When I first started playing with Mike back in the Blue Heron days, he introduced me to a whole musical world I'd never entered. I never grew up with the Grateful Dead and all the great music of that era. I was married, living in Hawaii, teaching and listening to ukeleles! In order to play with Mike, I had to learn the tunes. He started me off with easy ones like "Friend of the Devil" and "I Know You Rider," and he was respectful and careful not to put down the country rock tunes I'd done before. Then he started to share some Grateful Dead stories and legends. Eventually I learned about the keyboard guys - how they had untimely deaths - oh my. I would report to Mike when I heard a fantastic Dead tune - totally in awe of Keith's acoustic licks or Brent's creativity, etc. Every new guy added something unique, but I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to lose such stunning players. So yesterday we heard about Ray Manzarek's tragic death, and our thoughts shifted to the Doors. I just received my new organ from FedEx Thursday morning, and I set it up for a debut Thursday night. Lo and behold, the factory had lots of pre-set patches, and one of them was called "Light Fire." So, of course, we put together "Light My Fire" for our River Theater gig. I was honored to play some of Ray's licks. It was a great night. Chris was back - the Thugz were together again! It's always a thrill to play with the Thugz and get lost in the swirling music. Last night I somehow felt like I was honoring those great keyboard dudes by attempting to play their music. Take care. Love, Sylvia.