- This topic has 10 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 6 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Sad to report the passing of Tony this week at such a young age. Tony was a very active member of this site in its early years, and was as fanatical and knowledgeable a follower of music as I’ve ever come across.
We’ve missed him on the Bruuuce.com community for the longest while, and I’m relieved to know that he’s no longer in pain. Thoughts and prayers are with his family.
Sorry to hear this news. I briefly met him at a solo show in Louisville a couple of years ago. He was definitely one of Bruce’s biggest fans. My condolences to his family.
Vic
The e-mail reads:
Quote:It is with deep sorrow I write to tell Bruce that Tony Merriman passed away Monday afternoon at Kindred Hospital here in Louisville, Kentucky where he has been a resident since July 2009.I visited him a few weeks past and he was jolly as ever, on ventilator and bedridden. He had Bruce’s huge card on his bulletin board and had Bruce blaring on his CD player! And of course UK Basketball was on the television! That was Tony, not even in the face of this life challenge did he let life slip past him in any way, he made the most of everything.
Tis a sad, sad day for me, he was a great and wonderful friend, I will miss him very much.
Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers, I know they would appreciate it very much too.
Blessings, Liz Johnson Klein
Tony’s pen pic: https://bruuuce.com/bigrumble.htm
Condolences to his family. Never knew he was a fellow Louisvillian and UK fan. Just always knew he had a big heart and a fierce fondness for our man Bruce. I’ll be putting Hot House on today as a tribute to his memory.
molo3
One can tell how much Tony loved Bruce’s music by reading the caption icluded with his pen pic. In only a few sentences,his enthusiasm for the music was evident. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.
Jackie
A sad day for the Bruce Nation!…..
Tony use to call me every once in awhile to get “caught up”. I still don’t know how he got my number, but it didn’t matter. Whenever Tony called, no matter what I was doing, no matter what was going on, I would lay down everything and talk to Tony.
He was always full of energy and never short of words. He always wanted to “reach out” and “touch”. He was a true Bruce fan, and when Tony knew that you were too, you were his friend forever and he wanted you to know that.
You may not know it, but Tony was always all over this site. Always reading whatever we would post, but not thinking in his mind, he could do the same as well.
I learned something from Tony. No matter who you are, no matter what you make, no matter where you live, no matter what you wear, no matter what your situation is, there’s always someone worse off than you.
The common demoninator that kept Tony going was Bruce. He always couldn’t wait to see Bruce again. Neither can I. Thank you Tony!
May he rest in peace. He will be missed!
David Day
Lake Lanier, GAI found this email from Tony that shows the bond he shared with Bruce, and just how highly they thought of each other. Speaks volumes for them both, I’d say:
Quote:Hey Si, Great show Sunday night in Louisville, KY at the Brown Theatre. He started 7pm took a 15 minute break then played till 10pm!!! Molomolomolo’s review of it is pretty good and accurate only thing is that was Wayne Pooley hooking up the keyboard. Saw him running to the soundboard right when we got our seats I waived my program said hey Wayne! He stopped looked at me said hey Big Rumble went back to the soundboard. We had seats where we could see Bruce’s finger work on the piano perfectly!!! But I couldn’t use my camera any because it’s a theatre police no cameras and we were 25 feet away with a clear view of Bruce’s playing too! Bruce got one of my requests in end of the show for White Wheeled Limo. But before it he says to the crowd there’s a big fan of mine in these parts known as the Big Rumble he’s a big fan of mine famous in these parts then he said well he’s famous to me, this songs for him.I saw Bruce backstage said I was changing my name to Big Humble after that song intro from him then lol There was some trouble with the keyboard on the piano which wasn’t hooked up when he came out Wayne ran down to fix it lol So Wayne was onstage with Bruce then Bruce said this is my sound man Wayne lol Wayne fixed it like the pro he is! Told Bruce I was writing a song about him he asked what it was called i said “Song (For Bruce) H” He liked the idea lol I said I know more about you than Howard Stern does lol He said I bet you do Mr. Rumble.
Bruce is taping a Country Music Television special with Ricky Skaggs for the new CD they’ve got coming out. CMT is taped in Nashville, TN going to find out when it is. Got Steve a autographed copy of Intersections from Bruce I said that’s for my buddy Steve in England he said he can not get it there Bruce said I know we’ve got to fix that! I also added a program for the show and extra ticket to it for Steve in the package, so nice care package there huh? Is he going to freak out or what when he gets that package in lol Don’t tell him about it either!!! Later, Tony
Thanks for sharing that with us, Si. While I never met the ‘Big Rumble’, just from that email, he sounded like a guy with a big heart. While we will have a void in the Bruuuce world, heaven is now one huge heart stronger.
I met Tony in the early 90’s and met up with him and Liz at several Bruce shows in the OH/KY area.
In those days we traded tapes of live shows. It was always a great time celebrating Bruce’s music
with each other and sharing our enthusiasm with other fans. My heart goes out to his family and friends. I’ll miss you, Big Rumble and the Bruce world will too !
- The forum ‘General chat’ is closed to new topics and replies.