The showroom staff wouldn't let him in to see the band because of the holes in his jeans.
The Tulsa guitarist, who had traveled to Oklahoma City after hearing that keyboardist Steve Hardin was looking for a Tulsa guitar player for his band, could see and hear, however, from where he was standing - the band already had a guitarist.
West almost turned around and walked out.
But he didn't, and when the band came out for a break, he introduced himself, told them who he had played with in Tulsa and who his father was.
"They fired their guitarist that night, and I got the best job in town," West told the Tulsa World years later.
West, better known by his stage name, Speedy West Jr., was on his way to establishing himself on a much wider stage.
The son of late steel-guitar legend and Broken Arrow resident Speedy West, Gary West, who graduated from Webster High School, died Wednesday in Oklahoma City of complications from lung cancer. He was 58.
A memorial service is set for 3 p.m. May 11 at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City under the direction of Buchanan Funeral Service of Oklahoma City.
In the early 1990s, West, who grew up in Tulsa, started his own band, the Speedy West Jr. Band, and played local venues frequently.
His father, Speedy West, had been associated with a uniquely identifiable country sound, but Gary West went his own way musically, building a legacy grounded in rock and power blues.
Born in Hollywood, Calif., during his father's prolific days as a Capitol Records musician, West was 5 when he got his first guitar - a gift from legendary guitar innovator Leo Fender, a close friend of his father's.
Weary of the showroom circuit, Speedy West later moved to the Tulsa area and became the manager of a Fender guitar warehouse.
Gary West learned the guitar and played with various Tulsa groups, including the Sweat Band, before moving on.
After his introduction to Oklahoma City through Hardin, he later caught on with Maya, one of the city's top show bands.
He played lead guitar with Maya from 1976 to 1992, when he left to start his own band. Later he played with Wild Oats and, more recently, with the house band at Friends Restaurant and Club in Oklahoma City.
Although they differed in styles, Gary West, who also sang vocals, and his father had great respect for one another.
The elder West once offered his assessment of his son's skills:
"He's a real good player. He plays so clean," he told the Tulsa World. "He plays too damn loud, like the rest of 'em, but he sure plays clean."
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