In the 1980s I worked with some of the Runaways. I met Micki Steele in 1980 at Madame Wong's West. Not long after, she and some members of "Toni and the Movers" (the band she was in) and "RadioMusic" (the band I was in) played some opening sets (at Madame Wong's) billing themselves as "Nadia Kapiche". It was like a full set of jamming. Rather boring, really; I think I only participated once. The 'boring' part was not due to Micki or myself, of course ;-)

I also met Joan, Lita, Sandy, Cherie, Jackie and Vicki at various times (separately, not together). I knew musicians in Lita's and Vicki's bands. But I was a good friend of Laurie McAlister and we recorded many times, at A&M, Motown, etc. We also wrote some songs together. I was also instrumental in the ("New Runaways") album "Young And Fast". The Runaways (on this album) were Gayle Welch, Catherine diAmber, Missy Bonilla and Denise Pryor; Laurie McAlister was originally meant to be on the album, but there was backroom intrigue and treachery, which eliminated her. The same intrigue later eliminated my name from the credits. There was a later album, "I Was a Teenage Runaway" released in Japan.

It included versions of a few songs not used on "Young and Fast", and includes a few of my songs. This later CD is actually the better of the two (wink wink). The album was produced by the legendary Greg Shaw, and it does include Laurie. Both albums also include Catherine diAmber (my former roommate and member of Root Of Zero) and Gayle Welch (my wife at the time). Musicians included Laurie McAlister, Gayle Welch, Gilby Clarke, Duane Hitchings, Bill Millay and several others. If you are a Runaways (Joan/Lita/Cherie) fan and are upset by "The New Runaways", please don't blame me; I always thought they should have used a different name.