Chapter Two: The Dawn of Urban Cowboy

Rick Archer, SSQQ
Last update: February 2006

How Four Women - a Beauty, a Tragic Lover, a Social Outcast, and a Mystery Woman - plus two dangerous Gambles made Rick Archer the best-known Western Dance Teacher in Houston....

All before he knew how to dance Western.

Not only was I bitter that Disco was Dead, I was also furious that a lot of people had been a lot smarter than I was back in 1979 when the movie was being filmed. How they could have predicted this change so far in advance was beyond me. I hated that I never realized the magnitude of the coming switch.

I mean, sure, I saw the dance clubs change their stripes. But everyone in my world still clearly preferred Disco Dancing and claimed they had no intention of switching. Most of the Disco loyalists felt the same way I did. They hated the music and they resisted the changes.

Personally, I couldn't stand the changes - right before my eyes hip, sophisticated, modern, cosmopolitan Houston was going Kicker. It felt like a step back to the Stone Ages.

The Meyerland Club comes Calling

On a Tuesday early in September 1979, a lady named Sandy from the Meyerland Club called to ask me if I would consider teaching her group 8 hours of Western Dancing. 

Her name seemed familiar on the phone so I asked a couple questions. Sandy told me she and her husband had taken Disco classes from me at Stevens of Hollywood in 1978.  Pleased with my work at Stevens at that time, Sandy had hired me to teach Disco lessons at the Meyerland Club in April 1979 to a group of friends who were all connected through her club.

Now I remembered exactly who she was. 1979 had been such a hectic year, my memory had become one long blur. But now I remembered going to her Meyerland Club to teach Disco lessons.

On the phone today, she said she wanted me back. Great, I thought to myself, I know plenty of new Disco moves.

"That sounds like fun. Sure, I would enjoy teaching for you again."

Her next question was, "Can you teach on Sunday evenings?"

"Yes. My Sundays are free right now."

Then came the curve ball. Sandy said all her friends were abuzz about the new movie. Urban Cowboy had not been released yet, but it was due to hit the silver screen sometime next year. Sandy and her friends wanted to get a head-start!!

Oh damn, I thought. Sandy must have sensed the pause in my voice. "Do you like to teach Western?"

I paled at her question. She had really pinned me with that one. I clenched my teeth and swallowed my pride.  I hated Country and everything to do with it.  Nevertheless I was still talking on the phone, wasn't I?

I hedged and said, "I'm getting used to it just like everyone else."

Then came the next question.  I can still recall her words clear as day.

"You do know how to teach Country Dancing, don’t you?"

If I hesitated I was dead. "Of course I do." 

I had just lied through my teeth. I had never danced Western one time in my entire life.

"That's good. A couple ladies in my group asked around but couldn't find anyone. That's when I suggested you."

Not only did I not have a clue, I hated Western music. Just as I was thinking of turning her down, Sandy's next words froze me. "Would the price be the same?"

She responded to my pause by continuing, "This would mean $40 a person. I forgot to tell you, we want you to come out once a week for eight weeks!"

EIGHT WEEKS!!  FORTY DOLLARS A PERSON!!

I could not help myself. I had to ask. I HAD TO KNOW. "Uh, how many people do you expect?"

"Maybe 40, 50 people. Here at the Meyerland Club it is being billed as the thing to do!  All the ladies want to wear their new Western outfits!"

I felt my knees go weak. The math was inescapable. $200 an hour was a lot of money. Would I have the strength to resist Temptation?

I gulped.  The thought that crossed my mind was I guess I could start learning how to Western dance.  With my heart pounding, I said yes.

That's when she added, "By the way, the first class is this Sunday!"

I gasped as she said it started this coming Sunday. The job was only five days away! 

She felt my pause. She said, "Is this too short a notice?"  Then she added there was one other person on her list she had heard might teach if I couldn't help.... 

"Uh no, Sunday evening will be fine. See you then!!"

I hung up the phone in a panic.  What had I gotten myself into?  I did not know how to Twostep.  I did not know how to Polka.  If you put on a Country song, I would not be able to tell you which dance to use.  I had never been dancing in a Western Club in my life.

I basically knew no more about Western Dancing than the people I was about to teach.  That makes it interesting, doesn't it?

THE BIG GAMBLE

Kahlil Gibran wrote in "The Prophet" that morals and scruples are the province of well-fed men. He added that hungry men cannot always afford such a luxury. 

