Following a show in New York, the band was drinking at a bar across the street from the hotel. The bar was known as a place where rock musicians were often found. Sometimes they even played impromptu gigs.
Lindsey was on her second double whiskey. Tammy kept yelling at the bartender.
“More beer!”
After several refills, the bartender became tired of Tammy shouting at him. He began to ignore her. When Courtney returned from the ladies’ room, she noticed Tammy trying to get the bartender’s attention. Courtney hopped onto a barstool, reached over the bar and grabbed him by the vest, pulling him forward.
“Apparently you don’t know who we are!” Courtney shouted.
Two bouncers noticed what was happening, and walked toward the bar. Steve and Arnie were sitting at a table eating. When they saw what was happening, they got up and headed toward the bouncers.
Steve laughed. “Let’s show these punks!”
Soon Kerry and Nikki were throwing punches and screaming at each other. Courtney attempted to pull them apart and got hit in the face by accident. Lindsey disappeared backstage. Two roadies jumped on stage and called for security. Before they could be separated, a photographer managed to make his way to the stage. He was able to take several excellent pictures of Kerry and Nikki throwing punches at each other, and even a few of Courtney lying on her back holding the side of her swollen face. Then Lindsey suddenly appeared and smashed a bottle of whiskey across the top of her amp, sending glass and whiskey all over the stage. These pictures were run in the papers the next day. Courtney stumbled backstage, and was soon followed by the others. Now the band was delayed as Arnie and Steve applied ice to the side of Courtney’s face. She had a cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth, and she started laughing.
“Nice shot Kerry!”
“I didn’t mean to hit you, I meant to hit the other shithead!”
Courtney looked up and gave her the finger.
Kerry looked out at the floor of the stage. “Damn Lindsey, you wasted a perfectly good bottle of whiskey!”
Nikki and Lindsey looked at each other and laughed. Max suddenly appeared.
“Now that’s what I call a sound check!”
Kerry glared at him as the others sat around watching Arnie and Steve hold ice packs on the side of Courtney’s face. Event staff was cleaning up the glass and whiskey that was all over the stage. There was no warm up band, and the floor crowd was beginning to get rowdy. Security was beginning to get rough with the fans.
“You got hit real good Miss Courtney!” Arnie said.
“Yeah,” Steve said. “You look like me when I went up against Jackhammer John Cates back in Philly! That was a fight!”
The band was playing regularly at the Yardbird and was getting paid well, based on the take at the front doors. More and more members of the audience were trying to get backstage to meet the band. This kept Steve and Arnie busy. But that wasn’t a problem, since they now had ample opportunity to knock people around. They would usually yell back to Kerry or Courtney to see if they should let whoever it was backstage. One night a guy wearing bell-bottom jeans and a denim shirt attempted to walk backstage. Steve stepped in front of him.
“Whoa, where are you goin’ pal?”
Then Arnie stepped up behind him. “Yeah, you can’t just walk backstage.”
The man looked at them nervously. “Oh yeah. I need to talk to the band though.”
“What about?” Steve asked.
“Just tell them that Campus radio is here.”
Steve disappeared backstage as Arnie glared menacingly at Campus radio guy. Courtney and Kerry were busy talking with some local club owners who showed up earlier. Lindsey was sitting closest to the door.
“Miss Lindsey, there’s a guy here says he needs to see the band,” Steve said.
Lindsey followed him to the door. She peered around Steve.
“I’m Mike, I need to talk to you.” He handed her a business card.
“Thanks Steve, he can come back,” Lindsey said.
Steve Standlin
Steve, born Stephan Stanlikowski, was the son of poor immigrant parents from Central Europe who settled in the Bronx. They lived in a particularly rough neighborhood, and Steve, large even at birth, a "nice plump baby" as his mother described him, was infamous for his willingness to "bruise his knuckles on bigger boys' heads." Well, that's how Mrs. Stanlikowski would put it. He had several brothers and sisters, and being the oldest, he dropped out of school and worked to help support the family. Then he was recruited by Gashouse Gusty Brown, a famous prize fighter, to join his stable of boxers. Steve was thrilled, telling a couple of rough-neck friends..."Hey yous mugs...I gets paid ta' do 'dis!" He soon adopted the name Steamroller Steve Standlin, though his mother, who was always ringside at local bouts, would yell out, "Kill'm Little Stevie!" A drunk boxing fan made the mistake of calling him "Little Stevie" to his face after a particularly brutal bout against Allen "Ape Man" Anderson, and it came as no surprise that the Ape Man wasn't the only one knocked out that evening. Before long, Steve was fighting his way through the South. His ability to take round after round of pounding before finally unleashing a blistering attack became well-known to boxing fans. But there simply wasn't enough money in it.
