#rick steff

BOOTLEG Lucero live on Rick's Birthday in Bowling Green January 18, 2013

In July 2018, I traveled to a casino in Tunica.  I had this eerie feeling that I’d been there before. It was the smell--casinos smell like soap or something. I must have been wrong. But when I got a player’s card, the lady at the desk said, “Oh, hey Tony.” I was like what did you call me? (Tony is my twin brother’s name.) She said, “You from Atlanta right?” I checked my concert history and it  turned  out that I had been there in 2005 to see John Kilzer play at the auditorium there. My twin must’ve been there before as well.

I was  introduced  to John Kilzer’s music while I was a law student at Ole Miss in the late 80s. I moved away from the Mid-South but searched for John online to see if he still played gigs. I found some AOL site in like 1999 that mentioned John had issues with alcoholism and hadn’t released a CD since  1990. I found out on Myspace in 2005 that John played a place called Memphis Originals, at the edge of the  Memphis State campus. I flew from Florida 3 times to see John play there, the last time being in September 2006.

This concert is among my Top 5 shows –and I’ve seen over 1,000 concerts. When I arrived at MO’s, I talked to John and told him that I flew all the way from  Florida just  see and hear him play. John started to play and asked for requests. I shouted  like  5 song titles. After each song John asked me (whom he called “Brother Bobby”), to give him a new song to play. I am glad I have a pretty good  memory–it allowed to me to rattle off 20-some song titles from 1988-1990 when John’s 2 rock CDs were released. (The used “Memory in the Making CD sells for $82 on Amazon–I gave a copy to a friend in Forrest City in 2013.)

After the show I thanked John for  indulging  me and playing all my requests. He said he was impressed that I could recall 20 song titles of songs that were released over 15 years ago. He was shocked that someone came from Florida to hear him play. He was humbled. He told me to keep in touch.

In  September 2012, I met John at St John’s United Methodist Church on Peabody in Memphis, and bought his new CD “Seven” as well as “The Way.” He said I could mail him a check for the CDs later. I sent those CDs to a friend in Little Rock.

At that time I was in town to see Ben Nichols play solo at the Hi-Tone. I asked him if he knew Lucero and he said that he played with Rick Steff and the horn section. As I was leaving I asked John where the bus stop was so I could hit the Hi-Tone. John said, “Nah, brother, you ain’t taking the bus. I’ll drive you there.” He got into this big American gas guzzler, and reached under the mat of the driver’s side and grabbed his keys and wallet. He took me to Huey’s nearby for a pre-show meal. Then he left, saying he had an intervention to attend to stop a crack addict from using.

I last saw John in October 2018. We had a lot of catching up to do in the basement of St. John’s UMC. We sat and talked for a few hours.  I told him what was going on in my life. I told him I did not understand it. He said, “God has appointed you to be someone’s guardian angel.” John had a PhD in Divinity, so I figured he was right. And he was. (Took me a few years to realize who that person was.)

As I was driving to Memphis on Tuesday, I read in the Real Lucero Fan Group that John had just died. I was in denial. I put on “Memory in the Making and just kept driving.” I was so upset that I ran out of gas, got stranded on I-40 Westbound outside Memphis. A friend sent me some Lucero lyrics from “It Gets the Worst at Night.” The comic relief helped a little at the time.  She persuaded me to walk 2 miles to Exit 25, but there was nothing but a Memphis Welcome Center there so I walked back to my car--to find an florescent orange Highway Patrol sticker telling me that my car would be towed soon if I din move it. I spent the night in my car, getting about 2 hours of sleep and a crick in my neck. I was hoping the drivers of the 18-wheelers (that made my car sway every time they passed me) were awake and not texting.