As I hung up the phone, I rationalized that even though I thoroughly detested Country Music and couldn't care less about the dancing which made me the world's biggest hypocrite, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to bring home the Bacon.   

Right??  RIGHT!!

However my guilty conscience was the least of my worries. I was in a state of near-total panic.

I didn’t have a clue how to western dance, much less teach it!!

JOANNE WILSON - THE OUTCAST

I was holding a weak hand. I had exactly one card to play and I guarantee you it was no "Ace in the Hole".  I had no idea what I would do if this didn't work. 

I wasted no time. Ten seconds after telling THE BIG LIE to Sandy, I was desperately phoning a former dance student named Joanne Wilson.

I was going to beg her to teach me how to Country Dance.  I was worried because I had no idea what sort of reception awaited me.

I had every reason to worry. Joanne might be holding a grudge.

And who on earth was Joanne Wilson?  

Joanne had once been a key member of the studio, but at the time I made this phone call she was an ssqq outcast. 

One year earlier, Joanne Wilson moved to Houston from Pennsylvania in search of employment. She had a distant relative here who said the economy was good and thought Joanne could get a job here. Since Joanne had limited education and little business training, this was her best shot.

Unfortunately nothing in her previous small-town existence prepared her for the hustle and bustle of a big city like Houston.

But when she was asked to dance, Joanne was transformed into the most dynamic woman in the Disco.  Joanne was literally a Disco Queen with her fabulous spins.  No woman was her equal when it came to turning.  She never got dizzy.  10 turns in a row, 15 in a row, it didn't matter. Joanne was amazing to watch. With her beautiful long legs, her long hair and Disco dress floating with centrifugal force, Joanne was the Disco equivalent of an ice skater. Joanne was a sight to behold when she turned. Her dancing ability was her claim to fame. 

Joanne had started in September 1978 as one of my dance students, but she didn't stay a student for long.  She was such a natural, she quickly transcended everything I knew.  One month later she began to help me teach Disco classes as an Assistant, partly because she told me she didn't have enough money for lessons any more. I didn't care - she didn't need any lessons!!

Assisting was good for her because it gave her something healthy to do at night.

Little did I anticipate that someday two other love triangles would collide and send Joanne packing.

I went into great detail how my tortured love life in Risky Business caused Joanne to vacate the Disco Scene.  Suffice it to say that Joanne crossed swords with the two mightiest women at the studio - Susie, my girlfriend at the time and Victoria, the Dragon Lady wanted Joanne's head in the worst way. These two women acted both in unison and separately to make life so miserable for Joanne that in April 1979 she turned to Country-Western dancing to find sanity.

THE HONKY-TONK BLUES

Although Joanne didn't want to have ANYTHING to do with the Disco Scene any more, out of loyalty to me (I was still her friend) Joanne continued as my assistant one night a week.  

However like I said, Joanne no longer joined the group for after-class dancing. After class was over, I would head to the Disco and Joanne would head to some Kicker Joint she had found way out Westheimer, aka Sunset Boulevard. 

One night I actually went with Joanne to check it out her personal "Country Club". I did it as a "scouting mission".  I figured, don't knock it till you've tried it.

The dive we visited was as dreary a place as I have ever been to in my life. It was some dump with 10 unhappy people dancing at 1 mile an hour to the most awful music I had ever heard in my life.  "Yer Cheatin' Heart!"

I asked Joanne if smiling was forbidden in this place.  True to her own sarcastic nature, she grinned at that one and invited me to go tell one of the patrons some of my jokes, maybe cheer 'em up a little. I politely declined.

This was about the time when some of the Discos were first starting to change their stripes and go Western, but this was the Real Deal. It was an authentic Country Bar with a rough blue-collar crowd. Nor were the girls making any fashion statements with the latest Urban Cowboy outfits I had seen popping up around town.

All I could think was "Thank goodness I'm wearing jeans".  One word from Joanne along the lines of, "This guy says Disco Rocks, Country Sucks" and that would be my epitaph. She had my life in her hands.

The music was bad enough, but I was even more depressed when I saw the dancing. Boring!!  Side - Touch, Side - Touch, walk walk, boy's forearm locked around the girl's neck, girl's right hand grabbing the boy's belt loop looking like she was hanging on for dear life.

Joanne begged me to dance, but there was NO WAY IN HELL...  I refused to participate. I realize she wanted me to show any sort of approval I could for her new world, but so help me, this placed was WORSE than my imagination had ever possibly dreamed it could be.

