My First Apartment

I moved out of my mom’s place pretty early. I think I was 16 or 17.

Dom and Benet were living in Bre-- ,er-- Laclede West, a newer part of Laclede Town on the west side of Compton. The band was practicing in the basement. This really separated Laclede West from the rest of Laclede Town. There was a basement.

The band had several names before settling on Jon Cotton. My favorite was Bronco Bullfrog.

A friend of mine named Ed had just moved out of his folks’ place in Brea -- ,er-- Laclede West. He found a beautiful carriage house in the Central West End. It was a little expensive so he invited me to move in. I thought, “What a cool first place to live.”

It was a big deal for my folks too. The night I moved in my mom stopped by with my dad. My dad looked like he was choking back tears at the thought of this new phase of my life.

I spent my first night there alone. I remember falling asleep to a small TV my girlfriend Pam had given me.

I was still at Logos High School and Ed was at Southwest. I had gone to Southwest. So did my dad and uncles. Logos took me in when I began to have trouble recognizing the authority of my teachers.

When I got home from school that next day I found the apartment crowded with a bunch of Southwest High School students. The place reeked of marijuana.

Ed had divided his part of the rent with five other kids from Southwest. He wanted a place to party away from his folks. I lived in my first apartment a single night before running back to my mom.

It would be several months before I moved into a place across the alley from my mom with Tony Patti and my brother.

It was good I didn’t stray too far. I ate at Best Steak House no. 2 one night and spent 3 days in a food poisoned delirium. When I was finally lucid enough to call my mom she walked across the alley to spoon feed me peanut butter until I got my strength back.

I think Ed eventually spent time in prison for dealing. I know a lot of people came to regard him as an a$$hole.

Photo is an early publicity photo of Jon Cotton in Dom and Benet’s Laclede West basement. 1973 or 1974 I think. Left to right out front are John Steffen, Benet and Jimmy Hill. Dominic and I are in the back.