Notes from The King

Exerpts from letters written by James Peter Britton containing tidbits about the early Outlaws days--I don't have all the letters written back and forth during this time, but I do have some of them and thought they might shed light on some of the events of the time. Some that I do have contain nothing relevant about the band at all but were of a personal nature.

The full contents of these letters will NOT be posted to protect the guilty and cuz some of it was nobody's business...

From Lutz FL, postmarked 02 Nov 1969

Dear Sue,
Just a short note to say hello and what's happening.  The weekend became quite intense after the job
at Winter Park.  The van broke down in Plymouth (do you know where that is?  I don't have the slightest idea..) and it is still there.  David and I got a free ride back to our hotel from the Sheriff's dept (Have you ever sat in the back of a cop car for a prolonged period? Don't!) More about that later.

(skipping thru...)

Many fascinating things are in store for the band in the near future.  We are quite busy now--playing
three nights this weekend.  I think the little hassle is being straightened out.  It got worse, but now
appears to be a lot better.  Will close now.  (skipping last paragraph)

Love, J.B.

(unable to read postmark but on letter says "Nov 9, 10:45 pm Somewhere in Lutz"
Since I know the Joplin show was in '69 I'm guessing this is Nov 1969)

Dear Susan--
Do people ever call you Susan?  I think I will.  Don't know why, I like the way it sounds I suppose.
(skipping some junk here and jumping to a "bio" I asked him to write up at the request of  some
friends of mine at school who were fans of the band)

I was born Aug. 6, 1949 which makes me 20 and a Leo.  I spent most of my life in the sparkling
seaside resort of Clearwater although I now share a trailer with one Frank O'Keefe (well known bass
play for a local rock and roll band) here in Lutz.  My favorites musically are the same as yours. ....you
are a Pisces.  Either i n the end we will be very close or far distant.  Happiness and Tragedy.  Don't
say I didn't warn you!  The stars and their unseen powers...hmmm..

(skipping thru...)

The Joplin show is next Sunday (the 16th).  The band plays three times in Orlando this weekend--Fri
and Sat. nights at the Youth Center and somewhere in the Orlando area (don't know where) for an
hour Sunday afternoon.  Should be interesting...Write me a quick letter so I will get it before we leave
Friday if you can.  Anyway, see you then

Love, J.B.

can't read the postmark on the envelope and the letter is not dated,
but the return address is Clearwater. I THINK the postmark says Feb 1971

(skipping thru...)

As for the band, ...you can't see it all.  Times when I stood up and fought for the band--but could never
feel they would do the same for me.  Once we were there and it happened, I never got over it.  I could
never feel that my voice carried any weight afterwards.  If I involve that much of everything I have in
something, love it that intensely--I have to have a say in the direction it goes--my life flows with it, and
I have to have a large say being myself.  It was hard for some people to concieve that even  though I
had the tag "RoadMan" around my neck I could have a better idea of what the band should do than
they.  I know the band needs me--but probably not as much as I needed the band.  I was too
dependent--it was the main thing in my thoughts yet I was helpless to really do anything.  Bad
situation.

I'm going to work for myself for awhile and see if I don't make out better mentally and financially.
People have always had a tendancy to put me in a slot, classified to play a role.  I'm breaking all the
images this year.  Probably moving into the woods somewhere within 50 or so miles from
Clearwater--you'll be hearing from me when I get settled.  In a while when I have the surroundings
conducive to clear thoughts I'll puzzle it all out--but I tell you one thing--I doubt if I'll ever again be the
wheel when I know I can drive the car.

That's what's happening now.  I'll let you know my new address as soon as I have one and maybe
buzz up sometime.
Until---
Love JB

Postmarked March 5, dated March 3, 1971-postmarked in Lutz FL, no return address
(it is my guess that Frank O'Keefe brought him his mail from Clearwater by the way the thing is
worded)

Dear Susan,

Happy birthday--just got your letter yesterday--my slowness of moving was very rapid as I was quite
anxious to leave Clearwater this time.  Sorry I can't be there in person today but I'll be up as soon as I
get a little more organized.  I've been really out of touch lately--haven't been to Clearwater in a few
weeks.  Frank came out to see me today--nice to hear the sound of another voice.

There is a good chance the Outlaws (as they are now) will break up but there is also a good chance
that Huey, Frank and David will rent a house, lock themselves in and write and practice.  Guess who
will be doing the lyrics--yea.. That's what I've been working on for a long, long time and I'll be very
happy if it comes off.  All this is still in the planning stages of course--I'll keep you posted.

Write me soon (in Clearwater--I don't have a mailbox yet)  Will be up as soon as I can.  Till then--
Love, JB

Postmarked April 16, 1971
(lots of stuff cut from this about his cars--old classic "junk" he loved--his Renault going to the big
junkyard in the sky and his Nash not moving too well)

Still nothing happening with Dave, Frank & Huey as far as a band goes.  They want to--but time and
economic necessities say otherwise --at least for now.

