robviti Posted October 26, 2008 Report Posted October 26, 2008 Star keyboardist Merl Saunders dies Saturday, October 25, 2008 Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle 16:44 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Keyboardist Merl Saunders, the gentle lion of the San Francisco music scene best known as co-captain of guitarist Jerry Garcia's solo excursions outside the Grateful Dead, died Friday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center after fighting infections. The 74-year-old musician suffered a debilitating stroke 6 1/2 years ago and, although he lost the ability to speak, he made numerous sentimental guest appearances at shows over those years playing with one hand. "I never met anybody so happy who had a stroke," said Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. "In the end, the only thing that lit him up was the music. Sometimes he'd cry, but I've never seen anybody so happy in the realm of music." story here Merl Saunders obit Quote
mjzee Posted October 27, 2008 Report Posted October 27, 2008 Certainly dug the Live at Keystone discs with Garcia. Also saw them together as the Legion of Mary in '76. RIP. Quote
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