Legal Medicine Blues
On March 2, 2001, a small benefit
was held for IMMLY at Mother Fool's Coffeehouse in Madison Wisconsin.
Among the performers were the Avalons, a duo consisting of Rick Harris
and Mark Shanahan. After meeting IMMLY Founder Jacki Rickert that
night, Rick Harris was later moved to compose a song, "Legal
Medicine Blues," which you can listen to in streaming audio by
clicking on the link below. In mid-March 2004 Rick Harris released his
long awaited cd, Jukebox Refugee, which includes Legal Medicine
Blues. Jukebox Refugee is available at selected retail outlets and
by mail from Rick Harris.
To order your copy, download a printable
order form, click here.
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Avalons playing IMMLY Benefit gig, (L - Mark,
R - Rick)
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| In his own
words: Rick writes how he came to write "Legal Medicine
Blues": |
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A while back a mutual old friend of Mark Shanahan and myself asked us to play a benefit gig for a friend of his. She,
"Jacki" was a fellow member of a local group trying to promote the legalization of marijuana for medical use. Now I have to admit that this really wasn't MY issue, but we gladly said yes to the gig. Before we started I was introduced to
Jacki and she was then seated directly in front of me. While we were playing I would make eye contact with her and she seemed to really be enjoying the music. All through the night I watched her. I suspected she was having a tough time physically, but she had such warmth and radiated a certain kind of strength. She really made a strong impression on me. A couple days later I was thinking about the benefit and about her and the whole legalization issue. I grabbed my guitar and wrote the lyrics in about one-half hour. I put it aside for a couple of days to get a little distance from it, then tightened up the lyrics and worked out a simple straight forward arrangement. My partner Mark Shanahan added some tasty guitar touches and we
recorded it." |
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Click
below to listen:
Legal
Medicine Blues
Copyright © 2001 Rick Harris
words and music by Rick Harris.
Song performed by the Avalons (Rick Harris and Mark Shanahan).
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