Merrigan Music Newsletter

Newsletter

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Since I've started doing a myspace which is at

Pete's MySpace Page it is a bit of a challenge to keep this newsletter as up to date as I'd like to. I will still "blog on" once in a while, but meanwhile will leave the older postings here up.
We had a fantastic trip to St. Petersburg! Even though the weather was "cold" by Florida standards, the music was hot by any standard.

Friday night at the Hideaway Cafe, Vinnie, T.C., Dave Williamson and I entertained a standing-room-only crowd. In John Kelly's intimate venue that translates to about 50 people but when 50 people are there to really listen it makes a great experience for us on stage. And the sound was as near-perfect as a live gig can get. Thanks to Julie and Kat for doing the door and the merch.

I've just posted some pictures of the Saturday Morning Market gig on my Facebook site. A picture's worth a thousand words, so have a look at those. It's tough to describe how much fun it was and I am ever grateful to all those who turned out to join in this year's edition of The Ugly Smugglers; Lenny Austin, John Richard, Vinnie Seplesky, T.C. Carr, Jimmie Fadden, Janie Richards, Dave Williamson, Gale Trippsmith and especially Tommy Kennedy who did the work of 3 men on p.a./sound, and then sat in on drums, as well!

Thanks to Kat and Sue for minding the "shoppe" and to Gail Eggeman & the Market for hiring us. And thanks to the thousands of people who come out to support the Saturday Morning Market every week in St. Pete.

Vinnie, T.C. and I returned to Hideaway Cafe Saturday afternoon for a benefit John Kelly was hosting to support Christian Hern who is taking time off from work to donate the gift of life; a kidney to a 28 year old woman he's never met. As Steve Arvey sang, "Shine on, Christian!" We wish you well in this gracious endeavor. The benefit raised more than $6000 to help Christian through this effort. See more about it at www.hideawaycafe.biz

Special thanks to all our friends, too numerous to mention, who made our trip a pleasure. Thanks to M & H Thoma for transport to and from the airport. Many thanks to Wanda and family for kitty-sitting and so much more. Thanks to Nate at Holiday Inn Sunspree. And thanks to Melinda for being such great road manager! ;-)

Check the schedule for a full list of upcoming gigs. And be sure to call (727-215-9160) or email (pandmmerrigan@earthlink.net) to contact us for bookings.

This website was created and maintained for many years by my very good friend and “partner in crime,” Ron Grace, aka “Mudman,” “The Tragic Hero”…. I don’t want to give away all of his aliases!

Ron passed from this earthly experience on April 2nd, 2005. And true to webmaster form, he was at the computer when he left us, hand still on the mouse. Ron was like a brother to me and I will miss him every day.

He was in N.H. when he died, and I was in Florida. But we communicated several times a week, usually by email but occasionally one or the other of us would pick up the phone.

I am only now finding out how much time and effort he dedicated to maintaining this site. He showed me a little about how to do it the last summer we had together in N.H. Thankfully, I remembered enough to get in here and keep it going. Now Zeke is proving to be an able assistant in all things cyber!

Thanks for everything you did Ron. And thanks for being a true friend through thick and thin. Through my hard times and good – through your hard times and good. You lived your life the way a lot of people only dare dream or talk about. Full tilt gonzo. Hunter Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady got nothin’ on you, pal! You got up and DID it! I would say rest in peace but I know that would bore you. I hope you are on to new adventures we can’t yet imagine. Until we meet again, my friend, God bless your heart and soul!

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