When Damion first asked me to write this, I was honored. I first met John, the lead player in 1970. He had a new roadrunner and I'd just graduated from high school and thought that was the coolest. Found out he could play the guitar so me and Billy would go over and hang out at the Fenton, lake house. We'd listen to records and he'd play his guitar, we liked it. A while later, after attending the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, we we started to groove on the old blues guys like Muddy, Otis and John Lee Hooker. From that it just kinda morphed into the jazz of Pharoah Sanders, Leon Thomas and Miles Davis. We were out there,Yeah! All the while John was playing his guitar; like all the time, day and night. Some more time passed and we both ended up in East Lansing, MI. Yes! Home to M.S.U. What a gas! That's where I met Dick Dunham or " Double D" as we called him. He's my favorite drummer ever. Just listen to the drumming on Black Coffee. Across the street from Double D's house was a church and I heard from his friends that God came down those steps and said " Dunham " shut up! Dick went into the house and put the Allman Brothers on the stereo and played along.Black Coffee is a fine jam, it goes up and down, Sid's bass is killer and John's lead takes you out there and back. So anyway back to some history. Before long there was this band that John and Dick called Shagraison Blues Band. All of a sudden these incredible musicians were hanging around, Elmo Skory,Tom Caruso,B.A.Thrower,Marvel,Vern "The Bopper" and support people like the "S" Man! We used my Ford van to haul equipment to some of the local clubs like Lizards and Carl's Bad Tavern. I think I even ran the sound board a few times. John,Dick and I were living just outside East Lansing and before you knew it the garage was turned into a jam room. By now the guys were writing songs and decided to make an album. Next thing you know I'm going toSound Machine Studio in Kalamazoo. Bryce Robertson was the owner. He played guitar on Howlin' Wolf recording once. ( I used to have the 8 track) He engineered the absolute classic " Papa Never Let me Sing the Blues." They even let me play the rhythm sticks on one of the cuts. Whoa! Well, after all these great times , we had to leave the house with the music garage. The place was bulldozed to make room for a sub-division. We moved to an old farmhouse for a while, then headed out on new adventures . I went back to school inthe U.P. Dick and John took their talent and equipment and moved to Key West, the Virgin Islands and played music all over the country. I saw them a couple years later when they were playing Boulder,CO That's where I met Sid, who played a kickin' fretless bass and has become a lifelong friend. More than 37 years have passed since I first heard John playing the guitar and then add Dick and Sid. It just keeps getting better. The " Take Me Home" recording is such a great mix of songs. I'm diggin them as much as the tunes from the old days. Whether the road boogie "Shorten Bread"the east coast shore feel of " Feel Like a Man" to the movie soundtrack " How Could I Have Known". They all Blow me away! Rossco The Zig Zag Wanderer