Back in 1986 I was touring with Utah Phillips as his guitar player(his right thumb ceased working about then). We were on a flight from Spokane to Portland to play the World Music Festival, and the only other passengers on the plane were Brother Ray and the fellow who was leading him around. I turned to Utah and said, "You know if this damn thing goes down we won't make the 3rd paragraph in the paper". It got real interesting when they let Ray take over the controls, though. Seriously though, a fine musician and singer who will be sadly missed. As for the hoopla about Ronnie, well, when they told me he was dead, my first reaction was, "How can they tell?"
My how times change. Dorothy Parker said that about Calvin Coolidge.
Mark Ross