Merl Saunders

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=802515" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=125 BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c467d1euxmic.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Kristi Singer</b></FONT><B>     </b><B>|     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kristi Singer"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id148.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mandorico"><U>Mandorico</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id186.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marc Siegel"><U>Marc Siegel</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id140.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mark Wills"><U>Mark Wills</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mashanda Favors"><U>Mashanda Favors</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id222.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="matchbox twenty"><U>matchbox twenty</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id237.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Maybe Sunday"><U>Maybe Sunday</U></A>   |   <B>Merl Saunders</b>   |   <A HREF="id174.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Melissa Ferrick"><U>Melissa Ferrick</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michelle Sims"><U>Michelle Sims</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tim Burton, Mighty Mighty Bosstones"><U>Tim Burton, Mighty Mighty Bosstones</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mighty Mighty Bosstones"><U>Mighty Mighty Bosstones</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Moe Black"><U>Moe Black</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Morning 40 Federation"><U>Morning 40 Federation</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id187.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mushroomhead"><U>Mushroomhead</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writing Samples"><U><B>Back to Articles</b></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Merl Saunders</div> <div> Love of football saved singer’s life<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <B>By Kristi Singer</b> </div> <div> Star-News Correspondent </div> <div> October 12, 2001 </div> <bR> <div> In the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedies, many have a newfound fear of flying. This fear strikes a personal chord with “The Mayor of Haight Ashbury,” Merl Saunders, who had a ticket to board United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, Calif., which ended up crashing in rural southwest Pennsylvania. </div> <div> Mr. Saunders was in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 10., working as an instructor at a music school for three days. He also traveled to New York to do other work while in the Northeast. </div> <div> He planned to take the direct flight home from Newark on Sept. 11, but his love of football took precedence over travel. On Monday, he changed his Tuesday flight to a longer, three-stop Monday trip so he could make it home in time to watch the St. Louis Rams play the Detroit Lions.</div> <div> “I wanted to watch Monday Night Football in my own home,” said Mr. Saunders, who will perform with the King Johnson Band Saturday at the Carolina Music Fest in South Carolina.</div> <bR> <div> Mr. Saunders’ flight path took him from Pomeroy to Columbus to Cincinnati and finally to Oakland where his driver took him home to San Francisco. He found out about Flight 93’s fate around noon the next day and remembers “it was very scary.”</div> <div>  </div> <div> Mr. Saunders, a regular flyer, has noticed a decrease in those traveling by air and now has second thoughts about flying – but he’s not going to let them stop him. </div> <bR> <div> “This is psychological warfare. What can we say, what can we do? We’ve got to go on with our lives. We can’t live in fear,” he said.</div> <bR> <div> Mr. Saunders’ travels have taken him to the rainforest of Peru where he spent 21 days. From that experience, he wrote songs about pink dolphins, playing with the kids in the jungle and praying for trees to not be cut down. His experience created 1997’s <I>Fiesta Amazonica</I>, a sequel to his 1990 new age chart topper <I>Blues from the Rainforest</I>, which was No. 4 on the <I>Billboard</I> chart.</div> <bR> <div> Mr. Saunders is coping with the attacks by continuing his music, which he said helps people to forget about the war. </div> <bR> <div> “We’re trying to bring unity, love and peace. That’s what’s always been in my music, and that’s what’s needed more of right now,” Mr. Saunders said. </div> <bR> <div> At 67, Mr. Saunders jokes that he’s never left 39. Full of life and energy, Mr. Saunders is still living his dream, enduring more than 35 years in the recording industry. Does retirement cross his mind? Never. </div> <bR> <div> “I totally enjoy what I’m doing, and they pay me to do it – so that’s just fine. I never think of retiring. Why should I retire from something that I love to do and they want to pay me to do it?” Mr. Saunders said. </div> <bR> <div> Mr. Saunders is also working on an autobiography, which will include his experiences with Jerry Garcia, one of his closest friends. Mr. Saunders played with Mr. Garcia in the ’60s in various groups such as the Legions of Mary and the Garcia/Saunders road show. One story will tell of Mr. Saunders helping Mr. Garcia through rehabilitation after he awoke from a coma.</div> <bR> <div> “I was the only one around when he came out of the coma. I helped him to come back to reality and musically taught him to play the guitar again,” Mr. Saunders recalled. </div> <bR> <div> It took Mr. Garcia three months to remaster the guitar. </div> <bR> <div> “It made me feel great (when, after three months, Mr. Garcia could play the guitar again). No one else stepped forward. They just looked at him suffer. I didn’t want to see him suffer,” Mr. Saunders said. </div> <bR> <div> Mr. Saunders’ Carolina Music Fest performance is in support of his latest release, <I>Struggling Man</I> (Relix Records), recorded live from the Poconos. He also plans to perform songs from his 29th release, <I>Merl Saunders and his Funky Friends</I>, and tunes he wrote with the Grateful Dead.</div> <bR> <div> For more on Merl Saunders, log onto <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><U>www.merlsaunders.com</U></FONT>.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>