Disco Dancing was fast footwork, sexy clothes, move your body, spin the girl six times, intricate patterns, flashy lights, gyrate to cool energetic music.

This Country stuff was "girls go backwards real slow to awful music/no one-hand turns allowed".

I quickly left in total disgust.  My bad attitude towards Western dancing had just grown much worse.  As I drove home, I remember being consumed by bitterness towards the entire Western scene that threatened to push my Disco Dancing to extinction.

Disco was getting dumped for this?  I was beyond incredulous.  It made no sense to me.

THE LAST STRAW

A month later one night in June 1979 Joanne decided to go Disco dancing with us after class for old times sake. Now that I think about, I probably encouraged her to join us. I missed dancing with her.  Although we came in separate cars, since we came from the same place we showed up together at Annabelles. This is where the ssqq in-crowd of the day was hanging out including Victoria. I immediately headed over to Victoria's table first or risk being beheaded on the spot. Watching me come in with Joanne, Victoria already had a frown.  Put on your seat belts, boys and girls, this one's going to blow. 
 
Joanne went to a safe location where people from our studio were sitting.  Joanne was still famous as the "Dance Superstar" in our group. Several people recognized her and invited her to sit with them. One of the guys asked Joanne where she had been.

Joanne made the mistake of telling them the truth. They began to frown at her answer. Unfortunately Joanne's interest in C&W dancing was way ahead of the rest of us. She was too far ahead of the pack for this group to tolerate. They didn't realize she had done it only to escape pain. Instead she was seen as some weird traitor. 

Following a maudlin script that could have been lifted from a B-movie, once the Disco crowd discovered that Kicker Dancing was the reason behind her disappearance, they began to tease her about her desertion. 

It was pretty obvious I wasn't the only person angry about the coming Western Invasion. There were a lot of Disco Dancers who felt threatened by the emergence of a lifestyle they weren't too thrilled about.

So the crowd began to take their frustration out on Joanne. Pretty soon the teasing turned to taunting, you know, the usual stuff like how southern zoos put recipes under the animal names and a quarter horse is what you ride in front of Kmart, etc.

Furthermore no one would ask the little Country Leper Girl to dance.  Joanne felt the meanness loud and clear. She left shortly after when people were on the floor and no one was looking.  No one except me - I was watching the whole thing in disgust.

Unfortunately, tethered by Victoria's watchful eye and disapproving frown, I was unable to come to Joanne's rescue.  I think that's what hurt the worst. She felt betrayed by me.

As I watched Joanne's harassment at the Disco over her crime of going Country before Country was Cool, I knew Victoria had nothing to be jealous about where Joanne was concerned. But Victoria would not accept that. If I had come to Joanne's rescue, this move would have been akin to confronting your boss and your girlfriend at the same time. No way I was going to take that kind of risk!!

The woman who doubles my business can also reduce it to rubble. I wasn't willing to take that gamble.

Joanne was a pawn in this passion play that I had to sacrifice to appease the imperious queen.  And to say you never realized that a dance studio could have treachery the equal of Hamlet's castle??

However Joanne had taken her last lick as the Human Punching Bag. She had had enough.  The next day Joanne called to resign as my once-a-week assistant.

I apologized as best I could, but I could tell Joanne was furious with me for not coming to her defense. Joanne had a legitimate beef, but if she had ever taken a step in my "tip-toe through the mine field" dancing shoes, she would have understood.

Joanne quit the entire Disco scene in June 1979.  She did not come back to the studio.

In the meantime, Urban Cowboy was wrapping up filming here in Houston and would debut one year later in July 1980.

However the fact that it was filmed right here in Houston meant it stirred up interest in Western dancing way in advance of its actual debut in the theaters.

In the summer of 1979, the city was already abuzz with talk of a coming "Urban Cowboy" lifestyle. This was reflected in my world immediately. Disco clubs went Western, Disco outfits were replaced by Western outfits, and most important, the phone calls started ringing for Western lessons.

Joanne had saved my skin. The irony was that if Susie and Victoria hadn't chased Joanne off in the first place, she would have never learned how to Country dance. I was glad to see my lousy love life had finally paid a dividend.  It was about time!!

