I first became aware of Tez when I met Fraz for the third time during Starve Theatre at El Campo Ruse. She played guitar and performed backing vocals as part of a duo with Leaz, the organizer of the monthly open mic event. She was thin, had long, dark hair and a cute, round face. She appeared to be in her late 20s/early 30s. I didn't talk to her that night because I was concentrating on my contribution to the open mic and getting to know Fraz more.
A couple of weeks later, Fraz and I were hanging out and she told me about a party taking place at Leaz' apartment. We went over there and hung out. I saw Tez there. It took me a minute to remember where I'd seen her before. After this, I started getting more and more involved in Leaz' other poetry and art events. Tez was usually at these. We started talking to each other more. It was during this time that she revealed that she was in her late 40s. I was shocked!
I started getting the idea that maybe she liked me, but I was nervous about bringing it up in conversation. I called Leaz and left a message for her asking if she could give me Tez' number. She called and left a message on my voice mail, informing me that Tez had a boyfriend who was a jazz musician. Leaz said that guys would frequently develop crushes on her and ALWAYS ask her for Tez' phone number. But she said that she would give my phone number to Tez and we'd see where it went from there.
Fraz told me that Leaz griped to her about me asking for Tez' phone number. Fraz said something to the effect of, "Don't take this the wrong way, but she's really disappointed that you did that." Take what the wrong way? Was Leaz interested in me like that? Maybe I was interested in Leaz, but I guess I just blew my chance at that. At any rate, I never did get a phone call from Tez.
In February of 2000, I was taking part in another of Leaz' poetry and music events at Lestat's. I knew Tez was going to be there, so I brought these Valentines to give to both of them. Tez said, "Wow! This is great! This is probably the only Valentine I'm going to get this year!" I was expecting that she would follow that up with, "That scumbag I call a boyfriend never gives me Valentines." But she did not say that. I saw this as a good sign.
Shortly after that, I had acquired tickets to see "Phantom of the Opera." I asked Tez to go with me and she agreed to go. I asked her if Leaz had given her my number. She said she had, so I told her to call me if something came up. The afternoon of the performance, I hadn't received a phone call from her. I decided to check the voice mail for my Ogolon Records business. She left a message saying she couldn't make it. THAT DAMN LEAZ! She gave Tez my voice mail number instead of my actual phone number. She didn't want her to actually make contact with me. This was how I wound up taking my ex-girlfriend instead and got a traffic ticket.
On the bright side, Tez actually left her phone number on the message. I called her the next day. She said she was sorry about cancelling and she also said, "Oh, and I want you to know I have a boyfriend." I said, "That's okay. I understand he's a jazz musician." "Yes, he is!" And that's how I ended up in the Friend Zone.
We continued to be friends and hang out after that. I learned a lot about her. She enjoyed folk music and wrote a lot of songs about silkies. Even though she looked fine, she actually had a large number of health issues. While she did not have the face of someone her age, if she wore something that exposed her arms, her age was quite apparent. She told me that she had a twin sister, but she smoked and looked considerably older.
The strange thing is that I never saw her boyfriend. I knew his first name and that he was in his 60s, but I didn't know who he performed with. And he certainly never came to any of the events that Tez played at. What I was aware of is that Tez had A LOT of guys in the Friend Zone. I even met a few of them. I always wondered how she felt, being that age and having so many men desire her.
We did get to go on an actual date (by my definition, anyway). I had bought two tickets to a concert featuring a well-known group from the 80s. (This was one of the shows that I wanted Molz to attend with me.) I thought I would give Leaz that shot and told her I was going to see that group. I thought she would say something like, "Hey, I'd like to go see them." But her reaction was that she never liked that group. There was no point in asking her. I then went to Tez, told her I had the tickets and invited her to go with me. She agreed to. I guess that she figured I wasn't going to try any funny stuff, so she didn't have a problem doing something with me.
And she did not cancel on me. We went to the show at 4th and B in Downtown San Diego. We both got something to drink and sat down at a table. When the show was about to start, we separated. I went close to the stage and she went into the back where the seats were. I had paid for standing room on the floor, but everyone was on the floor, including those who had paid for seats. She just sat down in a seat and no one bothered her during the show.
Tez and I were able to find each other afterward and drive home. She enjoyed the performance, even though it wasn't her kind of music. Just before we got to her apartment, I guess I had cut in front of another car and the driver honked the horn at me. The next thing I knew, the car was right behind me and took the same turn I did. "Shoot! He's following us!" Tez got a little freaked out. I made a couple more turns and the other driver finally went another direction. I guess that person wasn't following us after all. Whew!
I had later gone to a concert by myself at the Sports Arena. I found out later she was also at that concert because one of the other guys had invited her. (But I paid more than $100 for my ticket, so I knew there was no way I was going to buy another seat "just in case.")
I don't know what has happened to her. She doesn't really have much of a presence on the Internet. Leaz once shared a old photo of the two of them on Facebook. What little I found amounts to an obituary of her father who passed away in 2007. It showed her as a surviving child at the time. I also came across something that seemed to indicate that someone with a name close to hers had passed away not long after that. I can tell you that I'm not about to ask Leaz to find out. I have no desire to rip that wound open again. (UPDATE: I have confirmed that Tez did pass away. It does sadden me that I'll never see her again.)
However, we did get to go on another date, and that led to me meeting another woman. I'll go into detail about that in a future post.
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