I look forward to you all coming back around the hometown . Be it the Farm or Indian creek . Maybe a little warm up before you get back to that Road Schedule ? I am sure it would be a sell out !

I ran across this article from a group I am in I thought you might get a kick out of it ? Mike Another Craig Reed story about the time a very young Mike Estes called the ACB office and got to meet his hero. It's a really good story and quite funny, too. Like Craig said, it just goes to show how one phone call can forever change your life. Did you know Allen boxed? Read on to find out.
From Craig.
"Hello you've reached 904-786-1822. Business phone for the Allen Collins Band. Our normal business hours are from 9 to 5. If it's after 9, we're a little late. If it's before 5, we have left a little early. Please leave your name and message at the sound of the beep and we will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you." BEEEP. Betch'ya didn't think I'd remember THAT did you Jud?
Of course, I remember that day you called when you were 16 years old. One evening, I was just hanging around in my office at the rehearsal studio where the Allen Collins band rehearsed. It was a cool place just to hang around and watch TV and stuff. The phone rang so I answered it. The voice on the other end sounded kind of shocked that someone actually answered this phone. The young man on the other end of the phone didn't know quite what to say; I don't think. The young man on the other end of the phone was Mike Estes at 16 years old. When I answered the phone, "HELLO... Allen Collins Band business office" your reply was,"Oh my God! I cannot believe I am talking to someone who actually is affiliated with my favorite guitar player and the Lynyrd Skynyrd band." I thought, "Now this is going to be an interesting conversation." I think his next words were, "I am a guitar player and I am trying to think of a name for my band." Probably the only reason I even considered to have a conversation with this young man was the fact that he said he was a guitar player. My first thought was, just a few days prior to this call, that Allen had told me if he were to think of names for a band he had a short little list. I couldn't exactly remember the names that he told me. So, I thought I would just put Mike Estes on a three-way call and ask Allen Collins in person to share that list of names with me again. Mike Estes was in shock that he was actually going to have Allen Collins on the same phone call it was on. I knew he would get a big kick out of it that's why I did it.
It was the first time I've ever done anything like that. To call Allen and put him on a three-way without him knowing it. I said, "Allen, if you were to think of a good name for a band you would like to be in, what would you like to name the band?" Without even pausing he said, "Helen Highwater." I said, "Thank you Allen" and hung up. I said, "Well, there you go young man. Allen just gave you a name for a band." Mike Estes was still speechless like he just talked to God on the phone. He said, "Oh my God! I cannot believe that just happened to me. I am speechless."
We had a short conversation after that and we ended the phone call. It was a little while after that call when I was in the office again and the phone rang. It was Mike Estes on the other end. He said, "Thank you for the name that Allen came up with. I really hope it is okay that I named my band Helen Highwater. I thought that was pretty cool and I hope Allen Collins would not mind what I had done. Perhaps, Allen Collins was saving that name for a future band that he might be in." Mike then said he would really like to come down to Jacksonville Florida and just meet with me. I said,"Sure kid. Come on down. I'll buy you dinner." So, Mike Estes and his best friend Steve Traum came to visit me in Jacksonville Florida. I cannot even begin to tell you what possessed me to entertain some kid that I didn't even know from Ohio.
I took them out to dinner at Italian restaurant that I loved. Then, for some strange reason, I actually took them to Allen Collins house where some of the guys in the band were writing songs and rehearsing. We went into the control room of the studio, peering out of the control room window at the guys rehearsing in the studio. Allen could see that there were some people in the studio that he did not recognize. So, after they were done messing around with the song they were working on, Allen came into the control room. I immediately explained to Allen the situation and he was very cool with it. Allen had just got some boxing gloves and he had been going around the studio antagonizing someone to fight with him. Allen said, "Okay kid. Let us get introduced in the proper way and box a little bit." Mike Estes did not know what to do. How can I fight with my idol? But he didn't know what to say but "ok". Allen Collins was not what you call a professional boxer. He would just start wailing those long arms in your direction hoping you would make contact with you. But defending yourself against those long arms coming at you like a machine gun was a feat in itself let alone trying to get in a punch. Mike Estes simple stayed out of the reach of the long arms and when he saw an opportunity to land a punch it was a strait jam that tilted Allen's head back so I stopped it. After all, Allen did suffer a broken neck in the plane crash and it was kind of ridiculous from Allen to be attempting to box anyways.
Allen seemed to have the same adoration I had for this young man myself and actually stopped rehearsing to entertain this young fellow. He set Mike Estes down and taught him how to play Free Bird. A few months later, Mike Estes returned to Florida with his new band Helen Highwater and I booked them some shows. It was rather difficult since all of them were underaged to play the bar circuit. The Allen Collins band had plans to play a show at Jacksonville Beach. We held auditions to find an opening act for that show. Mike Estes and Helen Highwater won that audition. It was rather odd because the auditions were kind of supposed to be for a local Jacksonville band. But they were friends of mine and Allen's, so that's kind of the way the thing went down. The story continues as to show how Mike Estes got started in the business just from one phone call. That phone call redirected his whole life. I am pretty sure he was glad he made that phone call to The Allen Collins Band business office where I answered the phone. To this day Mike Estes and I remain best of friends.