across mine and him calling me little Howie!

Village People - YMCA (version originale)
Uploaded by scorpiomusic

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