While training in a gym in Dallas, he met William Barton, who went by the name Bad Boy Billy Barton. He wasn't a boxer...he was a professional wrestler who competed in the Texas World Championship Wrestling promotion, which was one of the most popular in the nation. Billy said that the promotion was looking for guys like the Steamroller. At the prospect of better pay, Steve soon signed on. He quickly became popular as Stomping Steve Standlin, a brawling, rule-breaking cheater whom the fans loved. His signature move was to "accidentally" knock the referee down and then stomp on his opponent before finally covering him for the pin. The promotion soon scripted an ongoing feud between Barton and Standlin, seeing how both were "bad guys." They had epic matches including "Anything Goes" matches, several Steel Cage matches, and two Texas Bull Rope matches. They even had a "No Referee" match where the only way to win was to walk from the ring to the entrance of the dressing room. Seems easy, except for the fact that you had to completely incapacitate your opponent to do it. Several fake "fans" were positioned in the audience and at various points in the match, they would stop one and then the other wrestler from making it all the way. Eventually, Barton won after knocking Steve out. And knocking Steve out was no easy task, unless you did it like Barton using the pair of brass knuckles he had hidden in one of the cowboy boots he wore into the ring. The feud was set to end in Ft. Worth. Barton was to lose the Texas Heavyweight Championship, giving Steve his first major title win. The plan was for Barton to knock the referee down and then throw Steve over the top rope. Then, when Barton climbed out of the ring to continue the attack, wearing his brass knuckles of course, Steve was supposed to pull a chair out from under a fan sitting in the front row and smash Billy over the head with it, knocking him out cold. Finally, Steve was supposed to drag Barton back into the ring just as the referee regained his senses and in time to count Barton out. There was one problem...Steve, when he was thrown over the top rope, landed wrong and broke his ankle. When the referee saw that Steve was badly injured, he signaled to Barton to stay in the ring and retain the title by count-out. Steve left wrestling after his ankle didn't heal properly. Bad Boy Billy Barton remained one of his closest friends.
One night, he was drinking in a bar when he met an ex-weightlifter known as Arnie Atlas. He told Steve about the Yardbird Club and how the owner was looking to hire another bouncer. It wasn't boxing...and it wasn't wrestling... but it provided ample opportunity to knock people around. With Steve and Arnie prowling the club, there was soon virtually no trouble with patrons, much to Steve's disappointment. When Kerry, Courtney, Lindsey, Nikki, and Tammy began playing at the club, Steve and Arnie soon appointed themselves the band's security detail. Once the band got their record contract, Steve and Arnie were hired on as their permanent security. While Arnie was given the challenging task of protecting Courtney, Steve headed the security detail for the rest of the band. It was a job he took very seriously...getting too close to the band without a nod from one of the girls always ended badly for anyone who attempted it. Standing on the floor at the front of the stage at a Hard Rock concert reunited Steve Standlin with his greatest joy in life...knocking people around. He remained with the band until the breakup, after which he returned to the Bronx and opened Stomping Steve's New York Steak House.
Kerry, Lindsey and Courtney were staying in one room, and Tammy and Nikki were staying in the adjoining room. Kerry locked the door to her room, but Tammy and Nikki left their door open. Most of the band’s guests were crammed into Tammy and Nikki’s room. The hallway was full of people looking to get in. Steve, one their security guys, was standing at the open door between the two rooms. When someone tried to walk through, he would put out his hand. Then he would call Kerry or Lindsey to find out if he should let them in. Arnie, Courtney’s personal bodyguard, was sitting in a chair he pulled up by the door to the bedroom. Arnie jumped up when Courtney kicked the door shut. Lindsey smiled at him.
“Don’t worry, Arnie, she’s just tired.”
Suddenly the guy from the record company was standing at the door with Steve’s hand in his face.
“Hey Miss Cooper; this here guy wants in,” Steve called out, not taking his eyes off him.
*****************************
The band was playing regularly at the Yardbird and was getting paid well, based on the take at the front doors. More and more members of the audience were trying to get backstage to meet the band. This kept Steve and Arnie busy. But that wasn’t a problem, since they now had ample opportunity to knock people around. They would usually yell back to Kerry or Courtney to see if they should let whoever it was backstage. One night a guy wearing bell-bottom jeans and a denim shirt attempted to walk backstage. Steve stepped in front of him.
“Whoa, where are you goin’ pal?”
Then Arnie stepped up behind him. “Yeah, you can’t just walk backstage.”
The man looked at them nervously. “Oh yeah. I need to talk to the band though.”
“What about?” Steve asked.
“Just tell them that Campus radio is here.”
Steve disappeared backstage as Arnie glared menacingly at Campus radio guy. Courtney and Kerry were busy talking with some local club owners who showed up earlier. Lindsey was sitting closest to the door.
“Miss Lindsey, there’s a guy here says he needs to see the band,” Steve said.
Lindsey followed him to the door. She peered around Steve.
“I’m Mike, I need to talk to you.” He handed her a business card.
“Thanks Steve, he can come back,” Lindsey said.