Bonnie-

As I posted above "I'd rather retain my early memories of him than any later ones." In short we are talking about the same Mel. Franz and I knew him when he was in his more mellow early folk music period. He also introduced me to S. S. Stewart banjos, having a nice Model 2 Thoroughbred 5-string. I'd rather not rehash Mel's later history in this thread in deference to his son. There is an abundance of speculation on line for the curious.

Charley Noble