Sad news. I have a little story to share, when I was at my first duty station, which happened to be China Lake, CA my buddies and I would often get out and about in the high desert, and we found ourselves at a little watering hole in Lake Isabella one night. The juke box in the bar was playing nothing but Merle. Wasn't exactly my speed at the time so I went toward the machine after some old gal had just dropped in like $5.00 worth of quarters, and well, after I slid 2 quarters in, she raced up to me and she appeared very buzzed, very serious, and was not in the mood to hear anything else be played I guess. Little did I know at the time these locals lived in Merle's back yard. We left the machine alone after that, no telling how many of her boyfriends at the bar were there...and the rest of the evening was fine as long as Merle was in the jukebox, our musical attitude was adjusted and no more problems. Never forget that night.
