Frank Longobardi remembers the last days of HOT CHEXX ...

"Hot Chexx was Mike Lowell on Lead Guitar,Vocals / Frank Longobardi on Vocals, Harmonica,Percussion / Cid Vargas on Keyboards,Vocals / Steve Gott on Bass,Vocals / Dan Dreeban on Drums. Dan only stuck around about 6 or 7 months. Mike Lowell adds: "My last and final night was Oct 16, 86' It was a Sat night at Cooter Brown's. Dan had missed several gigs in the weeks before and Jimmy had been filling in but Dan had not officially quit yet. On my final night Dan pulled a no show along with his "I quit". So.. on short notice Jimmy filled in that night. John Hogan had moved on some 3 weeks earlier and Geoff Lupton was doing sound. What I was told at the time was that you guys were going to take about 2 weeks to rehearse with Charlie and Jimmy then start gigging again." Frank writes: "I agree, Charlie Phelps on Lead guitar & Jimmy ? on drums worked into the band in a couple of weeks. So, now it was Frank, Cid, Steve, Charlie, & Jimmy. I don't think Jimmy stayed any longer than 6 months. At that time, we started talking about hiring a female singer & getting some of the drum parts on drum machine. We listened to about 3 or 4 female singers, and wasn't coming up with anyone we felt we could blend with. Then, it was suggested that we audition Adeana Lupton, who ended up getting the job. Somewhere in there, Steve Gott decided to leave the band. I'm not sure if Scott helped us out with some gigs for awhile, but he did help us get down some drum tracks on drum machine. Now, it was probably late in 1987, and the line-up was Frank & Adeana sharing the lead vocals, Cid, Charlie stuck around for a bit, & all the drum and bass parts were on computer. We went "High Tech" when Cid purchased a computer & a great software program so that we could sequence not only the Bass guitar & Drums, but also some Keyboard parts. That's the last official band photo I have with the 4 of us together. It was about early 1988 when Charlie decided to take on another project, & we hired Steve Fairchild on Lead guitar. John Hogan was our Sound Tech for most of the decade, starting with Renegade in 1981, and through part of Hot Chexx. John went on to do Sound Production with a large company. John had a great ear for sound & was a great friend to everyone in the band. He was missed. Geoff Lupton had been working the lights for a couple of years & offered to jump in and take over on the sound board as well. The band sounded good--we never missed a beat between sound techs.
The final 12 to 15 months, Hot Chexx was Frank & Adeana on vocals, Cid on keyboards (& computer), Steve Fairchild on guitar, & Geoff holding up the sound and lights. Cid and Frank were the only original members left. It was decided that we were ready to call it quits in March of 1989. Cid was moving to Dallas, where he lived for about 10 years and Frank moved to Denver, where he still resides. About a month before, it was announced that the band would be breaking up & all our friends and fans came to see us perform one last time. The last week of March was packed with "farewell shows" -- with shows at Sunova Beach on Wednesday, Chaparral Club on Lackland AFB on Friday & Saturday, and our final show at Scratch (Loop 410 @ Fredericksburg Rd) on Sunday night. THANKS TO ALL FOR MAKING IT A VERY MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE!!"

- FL / ML 2002