Charlie James Duo

In the beginning...

In June of 1977, after been fired by Barry Richards, I realized that I would have probably been okay if I had just dedicated myself to the music. I had been too involved in the night life, in the party. Not that I had time to party. I had been going to school during the mornings (5 days a week) and had been working as a piano tuning apprentice in the afternoon. So, the six night a week, six hours a night gig at Miami Beach's Forge Restaurant was aready tough - and I would fall asleep during our one our breaks. Anyway, now I needed a gig.

 
I didn't really know where to turn for a gig - I was sure that Crackers wouldn't ask me to rejoin. I went to Barry's agent, Mike Vetro since Mike seemed to have everything happening.
 

Mike introduced me to James Boro, a tall and imposing dude with long, flaming red hair. James had been working with a keyboard player named Chuck as the Charly James Duo, but for some reason (I can only guess), Chuck had decided to move on.

 

James & I had a few quick rehearsals. He played guitar and sang and had a drum machine that he started and stopped with a foot switch. I was surprised that the two of us were actually able to sound pretty full. The use of drum machines these days is common, but that was 1977 and I remember being impressed. James' guitar playing was rocked out, but real good. I used my Fender Rhodes electric piano and an Arp String Ensemble, so we also had an orchestra. We sounded pretty good, especially for two people.
 
However, the gigs were something else to think about. We worked lounges up and down Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale. We were booked at a Tony Romo's BBQ in North Miami Beach for a bit. All gigs seem to lead to the same thing. James liked to take the microphone and talk to the audiences. And he liked to drink because that helped loosen his tongue. Unfortunately, the drink would unloosen his judgement as well. I have never been one to easily embarass, but I would be ready to run almost nightly.
 

It was an almost nightly occurence that someone would heckle him. James was totally up to the task of producing comebacks. I enjoy comedy, and like a good comeback, even a putdown. But putdowns should come with some finesse. James' putdowns were more like a Sherman Tank coming through - complete with expletives. He would anger his heckling customers to where they would walk out with the party they came in with. And other customers would leave as well. We very rarely had folks in the room when we were doing our last sets of the night. I felt trapped. To tell the truth, I was surprised that nobody every approached the stage and punched him in the mouth.
 

By August, we weren't being offered gigs at the same pay rate, so I started refusing gigs that James was offering. It's easy when the money is not there - but I was very happy not to be working with him. Unfortunately, I wasn't working anywhere else, either.

 

James brought me in for one more gig in September, taking me on the road to Sarasota, FL. I didn't want to go, but it had been almost two months since I had a gig and the money wasn't too bad. I couldn't wait to see what new trouble James might get us into.