(rest of the letter is about his employment opportunities and personal matters and references to a
photograph that was enclosed in the letter which I can no longer find)

(some letters in here had nothing about the band..personal junk)

Postmarked Sep 24, 1971 Clearwater

(lots of junk about me getting my house, him wanting to come visit, current employment, blah blah
blah) ..

"Sittin' here listening to the Outlaws live in Brooksville on the tape player.  Don't know what's
happening with the band 'cause I don't know--I would say that in six months time they'll either have
an album out or they'll never play together again.  It varies from day to day."

(then a discussion of a friend of his and Frank's I had met via another friend at a Rod Stewart concert
in Orlando....that discussion relevant because it gives the history of who Frank and JB were
associated with prior to hooking up with the Outlaws...)

"Yes, I know John very well.  He was my first influence as a songwriter.  The year is 1967--The band is
"Those Five"--John Roedel, lead vocals, Frank O'Keefe lead guitar and yours truly on the old
equipment--it was a hell of a band"

(then more about John Roedel and other stuff and the letter comes to an end with a discussion of a
certain Outlaws original that is playing on the tape from the Brooksville High gym--nothing you guys
ever heard and I'm not gonna mention the name of the song cuz someone may wanna run copyright
it ....I remember the song and it WAS a good one...)

Next letter may have been handed to me as it has no postmark or return address on the envelope
Inside it is dated 10/20  3:17 a.m. (no year but assumed to be 1971)

(Most of the letter is about his new job, spending a week in Atlanta, and other news but there are a
few band related things in it of interest. I must have asked him about the tape he had mentioned in the
earlier letter, prompting this comment)

"I have about 20 tapes of the band--all are poorly recorded on my cassette player--bad quality but you
can still here what's there.  They are much too valuable to mail but I'll see that you can hear them in
person before too long."
 

After this we didn't stay in touch too much for a few months because he had shifted into "hermit"
mode.  I finally called O'Keefe and asked him what was going on and he suggested I write to J.B. to
see if THAT might get him to say something.  Following Frank's advise I did so and  I got a letter back
just before my birthday (postmarked 21 Feb 1972).  There was nothing SPECIFICALLY mentioning the
individual band members in it, just thoughts on the topic....

"I just experienced a really strange period in my life--it started last August--in which I found out who
my friends really were--a lot of people I really cared about turned out not to be my friends after all--it's
really hard to describe on paper, suffice it to say that it was strange so I've been more or less staying
away from people--I can't help getting into people when I'm around them--that's just the way I am--so
I've been staying away from everything a lot.  I'm still living in the same place although only for a few
more weeks--then I'm getting a house somewhere in the area.  I'm working now at a bar--I'm the cook.
Frank's dad used to own the place--it's called O'Keefes. ...I've been thinking about you a lot lately,
believe it or not (probably not since you haven't heard from me) but I have.  I've just been trying to
decide who is my kind of people lately and I long ago decided that you were"......

(The rest of the letter is a long rambling affair about lost time and sending  me money to come back to
Clearwater--
ya'll don't wanna hear that and I ain't sharing it anyway!)

The next letter was more of the same and a discussion on how parents and children never get along
when they live together until they live apart and learn to meet on adult terms.  It made no mention of
the band, but was an interesting and insightful letter.

The letters pretty much end here as I moved to Clearwater shortly after it was written, where I lived
with JB or within a few blocks of him for the duration of 1972. Before I moved there I had applied for a
job with the telephone company in Orlando and in late 1972,  I received a letter telling me I had been
hired. Because J.B. and I were having some problems,  I took the job  and moved back to Orlando
from 1973-mid 1975.

We did not drop out of touch with each other however. There were NUMEROUS road trips to Tampa
and Clearwater during this time (as you can tell by the number of photos on the website which were
taken of the band in 1974-1975) and I did find a Christmas card from JB postmarked 24 Dec  1974 with
a brief note saying

"I know this card will never reach you by Christmas  but I figured better late than never. I hope the
holidays find you well and happy.  I might be up your way for New Years as the band is playing in
Winter Park. I might also just stay in Clearwater.  So if I don't see you then call after the 1st."  Love, JB

In 1975, I quit my job at the telephone company and moved back to the Tampa Bay area to attend
college but was not on speaking terms with JB at that time. I will tell you there were several more
letters in early 1975, when we got into a HUGE fight regarding an Outlaws/Doobie Brothers concert
date,  and JB wrote me a flaming letter telling me he never wanted to talk to me again.  I took him
literally on that and decided it was time to move on with my life.

When,  a couple months later he found out I was living in Tampa again, he wrote me several times
with what I can only assume were apology letters because I threw them away unopened, refused to
speak to him when I crossed paths with him, etc.  Eventually Frank O'Keefe intervened in the matter
(saying he was tired of hearing JB whining about "why I wouldn't speak to him any more") and
ultimately we patched up our differences and I lived with JB at least three more times after that.

Anyone who knew JB will tell you he was not the easiest person to live with--a very intense
individual--but he was one of those people that if you knew and cared about him, you tolerated his
bad moments, relished in his good ones and were never sorry that you knew him.

Guess I'll always wonder what was in those letters I tossed out...