On a sad note, after the Meyerland class ended, Joanne drifted away. As I said, she no longer felt comfortable with the ssqq crowd.  At the same time I had no desire to actually go out Western dancing with her either (a decision I would later regret). Other than giving her the money she greatly deserved, I only saw her maybe one or two more times over the years when by chance I would run into her at some Western club. 

Nevertheless, I am sure Joanne knows full well the enormity of her contribution to my destiny. 

THANK YOU, Joanne Wilson, wherever you are. I will always remember you as the woman who saved my career. I am deeply in your Karmic debt.

THE MEYERLAND CLUB SETS THE STAGE FOR MORE SUCCESS -

CLASS FACTORY AND LEISURE LEARNING UNLIMITED

My ordeal at the Meyerland Club quickly paid enormous dividends. 

For one thing it gave me the nerve I needed to offer a Country Dance class in an adult-education program called the "Class Factory" (the Class Factory was a predecessor to Leisure Learning Unlimited.)  The owner, Donna Gerdin, said she had been looking for someone to teach it but so far no one seemed to know how or show any interest.

She told me no one in the city was teaching Western dancing at all or wanted to give it a try!! 

Her words sounded familiar. Hadn't Sandy at the Meyerland Club told me no one else even knew any Western instructors? I was beginning to wonder if anyone else was even teaching this stuff besides me.  I could not believe my luck. I knew practically nothing about Western dancing, but what I did know was apparently more than anyone else did.  My phone was ringing off the wall!

I didn't bother to mention to Donna I had never actually been Western dancing in a club in my life. I decided to keep that little secret to myself. Just like I did with Disco, I would wing it and try to stay one step ahead of the posse.

Once I discovered I had the rough idea about how teach Western dancing during the late September Western classes at the Meyerland Club, I decided to schedule them at Stevens of Hollywood too. My first Western classes at Stevens were in November 1979, a full NINE MONTHS before the movie actually debuted in July 1980.

The fact that the city had made such a drastic change nine months to a year before the movie was even released is a testimony to just how bizarre the "Urban Cowboy" phenomenon was here in Houston. 25 years later, I still don't understand it. I just accept it.

In January 1980 Western dance students began rolling in from the Class Factory listing. Enrollment in the Class Factory Disco classes dried up simultaneously, marking my official transition from a Disco teacher to a Western teacher. 

MY TGIS SUPER BOWL VICTORY

Shortly after the time I began to teach Western classes at Stevens, early in 1980 one of my Disco students mentioned a Church Singles Group he belonged to known as "TGIS"  ("Thank God Its Sunday").  This group met each week at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church. He said a number of his friends had talked about learning how to Western dance when they went to lunch after the previous Sunday's service.

I wish I could remember who made the suggestion, but I do at least remember their idea - my anonymous friend suggested I go over there and approach someone about teaching western lessons.

Interest in Western Dancing was just catching on here in Houston thanks to the soon-to-be-released "Urban Cowboy". I decided it seemed like a pretty good idea. I made a mental note to drop by the following Sunday and thought nothing more of it.

One Sunday morning in late February 1980, I visited their service. I gasped as I saw a room of 400, 500, 600 people in attendance. The number was staggering!  In Cowboy and Indian terms, the Buffalo were plentiful!!

I picked up a brochure. It said Linda Shuler was the current leader of the group. I asked someone to point her out. After the service was over, I went up to Linda Shuler. I introduced myself and told her what I wanted.

Ms. Shuler smiled at me and said, "Hmm, sounds like fun. Bring me a flyer next week for me to approve."

Then she walked off as I stood there with my mouth wide-open doing a Greek statue impersonation.

A woman I had never met before in my life had just given me the break of a lifetime. The entire transaction had taken 3 minutes. The following week she initialed my flyer and told me to print it out and distribute it each week at their meetings. That transaction took two minutes.

Five minutes for one of the biggest breaks of my career. "Right place at the right time".  Does that phrase sound familiar?So for several weeks I distributed my flyer and answered questions. There was no Pre-registration in those days. This meant I had no real idea how many people would show up.

One month later in April 1980 I was astonished when a class of 120 TGIS people show up for Western lessons at Stevens of Hollywood!!  People just kept coming and coming.

I was stunned out of my mind! These people each paid $25 for a 10-week, one hour per week class. Linda Shuler had dropped $3,000 in my pocket and that was just for starters.  

