Wasted Days, Wasted Lives (Part II)

Wright declines to say whether the incident in Tucson has changed his mind about Meaux's whereabouts. DeGuerin, who is trying to ensure that Meaux doesn't shelter money that may eventually be awarded to his clients, is convinced Meaux hasn't gone far.

Some of Huey's old friends believe the same.
The day after Meaux officially became a fugitive, a rumor circulated that he had been seen on a gambling boat in Lake Charles, where he supposedly tried to sell a stranger his watch. Police say the report was bogus. However, those who know him well believe it's possible that Meaux might have returned to the area where he was born and raised.

"Huey believed that in life that you did a favor for a favor," says one friend. "And Huey did those people over there a lot of favors over the years. Maybe he's collecting on them now."

In the days following his arrest, the gold and platinum records, along with the other treasures of Huey Meaux's career, were quietly removed from the display cases in the lobby of Sugar Hill Studios and packed away. The owners of the studio went out of their way to dissociate themselves from Meaux, pointing out to anyone who would listen that he simply was leasing space from them and that they had no idea what he might have been doing in the room behind his office. Their concern was understandable: several bands canceled recording sessions at Sugar Hill after Meaux's arrest.

All of that gave lie to something Huey Meaux said to a reporter at Sugar Hill 13 years ago. The interview had concluded, but Meaux decided he had something else to say and asked the reporter to turn his tape recorder back on. What Meaux wanted to add for posterity was his observation that colleagues in the music industry had become more accepting of an artist's personal indiscretions since he had started out.

"Things have changed in the music business over the years, where people have learned, and thank God for that, to separate a man's fuckups, his personal fuckups, from his talent," Meaux explained.

It's doubtful that even Huey Meaux believes that nonsense anymore -- wherever he is tonight, bruddah.