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THE SI N HERAIJ)
THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1997
DAVID PURDY/THE SUN HERALD
Bay St. Louis, the water and fishing brought Jerry Fisher to the Coast in the mid-1970s. His wife, his music and his business have kept him here.
Fisher
Continued, from B-l
long. We went to the French Market, we had coffee, hung out, talked.?
Melva left the skies for a tour bus, traveling with the band on a couple of tours.
?My work was then getting in the way of my playing,? she said of her early days with Fisher and the band.
The difficult part was introducing him to her parents, her brothers and the rest of her family.
?It was hard to bring a guy home with hair down to there, ? Fisher said, recalling the day he met Melva?s parents, Leroy and Lucille Luke. ?It was kind of hard for them to accept me at
first. Now, (Lucille) says she?ll kill for
...... tt
me.
Now she?s his biggest fan.
?She was a little shocked when her daughter went to stay in New York,? Melva said. ?Now she worships him. She?s here every Saturday. She?s his biggest fan. She adores him.?
So does Melva.
?He?s always let me know how he feels about me,? she said. ?He?s always treated me so special.?
Jerry?s ?illness?
If the love of music were an illness, then Jerry Fisher and his Company would be in the intensive care unit.
?This is it,? Fisher said. ?The music thing is not over.?
Indeed. The music thing is just beginning. In 1980, Fisher formed The Music Company, currently consisting of guitarist Johnny Hozey, drummer Harrel Bosarge, keyboardist Derrell Brown, bassist Eric Watkins and guitarist Tommy Moran.
On the subject of illness, Fisher, being the elder of the group at 55, undergoes the occasional jab from fellow bandmembers.
?Even though he?s a great musician, we say he?s got Oldsinger?s Disease,? Hozey said, chuckling. ?He tends to forget lyrics, even a song he?s done before so many times. He
Jerry Fisher, seated on chair, joined the group Blood, Sweat and Tears, taking the place of David Clayton Thomas. The group posed for this album cover shot for the 1972 release, ?New Blood.?
can?t remember a damn thing.? Fisher laughed when reminded of the ?malady? and jokingly tried to recall whether he or guitarist Hozey was the eldest. A broad smile gave away his ploy.
?He?s always kidding me about having the worst of Georgia on my mind,? Fisher said. ?I?ve only been doing that song since 19,? Fisher paused, thinking back. ?Oh, a long time. Sometimes I need a little cue to get going.?
Band members say they don?t view Fisher as the ?boss? of the band, but they admit he is the catalyst for many decisions. All say it is a joy to be on stage with the man who has been comfortable with it since childhood.
?A lot of singers aren?t aware of what?s going on around them, ? Hozey said. ?He is acutely aware. That?s a good quality. It makes you think and care about what you?re doing.? Bosarge has had a taste of touring nationally, but he returned home to
the group he?s comfortable with.
?I?m kind of the youngest guy in the band,? said Bosarge, who played with Vince Gill before moving back home to the Coast and joining Music Company three years ago. ?Jerry is more of a member of the band. We?re all kind of equal. The whole group gets along real well.?
In many jobs, when the whistle blows, co-workers go their separate ways. This band plays together, onstage and off.
?Ask him to tell you about that band fishing trip last year,? Bosarge said. ?We were going out to the rigs, and Derrell got seasick. When we got to the Chandeleurs, he said, ?Fish, can you just drop me off on the island and come back and get me?? ?
?Hell, this was a 38-foot boat. You can?t just pull up to the island,? Bosarge said.
Fisher, who has a charter boat captain?s license, recalled the trip.
?We were all sick,? he said, smil-
ing. ?We were in 8-foot seas.?
In the end, it?s not fishing, it?s not running a business, it?s music that ?keeps my batteries charged.?
?I?m very happy with the group I work with,? Fisher said. ?It?s a real brotherhood. We all do a lot of other things to make a living, but we play because we enjoy doing it together. Others do it to make ends meet. We do it because we love it.?
Sit ?til evenin?s done
Fisher and Melva bought the Dock of the Bay in 1981. It already had the name, and since it was a popular Otis Redding song, and it was on the Bay of St. Louis, they kept it.
After having their best year ever in 1996, they closed the business in early January and remodeled the kitchen, adding coolers, a door to the deck, stoves, ovens, a window and menu items.
?It was either get in or get out,? Fisher said. The changes will make service faster and customers happier.
?I?ve worked some crowds before,? he said, ?but you work a crowd that?s waiting for food? Well. It?s tough.?
New to the menu are salads, black angus steaks, filets and new pastas.
Melva and her sister, Prima Luke, lead the kitchen crew.
Fisher?
?Oh, I change a light bulb, throw a breaker when they ask me,? he said, laughing while deflecting a poke in the ribs from his wife.
Fisher?s band plays there every Saturday, usually to a house packed with 20- to 55-year-olds.
?Now it?s time for a little belt-buck-le-polishing music,? he told the crowd Saturday before wandering into a slow song.
After a lifetime of music and nearly 25 years on the Coast, people know Jerry Fisher. And that?s just fine.
?I?m amazed at it? Fisher said. ?When I go out to the store, or whatever, so many people I run into that know me, or that I have come across in the last 20 years. It?s a great feeling. It?s wonderful.?