JazzLatinScrmnTrpt wrote:
Sev,
I am pretty sure that given Mayn's medical condition, he probably was not taking to many if any meds for the arthritis. I know he took other stuff but I never heard mention of pain killers. Besides, those stronger med for that stuff are murder on your liver and kidneys so I think he might not have been able to take the stuff. Manthey would know for sure because he was taking care of Mayn.
Maynard's boyish attitude is one of the things that made the gig so great. No matter how !#$%^#$%&^ you day was, you could always count on him being in the best disposition and just so eager to get out there and put on a good show for the people. If you let it, it was highly contagious and I wanted to be on that trip so bad that I let him take me away every time.

We were very concious about what went into his body, both in food and in medications. When I say 'we' I mean Maynard, Me, Ed, the family was very active in his helth care, the Doctor in Ojai was great and a wonderful person to get to know. There were some vitamins and mineral supplements, a few herbal heath type things, I can't remember exactly although I do have a list here somewhere. "PAIN KILLERS"??? Nope!

Regarding the left hand and arthritis issues. Yea, Mayn would at times put on a show for us band members. Mostly for us I think, the crowd would never be able to catch some of that stuff, unless it was a very close setting like Washington D.C. and N.Y.C. I can't count the number of times Maynard talked about the fingers of his left hand. He'd hold the hand up and comment about having broken fingers playing ball as a kid, and thought that was the cause of it in his older years.

Another thing ... where playing musical instruments were concerned he was ambidextrous. A few times we even talked about getting a 'pinky ring' on the bell to make playing a little more comfortable, but that presented problems holding the horn with the right hand. I suggesed he have a 'reverse horn' made ...