"Moonstone" When I first moved to Detroit, Pete & Susie Woodman took me & Ginnie Seaman (the bass player of the Grand Band) around to different clubs to hear & see the 'hottest' bands in town. One such band was 'Boones Farm'. They were extremely cool. Playing tunes from the Who, Yes & CSN, flawlessly. 'Boones Farm' was Danny Raines-bass & vocals, Ron Blight, electric guitar & vocals, Tom Neme (of Bob Seger's album 'Noah' fame) on keyboards, guitars & vocals and Al Bernetti, Drums & vocals. They had also taken me to see 'Tom Powers' a Detroit piano-vocal artist ala 'jazzy' Elton John type. He had a quartet then. Jimmy Hunter was his drummer. I was totally blown away with Moonstone & Tom Powers. Jimmy Hunter was the best drummer I had ever seen. Little did I know that Pete Woodman & he were friends and he had seen me play with the Grand Band and dug my singing & playing, too!....Boones Farm's drummer Al had later left the band. Jimmy had left Tom Powers and they asked Jimmy to be in their newly named group 'Moonstone' due to another group recording for Columbia records with the same name....Jimmy wanted me in the band and they were heading in that Poco, Burritos, hip-country direction and could always use another vocalist & pedal steel player. As time went on, I became member.We did some original tunes including some of my tunes. It was an honor to be in Moonstone. The above photo shows 'Moonstone' onstage at the 300 Bowl lounge in Pontiac, Michigan. The conga player, setting in, was Miguel Rivera from the Colorado based group 'Navarro'. They were Carole King's road group who also had a deal of their own. They were playing at the 'Inn Between' which is the club the first 'Dan Schafer Group' made their debut. Mark Andes, who had worked in 'Spirit', 'Jo Jo Gunne' and late 'Dan Fogelberg & 'Heart' became a friend of mine during this time. ...Moonstone was a great band....Jimmy was very supportive of me. He loved my singing and my songs and convinced me that we should leave Moonstone and I should have my own group and he would get me into clubs that would appreciate my music. Listening Rooms in the Detroit area where he had worked with Tom Powers.... Jimmy was the driving force that put the first Dan Schafer Group together which eventually got me into a RCA recording deal. (Dennis Lacasse-sound; Jimmy Hunter-Drums; Danny raines-Bass; Ron Blight-Guitar; Tom Neme-keys/guitar; Me-guitar/pedal steel) Dennis LaCasse recently contacted me and contributed the photo with him in it. Thanx Dennis!! Jimmy Hunter is a successful artist in the field of recording & producing Great music. Visit his web site in Hollywood, CA. http://www.jimmyhunter.com [Home][Dan's Biography][Bender Video Review]