From ynottnaro@yahoo.com Mon Jun 23 22:48:12 2003
Subject:Re: great Hammond records

Wow...sorry to hear about Merle. He is a very joyous
guy!

T
--- Doug B wrote:
> Jerry & Merl started playing together back in the
> early 70s, to the best of my knowledge. Jerry was on
> Merl's fantastic "Fire Up!" album, and there is that
> series of "Live at the Keystone" recordings. Merl
> also did a lot of overdubs on the Dead's Europe '73
> album.
>
> Jerry & Merl started gigging regularly in '74, then
> formed Legion Of Mary (with my buddy Martin Fierro)
> in '75. That band lasted thru '75. Merl and Jerry
> teamed up again in '79 in the band Reconstruction.
> You should try to find some audience recordings from
> those 2 bands.
>
> Merl suffered a pretty harsh stroke last year, and
> is still coming back. He's been seen in public
> recently tho, and that's a very good sign :-)
>
> -Doug
>
> ynottnaro wrote:
> Yeah, I've seen Merle Saunders play a few times. He
> still has Jessica (with a proud American Eagle
> painted
> onto its back/front (depending on your POV). He's a
> very spirited player. I went looking for that live
> at
> Keystone CD that was mentioned but came up empty
> handed. I'll keep lookin. I've got a couple of
> Merl's records with the Rainforest (?) band. First
> time I saw him, they played at Buddy Guy's Legends
> here in Chicago, and did this awesome 14 minute jam
> that was part funk part progressive rock. When it
> was
> over, I asked him what it was. He looked at me all
> funny and said "boy, that was Dark Star!!!" Not
> being
> a real Deadhead I had to plead ignorance (I knew the
> title, but not the tune). I've probably bought 4
> different versions of Dark Star by the Dead and none
> of them sound REMOTELY like that stuff Merle was
> playing. Got to say though, what I heard Melvin
> playing totally blew me away.
>
> Tony
>
> Meet the new boss - same as the old boss?
> There's GOT to be a better way!
> http://www.therichestlife.com
>
> Meet me and my family -
> http://www.picturetrail.com/dougb415
>
> ---------------------------------
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> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>

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