This last one lost me my get-in-free priveleges and the poor Pods hardly played the Club again. Doc took a vacation in California, and we asked Jim Smith of The Reduced to replace him on drums for one gig. It was our first time as just The Pods, something we wouldn't return to until the 90's. Doc had a really cool style but of course we didn't appreciate him fully after seeing and hearing all those powerhouse bands throughout 1985, which deeply affected us. So we rehearsed with Jimmuh thursday and friday and did a gig on saturday. Bill Leist probably wasn't thrilled his drummer was stepping out on him but he generously put us on a bill anyway. I wasn't commissioned to make the flyer, and I had no clue who Tex & The Horseheads were, AND I was thrilled we were gonna go full-throttle with a real loud ROCK drummer, so my flyer was ALL PODS ALL THE WAY. I figured there was an official flyer for the show, as we were last minute additions. But if there was one, I never saw it. Well, my flyers were angrily disposed of by the JC staff and I got a way-chilly non-greeting that night. Things were never ever the same. No more golden era. And Doc wasn't too thrilled either but we still had great gigs with him for several more years. The good news was The Pods SUPER ROCKED like never before and not ever again. (at least not until Scott Porter and Marc Friedlander did their tours of Pod duty later) -and- Texacala Jones and her Horseheads turned out to be an excellent national act from LA, so putting them in teensy weensy print on my flyer was indeed a boo-boo. But in my defense I claim total ignorance, plus a lack of communication from Billy Ace. Doc and the Pods were playing all over the place by this point and barely felt our JC semi-blacklisting. Our biggest year was 1986 and that was also the beginning of the decline of the JC, so maybe we kinda lucked out anyway. A blunder like this at The Flamingo and I might have been a poured foundation...or fish food... But revenge Jockey-style followed the "magic marker is mightier than the sawed-off shotgun" motif. So the Jockey Club soon got me back, sending a bit of a message a month later. It's probably why we got this show at all. After this gig we sorta got phased out.

It's a cool flyer by one of the best artists in the Jockey stable, Hardcore Bob, but it made me feel like shit. Well, I had mixed feelings. I thought it was kinda funny, yet stupid and petty. But I kinda got the point. I grabbed it for my archives, regardless of the vibe it was emanating. We loved our double bills with The Thangs, and really didn't mind too much being micro-sized to them. It's actually how we felt, we thought they were the very best. The photo below is from that night, 9/7/85.