LOOKING BACK

LHOWDY
I started doing electrical work bac in 1966. In 1967 I got my journeyman license and in 1969 I got my master license.
I started my own company in June of 1969 Macs Electric.
By 1974 I was doing so much business it was a miracle from god. I just did not know how to give thanks to the lord.
I had three trucks six employees and my wife Barbara took all the messages and collected all the money.
I drove a new pickup, Barbara drove a yellow Buick Rivera.
During that time, I cosigned a note for all my five brothers and sisters and every one of them left me hanging so to maintain my credit I had to
Pay all five of them off so much a month which took a lot of my income.
I got a job rewiring a motel that a captain from the base bought and hired my company to rewire it.
Now during that time, I was playing music every weekend and on special occasions.
One day while we were working the captain came up to me and said Freddie I have been to your dances and listen to you sing and my question is why haven’t you recorded any records.
I explained my problem to him and said I just don’t have enough money left to pay to go to a recording studio and record.
How much would it take to record two records a side and b side. I told him a thousand dollars. He said I will get you the thousand dollars with some conditions.
First you must do it as soon as possible and you must give me the rights to the song you wrote called Living in the past. You must pay me back the money one hundred a month. The last request is that I want to be in the studio when you record. Which turned out to be a big hassle.
I agreed to all of his request and called Joey Records in San Antonio and set up a recording date.
I am not going to talk about what happened in the studio except to say the captain tried to take over the recording session and only stopped when the owner of the studio told him shut up and sit down or get the hell out, I used my regular band as musicians instead of hiring studio mus1c1ans.
When it was received by the public the b side was an instant hit mostly because it was in English and Spanish
After about a week it was number one in this area and stayed number one for six weeks.
I started getting more and more jobs to go and play music.
One Saturday morning Barbara and I went to the Derby Cafe located on Ave F and Ninth Street. As we walked in, I saw a couple of men sitting at a table. I noticed when we sat down and ordered breakfast, people would stop by the table and talk about my work but mostly my music.
They would say how much they enjoyed my singing and how well the record was doing. My dad told me long ago treat people the way you want them to treat you. Because of that fact I always listened to what they had to say.
After we had eaten, we talked a while longer than we got up to leave, I noticed two men got up too. I didn’t pay any attention to them and we got in the car and drove home. Now we lived on Valente Lane off of Nicholson Street and there was only one way in and one was out.
Barbara said someone is following us. When we got to the house we went inside and Barbara went to the back of the house.
All of a sudden, the door flew open and two men ran in, it was the two from the cafe. They started screaming give us your money and no one
will get hurt. One had a hunting knife and the other what looked like a straight razor.
About that time Barbara came back in the room and she was carrying a twelve-gauge pump shot gun. She told them you got 15 seconds to get out or you will die here, they took off running. Barbara followed them outside and shot up in the air but they were gone.
We did not report it but I learned a lesson, when you go into your house lock the door. As my friend Tom says keep the faith and just continue to enjoy it while you can. Keep the faith and good times will come again just wait and see, good times will come again in sunny Del Rio Texas, My home town. Thanks to Victor Cirilo and the Val Verde County Library.