music: "Head And Shoulders" - Patti Young (Ernstrat)

Fred Saxon was the first to leave the band and ended up working at Rainbow for Ernie Stratton.

One night while on a break at Club Cliche where The Sunliners were playing, Fred mentioned to me that there were problems over at Rainbow between Ernie and his partner, John Merlino. Apparently Ernie needed $100,000 to buy him out.

I had some money saved but not enough to do a deal of this magnitude. However, I did know that my wife's aunt was married to a guy called Al Sherman, who was famed for taking risks, and I contacted him at my earliest convenience.

When I explained the deal to Al, his response was 'do they need cash?' Al was a professional gambler and entrepreneur. He was also very shrewd.

He immediately contacted a brilliant young Jewish lawyer by the name of Ira Jaffe. Ira had a Harvard law degree, and an engineering degree, just to back up the fact he had brains.

He also brought in Kurt Swiger, who was a very good Certified Public Accountant, and they started digging into things.

Soon, Merlino was bought out for $22,000.

It was now January 1966 and I was Vice President of Ernstrat Enterprises Inc. 

Ernie was President, Fred Saxon was Staff Producer and Milan Bogdan was Engineer.

I was going to continue with the Sunliners for a while and run the studio in my spare time. Well at least that was the theory. However, it was beginning to look like Ernie may have some financial problems stemming from the earlier Rainbow days. 

We were working the Patti Young "Head and Shoulders" record. Ernie had even contacted the company that makes Head And Shoulders shampoo to see if some sort of deal could be made. 

They were interested if the record should become big. Ernie needed this record to happen and unfortunately it just didn't.

The Sunliners were getting ready for a West Coast trip and I needed to make some decisions. I felt if I left town with the band things might get worse and it was at this time that I made the decision to leave the band and devote all my energies to the studio. 

Ernie and I would eventually part. Sometimes the best laid plans.......Ernie was a great guy that just caught some bad breaks and found himself in the middle of a predicament. 

Ernie went on to successfully run restaurants. 

In later years Fred Saxon would go on to become an entertainment reporter for CNN and television stations in Los Angeles and San Diego. Today he hosts his own television program produced by his successful company, 2020 Productions.

Continued