ustxtxb_obs_1980_12_26_50_00011-00000_000.pdf

THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11 Bette Midler, above; Freddie King, right One last good idea surfaced for saving the ‘Dillo: a benefit on its August 1976 birthday. Theoretically, it might have worked. If 1500 people had paid $100 a head to come and show their continuing support of the club, creditors could have been paid off. But this last good idea flopped. Not enough people came. Bust was at hand. In October 1976, Eddie Wilson resigned his position, recommending Hank Alrich, chief investor in the Armadillo, as his replacement. Alrich had been quietly at work setting up a recording studio in the bowels of the building and following his own dreams. Impending bankruptcy, however, forced him to become involved. He had invested the last of his savings, some $67,000 altogether, into refurbishing the ‘Dillo and.keeping it going. He stood to lose everything. After talking it over with Randy McCall, tax consultant and resident doom-sayer \(no one believed him when he said the Armadillo bankruptcy. This meant that the club would stay open while working with creditors to pay them off. That done, Alrich and McCall set about cleaning house. They closed the hall for the winter of 1977 to implement a massive austerity program. They cut people, eliminating many salaried positions in the front office. They found other extravagances. In tallying the number of phones in the pf