Fred Saxon was the first to leave the band and ended up working at Rainbow for Ernie Stratton.

One night while on a break at Club Cliche where The Sunliners were playing, Fred mentioned to me that there were problems over at Rainbow between Ernie and his partner, John Merlino. Apparently Ernie needed $100,000 to buy him out.

I had some money saved but not enough to do a deal of this magnitude. However, I did know that my wife's aunt was married to a guy called Al Sherman, who was famed for taking risks, and I contacted him at my earliest convenience.

When I explained the deal to Al, his response was 'do they need cash?' Al was a professional gambler and entrepreneur. He was also very shrewd.

He immediately contacted a brilliant young Jewish lawyer by the name of Ira Jaffe. Ira had a Harvard law degree, and an engineering degree, just to back up the fact he had brains.

He also brought in Kurt Swiger, who was a very good Certified Public Accountant, and they started digging into things.

Soon, Merlino was bought out for $22,000.

Notes thanks to Ralph Terrana