Haggard and Kristofferson 2016 in Beverly Hills

This show in Beverly Hills February 11th, 2016, was the next to the last show that Merle Haggard performed and the last show

that he and his long time brother in arms, Kris Kristofferson would play together on Earth.

 

During the months of December of 2015, and January 2016, due to the worsening of Haggard's health, he was starting to have

to cancel some shows.  By February he was having to look at canceling an entire tour.  One of the dates on the tour was the

Kristofferson and Haggard show for Feb. 3rd.  I had driven to Beverly Hills for the show, on  the way to the theater after I left

the parking lot of the hotel in Studio City, I got a txt message that the show was canceled and they were taking Merle to the

hospital.  I was falling into a deep sad depression as I was driving through Malibu, where I remember times with Kristofferson

and ole Vernon White, and on my way home to Paso Robles, and would tear up thinking of how serious Hag's illness might be.

 

Only a couple of days later I get word from Frank Mull that the Beverly Hills show was back on and set for February 11th.  I take off

that morning and pull up early to the theater and Merle's bus was already there.   Though Merle was taking serious turns for the

worse, he was not going to miss that show with his long time friend Kris Kristofferson, even if it killed him.  He would rather die on

stage at that show, than in some hospital room...so, be damned he was going to do the show. 

 

While I was in the theater looking around and noticed no one was set up to film his historic night.  Then Alex, "adopted son" of

Merle, who had been his assistant personal roadie for couple of years, came and found me and said, " Benford, Merle wants you

on his bus... Merle and I talked, cried, listened to the last two songs he had written "Kern River Blues" and a new song about his

brother Willie Nelson, and told me the song was called "My Redheaded Brother Willie"...

 

Before I left the bus, I asked Merle if I could he film the show.  Merle said "Hell yes film the show!"  I went and talked to Lisa

Kristofferson, Kris' wife and she said, "Can you do that for us?"  I said I had my camera, and she told me she had one and could

shoot from the stage... I set up in back and it is on film.  The last show of these two brothers in arms together...

 

The last month of Merles life he lived on his bus 24/7.  Like the cowboy dying with his boots on.  Haggard was going to either

die in that bus or on the stage singing.  I saw in his eyes he had seen his maker and he had a stern control of the ride.  We

both knew and our talks centered on the future and we would talk about the Jimmie Rodgers Saga, or the Lefty movie and he

would tell me more about the music train he had been on...

 

Like Ramblin' Jack Elliott was to Woody, I look back now at all the stories, pictures, film and leads to stories he gave me, was

in many respects not unlike Woody passing on some of his life and songs to Jack.  I think that Merle had a trust in me that

something would come of it for the good.  For when we talked and filmed for so many hoursI could that not be...?

 

What the hell else was he hanging with me for, and giving me so much of his legacy...riddle me that.

 

The picture to the left is the last picture that I shot of Merle Haggard, after taking pictures of Merle Haggard for a dozen years.  This picture of Merle with Austin Court, Jimmie Rodgers great grandson, was to me fitting of my last picture and my last introduction to Merle of a friend and someone that I knew he wanted to meet.  The synergy that this heir was to the man that was much the center of our mine and Merle's friendship was important to be the last meeting I had with Merle.   This is shortly before his last concert Feb. 13, 2016 in Oakland, CA.  Before I took this picture Merle and I'd been on his bus together for 2 hours just talking about the two film projects we were working on and that night he said he thought it was an irony that like Jimmie Rodgers before him he was also ill at health from a disease in his lungs.  We talked, cried, held hands and just kept talking about Jimmie and Lefty.

For The Runaways

Merle said, “This is why we met”

One of my first trips out to his ranch in Northern California was in his living room and he said he wanted to talk for a couple of days about his life

on run as a teenager and for a number of times he would tear up and actually have tears on his cheeks.  He would look out the window and the

start again.  I have some film of this and for me it is one of my most important days of our ten years together...After talking to Merle for a while, I went over and sat next to him in his living room and told him about my many years of working for runaway children, having not only written two books about runaways, produced some videos with musicians to help runaway and homeless kids, written the first legislation in the State of Texas to help these kids, produced one of the largest symposiums ever on the state and fate of homeless, runaway and throwaway children, and worked with some of the top people in the Nation in this concern including John Walsh, Buckminster Fuller, John Holt, Laura Huxley, the Texas Rangers, the FBI, and Governor Brisco of the Great State of Texas, Merle got right up in my face and said, “This is why we met.”

He and I went on to talk about us telling his story as a runaway boy, and the story of the runaway boy Jimmie Rodgers could possibly help the millions of homeless, throwaway and runaway kids in the streets of America and educate the Nation to this problem. From that point on we worked on the movie trailer about his life to tell his story to help runaway and troubled kids. Down the road I told him the idea I had to donate some of the proceeds to the Jimmie Rodgers Saga documentary to help runaway kids and said, “Hell yes, do it!” In that spirit I am planning on donating a percentage of the proceeds from this book to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, DC, to the Runaway Hotline in Austin, Texas run out of the Governor’s Office, and to Children of the Night in Los Angeles, CA., I have connections all three, and have worked with over the decades.

TO BE CONTINUED

AFTER MY BOOK

SOME OF US FLY

MEandMERLE.com