Dance classes work on a pyramid structure. Beginning classes have a natural attrition rate. Typically they dwindle down so an Intermediate class is about half the size of the original. The drop-off isn't so great from Intermediate to Advanced, so a TGIS Super-Advanced class was all but guaranteed from the very first night on. This was the good news.

The bad news was that I didn't know any Super-Advanced moves nor even any Advanced moves. So I knew I had my work cut out for me to learn this much Western material.  I no doubt I would figure something out by then!  As they say, Ignorance is Bliss. (I suppose you can see this leads to another chapter.)

Sure enough, the initial class of 120 led to an Intermediate class of 60, then 40 for Advanced, and 30 for Super-Advanced. But that was not the end of it!!

"Urban Cowboy" was creating a Buffalo Stampede of demand for Western dance lessons here in Houston!!

Since there were no other Western instructors of note in all of Houston, I was receiving an unbelievable "word of mouth" bounce from my TGIS group. TGIS was the largest "Singles Group" in all of Houston. Its membership was easily over 1,000 people. Practically every person in my first TGIS class referred someone else to me as well and they in turn referred someone else. My phone rang non-stop.

In other words, the "multiplier effect" from my first TGIS class was absolutely phenomenal. Did I say "phenomenal"? Change that to "UNBELIEVABLE"!

This was my Super Bowl Victory of a Lifetime. It remains today the biggest score of my life. This event was so important that it put me just one step from starting my own dance studio.

April 1980 was my first TGIS class. By October 1980 I would be in my own dance studio.  That is the importance of the Meyerland Club gamble combined with the lucky break at TGIS.

Like they said in the movie, "There is a time for playing it safe and a time for Risky Business".

This gamble had paid off.

Nor did I have any competition. Surely there were some western instructors getting started, but there was no Internet in those days. It would have been hard for them to get any sort of reputation quickly. In the beginning, word of mouth was delivering the vast majority of the students to me.

There were plenty of guys who knew a lot more Western dancing than I did, but they couldn't teach!  Believe it or not, part of the problem was an odd sort of language barrier. At this point in time the few people in Houston who could actually dance 'Country' could only speak 'Cowboy'. 

There were "Urbans" and there were "Cowboys", but despite the movie's premise there were very few 'Urban Cowboys'. Furthermore neither group seemed to be able to understand each other or even like each other.  There was a huge Redneck backlash that would soon begin to surface. 

People who were "Country before Country was Cool" could dance Western, but there was so much animosity towards the Johnny-come-lately "Urban Cowboys" that the two cultures refused to intersect for at least six months, maybe even a year.

The "Urbans" longed for an Interpreter. That would be me.

Although I wouldn't put myself in the same league as Prometheus, the guy who stole Fire from the Gods and gave it to the humans, I was one of the first to actually find a "Country Girl" and decipher her footwork. I broke the Code!!

This explained why I was apparently one of the first teachers in Houston who could explain Western dancing using language the 'Urbans' could comprehend. 

As they say, I couldn't exactly Walk the Talk, but I could at least Talk the Walk.

THE FINAL WORD

My dance career has been charmed. When "Saturday Night Fever" had come out, by an odd coincidence I had just begun to teach Disco. As a result I was one of the first Disco instructors in all of Houston even though I barely knew what I was doing. I may have been green, but I grew into my job. 

Now miraculously in spite of my terrible attitude, with "Urban Cowboy" I had repeated my earlier magic. I was once again somehow in the right place at the right time as practically the first Western dance teacher in Houston. And as before, I still barely knew what I was doing, but I was willing to learn.

The students started to line up the moment "Urban Cowboy" came out, the TGIS students started rolling in, and my Western class listings appeared in the Class Factory. Things were looking very good indeed except for one thing...

I still barely knew how to Western dance and worst of all had no idea if what I was teaching was the same thing that was being danced in the Western Clubs... and I was scared to death I would be exposed as a scam artist. What if Joanne had shown me something crazy?  What I was teaching was based on her word. What if she was confused, a very real possibility?

Yes, I was actually stupid enough to start teaching the Meyerland Club, Class Factory and TGIS Western class before I had even visited a Western club. 

Then one night my students cornered me into going Western dancing with them whether I liked it or not.  They would not take "NO" for an answer.

Would I finally be exposed as the fraud I truly was - the western dance teacher who couldn't western dance?  This ridiculous mistake led to one of the scariest moments in my dance career.  

In Chapter Three of the History of Western Swing, read about how our idiot hero gets 
cornered into dancing C&W in the Real World!  Click here