I have so many memories of Mario.  I met him at the car lot he worked at. I had taken my son car shopping for a big car because he is 6'6" tall.  The lot Mario work at had  big Mercury for sale. We took it for a test drive and it barely ran and we had a good laugh hoping it would make it back to the lot. He asked me for my email address in case he came across something better. My email has the word "blues" in it and he asked me if I was a blues fan and that discussion led to him being a bandmate in several bands, a hired gun musician, a fellow board member of the Texas Coastal Bend Blues Society, and a dear friend, who passed away while recovering from heart surgery complicated by diabetes one year ago today.  I met his family during the three weeks or so he was in the ICU and I consider them all family now.  A friend bought Mario's performance amplifier and asked me to keep it and use it when the occasion arose that the Blues Society needed it.  I see it every day and memories of Hambone playing it never stop.  Below, there is a box asking my relationship to Mario.  It was difficult to just click on friend. He was much more that that. There is no box for "Blues Brother".