Throw Back Thursday, My Rare Earth Story

When I was in high school, the lady that lived next door at the lake told me all about her nephew that was in Rare Earth. His name was Mark Olson. She said when Mark was a kid, he used to run around at the lake wearing a coon skin cap. 15 years later when I was hosting the Orlando Locals show on WDIZ in Orlando, Florida, I got a call from Mark Olson about getting his new band's stuff played on the show. He said " Hey, my name is Mark Olson and I used to be in the band Rare Earth" . I said "Oh yeah, and I bet you used to run around Lake Melissa wearing a coon skin cap". There was a few seconds of silence and then he said "Who the f**k is this?'. We had a good laugh. Small world. Sadly, he passed shortly after that, the day after his wedding.